Chapter 279

I couldn’t help but be cautious after realizing that Neoburi mimics the actions of people.

It could lead to our secret affair being exposed between Danyerin and me. If I didn’t want to be stabbed, it was better to exercise restraint.

From then on, I did my best to avoid any suspicious behavior while training Neoburi. He’s such a clever little guy that he often figured things out on his own.

First of all, he handles tools exceptionally well. His finger structure is similar to that of primates, making tool use very easy for him.

Just the fact that he peeled an apple with a knife showed he was something extraordinary. At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if he learned to use chopsticks later on.

‘But Porori…’

Despite being a spirit creature, Porori can’t compare to Neoburi. It’s hard to tell who’s the real spirit here.

If, and I mean if, Neoburi ever starts talking, Porori would just be a talking squirrel.

Although Porori seems to have stronger physical abilities, that’s pretty much it. What I really need is various support abilities rather than combat skills.

‘After all, I’m the one handling all the fighting.’

Anyway, I checked on Neoburi’s condition and was able to spend a smooth weekend.

The weekdays were just as uneventful. I managed to get through them without any incidents or events disrupting my routine.

The final exams were slowly approaching, but I didn’t really worry too much about it. I would end up getting a high score anyway.

Even though I knew there would be all sorts of bizarre methods involved, what mattered most to me was the invasion of the demons.

The invasion was starting to feel tangible. How did I know? Simple.

“It’s cold.”

“Cold? Wanna be hugged?”

“Yeah.”

The weather was getting frigidly cold. I quietly nestled into Eli’s embrace at her suggestion.

As soon as I was in her arms, I felt the comforting warmth, almost like being in bed.

Is there a more perfect nest? Honestly, I could stay here forever.

“Hey. Let me have a hug too. I’m freezing here.”

Kara grumbled as she watched us. I looked at Kara while still being held by Eli.

Usually, Kara wore refreshing clothes that suited her looks, but not today.

She was bundled up in thick layers of clothing like some sort of northern tribesman.

It’s not like we had the heating running in the room, yet she still seemed extremely cold.

“Even though you’re bundled up like that, you’re still cold? Is it because you’re from the desert?”

“Weren’t you the one who said winter is nice last time?”

Luna asked. Come to think of it, Kara did say she liked winter.

Just because she was from the desert doesn’t mean she prefers the heat. Kara nodded and answered.

“That’s winter in Tartar, not here. Cold is cold.”

“Hmm… That makes sense.”

“Then should I give you a hug too?”

Eli cheerfully opened her arms wide. At the same time, I hugged her tighter.

I’m sorry, Kara, but I had already claimed the warmest and coziest spot. No way I was going to let that go.

Kara seemed to pick up on my determination, chuckling as she shook her head.

“No, it’s fine. Looks like there’s already an owner.”

“Oh really?”

“In that case, you’ll have to ask someone else for a hug later.”

“……”

Kara said it casually, but for Eli, those words were something she couldn’t just brush off.

I could tell by how she flinched that she was quite affected. Being in her arms made that quite apparent.

She must have sensed that the other person mentioned was me, even though it wasn’t directly stated. The nuance was clear enough.

‘I wanna eat something sweet.’

Of course, I didn’t need all that; I just wanted to put something in my mouth. Something sweet.

It was warm inside while it was cold outside, making me slowly feel drowsy. Today, I was also thinking about training for another reason.

The other reason was my pet situation. I planned to introduce my pet, Porori, to some acquaintances and build rapport with it.

“Eli, the student. It’s all prepared.”

“Ah. Understood. Sivar, just a moment.”

But that cozy feeling didn’t last long. Eli went off to the kitchen when Rod called for her.

I wanted to follow, but my body felt sluggish and everything seemed bothersome. So I just flopped onto the sofa.

“Sivar. Get up.”

“I’m too lazy… ”

“Oh come on. You can’t just lie around. Get up now.”

Only after Rod forcibly pulled me to my feet was I able to finally stand.

It seemed that the habits from living in the forest had taken over me. I had spent winters just lazing around, making it hard to shake off that habit.

In winter, there’s hardly any food, and hunting can often be tough. So, to conserve energy, I just slept in my hideout.

‘There’s a reason for hibernation, you know.’

I even sneaked into Porori’s territory to swipe acorns. And of course, Porori found out later and came after me.

