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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: The Fox and the Sorcerer
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“Did you just… bite me?”
“Yes. I bit you. What about it?”
Enoch's eyes, which had been stirring the portal as if searching for something, widened in surprise.
“If something's suspicious, you should be suspicious! Right? You should interrogate them. How can you just trust someone so blindly when they haven't told you anything?”
“…Pfft.”
Enoch, who had been staring blankly at his bitten hand, burst out laughing.
“Don't laugh! You shouldn't trust people so easily. What would you do if I had some dark, ulterior motive?”
“So, do you?”
“Huh?”
Enoch curved his lips into an alluring smile and placed my hand on his neck.
As if to say it was all right to apply pressure if I wished.
“I'm asking if you have an ulterior motive. What, are you planning to snap my neck with those delicate hands?”
“Why would you say something so horrible? How could I ever hurt you, Enoch!”
At my horrified reaction, the intimidating aura emanating from Enoch vanished without a trace.
“I trust you because I know you'd react this way. Because I know you won't hurt me.”
“But…”
“And I don't trust people easily. It's only you I trust.”
As if he were suggesting a stroll in front of the house, Enoch said something incredible so casually. When he pulled his hand out of the portal, something—no, someone—came with it.
“First, let's find out what this glove is about. We can hear the details later, whenever you feel like talking.”
As Enoch finished speaking, I followed his gaze and turned my head, my eyes landing on a familiar head of silver hair.
The person, whose translucent silver hair fluttered as they surveyed their surroundings, widened their eyes.
“Wha' ish 'is?”
They must have been in the middle of a meal, as their pronunciation was completely muffled by the bread they were mumbling around in their mouth.
“Hah… I really didn't want you two to meet again.”
Enoch placed him in front of me and ruffled his own hair, clearly displeased.
“Riana, you've met him once before, haven't you? This man will tell us about the gloves.”
“Uh… you mean… the Mage Tower Master?”
*Why is he here?*
It seemed I wasn't the only one surprised. At the sound of his name, Arun, whose cheeks were puffed out, let his jaw drop.
Seeing the finely mashed bread crumbs, I quickly covered my eyes.
“Ah. Could you please close your mouth?”
“Huh? Oh, oh!”
Arun instinctively swallowed the food in his mouth and quickly put on a disgruntled expression.
“Seriously, they say you don't even bother a dog when it's eating. Who just yanks someone over like this?”
*Thwack.*
Enoch raised his gloved hand—the one not stained with champagne—and flicked Arun on the forehead.
“Apologize first.”
“…Jeez. You're always picking on me.”
“You don't want to? Then our promise not to demolish the Mage Tower is—”
“Ah! Aah! Who said I don't want to? I'll do it, I'll do it!”
I didn't know what had happened between them, but Arun immediately tucked his tail at Enoch's words and hesitantly approached me.
“So… I was sorry about biting your neck last time. I'm just like that. When I see something delicious, I lose my mind.”
“Yes… Right. Well. As long as you don't do it again.”
As I replied dazedly to the sudden apology, Arun nodded his head vigorously.
“You're nice, aren't you? I won't! I'll never do it again! When I think about how the Emperor beat me up after I bit your neck…, mmph! Mmmph!”
“Pay him no mind. He's talking nonsense.”
“Nonsense? The spot where he hit me still—mmph!”
The sight of the struggling Arun and Enoch clamping a hand over his mouth looked surprisingly intimate.
Silently watching their squabble and blinking, I slowly raised my hand.
“Excuse me, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“What is it?”
The two of them, who had been bickering, turned their heads at the same time at the sound of my voice.
Feeling burdened by the two pairs of eyes suddenly focused on me, I fidgeted and lowered my hand, tilting my head.
“Are you two close?”
“No!”
“We are not.”
*…It doesn't look that way to me.*
“Hm… really? The Mage Tower Master doesn't use honorifics with you, Enoch, so I thought you had an informal relationship.”
“Ah.”
As if my question had been that offensive, the two glared at each other before Enoch rubbed his strained eyes and looked at me.
“That's because this fellow doesn't know much about human etiquette. I've tried to teach him several times, but he has no intention of learning.”
“What?”
Not understanding what he meant, I looked back and forth between Enoch and Arun. Enoch then picked up the glove and held it out to Arun.
“Come to think of it, Riana, you might not know. The Mage Tower Master is a beastman.”
“A beastman?”
“Yes. He looks human, but his true form is a fox.”
“A fox? This… person?”
Arun, who had been sniffing the glove held out before him, snapped his head up at our conversation, his eyes gleaming.
“Why? Curious? Want me to show you?”
