Chapter 73: Five Tails
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 73: Five Tails
It felt like waking up from a very long sleep.
How should I put it? It was like Snow White, after being stabbed by a dwarf, was woken up not by a prince's kiss, but by the queen's.
If you don't understand what that bullshit means, then you've understood it perfectly. Because it means I don't have a clue what's going on either.
"Ugh."
I struggled to lift my stiff body. Clutching my dizzy head, I looked around.
On the side table was an incense candle smelling of herbal medicine. The room itself looked just like an inn from a martial arts story; a single glance told me this was Yuhwa's Celestial Pavilion.
Why was I here? I vaguely remembered being struck by a Blood Wolfman's claws in the Forest of the Crimson Night. After that, the film cut out.
If so, Rin must have brought me to the Celestial Pavilion, thinking Yuhwa could heal me. That seemed like the most plausible explanation.
"Hahh..."
A sigh escaped my lips as I got out of bed. My legs had no strength in them, as if I'd been lying in bed for weeks.
‘Was it because I was stabbed in the stomach?’
Lifting my shirt slightly, I saw a gruesome scar on the left side of my abdomen. No wonder I had no strength.
Still, for the wound to heal completely in a single day... As expected, whatever else she might be, Yuhwa was ridiculously skilled when it came to magic.
‘I hope my Rin can become like that soon.’
I straightened my clothes, somehow managed to crawl out of bed, and went outside. It was a separate area for guests. The atmosphere was strangely quiet.
I glanced around and simply walked where my feet took me. As I wandered through the merchant group's quarters, I found not dog meat... but Hoyeon.
"Hoyeon."
"M-Master Karami?"
Having passed Yuhwa's test, I'd received a free pass to the Celestial Pavilion. Thanks to that, I could be considered something of a VIP here.
But for some reason, the way Hoyeon looked at me wasn't like he was seeing a VIP, but a tiger that had just seen a ghost.
"You're awake!"
"Yes, well. Since I'm awake, I'd be walking around, wouldn't I?"
And he was making such a fuss. Anyone would think a man in a coma had just woken up.
"How are you feeling? Are you okay?"
"It feels a little strange, but there are no problems."
"That's a huge relief. Ah, the Elder said to bring you to her immediately if you woke up. I'll guide you."
"That's alright. It's not like this is my first or second time here. You must be busy, so please get back to your work."
I skillfully found my way to Yuhwa's office, the sky. Yuhwa's magic had only been tricky on my first visit; after that, it had stayed right where it was supposed to be.
Only for me and Rin, that is. Sometimes we'd walk the same path as the staff, only to find that we were the only ones who had arrived properly. She showed no mercy, not even to her own employees.
‘If she keeps that up, she'll get dementia for real and regret it when she's stuck alone for the rest of her life.’
Of course, I hoped she'd live a long and healthy life, at least until Rin became a gumiho.
Lost in my idle thoughts, I soon arrived in front of the office. I opened the door, and the familiar sky greeted me. Yuhwa drinking tea on a cloud completed the set.
"Celestial Fox."
"Hoh, so you've finally woken up."
"It's all thanks to your treatment, Celestial Fox. I'm in your debt. By the way, where is Rin? I didn't see her in the room. Is she here?"
"She is. She was training. It happens to be almost over..."
Yuhwa's words trailed off. It was only for an instant, but I didn't miss her pupils shifting to look behind me. Rin was clearly about to play a prank on me from behind.
Tap.
A soft, smooth feeling covered my eyes, and my vision went dark. See? Rin was playing another prank... Wait.
‘Her hands feel a little big.’
Besides, at Rin's height, she'd have to jump to cover my eyes, but these hands were steady and unmoving, as if extended from a standing position.
"Guess who~?"
This voice was also similar to Rin's, yet subtly different. A bit more mature? It felt like the voice Rin would have when she grew up, but it didn't suit her right now.
"...Who are you?"
"It's been a while since I've heard Master's voice, and that's how you react? Rin is hurt, you know?"
"Rin...?"
"Wrong."
The hands covering my vision fell away, and my body was spun around. Before me stood a pink-hued fox girl.
"The correct answer is the most lovable Rin in the world."
Swaying her five tails.
*
"So, you're saying I collapsed not yesterday, but a month ago."
"That's about right."
Unlike me, who was in deep shock, Yuhwa leisurely sipped her tea as if it were nothing. Seriously, there are just too many races with a poor sense of time around here.
‘Still, a whole month...’
It still didn't feel real. I'd wondered why my legs were so shaky, but it would have been stranger to walk normally after lying in bed for a month.
No, my shaky legs were no problem at all. Not compared to Rin, who was clinging to me with her arm linked through mine.
Five pink tails swayed behind her. I had collapsed and woken up to find Rin had become a five-tailed fox. The once-pudgy Rin had shot up and become a proper young lady.
About the age of a middle schooler?
It's good that Rin has grown.
