The Silver Wolf (1)
Canna gazed at Ariel's sleeping face as if bewitched. An elf, after all — she was almost unfairly lovely, pretty enough that simply looking at her lifted the mood. If anything, the sleeping face was prettier than the waking one. Awake, Ariel was so blank it was a little hard to approach; asleep, she was cute as an angel.
"Heh..."
Canna fidgeted with her fingers, hesitating. If she did it now, couldn't she touch Ariel's cheek just once?
No... I have to ask first. She might think it's rude...
And yet. What if she didn't wake? The lightest touch, so light even Ariel wouldn't know?
Someone had once told Canna this:
If you don't get caught, it never happened.
The one who'd said it was Jack — the village's foremost weasel, and the mastermind of Ariel's kidnapping — but none of that mattered to Canna now.
As long as I don't get caught.
In the end she reached out and poked Ariel's cheek.
It sank in, absurdly soft. Plush and yielding, like a fresh rice cake.
Aaah... this is it...
Canna shivered in pure bliss — and in that instant, Ariel opened her eyes.
"Hhk!"
Canna nearly jumped out of her skin. Ariel stared at her, steady and blank.
"I-I-it's not— I mean— the bathwater was getting cold... and if you sleep in here you'll catch a cold, so..."
While Canna scrambled for an excuse, Ariel rose from the tub and headed straight for the bathhouse door, her steps just a little hurried.
"A-Ariel!"
Canna caught her by the shoulder. She couldn't let her walk out like this. There were people outside, and Ariel didn't have a single stitch on.
"You have to put clothes on."
She dried Ariel's body with a towel. For Canna, it was an enormous reward. Coming boldly into the bathhouse really had been the best decision of her life.
Ariel quietly gave herself over to Canna's hands. She'd gone meek all of a sudden. Canna had no way of knowing, but Ariel was embarrassed. Game character or not, being seen naked by Canna was a little mortifying.
"All right, arms up."
Canna dressed her as well. Ariel's usual adventurer's clothes were in the wash, so she put her in her own nightclothes.
"Hmm. A little big, like I thought."
Canna's nightclothes hung loose on Ariel. The sleeves swallowed her hands, and the shoulder slipped just a bit.
This is it.
Canna nodded, satisfied. In truth she had chosen the nightclothes for Ariel with great care, and she had fully expected this fit. And just as she'd imagined, Ariel looked unbearably cute.
"Ehehe."
Watching that sly little laugh, Ariel felt a chill she couldn't explain.
Ariel, who had slept the day away sprawled in the inn room, didn't wake until the next morning. Something was in the way. She looked beside her and found Canna clinging to her tight.
Ariel had been asleep and couldn't have known, but the night before Lou had drunk himself stupid with the villagers until late, and in the end he'd passed out completely — Canna had to haul him back to the room. And while she was bringing him in, she found Ariel asleep in her nightclothes... Unable to resist the temptation, she had pulled Ariel into a tight embrace and fallen asleep that way.
Ariel shifted Canna aside and sat up. Outside the window, the sun was rising. Just before she'd drifted off the day before, she'd wondered whether waking might mean she'd returned to reality — but apparently not. It was still the world inside the game. Well, that wasn't particularly anything. No need to overthink it. If she could keep adventuring, that was enough.
She took off Canna's nightclothes and changed into her own, hanging on the wall. Thanks to Canna's careful washing the day before, they smelled nice. She folded the borrowed nightclothes neatly.
"Mmm..."
That was when Canna woke. Rubbing her eyes, she glanced around as if she couldn't understand why she was here, then her face went ah and she looked at Ariel.
"A-Ariel. Sorry. I was bringing Lou back and I just... fell asleep here. I was so tired. Was I a huge bother?"
Passing off what she'd done on purpose as an accident, Canna watched Ariel's face. Normally she would never lie, but faced with desire she was only human after all. Fortunately, Ariel didn't seem to mind.
Ariel handed the nightclothes back. Canna took them and asked,
"You're leaving now?"
"Yeah."
"I see... Right. You said you two were on an adventure."
Canna felt the loss, but she couldn't hold Ariel back. There was no chance Ariel would settle in Harrington Village, and she'd said from the start that she'd stay one night and go.
"Oh — before you leave, I have something for you. Wait just a second. I'll get it ready right away."
With that, Canna scurried out of the room.
Ariel left the room only after Lou woke. Hungover and miserable, he swayed on his feet, then made healing powder, smeared it over himself, and tossed some into his mouth as well. In no time he was bright as ever.
"Let's head out, Big Sis!"
Shouting it, he scrambled up onto Ariel's shoulder.
When Ariel stepped out, Canna was waiting at the inn counter.
"Here."
She held out a large paper bag.
"A present."
Ariel opened it. Inside, packed full, were the cream bread Ariel loved and the fruit wine Lou loved.
"It's from the villagers. Don't refuse it. Just take it."
She hadn't been planning to refuse anyway.
"Whoa~!"
