by Hyougetsu
My thoughts were interrupted as a vaguely human scent entered my nostrils. I heard footsteps nearby, and I hurriedly threw myself into a nearby thicket. I peered out through a tiny gap in the leaves. A little girl entered my field of view. From the looks of it, she was the same age as me. She wore a pointed hat on her head and carried a long staff in her hands. Is she a witch? A forest full of wildeboars wasn’t the kind of place a normal human girl would be able to survive very long in. She was either a highly proficient mage, or another demon. There was no guarantee she was an ally even if she was another race of demon, and if she was a human she was most definitely a foe. Either way, I needed to get out without getting seen and alert the Garney brothers. Before I could make a move though, the thicket behind me started rustling. Something was closing in at great speed.
“Huh?”
A second later, I was sent flying. The force of the blow knocked me out for a few seconds. When I came to, I was lying face-up on the path winding through the forest.
My entire body ached. Fortunately. even in our human forms, werewolves were tough. Everything hurt, but I hadn’t taken any serious injuries. Looks like I’ll be alright... Or not. I sat up, and saw myself face to face with a wildeboar. It was on the smaller side, but even small wildeboars were the size of a small car.
“Uwaaaah!?”
I hurriedly transformed into my wolf form, but that was the wrong move to make. Intimidated, the wildeboar did an about-face and ran off as fast as it could. However, the young girl I’d spotted earlier was now in its path. Without even bothering to consider who she might be or what the consequences of that were, I yelled out, “Watch out! Run!”
I ran after the wildeboar, but even in my werewolf form, my stunted child’s legs weren’t fast enough to catch up to it. The girl turned around and grumbled, “What’s all this ruckus?”
Upon seeing the wildeboar, she touched the tip of her staff. A faint pillar of light sprouted from it and solidified into the shape of a sickle. The girl swung the sickle of light down at the wildeboar. The moment its tip reached the beast, it fell to the ground and skidded a few meters through the dirt. Well, that was anticlimactic. The girl shook her staff a few times, and the blade of light vanished into mist.
“Mmm. Deploying the spirit blade delays the spell’s synchronization more than I thought. Perhaps I should alter the final stanza...”
She patted the tip of her staff while mumbling to herself. It appeared she thought nothing of the wildeboar she’d just ended. The girl sidestepped past the collapsed boar and trotted over to me.
“Are you alright, werewolf boy?”
“Y-Yeah...I’m fine.”
It felt a little condescending to be treated like a kid by someone who looked no older than me, but I was too intimidated by her impressive display of magic to do anything but nod meekly. As far as I could tell, there weren’t any wounds on the wildeboar’s body. On the surface, it looked like there was nothing wrong with it. Whoever this girl was, she was dangerous. She noticed my terrified gaze, and then realized what her actions must have looked like to an outsider.
“Ah, my apologies for that. Should I drain the blood from its corpse for you? Werewolves eat these creatures, don’t they?”
“I mean we do, but...”
I’m more curious about who you are. Without waiting for my reply, the girl walked back to the wildeboar and touched its hide.
“I’ll use a draining spell to suck the blood out now.”
Oh shit. She’s definitely one of those dangerous wizards. Anyone who knows spells to suck out people’s blood can’t be normal.
“There was a time in the past when draining a person’s blood was considered a valid medical treatment. Originally this spell was designed to aid in that treatment, but it’s just as effective at killing people by desiccating them and draining the blood from slaughtered livestock.”
The girl removed her hands from the wildeboar’s hide, lecturing me on a rather terrifying topic all the while. Where the heck did that blood go? I was afraid to ask, but I had a feeling I knew the answer anyway. The girl’s face was flushed, so it wasn’t hard to guess. Still trembling in fear, I started when I heard another noise from the thicket behind me.
“Seriously, you need to stop transforming so early!”
“I thought you’d be able to catch it, bro!”
