A Gentle Wake and Warmth
Rune was awake in mind, yet sleep was steadily closing in on him.
He didn’t bother fighting it. Instead, he drew a long, even breath.
“Is it really that hard?”
“Kyu.”
[……There are quite a few of them.]
Even to Rune, her reply seemed to be coming more and more slowly.
Heungmi tilted her head, then fidgeted as though lost in thought.
Baekya had already fallen asleep; every so often, a tiny sound like “pirororo……” drifted through the air.
[Even if I only knew what you truly wished for…… it would help you live the life you want. The world is very wide, and somewhere out there, surely, there’s something meant for you.]
She wasn’t gifted with the sort of lovely words that could make a child dream.
Rune didn’t know what Heungmi was thinking, but this was the best he could do.
Heard through a slightly husky voice, Heungmi murmured, almost shyly, “Rune-nim. Do you remember? Back when Heungmi hadn’t been born yet, you told me something. You said that since I’d come back to life, I should live while experiencing good things, didn’t you?”
“?”
For a moment, he didn’t understand what she meant by talking about being told things before she had been born.
Ah. The memory from the Demon Realm rose. She must have still been a seed then.
Back then, he had said it because he felt sorry for the rose sprout he had painstakingly revived, only to see it beginning to wither again.
He hadn’t expected Heungmi to still remember those words.
Just as he was sinking into that faint, lingering feeling, Heungmi asked in a pleased little murmur, “So I’m allowed to keep living like that, right?”
Hehe. Heungmi’s tail swayed gently.
“Kyuu.”
[Of course.]
Since she had been born through his power, he had grown rather attached to her in his own way.
And he truly meant it when he hoped she would go on and live happily, taking even her mother’s share of happiness with her.
“Kyu…… kyuu.”
[You should live happily.]
At the very least, he wanted her to feel that good things happened more often than hard ones in life.
Rustle.
Heungmi reached out a small hand and stroked from the imugi’s forehead up over his head.
When the touch reached him, Rune opened his eyes a crack and looked at her.
“Kyu?”
[What are you doing.]
Heungmi’s transparent rose-pink eyes sparkled as she smiled at his furrowed brow.
“I’m so, so grateful that Rune-nim hopes Heungmi will be happy. So, since I’m thankful, I’m going to praise you.”
“…….”
It was awkward, yet somehow familiar.
Thinking about it for a moment, he immediately thought of Christina.
When she praised me, she’d pat my head too. So this is her influence?
Christina praised him often and always seemed to end by ruffling his hair, so Heungmi must have learned the habit from her.
It was a little embarrassing, but in the face of a child’s pure gratitude, it was hard to be cold about it.
He waited in silence for her to take her hand away on her own.
“Rune-nim really is kind.”
“……Kyu.”
Not really. Amelia would be a better fit for that word.
It was true that he’d looked out for Heungmi in his own way, but that wasn’t because he was kind.
When he glanced at her with sleepy eyes, the fox beastkin only grinned back. She even pressed a finger into his crumpled brow and kept poking at it, saying, “Ah! Rune-nim, you can’t get wrinkles here~”
No need to insist otherwise, I guess.
A little later, when sleep had become almost impossible to resist, Rune gently took Heungmi’s hand and moved it away.
“Kyuaaahm.”
He kept yawning with no concern for dignity. Rune let his body go slack and stretched out.
[You’re too sleepy. You should go to sleep now too.]
“Yes! If you have a weird dream, Heungmi will chase it away. So don’t worry and get some sleep, Runee-nim.”
In the end, Rune let out a soft laugh.
[All right. Thanks.]
Yawns were contagious, apparently, because Heungmi yawned as well and rubbed at her eyes.
Though she could have fallen asleep in her rose form, she stubbornly crawled into the blanket as a fox beastkin instead.
Rune waited a moment, then absentmindedly tucked the blanket around her.
His thoughts wandered without form or order, but once he heard the little bird’s snores and the childlike rhythm of their breathing, the clutter in his mind began to fade away.
The black hatchling rolled over a few times, carried by a vague, unsettled feeling, and before long drifted off to sleep.
***
One day, with the sun shining warmly down.
“Kuuun……”
Rune rolled over.
Just as the faint current of air tickled him, he became aware that he was waking from sleep.
He wanted to keep lying there a little longer, to sink back into that peaceful warmth, but then something suddenly poked at his side.
“……?”
He groped at the area with a forepaw and felt something round and fluffy.
A sharp beak brushed against his thumb.
“Pirororo……”
Baekya’s beak, then.
The thought had barely formed before he pushed the bird away.
Then Heungmi rolled over as well and flopped onto Rune’s belly.
“Nyaaahm. M-meat…… please…….”
Thump, thump. Flop.
She wasn’t all that heavy, so he tried to fall asleep again with her still draped over his stomach.
If not for the damp feeling around his belly, Rune might have drifted right back into sleep.
“……Kyu?”
No way.
The ominous dampness.
And the hunch was not wrong.
When he opened his eyes a little, Heungmi was drooling and licking her lips, mumbling, “M-meat…… please…….”
You’re drooling on my stomach while you sleep?
Still not fully awake, Rune made a complicated face before grabbing her by the back of the neck and returning her to her original place.
He lay back down and closed his eyes.
Grrrumble.
“…….”
Maybe it was because Heungmi had talked about meat.
A sudden hunger washed over him.
In the end, Rune opened his eyes again and sat up, though his upper body felt leaden.
Ugh, I’m sleepy.
He was drowsy, soaked in the soft warmth of sunlight, but his body did feel a little stiff.
After sitting there dazedly for a moment, he forced strength into his wings.
