Ch#100
Gazes sensing the presence turned toward the girl all at once.
“Shallone!”
“Ah…….”
“Did Shallone come to play too?”
Bunny, who had casually climbed onto the wolf’s back, asked while bouncing her whole body up and down.
A subtle displeasure could be seen on the face of Allen—no, the wolf—approaching on four legs with pattering steps.
Seeing Allen whip his head around, Shallone clutched the hem of her skirt tightly.
“Ah, this wolf here is Allen!”
“I-is that so. I just came out for a walk to rest by the lakeside for a bit……. I couldn’t sleep.”
Shallone, who had nothing left to do, said with an awkward smile.
‘Shallone’s lying.’
Sensing something suspicious, Bunny blinked once.
Lowering her gaze, Bunny quietly looked at Shallone’s chest.
‘Red thing jiggling.’
She didn’t know exactly what it was, but Bunny easily noticed it was a massive lump of mana.
Because genius Bunny had great eyesight too!
‘Anyway, ride on Allen’s back and off we go.’
She had to do it quickly before Daddy came.
‘But if the homunculus goes back like this and tattles to Daddy that she was playing late at night by the lakeside with Allen?’
Bunny would get in huge trouble without even splashing around in the lake from Allen’s back.
So she absolutely had to drag the homunculus into it.
‘If three people get scolded, it’s three times less scolding.’
Since Daddy only had one mouth.
Having splendidly finished her wicked thought, Bunny looked at Shallone with a beaming smile.
“Hey, Shallone. At night, Bunny plays with Allen, and if it gets late, Daddy comes to pick me up and we go home.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah!”
At Bunny’s utterly innocent words, Shallone silently clenched her fists.
The future the witch had told her about was almost never wrong. But ever since coming here, most of the information she’d given was useless.
Feeling heat gathering in her eyelids, Shallone pressed her palms firmly against her eyes.
“Yeah. So let’s play together, Shallone. Bunny wants to play with Shallone too.”
“……!”
Seeing the small hand extended without hesitation and the innocent smile on her face, Shallone quietly bit her lip.
Looking at this bright, guileless child made her feel like she herself was a very naughty girl. In truth, she was the demon who had deceived everyone to come here.
They were all just being fooled without knowing anything.
‘Demons are a race that enchants people.’
Bunny must have definitely enchanted everyone with that ability before she arrived.
She might even be using some tremendous black magic on her right now.
If not……
“Shallone?”
There was no way this child’s hand, who kept interfering in her business at every turn, could look warm to her.
“…So my name is Shallone.”
Shallone whipped her head around and lightly took Bunny’s hand.
As Shallone grasped her hand, Bunny grinned brightly, hopped down, and hugged Shallone.
“W-what are you doing?!”
“I wish Shallone were Bunny’s big sister.”
From her diligent research, ‘big sister’ was an invincible title like ‘big brother,’ where the protagonist… no, someone would do anything for a cute little sibling.
‘Bunny’s aegyo aegyo strategy. Even protagonist Homunculus will melt.’
The eight-year-old adult, super big Bunny, was an excellent child who never let her guard down anywhere, anytime.
“Allen, can’t you give Shallone a ride too? Allen’s strong?”
“Super strong.”
No sooner had Bunny finished speaking than the wolf stood proudly on four legs and answered.
“Well…… as long as you don’t go wild.”
“Yeah. Shallone, hop on quick! We gotta hurry!”
“Huh? Why suddenly in such a hurry…….”
Bunny grabbed Shallone’s hand and pulled the girl along.
The wolf crouched down, and Bunny climbed on first.
“Hop on quick, no time.”
As Allen grumbled, Shallone, who had been glancing around, cautiously climbed onto his back.
Shallone’s eyes widened.
‘So fluffy.’
And incredibly soft and warm.
While Shallone was unconsciously stroking the fur gently with her palm due to the trembling softness.
Suddenly, Bunny raised her fist high, then pointed straight at the lake with her index finger extended—thwack!
“Allen, let’s gooooo!”
“Awooooo!”
Thud thud thud!