The Garney brothers burst out of the foliage. So that wildeboar had been their prey after all. They spotted me, and then the girl and the dead boar beside her. Had it been just me and the wildeboar, they probably would have accused me of stealing their prey, but the presence of an unknown girl complicated things. Neither of them were known for their intelligence, and this was more than they could process.
They looked from me to her, then back to me. Unable to make any sense of the situation, they then stared at each other. Finally, Garbert opened his mouth and said, “Hey, Veight...”
“Yeah?”
“Wanna help us carry the wildeboar back?”
Why do I have to help?
“I see, so your name is Veight. Mine happens to be Gomoviroa. Well met.”
The girl in the pointed hat who was apparently called Gomoviroa smiled at me. I wasn’t sure what I should do with this girl, but just telling her to go back was probably not the best of options. I watched the Garney brothers try to drag their prize back to the village out of the corner of my eye, then turned to Gomoviroa.
“Ms. Gomoviroa, why are you here?”
“Mmm... Just call me Movi.”
“Does it really matter what I call you? Just tell me what you’re doing here.”
Gomoviroa frowned and replied, “I came here to meet you werewolves.”
“Us?”
“Indeed. I am currently researching the ecologies of different demon species. I’m here to investigate what kind of environment the werewolves live in.”
Investigate, huh? That certainly sounded suspicious. She could use magic, wanted to research the world, and was far older than she appeared. Just like me. Could she be another reincarnator? Seeing my suspicious gaze, Gomoviroa straightened her back and looked me in the eye.
“I am no mere human. The aging of my body stopped centuries ago...I think? At any rate, I have lived a long time.”
“How old are you now?”
“I stopped counting long ago, boy. Besides, did no one teach you that it’s rude to ask a single woman her age? Regardless, I’m much older than you.”
Gomoviroa pulled her hat low, covering her expression. I couldn’t hide my surprise. This was a real eternal loli, in the flesh. I’d seen a lot of new things since being reincarnated, but this was a first.
Seeing as Gomoviroa was no normal human, I agreed to guide her to our hidden village. There was no way I’d be able to overpower her or kill her in order to keep her silent, so the best thing to do was just agree to her request. I could have tried to run, but considering the Garney brothers were still loitering around, she would have just found them instead. While the two of them were strong in a fight, they were worthless at anything that required stealth or speed.
“You are a surprisingly accepting boy, you know that?”
“What do you mean?”
My tone was guarded, but Gomoviroa just smiled.
“In most cases, hidden villages are hidden because their inhabitants do not wish for outsiders to find them, correct?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Yet you agreed to guide me regardless.”
“I wouldn’t be able to hide its location from you anyway, so I thought it’d be better to bring you to the elder and let him decide what to do...”
“You’re wise, for one so young.”
More like I’m older than I look, just like you.
As I’d feared, there was a huge uproar when I brought Gomoviroa to the village. However, Gomoviroa just said a few words to the village elder, and the commotion died down almost immediately.
“She says she’s a friend of the dragonki
n clans...”
“The dragonkin outnumber us. Making them our enemy would cause problems, so let’s do as she asks.”
“At the very least, we should hear what she has to say first.”
The adults were trying to talk in hushed tones, but I could hear everything they said. While I was interested in hearing more, at present I was still just a child.
“Veight, could you bring me a knife? I need to carve up this wildeboar!”
“C-Coming!”
I hastened to my mother’s side.
Wildeboars were just a subspecies of boar, and so their meat didn’t taste too different from pork. Since they spent most of their days running around searching for prey, their muscles were lean and stripped of excess fat—which made them delicious. Large wildeboars were smoked or pickled for future consumption, but since the one we’d brought today was small, we decided to eat it all in one go. Werewolves needed a lot more food than most races. Around the time I finished helping make dinner, Gomoviroa exited the elder’s hut. It appeared she’d finished talking to him.
“Mmmm, I suppose in this situation it would be impossible...” she muttered to herself.
