[Afterword] If you enjoyed reading, please press the recommendation button at the top of the mobile screen! With just 2 seconds of your time, you can give a writer a happy day! Thank you for the coupons and comments as well. 95th Episode
32. Magical Beasts and the Peculiar Wolf, Tartar – #1
‘So it’s near Kublai’s cave…?’
It was pretty clear that Kublai referred to the wolf Kublai from the Eastern Forest. To think that next to such a creature’s cave was the safest place! Coming from someone as clueless about the ecosystem of forest creatures as I was, that was a lot to wrap my head around.
Maybe sensing the distrust between me and Leaf, Raccoon Mori continued to explain in a hushed, calm voice.
━ Have you ever heard of luminescent stones? The ones that light up the surroundings? When you’re holding that, do you know where it’s darkest? Right on the top of your front paw! The part that should be the brightest is, in fact, the darkest. Wolves are the same. They can’t even imagine that beasts are living next door to their cave.
Looks like Mori was trying to use the saying about how the light is brightest right under the lamp. Seeing that Leaf and I were hesitant to respond, Mori ramped up the explanation.
━ Next to their cave, there’s a bunch of lettuce flowers and thorn bushes that I gave you. So the entrance to their nest is very hard to spot.
━ Lettuce flowers?
Leaf perked up at Mori’s explanation.
I could still taste the crunchy petals I had enjoyed just this afternoon dancing on my tongue.
‘Hearing just the story makes it seem like a good idea.’
━ You won’t get an opportunity like this to get a nest in one go. Since you’re friends of Rita, I’m considering this a big favor.
━ Hmmm.
━ Hmmm.
Leaf and I couldn’t respond like customers faced with a salesperson. But as I kept listening to Mori’s explanation, it started to sound quite plausible, and my resolve began to waver.
Leaf glanced at me and asked quietly.
━ What are you going to do? It’s next to the cave of the forest owner. Is that okay?
━ Let’s go check it out first.
*
Kublai’s cave was a limestone cave located near the boundary between the south and east, within a small hill.
According to Mori, it had been the nest of the mythical creature Marek Fenrir long ago, passed down through generations of their descendants.
In other words, Kublai could be considered a descendant or head of a great clan that had been around for hundreds or even thousands of years.
‘There are a lot of wolves.’
I was hiding in the bushes, watching the wolves come and go around the cave. Several wolves moved in pairs of two or three.
‘Looks like there aren’t any lone wolves…’
I wanted to see what was inside that huge cave entrance, but Mori warned me that getting any closer might lead to us being discovered, so I had to suppress my curiosity.
━ Pretty.
Leaf, standing next to me, remarked on the flowers blooming by the cave, expressing a girlish sentiment.
Countless beautiful white flowers were blooming beautifully in the moonlight next to the cave, possibly numbering in the hundreds or thousands.
Mori crouched down, crawling under the flowers, and in a very quiet voice said,
━ This is where I always pick my flowers. The night is when the guard is laxer, so I can only pick them at night. Wait, shh.
Mori stopped mid-sentence and suddenly went silent as a mouse. Shortly after, the loud barking of wolves erupted nearby.
‘Is this really a safe place?’
I was worried with wolves roaming so close. After a while, when the presence of the wolves faded away, Mori finally spoke again.
━ It’s a place where you won’t be discovered, but just in case, we need to be cautious.
━ Aside from the suspicion of being near their hiding spot, isn’t there some other reason this place is good as a nest?
━ Reason?
Mori started to dig into the ground.
A little while later, a manhole cover made of wooden boards, iron, and nails appeared at the surface.
‘That looks like a shield!’
It was clearly a round shield.
Partially rusty and the wooden part was eaten away by something, possibly termites, but it still had a handle and retained its circular shape.
When I lifted the shield, a wide shelter-like space was revealed beneath.
Inside lay a wooden cup, a rusty dagger, and a skeleton in armor slumped there.
━ Wolves hate the smell of these lettuce flowers. They won’t even approach. This space was created by humans who invaded the forest about ten years ago. To deceive the forest owner Kublai, they planted a ton of lettuce flowers here. The wolves wouldn’t come near this flower at all. They wouldn’t even pee in this direction.
━ Humans.
‘Humans, huh.’
I poked at the human skeleton scattered around the secret nest with my foot.
It was a skeleton that had turned completely white, devoid of any flesh, giving me the impression of looking at a model skeleton in a science lab.
━ Anyway, the wolves definitely don’t come here. And other beasts, unless they’re crazy, won’t venture near Kublai’s territory. So, objectively, there’s no better place than this.
Listening to Mori’s logical explanation, I started to shake off some of my doubts and nodded.
In a somewhat small voice, I joked with him.
━ Do you have some talent for salesmanship or something? Did you receive a skill like a “greasy tongue” from the World Tree?
━ Is that a compliment? But other raccoons are way better at persuasion than I am. I wouldn’t even qualify to be in the same category. Anyway, my role ends here for today. If you stay here for the night, I’ll come back tomorrow.
Mori grabbed the makeshift wooden panels set up like a ladder and pulled himself back up to the surface.
He looked down at Leaf and me from above. Then he slightly raised the shield in his hand.
━ Can you close this door after me?
I was about to say, “I’d love that,” when suddenly,
━ Craaaack!?
Mori got attacked by something resembling a black shadow, let out a loud scream, and vanished from sight.
━ What’s going on? What happened?
I stared wide-eyed at Leaf. He was also glancing between the ceiling hole and my face, unable to close his mouth.