Resonating with Bunny’s valiant shout, the wolf let out a howl and kicked off the ground with all his might.
Shallone reflexively squeezed her eyes shut against the sudden rush of wind and instinctively hugged what was in front of her.
“KyaAAAAH!”
“Ehehehehe!”
Bunny tapped the back of Shallone’s hand, who had hugged her and curled her body tight.
“Shallone, open your eyes. Okay?”
Bunny said, leaning her back against Shallone’s torso.
The moment Shallone, who had her eyes squeezed shut, realized what she had instinctively hugged was Bunny and startled, releasing her arms and opening her eyes.
“…Ah.”
They were flying over the lake.
No, more precisely, Allen must have jumped running to reach this high up.
“Super pretty, right?”
At Bunny’s words as she smiled brightly, Shallone’s eyes widened fully.
Turning her head, sure enough, a huge full moon filled the sky. It felt like she could touch the sky if she just reached out a little.
A full moon filling the pitch-black night sky.
Faint clouds rippling around it.
And them flying above it.
That was when Shallone unconsciously reached out her hand.
“Hold on tight! Both of you!”
“Splash splash!”
The moment Allen’s words reached her, whoosh! She felt her body being pulled downward.
The hand extended into the air plummeted in an instant.
“KyaAAAAH!”
That was right.
Since the wolf had no wings, once it flew up, all that was left was falling.
Shallone screamed and hugged Bunny tightly.
Bunny, finding it hilarious for some reason, kept bursting into “Ehehehehe!” laughter.
“Allen!”
Along with a familiar voice tinged with somewhere absurd—.
Splash—!
With a refreshing sound, their whole bodies plunged into the water, then quickly surfaced.
The startled Shallone reflexively opened her eyes wide and gaped in confusion.
“Puhah……!”
“…What is this…….”
When she opened her eyes, Shallone was somehow in the middle of the lake. Sitting on the thoroughly soaked Allen, who was dog-paddling, along with the equally drenched Bunny.
“Eeehahaha, so fun!”
Half-human half-beast complex……?
Like hell.
How could someone with a complex dog-paddle in the water and fetch a ball running at full speed?
Shallone, whose carefully groomed body was now thoroughly soaked, thought blankly and let out a hollow laugh.
One thoroughly soaked wolf, one little demon thoroughly soaked and laughing uproariously without a care, and herself, who had tried to use her head only to end up thoroughly soaked.
What a perfect idiot trio.
“Ahahaha!”
Shallone ended up bursting into laughter without realizing it.
She genuinely felt so stupid.
As Shallone laughed, Bunny, who had been blinking, also let out another “Heheheng” idiot laugh from the front for some reason.
‘I need to try another way.’
If she didn’t do as the witch said, she’d be the one getting severely scolded.
‘And chasing out a demon is the right thing anyway.’
Honestly, it was absurd for this demon child to be in the Yudia Ducal Family, which valued divinity.
It was right for her to do that, even for this little one’s sake.
But today……
Today, at least, this didn’t seem so bad.
“Allen, Bunny!”
Flinch!
At the roar coming from somewhere, Allen and Bunny’s bodies jolted greatly.
Shallone turned her head with a puzzled expression, and there stood Kiriel Udiya by the lakeside with an icy expression colder than a north wind blizzard, even chillier than usual. Beside him stood Calvad Udiya with a troubled look.
“Shallone?”
Kiriel’s brows narrowed further as his eyes met Shallone’s.
“All three of you, get out.”
At the stern voice, Shallone’s shoulders twitched. She had only gotten dragged into it, after all.
It was the moment Shallone looked down at Bunny in bewilderment.
Heehee.
Bunny glanced at Shallone and grinned heehee.
Seeing that, Shallone’s eyes widened hugely and froze stiff. Her mouth gaped open on its own.
‘This kid dragged me into it on purpose! As expected……! You wicked demon……!’
‘Homunculus hugged two times today already. Might already be melting for Bunny.’
Splash splash.
Lost in their different thoughts, Allen dog-paddled vigorously and reached the shore.
That day, the three of them had to get scolded until tears poured out.
