144 – FAY 144

Pipi, who had landed safely, waddled towards us. His beak was definitely sharper and his eyes more piercing, but as he got closer, he became rounder overall. His size also decreased significantly, and by the time he reached my side, he was about the size of a person.

“I’ll be right back, so stay with Pipi.”

At Aska’s words, Pipi slowly raised his soft-looking wings and placed them on my shoulders. The incredibly warm heat made my whole body feel languid for a moment.

Pipi stared at me intently with his black eyes, then moved closer and closer until he completely enveloped me in his wings. He didn’t smell like an animal, but rather like a soft, sun-warmed blanket.

Aska, who was standing on the frozen lake and watching us, stomped his foot down hard. With a deafening roar, thick white steam billowed up, and the ice cracked in all directions.

The visible thickness was about a hand span, it was that thick.

“Are you going inside?”

Aska clearly heard me, but he didn’t reply and simply plunged into the lake. Seriously, without even taking off his clothes? I was flustered and asked Pipi.

“The water must be very cold, right?”

—Piiiii.

“Can you not speak human language?”

—Ppit, ppiit.

“You can’t. That’s too bad.”

—Ppik ppik.

I turned my gaze back to the large crack in the lake. The fragmented ice floes floated up and tilted with each gust of wind, colliding with each other and creating ripples.

“Were you here with Aska for a year?”

—Piiiing.

“I don’t understand a word you’re saying. Sigh… Why isn’t he coming out? Is the water so cold that he’s freezing to death?”

—Pihi, ppihiik, pik pik.

“……?”

I was muttering to myself when I heard a strange sound in my ear. Pipi tilted his head slightly to the side and wiggled his body. He looked like he was laughing, and I couldn’t help but feel bewildered.

“Why are you laughing?”

—Pihiiiing… Ppiik.

“Aren’t you worried? He went into such cold water?”

—Pik pik pik pik.

“This is absurd. What kind of bird laughs like that?”

—Pihihing, ping ping.

“Stop laughing.”

I frowned and grumbled when I heard footsteps. I turned my head and saw Popo a little ways away. He was large, dignified, and mysterious, like the master of a thousand-year-old mountain range.

—Ppiiik. Ppiit, ppik ppik. Ppiiiiiik.

Pipi stamped his feet, wiggled his body, and kept saying something to Popo. Popo sauntered over to my side, perked up his ears, and opened his mouth, sticking out his broad tongue.

—Hek hek…

—Ppiiiihiik…

“……”

His mouth was turned up, and he was heaving, making it even easier to tell that he was laughing. Looking at him like that, he seemed less like the master of a mountain range and more like a simpleton.

I’m being laughed at by animals. I’ve really seen it all.

Just because we’re different species, they’re ostracizing me like this. The two of them kept whispering to each other, fluttering and spinning in place, but of course, I couldn’t understand a word they were saying.

Then Aska finally came out of the lake. He was soaked, and just looking at him made me feel cold.

“Is this it?”

Aska came up to me and showed me a necklace with a gold medal attached. I put that aside for now and used my robe to wipe the water from Aska’s face and body. His hair was already brittle, as if it was already freezing.

“Aren’t you cold?”

“Not really. I was in the water for a long time, I wonder if that matters? It’s a little slippery, though.”

“Can’t you use magic to get rid of the water somehow? At least take off your clothes.”

“It’s okay. Stop fussing and stick close to Pipi. Just don’t get any blood on the necklace.”

Blood, all of a sudden? I tilted my head, and Aska handed me the necklace.

“I’m not sure, but it seems like it absorbs blood if it gets on it.”

Absorbs it? Is there a necklace that eats blood? Or is blood one of the activation conditions for the magic engraved on it? Either way, it wasn’t an ordinary object.

I thought about dropping just one drop on it now, but I stopped because it might be dangerous. I examined it roughly after that, but I couldn’t figure anything out. I’ll have to take it to Zero later. I put the necklace in my pocket and grabbed Aska’s hand.

“Come this way. It’s warmer here.”

“I told you I’m not cold. And you’ll get wet.”

Aska lightly shook off my hand and shook his head, roughly shaking off the remaining water. Popo, who was next to me, went up to Aska and rubbed his body against him. It looked like he was trying to help wipe off the water.

As Aska’s hand lightly stroked Popo’s back, his long fingers sank into the dense fur. A silence fell for a moment. I watched Aska’s face, unable to hide my bewilderment.

He doesn’t seem any different from usual, but why does he seem so subtly prickly? Am I just imagining it because it’s so cold?

“You lived here for a year? It doesn’t seem like you had any contact with the villagers.”

I changed the subject to lighten the mood. Aska moved his lips at my question and nodded slightly.

“I didn’t really meet anyone.”

“Why did you come here?”

Now that I thought about it, it was a little strange. He was injured in Actan, so why did he come all the way here? Why would he come all the way here with a serious injury and stay for a year?

Aska shook his head at my question.

“I don’t know. I just woke up and I was here.”

“You don’t know? Then someone might have brought you here?”

“……”

Aska stared blankly at me, as if he had never seriously considered this issue before, and then said to Pipi.

“Did you bring me here?”

—Pipi.

“You didn’t? Then who?

—Piiiing… Ppi, ppiiit.

“All the way here?”

Aska’s eyes widened in surprise. What on earth are they saying?

