Chapter 205
Chapter 205
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Wolf Girl (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Brrrreeee.”
The wolf girl chewed what was in her mouth and spat it out onto her palm.
Tok.
It was a bead retaining a mysterious and crystalline glow.
Covered in clear saliva, it trailed a long string as it settled onto Perrin's palm.
“Hmm…!”
Rishir felt the familiar hairball(?) creation process strangely unfamiliar for some reason.
Was it because it had been so long?
Ah.
No.
There was another reason.
“Perrin, you…—”
He had witnessed the process of Perrin producing a hairball(?) countless times—
But every single time, it had been in her wolf form.
This was the first time he had seen her create one in human form, like now.
“What's with the sudden surprise? Forgot about my constitution just because it's been a while?”
Seemingly displeased with Rishir's reaction during their long-awaited reunion, her attitude was quite prickly.
The wolf's tail bristled sharply.
Grrr.
It felt as though such a growl emanated from her crumpled expression.
“No, how could I forget. What I mean is— is it okay for you to do that in this form now? We talked about it before.”
“What talk?”
“That the human form still felt unfamiliar, and just staying in it was exhausting. That in human state, you didn't want to do anything.”
“…Ah, come to think of it.”
After a brief moment of contemplation, Perrin recalled and nodded.
She huffed and turned her head away.
“What, you remember even such trivial stuff? It's annoying.”
Contrary to her prickly demeanor, her tail swayed gently in a pleased rhythm.
Rishir smiled wryly, having unintentionally glimpsed the prickly girl's true feelings, and continued.
“Looks like you've gotten a lot more used to that form now?”
Rishir looked the wolf girl up and down.
Perrin, who once shunned her natural state as stuffy and pursued her instincts, was now properly dressed like the other tower apprentices.
In her uniform with a gray cape draped over it, she looked every bit the Gray Tower apprentice.
“No? It's not comfortable at all. It's driving me crazy.”
Perrin recoiled as if the clothes enveloping her body were foreign invaders rather than fabric.
However, Rishir knew better.
‘With Perrin's personality, if it were truly uncomfortable, she'd have shredded those clothes to rags and strutted around naked by now.’
More than anything, that tail.
Even as her frantically wagging tail repeatedly bumped against her clothes, Perrin showed no sign of caring.
A sensitive half-spirit who, above all else, despised the purest things.
Wondering if perhaps, Rishir asked.
“Those clothes. Did Master Didoa make them for you?”
“...”
Uh.
Perrin swallowed the casual retort she had been about to spit out.
—Perrin. What do you think about trying on this outfit?
—Fuck that.
—Not to your liking, huh. I infused some of Rishir's aura into the fabric, just in case.
—...Fine, since you put in the effort, I'll at least try it on.
She held back, fearing that agreeing would reveal the real reason she had ended up wearing clothes.
“Nothing for you to know.”
Perrin spat the words while averting her gaze.
“Yeah? Guess I won't then. Anyway— they suit you well.”
“So what? Who asked for your opinion?”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Rishir studiously ignored the tail thrashing wildly, nearly whipping up a gale.
‘Anyway—’
Rishir took in Perrin's appearance once more.
Watching the half-spirit, who had once rejected the entire world and even loathed herself, smoothly blending into society filled him with fresh emotions.
“What? Why the sudden grinning?”
“Seeing you doing well just makes me happy. How's Master Didoa?”
“No idea. But she'd be over the moon to see you.”
“Haha. I'm flattered.”
‘She’ too.
Rishir decided not to call out the unconscious slip in Perrin's words.
He had no idea what kind of chaos pointing it out might unleash.
“...”
At that moment.
The wolf girl looked down at her hand again.
At the bead resting upon it.
“What're you waiting for? Take it.”
Perrin extended her hand, prodding Rishir.
It was the reward for the praiseworthy master who had selected all the correct dialogue options.
“Y-yeah, right. Since you're giving it to me, I gratefully accept...!”
To live up to the subtle anticipation gleaming in the wolf girl's eyes, Rishir snatched the bead without a second thought about the slick saliva.
And so.
Just as the long-reunited pair were exchanging these arcane rewards—
“Palrag.”
A few steps away from the two.
The gray girl muttered blankly to the elderly man beside her.
“Is what I'm seeing real?”
“What do you think you're seeing?”
“...Something that's neither spirit nor human, expelling a core brimming with incredibly pure energy and gifting it to someone else.”
“Hmm. Seems you're seeing it correctly. That's exactly what I'm seeing too.”
“...”
Despite Palrag's agreement, Remier only frowned deeper.
Right before her eyes, the very laws of the world were being defied, yet Palrag's tone was utterly mundane.
As if such occurrences were entirely plausible.
“Hmm... as expected...”
Meltas took it a step further.
He nodded as if everything made perfect sense now.
“A core made with Rishir's energy truly is different...”
Remier briefly wondered if Meltas was speaking in tongues.
She couldn't comprehend the meaning at all.
Composing herself, Remier called out to Rishir.
“Rishir! What is that child!?”
“Ah. Allow me to introduce her. This is Perrin.”
“And!?”
“And...”
Rishir glanced at Perrin's expression.
Perrin, who despised her own identity as a half-spirit.
