Chapter 94

At that moment.

W-what do I do...? I-I wanted to tell Lady Aisha... but the timing...

Somehow, Guide had ended up visiting the ice cave with the people of the Kreutz family, and his hands trembled.

At first, when they suggested going to see Aisha together, he felt a small glimmer of hope.

Because he thought he might be able to quietly tell her that he had probably lost Bibi.

However, contrary to his expectations, Calypse and Lucas refused to let go of the young lady even for a moment, and the extraordinary creature that suddenly transformed into a cat also clung to them, making distressed cries as if it had no intention of leaving their arms.

Conclusion.

Guide had to search for Bibi alone.

The problem was—

“Hey. Do you want to come eat cake with us too?”

“Cake is delicious. Although Lucas ate three bites for every one bite I ate.”

“Kyle, you’re not invited! Who said I wanted to eat with you?”

Lucas and the cat-like boy had now stopped letting him go.

“Uh, u-um...”

“Why? You don’t like it? The cake is really good.”

Seeing Guide stammer nervously, Lucas wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

From Lucas’s perspective, it was simply a friendly gesture meant to show him that he did not need to feel uncomfortable.

But—

I-I’m scared!

The arm of Young Lord Lucas of the Kreutz family, whose status seemed higher than the heavens themselves, felt as heavy as lead to him.

What happens if I say no? Am I going to be thrown in prison like this?

Guide’s body trembled.

Of course, he could not refuse a young lord outright, but if he continued delaying, Bibi would be discovered by someone in the meantime.

Naturally, the people of the estate already had a vague idea that Bibi existed.

But how many people here would actually accept that Bibi covered someone’s face as a sign of affection?

What if Bibi jumps on someone’s face again?

If it jumps on someone, then Bibi and I will...

Beyond the end of the world...

“No!”

A sudden shrill scream made Lucas and Kyle stop walking.

“...W-what?”

Confused, Lucas carefully removed the arm he had placed around Guide’s shoulders. Then, when he saw Guide’s tears streaming down his face, his eyes widened.

“Lucas made him cry. Lucas, find your personality quickly.”

“Shut up, Kyle!”

Kyle’s teasing made Lucas’s face turn red—

I-I made Young Lord Lucas...

Thinking that he had offended the mood of such a great and noble aristocrat, Guide’s trembling legs finally gave out.

And then—

“Bwaaah!”

He burst into tears like a fountain.

“I miss the butcher. I miss Bibi!”

“Waaaaah!”

“Y-you, why are you crying? Are you really crying because you’re scared of me?”

“Lucas loses five points.”

“Kyle, please just shut up!”

“I-I’m going to prison now! No, I’m going to be abandoned beyond the end of the world!”

Unlike Aisha, this poor boy had only one life.

To a child who was only five years old, facing an angry Lucas was the greatest trial he had ever experienced.

In the end, Guide confessed everything.

“I-I lost Bibi! There’s a monster wandering around the estate!”

At the sudden confession, Lucas and Kyle exchanged surprised looks.

He lost a monster?

He gets one hundred penalty points.

Among the two boys who communicated only through their eyes, Lucas was the first to assess the situation.

“Hey. Don’t cry. What did you say you lost? You lost a monster?”

“Sniff, B-Bibi has a lot of a-activity... s-so I said it n-needed walks...”

“You take a monster for walks...?”

Lucas scratched the back of his neck with a troubled expression.

He already knew that a trainable monster had arrived at the estate, and that this boy named Guide was the child from the rumors.

But he had taken it for walks too.

That was surprising in itself, but there was something more important.

They had to find the monster quickly before something happened.

“What does it look like?”

Fortunately, one of Lucas’s strengths was that, as the heir of the Kreutz family, the more serious the situation became, the faster he could calm himself.

Hearing the unexpectedly calm question, Guide finally wiped his tears away with the back of his hand.

“It’s w-white and long. It has f-fluffy fur too...”

White and long. Fluffy fur.

“Hmm.”

Lucas thought for a moment before muttering.

“What is that supposed to be?”

Even the heir of the great Kreutz family could not imagine a monster’s appearance from such a vague description.

But Lucas had a trump card.

“Does it have anything it used? Something with its scent on it?”

“Something?”

Guide repeated hesitantly, then sniffed and dug through his pocket.

“Oh. L-like this?”

The hesitant Guide held something out.

“What is that?”

“My s-sock.”

More specifically, it was a sock with a hole worn through around the toe.

Guide blinked his damp eyes and explained.

