At that same moment—
‘Oh no, oh no, oh no… I wanted to tell Aisha… I just couldn’t find the right timing…’
Somehow, Guide had ended up accompanying the residents of Krost Estate all the way to the ice cavern, his hands trembling.
In the beginning, when they had said he could come along to see Aisha, he had felt a small flicker of hope.
He had thought he might be able to pull her aside and quietly tell her that he seemed to have lost Bibi.
But contrary to his expectations, Calypse and Lucas had not let go of Aisha for even a moment, and the extraordinary creature who transformed into a cat was clinging to her as well, yowling and refusing to be pried away.
Conclusion: Guide would have to find Bibi on his own.
The problem was—
“Hey. Do you want to come have cake with us?”
“Cake is really good. It’s just that Lucas-hyung eats three bites for every one of mine.”
“Kyle, you stay out of this! Who said I wanted to eat with you?”
—Lucas and the cat-human had decided not to let him go.
“U—um…”
Startled by Guide’s stuttering, Lucas flung an arm around his shoulders.
In Lucas’s mind, this was a perfectly friendly gesture meant to help Guide feel at ease.
But from Guide’s perspective—
He’s terrifying!
—the arm of the noble heir of House Krost felt like a weight made of lead.
What happens if I say no to him? Will I be sent to prison? Is that how this ends?
Guide trembled.
Of course, refusing a noble heir was not something he could actually do—but every moment he delayed meant Bibi was somewhere out there, unsupervised.
Everyone at the estate knew of Bibi’s existence, more or less.
But how many people here could calmly accept that Bibi’s way of saying hello was to launch herself directly at your face?
What if Bibi pounces on someone again?
If she did, then they would both be sent… to the end of the world…
“No!”
A sudden shriek cut through the corridor, startling both Lucas and Kyle into halting mid-step.
“…What—what’s wrong?”
Lucas, baffled, carefully withdrew his arm. He looked down at Guide, who was now crying freely, with wide, startled eyes.
“Lucas-hyung made him cry. Time to find your conscience.”
“Will you shut up?!”
Kyle’s mockery sent Lucas red in the face—
It’s—it’s because of me that Lucas is—
—and Guide, already convinced he had offended a great and noble lord, felt his trembling legs give out entirely.
And then—
“Waaaaaah!”
The tears came like a burst dam.
I want to see the butcher! I want to see Bibi!
“Waaahhhh!”
“Wh—why are you crying?! Am I really that scary?!”
“Lucas-hyung, five demerit points.”
“Kyle, I am begging you to be quiet!”
“I—I’m going to be sent to prison! No—thrown to the end of the world!”
This poor boy, unlike Aisha, was only on his first go at life. At a mere five years old, the most terrifying trial he had ever faced was standing before an angry Lucas.
In the end, Guide told them everything.
“I—I lost Bibi! There’s a Creature loose somewhere in the estate!”
The sudden confession made Lucas and Kyle exchange a startled glance.
‘He lost the Creature?’
‘A hundred demerit points.’
The two boys had a wordless conversation with their eyes, and it was Lucas who moved to assess the situation first.
“Hey. Stop crying and talk to me. You lost a Creature?”
“S—sniff… Bibi has a lot of energy… she needed a walk… so I let her out…”
“You took a Creature for a walk…?”
Lucas rubbed the back of his neck with a vaguely queasy expression.
He already knew about the Creature trainer rumor and had been informed this was the boy in question.
And apparently walks were part of the routine.
That was interesting, to say the least—but the important thing was something else entirely.
The Creature had to be found before something happened.
“What does she look like?”
To his credit, one of Lucas’s greatest strengths was this: the more serious a situation became, the faster he settled.
The calm, steady question helped Guide dry his tears with the back of his hand.
“Sh—she’s white. And long. And really soft and fluffy…”
White, long, and fluffy.
“Hmm.”
Lucas murmured, deep in thought.
Even a great heir of House Krost couldn’t conjure a clear image of a Creature from a description like that.
But Lucas had a trump card.
“Does the Creature have anything she uses? Something with her scent on it?”
“S—something of hers?”
Guide repeated the question, sniffled deeply, and began rummaging through his pockets.
“Oh. L—like this?”
He held out something, hesitantly.
“What is this?”
“It’s my s—sock.”
Specifically, a sock with a hole worn through at the big toe.
Guide blinked his still-wet eyes and explained.
