Of course, there had been days before when he couldn’t wash like this. Because even in forests, there aren’t always places to wash. Naturally, there had been times when he felt sticky from sweating. However, sweating a bit and drying off was a completely different story from having sand grinding even in his mouth. Right now, his scalp was so itchy from the sand he could die.
Kaniel walked excitedly following Taeyon.
As a result of walking through lunch, they were able to reach the lake Taeyon had mentioned around early afternoon. At the edge of the lake, several beasts of prey were waiting to target herbivores coming to drink water, but when Taeyon shot them a glance, they ran away in surprise.
Did this mean Taeyon was a stronger beast of prey?
‘Well, he did seem that way.’
Kaniel, who recalled Taeyon’s wolf form that he’d seen last night too, nodded. After sleeping embraced by a wolf every night for several days, the initial shyness had now disappeared. To think he’d been foolish enough to wonder if sleeping embraced in Taeyon’s chest was no different even though he was Taeyon himself when he transformed into wolf form.
In fact, he even thought it would be nice if Taeyon would transform into a wolf every night here in the forest too, not just in that rock zone that got so cold at night.
But no matter what, he wouldn’t do that much.
Originally they slept with a tent pitched.
“Wash first.”
“Is that okay?”
“Yes. After washing, it would be good to rest here today.”
“Really? That’s so great. Let’s grill and eat fish. I’ll try catching some later.”
If he imagined where the fish were with water magic, couldn’t he somehow catch them? Kaniel chattered excitedly and was about to throw off his clothes when he paused.
What if he says I’m undignified again?
Sensing him gauging the situation, Taeyon smiled bitterly.
“I told you it’s fine to do as you please.”
Really? When Kaniel looked at him suspiciously, Taeyon shrugged nonchalantly. However, when he actually became conscious of it, the embarrassed one was Kaniel.
It wasn’t that he cared about being dignified or whatever, but somehow it felt uncomfortable.
“…No, I’m trying to be a bit more dignified too.”
Kaniel, who made a rough excuse, ran toward the lake and started fidgeting behind the bushes. The fact that disappointment spread across Taeyon’s eyes watching that figure from behind was something neither Kaniel nor even Taeyon himself noticed.
The water was cold, but refreshing by that much. Kaniel washed off the sand in the clear water. Carefully, from the small grains of sand stuck to his skin to the slightly larger sand caught between his scalp.
From now on, walking through the forest would be humid and make him sweat a lot, and if sand remained, it would obviously be very unpleasant. He wanted to shake it all off without leaving a single grain.
After washing his whole body clean like that, Kaniel recalled talking about fish earlier and carefully caught one fish.
“Wow…!”
It wasn’t as difficult as expected. However, the problem was that after doing so, his hands weren’t free, making it difficult to put on clothes.
Kaniel wiped the water from his body with only one hand and roughly put on just his pants. He couldn’t even tie the waistband. When he came out roughly clutching a bundle of clothes, Taeyon frowned.
‘Ah. Is it because I’m undignified after all…?’
Taeyon, who approached quickly, began wiping Kaniel’s wet body with a towel.
“What would you do if you caught a cold acting like this?”
“It’s hot, so I think it’ll be fine.”
“You’re weak, so you don’t know.”
I don’t think I’m weak enough to catch a cold in a place with such lukewarm temperatures. Kaniel grumbled only inwardly and, to change the atmosphere, showed Taeyon the minnow in his hand.
“Look at this. I’ll catch more later. Let’s grill and eat them together.”
“A minnow.”
“Yes. It’ll be delicious, right?”
“…Yeah. It’ll be delicious.”
Taeyon, who nodded seriously while looking at the small fish, finished wiping all the water from Kaniel’s upper body and started shaking out his hair.
“Ah, I’ll do it. Just put the fish in a bowl somewhere….”
At Kaniel’s words, Taeyon took his hands off the towel, then this time reached for the waistband. Doing even that seems a bit much! But before he could stop him, the waistband was neatly tied.
“Then now dry your hair well.”
“Yes….”
Taeyon picked up his towel and walked toward the lake. Kaniel, who stared blankly at his retreating figure, let out a groan-like sigh only after he completely disappeared.
Could it be that in the Beastkin World, taking care of someone like this belongs to ordinary things? But it didn’t seem like Taeyon did this even to Arkan….
