63. Henir

63. Henir

Finding Claire wasn’t difficult.

“Claire, are you okay? Wake up.”

Claire was still dazed and lying where I had thrown her earlier. I helped her up and massaged her cheeks.

The soft texture of her skin.

The addictive sensation, like kneading marshmallows, made me continue to play with Claire’s cheeks.

Knead, knead.

“That doesn’t look like she’s trying to wake her up.”

“I think so too. I’m jealous.”

“Did you say something?”

Henir and Priscilla were muttering something behind me. A moment later, Claire seemed to regain consciousness and slowly opened her eyelids.

“Hiccup.”

Perhaps I was too close, Claire gasped in surprise when she saw my face. To help Claire calm down, I removed my hand from her cheek and patted her back.

Thump! Thump!

“Claire, are you okay now?”

“Ugh… I think I just fainted. How much time has passed?”

“Not much time has passed.”

For some reason, Claire’s back was shimmering with a golden aura. She looked around and then asked Henir, who was behind me.

“… Who is that? A beastman?”

“Yeah. This is Henir, she’s visiting from my hometown for a bit.”

I extended my hand to point at Henir, who placed her hand on her head and replied.

“I am Henir! It’s an honor to meet you, Princess!”

“Uh, yeah.”

Claire replied.

I stood up and looked back at the group. Henir, Priscilla, and Claire. In the background, the partially destroyed Academy and the hastily dispatched rescue team were visible.

“… Shall we go now? Let’s hurry.”

“Wait, what about the person you were chasing earlier?”

Claire stopped me as I tried to escape. Since she had been unconscious, she wouldn’t have known how the situation concluded, so I explained Henir to Claire in detail.

“….”

“Okay, now let’s really go.”

Claire looked at me with a strange expression after the explanation. I picked her up and we left the scene of the incident.

——

“So, Henir, you’re returning to your territory now?”

“Ah! About that….”

As we walked towards the dormitory, I asked Henir.

Henir had come to the Academy to purchase the elixir, so while it was nice to meet a fellow wolf beastman after so long, we would have to part ways soon.

… Or so I thought, but Henir shook her head first.

“Actually, if it’s okay with you, Young Lady, I’d like to stay here a bit longer! I finally met the Young Lady I’ve admired for over ten years!!”

Henir excitedly wagged her brown tail in all directions. Priscilla’s eyes followed her tail, swaying left and right, and I tilted my head and asked.

“But you have to deliver the elixir to my mother. Are you planning to go and come back? I don’t mind staying here, but it will take quite some time.”

“There’s a simple way to do that too!”

Henir proudly smiled and took something out of her pocket. It was a crystal that glowed with a strange purple light.

A crystal small enough to fit in one hand. Upon seeing it, Priscilla gasped and opened her mouth.

“That’s!”

“That’s?”

“A teleporter! It’s incredibly expensive!”

Henir replied with a chuckle.

“That’s right! The cost of charging it once is so high that it’s not something used often, but the Grand Duke himself bestowed it upon me, ordering me to retrieve it as quickly as possible! With this, I can send the elixir to the North in a flash!”

For some reason, Priscilla was twice as shocked. However, I and Claire, who were listening quietly beside her, reacted indifferently.

“We have something like that at home? I’ve never seen it before.”

“Is it that expensive? It seems like they use them a lot in the Imperial Palace.”

Although our reasons differed, our reactions were similarly unenthusiastic. Perhaps due to her pride as a mage, Priscilla swayed her rolled-up hair and passionately defended Henir.

“Of course it’s expensive! Even for teleporting a few kilometers, the mana consumption is astronomical! Simply put, the mana consumption is proportional to the cube of the distance, and if the crystal quality is poor, the efficiency drops significantly. If there are obstacles in between, it can’t penetrate them, requiring intermediate magical devices, which further consume mana….”

“Could you explain it a bit more simply?”

Unfortunately, I wasn’t good at math. And even less so with magic. From the moment Priscilla started her lengthy explanation, only incomprehensible sound waves buzzed in my wolf ears.

“… It just consumes a lot of mana. Unbelievably so.”

“Aha.”

As both I and Claire showed signs of understanding, Henir didn’t hesitate and activated the magical device.

“Done!”

The elixir vanished with a poof.

Without any sound effects or visual effects.

