99. Train

99. Train

“Seol-ah.”

“Yes?”

Inside the endlessly running train.

After playing and chatting with Seol-gu for a while, my sister suddenly called me. I tilted my head and looked at my sister.

“An employee will come to the front of the train later, so you’ll have to put Seol-gu in your bag for a bit then.”

“Why?”

“Originally, animals are not allowed on this train…”

“Huk….”

I see.

I understand, but it’s a very inconvenient rule for me, who carries Seol-gu around. If the employee closes their eyes after seeing Seol-gu’s cute face, that’s one thing, but if they kick Seol-gu out based on the rules….

“Seol-gu, can you catch up to the train if you run?”

“Kkang.”

“You can’t….”

I thought it would be okay if Seol-gu could catch up to the train’s speed, but it seems that even the elusive Seol-gu can’t do that.

So, the best solution would be to hide Seol-gu in my bag, as my sister said.

I stroked Seol-gu’s head.

“Hek hek.”

He’s such a handful of a fox.

——

Robert Pratt is not originally a train attendant.

He was primarily a ticket agent at the train station in Old Hawk, a proud city of the Magi Republic.

He didn’t get paid much, but because his home was close by, and above all, it was a stable job, he was quite satisfied with his position.

Cities are places where people constantly cheat and get cheated, and when they find a sucker, they gang up as if they never fought and strip them bare, which is the daily routine.

Old Hawk, in particular, was even more so. Although its size was one of the largest in the Magi Republic due to its long history, everything inside was becoming worn out along with the old buildings.

It was truly something when the new city, New Hawk, was built next to it, and the name changed from Hawk to Old Hawk…

“Oh dear.”

Recalling the memory of that time, which could be called a riot, Robert sighed and stood up from his chair. Through the small window next to him, he could see the rapidly moving scenery.

No matter how much the train ran, it didn’t change… the scenery of the snowfield.

The transcontinental train he boarded was running through the northernmost region, over a thousand kilometers away from Old Hawk.

There was a trivial reason why he, a station employee, suddenly became a train attendant on a transcontinental train.

His friend, who was originally in charge of this train, suddenly took sick leave and ran away, so Robert, who was at a nearby station, was urgently drafted.

All he, a mere employee, could do was ask the station master, ‘Me?’, ‘What?’, ‘Why?’

Even that was too much, as it could anger his superior and lead to him being fired from his job, so in the end, he ended up on an unplanned transcontinental journey.

“That guy is definitely faking illness…”

No matter who he blamed, the fact that Robert ended up on the train remained unchanged. In the end, he resigned himself to his situation and obediently followed orders to check passengers’ tickets.

He stood up from his seat and began to walk through each car of the train.

However, since the train had just departed, there were no passengers, so Robert walked slowly through the empty train.

After all, if he went back to the engine room, he would just have to wait endlessly until the train operation ended. He felt a little better by stretching his body like this.

“Like a salmon swimming upstream… Huh?”

While killing time by swaying his shoulders and singing, he suddenly sensed a presence in the last car of the train.

Were there passengers? Did someone hear him singing? Thinking various thoughts, Robert decided to fulfill his duty and opened the door to enter the car.

“Suin….”

There, surprisingly, were three suins with white hair.

The two who appeared to be family were large and gave off an aura of not to be trifled with, while the other, being a child, seemed very small and weak in comparison to the other two.

Robert had never seen a suin in his life. He had only heard that there were people with animal ears somewhere in the world, but having lived only in Old Hawk, he had no opportunity to meet a suin.

“Hmm….”

As is common with people in the Magi Republic, Robert did not have a particularly good impression of suins.

But that was all. His life was too harsh to harbor hatred towards someone he had never met.

He didn’t have enough time just to curse his boss who treated him like a slave, so why would he say anything about suins he had never met?

Robert approached them to check their tickets.

Perhaps it was because a person appeared on the empty train, but as Robert opened the door and entered, the gazes of the suin family instantly turned to him.

Except for one.

“Huk!! Seol-gu, hide quickly!!”

“Kkang!”

The young suin child, instead of observing Robert intently like the other suins, hurriedly picked up a bright red children’s bag and shoved something into it.

Then she closed the lid, but it didn’t seem to close properly, as a fluffy ball of fur poked out from between the lid.

