Huey's Day
Huey, the otherworlder who had crossed over from Earth.
His day began at a rather early hour.
“Draining my energy first thing in the morning, of all things.”
Unless something unusually exhausting had come up, he would normally wake before sunrise for a light meditation. Today, however, thanks to an unexpected uninvited guest, he seemed to have decided to skip it entirely.
Instead he loosened up with a few light stretches, sat down at the desk, and settled into his proper daily routine.
“Tsk. The yellow talisman paper’s almost gone.”
First, to replenish the talismans he had used up, he pulled the bright yellow paper he called Goehwangji from his bag. Then he bit his finger and let a few drops of blood fall into the red dye he had prepared ahead of time.
“Writing on plain paper just doesn’t give the same grip… hope this lasts until I can restock.”
Gauging the remaining sheets of Goehwangji still in the bag, Huey reached into his robes and drew out a single red quill. It had been crafted from one of Ren’s feathers— the ones Luciella had once yanked out. Of the two feathers, one had been fashioned into an ordinary thin pen; the other, the one he now held, had been worked so it could serve in place of a brush. Thinking that “feather brush” might be a better name for it than “quill,” he began painting the red-dye patterns across the yellow paper.
“Hmm.”
By the time the sun rose he had drawn more than a dozen talismans.
“Ugh…”
He stretched lightly in the sunlight pouring through the window and rose from his seat.
“What am I feeding them today…”
The monologue had long since become habit. Pondering the breakfast menu, Huey stepped slowly out of the room— and sure enough, the corridor where he had dumped Marta was empty, without so much as a trace left behind. He heaved a long sigh.
“Haa…”
With familiar steps he made his way to the inn’s kitchen.
“Hello. I’m Huey— the one who asked yesterday about borrowing the kitchen for a bit.”
“Come on in!”
“Excuse me.”
“Excuse nothing! If only my own son were half as diligent as this young bachelor, I’d have nothing left to wish for!”
Fortunately the staff member Marta had run into at dawn did not appear to be the landlady standing before him. Scratching his head at her hearty laughter praising his early-morning industry, Huey answered,
“Haha. It’s become a habit by now.”
He gave the breakfast ingredients he had prepared a once-over.
“Young man. The eggs are especially good today— want some?”
“Oh, how much would that—”
“Hoho. Think of it as a gift from a meddlesome auntie!”
“…Then I’ll gratefully accept without refusing.”
Thanks to the landlady’s kindness and the eggs that came with it, the menu seemed decided. Huey set about preparing the ingredients in earnest.
Tak! Tak! Tak!
“Young man, where’d you learn to cook?”
“My parents ran a restaurant, so a little.”
“The woman who becomes your wife is going to be lucky. Hehe.”
“Ahaha.”
While answering the landlady’s occasional remarks with appropriate cheer, he kept cooking with practiced hands.
“This should be enough.”
Once he had made portions for himself, Luciella, and Ren, he cleaned the space he had used and bowed to the landlady.
“Thank you for letting me borrow the kitchen.”
“You’re welcome anytime, young man!”
Carrying the neatly plated dishes out to the first floor of the inn, he found Luciella— hair still damp from washing— tidying it up. She spotted him and waved.
“Master. Good morning. Busy from the crack of dawn again, I see.”
“Morning. Where’s Ren?”
“She’ll be out soon.”
Right on cue—
“Ugh, my head hurts.”
Ren came down the stairs, both wings wrapped protectively around the conspicuous lump on the crown of her head.
“You okay?”
“Not okay. Feels like my skull’s splitting in half…”
Looking at her, Huey seemed to recall the morning’s encounter with Marta; he awkwardly averted his gaze.
“Omelet today, huh.”
“Yeah. You can manage this much, right?”
“Yeah.”
He sat and quietly watched Ren struggle to grip the fork with both wings, then let out a soft snort of laughter.
“…Master. Your methods are getting more and more underhanded.”
Luciella, chewing her omelet beside him, jabbed him quietly in the side.
“Shut up.”
Tok.
“Ow.”
Without so much as a change of expression, Huey flicked her forehead.
“Acting hurt.”
There was, of course, a reason Luciella reacted that way.
“Coincidence. Pure coincidence.”
“Yes, yes. Of course it is.”
She had long since noticed that the frequency of dishes Ren found difficult to eat alone had been climbing lately. Watching Huey desperately insist it had simply happened by chance, she shook her head.