“No, I'm not particularly curious.”
I really had no desire to see it.
For some reason, an excited Arun leaped into the air, and with a *poof*, he vanished without a trace.
“Well?”
In his place, a fox large enough to fill the entire spacious terrace landed softly.
A fox with gleaming, silver fur like moonlight and eyes as red as rubies.
It was a rather mystical sight, but before I could admire it, a frivolous voice cut through the night air.
“So, what do you think? I'm cool, right? Huh?”
“Yeees. Very cool. Wow.”
As I pushed away Arun, who was obnoxiously shoving his nose in my face, and offered some soulless praise, the giant fox began to hop and skip around.
“I don't usually show this form to just anyone, but since you're the human the Emperor cherishes, I'm making a special exception.”
“Yes. What an honor. Ugh! What are you doing?”
“By the way, now that I'm in my true form, the scent is much clearer. You smell really delicious.”
The hopping Arun suddenly placed a paw on my shoulder, buried his nose in the nape of my neck, and started sniffing.
“But why didn't I notice before? Did you happen to lend your power to someone? No, if you did that, the person who received it would be so captivated they'd be half out of their mind.”
“I didn't lend it to anyone, and I don't know either, so get off me. You're so heavy!”
Unable to bear the weight of Arun, who was relentlessly bombarding me with questions, I stumbled backward, and Enoch's firm hand caught my waist.
He pushed Arun away and gently blew the white fur from the nape of my neck.
“His animal instincts are stronger than his human ones, so he can be rather rude, but when it comes to magic, there is no one better than the Mage Tower Master.”
Then he tossed the glove into the air. Arun skillfully snatched it and began to crunch on the magic stone, making crackling sounds.
Alarmed by the sight, I looked up at Enoch with trembling eyes.
“Um, E-Enoch? Is it okay for him to just chew and tear up a gift like that?”
“Why not? Isn't it up to the recipient how they use a gift?”
*Wow… he could even make an expression like that?*
I was staring blankly at Enoch's surprisingly ill-tempered expression when Arun, having finished his meal, spat out just the glove with a *ptooey*.
“What is this?”
His fluffy paw prodded at the other glove still remaining in the case.
Watching this, Enoch leaned languidly against the terrace railing.
“A gift from the prince of the Gamel Kingdom, as a gesture of friendship.”
“Oh yeah? He put some effort into it. Magic stones of this quality are hard to come by.”
“Is there anything strange about it?”
“Strange? Nope. Except for the nasty smell on it.”
“A nasty smell?”
“Yeah. Smells something like a sorcerer.”
“A sorcerer? Does that mean there's a curse on the glove?”
“No, not that. The glove itself is fine. The smell is super faint, so I'm not even sure. Nah, it can't be. It's been ages since the sorcerers were all wiped out.”
As Arun answered indifferently, rubbing his face with a paw, I examined the other glove that remained.
“What do you mean, it's fine? That can't be right.”
“It's true. I'm telling you, there's nothing wrong with it.”
***
“Whew. That was a close call.”
A deserted, shadowy corridor.
Holding an identical glove to the one he had gifted Enoch, Karhel's lips stretched into a delighted grin.
“I thought I'd get to see some fun since we were meeting after so long.”
The man clicked his tongue, *tsk*, and shook his head lightly. His warm, chestnut hair began to rapidly turn pink.
Then, a black cloak materialized over his body as if a snake were slithering up him. He pulled it over his face, and from the darkness, a pair of brilliant blue eyes flashed.
“Hmm… how did she know? I placed the spell perfectly so that not even the Emperor would notice.”
[“My sister is strange. She's different from how she usually is.”]
The words the Herington girl had said to him when they met again.
And Riana Daphne's face at the event, so full of life it was as if she had become a different person.
As if that wasn't enough, there was also the way she'd struggled to keep his gift away from the Emperor, as if she knew everything.
“She's certainly become strange. A dying thing came back to life. More than just coming back to life, she's doing interesting things, isn't she?”
It was a good thing he'd swapped the gloves when everyone's attention was on the Emperor and Riana. Otherwise, things could have gotten quite troublesome.
Recalling the round, green eyes that had watched him with suspicion, the man turned his head as if stretching a stiff neck, and a bizarre sound echoed through the empty corridor.
“Hmm, why the sudden change?”
*Crack.*
His head, which had been bent at an odd angle, snapped back into place like a misaligned puzzle piece.
“Well. I suppose I can find out the reason in due time. There's plenty of it.”
Murmuring cheerfully as if he had found a fun new toy, the man's body melted into the darkness and vanished without a trace.
