By Zephyria 
“Wine?”
The answer came immediately.
“If it’s that, you’re allowed in.”
“Thanks.”
Wolf turned the corner. A humid, warm breeze brushed against his skin. Pale steam rose in winding threads from the jade-colored hot spring water. The rare luxuries of civilization in this shabby pirate island—towels, soap, oils, and such—were placed in a corner before a mossy rock.
The scent of iris was now almost faint. The fragrance that had felt as if it were splitting Wolf’s head open a few hours ago had left only traces, as if swept away by the wind. Silver’s Rut had passed its peak.
Silver looked over, his arms resting on the edge of the tub. With the steam draped over him like a veil, he looked like a statue carved from ice.
“Why are you here already?”
“Already? It’s been a while. I was starting to think you’d drowned in the spring and that I’d have to fish out your corpse.”
“You certainly have a way with words. Why don’t you change your profession to a poet?”
“I’ll pass on that, absolutely.”
Wolf set the tray down in front of Silver and perched on the edge of the tub. Dipping his legs into the water, he poured a glass of wine and handed it to Silver.
Silver snatched the glass and gulped it down. Wolf’s gaze unconsciously followed the droplets of water sliding down Silver’s collarbone. And then to the long line of his neck and his shoulders, which stretched out in a straight, right angle.
In the next moment, Wolf gasped. Suddenly, his lower half felt tight. Fuck, how could this happen…? He was just looking without thinking!
He hurriedly averted his eyes from Silver, but it had already stood erect, making the towel wrapped around his waist taut. Fortunately, Silver was drinking with his eyes tightly shut. Even so, the glass would soon be empty. Silver would snap his eyes open, and… damn it, no!
Before a major catastrophe could occur, Wolf hurriedly began “firefighting” operations. As soon as he vividly conjured the faces of his father, the Bronze-beaked Hawk, and his mother, the White Deer, in front of his eyes, his lower half immediately withered. The old saying that everyone has their use was indeed correct.
By a hair’s breadth, Silver pulled the glass away from his lips and opened his eyes. Wolf’s heart pounded so hard he feared the sound might leak outside. He tried bringing his parents’ faces to mind again, but unlike his lower half, his heart would not obey. Whatever, if Silver questions him, he’ll just make up an excuse that he has a heart condition.
Silver let out a sigh and set the glass down.
“God. I feel like I can finally live.”
“The Charcoal Fire Bear’s taste in alcohol isn’t bad. Have another glass.”
With a nonchalant face, Wolf poured more wine into Silver’s glass and handed it over. The cold sweat running down his body was naturally masked by the steam rising from the tub. Great, I handled it perfectly.
Silver emptied the glass in one go and set it down with a clack.
“I wouldn’t have cared if it were alcohol squeezed from a dead man’s boot. Try going over ten days without a single drop of alcohol. You’d cry just smelling a tavern rag.”
“But why did you disappear for over ten days? If this were mainland, I would’ve thought a bear ate you.”
“Well… I lost track of time while playing around and hunting. But you don’t find wine bottles by ripping open beasts’ bellies, do you? So I came back.”
Silver’s tone and expression were unexpectedly playful. He was more talkative than usual. Above all, the look in his eyes had softened, like ice melting in the sunlight. In many ways, he was quite different from the ‘gloomy beast’ who had been cold to Wolf in everything.
Could this be Silver’s true self?
Wolf covered his mouth with one hand and cleared his throat.
“Can I get in the tub? Or should I stay outside and keep watch like a puppy?”
“What?”
Silver let out a short laugh and scanned Wolf from head to toe.
“You’re asking after you’ve already intruded? You’re already in the tub.”
“I only dipped my calves in. I want to dip the rest too.”
“Well, fine. But first, spill your real name.”
Wolf frowned. He felt as if he had been caught off guard.
One corner of Silver’s mouth curled up.
“Don’t play innocent. The druggie seniors might be fooled, but I’m not. Who would believe a name like ‘Quick-to-Die Mouse’ actually exists in this world?”
“Surprisingly, names like that actually exist in the world. Just not as my name.”
“So it’s not your real name after all.”