While the two of them traded attacks under the table—
“Hwaa, that was good.”
Ren finished her meal, set the fork on the plate, and melted back against the chair. Watching her contentedly stroke her belly with her wings, Huey quietly clenched a fist beneath the table.
“…Haa.”
Luciella sighed, regarding him with pure pity.
Once the meal was done, Huey turned to the two of them still sprawled wordlessly at the table.
“Since we’ve come all the way to a big city, how about we take it easy here for the day?”
“I’m for it.”
“I don’t particularly mind either.”
After a brief look at the two who nodded in their usual fashion, Huey rose.
“Good. I’m thinking of looking around the city a bit.”
“I’m gonna sleep more. Head hurts…”
“If you don’t specifically need me, I’ll rest with Ren as well.”
“Alright. I’ll probably be back around evening, so if you get hungry at lunch just buy something decent to eat.”
“Yeees.”
After leaving the inn, Huey began asking passersby for the location of the Adventurer’s Guild and set off in earnest.
A short while later—
“Hello.”
“Ah, welcome!”
“I’m gathering some information.”
At the reception desk of the Adventurer’s Guild not far from the inn, Huey presented his registration card and put various questions to the receptionist.
“Let’s see… information on otherworlders, treatments for memory loss, and artifacts that transform the body. These three are what you need, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Hmm… It might be difficult, but I’ll look into it for now. Could you wait a moment?”
“Please do.”
“Yes!”
Watching her back as she promised to call him once she had checked, Huey stood and scanned the request posters hanging on one wall of the guild.
“…Quite a few subjugation requests.”
Most looked newly written; almost none showed signs of having been handled by other hands. Huey was studying them with mild curiosity when a voice called from the desk.
“Huey-nim!”
He turned and walked back.
“Uh, I’m sorry, but… there’s nothing particularly helpful regarding the information you’re looking for…”
“Ahaha. Can’t be helped.”
Smiling and telling the apologetically bowing receptionist it was fine, he added,
“Well then, take care.”
He left the guild and began wandering the city without particular destination— poking around for information here and there, stopping by the market to shop, gradually piling his arms full of purchases.
“…Should head back soon.”
Looking at the load filling both hands, he thought that if he had known it would turn out like this he should have brought Luciella along. He was returning to the inn a little earlier than planned when—
CRASH!
“……”
An ominous feeling rose with the dust cloud and the roar up ahead. Huey quickened his pace.
“Fuck, are they dying to die or what.”
“Ren!”
Before long he spotted her, face grim, loosening up her body.
“What happened?”
“I woke up from a nap, went out looking for snacks, and those bastards picked a fight.”
“Lucy?”
“Dunno. She wasn’t there when I woke up.”
Answering nonchalantly, Ren started walking toward the dust.
“Hey, you lot. Say that again. Become what kind of pet?”
“H-hiiik—!”
There stood two men trembling in pure terror— arms and legs each folded the wrong way.
“…Ren.”
Finally grasping the situation, Huey quietly called her name.
“What.”
“Wrap it up before the guards come and let’s go.”
“Sure. I’ll just kill them moderately and go.”
Sighing at the clear lack of any intention to listen, he decided to pull out the secret weapon.
“I was thinking of frying up some chicken for dinner tonight.”
“—Piiit!?”
At the word chicken, Ren’s antennae-like head hairs shot straight up.
“If you don’t want it, never mind.”
“When did I say I don’t want it!?”
As if the murderous expression of a moment ago had been a complete lie, she looked at him with sparkling eyes, wings happily flapping.
“Let’s go! Hurry!”
Instead of waiting, she began shoving his still-stationary back toward the inn.
“Watch what you say when you go around.”
With a sigh of relief Huey admonished the two men who kept bowing frantically in his direction, then—
“Ah, Lucy’s coming over there too. Hey— Lucy! Huey’s frying chicken!”
“…So she went out to buy snacks as well.”
Spotting Luciella on the opposite side licking a large candy that looked sweet even from a distance, Huey sighed at Ren’s bright-faced back as she dashed toward her.
“Haa. A walking bomb, I swear.”
If Violet had witnessed the way Huey had just stopped Ren, he would have shed tears of gratitude at the discovery that someone capable of restraining her actually existed. Unaware of any such thing, Huey simply called out,
“You brats! Would it kill you to help carry the luggage!?”
And so he greeted the end of a day that was peaceful— if one could call it peaceful.