Chapter 9
After the clothing store, we stopped by an armor specialty shop.
This time, Claude stayed right beside me and helped me choose, which made me happy.
“Yes, I like this one.”
“Are you really sure that's all right?”
Gleaming metal. A finely finished lining. A fit that held my chest firmly.
I disliked heavy armor. I valued lightness and a close fit above all else.
“Isn't it showing too much?”
“It's fine. Aris runs hot, so this is enough.”
“Still….”
It wasn't just me. Wolpi ran hot.
Males tended not to wear tops, while females favored bikini armor like mine.
For the lower half, short pants that wouldn't restrict the legs were best.
In my previous life, I had once thought revealing armor was ‘an adult's sales tactic!’
But as a Wolpi, there was nothing more important than venting heat.
“Then at least put this on.”
I didn't know where he had gotten it, but Claude handed me a large robe.
At the clothing store, he had given me the one I had hurriedly put on, but this time he handed me a clean, new robe.
Claude didn't even have a bag with him right now, so where had it really come from?
“Understood.”
I knew why he was doing this. It was fine. I didn't mind.
I could always feel people's gazes. I was pretty, after all.
Even as a child, before my body had developed into anything provocative, people's gazes had always followed me.
That was why there was no reason to worry about showing skin now.
If someone really wanted me, they only had to come over, subdue me, and rape me.
For a Wolpi, that was the most natural way to reproduce.
Of course, that didn't mean I would quietly let it happen.
The robe would definitely be hot, but it was Claude's order.
I would wear it for now and take it off when we had to fight.
A faint chill spread through me.
“This….”
“Hmm, it is big for you after all?”
“Master.”
It was an innovative robe that spread an inexplicable chill and kept my body heat in check.
It had clearly been treated with magic and was a precious item.
“Such a precious item… M-magic items are incredibly expensive….”
“It's precious, so I'm giving it to Aris. I'll have one made to fit you later.”
He could have one made…? So it was possible to make things like this. Amazing. Amazing!
In a world without air conditioners or electric fans, I couldn't believe something like this existed!
Were mages really such magnificent beings?
I said that while wagging my tail vigorously.
“Master! Master!”
“Hm?”
“You're amazing! I, Aris, am deeply moved!”
“Really? You like it? I'm glad, Aris.”
After I praised him, he seemed happy too, grinning from ear to ear.
However, I probably wouldn't be able to wear it during battle. The cumbersome robe was a problem.
So, regretfully, the time came to take off the robe.
We climbed the mountain to find the Sharpstones.
It was a silent forest where not even the calls of mountain birds could be heard. The air felt cold, filled with the smell of blood.
“You don't need to push yourself. Finding just one will be enough. Do you remember the smell?”
“Yes, Master. Ah, but may I smell it one more time, just in case?”
I remembered it clearly, but I couldn't afford to make a mistake.
Sniff, sniff. Sniff, sniff.
“The smell of the Sharpstone. And Master's smell. Confirmed.”
“Haha. Even mine?”
“T-to make sure I don't get lost.”
Claude smiled and put the Sharpstone away. Then he approached me and spoke.
“Will you let me smell Aris's scent, too?”
“Huh? Really? Yes! Please.”
The places where Wolpi usually allowed someone to smell their scent were their hands and feet, tail and buttocks, armpits and groin.
There were differences depending on personal preference, but I was about to offer him my hand, the safest choice, when…
He drew me into an embrace and pressed his nose to my head.
Sniiiff—
The crown of my head…? My crown?
“Eep.”
“I've confirmed Aris's scent.”
I had no idea what had happened. I held my head in both hands and looked up at him.
He gazed at me while thinking deeply about something.
Then, as if he had remembered, he smiled and spoke in a gentle voice.
“Aris's scent is so wistful that it makes me want to close my eyes and ears.”
I swallowed hard. Claude said things like that with a casual smile, as though they were nothing.
Even wearing the robe that boasted of its refreshing chill, I couldn't stop the heat rising to my face.
◇
The two of them had climbed the mountain outside the village to find Sharpstones.
Under a tree, a girl gently wagged her tail.
The book had said that Wolpi exchanged emotions by smelling one another's scents.
While sniffing around to find the Sharpstones, Aris had said that she had identified Claude as well.
Her flushed face was so cute that Claude reciprocated.
Then he remembered that there were several things female Wolpi supposedly liked hearing.
He remembered one of them and said it aloud, causing her face to turn bright red.
“M-Master!”
“Aris. Are you all right?”
“What you just said… Do you know what it means?”
As far as he understood, it merely meant something that female Wolpi liked. Claude nodded.
“Aris? What's wrong?”
“I-I'll be right back.”
“You're really all right, aren't you?”
“Eek! I don't know!”
‘Your scent is so wistful that it makes me want to close my eyes and ears.’
Its actual meaning was, ‘I want to bury myself in you so deeply that I can't hear or see anything. I only want to smell your scent.‘
In other words, it was a male Wolpi's way of flirting—he wanted to have sex with you.
But Claude didn't know the hidden meaning.
“Why is she acting like that?”
As if fleeing, the girl took off the robe and moved to the spot he had designated.
Claude put the robe into his subspace and thought, once again, that this was difficult.
He rose into the air. Following the information contained in the Sharpstone, he analyzed its mana.
Then he searched for something nearby that emitted a similar wavelength.
“It would be nice if we could find Drilliko this way, but that cunning creature isn't going to come out so easily.”
For a while, he moved around, scanning the entire mountain.
Aris also wandered around, searching thoroughly as she sniffed out every trace.
After about three hours, Aris raised her tail straight up and shouted.
“A monster!”
