EP.22 Hraesvelgr -4
EP.22 Hraesvelgr -4
The next morning.
Maybe because so many exhausting things had piled up one after another yesterday, I didn't exactly feel refreshed.
Still, I stretched as best I could and tried to start the day on a good note.
Yet for some reason, a shadow had fallen over my vision.
"Mmm...?"
"Oh my! You're awake? Would you like breakfast first? Or shall we wash up at the lakeside? If not that...! Perhaps a mating session with me...?"
The sight of a beautiful platinum-blonde beauty straddling me, stark naked.
I had absolutely no idea what was going on.
To make matters worse, maybe because I'd just woken up, my brain couldn't get a grip on the situation quickly.
Just how was I supposed to make sense of this...?
I was at a loss, completely flustered, when—
A familiar foot came flying at the woman on top of me and kicked her right off.
"Stop making a scene first thing in the morning, old lady."
"Ack! What do you mean, making a scene! It's morning, so I'm just giving a little seduction, okay?"
"That's what we call making a scene."
"Tch!"
Only then did I fully come to my senses and remember everything that had happened yesterday.
That had been dangerous. I'd briefly forgotten that the platinum-blonde woman was Hraesvelgr.
If it hadn't been Hraesvelgr, any man would have given in to the temptation of such a lovely beauty.
I had to stay on guard and be careful.
"Anyway, Yata."
"Why'd you call?"
"Where did Miho go?"
Normally when something like this happened, Miho was the one who stepped up first to rein things in.
This time, however, the one who blocked her wasn't Miho but Yata, and Miho wasn't even in sight.
Naturally, I couldn't help but be curious.
"The fox woke up early in the morning and went far away. She said she was going to prepare my husband's breakfast."
"She went far away... for my meal?"
"Yeah, she said she had to replenish your stamina properly and went to look for ingredients you can't find around here."
"Why the sudden need for stamina replenishment?"
"Wouldn't my husband know best why the fox did that?"
"Ah..."
The events of last night suddenly flashed into my mind.
Just as Yata said, I had held Alice yesterday.
I'd failed to overcome my instincts as a man.
And this meant Miho also knew that fact...
I was fu—I was fucked!
"Don't worry. The fox won't get angry just because you were with the rabbit once."
"R-Really?"
"Yes. In exchange, though, you'd better be prepared to be the fox's baby dispenser tonight."
In the end, doomsday had arrived.
A reality where a single impulsive act brought death.
Truly miserable...
"Seon-ju! If you're doomed to get squeezed dry and die anyway, won't you do it with me once too?"
"The old lady really has no sense of tact."
"Does tact feed a man? Acting all prim and proper is how I ended up like this!"
"Good heavens...! Pulling out facts so bluntly that even I can't refute you!"
"If you get it now, then shut your mouth and keep quiet! Crow!"
Leaving the two Divine Beasts chatting noisily since morning, I stepped outside the nest.
The moment I came out, two more Divine Beasts were there to greet me.
Tia, making a snowman with her little hands pat-pat-pat, and Alice, who had been playing along with the girl.
Tia greeted me with a bright, innocent smile, but Alice had her eyes cast down, looking dejected as if plagued by guilt.
Given that she was a rabbit with excellent hearing, she must have heard the conversation inside the nest.
She had heard that I was going to suffer because I'd lain with her, and she was feeling sorry.
She really doesn't need to be that sorry...
I knew that Alice, in heat, had been subtly tempting me.
But I could have perfectly well pretended not to notice and escaped.
Yet the one who fell for her seduction was none other than me.
The one who let out his lust without any principles was also me, so there was no particular need for Alice to agonize over guilt.
So I approached her and gently patted her head.
"Alice, you don't have to make that face. I don't regret it."
"I'm sorry, Boss! It was my fault...! I'll do anything to be forgiven, so please don't hate me!"
"Why would I hate you?"
"But because of me alone, the fox is going to...!"
"It's absolutely not because of you. Falling for it was my fault. So I ought to take responsibility for it. Besides, at worst, I just have to suffer for one night tonight, right?"
"But still, in the end, only Boss ends up going through hardship, doesn't he?"
"Even so, I'm not going to die, am I? So let's stop with that expression. Seeing you greet me with a smile makes me happier than a gloomy face."
"Okay, I got it...!"
At last, a curve was drawn across Alice's lips, and I found myself smiling naturally as well.
It was a sentiment I'd felt last night too, but Alice was indeed prettiest when she smiled.
Maybe because she always wore an expressionless face, the occasional smile felt all the more charming?
I didn't quite know about that, but in any case, I wanted the rabbit to smile more and more often.
Just like the baby dragon coming up and clinging to me.
"Yuu! Me too, pat-pat!! Give me pat-pats!!"
"Sure, sure."
"Ehehe!!"
With the ever-cheerful Tia joining us, a more harmonious atmosphere than ever was formed.
To the point where I could stop worrying about things in the future.
"You're all having a lovely display of affection this morning, aren't you? Dear husband...?"
"Hic—!"
A voice bristling with thorns.
It instantly froze the warm atmosphere cold and sent my body trembling on its own.
The chill and the oppressive pressure that stifled my breath from behind.
It was the arrival of the fox who demonstrated what terror was.
"M-Miho! This is, well...!"
"I know. Isn't it just the kind of physical affection my husband often does normally? Am I wrong?"
"No! You're right!!"
"If it's that kind of thing, then even I don't really feel jealous."
"R-Really?"
"Yes! After all, you'll do it for me too, won't you? Right?"