Anyway, just when I was sluggishly moving my body, Eli brought something and set it on the table.

“Here you go. I’ve prepared milk too.”

“……Huh?”

I widened my eyes at what Eli placed down on the table. These were snacks I was very familiar with.

The cup of milk was one thing, but that thing in the bowl? It looked purplish but definitely was sweet potato.

Carefully sliced in half, the golden flesh was peeking out. Did they even have sweet potatoes in this world?

“What is this? I haven’t seen this food before.”

“It’s called sweet potato, a snack imported from the Eastern Empire. It’s super sweet and delicious. Luna, go fetch Pijon-tu.”

“Okay.”

While Luna went to get Pijon-tu from the yard, I closely examined the sweet potato.

It was perfectly roasted, and steam was rising from it. It was one of the snacks I used to eat a lot back on Earth.

If I remember correctly, I had gained a lot of weight because of it. It’s a diet food, yet you tend to gain weight if you eat a lot of it.

Feeling my mouth watering, I eagerly grabbed the sweet potato.

“Ouch!!!”

“……I didn’t say it was hot.”

“Well, it looked like it would be hot!”

And I couldn’t help but make a ruckus as the heat spread across my hand.

Ultimately, after getting scolded by Rod, I finally managed to secure the sweet potato. It was still steaming hot.

Splat—

“Hey? What were you eating?”

“Oh, Grace is here. Come over and eat too.”

“Huh?”

“Neoburi can eat too.”

As soon as the sweet potatoes appeared, everyone started gathering. There was enough for everyone, so we could all feast well.

“Nom nom nom.”

“Om nom nom.”

Here I was, enjoying the sweet potato. Neoburi was also munching on the sweet potato resting on my lap.

Pijon-tu was eating from the sweet potato in Luna’s palm. I wonder if it’s okay for a bird to eat sweet potatoes.

Well, since it’s a bird that grew up in the Chaos Forest, I guess it should be fine. It even eats meat, after all.

“Looks like you’re enjoying it. Now, I just need to leave some for Ratatosk.”

“What about the Saint? She’s not coming today?”

“I heard she wouldn’t be coming. She’s busy teaching her students. Originally, it was Rize who brought the sweet potato.”

So it was Rize and not Rod who brought it. Since sweet potatoes are seasonal food, I didn’t suspect anything.

“Nom nom nom.”

“Sivar, aren’t you eating too much?”

“It’s delicious.”

Perhaps it’s been a while since I’ve had food like this. I was practically inhaling the sweet potatoes.

With the sweet potatoes perfectly paired with the milk, my hands were unstoppable. Plus, like I said, there was plenty to go around.

“Sivar, stop eating. You need to leave some for Ratatosk.”

“Just one more.”

“You’d probably be better off gaining more weight. Ha ha ha.”

Rod looked pleased watching me eat and headed back to the kitchen. It seemed there was still quite a bit of sweet potato left.

By the time I managed to finish off all the sweet potatoes, I caught a very familiar presence with my senses.

Knock knock knock—

Not at the front door, but the window. I turned to look and there was a pig just sitting there.

No joke, it was almost plump enough to be considered a pig. At first, I didn’t recognize who it was.

Rattle—

“Something smells good! What were you eating?”

“Uh… Ratatosk?”

“Why did you call?”

It was Porori. But like Luna’s puzzled reaction indicated, something about Porori looked strange.

For sure, he’d been drained of life force by a hunter, but somehow, he almost seemed too healthy.

What on earth has he been eating for him to become so plump? His cheeks were bulging out.

“It looks like you’ve… gained some weight?”

“Right?!”

Others also sensed that something was off with Porori. He was looking quite chunky.

All eyes naturally turned to Eli. I knew that Porori had been staying in Eli’s dorm.

Eli awkwardly laughed in response to the plump Porori and quietly spoke up.

“I have been giving him a lot of different things. It was sad to see him hurt…”

“What on earth did you feed him to make him gain that much weight?”

“They all tend to do this around this time, though. They need to stock up energy. Whoops.”

Porori answered lightly, jumping up a little. Regardless of his weight, his movements were still the same.

It wasn’t very strange for Porori to be getting chubby during winter. It had always been like that in the forest.

Plus, considering he had Eli’s protection, it made sense for him to gain weight.

“So what were you eating that smelled so good?”

“We had sweet potatoes, but Sivar ate them all.”