“B-Bibi likes biting this, so I often let it play with it. But B-Bibi’s saliva made it a little w-wet...”

“Oh.”

Plop.

After giving a completely emotionless exclamation, Lucas shoved his finger into his own nostril without hesitation.

And then—

“Give it to him.”

“W-what?”

“That guy. He has a good sense of smell. He’ll find the monster by following the smell on the sock.”

“......Me?”

Kyle, who had been standing there with an expression that clearly said he understood nothing, widened his eyes like a rabbit.

***

At that moment.

“......”

I was engaged in a silent battle with the soft belly that had covered my face.

The moment I felt that fluffy warmth, I knew.

This was Bibi.

But why was it here?

Had I stood there like a statue for about a minute because of my confusion?

At last, my darkened vision lifted like a curtain, and someone poked their face out from above me.

Black bean-like eyes.

A small pink nose and a tiny mouth puckered into a little “s” shape.

“Kyuu...”

It was Bibi.

The problem was that its once-white face had turned blue, and its entire body was trembling.

“Bibi, how did you get in here?!”

“Kyuu.”

When I carefully lifted Bibi down from my head, the poor fluffball drooped its head like wet laundry.

Bibi was obviously freezing.

First, I needed to warm this fluffball up.

“Bibi. Come here.”

I carefully removed my scarf and wrapped Bibi’s long trembling body around my neck.

Then I tied the scarf firmly over it.

This way, Bibi could feel both my body heat and the warmth of the scarf at the same time.

This is double insulation!

“Anyway, this is the main castle, and Guide lives in the separate wing. How did you even get all the way here?”

Did Bibi follow me when Guide saw me off?

I hadn’t noticed any presence like that.

At my muttering, Bibi poked its face out from beneath the scarf.

“Kyuu kyuu.”

And it gave me a very earnest answer.

Of course, I had no way of understanding it.

“...What does that mean?”

“Kyuuuu!”

When I asked again, Bibi raised its voice as if frustrated.

But we still could not communicate.

“Right. Thank you. That was a wonderful conversation.”

I praised Bibi for trying, at least.

I kept the frustrated Bibi wrapped around my neck and settled down in a corner.

“Anyway, Father said he would come once every hour, so let’s wait until then.”

I had been freezing only moments ago, but the warm body heat of another creature wrapped around me made things feel slightly better.

However, Bibi refused to give up on communicating.

“Kyuu. Kyuu.”

I was curled up in the corner, staring blankly at the ceiling, while the cries of the Feri echoed through the ice cave.

“Bibi. Sorry, but I can’t understand a single thing.”

In the end, I had no choice but to admit it honestly.

“Kyuu!”

“Good grief. I have no idea what you’re saying... It’s getting noisy, so stop now.”

I was tired of responding.

“Kyuu...”

Bibi looked dejected, but I firmly kept my mouth shut.

If I ignore it, Bibi will probably just stay quiet, right?

I only had to wait one hour. Then Father would come, and I could ask him to return Bibi to Guide.

Kyuu. Kyuu.

With that thought, I desperately pretended not to hear the pitiful cries.

Then I cleaned my ears with my finger and blew—

“Hey, you rascal! If you can’t understand what someone means, you should at least pretend to interpret it! If this old woman starves to death, are you going to take responsibility?!”

“Gyaah!”

An elderly woman’s voice suddenly burst out and nearly tore through my eardrums.

“W-who? Who are you?!”

I sprang up like a released spring and hurriedly looked around.

Naturally, there was not a single person nearby.

Not an old woman, not anyone at all.

Because this was an ice cave.

But why is there a human voice...

I froze.

A chill ran down my spine.

Don’t tell me. This world has ghosts too?

Well, why wouldn’t it?

This was a world with monsters and magic. It would actually [N O V E L I G H T] be stranger if ghosts did not exist.

“......”

Emergency.

Quickly.

I pressed my back firmly against the wall and grabbed Bibi hiding inside my scarf.

If something appeared, I would have Bibi greet it.

“G-ghost. Please leave.”

But the old woman ghost did not answer.

“I-I do have bread if you’re hungry... Could you eat it and leave the cave afterward?”

“Give it to me quickly, then.”

At that moment, the elderly voice sounded again.

My body stiffened with a rustling sound, and I opened my mouth wide.

Tap.

Suddenly, a small, adorable pink paw appeared within my field of vision.

“Give it to this old lady. Hurry!”

Bibi was politely asking me in a dignified voice.