We Are A Family

Juvenile schools represented the defective products of society.

To be more precise, students ranging from teenagers and young a.d.u.l.ts were thrown into these compounds for their unacceptable behavior. And what was deemed acceptable one might ask?

The answer to that question was simple. The rules laid out by the education department and related institutions defined what a student should be in their eyes. Their judgments were never false nor contradictory. No one faulted the rules, not even once.

Those who thought otherwise were deranged and bereft of common sense. A thriving society was made up of people with common sense, so they consigned others who were different. Like nails that stood out getting hammered down.

Real life adhered to normality—and only the dreamers were enamored with the possibility of the abnormality.

"Ugh... Please, let me live!"

A boy roughly seventeen-years old grabbed onto the muscular arm gripping his neck like vice.

"I-I can give you anything you want!" pleaded the boy to the humanoid monster with six arms.

"...Anything?" The monster repeated, followed by a wide grin. The emotions contorting the monster's expression was neither beguiling nor bewitching. It was simply enthralled when given such a euphoric choice.

Its tongue rolled out—gooey drool dripped down onto the tiled floor. Before its free arms could so much as twitch from excitement, a small figure cordially approached the monster from behind.

"Preisniri, don't toy with him like that," said the six-foot humanoid creature with green scythes jutting out from its back. "I've got the Crown, so let's bail."

"The Keeper?"

"I ate her."

"...Then, how about this one? The owner of this hideous Personal Dimension?"

"Well, do you want to eat him or not? If not, then leave him be and—"

The Draugr with six arms—Preisniri—opened its mouth wide. Multiple hands crawled out from the creature's throat and grabbed the human by his head.

"No, no, no, no, no—"

The hands tensed and shuddered from the strength coursing through their veins. Preisniri let tears flowed out from its eyes, greatly enamored with the taste of the boy's hair. How could it even so much as to taste the boy if he wasn't eaten yet?

Each of Preisniri's inner hands acted as its tongues. Every minute part of the crude hands functioned to signal Preisniri's stomach to prepare its acid. Why would the Draugr need such a needless feature?

Preisniri indulged in savoring its victims. If any of them didn't tickle its taste buds like it'd expected beforehand, its stomach would be filled with acid to digest them within the blink of an eye.

Right now, Preisniri was in a state where it d.e.s.i.r.ed the boy's flesh and blood so much. And so, it would savor every last part of him as long as time would allow. But—

"Preisniri, I didn't say you can take your time," said the other Draugr, palpable bloodl.u.s.t oozing out of its body.

"..."

Preisniri's nightmarish hands squeezed onto the poor boy's head. No one could talk to Preisniri like that. Its companion named Andrunz was slightly stronger no doubt, but even then, they had the same rank! How could Preisniri tolerate a peer who talked as if it could—

"Ah, what are you doing to this human?"

A third Draugr appeared from out of nowhere and took the boy away from Preisniri's grasp. This particular Draugr had a smile on a face that could very well be from an a.d.u.l.t male human. Anyone who didn't know any better would address 'him' like their savior or messiah of some sort.

After all, a Draugr that resembled a human so much amongst his repulsive brethren was most welcomed. The "man" Draugr wore baggy white robe like that of a pious individual. He had a long wingspan unlike that of average people in the human world. But even then, his tall stature was not commonplace either.

"Urgh!" Preisniri and Andrunz shuddered and took a step back. Why were they afraid of a fellow Draugr?

"You're hurt. Let me heal you," said the new Draugr as he put down the human boy.

A scintillating silver light shone above the boy's head as the Draugr gently rested his palm on top.

"Now, go back to your world. Everything related to your Personal Dimension will disappear, so you might as well forget what had happened. But then again, that would be quite optimistic of me for you to conveniently forget your traumatizing experience."

"..." The boy was speechless. He didn't want to interrupt the Draugr's soliloquy, so he kept quiet.

"Even for someone like me, I know that a human's life is irreplaceable. And why is that? No amount of research and advancement of technology could create a brother and sister of their own from nothing. Cloning is but an ignorant method of achieving an impossible end. Don't you think so too?"

"..."

"Ah, forgive me," said the Draugr, somewhat self-deriding himself. "I went on and on about such mundane viewpoint of life. Anyway, you know the exit to your Personal Dimension, so go."

"B-But..." The boy glanced at the two Draugrs at the far back of one of the rooms in his juvenile school—his Personal Dimension.

"Don't worry about a thing. As long as I'm here, nothing will happen to you. I swear."

The Draugr's smile was pure and replete with good intention. The doubts in the boy's mind cleared up in an instant, and he left the room afterward.

"...W-Why are you here?" said Preisniri, who had swallowed its inner hands back into its sack. A few of the hands had been torn off because of the new Draugr's attempt to save the boy's life.

"Hm? I haven't told you two my name yet, right? How forgetful of me. Address me as Veit Gehhardt. You can call me Gebhardt or Veit only. Whichever you prefer."

"We know who you are!! Why are you here!?"

The calm and collected Andrunz expressed its fear visibly—so much so that Veit was startled at first. What did he do to gain such a negative impression? He'd made sure that his robe was clean and bereft of blotches.

His smile never left his face since the beginning. So, what was wrong here?

Veit tilted his head. "I suppose my presence made you two uncomfortable. I can assure you that I mean no harm. The human was in danger, so I saved him from you out of impulse. Hmm, perhaps you're afraid of my contradictory actions, which were the opposite of our true nature. Still, I don't intend to linger for long because this Personal Dimension is about to collapse."

The muscular and intimidating Preisniri gulped. "I-It was not me who stole the Crown!"

"Ah, don't worry. Like I said, I mean no harm. You two were simply running on a course far too commonplace for us Draugrs. I don't blame any of you. We Draugrs are vile and sinful after all..."

Veit's last sentence was filled with lament. Such a rare and bizarre form of emotion welled up inside him and tears began to streak his cheeks. "My apologies, I'll leave at once. I hope you two will have a good day."

Veit left the room with long strides. Preisniri and Andrunz looked at each other and breathed a long sigh of relief.

"...Veit Gehhardt. One of the S-rank Draugrs that display incomprehensible actions unlike the other S-rank Draugrs who are more honest in their approach. He looks and acts far too much like a human, even though he's also one of us," said Andrunz.

"He tore my hands off..."

"He did that accidentally when he saved that kid. If Veit did intend to fight, he would've killed us within one minute."

"No cap?"

"No cap."