Chapter 6

Chapter 6. "The Red Fur Cap Worn by a Werewolf." (3)

"By the way, this is incredible. This is Aaron script, isn't it? How do you even read this?

B-Blu... Stai?"

"It is read as 'Blue Sky.' So you know Aaron script?"

"Ah, yes. One of the books I own discusses Aaron script. But more importantly, Reed, are you really giving this to me?"

Exel must have found the chair at the table too small, because he had gone into the kitchen himself to fetch his personal seat, which was to say, a beer barrel.

Perched on top of it, he stared at the wine bottle I had brought and quivered with quiet excitement. (When Exel gets excited, his ears perk up.) I looked silently into the wolfish eyes clouded with greed, then turned my head away and waved a hand.

"Take it, take it. Just think of it as your luck being better than mine."

At that, Rene let out a soft little laugh, and Exel, who had been watching her smiling face, asked,

"What are you talking about? What do you mean, my luck is better than yours?"

"Just take it. And stop asking."

At that, Exel bared his teeth in a grin, looked down at the bottle in his hand, and smacked his lips.

"Hoo-hoo-hoo~ Really? Well, if you put it that way, I have nothing to say. All right, then. Drinking this while reading will make me truly happy. Thanks. I will enjoy it."

The more I thought about it, the more it felt like a waste. I did not drink now, but still... Thinking that, I turned my head and looked at Rene, who was sitting beside me, quietly drinking her tea. She lifted her teacup with a smile.

Drink some tea and cool your head.

It was as though she were saying exactly that. Yes, whew... It was only one bottle of liquor, and it was going to Exel, after all.

Tch. With a somewhat awkward smile, I picked up the teacup in front of me and took a sip. Warmth spread through me from the inside, and I felt some of the tension ease away.

Exel, who had been watching me, smiled to himself in circles and lifted the one-liter beer mug sitting in front of him, then started gulping it down.

When Exel had first come to our inn and ordered beer, I had thought that, because his mouth was shaped differently from a human's, he would spill it everywhere.

But Exel had tilted the mug skillfully and finished every drop without spilling a thing, which had surprised both Rene and me a little.

As I set down my teacup and let out a deep sigh, Rene looked at Exel, who was draining his beer, and said,

"Come to think of it, this reminds me of when we first met Exel. It was probably about five years ago. Was it on a snowy day?"

A moment later, Exel set down the now perfectly empty beer mug and continued,

"Hoo... Hmm, yes, I suppose so. Five years ago? It was snowing, and I was out for a walk. Then, from somewhere, the smell of cookies baking drifted toward me. I followed the scent just in case, and that was how I found this place. At the time, I was rather surprised to find a house standing in the middle of the forest. And when you told me this place was an inn, I was even more surprised."

Rene listened to him with a gentle smile as he wiped the edge of his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt after setting the mug down, and I gazed at him in silence, lost in thought.

Just as he said, it must have been five years ago, on a winter day when the snow had fallen heavily, that we met him. Back then, at Rene's suggestion, we had been making and baking cookies.

The house had been full of the smell of pastries, and the two of us had been laughing as we tasted what we had made for each other.

Then the inn door had slowly opened, and Exel, the silver-gray werewolf, had stepped inside wearing black leather trousers and a light shirt, just as he did now.

Outside the door he had opened, the world had turned pure white, and that was when we realized for the first time that it was snowing.

We had been so happy simply being together that we had not even noticed that snow was falling outside.

Rene and I had been a little flustered that the first guest at our inn was a werewolf, but after roughly brushing the snow from his shoulders and head, he had looked around the hall and said with easy familiarity,

"What kind of place is this?"

"It is an inn."

"An inn? Then bring me a mug of beer. Mix in a little gin."

Surprised? What nonsense. He had ordered so shamelessly, drunk his beer as if it were nothing, and gone right back out.

It must have started from then. Whenever Rene baked cookies, he always came by, drank beer or tea, and exchanged a little conversation with us, and that was how he naturally grew close to us.

The reason I spoke casually to him like this was because he shared a secret known only to Rene and me. Of course, that was also why he still spoke politely to Rene.