Flap!
After a few quick beats, the muscles in his wings stretched out, and some of the stiffness eased away.
He pressed both forepaws against his eyes, and the pads pushed back at his eyelids with a sticky, pleasant pressure.
It feels like daytime. The light seems strong, too…… summer?
When he slowly opened his eyes, he saw a rolled-up sheet of parchment on one side.
Stamped with a seal of light mana, it was clearly something Christina had left behind.
Rune broke the seal and read the letter.
Rune, I’ve had to go out for work and won’t be around for a while. If you happen to wake up, make sure you eat in the kitchen first. I’ve left some food in the refrigerator for you.
Postscript: Ferdikion asked me to tell you to contact him first thing once he wakes. Amelia has entered sleep. Don’t go outside the lair, and even inside the lair, be sure to stay with Rai.
Judging by the letter, Christina must have been away on a long assignment.
Looking down at the cushion where he was sitting, he saw his transformation bracelet, the Mokoji Stone, and his subspace pouch laid out there.
Rune stretched until his joints popped and got to his feet.
Crack.
“Kyuuk.”
I slept well, but I’m kind of stiff.
His body had grown a little more, though not with the dramatic leap it had the first time.
What had changed a great deal instead was the inside of his body, which now had to handle mana more efficiently.
This growth seemed to be the sort meant to make mana flow smoothly through him.
Well, true, I did build up physical strength too—but the powers I gained from my abilities were so much greater.
The seals of water, fire, and darkness should never have truly awakened in the first place.
It was nice, thinking of how he could draw on that power thanks to his past-life memories, but it was still frustrating.
……Still, I wish I were a little bigger.
Whish, whish.
“Kyu!”
Whish, whish.
“Kyukyu!”
With a spirited little one-two of his forepaws, followed by a few light martial punches into the air, Rune tried to soothe his lingering disappointment.
After loosening up and gathering the things on the cushion, he glanced back at Heungmi and Baekya.
Those two…… are sleeping soundly. No need to wake them, I guess.
He didn’t know where Dullahan was, but he couldn’t sense his presence in the room.
Then again, he couldn’t have gone far. There aren’t many places Dullahan would go, so he’s probably somewhere in the lair.
“Kyu.”
Having made up his mind, Rune used spatial magic to head to the bath alone.
As soon as he arrived, he washed away his discomfort in the warm waters of the hot spring bath, and while he was there, he soaked his whole body.
Shhhhhaaah.
That feels good. Somehow, if I just use cleansing magic for this sort of thing, it leaves me feeling a little uneasy.
Magic that removed filth would have worked perfectly even if he’d gotten saliva on himself, but he still wanted to wash it away with real water.
After warming himself for a while, he finished by using a cleansing oil made from flower extracts, kept ready on one side.
The black hatchling, now carrying the scent of flowers, wagged his tail as he headed for the kitchen.
The tidy kitchen was exactly as Rune had remembered it before falling asleep.
But he immediately sensed that he had been asleep for quite a long time.
Dozens of giant clam shells, dried stiff, were stacked in layers and neatly stored away in a cabinet.
So it’s been more than ten years since I fell asleep?
After looking around, Rune opened the refrigerator.
The neatly arranged ingredients inside were completely different from the ones he’d seen before.
Convinced that the sleep period had not been short, he thought of a better way to confirm it.
Right. I can just check how many ingredients are left after sending them to Jed.
He opened his subspace pouch and checked the remaining ingredients, and his eyes blinked.
The ingredients that should have dwindled by two handfuls each year had clearly decreased by a significant amount.
Less than half is left…… at least fifty years have passed, then.
He slowly wagged his tail and looked through the refrigerator for something to eat.
As if it were evidence of steady culinary experimentation, there were foods like pumpkin cake, orange pudding, and madeleines coated in fresh chocolate.
There were white salted bread rolls for him, since he didn’t care much for sweets, as well as savory almond and peanut cookies. Even milk candy.
Every bit of food left inside was something Rune and Heungmi liked.
Looks like Christina took care of us.
No doubt Christina had prepared everything so that Rune, Baekya, and Heungmi could eat whenever they woke.
Rune took out the bread and cookies and put the salted rolls and herb loaf into the oven first.
Whirr.
In the quiet space, the only sound was the mana-powered hum of the oven turning over.
Maybe because he had grown used to always eating together, being alone felt comfortable and awkward at the same time.
The tiny hum of the magical circuit running the oven sounded strangely loud.
Ping!
When the oven stopped, Rune took out the golden-brown salted rolls and set them on a plate.
Then he set the cookie timer and tore the bread open in one long pull.
“Kyuuu.”
That smells good.
As the well-baked brown crust tore open, the white crumb inside was revealed, and a fragrant bread aroma spilled out.
Hah.
He bit into the salted roll, and the buttery scent and gentle saltiness filled his mouth along with the warm, fluffy texture.
Just then, the light spirit Rai appeared in midair, shimmering brightly as if glad to see him.
[(???ㅁ???)?]
“Kyu?”
Oh. How did this little guy even know to come here?
Rune raised one forepaw in greeting, and Rai blinked with light in rhythm with the movement.
Ping!
Then the oven chimed, signaling that the cookies were done baking.
A sweet cookie fragrance drifted pleasantly through the room.
Using tongs, Rune moved the vanilla cookies and butter cookies onto a plate, then gazed absentmindedly at the oven, which was still exhaling heat.
And then he realized something and gave the tongs a little shake.
Ah. It must have sensed the oven being used and come over.
The oven was powered by the mana of Christina’s lair, so Rai had certainly felt the flow of mana.