episode_0062
by fnovelpiaToday was a lucky day for Seira.
When I woke up, I felt refreshed and my throat wasn’t sore. When I cracked an egg, two yolks fell out, and there was only a spoonful of jam left.
It’s a rare lucky day since I brought Lin home.
But Seira didn’t like it.
I couldn’t eat the fried eggs that were right in front of me.
“Twist. I want to eat twist.”
“You should eat vegetables too. That way, you can grow up to be a healthy and pretty fox.”
“Cheese, vegetables don’t taste good.”
“If you eat your vegetables well, I’ll buy you a snack later.”
“Wow.”
Two people chatting amicably like family. The hostess is clearly Seira, but the dining atmosphere feels like she is the guest.
Seira stared blankly at the two people in front of her, holding a fork and knife.
“What the hell is going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why is Lin Yang talking…?”
Until yesterday, Lin, who could only make sounds like ‘kkiing’ and ‘kae-aeng’, spoke fluently overnight.
As if it were no big deal, Karamido and Rin acted naturally. The only one who found it strange was Seira.
“What can’t they do? Children naturally grow up quickly.”
Is that so?
Yeah, let’s say that’s true. Because originally, Suin developed faster than other races.
If you think about it that way, it makes sense to some extent that she would talk. In the first place, at Rin’s age, it wouldn’t be strange for her to talk.
however.
“I think I’m seeing things.”
“What are you looking at?”
“Rin Yang’s tail appears to have three tails.”
That’s right. Lin’s fox tails appeared to be three. The three pink tails were waving back and forth as if dancing.
A fascinating movement that will leave you dazed if you stare at it intently. You can’t take your eyes off it, as if you’re slowly being hypnotized.
I wonder if I’m still half asleep and seeing things. Or maybe I’m moving too fast and seeing afterimages.
Seira rubbed her eyes and opened them again, but nothing had changed. Her tail hadn’t disappeared or anything. It wasn’t an illusion.
“Why on earth did Lin Yang’s tail grow?”
“During the growth period, this and that happen. Don’t deer grow antlers as they grow?”
“I have never heard of a fox with an elongated tail.”
no.
I had never seen it, but I remember hearing about it. A collection of folk tales I had seen somewhere came to mind.
“Gumiho… ?”
A thousand-year-old remedy.
A nine-tailed fox monster.
“What kind of gum is that? The kid only has three tails.”
“This time, it could increase to nine.”
“The nine-tailed fox only appears in fairy tales. Do you think there are nine just because there are three? Lin was just a three-tailed fox. A three-tailed fox.”
While the nine-tailed fox is an imaginary creature that no one has ever seen, the three-tailed fox is only occasionally found among the Hoyo tribe.
Just like there are Pegasus and Unicorn among the horses.
“Why? If Rin is a nine-tailed fox, do you plan on kicking her out? Rin, Seira doesn’t like Rin? ”
“Kick me out…? Don’t you hate Seyado Rin?”
“I’ve never said anything like that… .”
“Jjuin, what if Seya kicks you out…?”
Rin looks at Karami with anxious, shaking eyes. Karami sighs deeply and makes a pitiful expression.
“What can I do? I have to sleep on the street. Shivering in the cold. Getting rained on.”
“No, you have a lot of money─”
“Heeeek, it’s so cold… .”
Sob, sob, sob.
Lin is looking down at the table. Her mouth is pouting, and her eyes are filled with tears. Her ears and tail are drooping limply, and she looks incredibly sad.
“You can’t even eat meat, you have to eat only grass. Maeaeaeal.”
“In the first place, all the meat you’re eating right now──!”
“Full sireee! Seya! Don’t kick Rin outeeee!”
Rin finally bursts into tears. Seira tries to protest urgently, but it’s already too late. The image of the little match girl is forming in Rin’s head.
It’s raining.
It’s snowing.
Going around begging while wearing shabby clothes.
There are scraps of grass on the table.
Sleep on the floor.
Shivering in the cold.
“I barely managed to get some meat, but even that was stolen by a thieving cat… .”
“Don’t take the Lin Cocoon, Kitty!”
Karami whispers cold reality in Rin’s ear in real time… and wild imagination. Rin desperately reaches out to the meat of her imagination.
Seira, who had her eyes tightly shut, felt a tingling sensation in the back of her neck.
“This is really too much. Chasing them away because they have too many tails. Anyway, they were talking about abandoning the water people, but they are the ones who are the most… .”
“I won’t kick you out. I won’t kick you out, even if you have nine or twenty tails. Okay?”
Finally, Seira, who couldn’t bear it any longer, threw a tantrum. Rin, who was crying loudly, looked at her cautiously with swollen eyes.
“Really…?”
“It’s really salty.”
“Don’t you hate Seya Rin?”
“I don’t hate it. I like it.”
Lin turns her gaze to Karami.
“Jjuin, Seya is kicking me out.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Did you do well, Lin?”
“Good.”
