A Horse That Talks Back
Somewhere in this world, there are horses that actually talk back.
The moment he returned, Gawol held his palm out over the cast-iron griddle to test the heat, then glanced back toward me.
"Mm... The griddle seems hot enough, but we should start adding more firewood."
Though he’d washed up, he clearly had no intention of pulling his outer tunic back on, likely figuring he was about to spend the next hour standing directly over the flames anyway.
"Go ahead and toss in a few fresh logs first."
"On it."
I set to work stacking the cut logs from the bottom up.
"In a crisscross pattern..."
I’d seen it somewhere back in my old life; stacking logs in a lattice was supposed to ensure better airflow and make the fire burn longer, or something like that.
As I diligently fed wood into the hearth beside him, a sudden curiosity popped into my head.
"By the way, what kind of wood is this? Pine?"
"Mostly oak. Pine tends to choke out everything around it, so tall pines are usually the only trees left standing in their immediate vicinity. Well... that's how conifers generally operate."
"Huh. Is that so?"
It sounded vaguely familiar, like a half-remembered nature documentary.
Ah, should this be enough...?
"Besides, roasting over a griddle like this might be fine, but if you burn raw green pine for an open-flame roast, the sap throws off thick soot. You should never use it."
"...Really?"
Hearing that finally solved the great mystery of why the outside of my meat had always turned pitch-black whenever I tried to roast game over a campfire in the woods.
Pine was officially exiled from my firewood pile forever.
"Mm..."
Before I knew it, the second tier of the wooden lattice was complete.
"Hey, how much more should I put in?"
"Clear away the ashes a bit, and just leave enough room for the air to flow."
"'Enough'?"
And how much is that supposed to be?
"Yes, just enough."
"..."
Thwack.
I shoved three thick logs straight into the embers all at once.
".........Take one out, please."
"Fine."
Slide.
See? Was it really that hard to just say that in the first place?
As I pulled the excess log back out, I suddenly realized Daeseong had slipped entirely out of view.
"Oh right, where's Daeseong?"
Gawol pointed toward the left side of the wagon.
"She's been drinking by the creek over there for a while now."
"Still?"
"Yes. Well... she's a horse, after all."
"Mm-hmm..."
I didn't understand what that was supposed to mean in the slightest, but I figured I’d just hum along and nod.
Gawol picked up the iron tongs and took his stance before the sizzling griddle.
"Well then... shall I lay it on?"
Gulp.
"...Yeah."
Sssssss—!
"Whew..."
A delicious shiver ran straight down my spine to the tip of my tailbone. Honestly, unless you've got an actual tail yourself, you'll never comprehend the sensation.
"It's been quite some time since I last roasted wild boar, but it seems to be cooking better than expected."
The boar belly had been sliced to roughly a knuckle and a half of my index finger in thickness. While it had noticeably leaner fat cap layers than the farm-raised pork I was accustomed to from my previous life, it was undeniably pork belly.
"Hey, do you know why it only makes that loud sizzle right when you first slap it down?"
"Who can say...? Now that you mention it, I've never given it much thought."
Jackpot.
Finally, my turn to show off some worldly intellect.
"It's because the moisture on the surface of the meat instantly vaporizes the exact second it makes contact with the high heat."
Pretty neat, huh?
"...Did you read that in a book or something?"
I shook my head.
"Nope."
Books? As if. I hadn't cracked open a book in either life unless it had comic panels drawn inside.
"Ahem! It's all the wisdom of life experience."
More accurately, it was a short culinary clip I’d stumbled upon when my video algorithm had completely broken down late one night, but whatever.
"Mm..."
Tsssk.
Flipping the pork over with his tongs, Gawol remarked casually, "I suppose it's true that a life shouldn't be measured by its length, but by its density."
"Wait, what length? Height?"
"N-No, life. I mean life. What truly matters is the density of one's experiences."
"Ahhh..."
Though hearing that did make me feel a tiny pang of guilt. It really had nothing to do with density—I had literally just lived a whole lot longer than him across two lifetimes.
"Phew..."
Because of that, people my apparent age—and even those quite a bit older—sometimes felt like naive kids to me. Ah, well, my biological beastfolk siblings were an exception to that rule. Every last one of them was an utter lunatic. Let's see... mentally, my real age had to be almost...
You know what, let's not think about it.
Clap!
"Eep—!"
"What in the world are you daydreaming about so intensely?"
Ah...
"Nothing! More importantly, you didn't burn the meat, did you...?"
Sizzle-crackle.
"This? I'm not you, you know."
He shot me a look dripping with smug amusement. Urgh, he's still milking the fact that I almost turned our jerky to charcoal this morning.
Still, taking in the sight of the wild pork sizzling to a rich, golden brown, an honest gasp tumbled out of my mouth.
"Whoaaa..."
Even with the twilight rapidly bleeding into dusk around us, that savory, caramelized crust was an absolute work of art.
Sniff—haaa.
My ears twitched upright. The aroma was simply out of this world.
Because it was lean, wild game, the scent hanging in the air was clean, savory, and remarkably refined.