There were surprisingly few living animals or monsters in the mountains.
Most were found as corpses or bloodstains.
“So this is its doing?”
A rabbit oozing a fishy red aura.
Unlike an ordinary rabbit, it was a terrifying monster with long blades on its legs and sharp teeth.
“It swallowed a Sharpstone.”
A rabbit about the size of a nutria was eating the corpse of a massive Ossel Bear.
Even the creatures that had survived through sheer size and come down as far as the village had fallen victim to it.
That meant food was so scarce in the mountains that there was no room to worry about size.
“Master. Weren't Blade Rabbits herbivores?”
“They were, but not anymore.”
Aris leaped in front of the rabbit. She planted the massive greatsword in the ground.
She crouched low, placed both hands on the ground, and watched it warily.
“Red monsters are strong. Don't underestimate it, Aris. Think of it as fighting that bear.”
“I can tell from its scent alone.”
Ordinary Blade Rabbits were timid and would run away if someone approached.
But this one looked aggressive, scraping the ground with its blades.
“Grrrrrr….”
“Kekekekekekek! Kekekekekek!”
The rabbit trembled like a broken washing machine, then sprang forward in an instant.
It moved in a straight line, intending to bite Aris.
The girl reflexively leaped up and stepped on the hilt of the greatsword she had planted upright.
Propelled by the greatsword's recoil, she shot past it and caught the rabbit from behind.
“Kraaa!”
Aris's battle cry—or perhaps her roar.
She thrust out her hand and pierced the rabbit with her sharp claws.
Squelch— The rabbit was huge, but normally that would have been enough to kill it.
“Kekekekekek!”
With a grotesque scream, the rabbit emitted a red aura.
It tried to bite through Aris's wrist.
“Bang!—”
At that moment, accompanied by a flash of light, a white beam pierced the rabbit's head.
The rabbit flew backward from the recoil. It tried to move again while emitting another red aura, but…
“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!—”
Dozens of energy bullets struck it in midair, and it came tumbling to the ground.
But Aris, with the greatsword strapped to her back, leaped between the incoming energy bullets.
“Clang!—” She deftly deflected the bullets with her greatsword, then stabbed the disoriented rabbit in the neck and brought it down.
The rabbit's body, split in two, rolled across the ground.
“Aris!”
“Master. I've dealt with it.”
Claude, who had been flying overhead, hurriedly descended to her.
“Why would you jump in while I was firing so dangerously?”
“I thought it was an opportunity. That magic wouldn't have been enough to finish it for certain.”
“That's true, but it was too dangerous.”
Worse, it seemed Aris had been drenched in the magic the rabbit released as it died.
It was a magical wavelength also called the ‘scent of death,’ released by a red monster at the moment of death.
Prolonged exposure to it damaged the mind and made people act strangely.
That was why hunting red monsters was such a dangerous task.
“How do you feel? Are you all right? I'll kill the red monsters. The final blow isn't yours to take.”
“But if I had delayed any longer, it would have escaped.”
“Don't be greedy.”
They were lucky it had only been a Blade Rabbit. Red monsters were not creatures that could be captured easily.
Claude wanted to explain more, but for now he was more worried about her condition.
“Your breathing is labored, Aris.”
“I'm fine. I'm just a little overheated from the battle. I'll butcher the rabbit.”
Sniffing as she went, the girl split open the rabbit's belly.
Startled by this, Claude stopped her.
“I told you not to touch it, didn't I? It's dangerous. That's magical radiation.”
“But… aren't you in danger too, Master?”
Claude picked her up and set her down beside him.
“I'll treat it with magic. Aris, rest today. I need to examine your body.”
“There's nothing wrong with me. I'm fine.”
“That's an order, Aris. Think about your own safety.”
“Yes….”
The dejected girl lowered her usually wagging tail. Her ears drooped as well, making her look pitiful.
But here, he had to be firm.
“Still, Aris, those were good moves against a red monster. You did really well.”
“Really? Thank you.”
Her ears perked up at the small praise, and she looked at him.
When her tail began wagging again, Claude was relieved.
“We've recovered one Sharpstone. We achieved our small goal, so let's head down.”
“Yes, Master. Is that enough?”
“We'll know after I analyze it. First, let's go down to the village and check your condition.”
The two of them returned to the village.
The building Claude entered was neither a clinic nor a church.
“Um… Master? This is a tavern.”
“There's no better place for this. Robina? Are you here?”
Claude called out to someone. Then light shimmered in a secluded corner of the tavern.
“I am always here, Claude.”
“If I don't call you, you aren't here. Long time no see, Robina.”
The person Claude had called was a small girl in a black dress.
Her golden hair shone, and her green eyes were beautiful, but the huge beer mug in her hand didn't suit her.
She certainly didn't look old enough to drink.
Confused, Aris asked Claude about her.
“Master. Who is this child?”
“The master of the Dawn Magic Tower. Robina. She'll examine your body.”
The girl looked at Aris.
“A wolf beastkin… A female Wolpi. Did Claude have his way with you? Any children?”
“None. Master hasn't pounced on me yet.”
“What? And yet you're traveling together? Did that fellow hypnotize you or something?”
Aris shook her head.
Claude told Robina what had happened to Aris that day.
The Blade Rabbit that had swallowed a Sharpstone and become a red monster, and the girl who had been exposed to its magic.
Robina examined Aris and reached her conclusion.
“From what I can see, that fellow Claude may die soon.”
“What do you mean?”
“This bitch is about to go into heat.”
At this unexpected statement, Claude turned to look at Aris.
But there were none of the early symptoms he had read about in the book.
The wolf girl merely wagged her tail with an innocent expression, as though she had no idea what they were talking about.