Encia's group left to watch the finals.
I decided to stay outside with the children to keep Levinas company, since she couldn't watch the match.
Though we missed the finals, I felt no regret. Playing with Levinas was plenty fun.
"King, King," Levinas called, beckoning over to a shop front.
It was a stall selling various types of hot dogs.
"Want a hot dog?" I asked.
"No...!"
Levinas recoiled at my question. The rabbit ears atop her head flapped wildly as she shook her head.
"You don't want a hot dog?"
"No! Levinas doesn't eat dogs...!"
"Dogs?"
She must have misunderstood the "dog" in hot dog to an actual dogs. I was impressed our Levinas knew so English, even if she got it a bit wrong.
"Good thing King is a cat," she said.
"Why?"
"There's no cat dishes, right?"
Levinas sniffed the air, catching the scent of hot dogs. I found myself sniffing too. It didn't sll like dog at all.
"Well... I think there are cat dishes?"
"There are?!"
"Yeah. But they'd be hard to find."
In all my ti in this world, I'd never once seen a cat dish. It certainly wasn't common cuisine.
'Like cat soup or sothing...'
Ugh...
It never bothered before. But now that I was a feline beast-kin, just thinking about cat dishes sent shivers down my spine.
Levinas looked at with concern.
"King, are you okay?!"
"Y-yeah. Thinking about cat dishes just scared a bit."
"That's normal! Levinas gets really scared seeing horned rabbit dishes too!"
"I see."
It was the sa when I saw the mana stones of feline monsters. Beast-kin clearly felt a kinship with the animals they resembled.
Whew.
As I placed a hand on my chest to calm my startled heart, Levinas's eyebrows suddenly shot up fiercely.
"When Levinas opens a restaurant later, it'll be a snake at restaurant!"
"Snake at?"
"Yeah! Then bad snakes will be too scared to co!"
I see. What an incredible strategy.
I decided to play along for Levinas, who hated snakes.
"The snakes will cry when they co."
"Yeah! Levinas will make the bad snakes cry!"
Hmph. Hmph.
As Levinas puffed out little snorts, sothing appeared before her.
It was a large, delicious-looking hot dog.
"Here little one, eat this and cheer up," a man said.
Startled by the hot dog that suddenly appeared right in front of her nose, Levinas hid behind . She peeked out from behind, sticking just her face out to look at the uncle who offered the hot dog.
"Le-Levinas doesn't eat dogs though?"
"It's alright, it's just called a hot dog. There ain't no fish in fish-shaped either, right?"
"Huh...?!"
Well, there certainly isn't any fish in fish-shaped bread.
Realizing the truth belatedly, Levinas seed shocked as she shook my shoulder from behind.
"King! Did you hear?! He said there's no puppy in it!"
"Yeah. That's a relief."
Levinas accepted the hot dog with a lightened expression.
There were three in total, including mine and Saebyeok's.
The uncle didn't charge us. He said it was thanks for promoting his stand.
And so we wandered the festival area, munching on our hot dogs.
As we were sightseeing, oblivious that the finals and awards ceremony had ended, so familiar faces approached from afar.
"Kids..."
It was an exhausted-looking Yeoreum and Jinhyuk, who now looked just like .
Yeoreum in particular didn't look well. There were bruises all over her face.
'Her face...'
She looked like she was in a lot of pain. Would she be okay?
I watched Yeoreum worriedly.
"Gyeoul..."
Yeoreum trudged over and scooped up in a tight hug.
I was glad to see her, but my tail didn't wag quite as vigorously as usual.
"You look tired."
"Yeah, I lost. Sorry..."
Yeoreum couldn't et my eyes.
Following her downcast gaze, I could see the silver dal hanging around her neck.
"Wow."
I'd heard she made it to the finals. Seeing the dal really drove ho how amazing Yeoreum was.
I found myself clapping without even realizing it.
"You're clapping for your big sis getting second place?"
"Yes. Isn't second place incredible...?"
Out of the thousands of participants, she ca in second. To , it was an astonishing result.
"It's a dal! We got two dals!"
Levinas bounced excitedly around Yeoreum and Jinhyuk.
Seeing Levinas like that, Yeoreum let out a chuckle.
"Not two, seven. Our guild got the most?"
"You got seven dals?"
"Yeah. Rember how you said we should compete by gender and weight class last ti?"
"Ah..."
So they fought divided by weight classes. But why did Yeoreum fight Jinhyuk then?
My head tilted to the right in confusion.
"But I entered the open-gender unlimited class."
"I see."
While Yeoreum was fit, she wasn't built for the unlimited class. To take second place in the unlimited class with that small fra. It truly was an unbelievable achievent.