Where did the tears she had been shedding just now disappear to? Lin, who had stopped crying, smiled happily and ate the meat with a fork.
Seira couldn’t help but laugh in vain.
The extended tail and the rising desire to do so. Perhaps it is something he learned while living with his master.
***
“Jjuin, where are we going?”
“Going to see Grandma Fox.”
“Fox Granny?”
Lin looking up at me.
In the tail dance, three tails flutter.
Lin’s tail grew into three overnight. At first, tails grew easily, but I never thought that two tails would grow at once.
Rin has the characteristic of growing her body along with her tail. She is a little taller and speaks slowly, though she is slow.
‘If you keep talking, it will become natural.’
It’s good because they’re cute just the way they are now, but as a parent, you want to see them grow up.
Anyway, that’s not what’s important.
The key is that it’s the third tail, not the second or the fourth.
Three, six, nine.
For every multiple of 3 of her tails, Rin’s abilities as a nine-tailed fox increase dramatically.
Until yesterday, she fought like an animal, but now she can use magic like a nine-tailed fox.
So, we are now on our way to find a teacher who can teach magic to Lin.
‘It really feels like the times have changed.’
It seems like it hasn’t been that long since I met Lin, but she’s already grown so much. Is this the Lin that used to growl at the sight of me? My heart swells.
‘Is this it?’
A street where no one passes.
An old alleyway located in between.
A mural of a fox holding clouds and beads painted on a wall.
That’s right.
This is the right alley.
No matter how many times you play the game, it’s impossible to memorize the locations and detailed information of all the characters.
She is one of the few witches from Taosul that I remember.
A spirit of Vestia that must be met unconditionally in order to liberate Rin.
The Witch of Fate.
Oil painting of the heavenly lion, Cheonho.
There is a painting in the fortune teller’s shop in this alley!
“But why isn’t it there?”
A gloomy fortune teller.
I open the creaky old door and go in, only a table and a chair remain. Instead of the oil paintings that should be there, acrid dust is flying around.
Did you step away for a moment? This happens every time I go to a game, so this is the first time I’ve seen something like this.
‘It’s not just today.’
I decided to come back tomorrow and went back home.
But the next day, and the day after that, I went to the fortune teller, but I couldn’t even see Yuhwa’s nose.
Lindo also became slightly annoyed by the repeated wasted steps.
“Jjuin, did you give it to Grandma?”
“I don’t think so. Even though she looks like a grandmother, she’ll live longer than me.”
Yuhwa doesn’t come to the fortune teller. She’s not someone who’ll die overnight, so it’s right to assume that she’s stopped going to the fortune teller.
‘Hmm, if it goes like this….’
This is the first time this has happened and it is disconcerting, but fortunately, I know of another place where Yuhwa might be.
However, since this is information that you can only find out after becoming acquainted with Yuhwa, I am wondering if I should go now.
The best scenario would have been a chance encounter in an alley.
But since it was something we couldn’t avoid, the decision was made quickly.
***
Bestia, the main stage of Lin’s story.
In Taos, which basically cosplays the Western Middle Ages, Bestia is a country with a unique character where Western and Eastern styles coexist.
There are monsters called Yokai, not demons, and the main slave, Rin, is a nine-tailed fox that often appears in East Asian folktales.
In addition to beings that appear in Western literature, such as Pegasus and Harpies, there are also beings that appear in Eastern literature, such as the Four Guardian Beasts.
There’s no particular reason.
‘Because gamers like it.’
Taosul’s roots are in the otaku-like game Chewy Clap.
Just as Chinese games feature areas with a Chinese smell, and Japanese games feature samurai and ninja stamping attendance, Bestia is a city set around the nine-tailed fox Rin.
The story has gone astray, and the place we have just arrived is also the same. An oriental-style building located in the middle of the capital city of Vestia, which is full of western-style buildings.
This place, which looks exactly like a martial arts inn, is the highest point of Bestia.
It’s Cheonsangru (Heavenly Tower).
Just as the old lady who collects waste paper turns out to be the building owner, the owner of Cheonsangru is Yuhwa.
“What brings you here?”
As we entered Cheonsangru, a tiger dressed in oriental clothing greeted us.
“I came to see the Lord above.”
“This is my first time meeting you. Do you have an appointment with the elder?”
“That’s not it.”
“If you haven’t made a separate appointment, it will be difficult to meet. He is not someone you can just meet casually.”
Are you busy? Are you that old lady who has nothing better to do, so you stay in a shabby fortune telling shop and do fortune telling?
Well, only a very small number of people know this.
An individual employee might not know.
“If it’s really hard, wouldn’t you at least tell the Lord?”
“Hmm, if it’s not weird… .”
Luckily, the nice-natured Big Teckluck seems to be willing to pass the word on.
If so, you need to say something that isn’t too long and that will definitely grab Yuhwa’s attention.
“Please tell the Lord above.”
If you are a Yuhwa, you will understand this right away.
There is one.
“The nine-tailed fox came to visit.”
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