86. New Friend

86. New Friend

Children often become friends quickly, even if they’ve only known each other for a short time. They open up, play, and laugh together over trivial things, growing closer.

Unfortunately, my heart is that of an adult, so I don’t know the exact reason for this. However, I feel like I can understand that feeling a little bit now.

“Did you touch it all?”

“I want to touch it a little more…!”

Lucy, exclaiming in admiration as she massaged my tail.

Her touch wasn’t as delicate or gentle as Sister’s, and her technique was clumsy, but the fact that she showed so much interest in my pride and joy, my tail, made my desire to become friends with Lucy well up from the bottom of my heart.

Let’s see, Seol-gu… seems to be resting comfortably in the bag. After the rough handling by Lucy, he probably won’t come out of there for a while.

Hoo hoo.

“Ow, it stings!”

“Ah, sorry….”

At that moment, a sharp pain shot up my spine from my tailbone, startling me and causing all the fur on my body to stand on end.

Looking back, I saw Lucy holding a single white tail hair in her hand, which was gently swaying in the breeze.

Judging by the appearance of the tail hair, which looked very healthy and strong, it seemed Lucy had pulled out a growing hair rather than a naturally shed one.

Good heavens!

“My, my tail hair…!!”

“Ah, th-that, I’m sorry…!”

Gasp, I couldn’t close my mouth. My body trembled.

The pride of my pride, the marvel of wolves, my super-duper tail that Sister meticulously groomed and tidied every day, had been so carelessly pulled out.

I jumped high into the air and turned around. Then I shouted.

“Lucy!”

“Huk….”

“You are a very, very bad tail-hair thief…!”

“Huk…!!”

Lucy, in a panic. Lucy frantically tried to reinsert the tail hair into my tail, but a pulled hair wouldn’t go back in just by trying.

The hair fluttered weakly in the breeze, falling helplessly. Seeing that, Lucy became even more panicked and flustered.

“N-no… I, I’m sorry…!”

“Pfft!”

… I wanted to push Lucy further, but seeing her tearful face, I couldn’t hold back my laughter.

To Lucy, who was staring at me with tear-filled eyes, not understanding why, I said with a giggle.

“Just kidding! I’m not mad about pulling out one hair!”

“What…?”

“How much hair falls out of my tail every day, you know? Pulling out just one strand won’t even be noticeable. Hee hee, gotcha!”

I wagged my tail playfully in front of Lucy and laughed.

Even at this moment, strands of fur were falling from my swaying tail, decorating the air. If Lucy pulled out a few more hairs, I wouldn’t get angry.

Of course, if she pulled out too many, it would hurt, so I would have to stop her. But Lucy didn’t do it intentionally, and it was an accident, so I didn’t really intend to call her a thief.

If she had done that to Seol-gu, Seol-gu would have been furious. Seol-gu is such a petty fox that he got angry at me for pulling out just twenty hairs last time.

But unlike Seol-gu, I am a very generous and broad-minded wolf. My anger earlier was purely a joke.

I patted Lucy’s back and comforted her, who was startled by my prank.

“Still, you shouldn’t pull out too much hair. Even if a lot falls out, hair is precious. Okay… Lu, Lucy?”

“Hic….”

Huk.

Tears welled up in Lucy’s eyes. And then, they began to flow out explosively.

“Uwaaang!!”

“Lucy!”

Did I tease her too much? Lucy burst into tears. I, flustered, tried to stop Lucy from crying, but Lucy’s tears showed no sign of stopping.

What should I do….

Ah, yes!

“Grrr, scary! It’s a wolf! Kkang kkang!”

“Uaaaaaang!!”

“Huk….”

I read in a picture book that wolves are so scary they can even stop a baby’s cries, but Lucy’s crying only got louder.

Perhaps it’s because Lucy isn’t a baby, but a child.

After briefly analyzing why it didn’t work, I urgently sought a solution to calm Lucy’s crying, and my eyes fell on the red bag I carried.

“Seol-gu, come out for a moment!”

“Kkang?”

I have a special remedy that I sometimes use when I can’t stop crying.

That is, Seol-gu.

Seol-gu’s soft, squishy, fluffy fur is so cute and pleasant to touch that it makes me laugh, so it’s very effective in stopping crying. It should be the same for Lucy.

I wanted Seol-gu, who looked tired, to rest comfortably… but there was no other way right now.

I put Seol-gu down on the ground and shouted.

“Go, Seol-gu! Stop Lucy’s crying!”

“Kkang.”