"That guy's a real monster," Yeoreum glared at Jinhyuk, grinding her teeth.
Levinas, who had been bouncing around in front of Jinhyuk with her arms raised, froze mid-cheer.
"Did the giant turn into a monster?!"
"No."
"No?!"
Levinas started running circles around us again as if nothing had happened.
Yeoreum, who had been wallowing in defeat, suddenly straightened her back.
"Seeing our little ones is giving big sis her energy back."
" too."
"You too, Gyeoul?"
"Yes. Seeing my family gives energy too."
My tail wagged vigorously as I watched Yeoreum regain her spirit.
Levinas, who was bounding towards , got slapped across the face by my swishing tail.
Being held in Yeoreum's arms put at just the right height.
"Oof!"
Levinas rubbed her cheek as she stumbled back.
She imdiately grabbed Saebyeok's nearby tail and used it to poke my thigh repeatedly.
The soft fur made my tail wag even more wildly.
"S-sorry, I can't stop it..."
"If you're sorry, give Levinas a hug too!"
"Okay."
I climbed down from Yeoreum's arms and gave Levinas a hug.
Yeoreum smiled as she watched us.
"Shall we go ho now?"
"Is everything finished?"
"Yeah. There's nothing left to do here."
"Then let's go ho."
It had only been a few days since we left, but I already missed ho.
I felt like I needed to get ho and have a nice long rest.
---
---
We returned ho.
It was dark by then, so we rested well that night and went to the park the next morning.
"Ahh."
The park air was refreshing.
Ho really was the best.
As I casually looked around, I spotted a familiar face.
"Oh."
It was Momoa.
Wasn't Momoa from the Sacred Guild?
I quickly ran towards Momoa.
"Momoa."
"St-stop!"
Momoa held out her hand to stop .
I slamd on the brakes urgently, sliding right into Momoa's arms.
I managed to keep my balance and didn't fall.
"What's wrong?"
I looked up from within Momoa's embrace.
I could see her face had turned bright red.
"Running so fast is dangerous! What if you fell?"
"Was I fast?"
"Of course! There's no way that could be considered slow... Wait, can you run even faster?"
"Um... yes."
Just now I was running at about the speed of a four-legged beast. It was my natural physical speed without using mana.
"Th-that's amazing. I couldn't even manage half of half that speed."
"Being fast is my specialty. You have your own specialties too, Momoa."
"My specialties?"
"Yes. You're great at taking care of others, and you're amazing at work."
"...Hmph."
Momoa averted her gaze from mine.
Seeing how she was patting my head, it didn't seem like she disliked it.
"Momoa, what are you doing here anyway?"
"Sang-ah asked to join the team."
Team.
She ant the team centered around Yeoreum.
"It's because Momoa is a genius at work. It's an honor to work with you."
"A-ahem..."
Momoa squird around before checking her wristwatch.
She startled and began to move.
"I should get going now. It's ti for work."
"Okay. See you later."
"Rember, don't follow strangers even if they offer you fish."
"Yes."
After seeing Momoa off, I checked on the crops in the field.
Despite three days without care, none of the plants seed to have any issues.
It was thanks to Levinas's magic.
'I think I'll just pull up carrots today.'
I knelt down in the dirt.
Just as I reached out to pull up a carrot, soone poked my shoulder.
It was Saebyeok.
"Gyeoul, want to try this?"
Saebyeok held out a black mana stone to .
It was a mana stone with an unknown purpose.
"What is this?"
"It's a mana stone with... information stored in it."
"Information?"
Did Saebyeok want to give so kind of information?
I accepted the mana stone Saebyeok offered.
I wondered how to use this.
I tapped the mana stone with my fingernail while looking at Saebyeok.
For so reason, Saebyeok's complexion didn't look good.
"Gyeoul, what if..."
"Yes?"
"What if I did sothing wrong to you?"
Her voice was quite serious.
Even more serious than her usual gruff tone.
"Did you do sothing wrong?"
"...Yeah. In my own way, I did it for you, but..."
Saebyeok couldn't continue.
I patted Saebyeok's head as she was overco with anxiety.
"It's okay."
"It's okay?"
"Yes. You did it for , but maybe it was a bit misguided, right?"
"Th-that's right."
I didn't know exactly what thod she used.
But I knew Saebyeok truly cared for .
"Can you tell what you did wrong?"
"...Well."
Saebyeok chewed on her lips.
After a long mont, she squeezed her eyes shut.
"Can I tell you... little by little?"
"Of course. Take your ti."
I didn't ask why.
I simply trusted her.
I wrapped Saebyeok in a tight hug.
The usually strong Saebyeok felt particularly fragile today.
---
3/6 Enjoy the chappy!
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