Robert approached them anyway.

“May I see your tickets?”

As he spoke, he instantly regretted it. He didn’t know if suins could speak the language of the Magi Republic.

Fortunately, however, they could understand Robert’s words. The female suin in the front nodded and presented three tickets. Robert checked if the tickets were valid and then punched holes in them.

After handing the tickets back to them, it was natural for Robert’s gaze to fall upon the young suin.

Because there was white fur… all over the place.

Fortunately, cleaning was not his job. Therefore, Robert didn’t particularly care about the fur, and his gaze simply fell upon it.

However, the suin child seemed to feel guilty about something and exclaimed to Robert, sweating profusely.

“I haven’t ridden with a fox!”

“A fox?”

“Really! There’s no fox here!”

Suspiciously suspicious excuse.

Given the child’s harmless appearance, it didn’t seem like she was plotting anything dangerous. However, just in case, Robert tilted his head and carefully examined the child’s seat.

“That bag….”

“Th-there’s no fox in the bag!”

“There’s a fox in the bag?”

“Yes! … Ah, no! There isn’t!”

The child’s face turned pale. Thinking it was a bit fun to tease, Robert looked at the child’s bag.

A white ball of fur… was sticking out from between the lid of the bag.

Based on the child’s words, it was likely a fox. Robert thought that the thing she was busily shoving into the bag might have been a fox.

According to the rules, animals were not allowed on the train.

This is due to hygiene issues and the inconvenience animals might cause to other passengers. Robert reached out and pointed to the fur sticking out of the bag.

“What is that?”

“Huk…! Th-this is… my tail!”

The child covered the bag with her tail and put on a confident expression. Who would believe that, but the child genuinely seemed to think it would work.

Robert was not so cold-hearted as to treat a child impersonally. If this were not a train, or if he were not a train attendant, Robert would have easily fallen for the child’s lie.

But this was a train, and he was an attendant. Robert had a duty to point out the child’s mistake.

“Child, show me your bag….”

At that moment, Robert felt an intense gaze.

A sense of mortal danger, like being stared down by a wolf, crawled up his back. Robert, moving his stiff body with difficulty, looked at the source of the gaze.

The female suin sitting next to the child and the male suin sitting behind were glaring fiercely at Robert.

Their eyes seemed to say, ‘If you question the child any further, we’ll kill you.’

Moreover, the female suin had taken out a sword from somewhere and was holding it in her hand.

‘Gasp….’

Looking at the cold steel blade, Robert held his breath.

Of course, as an attendant, he had the right and duty to expel animals. In fact, all ticket offices in the Magi Republic had this rule posted prominently.

But was that a duty worth risking death for?

Even if they didn’t actually kill him, they would surely cause a major incident that would make him wish he were dead. There was a way to call security at the next station, but until security arrived?

Fists are close, but laws are far away.

Robert was a common citizen. His goal was simply to sleep warmly and eat his fill; he hadn’t taken on the attendant job with any grand sense of mission or expectation.

Moreover, he wasn’t even originally a train attendant, so Robert didn’t want to provoke the suins by taking unnecessary risks.

“Ahaha… Y-your tail is pretty. Just be careful not to let the fur scatter too much. Uh, well, I’ll be going now.”

“Yes!”

Robert fled from his seat, sweating profusely.

Hoping that the suin family would have disembarked by the time he had to check tickets again….

——

“Seol-gu… the employee uncle was fooled!”

“Kkang.”

“I guess I have a talent for acting… Sister! How was I? I hid it perfectly, right!”

I puffed out my chest with a triumphant expression. Although Seol-gu’s presence was almost revealed by mistake, I managed to overcome the crisis thanks to my brilliant improvisation.

My sister stroked my head without a word.

“Seol-ah, I think it would be best to keep Seol-gu in your bag until we get off the train.”

“Why?”

“It might bother other people. Some people don’t like animals or are afraid of them.”

To be afraid of this harmless and goofy fox…

I don’t think that would happen, but I decided to put Seol-gu in my bag as my sister said.

“It might be uncomfortable, but please bear with it… okay?”

“Kkang….”

“I’m sorry!”

Okay, now the waiting begins again.

I felt the vibration of the train rumbling along and looked out the window.