Chapter 20: The Ear of Beast-kin is Harder To Dry
As my body started its backward descent, my senses kicked into overdrive, and the blood that rushed through my eyes began to let me see time in slow motion, as if they were trying to prolong the inevitable.
In the midst of this impending danger, I caught the sight of that woman.
She abandoned her sandwich and dashed toward me, her movements abrupt yet purposeful.
The sandwich, a mundane object in any other circumstance, underwent a peculiar metamorphosis mid-air, akin to a transformer turning into their second form. It split apart, revealing an olive nestled between layers of lettuce and tomato. An odd choice for a sandwich.
Before I could even ponder her taste in sandwiches, her hand was inches away from my collar.
'Ah.'
Was she attempting to rescue me from me being fallen into the water, or merely trying to seize me for some unknown purpose?
Despite her earlier apology, some doubts still lingered in my mind.
Similar doubts clouded my perception of this woman, presumably a fellow guild member of that kidnapper who turned me into a cat girl. Regardless of her intentions, accepting her aid was not a notion that crossed my mind.
Drawing upon my heightened reflexes, I maneuvered my body to evade her grasp.
Whoosh—
Her hand grasped nothing but air, her widened eyes betraying her surprise.
Whoah. I actually managed to escape her clutch.
Go me.
As I prepared to vocalize my astonishment, I descended into the pond with a resounding splash.
"Uh—!"
No sense in panicking over a mere dip in the water. The pond, tranquil and clear, seemed to have been purified by some enchantment.
However, panic seized me when water infiltrated my animal ears.
"Pfah!"
Struggling to maintain composure, I rose to my feet in the waist-deep water.
"~~**!!@–"
The water that clogged my ears made me unable to hear what the woman's trying to say.
Was she gesturing for me to take her hand and come out? What if she pushes me again after I grab her hand?
Reluctant to accept her assistance, I opted to ascend the well-kept brick wall lining the pond.
Her actions seemed more likely to be malevolent than friendly.
"..."
Had my refusal offended her?
She continued to reach out, her gaze unwavering, but I remained indifferent to her presence.
The dilemma of waterlogged ears plagued my thoughts. For a human, a simple hop might suffice, but how does one rid animal ears of water?
Vainly, I attempted to shake the water loose, to no avail.
Desperation led me to crouch down, massaging my ears in a futile attempt to drain them.
'Ah.'
Slowly but surely, the water began to recede.
It seemed I would be stuck in this undignified position for a while longer.
✱✱✱
Yu-na, being a mage, had excellent memory and comprehension.
Therefore, she fully understood what had just happened with the child.
'She dodged my hand.'
The frightened child had stepped back and fallen into the pond.
Sensing the crisis, Jung Yu-na quickly tried to catch her, but the child chose to fall into the pond rather than accept help.
The child managed to twist her body in that short time to avoid her extended hand.
It was clear she preferred falling into the pond over receiving assistance.
'Crap, this is serious...'
The child's trust was completely gone.
No, it was worse than that – it had sunk below rock bottom.
Despite her gentle nature, she showed nothing but hostility, her trust already plummeting to the negative.
It was to be expected, given everything that had happened.
Though her heart ached, Jung Yu-na knew there was no easy way to mend this.
Rather than wallow in her own sadness, her priority was to help the child.
"Are–are you okay? Do you want to take my hand and come up?"
Jung Yu-na extended her hand towards the child.
Glancing at the hand, the child ignored Jung Yu-na completely and climbed out of the pond on her own.
While being ignored was shocking, Jung Yu-na knew this was a common occurrence for the child.
She must have spent her life feeling this way.
"Ah..."
How could she regain the child's trust?
Failing to find an answer, Jung Yu-na remained frozen as the child started shaking water off her head.
Shake, shake, shake-
The child rapidly shook her head from side to side, then used her hands to frantically shake her ears and hair.
"There, there—!"
Jung Yu-na could dry her off in an instant with her fire magic.
As she was about to approach the child,
"Eh—!"
The child, startled by the sudden approach, quickly crouched down.
She raised her hands above her head in a defensive posture, a pitiful sight.