Henir put the now dull crystal back into her pocket.

“… Is that it?”

“Yes!”

“… Let’s go.”

Disappointed by the anticlimactic magical device, I walked forward.

——

It didn’t take long to reach the dormitory.

Except for Priscilla, everyone else had good stamina, and even Priscilla, though panting a bit, wasn’t that slow.

Upon entering the room, I looked at the group and said.

“With four of us, it feels quite crowded.”

Dormitories were basically for two people per room. Of course, since it was for nobles, the rooms were quite spacious, but four people felt a bit too many, making it quite cramped.

Of course, I didn’t dislike having many people around. I had always been with Freya at home. This new feeling was always welcome.

I sat on Priscilla’s bed and said.

“I’ll sleep with Priscilla here, and Henir can sleep with Claire over there….”

“W-wait! Can’t I sleep with you?”

Claire exclaimed urgently, her golden eyes, filled with desire, looking at me. I turned to Priscilla and said.

“I don’t mind… Priscilla, is it okay?”

“… Hmm, yes, there’s a tail on the other side too. I’m okay too.”

Even though she said that, Priscilla had a rather displeased expression. But it couldn’t be helped. While two people might fit, the bed was too small for three.

Priscilla got up and walked towards the bed where Henir was sitting. Then, she suddenly hugged Henir’s brown tail.

“Hiyat?!”

“Kek!”

Priscilla, who was immediately counter-attacked by Henir, was slammed onto the bed. Henir shouted.

“A beastman’s tail is only allowed for loved ones! Don’t touch it without permission!”

“N-no, Skadi said it’s okay to touch if you’re close friends!”

Priscilla, gasping for breath, replied. Henir looked at me, seemingly unable to believe Priscilla’s words, and asked again.

“Young Lady?! Is that true?!”

“Why?”

A beastman’s tail can be touched by anyone close, including family. It’s common sense that my sister told me, so there was no way it could be wrong.

I looked at Henir quietly, and soon Henir began to mutter to herself, her eyes wavering.

“Ah, if the Young Lady says so, I won’t say anything else… but still, the tail… ugh….”

Henir, wavering as if being tempted by evil, was taken advantage of by Priscilla, who hugged her tail tightly and buried her face in it.

“Hiyak?!”

“Henir’s scent is strange. It’s like a slightly cool herbal scent, and it’s fluffy like Skadi’s, but very different. Sniff sniff.”

“Don’t smell me! You pervert! Ugh… C-calm down, Henir. If this is what the Young Lady wants…! Hiec?!”

I gently hugged Claire, who had crawled into my arms, and watched Priscilla and Henir, who were making a racket.

About ten minutes later, Priscilla was knocked unconscious by a needle to the neck from Henir. Smelling the faint scent, it seemed to be a tranquilizer.

Henir, leaving the unconscious Priscilla on the bed, breathed a sigh of exhaustion.

Claire had also fallen asleep in my arms at some point, so only Henir and I were awake in the room. I looked at Henir, and Henir looked back at me.

A moment of silence. An atmosphere of stillness.

I twitched my ears, for no particular reason. The refreshing feeling of my muscles relaxing lingered in my ears, and for some reason, Henir flinched.

Twitch.

“…!”

Twitch, twitch.

“… !!”

Henir’s face grew redder and redder. Finding her reaction amusing, I couldn’t help but keep twitching my ears. Finally, when Henir’s face reached its reddest possible point, she shouted.

“Y-Young Lady! I-I understand your preferences, but… that kind of thing between women is… not allowed!”

“Between women? Why?”

“Why not! Of course…! Of course…!”

I tilted my head, not understanding why.

Anyway, finding her reaction amusing, I continued to twitch my ears.

Twitch.

“Even if you keep twitching your ears, it’s not allowed…!”

Twitch.

“Even with that look in your eyes…!”

Twitch.

“Even though someone is sleeping next to us…!”

Twitch.

“Ugh… I-I’m not good at that kind of thing… I haven’t learned how….”

Twitch.

“B-but if you wish for it….”

The blanket fluttered, and Henir, who had been on the bed, reached me. Henir, her face flushed, gently climbed onto me and said.

Her breath grew heavy, her heart pounded. Our tails intertwined.

“I-I’m not very good at it… but I’ll do my best…!”

… What is she talking about all of a sudden?