Episode 10
His lips trembled slightly, but it was such a fleeting moment that Asil didn’t notice.
He, who seemed half-soulless, somehow managed to compose himself.
“Yes, Lady Asil. I look forward to working with you.”
“Peep.”
Asil, who quickly responded, placed the rabbit in front of him again.
That human, with his furrowed brows, seemed to dislike her very much.
‘Human scary.’
She had accepted him as a witness because she needed one, but was it really the right thing to do? Asil swallowed dryly.
Meanwhile, around that time.
Dillon, who had subtly distanced himself from Asil without her knowing, was also trembling with his hands and thinking similar thoughts.
‘Lizard scary.’
* * *
Dillon Fairunt was the youngest son of the Fairunt Count family, known as a prestigious swordsmanship lineage.
He was so serious about swords that even when other children played with rattles, he played alone with a sword, and thus received the full expectations of his family.
Accordingly, upon reaching adulthood, he was immediately scouted by the Imperial Knights.
His family was overjoyed, saying that finally a Swordmaster would emerge from their house.
However, those expectations shattered to pieces in his first monster subjugation battle.
“Ugh!”
Was it because of the trauma from being bitten by a lizard in his childhood?
He couldn’t stand on the same battlefield as the holy beast or monsters in lizard form.
Just being near them made his face turn pale and cold sweat break out.
He couldn’t even dream of earning merits on the battlefield, and swinging his sword was difficult.
Dillon tried to overcome his phobia.
However, the symptoms only worsened, to the point where now just seeing any creature with scales made him break out in cold sweat.
In the end, he left the Imperial Knights.
And he entered the only ducal house without a divine beast, the Monrepé Ducal House, becoming the closest knight serving the family head.
In order not to betray his family’s expectations, he hid his reptile phobia.
‘I won’t have to see reptiles if I’m here.’
His family was very upset, saying it was a waste of his good skills.
But from Dillon’s perspective, the Monrepé Ducal House was not just okay, but the best workplace.
Families with divine beasts occasionally brought in holy beasts, saying they enhanced the divine beast’s energy.
However, since the Monrepé Ducal House had no divine beast, there was absolutely no chance of reptiles entering the family.
Moreover, in the Monrepé Ducal House, his skills were considered the best.
His skills were originally excellent, but more capable knights avoided the Monrepé Ducal House.
Therefore, when he suddenly received the order to escort Asil, Dillon was more flustered than ever.
“Escort a lizard…?
It was a position escorting a divine beast that others would consider honorable, but Dillon felt no joy at all.
A lizard, of all things.
Why a lizard specifically?
However, since he had been assigned the escort duty anyway, Dillon tried to think positively.
Still, that lizard is a divine beast, so it must be different somehow, he tried to think.
But the moment he saw it clutching a rabbit that looked like a lunchbox, rubbing its chin and smacking its lips.
Dillon nearly fainted on the spot, resolutions be damned.
But he couldn’t say now, ‘I’m scared, so I can’t escort.’
With a heavy heart like swallowing mustard while crying, he took on Asil’s escort duty.
* * *
No matter how scary the human is, if you’re going to entrust him with the witness role, you have to get close to him.
Hitting him on the back of the head while he’s fighting with Bear Friend would be a big problem.
Asil, true to her clever beastkin nature, decided to befriend Dillon to prevent any mishaps in advance.
‘To do that, I need to find out what that human likes and dislikes.’
If I give him things he likes and suggest we get along, unless he’s an extremely bad human, he’ll grant my request.
He seemed to dislike her a lot, frowning every time he saw her….
Asil didn’t think her husband would assign a bad human to her.
So, to find out what Dillon liked, she began following him around persistently, day and night.
“I feel like someone’s watching me.”
Whenever Dillon rubbed his arm and
L looked around occasionally, she quickly hid behind nearby objects as cover.
Because of her small stature, Dillon didn’t notice Asil and passed by.
How many days passed like that.
“Peep.”
Today too, Asil had woken up at dawn and was secretly watching Dillon.
For some reason, he was growing more haggard day by day, and as usual, he was practicing swordsmanship with a wooden sword in the training grounds.
‘What is he doing?’
It was a scene she had seen several times already, but Asil couldn’t understand his actions at all.
Why is he swinging a wooden stick in the air and hitting strangely shaped logs?
“Hah!”
Crack!
The log, continuously struck in the same spot by the wooden sword, broke.
“Hoo.”
Dillon, wiping his forehead and resting for a moment, moved to the side.
Then he cleared the broken log and, with a new log, repeated the same actions.
Asil tilted her head.
It’s cold out, what is he doing? Breaking wood?
‘Asil can break wood well too.’
It was then that a fairy tale she had read once came to mind.
“Squeak!?” (No way!?)
Asil covered her mouth in shock.
The story of a poor filial beastkin who gathered firewood on a cold winter day to buy medicine for his sick mother flashed through her mind.
Come to think of it, Dillon woke up early every morning like that beastkin.
He struck logs until just before coming to escort, and late at night when he returned, he struck logs again.
Oh my god.
‘That knight human is in the same situation as that beastkin!’
On top of that, how poor must he be to do that with a wooden club instead of an iron axe.
‘Asil didn’t notice anything.’
Her brother had said that males are creatures who don’t want to show weak sides.
That human is also a male, so he must feel the same.
“Squeak….”
Feeling sad, Asil covered her mouth with her front paw and left the training grounds.
And she opened her sub-space and took out a shiny gold coin from the treasure pouch she cherished.
Soon, Dillon, who had finished training, came for the escort.
Without a word, Asil suddenly held out the gold coin.
“Wh-what is this?”
Dillon tensed up so much that his hair stood on end at the sudden action.
“Peep peep peep.” (It’s from Asil.)
“Ah, th-thank you….”
Dillon, who received it in bewilderment, flinched.
It sparkled like a gold coin, but it was too light.
Moreover, in the center, it was engraved in the continental common language with
this phrase.
“Our children are the best!”
“……?”
Anyone could see it was a toy gold coin made for children.
Why is she giving me something like this? While puzzled, Asil, who was walking ahead briskly, suddenly turned around.
And she scolded firmly.
“Peep peep peep!” (You have to use it sparingly!)
“Yes….”
It’s something he couldn’t even use, so what does she mean use sparingly.
He didn’t know why she gave it, but he thought he’d throw it in some corner on the way back. With that thought, he followed Asil.
Not long after, he realized Asil was heading to the training grounds.
What, why the training grounds all of a sudden?
In an instant, Asil went to the spot where he trained and smashed the limbs of the practice wooden dummy.
“Peep!” (Hiya!)
“……!”
The surprised Dillon’s mouth fell open.
He had to pay for the broken wooden dummy, so what on earth was she doing.
Is this some new form of harassment? Was what she gave earlier hush money?
Meanwhile, Asil was feeling proud seeing Dillon’s dumbfounded expression.
‘Now the knight human doesn’t have to do wood anymore.’
She gave him a gold coin and did the wood for him too. We seem a bit closer now!
It was something that would shock Dillon if he knew.
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
By Anna 💓