I shouldered a piece of freshly grilled meat and jogged over to her.
“Did you finish your investigation...Miss?”
I’d been more casual with her at first, but now that I knew she was older than me, it was only right that I be more polite. Besides, she seemed to be someone important. Gomoviroa nodded and smiled sadly at me.
“The more I hear about the werewolves’ plight, the more I pity you. If only something could be done to improve your situation.”
Plight, huh? It was true that the current state of werewolves in this world was a far cry from the depictions I’d seen in stories. We were every bit as strong as in the legends, but we were also living in secret, trying to hide from humans.
“When I was as old as I look, werewolves were the scourge of mankind. They would sneak into human villages and start hunting the inhabitants one by one. Even if the villagers knew there was a werewolf in their midst, they had no way of knowing who it was.”
Come to think of it, there’d been a game with that exact premise in my old world.
“Does that mean werewolves lived together with humans back then?”
“Indeed. However, it seems werewolves eventually decided to separate themselves from human society and live in seclusion. While the primary reason was that humans had grown more crafty and developed stronger weapons with time, there was one other reason for the werewolves’ exodus.”
What else could there have been? I tilted my head in confusion, and Gomoviroa grinned at me.
“While humans and werewolves may be of different races, they both have feelings. Many werewolves found they could not bring themselves to eat the people they’d lived together with for so long. You truly are a kind people. Even you tried to save me though you didn’t know who I was, did you not?”
“Uhh, well...”
I could hardly tell her that was because I used to be human too, so I just smiled awkwardly and shrugged. Gomoviroa tapped my shoulder with her staff in response and said, “Well, enough of that. Today has been a long day, and I am rather tuckered out.”
“Oh, we just finished making dinner if you want to join us. It’s wildeboar stew.”
“Now that sounds like quite the meal.”
That evening, everyone in the village showed up for an impromptu festival. It was ostensibly in honor of the guest who’d arrived. We didn’t have much else to do for fun in the village, so people really went all out.
“Oi, Garbert! No snatching food before the start! Naughty boys like you deserve a spanking!”
“Oww, that’s really hot, Fahn! Stop, Owwww!”
Fahn, who was holding a pot of stew, chased the Garney brothers away from the food. She was normally really kind, but when she got angry she was a terror. Personally, I was a fan of celebrations like this where everyone got to cut loose a little. Especially since werewolves were all really kind to their own. The best thing about parties like these, though, was the food.
While werewolves were constantly hunting for prey, we rarely caught enough to let everyone eat their fill. I needed to eat a full kilogram of meat before I was satiated. And thanks to how much stew we’d made, I’d be able to eat to my stomach’s content.
The party was held at the village’s central hall, which was really just a shack that was a bit larger than the others. Cauldrons of stew lined the main table, with platters of skewered meat interposed between them. Since reincarnating, my biggest issue with this world has been food. Back in Japan, I’d been able to get fried chicken and fresh-baked croquettes from a convenience store whenever I wanted, but here a decent meal was hard to come by.
Once the festivities were in full swing, the adults brought out their precious wine. Us kids were stuck with juice, of course. The elder, who was sitting next to Gomoviroa, held up his porcelain mug and said, “Let us thank our ancestors for blessing us with this fateful encounter. Eat well, my brethren, so that this day may remain forever etched in your memory. A toast to our guest!”
“Cheers!”
I raised my wooden mug towards my friends Monza and Jerrick, then got to work on devouring the tower of meat in front of me. In seconds, my mouth was packed to the brim with lightly salted grilled meat.
Wait. This tastes kind of weird. Since Gomoviroa had drained it of blood, the meat didn’t reek or anything, but at the same time, there was no juiciness to it. It tasted like chicken breast that had been left in the oven too long. From the looks of it, Monza, Jerrick, and the Garney brothers were all thinking the same thing.
“Hey, doesn’t this taste weird to you?” Monza muttered.
