95. Friend’s House

95. Friend’s House

“I’m telling you again, if your grandmother dislikes it even a little, we’re turning around and leaving, okay?”

My sister said, directing her words at Lucy, but speaking loud enough for me to hear. I think she was worried I’d get my hopes up and be severely disappointed.

Lucy nodded at my sister, reassuring her, and then led us to her house.

The sound of footsteps echoed on the cobblestone path.

“Oh, it’s snowing.”

Then, at some point, a snowflake fell and landed on my ear. And from that moment on, snow began to flutter down from the sky.

Not a lot. Considering the weather we usually have, this amount doesn’t even count as snowfall.

Unless there’s a sudden blizzard!

Anyway, we continued to follow Lucy. Walking in silence, I suddenly remembered something and told my sister.

“Oh yeah, Sister. You know what?”

“What?”

“I read in a book that a wyvern is actually a kind of bird, not a lizard.”

My sister looked shocked.

Watching her tail stiffen, I chuckled. Her reaction was no different from mine when I first learned this fact.

My sister looked momentarily dazed, then quietly approached Dad and opened her mouth.

“Father.”

“What?”

“Wyverns are actually birds, apparently.”

“Is that so? Hmm, no wonder the meat was so tasty.”

She probably thought Dad would be as surprised as she was, but Dad’s reaction was unexpectedly indifferent.

Perhaps because things didn’t go as she expected, my sister puffed out her cheeks and looked displeased. But then she realized I was looking at her and quickly turned her face away…

But Lucy and I had already seen her cute side.

“Keang.”

Even Seol-gu!

“… O-okay, let’s go.”

My sister urged Lucy on. Her cheeks were slightly flushed.

We walked for a while, getting lightly dusted with snow, and soon a brick house appeared before us.

A house with a terrace, a large rectangle with small windows and a triangular roof. Other than being a little bigger, it was an ordinary house, with dozens of similar ones around.

Lucy ran up onto the terrace and turned back to us, saying,

“This is my house!”

“Oh, I see.”

Knock, knock. Lucy knocked on the door with her tiny fist.

Lucy soon rubbed her eyes back and forth. I wondered what on earth she was doing, so I went closer and asked, and she said very confidently that she was preparing to cry.

“C-cry?”

“Yeah. Because I have to persuade Grandma…”

Lucy’s eyes instantly turned red. Tears welled up, making it look like she could burst into tears any second.

After a moment, the tightly closed door of the house opened.

“Lucy? Oh my.”

The person who walked out was a kind-looking grandmother.

Faded, white, curly hair, small glasses perched on her nose, and a hunched back. She really looked like a grandmother, without a doubt.

The grandmother looked quite surprised when she saw us. Her eyes widened as she looked at our ears and tails, then turned to Lucy.

“Lucy, who are these people?”

“They’re my friend Seol-ah, Seol-ah’s sister, and Seol-ah’s dad! This is Seol-gu, and…”

Lucy introduced us excitedly. How we met, how we became friends, what we played together… Lucy listed everything about us, from beginning to end. Even to the rambling of a young child, the grandmother listened quietly.

Soon, Lucy told her about our situation of having nowhere to sleep, and that she wanted to let us stay at her house.

A tense moment.

If her grandmother was even slightly troubled, my warm bed would be over. Lucy and I both clenched our fists tightly and looked at the grandmother.

Lucy looked like she was ready to cry too.

A few seconds passed that felt like decades, and finally, the grandmother opened her mouth.

“I don’t mind at all. There are rooms to spare anyway. And it’s better if there are more people, the house will be lively.”

“Yay!”

Lucy and I cheered at the same time. Her grandmother didn’t show any sign of disliking it. My sister would definitely be convinced at this point.

Finally, I can sleep in a bed! Yay!

“Please come in.”

“Ah, yes, then…”

We moved inside the terrace. The moment the roof blocked the sky, it suddenly started pouring snow from the sky.

The view turned blurry in an instant.

A strong wind blew, causing the fluffy tail fur to ripple.

“Oh my, it’s suddenly snowing a lot.”

“Y-yes, it is.”

I never thought it would suddenly snow so heavily.

I had thought about it in my mind after seeing it snow earlier, but I never imagined it would really snow like this. If we had been even a minute late, we would have been covered in white by the massive snowstorm.

To think we were going to sleep in a tent in this weather… We might have been found as three frozen wolves the next morning.

“Phew, that’s a relief. Thank you for letting us stay, Lucy!”