She'd grown up to be both cute and very pretty.
But... but...!
‘I wanted to see Rin grow up, too!’
This sense of loss was beyond words. It was comparable to losing one's country, or perhaps even worse.
Rin suddenly thrust her face into my line of sight.
"So? Master. Rin's grown a lot, right? She's gotten much prettier, right?"
"Not 'Master,' but 'Mastah'..."
"Kihi. Master, that's such an old way of speaking. That was from when Rin was suuuper young."
"No, it was only a month ago..."
"Really, Master~ You're not supposed to ask about a lady's past, you know?"
Wow, listen to her talk.
The world is truly doomed.
It seems that while staying with Yuhwa, she learned not just magic, but the wiles of a fox as well. That eye-smile that could charm any man, her tone, her intonation...
The innocent Rin was gone, lost to a past that would never return.
"Master... Don't tell me you don't like it? Is Rin weird?"
As if reading my troubled expression, a shadow fell over Rin's face.
I knew I shouldn't be like this. I knew she would grow up someday, but it was so sudden that I just couldn't adjust.
And it wasn't just that she'd grown; her whole image had changed quite a bit.
But no matter how she'd changed, Rin was still Rin. The fact that she was my slave hadn't changed. As her master, I had to embrace her with an unwavering heart.
"That's not it at all. It's just that I have a lot to think about after waking up after so long. You've grown up beautifully."
"Right? I knew you'd say that, Master. Kihi."
Rin offered her head to me, flattening her ears to the sides to make it easier to pet her. Her appearance may have changed, but this, at least, was the same.
I stroked Rin's head. As if pleased, her five tails began to dance.
"It's sickening to watch. Go be lovey-dovey in your own bedroom."
"We were just about to do that anyway. I've been away for too long."
I needed to check if the cat café was okay, and I had to meet Seira, too. I didn't know if she'd be worried, but she must have been concerned since I disappeared so suddenly.
Well, Seira was always sharp. There probably wasn't anything wrong. I'm sure she's been doing just fine on her own.
We left the Celestial Pavilion.
Being a three-tailed fox was something we could somehow get away with, but five tails was a different story. It was like advertising, "Hey, I'm about to become a gumiho~"
Fortunately, Rin, who had now perfectly mastered shapeshifting, could even control the number of her tails. She walked around with only a single tail showing.
The place we went to find was Seira's house.
"Where did the house go?"
But the house was gone. What was missing wasn't some trivial thing, but the house itself. Seira's house should have been right here, but now only the empty lot remained.
I stopped a passing cow beastkin and asked. It was the lady from next door, the one Seira used to get milk from.
"Excuse me. Wasn't Miss Seira's house here?"
"Her house? It suddenly collapsed a month ago. I thought it had been struck by lightning. Now that I see you, didn't you two live with Seira? Where have you been all this time?"
"There were... circumstances. Do you happen to know where Miss Seira went?"
"Hmm? I saw her leave with just a single bag, looking devastated. Maybe she went to an inn or a dormitory?"
The cow lady gave me the information and went back inside, but not before handing me a bottle of freshly squeezed milk to drink. I downed it in one shot.
Wiping the milk from my mouth, I thought for a moment. A month ago... that overlaps with when I collapsed. Did something else happen while I was unconscious?
"Rin, do you know anything about this?"
"Seira destroyed her own house."
"Her own house?"
"I was so surprised... I almost died, you know?"
It was so out of the blue that I was dumbfounded. Is there any reason to destroy your own house unless you're trying to collect disaster insurance or get it rebuilt?
Thinking it over, the day the accident happened was the day of the full moon. I suspect Seira, a wolf beastkin, was influenced by the moon and went berserk.
‘If I don't know where she went, I won't be able to find her right away.’
Well, I could probably meet her if I went to the immigration department or the border where she works, but that's in the complete opposite direction. I should stop by the cat café before I go.
And so, I went to the cat café. Fortunately, contrary to my worries, it was operating normally, looking exactly as it had a month ago.
The cat people were startled when they saw me appear for the first time in a month.
"Boss! Where have you been all this time-nyan?"
"I wasn't feeling well, so I was resting. Did anything happen while I was gone?"
"No problems at all-nyan. Except for the dog tribe fanboys and the cat moms acting up."
"If that's all, then that's a relief."
The cat café doesn't require any special expertise in the first place, and the cat people are all capable of expressing themselves. It was a relief that the place could run with just the staff, without the boss.
"Bosss, I missed youuu."
The one who greeted me with particular affection, more so than the other cat people, was Persi. Persi, who had a bit of a princess complex, treated me like some kind of savior for getting her out of the back alleys.
As always, Persi tried to cling to me, but...
Swoosh.
A pink tail blocked the way between Persi and me.
"Rin?"
Rin gently pulled me back. The sweet, gentle smile she had shown me was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a venomous glare as she eyed Persi with caution.
"He is Rin's master. Don't you dare approach him so carelessly."