━ Craaack, urgh!
Mori’s screams flooded in from the hole in the ceiling.
‘Whatever it is, it must be really bad.’
I hesitated on what to do.
To sum it up, an unknown assailant had pounced on Mori, and now he might be getting eaten.
Whether that attacker would discover us in the underground once they devoured Mori was uncertain. But I figured if it had eyes, it would see us with just a glance.
━ S-save me! Help me!
Just then, Mori managed to stick his head back through the hole, looking frantic with drool dripping from his mouth.
━ Kraaang, kraang!
━ S-save me!
Something was grabbing Mori’s body and shaking him around.
‘If we stay noisy like this, we’ll definitely get caught by the wolves! Wasn’t it said that wolves hate the smell of these lettuce flowers? Or is it not a wolf?’
I realized that I had to go up and handle this myself.
━ Wait here for a moment.
Leaving a trembling Leaf behind in the underground, I climbed up the wooden ladder.
In the midst of the dizzying white, fresh scent of flowers and white leaves fluttering in the air, I saw a black-furred quadruped beast tugging at Mori’s back with its front paws.
━ Raccoon! I got one! I’ve caught a prey!
━ L-little guy, let go!
At first glance, the monster attacking Mori looked like a wolf.
Although it was acting rather clumsily and only barking, it started talking, so it was definitely a wolf.
It was about half the size of the other wolves I had met, suggesting it was still a young one.
The wolf lifted its head and looked at me.
Unlike the three-eyed Tartar wolf, this one had just two eyes like a regular dog.
Its eyes flickered with confusion.
━ You’re Blackpaw, right? You should be patrolling the southern boundary, so why are you here?
It acted familiar with me as if it recognized me. That’s when I realized I was wearing wolf fur.
‘Does it think I’m a wolf like it?’
Thinking I could possibly use this situation to my advantage, I quickly put my mind to work and said the right words.
━ Let him go!
━ What? You can talk again? That’s great! But I can’t. This raccoon is my prey!
There was a certain childishness in its tone.
━ You should let that raccoon go. It has the bl**d of a Duoksini mixed in. If you eat it, you won’t have a good time.
━ Eek! Really?
The two-eyed wolf stepped back a few paces from Mori.
━ A raccoon mixed with Duoksini bl**d? Ugh. Why is such a creature in the Eastern Forest? It should be killed immediately!
━ I was going to take care of it anyway, like burying it in the ground.
I crudely pushed Mori with my front and back paws into the hole. Then, I used the shield that had fallen to the ground to completely cover the entrance, hiding Leaf and Mori from view.
━ A wannabe Duoksini should be buried like this. That way, their energy won’t seep out.
━ As expected, Blackpaw! You’re really smart! Other wolves hate these lettuce flowers, but you seem to be fine. Why do they say that everyone who breathes this flower’s scent gets choked for days?
The black wolf giggled. I felt like I finally understood why the wolves hated the lettuce flowers. It seemed they triggered an allergic reaction for them.
I casually replied with an air of confidence.
━ I’m fine with this sort of thing. What about you? Are you okay being near this flower? You’re a wolf too.
━ I’m also a wolf? Right. I’m a proper wolf. But there’s something different about me…
The black wolf trailed off, seeming a little shy.
Just as I was about to ask the black wolf something more, a loud growl rippled from outside the patch of lettuce flowers.
━ Hey, what are you all doing over there? Soon it’ll be night patrol time. Get back to the cave!
━ If you’re slacking off or running away, you’ll be in trouble!
Howls of wolves calling other wolves suddenly echoed through the forest.
‘Wow, they really can project!’
I wanted to cover my ears from the noisy sounds, but the black wolf in front of me was looking straight at me, leaving me no option.
━ Let’s go, Blackpaw!
To my surprise, he even tugged at my fur with his front paw.
I might have padded myself with a good disguise, but if he touched it, it would definitely blow my cover, so I quickly swatted his paw away with my front limb.
━ W-what’s wrong? We need to hurry!
The black wolf blinked his blue eyes at me.
I feigned a cough as if I had a cold.
━ Cough, cough. No, I’m not feeling well, so don’t touch me. You might catch something!
━ Ah, I see. Then you should just go to the white-eared one. He knows the most about herbs and sickness among us.
━ U-uh, okay.
While I was hesitating, the wolf suddenly stood up on his hind legs.
━ What are you doing? Hurry up! No matter how much you dislike herbs, you have to bear it to get better!
I kept darting my eyes between the shield and the black wolf on the floor.
Slick.
The shield slightly lifted, and Leaf’s eyes peeked out, locking eyes with me.
The black wolf tilted his head.
━ What? Is that little one bothering you?
Worried the black wolf might notice something suspicious, I deliberately pretended to be busy with other things to act nonchalant.
━ N-no, not at all.
━ Then let’s hurry to the cave! Everyone will be happy to know you can talk again!
This black wolf seemed unwilling to move a step until he took me along with him.
‘Should I just bury him here…?’
I seriously considered whether it would be better to quietly deal with him here.
But this was right next to a wolf den, and if I made one wrong move and created a ruckus, who knows what might happen.
Just then, a dark shadow loomed over me.
━ Tartar, I told you not to go near the white lettuce flower field. When you get pollen on you, the others suffer. I wondered where you were and you’re here.
With the moonlight casting a shadow, that large figure, and its cold voice etched itself in my mind, never to be forgotten.
The one-eyed wolf of the Eastern Forest, the master Kublai, looked down at me under the moonlight.
‘Kublai…!’