“What is it?”

“He said that I suddenly disappeared, so he kept looking for me and came all the way here.”

“Pipi did? But you’ve never been curious about that until now?”

That was even more amazing.

“At the time, I was just thinking about finding you as quickly as possible…”

“You couldn’t have been thinking about that all day, every day.”

I sighed, and Aska looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“Why do you think I didn’t?”

“You really were thinking about that all day, every day?”

“Then what else would I think about there?”

“……”

Suddenly, my body felt a little hot. I gestured for Aska to come over. At first, he shook his head as if he didn’t want to, but when I didn’t stop gesturing, he reluctantly shuffled over to my side.

“Why? I’m still wet…”

I grabbed Aska’s wrist to keep him from running away and pulled him down to sit next to me. Sure enough, Aska’s body was as cold as ice because he was soaked and exposed to this strong wind.

I hugged his ice-cold body tightly and asked.

“You said there was a magical creature that eats people in the village. Could that be Pipi?”

Actually, I had been suspicious ever since I heard that story. There was the corpse impaled on his claws, and if he had been here for a year, he would have hunted, of course.

They said there were no magical creatures now, so maybe that incident was exaggerated and has continued to this day.

Aska kept pushing me away, trying to get away from me, and said.

“It’s been years since we left, there’s no way that’s still happening… Move away a little.”

“Then what did the villagers see? They said there are no magical creatures nearby. And the lord of the lower village dispatched soldiers, and the state of the village, even if magical creatures appear, is suspicious in more ways than one. I have a bad feeling about this. It has nothing to do with me, and it’s none of my business, but…”

Aska, who had been struggling the whole time I was talking, finally seemed to give up and relaxed his body.

“You’re still shivering from the cold.”

“That’s why you should stop pushing me away and hug me. I’ll get warmer if I hug you.”

Still, he had been wiped down a lot with Popo’s fur, so he wasn’t dripping water. I held Aska’s cold hands tightly and rubbed them, trying to create some warmth.

Pipi was blocking the wind from the side and back, and Popo was blocking it from the front, so it was okay. We could have just gone back quickly, it’s not like it’s a disaster situation, and I don’t know what I’m doing, but strangely, I didn’t want to leave.

It’s all frozen white, and none of the blue I saw in my dreams remains.

“I wonder if it would be better if I had fur too.”

Then Aska muttered to himself.

“Fur? What fur all of a sudden?”

“Then I could keep you warm when you’re cold.”

Could this be why he’s been so prickly since earlier? Is he really an idiot? Why does Aska worry so much about such useless things?

I couldn’t understand it at all, but I imagined a furry Aska.

“…That would be cute, but still, it’s a bit much.”

“Why?”

“Fur would get in my mouth when I lick you. And we’re not going to be here forever, what are you going to do when we go to a warm place and you get too hot? Are you going to pull all your fur out again?”

“That’s true.”

It’s not like I’m going to die from being a little cold, and if I’m cold, I can just put on clothes. I gathered Aska’s brittle hair and tucked it inside his robe.

“Now that we’ve found the necklace, let’s go first.”

“Are you going to buy a house when we go?”

“I have to.”

“Are we going now?”

“A little later.”

I grabbed Aska’s hand again and rubbed it, asking.

“What was it like when you were here?”

“What do you mean?”

“It couldn’t have been this cold every day.”

“I don’t know, I don’t think the wind was cold…”

Aska trailed off, looked at me, and muttered.

“Actually, I couldn’t see very well back then, so I don’t know the details.”

Is he finally telling me? His body was so fragmented, it was only natural that his eyes were injured. I had already expected it, but hearing it directly was quite shocking.

“Your eyes…”

I was about to ask how he got hurt when Popo, who had been lying down comfortably, suddenly stood up. His movements were so sudden and urgent that I couldn’t help but be surprised.

“What’s wrong, all of a sudden?”

Even when I asked, Popo kept staring at something without moving. I moved my gaze along with him, but I couldn’t see anyone.

“Someone’s coming.”

At Aska’s words, my eyes widened and I asked.

“Here? Is it Abyss, by any chance?”

Aska grabbed my arm and pulled me up, Popo disappeared like fog, and Pipi turned into the size of a chick. Because the two furry animals had disappeared, the knife-like wind hit me again.

Before I could even say I was cold, I was lifted up and placed high in a tree. Aska put his finger to my lips, signaling me to be quiet. But I couldn’t stand it, I was too curious.

“Why are we hid…”

Aska covered my mouth with his hand. I reflexively stuck out my tongue to lick it when a dozen people appeared in the forest. They ran quickly and straight towards the lake, as if they had a purpose.

Their clothes were like ordinary hunters, but their formation as they moved was as disciplined as soldiers who had received military training. They stopped where we had been sitting just now.

“It looks like it’s here.”

“Why is the ice suddenly broken?”

“Judging by the way it’s broken, there must have been a physical impact around there.”

“That must be it. We can’t use magic in this area. But who made that thick, big ice like that? Did a hibernating bear come by?”

“Even a hundred-year-old bear couldn’t do that. Unless it was a magical creature.”

They chattered among themselves while skillfully examining the surrounding traces. I stared blankly at them and turned my gaze to Aska.

Who are they?

Aska shrugged, as if he had read my eyes.