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yumemory[Location: Talbott Castle, hall]
Everyone went silent after hearing Bradley’s heavy words.
To kill. To save. Two requests: total opposites of one another at the surface, but the hope laid underneath their words was the same at its root.
And that was why none of us could easily give an answer to what should be done.
Arthur: Lord Figaro, is there really no other way?
Figaro: Hmm…
Figaro glanced at the bound werewolf.
Figaro: I sense a strange energy from him. It’s like there’s something within him that’s consuming him and trying to make him its own.
Figaro: Perhaps what he swallowed was less a mystical gem with the power to talk to the moon, and more a crystal made of part of a wolf's soul.
Figaro: In short, it’s like a cursed contract. Swallowing it must have been the same as making a vow to turn into a wolf, both in body and mind.
Akira: A contract…
Mitile: Is there any way to break it?
Figaro: Well, his body and mind are now tied to that of a wolf. It’s not gonna be easy, but maybe the twins will be able to help us out if we bring him to them.
John: ……! Really?!
Figaro: But we can’t guarantee we’ll be able to completely return him to normal. His body is being forcibly turned to a wolf, and that might cause us to run into some interference.
Gwen: We don’t mind! Right, Brother?!
John: If there’s any way for my brother to return to his original self, we’ll take it! Do… Do take care of him.
Gwen: Brother, you have to be respectful in this kind of situation! Gentlemen, please take care of our brother.
John: P-Please take care of our brother!
Arthur: If that’s the case, then we shall head to Lords Snow and White at once. Mithra, can I ask you to connect your teleportation door to the manor?
Mithra: What? To the twins?
Akira: Please, Mithra! We need your help so he can return to normal!
Murr: Is that really what he wants, though?
Gwen: ......Huh?
Murr took a few light steps forward.
Flapping the hem of his coat like a magician, he faced the bound wolf head-on.
Thinking back, Murr hadn’t shown much of his usual boundless curiosity and interest since the werewolf appeared in front of us.
Crouching down gently, he looked the wolf right in his moon-like eyes, and their gazes finally met for the first time.
Murr: Taking on this ideal form of a wolf in order to converse with the moon, closing every distance between them—is this not what he wanted? Is this not what he truly longed for?
Murr: Will we deprive him of the form that he so desired, simply to relieve ourselves of our sorrow?
John: W-What of our sorrow would you know!? Whose fault do you think it was that my brother is in that state in the first place!?
As if he turned deaf to John’s words, Murr spoke to the wolf in a friendly manner:
Murr: Larry Talbott. You were the one who sent me the invitation, correct?
That was when I remembered the name of the man who sent the invitation.
“I am very much looking forward to the day we meet. From Larry, with love.”
Werewolf: Grrh…
The wolf grunted as a reply. Upon hearing that, Murr stood up lightly.
Murr: Go ahead and break the binding spell, Brad.
Bradley:Huh? What nonsense are you spewin’ now? Do you want that thing t’ eat you alive?
Murr: He doesn’t need it anymore. Besides, we were invited to a party. A party can’t start without the head organizer, can it?
Bradley: …Tch, fine. Not like I care what happens to ya.
With a snap of his fingers, Bradley broke the binding spell. Murr turned around to us with the wolf, now free, right behind him.
Murr: Now, Master Sage! Let the party start! Let’s goooo!
Without preamble, Murr held out his hand in front of me, and I grabbed it out of reflex.
Murr then smirked, as if he had just succeeded with a prank.
Murr:《 Eanul Rambul 》!
Arthur, Riquet and Mitile: !?
Then like a storm, colorful somethings began falling from the ceiling.
Mitile: Huh, these are…
Rutile: All of them are sweets!?
Riquet: Wow, candies! And there are cookies too!
Mithra: How lucky. I was just getting hungry.
Bradley: Lucky? What lucky? He just took ‘em away.
Arthur: .........! Where’s the Master Sage?!
Mitile: Murr and the werewolf have disappeared too!
Figaro: They didn’t go too far. They’re most likely still within the estate.
Rutile: Oh no, we have to find them!
Riquet: What are Murr’s intentions for doing this? If we bring him to Lords Snow and White, we can easily return him to his original state.
Bradley: He said it was the werewolf who sent him the invitation.
John: He can’t be serious…
John: It’s impossible for Larry to send any invitations in that form!
[Location: Outside Talbott Castle, evening]
Murr whisked the werewolf and I away to the castle’s courtyard. The plants and trees were overgrown and the yard was in shambles, probably because there’d been no gardener to tend to it for a while.
Akira: Murr… Is it okay to escape like that? I’m sure everyone’s looking for us.
Murr: Of course, and they most certainly are. They’ll find us soon, too.
Murr: But I needed to. Otherwise, I won’t get the chance to talk to him.
Akira: …Talk? But how will you do that if you can’t understand him…
I turned around. Without threatening or attacking us, the wolf simply followed Murr.
Its submissive actions made it seem so unlike the beast that ran amok inside the castle.
Akira: (...He became surprisingly quiet. What happened?)
Murr: It’s likely because it’s the night of the new moon: the time where the moonwolf crystal’s curse is at its weakest.
Murr replied to me as if he read my mind.
The night of the new moon, when the moonlight is at its faintest. I looked up to the sky and found little trace of the moon’s light.
Murr: It seemed that even the Garou, the origin of the moonwolf crystal, was not at its full potential during this phase of the moon. Legends have it that it was during an evening like this when it was finally caught and slain.
Murr: I’d wager that Larry regained his human form during a night of the new moon, and sent the invitation with magic.
I blinked my eyes repeatedly as I watched Murr plop a piece of candy into his mouth with a smile. It seemed that he’d managed to snag some of the sweets he brought out earlier.
Murr: You see, I once studied the moonwolf crystal, too. Though all I ever obtained were fakes.
Murr: But I can tell he managed to obtain the real thing. As its name suggests, it turned him into a wolf.
Murr: Larry Talbott is an explorer. He swallowed the moonwolf crystal in an attempt to come closer to the moon. Such dedicated fervor is commendable.
Murr pointed at the sky.
Murr: And it was that man who invited me on this night of the new moon.
A strong wind blew through the air, carrying the clouds with it, and the moon became even more obscured.
The wolf’s golden fur then rustled, and his body undulated as it swelled and contracted.
His four legs gradually became human limbs, and the hair that covered his entire body disappearedー
Akira: ……!
ーAnd he transformed into a gentleman.
Golden hair and eyes. Skin as white as fresh snow. It was a beauty that I was already familiar with.
Akira: ...Is that you, Mister Larry?
He nodded, looking a little embarrassed.
His face has softer features than John’s and Gwen’s, but he looked so much like them that I recognized him instantly.