He figured she wouldn't appreciate him sharing details about her with others.
“What? Am I something embarrassing?”
But to his surprise.
Perrin prodded him to answer instead.
Her face even held a playful glint.
As if the past held no weight for her anymore.
“...”
A pleased smile tugged at Rishir's lips.
Suppressing the impulse to stroke the wolf girl's head, he turned to Remier.
“The Tower Lord has probably already surmised, but this child is a half-spirit.”
“...?”
No.
I have no idea?
What even is a half-spirit?
I get that it's some mix of spirit and something else, but why does it exist?
Remier felt a momentary daze at Rishir casually presenting an alien concept as everyday knowledge.
“The elves' princess entrusted a spirit to a human like you...?”
“Researching with that spirit core in the tower...? What are you talking about? The spirit core is right there with Rishir...?”
And with every word that followed, Remier's confusion didn't clear—instead, it only deepened.
That day.
In the end, the Gray Tower Lord, her questions unresolved, had no choice but to remain in the tower.
The moment Remier's temporary stay in the tower was settled.
The first place she headed was her own office.
‘Just how is the tower being run...?’
To learn how the once-empty Gray Tower had transformed into a mystical hub teeming with wondrous beings—and the circumstances behind it.
From the tower's current acting lord, Dmear.
“Is that all you plan to ask the deputy tower lord?”
Palrag, walking alongside her, asked Remier.
“Of course. What else would there be?”
“Remier. Surprisingly, you are the tower lord. Don't you have a duty to assess the tower's affairs?”
“Yes, I know. That's precisely why I created Dmear.”
Dmear.
Among the countless dolls Remier had crafted, she was a true masterpiece.
In terms of bodily perfection alone, she surpassed even the current body Remier inhabited.
It spoke volumes about how dearly Remier cherished—and took pride in—Dmear.
“Dmear is a doll modeled after my younger self. With her perfectly handling the tower lord duties, wouldn't my sudden appearance and meddling just disrupt things?”
“Hmm.”
An artificial being standing in as tower lord.
Impossible under normal circumstances—but
if it was a doll fashioned after the Wandering Star's own youth, that changed everything.
Palrag nodded, convinced.
“True. Your younger self... would lack nothing in leading the tower.”
“Speaking of which— Meltas?”
“Yes, Tower Lord.”
“How have things been in the tower lately?”
“Frankly, quite precarious. The deputy tower lord even contemplated granting honorary mage titles to wealthy patrons, like other towers do.”
“Of course... what!?”
Remier had braced for an answer like “Perfectly smooth, without a hitch.” Her eyes widened.
“Precarious? In what regard?”
“Across the board. Financially, in particular, it was dire.”
“Past tense. So it's resolved now?”
“Largely thanks to Rishir.”
“That name pops up again?”
“Countless merchants sponsored us after hearing Rishir's name. And the spirit core from Perrin you just witnessed—research on it is drawing massive external attention right now.”
“...”
Remier felt utterly bewildered.
Should she marvel that this enigmatic creature had saved the tower in crisis?
Or lament that her masterpiece, modeled after her youth, had fallen short?
“Remier?”
The gray girl.
Her pace quickened.
Reaching her destination, she threw open the office door without a moment's hesitation.
No need for knocking.
The doll modeled on her younger self would maintain flawless poise in any situation—
“Rainbow cake~ How are you always so delicious, no matter how much I eat~?”
Deputy tower lord Dmear.
She sat at the desk, beaming happily as she addressed someone—or something.
A prettily plated rainbow-hued cake.
Her words rang true; rainbow cream already smeared her lips.
“...”
Palrag and Meltas stared, stunned, for a beat.
“Remier. Your younger self... well, put it this way: brimming with vitality, wasn't she?”
“...”
The tower lord's pupils quivered mercilessly.
The Gray Tower's seven great legends.
Proudly claiming one exalted spot among them: the legendary figure herself.
The Gray Tower Lord.
She had returned to the tower—and decided to stay awhile!
The staggering news spread like wildfire throughout the entire tower.
“Guys, guys! You hear that!? The tower lord's here right now!!!”
“My goodness, for real!?”
“I-I've never laid eyes on the tower lord even once!!!”
“Me neither!!!”
The apprentices.
And even—
“Master Marina. Did you hear?”
“What? If it's the tower lord— yes, already heard.”
“Oh? You knew?”
“Yeah. Talked to Meltas before heading here.”
“Hm? Master Marina, seriously? The tower lord's back?”
“Even so, she'll probably jet off again like always, right?”
“Surprisingly, no departure planned for today.”
“Well, damn. Wonders never cease.”
Thus, news of the master's return astonished not just the apprentices, but even the composed masters.
Then, at that moment.
“Everyone! Did you hear!?! ”
“Yes. We were just discussing it.”
“Yes!? But you all seem so calm!?”
“Haha, hardly. We're pretty shocked ourselves. The tower lord lingering in an 'observable' state, of all things.”
“Yes? The tower lord returned?”
“Hm? Weren't we talking tower lord?”
“If not the tower lord, then what—”
“Oh, uh— Master Didoa says Rishir's back!”
“What!?! ”
The masters' eyes bulged, their prior refined surprise forgotten.