The Crow Tit's Sweet Victory: Binging Ice Cream After a Shower
The crowd of people was scattered everywhere, but I had somehow managed to pick up some ice cream from the store and made it home.
In the palm of my hand rested a fluffy, crowd-covered Injeolmi ice cream, still clinging to its paper sleeve.
During the entire walk back, the worry in Ga-eun’s eyes had refused to leave.
“By the way, Master Crow Tit.”
[“Huh? What?”]
“You have ice cream, right?”
[“I don’t not have it.”]
……
Ga-eun fixed me with that signature narrowed, icy gaze.
Ah, haha. That wasn’t any fun at all…?
“Not at all.”
[“Ahaha…?”]
Wait, hold on. Umm, should we not talk about this with words?
I mean, stop staring at me with that look.
[“Ah, got it. I won’t. So, really, why?”]
Sigh. It’s nothing else, Master Crow Tit. Can you eat this?
[“Eh? Why can’t I eat it? I have a perfectly fine mouth.”]
No. Since I’m a crow tit, shouldn’t I not be able to eat it?
[“Come on, that’s just a little thing.”]
Who am I, right?
Right now, even though I’m in a crow tit’s body.
Me. Once upon a time. I received the title of archmage, caught the Demon King all by myself, everything.
And now this to me? A mere ice cream?
It was basically the same as lying down and devouring it.
Ah, of course, I might even choke while lying down and devouring it….
But it wouldn’t happen.
[“If you’re going to worry about unnecessary things, bring me a spoon.”]
……
[“What are you doing? Hurry up and get it. I can’t get it.”]
No, that’s not it.
At that exact moment.
-Whoosh
Ga-eun’s hand shot out and captured me in a single grab.
[“……?!”]
You wouldn’t have forgotten to sneakily wash, would you?
[“A-ahhhhh….”]
I’ve never forgotten from the very beginning.
Ah, why. Until just a moment ago, the mood was perfect.
Wasn’t it supposed to be the mood for us to go eat ice cream like this?
-Flap flap
I tried with all my might to move my body and wings frantically.
But Ga-eun’s hand showed zero sign of loosening.
In the end, only the protruding head from my palm kept flailing desperately.
“Come on, let’s first wash you up and then eat.”
[“This, this, put me down! What if the ice cream melts?!”]
It’s in the fridge, so it’s fine.
[“Ugh, ugh…!”]
This meticulous girl…!
Yeah, earlier at the fridge I was about to do something.
And she never forgot from the beginning.
So the plan to slip past the mood unnoticed was doomed from the start.
Damn it….
As I was dragged toward the bathroom, I felt the full weight of the loser’s mindset.
[“Caw caaawwaaaaak…!”]
Next time, I’ll win. For real.
I won’t lose twice…!
----------------
The crow tit’s body was designed on pure instinct to hate showers.
Drying the soaked feathers was never a simple task.
If I used a hairdryer, it would get too hot and the feathers might fall out entirely. Lowering the temperature, on the other hand, meant a high chance of catching a cold.
Natural drying was no better either.
Since it was summer, the humidity wouldn’t let it dry properly, and even when it did, the entire body would smell weird.
Huh, this was a finicky crow tit body.
[“So now we’re really eating ice cream?”]
Of course. Nothing else to do, right?
[“You said something similar earlier.”]
It must be my mood.
Ga-eun’s expression was bright and cheerful as she spoke.
Clearly she thought being washed was that enjoyable.
No, what outside could I have done that required a wash?
If there was a reason, I wouldn’t be this aggrieved.
“It’s summer, right? You went out and came back. Doesn’t it feel sticky?”
[“Yeah. Not at all.”]
You’re sweating from the heat, though?
[“Hah, I’m not like that.”]
A crow tit isn’t the kind of animal that sweats because it’s hot.
Thanks to not having sweat glands like humans, no sweat appeared.
“Ah, is that so? I just learned it now.”
[“Right. It’s a good thing we learned it now. Then from now on.”]
Still, no. I feel sticky.
……
Damn…….
Feeling aggrieved, I even flapped my wings a little.
-Flap….
Less energetic than usual.
“But you do eat ice cream, right? Eat and cheer up.”
[“Yeah, then bring me a spoon.”]
Okay, should I also bring a small plate?
If you’re going to use it, bring it. Otherwise, don’t.
Then I’ll bring the small plate too.
As Ga-eun headed to the kitchen.
