[Author’s Note] Thank you. Episode 33
11. Evolution and Hunting Practice032 – Evolution and Hunting Practice #2
━ What are you doing here?
I discovered Chili Raccoon, Leaf, sprawled on the floor as if dead.
Just when I thought he was out for the count, he started fidgeting, sensing my presence.
━ Well, you finally ventured outside. Here, have this.
Raccoon Leaf offered me some fruits and mushrooms he had tucked away.
The colorful fruits looked pretty appetizing.
But just when I thought he was out of reach, here he was suddenly presenting food to me. Leaf was acting suspiciously.
━ What’s this? Why are you giving this to me?
━ Tsk, friend…
━ So you’re handing this over to become my friend?
━ Yep.
Leaf struggled to lift his body up.
With mud sticking to him and wounds all over, it looked like he had scraped himself while foraging for fruit.
Even though I’m not a demon, I felt a twinge of sympathy looking at him.
━ Why go through all this?
━ You’re quite strong, and we can communicate… hmm?
His eyes widened as they stared at me.
It seemed he had noticed the oddity of my evolved form.
━ H-have spikes sprouted? What happened? Were you a porcupine too?
━ Shush! Stop making noise.
━ Uh, okay.
Raccoon Leaf was visibly deflated.
His over-the-top cautious glances made me feel oddly sorry for him while a sadistic urge to tease him bubbled up.
━ Alright then.
━ Huh?
━ I’ll take you on as a subordinate, even if not a friend.
━ Subordinate…?
The raccoon tilted his head, confused.
I put on my best angry face.
━ Why? Don’t like it?
━ No, no! I do!
Despite the bright tone of his voice, the answer was oddly lukewarm.
Looking at me nervously, Leaf cautiously spoke up.
━ So, as a subordinate, that means we can live together…? If I lose my home, I have nowhere else to go…
Leaf scratched his head awkwardly.
Our first meeting hadn’t exactly been pleasant, and there were bits that got on my nerves, but he was the first one I had a proper conversation with since coming to this world.
I realized I hadn’t felt lonely since meeting this guy.
Of course, I was too busy trying to survive to feel lonely in the first place.
━ You can find your own food, okay?
━ O-of course! So we can live together, right? Huh?
Pressured by Raccoon Leaf, I reluctantly nodded.
It was amusing that he was asking if he could live in his own home with me.
Strong power seemed to be all that mattered in this world, with no rights or rules to follow.
I turned the conversation back to avoid the guilty feelings creeping up on me.
━ Wow, you brought back quite a haul.
I took a big bite from one of the fruits tucked under Leaf’s arm.
It was crispy and sweet, clearly well-ripened.
━ Where did you find all this?
━ There were some beyond the rocky cliffs, and the green ones like these were found around the mossy stream.
━ I see. Tastes good. Well done.
I answered vaguely since I didn’t really know where those places were. Then a thought hit me, and I asked Leaf.
━ So how long has it been since I was chased away?
━ About half a day?
━ A full half day? That means I used all my daylight?
Leaf nodded in agreement.
Looking up at the sky, it was already getting dark, indicating that a significant amount of time had passed.
‘It seems it takes about ten hours to evolve.’
After two evolution experiences, I decided I would only evolve when my safety was assured without a doubt.
Having finished eating all the fruits, I started to feel comfortably full.
The message that my experience points had increased didn’t even surprise me anymore.
I had planned to check my appearance by the stream, but with night falling, I felt sleepy and thought it best to just rest for the day.
━ It’s cramped.
━ I didn’t think we would be sharing a bed. But look, despite being so close, we’re managing fine.
Leaf chuckled as he rubbed his nose.
I sprawled out on the furry pelt of Belger that was spread on the wooden floor, gazing at the ceiling.
A stone dangled from above, emitting a soft glow.
I was full, had a sturdy house to block the wind, and I had someone to chat with, even if the conversation was trivial.
━ That’s quite a sound. How do you make that?
━ Huh?
