The Dog Needs a Master

“Fuck, I didn’t come any closer!”

“You did, you bastard.”

“And why the hell have you been on my ass this whole time?!”

“How could I not be, you fucking bastard? If you people had just contacted us sooner, fuck. What are you carrying that head around for? Take it back off, moron!”

Watching the two of them, Erabelle quietly resumed packing up the snacks.

If debris goes flying while they fight, I’ll die... No, I suppose I won’t. The Prince’s body is high-level. Still, I don’t want to get caught up in it and witness anything horrible. Maybe there’s a storeroom or bathroom somewhere I can quietly hide in...

“W-where are you going with those?”

To the bathroom...

Instead of answering, Erabelle looked worriedly at the deathly pale surveillance team member trying to stop her while the two Chiefs fought. Was he truly all right?

“Please, just stay here and eat comfortably... Don’t go anywhere...”

“Yes...”

Well... If they get hurt, they’ll repair themselves. They would probably heal even if left alone, anyway. A level-nine body regenerates at extreme speed.

Amid the two humanoid monsters’ endless barrage of accusations, Erabelle sat still, opened a hot bar, and sighed.

“You fucking bastard. Hey, come outside.”

“And leave this place to the others? Are you actually brain-dead?”

All she could do for now was sit still, eat her hot bar, and wait. The mental strain was considerable. She curled up quietly on the sofa and used the new pad to access the forum.

Her fandom needed her urgently.

At that same moment, in Defit Prison at the farthest reaches of space.

“Haah... Haah...”

The warden, who had lived like a king in this notorious place, was now fleeing almost on all fours.

Defit was unlike an ordinary prison where criminals were incarcerated. It was closer to a facility for collecting a particular kind of noncombustible refuse—members of the Imperial Family and powerful houses who could not be killed for various reasons.

Here, the warden had lived like a king with absolute power.

He grafted members of the Imperial Family and nobles who ordinarily would never even have looked him in the eye onto one another, and made a handsome profit selling their high-level body tissue.

For the guards, this place was paradise beyond comparison with the outside world.

It had been, until twenty minutes ago.

“Haah...”

Why...?

The warden could not comprehend what was happening. The screams behind him never stopped. Nor did the sounds of something being chewed.

Crunch. Crunch, crunch...

“W-why—”

Why is there a monster here?

In the darkness, the wings of hundreds—thousands—of insects buzzed and rattled. Between them, the monster’s tentacles impaled one person after another.

“Save me! A-aaagh...!”

Dragging his bleeding body, the warden scrambled forward. His wounds were grave, but the greater problem was that his signum slots had been blocked.

Beyond the loss of the privileged position he had enjoyed until now, an instinctive helplessness made him shudder.

Using a victim’s noise to block their signum was a typical trait of monsters.

The warden could not understand the situation.

Defit was located on one of the Empire’s most barren and inaccessible planets, but that also placed it farther from any conflict zone than almost anywhere else. Its defenses were thorough. For various reasons, the prisoners needed to remain alive.

“Ghk...!”

A tentacle pierced the fleeing warden’s throat. As though mocking his desperate flight, his limbs went slack.

“This looks like the man in charge, right? Hm? That ended really fast!”

Virgo spoke cheerfully with the warden impaled on his tentacle.

“Yeees...”

The Dogs under his command looked miserable. Those mimicking the prison guards looked the worst of all. Apparently itching, they kept scratching beneath the human skins they wore.

“I thought it would take ages. Lucky us, right?”

Virgo chattered on, oblivious.

Ol had informed them that the divinity would be reclaimed sooner than planned. As a result, they had been authorized to employ a simpler method.

“Normally, we’d have to investigate every last one of these people and draw up an operation just to pretend we were human. Ugh. I hate it just thinking about it. Don’t you?”

“Yes, well, I suppose...”

The Dogs answered while scratching furiously.

“So we have to wear these things for at least six months now?”

Their protest was clear: what good was completing the operation quickly if this was the result? Virgo argued that six months was hardly long.

“Six months passes in the blink of an eye.”

The Dogs scowled.

“What kind of blink takes six months?”

“Honestly... this is all your fault, Chief.”

“Why do the rest of us have to...”

“You specifically said you were coming to Defit alone!”

They were all despondent at the prospect of spending months trapped inside these stifling skins.

“Even if it hadn’t been for me, we would have ended up here. The rough jobs are almost always ours.”

