“Just blocking the wind is enough? You said the temperature difference is severe, so I was worried, but I guess the temperature doesn’t drop that much.”
“At night it drops enough to freeze water.”
“Th-then won’t people freeze to death too?”
“If you sleep just anywhere, that could happen.”
It meant there was a separate method. Well, Taeyon wouldn’t let him freeze to death. Kaniel looked at Taeyon with anticipation, wondering what method it could be.
“Then? How can we not freeze to death?”
He was curious about how Taeyon, a camping expert, would overcome this situation. It would be nice if it was something he could quickly see and learn.
Taeyon, who chuckled, cracked his neck left and right, making popping sounds. I think I saw that this morning. When Arkan transformed into a bear….
Swoosh, Taeyon’s body swelled up. Kaniel was startled and stepped back hesitantly.
The man who was already large suddenly grew even bigger, transforming into a giant furry wolf. Even standing on all fours, his height was two heads taller than Kaniel, and one paw was the size of Kaniel’s head. His snout was also long and large enough that he could probably devour someone like Kaniel up to the waist in one bite.
However, even with such a giant wolf before his eyes, Kaniel looked up more in admiration than fear.
It was an overwhelming presence. The jet-black fur flowed with luster, sparkling as if light scattered whenever the wind blew or he moved, and spirit flowed in his eyes that looked cold at first glance.
He was truly a beautiful wolf.
“Kaniel, come here.”
The voice was familiar yet unfamiliar. The voice echoed as if whispering in his ear.
Kaniel approached Taeyon with a dazed face.
“Wow….”
It was his first time seeing a real wolf, and strangely, his heart pounded. Was it because both the fear of having an opponent he couldn’t resist before his eyes and the anticipation of being able to see this beautiful wolf up close surged simultaneously?
Kaniel reached out his hand to Taeyon, who was sitting still and waiting for him, and touched his fur a little. Unlike his appearance that looked soft as silk, the outer fur was rather stiff. But when he touched the fur on his chest, that part was truly soft.
“Wow….”
Kaniel found it hard to resist the foolish admiration that kept coming out.
“It’s you, right, Taeyon?”
“Then, who else would it be?”
The reproachful voice was affectionate and calm.
Yes, just like Taeyon.
Kaniel raised his gaze and looked into Taeyon’s eyes. It was truly the same look in Taeyon’s eyes as usual.
“I heard you were a wolf beastkin, but I didn’t know you’d look like this….”
“Look like this?”
“You’re really cool. And dependable. I feel like you’d never let your family starve.”
At those words, Taeyon laughed lightly, rumbling his chest, and tilted his body to lie on his side. The space between the rock walls wasn’t very wide, so when Taeyon lay down like that, Kaniel had no choice but to back up hesitantly, being pushed inward.
‘Wow, even lying on his side, his height is similar to mine.’
That meant the width of his chest was larger than Kaniel’s. Only admiration came out.
“Kaniel, you should sleep.”
“Ah, yes yes!”
Kaniel spread his cloak a little away from Taeyon and lay down behind it. Certainly, sleeping like this might be a bit cold, but it didn’t seem like he’d freeze to death. Because Taeyon would block all the cold wind. Though a little wind leaked in through the gaps in the tent ceiling, he’d have to endure that much.
It was when he was thinking that and rested his head on the ground.
Taeyon’s front paw approached and grabbed Kaniel’s back, pulling him in.
“Huh?!”
Kaniel, who rolled around because of that, ended up burying his face somewhere soft. He was completely out of it, wondering what was happening. When he struggled to raise his upper body, Taeyon’s front paw pressed him down firmly again.
“Sleep.”
“L-like this?”
He was burying his face in Taeyon’s chest right now, wasn’t he? Of course, it wasn’t bare chest but buried in fur…!
“Yes.”
Honestly, it was warm. Taeyon as a wolf had a body temperature high enough to be toasty, and the fur was soft and felt good.
But, strictly speaking, wasn’t this like hugging each other while sleeping?
“R-really like this…?”
“Yes.”
The wolf simply closed his eyes. Kaniel fidgeted, not knowing what to do, then the wolf fur tickled his nose and he sneezed, “Achoo.”
“……”
Kaniel, who covered his nose and mouth with both hands for a moment while gauging the situation, arranged the fur well and carefully rested his head. As if his discomfort with Taeyon’s chest had been a lie, Kaniel fell asleep instantly, deeply buried in that soft fur.
After Kaniel was completely asleep, Taeyon, who opened his eyes, quietly watched Kaniel for a while. Though he was stuck close to Taeyon, his body trembled slightly as if his back was cold.