I raised an eyebrow at Leaf’s question as we lay side by side.
It seemed I had started humming at some low frequency without realizing it.
━ Why’d you stop? Keep going. It’s making me sleepy…
Yawning wide, Leaf appeared simultaneously clever and foolish, a total enigma.
I wondered what was going through his mind.
‘Oh, right, the witch mentioned something about curses earlier.’
━ Hey…
Just as I was about to speak to him, I noticed Leaf’s body beginning to emit a soft glow, transforming unnaturally.
Leaf shook his head as he looked down at himself.
━ Is my curse triggering again? Today is the day of the double full moons, after all.
━ What’s going on? Is it bad?
I sprang up, startled.
Leaf’s fur started shedding in bizarre mutations, eliciting my mounting horror.
━ Wh-what’s happening?
━ Nothing to be startled about. This is my second ability, and a curse too…
Leaf trailed off.
It was news to me that he had a second ability.
He looked down at his fureless body, muttering somberly.
━ It’s just weird, right? To have an animal that changes shape uncontrollably…
━ Goodness…
I found myself at a loss for words. Beneath the glowing stone, Leaf’s peachy skin was revealed.
Slender limbs and a warped skeletal structure emerged.
What was finally revealed was clearly a human form.
He was still short, like he was as a raccoon.
The youthful face looked almost like that of a girl just entering puberty.
His brown hair, the same as his fur, danced just slightly below his shoulders.
His prominent collarbone and slightly rising bust were visible.
A flat stomach, a narrow waist, and the smooth area between his legs were shockingly evident to me.
I felt a great deal of guilt wash over me, turning my head away.
━ It really looks strange, doesn’t it?
━ Uh, no. Uh, um… you’re an adult, right? How old are you?
━ Obviously an adult! I’m twelve! Raccoons like me reach adulthood by five.
━ Oh, twelve, huh? So you’re all grown up? Uh-huh.
Animal age and human age are viewed differently.
Cats and dogs are considered fully grown adults around one or two years old, right?
Well, even though this raccoon says he’s twelve, he must still be quite old considering human years.
‘But still, this is surprising.’
I covered my eyes with my front paw.
Through the gaps, Leaf’s n*ked body was fully visible.
It was unmistakably human—a cute little girl.
━ Achoo!
Leaf sneezed loudly.
He shivered, looking quite cold.
Even if it wasn’t windy, the nighttime forest could be rather chilly.
If I felt that way covered in fur, there was no way Leaf, n*ked as he was, wouldn’t be cold.
━ Ugh.
He trembled, rolling up Belger’s pelt around himself.
━ Hey, if you take that all, what am I supposed to sleep on?
━ You have fur!
━ No, no, that’s not the point! …Forget it.
I was about to say something big but just held my tongue.
Seeing him as a child instead of a raccoon was imposing some unexpected consideration into my mind.
I was a man who had been brainwashed for decades to take care of children and the elderly.
That deep-seated conditioning kicked in even after transforming into a beast.
Above all, I had always found it difficult to deal with children since my human days.
I thought of them as ticking time bombs, unpredictable and impossible to manage.
━ Do you have to stay like that?
━ Well, I’ll be like this for a night. Probably will revert back by tomorrow morning.
━ What a bummer.
Swallowing my dry feelings, I crouched in a corner.
With so many complicated thoughts brewing, maybe it was best to just sleep it off.
By morning, everything would be resolved and I could start the day with a fresh mindset.
As I pondered this, I began to drift off into a haze of sleep.
Suddenly, I felt something snuggling into my arms, stirring me awake.
━ What are you doing?
━ It’s cold.
━ Am I your blanket now?
I pushed him away with my hind paw. But the more I tried to push him off, the tighter Leaf clung to me.
━ Oh, stop it, I’m not a bothersome object. Just let me stay like this for tonight. I’ll get more fruits tomorrow, I promise, okay?
━ Hmm.
A strange sense of déjà vu washed over me, reminiscent of my young sister when we used to get along before.