“Ehehe… It’s nothing.”

I hugged Lucy tightly and expressed my gratitude profusely.

We soon walked into the house. Unlike the cold and strong wind outside, the inside was warm and cozy. Classical music was even playing.

And…

“Oh… I smell cookies!”

“That’s right! Grandma’s baking cookies.”

A sweet and savory scent that made my nose naturally twitch. I started wagging my tail. But at the same time, fur started to fly. It was after I had taken off my tail cover.

My sister warned me.

“Seol-ah, your tail.”

“Ah, that’s…”

But the scent was too sweet to stop my moving tail. I might have to put the tail cover back on again.

I glanced at grandma.

“It’s okay. Wolf suin naturally shed a lot, don’t they? Don’t worry, I can clean it up later.”

“Yes!”

Thankfully, grandma didn’t seem to care about the tail fur as much as the stingy librarian. For a moment, I was worried that I would be kicked out for having too much fur, but I’m glad that’s not the case.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had a wolf suin in the house. They shed so much fur back then too. It’s nice to be reminded of the old days.”

“Have you let a wolf suin stay before?”

“Yes, I have. It’s been over ten years, though.”

My sister and grandma talked. But I couldn’t focus on the conversation. The smell of cookies wafting from somewhere in the house was too sweet.

“It was a lost child… A wolf suin with a particularly large tail, like that one. They had a fox with them, too.”

“A fox…?”

“We became friends after that day, and they would often visit the house, but after about a year, they stopped coming. I worry about how they’re doing.”

The smell of cookies grew stronger. If I kept going this way, I thought I might find the cookies.

After I had been sparkling my eyes for a long time and making it obvious that I wanted to eat cookies, grandma, who noticed it, said.

“Do you want to eat cookies?”

“Yes!”

I nodded enthusiastically. Of course I wanted to eat sweet and delicious cookies.

“Then Lucy, you take this child… What did you say her name was, Seol-gu?”

“Seol-ah.”

“Right, go to the kitchen and eat cookies with Seol-ah. I’ll show these guests to their rooms.”

“Okay.”

Lucy grabbed my hand and led me away. The more we walked, the stronger the smell of cookies became. The smell was so delicious that even Seol-gu was panting and excited.

“Sorry, Seol-gu, but you can’t eat cookies. You’ll get fat.”

“Keang?!”

I don’t dislike the round and rolling Seol-gu, but I still prefer the Seol-gu that I can hold in my arms. He was already heavy from eating books, so Seol-gu needed to diet.

“Keang keang, keaeng!”

Seol-gu protesting. Still, I can’t allow it.

The cookie you want!

Absolutely…!

“Here we are.”

“Wow!”

Soon, the kitchen came into view. It was an ordinary family kitchen, nothing special.

“Oh…! Cookies!”

And right in the center of the table, there was a plate piled high with cookies. The sweet and savory smell was coming from there.

Lucy pulled out a chair and said,

“Sit here. I’ll get something to drink.”

“Okay!”

Looks delicious.

When I was standing on the ground, the table was too high and I couldn’t see the plate very well, but when I sat in the chair, I could finally see the cookies properly.

Brown, crispy-looking, with chocolate chips studded all over.

Chocolate chip cookies.

Seriously, I never thought I’d get to eat chocolate chip cookies in this world. Following the marshmallows I ate during the Polar Night, I got to eat another food I never expected.

Seeing the cookies reminded me of a sentence. I cleared my throat and quickly began to move my tongue.

“An unmoist chocolate chip living in an unmoist chocolate chip country saw a moist chocolate chip living in a moist chocolate chip country and wanted to become a moist chocolate chip, so it went to a moist chocolate chip country…”

Failed!

Then one more time…

“An moiste chocolate chip living in an… Eugh.”

My tongue twisted again.

As I failed the tongue twister several times, Seol-gu seemed interested and joined in.

“Keang keangkeangkeang keangkeangkeang keangkeang keang keangkeaengkeang!…”

“Eheheh, your words are twisted. But you’re already disqualified since you only said ‘keang’ from the start, you idiot!”

“Keang?!”

Seol-gu seemed shocked by the fact that he couldn’t do the tongue twister. Eventually, Seol-gu listlessly drooped and hid in his bag.

At that moment, Lucy brought a jug full of milk and put it on the table. Cookies and milk, a very good combination.

Thump.

It’s a very heavy jug of milk.

“Then let’s eat!”

“Yaaay!”

We started putting cookies in our mouths, our eyes sparkling.