[Author’s Note] Thank you for reading. Chapter 16
5. Trickster’s Curse Part 015 – Trickster’s Curse #3
The raccoon stuffed an egg and a crystal into a vine bag tied around its waist.
Who would’ve thought this furball knew how to use tools? Clever little critter.
“━If you’re thinking of picking a fight with me, you better back off. I’m gifted, you know. I can let you go… for now.”
The raccoon bared its tiny fangs and growled. It sure had confidence in its abilities.
I stood up on my hind legs, cracked my neck and shoulders, and made a little popping sound.
“━I’ve never tried raccoon meat, you know.”
If it didn’t return my stuff, I’d just take it. Plus, I could score dinner for tonight too—killing two birds with one claw.
The raccoon squinted its eyes and kept growling.
“━You’re itching for a fight, huh? Well, I’m ready for some meat today!”
“━Hmph.”
I shrugged off its threats with a scoff. At the same time, I took a good look at its claws and fangs.
Like any meat-eating beast, those teeth were pointy enough, but compared to wolves, they looked rather puny and adorable—definitely not enough to break my skin.
The front claws, while curvy and impressive, looked no different from my neatly trimmed nails.
‘By appearances, I don’t think I’ll lose. Though that bit about being gifted does have me slightly on edge.’
After my encounter with the giant wolf, I was being extra cautious.
‘You never know what tricks a cornered beast might pull.’
I planned to quickly subdue it and bite its neck before it could even react. Just rush in and catch it off-guard.
It was at that moment, poised to leap like a spring, ready to dive into the fray.
“━Dumb-dumb!”
The raccoon took a step back, one step ahead of me, and started to flee.
I was a bit taken aback but soon gave chase, running full speed after it as it darted away on four legs with that bag still strapped to its waist.
‘Wow, it’s faster than I thought!’
As it weaved through the thicket and dodged between trees like a pro, I couldn’t help but admire its agility. But with each stride, the distance between us was closing.
If my guess was right, I’d have its neck within mere seconds…
After running for a while, a big bush came into view, and the raccoon’s back disappeared behind it.
“━You think hiding’s gonna save you now?”
I dove into the giant bush where the raccoon had vanished. At that moment, my vision suddenly shook, and my feet slipped beneath me.
“━Oof, what the…!”
When I regained my senses, I found myself in a pit about a few meters deep, with bones of various beasts scattered all around.
Looking up, the raccoon peered over the edge of the bush, smirking down at me with its lips curled into a smirk.
“━Dumb-dumb! You really are a foolish one. I thought you were smart since you can talk, but look at you!”
“━Ha.”
Realization hit me; I had fallen for its bait and trap. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all.
Getting played by a critter was downright humiliating. Though my insides were boiling, I had to calm down and think.
‘Seems like it’s smarter than I thought.’
I raised my guard and reassessed the little beast.
“━But thinking this little trap could stop me? That’s a bad idea.”
I took a look around the pit, clutching the walls with my claws.
It was made of dirt, so climbing out required a bit more finesse and skill than when I was scaling trees.
The raccoon kept tossing stones down at me with surprising accuracy, hitting me square on the head every time.
“━Hey, raccoon! You better watch it when I get out of here!”
“━I’m a ‘raccoon,’ not a ‘raccoon,’ you dumb-dumb! And you’ll never climb up here! You’ll get hit by my silence magic!”
“━Silence magic, huh?”
A thick shadow loomed over me in the pit. I glanced up to see a boulder the size of my head in the raccoon’s paw.
“━Hey, that’s a bit much! Woah, put that down!”
“━If you get hit with this, everything goes silent. So, it’s silence magic!”
The rock, or whatever you could call it, plummeted down into the pit.
I clicked my tongue and jumped away from the wall to avoid it.
I regretted not having climbed a bit higher, but if I had taken a direct hit, I definitely would’ve ended up with a concussion.
I hunched my body low on the ground. The raccoon loomed over me, fiddling with the boulder in its paw.
“━Giving up already? Ready to become bones down there?”
It jeered at me, but I ignored its taunts, peering closely at the claw marks etched into the dirt walls.
Among them were my very own claw marks from when I had climbed up earlier.
‘If I just step on those marks, I should be fine.’
I quickly formulated an escape plan. This time, I would rely on my raw strength and agility, rather than the sharpness of my claws.
Sure, it was tricky to jump without a running start, but compared to the time I shot up from underground, it was definitely more doable.
I crouched low like a frog. Tensing my hind legs to the point of cramping, I leaped as high as I could towards the wall.
“━What!?”
The raccoon let out a surprised shriek. I kicked off the claw marks in the dirt wall and kept launching upward.
As I bounced off the walls again and again, I found myself reaching the ground level in no time.
In mid-air, I landed on the raccoon’s neck with my front paw. Either it was astonished by my physical prowess or just plain panicked, it squirmed and thrashed about.
“━You little brat, I warned you!”
I opened my mouth wide to bite down on its neck. The sight of my sharp teeth made the raccoon scream.
“━W-wait! I-I’m sorry! I’ll give you back the jewels and the egg!”
“━Sorry’s too late! I’m starving!”
“━You won’t find me tasty, I swear! Raccoons are unsavory! Everybody says so!”
“━That’s only true until you try one.”