“Bibi loves biting this. She carries it around and plays with it all the time. It might be a little damp because of Bibi’s saliva…”
“Oh.”
Plink.
At that, Lucas let out a hollow sound of acknowledgment and, without hesitation, shoved a finger directly into his own nostril.
Then—
“Just give it to him.”
“P—pardon?”
“That one. His nose is good. He’ll catch Bibi’s scent off that sock and track her down.”
“…Me?”
Kyle, who had been standing off to the side looking like he had absolutely no idea what was happening, blinked with large, round eyes.
At that same moment.
“……”
I was locked in a silent, desperate struggle with the squishy belly fat that had smothered my face.
The texture told me everything. This was Bibi. What on earth was she doing here?
I stood frozen in confusion for approximately one full minute before my vision finally parted like a curtain, and someone peered down at me from above.
Tiny, bean-like black eyes. A prim little mouth curved into a neutral expression. A dainty pink nose.
“Kyuu…”
It was definitely Bibi.
The problem was that her normally white face had gone distinctly blue, and her entire body was trembling.
“Bibi, how did you even get in here?!”
“Kyuak.”
I carefully lifted Bibi down, and the poor fluff ball went limp, hanging like a pile of wet laundry with her head drooping.
Bibi was clearly freezing. The first priority was to warm this poor creature up.
“Bibi. Come here.”
Fumbling with the knot of my scarf, I unwound it from my neck and wrapped Bibi’s long, shivering body snugly around my throat.
Then I tied the scarf firmly on top of her.
This way, Bibi could absorb my body heat and the warmth of the scarf at the same time. Double insulation—done.
“The main estate is over here, but Guide is in the east wing… how did you even get all the way here?”
Had she snuck in while Guide was walking her to see me off? I hadn’t noticed any such presence.
Bibi popped her head out from the scarf at my mutterings.
“Kyuui kyuui.”
And answered me earnestly and at length.
Of course, I had no means of interpreting any of it.
“…What does that mean?”
“Kyuuuu!”
I asked again, and Bibi raised her voice, apparently frustrated at not being understood.
But the communication remained entirely one-sided.
“Right. Thank you. A very productive conversation.”
I gave Bibi the credit for trying.
I tucked the grumbling Bibi firmly around my neck and found a corner to settle into.
“Either way, Father said he’d check on me once every hour. Let’s wait until then.”
I had been absolutely freezing not so long ago, but with a living creature’s warmth pressed close, it really did feel a little more manageable.
But Bibi had no intention of giving up on making herself understood.
“Kyuu. Kyuut.”
From her perch around my neck, Bibi’s little cries echoed through the ice cavern.
“Bibi. I’m sorry, but I can’t understand a single word.”
I had no choice but to be honest.
“Kyuu!”
“Goodness. I have no idea what you’re saying—that’s enough now.”
I was too exhausted to keep responding.
“Kyuu…”
Bibi went quiet—sulking, it seemed—but I kept my mouth firmly shut.
If I ignore her long enough, surely she’ll settle down.
Father would come in an hour. When he did, I would hand Bibi back to Guide.
Kyuu, kyuu.
With that in mind, I did my best to ignore the plaintive little sounds. I pulled a finger to my ear, blew on the tip—
“You wretched child! If you can’t understand what I’m saying, the least you could do is pretend! This old woman is starving to death, and you’re going to be held responsible!”
“Ahhhh!”
A stern old woman’s voice erupted out of nowhere and shredded through my eardrums.
“Who—who’s there?! Who are you?!”
I sprang to my feet like a coil released and spun in every direction.
There was no one. Absolutely no one. This was an ice cavern.
Then why is there a human voice—
A shiver that had nothing to do with the cold crawled up my spine.
Don’t tell me. Do ghosts exist in this world?
Well, why shouldn’t they? There were Creatures here. There was magic. A world like this having no ghosts would honestly be stranger.
“……”
Emergency.
I scrambled to the nearest wall and pressed my back flat against it.
Reaching into my scarf, I wrapped my hands around Bibi. If something appeared, I would let Bibi handle the greeting.
“Ghost. Please leave.”
But the old woman ghost did not respond.
“If you’re hungry, I actually have some bread… if you eat it, would you go away?”
“Then give it here.”
Another blast of the old woman’s voice, arriving from nowhere at all.
I went completely rigid—and then, cutting right into my line of sight, an absolutely tiny pink palm appeared.
“Give it to me, child. Quickly!”
Bibi was politely requesting her bread.