The child looked terrified from every angle.
The thought that this action is being done because of her shaked Jung Yu-na's heart to its very core.
It would be best for her to disappear for the child's sake, but in this situation, it felt wrong for her to just leave her alone.
As Jung Yu-na stood there, not knowing what to do, stroking her own hand, people walking in the park started to murmur.
"What's that?"
"Did she push the kid into the water?"
"Come on, Jung Yu-na wouldn't do that."
Yes, she would.
Jung Yu-na answered inwardly, biting her lip hard.
A drop of blood trickled from her lip.
'I'm worse really trash.'
I'm a despicable human.
Jung Yu-na felt like burying herself somewhere and dying.
Of course, she couldn't do that because of the child.
In this situation, death would be nothing more than a convenient self-consolation.
Jung Yu-na had no intention of seeking comfort in front of the child.
Not with the mistake she had made in the past.
✱✱✱
'Ugh.'
I sat crouched, pressing down on my ears for a long time, all just to get the water out of my ear.
Unlike when I was a normal human, since my ear is that of a cat girl, it's now filled with fur, making it harder to dry, since there's always a little bit of water in every hair.
Drip
Drip
Watching the water ever so slowly drip down, I started feeling frustrated.
Even if I spend the next half hour crouching down like this, it still won't make my ear dry.
'What should I do?'
Should I try to do a handstand? Maybe if my head is down, the gravity would help make the water go down faster.
As I seriously considered this, I remembered the wolf woman who had come to see me.
Since she had animal ears like mine, she might know how to solve this.
'Is she still in the tent?'
Hmmm… Let's check on her.
I got up and ran towards the tent, carrying the bucket that had contained the minnows.
"Ah—!"
I heard the woman's voice behind me, but I couldn't make out what she was saying.
The water filled in my ears was acting like earplugs.
Well, it wouldn't be anything good anyway.
I deliberately ignored her and ran to the tent.
"Gye... ul?"
As I ran up to the wolf woman, she looked around warily, perhaps because I had approached so hastily.
"Hey, how do you get water out of your ears?"
"Ah... water..."
While muttering something indecipherable, the wolf woman fiddled with my ears, which caused my body to involuntarily trembled.
"Are you feeling a bit better now?"
"Uh... yes. I can hear properly now."
"That's good."
What exactly had the wolf woman done to my ears?
Curious, I touched my ears, but they were still quite wet.
"What happened to my ears?"
"I used mana to remove the water that got inside."
"Ah, mana."
You could use mana to do even that?
I didn't know that, no other people that I had seen in the last few months had ever done that, maybe because they don't need to do so?
Unlike Beast-kin, human ears go dry much faster.
'There's a lot to learn.'
Though I wasn't sure of the wolf woman's intentions, it seemed like it wouldn't be bad to stay with her.
She had been quite helpful in various ways.
Maybe she wasn't such a bad person after all.
"Thank you."
Just as I thanked the wolf woman, Yeoreum emerged from inside the tent.
She looked me up and down, her eyes widening in surprise.
"Gyeoul, why have you turned into a wet, wet... cat?"
"I fell into the pond."
"Ah, did you trip down?"
"No, someone was behind me—"
I stopped mid-sentence and clamped my mouth shut.
It would be ridiculous to say I fell because I got startled by someone behind me.
It seemed better to say I just lost my balance and fell.
"...Did someone push you from behind?"
"No–no–I just fell on my own."
Ah, it seems she doesn't believe me, her eyes held a look of suspicion.
At times like this, it was best to just pretend to be stupid and talk about something else.
"I think I brought too many minnows."
"Ah, yes..."
The girl nodded, her gaze shifting towards the pond.
She seemed to be looking for someone, frowning and scanning the area.
"I'll go check on the minnows for a bit. Gyeoul, do you want to dry off?"
"Yes..."
Thud!
The girl threw a goblin's mana stone into the fire.
….To use such a precious stone for kindling a fire.
I felt a sense of admiration and looked back where she was, but the girl had already disappeared into the distance.
'She's fast.'
Scratching my head, I sat down in front of the fire.
For now, I decided to just dry off.
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