"Can I eat now? Huh? Can I?"
"Just hold on a moment."
With practiced ease, he pinched a dash of coarse salt from his pouch and sprinkled it evenly across the crackling meat. Granted, food always tasted leagues better when the salt cooked directly into the rendered fat.
"Haaa... If only we had some black pepper."
"Black pepper? As if... That stuff is imported by trading galleons from across the southern seas. I've never laid eyes on a single peppercorn in my entire life."
"Pfft—really? I've eaten it tons of times."
Imagine going through life never knowing the sharp kick of freshly cracked black pepper.
"That happens to be the single most expensive spice I know of... Where on earth did you ever manage to taste something like that?"
"Oh, you know, managed to get a bite of it by pure chance."
Truth be told, not only had I drowned food in it in my past life, but up until last year I was grinding it fresh over roasted cuts back at the Baek clan estate.
"Well... even if that's true, you'll have to settle for sprinkling this on your meat today."
"Huh?"
Looking closer, I spotted a coarse, dark powder sitting in a small jar beside the salt.
"Wait, isn't this pepper?"
"It's sansho."
"Ah."
Prickly ash... I'd only ever dusted that numbing stuff over piping-hot loach soup back in Korea. And he wanted to throw it on pork belly...?
"...It's far better than you think, so kindly drop that look of deep suspicion."
"Hmph..."
Sniff, sniff.
Taking a curious whiff of the pungent, citrusy spice sent a sharp tingle straight up my nasal cavity.
Uh-oh, something was building up—
Twitch—
"H-Heh—aaah—ACHOO—!"
Wipe.
Gawol slowly and methodically drew a sleeve across his face, wiping away the stray droplets.
Ah.
"S-Sorry."
"Phew... Good thing I put the lid back on the moment I finished seasoning. Otherwise, I would have ended up pickled head-to-toe in ground spice..."
"B-But... at least the meat is fine, right...?"
"Yes, yes. Quite. Just hurry up and eat already."
"Okay."
Snatch.
Well then...
"Haaah—hooo..."
Gotta blow on it first.
Chomp...
Crunch—
Crack!
The soft cartilage gave a deeply satisfying crunch under my teeth.
"The seasoning is spot on... and adding sansho is surprisingly amazing, isn't it?"
"Yes... well."
Hey. What was with that bizarre look on his face?
Gawol was staring at me with an expression that bordered on sheer disbelief.
"I could have sworn that was solid rib bone. I naturally assumed you were going to spit it out."
"A little rib bone like that is just a crunchy snack."
My canine teeth are reinforced steel, buddy.
"Eeee—"
See? Flawless fangs.
"...You've never bitten a person's arm, have you?"
"No."
What kind of insulting question was that? It wasn't like I was a rabid hound prowling the gutters.
"I imagine so. If you had, it would have been severed clean off at the elbow."
"What did you just say?"
"Ah, nothing. I'll roast more for you."
Mhm, that's more like it.
"Haah... somehow I feel as though our roles as client and bodyguard have gotten completely reversed..."
"Ahem—"
I decided it was in my best interest to completely ignore the quiet muttering from across the fire.
The early morning breeze felt wonderfully crisp and cool. Since the coastline was closer than the high mountains in these parts, it had to be a sea breeze.
Whooooosh.
The refreshing air weaving through the thick fur of my tail was nothing short of paradise...
"...!"
Twitch.
Suddenly, a nagging sound intruded upon my blissful slumber.
What nowww...
"...-ssi."
Why wake someone up when—
"...Siun-ssi!"
"Ughhh..."
Oh, it was him.
"Get up, hurry. It's already past five in the morning."
Why in the world was he dragging me out of sleep at this ungodly hour?
"Yaaawn—who wakes up at five in the..."
"We need to reach the northeast before the sun climbs high. Both Daeseong and you seem to have had plenty of rest."
Tapping his boot impatiently against the dirt, he added, "Time to hit the road."
"Then just start driving, can't you?"
Why go out of your way to bother waking me up...?
"That's because—haah... I believe something very similar to this happened yesterday."
"Yesterday...?"
What happened yesterday again?
"Just take a look at where you're currently lying."
"What about where I'm..."
Pat.
"...?"
Pat, pat.
As my palms patted the surface beneath me, I realized it was neither the fluffy bedroll nor the wooden floorboards of the trade wagon. It was cold, hard-packed dirt.
Only then did I snap both eyes open and glance around.
"Ah."
I had completely rolled off the wagon in my sleep again.
"Ahem."
Smoothly, gracefully, and without missing a beat—
Hop.
I vaulted right back up onto the wagon bed.
"L-Let's go!"
Hurry up and whip the horse before the embarrassment actually kills me.
"Haaah... I might genuinely have to consider tying you down to the wagon frame while you sleep."
"That's crossing a line..."
Let's treat each other humanely here, all right?
"Enough nonsense. Just sit down and hold on."
Gawol took the leather reins firmly in hand.
"Daeseong."
Prrrbt.
Having rested her fill, the white mare snorted softly and began leaning into the harness, pulling the wagon forward with powerful strides from all four hooves.