Without hesitation, I sunk my teeth into its neck. The raccoon let out an absurdly high-pitched scream.
I hadn’t bitten down hard, but the melodramatic reaction was so ridiculous it nearly made me laugh.
“━L-l-leave me alone! I’m pregnant!”
“━What? You’re a female? You’re pregnant?!”
“━Y-yes! My babies are waiting at home for me to bring back food…”
The raccoon teared up and sniffed loudly.
Hearing it mention babies, I hesitated to go through with my plan.
A tiny pang of guilt tugged at my heart, but then again, pawning off its home and devouring its babies could be quite the profitable venture.
“━Hmm, but I’m still starving. Does that mean I should spare you?”
“━W-wait. If you let me go, I have a honeycomb hidden at home. It’s full of honey! I kept it safe from the little ones. I’ll give it to you. You like honey, right?”
“━Hmm. So you say you have a home?”
I feigned a deep inner conflict. The chilling tremors that raced down the raccoon’s neck suggested it was terrorized.
I’d successfully created an atmosphere where it might lead me to its home. But fully trusting it still felt fishy.
‘The honey must be a lie. The babies could be too.’
However, it was very likely that a home existed.
It had managed to survive in this demon-like forest and appeared to possess a decent level of intelligence; surely it had a respectable enough den.
‘Let’s see how this ‘home’ measures up. Eating it can come later.’
I chuckled to myself, still holding onto its neck.
*
“━Hey, are we going in the right direction? Feels like we’re just going in circles.”
I glared down at the raccoon, which was all tied up in vines. It shuddered at my question.
“━Y-yeah. Just a little further. This area can get confusing; everything looks similar.”
“━If you try to pull a fast one on me, you’ll be my dinner. Same goes for trying to make a run for it.”
I yanked on the vine in my hand. The raccoon swayed around comically with the movement.
‘Who would have thought I’d be walking a talking raccoon on a leash?’
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all. Memories of walking the dog I had as a kid with my parents floated back to me.
“━Over here, take a right. See that big tree over there?”
The raccoon stood on its hind legs and pointed with its front paw towards a thick and massive boabab tree looming nearby.
“━That’s my home.”
“━That tree?”
I raised an eyebrow.
How could a tree be a home? Was it going to sleep up there or something?
I was expecting at least a cozy cave, but my excitement faded into disappointment.
Guess some beasts really are just beasts.
“━Doesn’t look like a home to me. Where are your babies and the honey?”
“━It’s inside the tree. Even if the outside looks sturdy, the inside is hollow. That’s my nest.”
“━Aha.”
I nodded as if I understood. That was a rather thick tree; if it was hollow inside, it would definitely be spacious enough for a beast or two to live comfortably.
I approached the tree, following the raccoon. I looked around but couldn’t find anything resembling an entrance.
“━We go down into the ground. Look, there’s an entrance under this flat stone.”
The raccoon cleared away a flat stone near the tree, revealing a narrow, deep hole in the ground.
“━That’s kind of cool.”
“━I had some trouble making it.”
It seemed pleased to receive a compliment and, like a person, rubbed its nose with its paw.
I stared down the hole leading underground and muttered softly.
“━Then you go first. And if it turns out your words were a lie, you know what’ll happen, right?”
I gave it a stern warning before shoving it down into the hole. It slipped in smoothly.
So, the place I had called the entrance wasn’t a trick, after all.
“━When you come in, please close the stone behind you. It shouldn’t be left wide open.”
“━I’ll handle the closing; you just go ahead.”
I followed the raccoon into the hole. It was a tight fit for me, a bit snug since I was larger than it.
‘This might keep away larger beasts like wolves.’
I didn’t think about the need for a tight passage when I built my home, so I nodded appreciatively.
The raccoon wormed its way between thick roots. It eventually vanished through a hole above.
‘That must be the end of it.’
I mirrored its movement, peering up into the opening. The moment I did, an expansive, open area greeted me, instantly washing away my worries.
“━Not too shabby.”
It seemed pretty cozy. This space was at least five times wider than the stone house I had made.
But oddly enough, there were no bees, and nothing resembling a baby raccoon to be found. Just peculiar glowing stones scattered about for decoration.
“━You lied, didn’t you? There are no babies here.”
“━Right! I had to say something to get you here safely. It’s the trickster’s fault!”
The raccoon smirked at me, still half-embedded in the tree. In its hand was a long sword glinting in the dim light.
Its sharp metal blade and finely crafted handle were far too intricate for a raccoon to have made. That was clearly the work of civilized beings.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of it luring me with that pathetic weapon.
“━You think that will stop me? You’d be better off just giving up.”
“━You won’t know until you try!”
It raised the sword high before bringing it down with a flourish. That swing seemed ridiculous, but suddenly, the vines beneath me were cut, causing me to float up into the air.
A multi-layered net made of vines ensnared my body.
Even as I dangled in this makeshift web, I was more intrigued than terrified.
‘It’s shoddily made of vines, but this is definitely a net!’
This deep pit trap was one thing, but the fact that the raccoon could deploy a trap like this caught me completely off guard.
‘Is it smarter than I thought? How did it even manage to pull this off?’
Not long ago, I had set out to eat this little beast, but now my plan was beginning to change.
‘This little rascal might actually be useful.’
