| Author: Shizuku | Original Source: Syosetu | Word Count: 2072 characters |
| Translator: Nomad | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 1022 words |
| Editor(s): Robinxen | ||
I could understand that happening near the forest border, but we’re quite deep inside now. And somehow we haven’t seen any monsters yet, or even regular animals.
That definitely isn’t normal, so just in case I check my magic storage. My guns and magazines are all fully recharged, and I have plenty of spare potions. At least I should be prepared if something happens.
Being a bit more watchful, we continue walking until we’re almost at the barrier concealing the Gardeland mansion.
“Don’t look, Young Lady!”
And then I quickly cover Olivia’s eyes.
A wolf demi-human girl with golden hair and fur is standing in front of the barrier, with not a single piece of clothing covering her. I might look like a girl, and girls might have a habit of having no issue with being naked around each other, so they think of me as their peer sometimes. But that doesn’t apply inside a forest. No one in their right mind would stand with no protection when they’re in danger of being attacked by monsters or bandits at any moment.
So in other words…
“What happened, Natalia?”
She’s a pervert! There’s a pervert here!
I could only scream that in my heart. But she’s clearly some deviant putting her exhibition fetish to full display in a forest. Even now that we’re all looking at her, she makes no effort to conceal herself.
I can’t let her influence Olivia!
“One day I suddenly met a pervert in the forest! And she’s a furry1!”
Meanwhile Ruri is beside herself, hopping happily toward the girl. Kind of ironic considering she’s a rabbit half-beast and the pervert is a wolf demi-human. Nothing really fazes this girl.
I guess she’ll run up to anything, even if it’s a woman, her natural enemy, or a pervert. Actually, I guess she’s already a pervert.
“Ms. Wolf, Ms. Wolf, what are you doing in this place?”
Ruri asks the wolf demi-human, who then gives a slow reply.
“I’ll make them…take responsibility.” Saying that she raises a finger and points.
Wait, she’s pointing at me?!
“It hurt so much…that black, hard and warm thing…that took my honor.”
“…”
“That can’t be…”
Ruri turns to look at me with disgust, while Ryuka looks shocked.
“I don’t know what she’s talking about, I swear, I’ve never seen her in my life!”
I deny it as much as I can while shaking my head. This is my first time seeing her, not to mention that I don’t have a big black thing.
“Natalia, what’s going on?”
Olivia pulls my hand away from her eyes. That makes the wolf demi-human’s finger move a bit…
“And she too. She was responsible.”
“Huh?”
Olivia also gets blamed.
“We should run, Lady Ryuka. Those two tricked us into coming to this deserted forest, I’m sure they’re trying to do all sorts of nasty things to us.”
“We aren’t!”
“Of course not! I’ll only do that to Natalia!”
“Exactly!”
Neither me or Olivia would do such a thing. And Olivia is right too, it’s only for…wait what?
“Wait, Young Lady, did I hear right just now?”
“Maybe you’re mistaking us for someone else? We aren’t the kind of people to dishonor someone.”
“I’m certain. I remember the smell. And here, proof.”
Olivia ignores me and asks the wolf demi-human. In response, she parts away the fur on her shoulder, revealing fully healed scars, though they clearly came from deep and painful wounds. Her shoulder scars actually remind me of bullet wounds.
“She did my shoulder, and she my stomach.”
First she points at me, then at Olivia.
I guess she meant we took her honor by defeating her in battle? But I still can’t recall fighting her ever. Olivia doesn’t remember either, looking puzzled by it.
“If you don’t remember, let me change how I look.”
She leans forward, supporting her body in her hands, and as I wonder what she’s doing, all the fur on her body gets bristled.
This feels strange. Not the way she looks, but the amount of mana I feel coming out of her. But not just that, her presence also gets more powerful, so much so that I had to take a step back.
Meanwhile Ruri reaches for the dagger on her sash.
Just who is this wolf demi-human? She starts to transform in front of us.
Her slender fingers become stubby and shrink down, her two legs change shape to accommodate the shared load with her arms, which raises her hips to stand level with her shoulders, and then her neck twists back so she can look ahead even while standing on four limbs.
But there was more to the transformation than just making her a quadruped. Her entire body begins to grow until she measures around four meters long. The fur on her body also grows thicker as silver stripes appear running down from the sides of her head along her enormous wolf body.
Her large claws and fangs that could easily tear a person apart make me fear for my life, even though I’m not a living being. But the part of my mind that was still calm reaches a conclusion seeing that.
“…A Comet Wolf?”
I mutter, still recovering from the shock, and the large wolf nods. Is she the same Comet Wolf that came when Lacks attacked us then?
But that time I didn’t land a single shot. If I really caused the scars on her shoulder, then is she also the Meteor Wolf I encountered when I left the house to train outside for the first time?
“Hmm, I don’t really get any of this, but talking out here feels a bit strange, so should we get inside the house for now?”
Olivia doesn’t seem scared at all even though there’s such a large beast in front of her. She has a point. There’s no point in standing around in the middle of a forest just to talk, so we all go into the mansion with Olivia.
We have one extra unexpected guest, but I’m still glad to be back home after a year of being away.