"Hngh... We won't run into any more wilderness bandits along this stretch, will we?"
"Careful what you wish for. Words have a way of becoming reality."
"Aw, come on, surely not."
Even if a whole gang of them leaped out of the bushes, I’d just flatten them all into the dirt anyway, so there wasn't a single thing to worry about.
Rattle, clatter.
The heavy iron-rimmed wheels had been rolling along the dusty path for several hours now.
"I'm boooored."
How much further did we really have to go?
Gawol folded up his road map and glanced back over his shoulder.
"If you're so bored, why don't you go flip the strips of jerky curing in the back?"
He was referring to the wild boar jerky laid out across the rear rack of the covered wagon. We had par-roasted the thin strips yesterday evening and cured them thoroughly in coarse salt.
"If a few pieces happen to end up in my mou—I mean, if they accidentally fall out of the wagon, don't blame me...?"
"Riiight... do whatever you like."
"Score!"
Just as I turned around to crawl toward the back of the wagon, a sudden fragrance drifted past my nose.
"Wait, don't you smell something sweet?"
It was sweet, tart... and remarkably fresh.
"Pardon? Sweet...? Ah, could it be?"
Muttering under his breath, he unhooked a brass spyglass from his belt and extended the barrel, peering toward the road ahead.
For a simple traveling merchant, he really has every little contraption imaginable, doesn't he?
Click-whir.
The brass casing clicked softly as he dialed the lens into focus.
"There they are."
"What is?"
From back here, all I could see was a dense blur of green foliage.
"Way over there—plum trees. The spring blossoms have already fallen, but the fruit is coming in."
"Those are plum trees?"
Now that he pointed it out, the delicate scent really did smell like ripening green plums...
"Indeed. Though how on earth you caught the scent from this distance is entirely beyond me."
Hmph.
I deliberately flexed the muscles on the crown of my head, perking my triangular wolf ears straight and proud.
"I'm a Rangin, remember? My nose is top-tier."
"I thought having an exceptional nose was a dog's trait. Then again, dogs, wolves... same difference."
"Hey. Don't go nodding along like you just unlocked some profound truth of the universe."
And stop sneaking veiled insults into every other sentence!
"Mmm... If that's the case, then right about now, the plum blossom wine in town should be perfectly aged."
Look at him changing the subject like a pro.
"Wait, plum blossom wine? What's that?"
"What is it... you ask? Well, plum blossom wine is... liquor brewed from plum blossoms?"
I know that much, genius.
"I mean, is there anything special about it?"
"Well... the fragrance is lovely."
"And?"
"It tastes good, too."
"........."
Hey, you just strung together the first generic adjectives that popped into your head, didn't you?
It wasn't quite the sophisticated review I had been hoping for, but it did make one critical fact abundantly clear: plum blossom wine probably tasted heavenly.
"Now let's see... where's an inn..."
Unless you were traveling through a heavily fortified commercial crossroads like Jungno, most settlements in the realm didn't bother with military checkpoints or strict transit permits. Here in the northeast territories, the towns didn't even bother erecting defensive walls, making travel in and out completely free and unrestricted.
However, that wasn't the problem at hand.
Grumble—
"We... haven't even had breakfast yet..."
It was pushing past noon, and we hadn't eaten a single proper bite all day.
"I... I know that, but we have to secure lodging first. We need a stable to hitch Daeseong, a secure yard to store the wagon..."
"I know that too, you know...?"
I had already climbed down from the wagon bed and had been trudging alongside it on foot for a while now, and I was genuinely on the verge of starving to death.
The sheer bulk of our covered trade wagon didn't help our case; we were just circling the outer edges of the settlement over and over because we couldn't squeeze the rig through the narrow, crowded streets of the town center.
Droop.
"Can't we just crash literally anywhere...?"
"It has to be an establishment large enough to safely hold all our cargo, so there's no helping it. ...And why have your ears suddenly drooped so pitifully?"
Because I'm starving to death, you dense merchant!
"Then at least let's stop and buy some food—"
Rattle.
Neeeiigh—!
All of a sudden, Daeseong ground her hooves into the dirt and came to a dead stop.
"...I'd better see what's wrong."
Gawol hurried around to the front of the draft harness to check on her.
"What is it? Something in the road?"
"Mm... no."
"Then why'd she stop?"
What, did you learn how to go on worker strike too?
After a moment of silence, Gawol slowly parted his lips.
"It seems... she found us a place to stay."
"Huh...?"
At his bewildered remark, I stepped around the horse to look. Standing right before us was an exceptionally spacious, sprawling roadside inn.
"Ohhh..."
"The courtyard in the back should easily accommodate a cargo wagon."
"The guest rooms look plenty big enough, too."
Whinny—
Daeseong gave a spirited toss of her mane and chimed right in, as if saying, See? Told you so.
"...Hey, she's definitely not a normal horse, is she?"
"Pardon? She's completely ordinary."
"I don't buy that for a second..."
The horse was literally talking back to us.
Total lie. A bald-faced, utter lie.