Taeyon pulled over the cloak that was spread out far away, covered Kaniel with it, then closed his eyes again.
* * *
When he woke from sleep, Kaniel became conscious of the fact that he was lying in a very warm place with something fluffy as a pillow.
‘What did they put in the pillow to make it this soft…?’
When he opened his hazy eyes, it was pitch black before him. Something lustrous and black….
“Are you awake.”
At the rumbling voice, Kaniel, who raised his head, realized where he was lying. He was in Taeyon’s arms, using his arm as a pillow and stuck right to his chest.
Kaniel, who jumped up in surprise, placed his hand over his pounding heart and panted. He was so startled he thought his heart had stopped.
“D-did you sleep well?!”
“Yes. You?”
“It was really warm….”
When Kaniel answered honestly without realizing it, Taeyon’s eyes narrowed a bit. It was hard to tell because he was a wolf, but he seemed to have smiled.
Ah, it must be hard to get up if I keep staying here. Kaniel carefully got up and moved aside a little. Then Taeyon, who got up, returned to beastkin form again.
“Wow… so it really was you, Lord Taeyon.”
“Now you realize?”
“Seeing you return to the form I knew makes it feel real.”
Actually, he’d been curious about Taeyon’s animalized form before, but he didn’t know he’d find out this way. To think he was such a magnificent wolf.
Of course, since it was Taeyon, he’d thought it wouldn’t be a shabby wolf, but he didn’t know it would be such a handsome wolf.
“You were really handsome. I think it’s the first time I’ve seen such a handsome wolf.”
“Really…?”
“Yes, your fur was beautiful like the night sky, and your sharp eyes looked cool. Even though you were just staring quietly, my heart pounded and I was in trouble. Ah, my heart didn’t pound because I was scared. It was because you were so handsome.”
Kaniel, a ‘human’ who didn’t know well that when beastkin look at the appearance of romantic partners or spouses, they look at both their beastkin form and their animalized form, and that they also have awareness of their own appearance in both forms, praised Taeyon like that for a long time. Rather than shouting that he was handsome to his face, it was more like talking about a different animal.
“And your ears were pointy and cool. Should I say you gave the impression that you’d never fail when hunting….”
“…Stop. That’s enough.”
“Ah. Should I? Well, we should hurry and prepare to go bathe.”
“The bath will have to wait a few days.”
“Yes yes.”
Kaniel hummed while shaking off the dirt-covered cloak, putting it back on, and ran to the backpack. Taeyon, who shook his head while watching Kaniel drink water, prepared breakfast.
Though it was a meal similar to yesterday, just jerky and bread.
“We’ll probably be able to have a proper meal starting from dinner.”
“From dinner?”
“Yes. We’ll be close to the forest.”
“Wow! Then will you hunt too?”
“Yes.”
“I’m looking forward to it. I should walk hard today too.”
Kaniel was about to take a step, when Taeyon suddenly crouched down on the ground. When he looked to see what was happening, Taeyon was tying Kaniel’s untied shoelaces.
“Taeyon, I’ll, I’ll do it!”
“Stay still.”
“Mm….”
He didn’t need to do this much. Taeyon was sometimes kind to a burdensome degree. Kaniel resolved to pay more attention to his shoelaces from now on.
No, he should become a sharp person in other aspects too and not be a burden in everything like this.
“Now, eat breakfast.”
“Yes. Ah, this jerky is delicious.”
“Good.”
Laughably, despite his resolution, Kaniel ate the food Taeyon prepared, stood still when Taeyon adjusted his clothes, and walked as Taeyon told him to walk.
And yet he himself was only conscious of listening well to Taeyon’s words and behaving obediently.
“Let’s go, Kaniel.”
“Yes!”
* * *
After several days of travel, his whole body was covered in sand. Sand had burrowed between strands of his hair, and he even chewed sand in his mouth. At first he’d secretly spit it out, but before he knew it, he’d become used to that gritty sensation.
“Trees!”
Kaniel shouted as if moved.
Actually, they weren’t the first trees he’d seen. Since yesterday, one or two trees had started appearing even in the rock zone. But those were all shabby, dry, and small trees.
On the other hand, the trees visible before Kaniel now were really magnificent trees in the forest—thick, healthy, and with dark green leaves.
“Taeyon!”
“Yes. We’ll reach it around afternoon.”
“I’m excited! I really wanted to wash.”
Energy surged at the words that if he just endured a few more hours, he could wash his body in the lake.
