DLBF Chapter 40

Chapter 40 – Heartbreaking Howl

Chapter 3, Part 3.4

Novel Title: ルーデンドルフ公と森の獣 (Duke Ludendorff and the Beast of the Forest)

Author：かわい有美子 (Kawai Yumiko)

Illustrator: 周防佑未 (Suoh Yuumi)

Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)

Protagonists: 藤森賢士 (Kenji Fujimori -MC), ユリアン ルーデンドルフ (Julian Ludendorff -ML)

*Please read at Novels Space.space, the original site of translation. TQ*

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That evening, Fujimori was seen off by Julian as he was driven away in Tanba’s small truck.

Although it was just before five o’clock, the weather had taken a turn for the worse unusually early in the day, and the sky was overcast.

“Take care.”

After loading Fujimori’s trunk into the back of the truck, Julian raised his hand with those parting words.

“Yeah, I’ll contact you to tell you when I’m coming back.”

Julian’s expression, as he nodded, seemed clouded with concern.

“So wait for me.”

Reaching out of the open window from the passenger seat, Fujimori stretched his hand toward Julian, who took it and gave it a squeeze.

“Okay, I’ll take him to the station now.”

Tanba, who was seated in the driver’s seat, called out to Julian over Fujimori’s shoulder and bowed his head.

As the truck started to move, Julian remained standing in the driveway, watching them leave. 

Seeing Julian’s lonely figure, Fujimori leaned out of the truck and waved until Julian was out of sight.

With a faint sigh, Fujimori rolled up the hand-crank window and settled back in the seat. He felt somewhat downcast as the truck rattled on.

As they drove toward the gate, Fujimori noticed something unusual—it was already open.

This was the first time he had seen the gate left open since he’d been here. Perhaps Tanba had left it open when he arrived, planning to leave it that way until they returned.

Getting out of the truck, Fujimori helped Tanba close the gate, wrapping the rusty chain around it and securing it with a large padlock. It looked just like this when he first arrived.

“It’s rare to see the gate open like this.”

“Lately, I’ve been keeping it open while I’m here. There was a time when leaving it open would invite all sorts of troublemakers who’d come in. They’d start bonfires, break windows, and ransack the house…”

Fujimori understood why the gate was usually so securely chained.

The gate itself wasn’t impossible for a man to climb over. But anyone who dared to scale a chained gate like that would have no grounds to complain if they were reported for trespassing.

“Has the place been vandalised before?”

“They tried to brush it off, saying they thought it was just an abandoned house…” Tanba clicked his tongue softly.

“When people start living in a place, the house comes alive. I used to air it out sometimes. But it’s completely different when someone actually lives there. The house comes back to life. There were talks of tearing down this mansion and selling the land or turning it into a hotel. But I’m glad Mr. Ludendorff came.”

It seemed that, in his own way, Tanba was grateful to Julian.

As they drove down the private road after leaving the gate, Fujimori, lost in thoughts of what seemed like a dreamlike life at the mansion, heard what sounded like a distant cry.

The long, mournful sound made Fujimori look up.

“Mind if I open the window?”

“Go ahead, if you want.”

Tanba gave him a puzzled look, as if to say, ‘What’s gotten into you?’

“I thought I heard something…”

As Fujimori rolled down the window, he heard the distinct, sorrowful sound again. It was clearer and more prolonged this time.

A howl…? The moment Fujimori thought that as he leaned out the window.

“What is it, a howl?” Tanba, who seemed to have the same thought, muttered next to him.

Julian? Fujimori wondered, gazing at the dense forest outside the window.

He couldn’t clearly distinguish between a dog’s howl and a wolf’s. But this deeply lonely sound struck him as Julian’s voice, lamenting Fujimori’s departure from the mansion.

Could it really be Julian making that sound back at the mansion? 

It wasn’t likely that he was following the car. But it still felt as though the sound was calling out to him.

Fujimori leaned further out the window to listen to the continuing, mournful howl.

The plaintive cry echoed, tugging at his heart, as if expressing sorrow over his departure.

“Strange to hear that, way out here in the mountains…” Tanba, who had never heard such a sound before, remarked.

There were no nearby homes within the vast private property, so it wasn’t likely to be a howling pet dog.

“A stray… maybe?” Not wanting to suggest it might be a wolf, Fujimori hedged his answer.

“Would a stray dog follow and howl like that for so long…?” Tanba’s face twisted in puzzlement as he shook his head slightly.

“It’s almost like a wolf is howling, though it’s not quite likely.” Tanba, turning the steering wheel, muttered under his breath. He was evidently sensing something unusual about the howl.

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*Translator’s Note: I really, really have a bad feeling about this… -K

Next update: 2024.11.29

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