“...I wonder why that is. Why are the rough jobs almost always ours?”

“Hm?”

“Because of you, Chief!”

The Dogs began barking resentfully, listing every incident and disaster their Chief had caused.

“I did all that? Really? Wow, I guess losing two heads has seriously damaged my memory. I don’t remember any of it.”

Virgo’s shameless response made the atmosphere even gloomier. They looked ready to ram themselves into something and drop out of the operation entirely, which made even Virgo a little wary. If a team member disappeared, he would have to handle their remaining work himself.

“Come on, how stifling can it really be?”

Virgo let his form collapse and burrowed through the dead warden’s mouth. The skin convulsed once before settling into place. Now mimicking a human like the other Dogs, he scratched vigorously at his new skin.

“I-it isn’t stifling at all.”

“......”

“I’m serious. It’s not stifling! Wow, this is so cozy and comfortable!”

“...Please, just stop talking.”

“...Okay.”

While some of the Dogs committed atrocities at the farthest reaches of space, Erabelle remained ensconced in the Prince’s body, embracing a paradise of chicken, beer, frozen pizza, and snacks.

It was a level-nine body. Fried poultry and fermented barley were no match for a body that did not even experience ordinary physiological needs.

She retained enough conscience to exercise a degree of restraint, but even that modest allowance was more than enough to make her happy.

Unexpectedly, the surveillance team seemed almost as happy as she was.

Of course, not everyone was happy.

“...How can she spend the entire day like this?”

The security team was astonished.

Several days had already passed since Dezeb’s visit. Naturally, the Dogs had never expected Erabelle Vermilion to wander outside without permission.

Erabelle Vermilion was cooperative in all things.

Even so...

“Don’t you feel confined?”

“No. Not in the slightest.”

She certainly did not appear to.

“Why don’t you take a walk, at least?”

“I think that is an excellent idea.”

Apparently, she meant that she would limit herself to thinking so. She burrowed deeper beneath the blanket as she answered.

“It’s easier once you accept it.”

The security team turned toward the surveillance team, who offered this advice with slightly unfocused eyes.

“...Why do you look so accustomed to this?”

“Because we are.”

The discord between the two teams had ended early on. The moment someone pointed out that the surveillance cameras would have captured everything, the two teams became remarkably friendly.

The additional phrase collective responsibility had also played a significant role.

“It’s something to be grateful for.”

The surveillance team spoke wistfully.

“You never appreciate what you have until it’s gone.”

One could never understand how fortunate it was that Erabelle Vermilion loved staying in her room until one had experienced the alternative. The surveillance team repeated what they had already said several times.

“Ah. Right...”

The security team found the wistful sorrow on the faces of those who had endured the banquet slightly disconcerting.

In any event, Erabelle let the Dogs’ chatter wash over her and remained happy.

A major reason was the news the Dogs had given her two days earlier: the Vermilions had returned safely.

Count Vermilion had gone back to deal with an incident that had conveniently arisen within the family, while Sanche had returned to deal with a conveniently timed outbreak of noise. Thus, both Vermilions had safely returned to the Vermilion domain.

That did not mean a bright future had suddenly opened before her.

This novel was a hardcore misery story, and the reality that she was trapped indefinitely inside the body of the protagonist—the one who endured cannibalism, torture, suicide, regeneration, and every other conceivable hardship—made her mind reel.

But after everything she had endured, Erabelle’s expectations for life had fallen so drastically that they now lay somewhere beneath the soles of her feet. The mere fact that both Vermilions were safe was enough to satisfy her.

And her current situation had at least two advantages.

“How can she spend days staring at nothing but a celebrity’s face? She watches the same things over and over and over, yet somehow she’s that focused every single time...”

Unlimited snacks and unrestricted fandom activities.

The forum was ablaze over a newly released interview with James.

The video had been released a mere thirty-four hours ago.

Feasting on this fresh morsel, the fans were happily editing his hair into different colors, mirroring the footage and adding background music, and praising the fan art posted by skilled artists.

This gentle-faced, harmlessly beautiful boy soothed souls exhausted by the tyranny of high-level beings.

My precious boy... How can you be so pretty?

Her nose stinging with emotion, Erabelle clutched it and gushed shamelessly.

“No matter how I look at him, he’s ugly...”

The Dogs watching her muttered among themselves.

Beautiful only on the outside, they understood nothing.