I quietly and stealthily slipped into Ga-eun’s room.
Using soundproofing magic as my best-in-class stealth operation.
[“Caw caw. (Let me see….)”]
Here, there seems to be a slightly small outfit….
I used telekinesis to open the closet and rummage through it.
The outfit I was looking for appeared smaller than usual for Ga-eun’s clothes, looking like a baby outfit.
But why is there a baby outfit here?
Is there still a younger sibling among the family?
At that moment, a pointless curiosity bubbled up inside me.
[“Caw, caw. (Ah, here it is.)”]
It was a white dress with plenty of frills and a huge sky-blue ribbon on the chest.
The design was so baby-like that it was obvious it was an infant outfit.
It felt like someone older wearing baby clothes….
But I just thought it was unavoidable.
Assembly is the reverse of disassembly, they say.
I restored the closet I had torn apart in search of this outfit to its original state.
A bit of disorder, as if a few items were placed wrong….
That was nothing; Ga-eun wouldn’t mind with her wide heart.
Or perhaps she’d be annoyed.
Even if I got scolded again after already being scolded multiple times, it wouldn’t change much.
Anyway.
[“Caw caw caw, caw? (This is my first time trying it, but it should be fine?)”]
The magic I was about to attempt now was the Polymorph spell.
It was a magic mainly used by non-human life forms to take on human form.
Dragons were often used to turn into humans, after all.
Of course, I had never used this magic before.
In this world, since I was human, I had no need to imitate humans.
Why imitate humans when I already was one?
[“Caw caw caw caw. (Now that I think about it, I never used it before.)”]
Even after turning into a crow tit’s body on Earth, I hadn’t used it much.
Because it was a magic that used me as a medium, I got scared of it.
Simply put, I chickened out.
Well, why, me. An archmage could get scared, too.
Using a magic I’ve never tried on myself?
It wasn’t easy.
But now that I’d decided to use the magic, something felt different.
It was an inexplicable feeling that I couldn’t explain logically, even mathematically.
I could only call it intuition.
A compass called intuition pointed straight toward success.
[“Caw caw. (Something, definitely different.)”]
Even though it was an extremely subtle difference, it was clear.
Like having sanded a razor-sharp knife only once more.
That subtle difference became intuition, and intuition turned into certainty.
[“Caw caw, caw. (I can do it, I can.)”]
I took a deep breath and drew up the mana inside.
Since it was a spell I learned directly from dragons, following the instructions was enough.
----------------
When Ga-eun returned from the kitchen holding a spoon and small plate, the crow tit lying on the table had vanished.
So I went to her room in search of the missing crow tit.
In front of her was….
“Master Crow Tit, where did you go? Could it be here…?”
“Ugh, my head hurts. I can’t use it much.”
“W-who are you?”
“Eh? You don’t recognize me?”
A girl with a familiar air stood there.
Although it was a girl with an appearance I had never seen before, the way she spoke and the atmosphere she gave off was identical to the crow tit I knew.
Like the Master Crow Tit had turned into a human….
“Master Crow Tit…?”
Yeah. I was surprised you couldn’t recognize me.
Ga-eun’s face in front of me showed how shocked she was.
It was to the point where I wondered how many expressions she had.
And how shocked she was, her body movement looked awkwardly frozen.
By the way, this Polymorph magic….
It consumed so much brain power with just one use.
Even now my head was throbbing; it seemed like an hour a week was the limit, and pushing it would reach two hours.
“Master Crow Tit…? But how did the crow tit become a person…?”
Hmm, it’s all thanks to the magic of magic.
I placed a hand on my waist, puffed out my chest proudly, and spoke.
“Why were you living as a crow tit until now?”
“Just because? I didn’t feel any need.”
“Then why now…?”
“To eat ice cream.”
How could I hold it in. I couldn’t hold it at all.
With ice cream right in front of me on a hot day, just staring?
I flattened it, but I had no intention of just staring.
“Really?”
Yeah, really. I don’t lie about this stuff.
……
“Hehe, the ice cream must be delicious.”
Ga-eun’s eyes swirled with complex emotions.
Confusion, astonishment, disbelief. Those feelings mixed in.
And at the end of that gaze was the little crow tit now.
“Hey, if you don’t come quickly, I’ll eat it all.”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
No, you don’t have to come. I’ll eat it all myself.
Uwa, it looks delicious.
I ignored the scorching glare from behind my head and picked up the spoon.
“Om nom nom.”
Mmm, delicious.