"Of course!"
The moment I reached out my hand to Miho to pat her head as well—
Grab! Miho snatched my hand and squeezed it tight.
Her grip was so powerful that my wrist hurt.
If she put just a little more force into it, my wrist just might be crushed.
"Right now is fine! I'll accept this kind of physical affection later, when night comes."
"A-At night...?"
"Yes! I'll be patient and wait until then. In exchange, you have to pat me a whole lot, as much as I've held back yesterday and today? Here and there, that is...♡"
The whole time, Miho looked at me with eyes that were both murderous and lewd.
At the fearsome spirit contained in that gaze, I had no choice but to sink to my knees.
I'd told Alice it was fine, confidently, but...
Tonight, I might really die...?
Day two on the snowy mountain.
According to the contract formed with Hraesvelgr, Tia's training was scheduled during the daylight hours.
As a Great Divine Beast possessing a similar ability, Hraesvelgr would have much to teach Tia.
I was about to send her off with a word of encouragement to do her best, but...
"What's this seeing me off? You have to go too."
"What...?"
"I heard from the crow that you can use the same ability as the baby dragon. So naturally, you have to come along as well."
"W-Well, that may be true, but even if it's the same ability, I'm just borrowing the power, so compared to you two, I'm ridiculously weak, you know?"
"Doesn't matter. What I intend to focus on teaching isn't wind output, but its application. So keep quiet and follow me!"
"Urk?!"
"Yuu too, together!!"
Kidnapped by Hraesvelgr, I ended up accompanying them as part of the training party.
A training journey forced upon me, riding on the eagle's back.
I was still dazed about why I had to join the training, but regardless, the eagle and the dragon were each having a great time.
"Ahh! To think a young male is riding on my back...!!"
Hraesvelgr was enjoying herself, showing her unchanging old-maid side.
"Heu-heu-heung~!!"
Tia was simply humming to herself on my lap, perhaps happy just to be together with me.
I'd been very flustered by the sudden kidnapping, but I decided to find reassurance in the fact that Tia was with me.
"So, where are we going?"
"We won't go too far. There's a place with a wide plain, two mountains over from where my nest is."
"Can't we train on the mountain?"
"It doesn't matter, but to minimize destruction to nature, we're heading somewhere without terrain features if possible."
"For that reason, I guess it can't be helped."
Even if it was a snowy mountain, there were plenty of lifeforms like trees and wild animals inside it.
Even worse, there was a village where people lived behind the area where the nest was, so heading far away was certainly a good choice.
Because if an avalanche struck again like last time from the aftermath of the training, innocent people would be the ones suffering damage.
"Then is this plain we're heading to now a place where no lifeforms live at all?"
"Mmm... There is exactly one living there."
"Just one?"
"Yes. A Divine Beast that turned the wide plain into its own territory, settled in so that no other lifeform but itself can live."
"Then wouldn't we also be unable to go?"
"It's fine! I just have to ask to borrow the place for a moment!"
"They might not permit it, you know?"
"You seem to have forgotten for a moment, but I'm a Great Divine Beast even as you see me! If I say I'll borrow it for a moment, would there be any Divine Beast that wouldn't lend it?"
"You say you're a Great Divine Beast, but what you're doing is practically a thug."
"Hah! Don't mind the trivial things! What's important is your training and that baby dragon's training, isn't it?"
It certainly was.
As someone in the position of receiving teaching from a Great Divine Beast, it was ridiculous to nitpick her every action.
Gently following her words for now would be the right behavior as the learner, I suppose.
"We've arrived."
"Oh...!"
In not even five minutes, the place we'd reached had a beautiful snowy-plain landscape.
A snowfield where a vast field of snow stretched, with only the sun high in the sky and the snowy mountain standing far in the distance.
It was such a pristine place without a single mark that I wasn't sure I dared to leave my own footprints here.
"Halt!"
The moment I was about to dismount from Hraesvelgr's back and land—
A sabre tiger with blue-hued fur and a dignified voice approached us.
A ferocious blade-toothed tiger whose fangs were formed of ice.
It seemed to look unfavorably upon our visit.
"I am Smilodon, the Divine Beast who rules this snowfield zone! Who are you lot!"
"Hraesvelgr."
"Hraesvelgr? Why has the Great Divine Beast of the North brought a human and a baby dragon to this place?"
"Training."
"Training? From the looks of it, you appear to be a human and a Divine Beast bonded to him by a companion contract, and you've come to train them? Are you properly versed in the Divine Beast Rules? Hraesvelgr?"
"I don't care about those."
"You foolish old hag!! Do you indeed intend to break the Divine Beast Rules as well...!!"
But Smilodon's last words could not continue.
Along with a single gust of wind, the sabre tiger's head was lopped clean off, separated from its body...
Hraesvelgr had instantly slain a single Divine Beast.
There may have been various reasons why she killed Smilodon, but if one had to name the most likely motive for murder, it was that Smilodon had called Hraesvelgr an 'old hag'.
It meant that anyone who touched the Great Divine Beast's temper couldn't live peacefully.
"Now then! Shall we start the training?"
"Um, big sis? Was it really okay to kill that Divine Beast?"
"It's fine!"
"But then doesn't that mean you also broke the Divine Beast Rules, big sis?"
"Oh my? That's right? It can't be helped! Since it's come to this, I've got no choice but to become Seon-ju's Companion Animal? Right~?"
"..."
Just why is it that every Great Divine Beast I've met is exactly in this shape and this state?
That's probably the world's greatest mystery, I'd say.