Jerrick nodded in response.
“It tastes really dry. Did the cook grill it for too long?”
“Fahn’s the one who cooked it. There’s no way she messed up.”
I was rather fond of Fahn, so naturally I came to her defense right away. Gomoviroa poked at her food for a bit, then grinned and looked up at me.
“It appears I was a bit overzealous when draining the wildeboar’s blood. You see, my spell doesn’t differentiate between blood and any other liquids inside a creature.”
Ahh, so that’s why it’s so dry. My mother smiled gently at me.
“Don’t worry, Fahn and I realized that as well when we tasted it earlier. But if you put the meat in the stew, it’ll taste perfectly fine. You just need to let it soak for a little while.”
That explained why they’d spent so much extra time making stew. Thank god my mother was a genius chef. The mother I’d had in my past life had... No, better not to think about it. Regardless, I was glad I’d been reincarnated here.
After the party was over, Gomoviroa mentioned that she’d be staying the night. Since our house had extra room, we decided to let her sleep with us. Like every other building in the village, our house was made of logs. If you wanted to be fancy, you could call it a log cabin. While the cabin only had a single bedroom, there was a loft above the storage closet. Said loft was my ‘room,’ so I did have some semblance of privacy. My mom slept on the old bed downstairs.
Our house was pretty run-down, but then most villagers’ houses were. Some of the larger families all slept together under one blanket in just one room, even. Our house at least had a few other makeshift spaces.
“Feel free to use my bed, Miss Gomoviroa.”
Gomoviroa smiled and shook her head.
“Oh, I couldn’t. Besides, I have my own bed right here.”
She pulled out a handkerchief and waved her staff. The handkerchief floated into the air and expanded before my eyes. In seconds, it was as large as a bedsheet. It reminded me of the floating carpets I’d seen in cartoons. Though I guess in this case it’s a floating bed, not a carpet.
“Oh my...” my mother whispered, awed.
Gomoviroa’s grin grew wider, and she said, “Most nights I sleep floating like t
his. However my magic cannot stave off the elements, so I’m grateful you’re providing me a roof to sleep under.”
She hopped onto her floating bed and took off her pointed hat. With a snap of her fingers, the sheet rose higher, until it was level with the loft. She really was an impressive mage. I’d never seen anyone do the kinds of things she did.
As I settled into my bed, I realized the way I was positioned meant Gomoviroa was right in front of my face. She was lying on her stomach, idly kicking her legs through the air. It was honestly kind of cute. Transfixed, I continued to stare until she finally noticed and floated her sheet closer to me. She docked it against one of the rafters and asked, “Trouble sleeping?”
“It’s just, I’d never seen magic before, and...”
Gomoviroa smiled a little self-consciously and said, “There aren’t any mages among the werewolf clans, after all. In truth, my speciality is necromancy. I’m still in the process of refining flight magic like this.”
“Does that mean I could do things like that too, if I practiced?”
“Fufu, perhaps.” Gomoviroa chose her next words carefully. “Magic is much more difficult than people believe. In order to cast a spell that has any practical purpose, one must understand its fundamentals.”
“What do you mean, fundamentals?”
“For example...take this flotation spell here. Its core comes from the spell used to walk on water.”
I couldn’t even begin to guess how floating and walking on water were related.
“And the spell to walk on water is comprised of a combination of other spells; the spell to manipulate weight, the spell to keep something level, and a few others. Only after mastering all of those spells can one cast a spell like this.”
Her explanation was starting to make sense now. You saw similar systems in games pretty often. Like how if you learned the spells Fire Pillar and Tornado, you could combine them to create Fire Tornado. After spending a few minutes digesting that information, I asked, “By manipulating your weight to be lighter, and fixing yourself in place by using magic that keeps you level, you can walk on water even though its surface is uneven, right? So if you cast the same spell but made yourself even lighter than air, you could make yourself float, right?”