Her fear after watching a horror movie blended with Leaf’s warmth.
‘This little guy is like my sister. For tonight, he’s my sister.’
Giving in, I opened my arms. Leaf beamed brightly and snuggled into my embrace.
━ Ahh, I finally feel better.
Even though his appearance was that of a child, his speech and behavior were those of an old man.
I snickered quietly, closing my eyes.
━ Why did I, an animal, become a human? This is such a harsh curse. It’s called the talent of “Transformation,” right…
Raccoon Leaf chattered away in my arms.
━ Quiet.
I growled, trying to hush him.
He seemed to have something he wanted to say, but soon was mumbling and dozing off.
It was irritating that he woke me up only to fall asleep himself.
I thought about waking him up, but decided against it as I imagined he’d start bothering me once he was awake.
‘To think a beast would take on a human form. And it’s a curse…’
This made me ponder my situation as a human turned beast.
Had I received a curse too?
‘What am I exactly? Why am I here, doing this?’
What was I meant to do in this world?
Simply focusing on survival day in and day out felt like I was neglecting something great brewing beneath the surface.
The morning sun rose high in the sky.
I woke up to the noisy chirping of birds clinging to the branches.
Leaf, who had been sleeping in my arms, had disappeared from the tree house.
I couldn’t tell where he went, but he probably went off to find food.
‘Feeling quite refreshed!’
The fatigue from yesterday’s battle in the Ant Cave seemed to wash away completely.
The uncomfortable back pain from my evolution was also gone, leaving me feeling rejuvenated as if I were reborn.
Stepping outside, the fresh morning air cooled my insides pleasantly.
I felt a good day coming on.
‘What should I do today?’
Perhaps I should go find something for dinner later.
More than anything, I would need time to adjust to my new body with spikes from the evolution.
I headed for the stream to get a drink of water.
Unlike the muddy, murky water last time, today the stream was unexpectedly clear, sparkling as the bottom showed through.
‘Nice!’
I gazed at my reflection in the water.
While my appearance hadn’t changed dramatically, the horn that had popped up on my forehead had grown about an inch longer. The sharp spikes also seemed to add a rather intimidating flair.
‘How do I even use these spikes?’
I tensed my muscles.
Since no one would tell me how to control them, I had to figure it out myself.
With effort, I managed to control the spikes to stand up and lay down, just like Belger used to do.
‘Can I sh**t them like arrows?’
Thinking of how Belger shot spikes, I concentrated on trying to sh**t them out.
But no matter how hard I tried, my body wouldn’t move as I wanted.
I grew suspicious that Belger’s ability to sh**t spikes might have been some kind of special talent or skill.
Rustle.
Suddenly, I heard a soft rustling behind me as I absentmindedly stared into the water.
Watching the leaves shake, it seemed some small animal had made its appearance.
Turning around, I spotted a horned rabbit peeking curiously at me.
It looked like it had come to drink water in the morning.
It brushed past me, heading to the stream and began sipping.
‘Perfect timing!’
Feeling a bit hungry now that morning had arrived, it was a good chance to test my newly evolved strength.
I lowered my upper body while raising my hindquarters high.
Building strength in my back legs, my rear swayed side to side, shaking like a feline.
Then, impactful!
I launched off the ground, racing forward.
But at that moment, I realized something had gone awry.
My body lurched forward too much, plowing straight into the bank of the stream.
The horned rabbit hopped playfully, mocking me as it bounded away into the bushes.
Shaking my drenched body, I shook off the excess water. Droplets splashed everywhere, soaking the ground.
‘My strength has definitely increased too much. I thought I’d catch it this time.’
It seemed the problem was that my body had become too capable.
I resolved to adapt to my stronger new form as quickly as possible.
━ Puhahaha, what a dumb animal. Silly. So silly! Look at how pitifully wet you are! Is that how southern animals act?
I felt my forehead twitch as the unexpected ridicule resonated inside me.
━ And who the heck are you?