“It’s a friend’s name. There’s a proverb that says laughter makes one let go of the sword hilt. I used that name to gain favor with the seniors.”
“I figured as much. Now, your name. Hurry.”
Silver flicked some water with his finger. Wolf’s mind raced. He agonized over which name to give Silver. If he said, ‘Actually, I’m Prince Red Eagle’… he would undoubtedly meet with disaster. If he said, ‘My name is Silver Wolf, just like yours’… he would undoubtedly be viewed with suspicion.
The former name of the ‘Attendant’ was widely known to people. There was a high possibility that the name had reached Silver’s ears.
“Why are you silent?”
Silver flicked the water again.
“Are you improvising a pseudonym? Or do you sincerely want to be called Stuffy Field Mouse for the rest of your life?”
“It’s not that. Actually, I don’t particularly like my real name. Just like how you dislike yours.”
Wolf spoke ambiguously. Silver raised one eyebrow.
“Hmm, so you won’t spill your real name until the end? Fine, then I’ll name you. Dog-dick.”
“…Please put some effort into naming others.”
“If you don’t like it, give me your real name. And honestly, you are a dog-dick.”
Silver sneered, gesturing with his chin toward Wolf’s lower half covered by the towel. Wolf flared up. To mock someone’s sore spot!
“If you keep this up, I’m going to call you Hedgehog.”
“Eh?”
Silver frowned. He stared at Wolf for a moment before asking back in a hesitant tone.
“Hedgehog? Of all the animals, why that one?”
“Because you carry around a bunch of daggers stuck in your robe. Even a sea urchin probably has less dense spines than you.”
Besides, they looked very cute. Especially the way they curled their bodies into a ball and peeked their faces out—it was similar to Silver with his robe hood pulled deep over his head.
“What, I thought… so that’s what you meant?”
Silver waved a hand.
“Do whatever you want, call me Hedgehog or whatever. I’m going to call you dog-dick.”
“No way, name me something else later. Anyway, enough small talk.”
Wolf met Silver’s eyes. He lifted his waist and sat a bit closer to Silver.
“Actually, I’m a mutant too. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but I’m called an Ash tree.”
He continued without hesitation, quickly voicing the lines he had rehearsed in his head on the way to the open-air bath.
“I’m a rare type unknown even to the Atania scholars who study the mutants of Stohl. The Ash tree is also the only species capable of impregnating a Spruce tree. Especially if they have intercourse when the Spruce tree is in Rut, the probability of pregnancy is…”
“Ash tree?!”
Silver suddenly shouted. He looked as if he had been slapped for no reason by a complete stranger.
“I know about that! But I heard they’re impotent! Guys whose dicks are there for show!”
“That…”
Wolf blinked. He hadn’t imagined this reaction. He expected ridicule like, ‘Stop talking nonsense!’ or ‘Do you shit through your mouth?’
“Hmm. Well.”
Wolf shrugged with feigned composure.
“Until I met you, it was a physical organ used only for peeing. In that sense, it was certainly a dick that was there for show. But as you know, it’s functioning properly in that department now. Now, let’s stop that and get back to the main point.”
Wolf cleared his throat and continued.
“I emit pheromones during Rut, just like you. The sandalwood scent you smelled was my pheromone. So, your pregnancy…”
“Aha. That’s your business?”
Silver shifted his body and leaned his back against the edge of the tub. An expression like a gambler revealing his final decisive card appeared on his pretty face.
Wolf’s eyes widened at the following words.
“Stop worrying. I downed some contraceptives.”
“Contraceptives?”
“Yeah, I swallowed contraceptives. The prevention period is at least two months… Wait, you? Hieeeek?!”
Suddenly, Silver let out a groan and jerked his face upward. Wolf flinched in surprise.
“What’s wrong? Is there a problem?”
“It’s just… there’s something I’m curious about regarding you.”
Silver pushed back his hair with one hand and swallowed. The earlobe revealed between his soaking wet hair was red. Seeing this, Wolf also became tense. Why is he flustered like that?
“What is it? What are you curious about?”
“About you.”
“Yeah.”
“You, how old are you? Thirty?”
“…”
Wolf was left speechless. What on earth?!