A sighing cry, as if saying “Sigh.”

Seol-gu trotted and slipped into the arms of the crying Lucy.

Then, he stuck out his tongue and licked Lucy’s cheek.

“Hic…?”

“Kkang!”

When Lucy looked at him, Seol-gu cried “Kkang” and placed the transparent magic stone he was holding in his mouth on the ground.

Wait, just a moment.

When did Seol-gu take my stone?

I didn’t even feel him take it.

After marveling at Seol-gu’s incredible thieving skills, Seol-gu cried “Kkang” at the stone and began to use magic.

Soon, the stone began to glow.

However, unlike when I usually use magic, it’s not dazzling. It’s a soft light, as if gently caressing us.

But what kind of magic did he use?

As I raised my head with a question, I had to exclaim.

“Wow….”

“Waaah….”

From the distant sky to the place close enough to touch our noses, rainbow-colored, sparkling soap bubbles adorned the air freely.

The soap bubbles continuously changed their colors and slowly settled onto the snowfield. It was a sight like rainbow-colored snowflakes falling from the sky.

Lucy caught the bubbles falling from the sky with her hand. The soap bubble that landed on Lucy’s hand, as soap bubbles tend to do, popped and disappeared as soon as it touched her skin, and Lucy let out a sigh.

I couldn’t just stand by either. What is it that a brave man, no, a brave wolf, can’t resist? It’s soap bubbles, isn’t it?

I quickly extended my tail and gently caught a soap bubble. The softly glowing soap bubble barely held on with the support of a single tail hair, but as I twisted my body slightly, it popped and disappeared immediately.

“Ah…!”

No!

I used all my wolf martial arts to catch the soap bubble. My legs stretched out powerfully, and my body leaped high into the air.

Touch!

But the soap bubble popped again.

I glared at the sky, preparing to catch the next soap bubble. My tail swayed gently, showing the movements of a predator.

Some might ask why I’m going to such lengths for mere soap bubbles. But what can I do? Even if Sister were here, she wouldn’t be able to resist rushing towards these soap bubbles.

… Especially since Sister has many childish aspects.

Given Sister’s recent behavior, I could predict what she would do if she were here.

As soon as she saw the soap bubbles, her eyes would surely sparkle, she’d wag her tail, jump into the air with a bang, and pop all the soap bubbles with the impact alone.

Seeing that all the soap bubbles had disappeared, Sister would become dejected and let her tail droop, and when she realized I was beside her, she would hastily return to her usual expression, but it would be too late. I would have already seen Sister’s true colors.

Puhuhu.

Thinking about that, I’m quite dignified.

I swayed my tail while looking at the sky, then jumped powerfully.

“Caught…!”

The soap bubble popped the moment my hand touched it.

Even as I thought “Oops,” I soon realized there was nowhere to step in the air.

All that was left was me, floating several meters above the ground.

Looking down, I saw Lucy and Seol-gu looking at me, and the snowfield.

It feels strangely familiar.

“Kkang!!”

The subsequent fall.

My body was sucked into the snow with a “thump.”

“S-Seol-gu! Help me…!”

My upper body was completely buried, and no matter how much I struggled, my body showed no sign of coming out. I frantically moved my tail and legs, which were the only parts sticking out of the snow, and called for Seol-gu’s help.

“Kkang kkang.”

Seol-gu grabbed my tail in his mouth and pulled hard.

But still, my body wouldn’t come out.

“Seol-gu, put more strength into it!”

“Kkang!”

“Eeeek….”

It seems Seol-gu lacks the strength.

If Seol-gu were a wolf and not a fox, he would have had enough strength… But now there’s no other option, so I kept urging Seol-gu on.

Then, suddenly, something grabbed my tail.

“Whoa…!”

My body was pulled out with a “swoosh.”

Pulled by inertia, I got tangled with whatever had grabbed me and tumbled down.

“Kkang… Lucy!”

“Ugh….”

It was Lucy who pulled me out.

What Seol-gu’s strength was barely lacking, it seemed, was instantly pulled out with Lucy’s help. I licked Lucy’s cheek to express my gratitude.

“Thank you!”

“Uh, yeah.”

I got off Lucy and quickly regained my posture. Looking at the sky, the soap bubbles were already gone.

It felt a little disappointing, but I have a lot to do now.

I helped Lucy up and said.

“Lucy, show me around this village now!”

“The village?”

“Yes!!”

I had been looking forward to this since we first arrived in the village. It was time to explore the village.

… Of course, while still playing!