Lou lit up at the fruit wine, and Ariel put the entire bag into her Inventory. Once inside, the cream bread and the fruit wine would stay exactly as they were. She could take them out whenever she wanted them on the road.
A rare smile bloomed at the corner of Ariel's mouth. It was so faint you'd miss it if you weren't looking closely, but Canna saw it.
"A-Ariel... you like it?"
Something welled up in her for no good reason, and her eyes went wet. Ariel, whose reactions had been so lukewarm all along, actually liked it. Canna was so moved she could hardly hold the tears back.
Ariel didn't understand why Canna was crying, but it nagged at her somehow. Wondering if she had anything to give, she pulled a necklace from her Inventory and hung it around Canna's neck — a necklace strung from animal bones, taken from the one the Goblin King had worn.
"......!"
Canna flinched. A necklace of animal bones. Unsettling. Frightening. But Ariel had given it to her, so she had to manage her face. She forced a smile.
"Th-this... you're giving it to me?"
"Yeah."
"Th-thank you..."
The forced smile made the corners of her mouth tremble, but Ariel didn't notice even that. She simply turned and walked without stopping all the way to the village palisade. Only after the man on watch opened the gate did she look back.
By then the villagers had gathered to see Ariel and Lou off. Jack's crew was nowhere in sight, but the village chief, his daughter Daisy, and Canna were all watching Ariel with regret written plain on their faces. An awkward silence hung — then Canna called out, voice thick.
"Ariel...! Come visit again! You hear me? You have to!"
That opened the floodgates. The villagers spoke one after another.
"That's right, Lady Ariel! Come by whenever you like! You're the benefactor of our village!"
"Sir Lou! Next time, let's drink our fill again!"
"Please take care of yourselves!"
At their fervent send-off, Lou waved with tears streaming down his face.
"Kuhk... take care...! We'll definitely come back!"
Ariel gave the villagers a small wave of her own, then turned and walked on.
And with that, Ariel's adventure began again.
Leaving Harrington Village, Ariel set her destination as a city. She meant to go see how people lived there, and to sell monster corpses as well. There was no rush, so their pace was endlessly slow. They strolled and took in the scenery, and when hunger struck she pulled cream bread from her Inventory — simply savoring the unhurried hours.
"Nnngh..."
Lou, drunk on fruit wine since broad daylight and sprawled over a rock, muttered.
"Big Sis... I smell something..."
Ariel had her feet in the lakeshore, staring blankly at the sky. At his words she tilted her head. Whatever smell he meant, she couldn't tell.
"Mmm. I'm sure..."
Lou pushed himself up, swaying, and dumped a handful of the healing powder he'd prepared into his mouth. When Ariel walked up from the shore, he was clear-headed again. Eyes narrowed, he looked toward the far side of the forest.
"There's a reek of blood nearby, Big Sis. Want to go take a look?"
Ariel nodded. If blood hung that thick in the air, a fight had likely broken out close by. And of all the things worth watching, a fight was still the most fun.
They climbed into the trees, hid their presence, and approached the source of the smell. The closer they drew, the more the blood-scent reached Ariel as well. Sounds like beasts howling — kyaaak, kyaooo — carried through the woods.
A short while later they arrived. Hidden high in a tree, they looked down, and there was definitely a battle underway. Green-skinned orcs, and a wolf with silver fur. The orcs numbered in the dozens. The silver wolf fighting them was alone.
"Ooh."
Lou said it from his seat on Ariel's shoulder.
"That silver wolf — that's one incredible spirit beast."
Ariel didn't really know, but she felt she could agree. The silver fur had a mysterious air, and the body was far larger than an ordinary wolf's.
"But it's a bit of a shame..."
Lou's voice darkened. Around the silver wolf lay the corpses of other silver wolves — seven in all. They were very small. Still pups, by the look of them. The young were soaked in blood, every one of them dead.
"At a glance, the orc pack killed the pups, and the mother's putting up a desperate last stand."
Ariel watched the silver wolf fighting the orcs in silence. Just as Lou said, she was fighting with everything she had, without a thought for her own body, throwing herself recklessly at the pack. Wolves are calm beasts by nature, but with her pups gone there was no way she could keep her reason.
The outcome was obvious. A few orcs lay on the ground with their throats torn out, but far more were still able to fight. At last an orc's swinging axe caught the silver wolf, and she collapsed in a heap. The pack rushed in so she couldn't rise again, trampling and kicking her without mercy. Whimpering — kyaeng, kyaeng — she lay on the ground panting, as if she no longer had the strength to stand. Even so, her eyes, brimming with rage, still glared at the orcs.
One orc cackled, planted a foot on her neck, and raised his axe high.
"That's the end."
Lou tossed it out flatly. The fight was over. The moment the orc brought the axe down, the silver wolf would follow her pups to the other side, and all of their bodies would become orc rations. Bitter, but nothing to be done. It was the way of nature.
It was the very instant the orc brought the axe down. Ariel murmured, low.
"Shield."
Shield