“What?”

Porori glared at me. What was he going to do, glare at me?

If we wait a little longer, there’ll be more sweet potatoes coming. No need to pick a fight right now.

What’s more important is assessing the condition of the pets. So, Eli first asked Porori for help.

“Ratatosk. You’re an animal, so you can understand what other animals say, right?”

“Roughly? It can be a bit tricky if they’re not of my species. It’s like dialect for people. Anyway, yeah.”

“That’s good enough. Can you translate for Pijon-tu and Neoburi? I don’t really know what they prefer.”

Right now, I was giving them everything, but everyone usually has their preferred food.

Information spreads extremely slowly in this world, and given that these creatures came from the Chaos Forest, their tastes could be different.

Of course, there are cases that are straightforward like Porori. But since he’s a squirrel, he’s easier to interpret.

“Okay. Hey, what were you doing in the forest? You first.”

“Cheeng!”

“Yeah, you. What were you doing?”

Porori struck an imposing pose with her arms crossed, even though she was just a chubby squirrel.

If she were a bit less chubby, it would look fine, but now she just appeared oddly plump.

Still, did she have some sort of charisma for the animals? Neoburi replied earnestly to Porori’s inquiries.

“Cheeng. Keng.”

“Your whole family got eaten? So you wandered around begging to survive?”

“Keng. Cheeng.”

“And in that situation, you met this guy… you thought he’d give you food if you followed him, so you came here?”

“Keng.”

Neoburi’s story was quite tragic. He was the last survivor of his family after they lost the food competition.

Just like I had once done, he was using his wits to survive. In the process, he ended up meeting me and coming here.

“Cheeng.”

“He says if you alleviate his concern over food, he’ll follow you for life.”

“Should I give him one more sweet potato?”

“Keng! Cheeng!”

At my suggestion, Neoburi vigorously nodded his head. I needed to give him about half of a sweet potato later.

With that, Neoburi’s story concluded, and it was time for Pijon-tu’s turn…

“Chirp! Jee!”

“He says he fell from the sky together with his mom…'”

“……”

As soon as Pijon-tu began telling the story, I turned my head awkwardly. There was no helping it.

Luna seemed to realize she was the source of this mess, clearing her throat and pretending not to know. But you can’t hide everything just like that.

However, Pijon-tu’s story didn’t end there. He glanced at Rod and flapped his wings.

It was rare to see Pijon-tu flap its wings. Just as I was puzzled, Pijon-tu spoke up.

“Jee! Chirp!”

“An old human taught him how to flap his wings? And he fed him a variety of foods…?”

“Huh? The headmaster?”

“Ha ha ha ha! Is the sweet potato done yet?”

Seems like he has something to hide. Rod suddenly got up and headed for the kitchen.

It wouldn’t be fully cooked just yet. I sensed a secret, but I held back my curiosity.

“Then you’re planning to follow this guy from now on?”

“Keng.”

“Chirp!”

“He says he’ll follow you as long as you feed him well.”

The issues with Neoburi and Pijon-tu were resolved relatively easily. Just feed them well, and that’s it.

Since I was fully prepared to give them enough food, I didn’t think much of it.

“Must be nice.”

“?”

Before I could even process the quiet whisper from Eli beside me, I turned to check.

Eli was looking at Neoburi with a curious expression. Then she caught my gaze and gave me a beaming smile.

“I think I’d be good at following too.”

She cut in so quickly that I lost my words. Sometimes she could be a little too suggestive.

While I was shell-shocked, Eli slowly approached me.

Then, she whispered secretly into my ear.

“Woof.”

“……”

“Hehe.”

She topped it off with an innocent laugh. My face suddenly started to heat up.

To cool down just a bit, I needed to distract myself. Maybe with sweet potatoes or something.

“Here’s some sweet potatoes. Take a little at a time.”

Just in time, the sweet potatoes arrived. It was quite quick.

I suspected Rod must have done something. Right now, all I wanted to do was eat.

“Ouch!!!”

“Geez…”

I must have been too flustered and switched off my ability to learn.

******

A week later.

“……Sivar?”

“Yeah?”

“It seems like you’ve gained some weight? Your face is getting all chubby.”

I had managed to stock up energy just fine.

“Really?”

“Let’s just put down the sweet potato in your hands.”

“Just one more.”

It’s been so long since I had this, I couldn’t stop.

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