‘First, let me move the minnow to a bowl….’
It was when Kaniel was rummaging through Taeyon’s backpack looking for a bowl. Some unfamiliar sound came from the bushes on the opposite side.
With a start, surprised Kaniel sensitively turned his head, and the bushes over there rustled a few times before a raccoon crawled out, sniffing.
“Ah… that startled me.”
You scared me.
It was the moment relieved Kaniel laughed like a sigh. Something grabbed his neck. Before he could even scream, Kaniel was snatched away like that.
* * *
When he came to his senses, he was in the sky. Kaniel, who thrashed about in surprise, realized he was inside a narrow birdcage.
He was trapped inside a birdcage flying through the sky.
“Wh-what…?”
“Have you been well?”
It was a voice he knew. When Kaniel looked up, there was the culprit who had dragged him to the Surface, the Winged Tribe kidnapper.
“Y-you’re….”
Kaniel squeezed his eyes shut then opened them. Still, reality didn’t change. He had finally been kidnapped by that vicious, nasty Winged Tribe kidnapper and dragged to a place he didn’t even know.
The scenery that had been all green until he closed his eyes had now changed to silvery white. The forest below his feet was all white even though snow hadn’t piled up. It was completely different from the forest scenery he’d seen while traveling around with Taeyon.
That meant he was already far away from Taeyon.
“Why are you going this far?”
Kaniel shouted while grabbing the bars. No matter how much he’d paid and bought him, it was strange. The kidnapper had precisely targeted the moment he was separated from Taeyon. Didn’t that mean he’d been watching all along?
Rather than chasing after one human for days on end to kidnap them, it would be easier to kidnap another human who let their guard down on the Floating Island. Yet he wanted to know the reason he’d chosen him.
“Why are you targeting me so much?!”
“You’re curious about that~.”
The kidnapper giggled and made a thoughtful expression going “Hmm,” then soon nodded.
“Right, you need an explanation too. We’ll have to talk about everything when we get there anyway, so I’ll tell you in advance.”
“……”
“Humans usually can’t live on the Surface.”
What does that mean? When Kaniel made a stupid expression, the man avoided the clouds and flew a bit lower while continuing.
“So they have to wear special armor. Otherwise they’ll be crushed to death.”
He could guess what he was talking about. He was talking about that agonizing pain like his body was being crushed that Kaniel had experienced when he came down to the Surface.
“But you’re fine, aren’t you? I don’t know why, but you’re a special human. That’s why our customer likes you.”
“…What are you going to use me for?”
“I don’t know. That’s something the customer will handle.”
It’s a lie. He definitely knows everything but is lying. Those were such eyes.
Kaniel bit his lip. The man said he didn’t know, but Kaniel knew why he was fine. It was because his magical power was abundant. As long as Kaniel maintained more than half his magical power, he wouldn’t fall into agony. That meant a mage without that much magical power would never escape that pain and end up dying.
I almost died….
If my magical power had been low, I definitely would have died then.
Then, words that suddenly crossed his mind.
‘This kid doesn’t know the Surface is scary.’
‘Well, let’s let him do as he pleases. That’s how he’ll learn with his body.’
Those words at that time must have meant this.
“I’m not going.”
Because he’d decided to be with Taeyon.
He’d promised Taeyon that. Taeyon considered that promise important, and Kaniel felt the same.
Just because they were separated like this didn’t mean he could do nothing and give up.
“<A blade to cut down enemies…!>”
Kaniel, who was chanting a spell while manipulating magical power, stopped. His magical power wouldn’t move. The magical power he’d felt since childhood and played with like a toy was now just quiet as if it had never moved. No, to be precise, he couldn’t even feel his magical power.
“Wh-what…?”
Kaniel tried to feel his magical power while groping his body, but it was just quiet as if paralyzed. That was a truly terrible and frightening sensation for a mage. It was as scary as his arms or legs not moving.
It was then that a giggling laugh was heard. When he looked up blankly, the man clicked his tongue with a face full of mockery.
“Poor thing. Your magical power won’t move, will it? It can’t be helped. I put a magic-sealing bracelet on you.”
Come to think of it, there was a bracelet on his wrist he hadn’t seen before. It was a bracelet that fit his wrist perfectly and had no visible seam.