"That aside, look here. Reed, when are you going outside next?"

I was drinking tea when I flicked my eyes toward him and answered,

"I go out all the time. The moment I open the door, I am already outside."

"...I hate jokes that leave my insides feeling cold. Stop fooling around. The next time you go out, I am coming with you."

Rene and I stared at Exel, and then Rene said,

"What is the matter? If there is something you need, please ask me instead. People will be wary if you go outside."

She was an elf. Rene had struck straight at the heart of the matter, and Exel, after touching the beer mug once, raised a finger toward her and said,

"To answer your first question, I cannot ask this of you, which is why I mean to go myself. And to answer your second concern, I used to go outside to fetch what I needed long before you came here. There is a way to do it without being discovered. So please do not worry."

Rene, who had fallen briefly into thought, smiled faintly and said,

"Yes. I think I understand. Then let us do it the next time we bake cookies. It will probably be within ten days from today."

"Really? Understood."

Saying that, Exel rose from his seat. Then, with a sly grin, he said,

"Then I should be heading back now. ...Sorry for interrupting what you were doing."

I frowned slightly when I heard that, but Exel kept smiling. It was probably because my face was a little flushed.... But Rene smiled as though it were nothing and replied,

"Not at all. It is fine. We have plenty of time."

"...I-Is that so? Then I shall be going. Hey, Reed, cheer up."

"Ah... yeah."

It seemed Exel had tried to give me some words of encouragement after Rene's remark left him looking as though he had taken a direct hit, but my head was still spinning from what she had said, so I had no idea what it was he had actually told me.

As Exel turned to leave with the wine bottle in hand, Rene suddenly spoke up with a look of realization.

"Ah, wait just a moment. I have something to give you."

"Yes?"

Rene hurried into the kitchen, and Exel stuck out his long snout and looked at me.

What is she giving me? (tilts head slightly)

How would I know? (shrugs)

While I was replying to his silent question, Rene came hurrying back from the kitchen with something red in her hands.

It was the fur cap she had been knitting last time. Had she meant to give it to Exel?

"Here, take it."

"What is it?"

"It is a fur cap."

"No, I mean... why are you giving that to me...?"

At that, Rene held up the red fur cap and said,

"I thought it would suit you, Exel. Try it on."

She held it out to him. Exel silently looked down at Rene, then began looking at me instead, and I merely gave him a small shrug.

After standing there for a long while without moving, staring blankly at the fur cap she was offering, Exel let out a deep sigh, accepted it, and started putting it on his head without much ceremony.

The fur cap she had knitted had a folded white band around the bottom, and above that it was red. At the long drooping end of the cap there was another white round pom-pom attached. There were also two long holes cut into the upper part. Now I thought I understood what those holes were for.

They were ear holes. Exel's ears sat a little higher up, after all. She had made it so he could stick them out through there.

After adjusting the cap on his head for a moment, Exel lowered his hands and said,

"Is that enough?"

"Yes, it really does suit you."

It really did suit him. Heh-heh-heh~

When I turned my head slightly and laughed, Exel pointed at me in a tone of disbelief and said,

"Why is this fellow laughing?"

"Who knows? Hey, Han? Why are you laughing?"

"Ah, um, it is nothing."

With great effort, I kept a straight face as I looked at the werewolf wearing the red fur cap. He narrowed his eyes and studied me for a moment before saying to Rene,

"Hmm. I shall take it as a gift, then. Well,"

And just like that, the werewolf with the red fur cap on his head swung those long legs of his and walked straight into the forest without so much as a backward glance.

I watched the forest where he had disappeared and then asked,

"Did that have some kind of meaning?"

"Oh my? You knew?"

"Who do you think your husband is?"

At that, Rene smiled with her lips slightly pursed and said,

"I am sorry. But it did not have any special meaning. I was only trying a small test."

"What kind of test?"

"Whether he thought of us as friends or not. Exel probably understood that as well. He is a book-loving reader, after all."

"If he knew, and still accepted the test?"

"Yes. There are not many creatures in this world that know how to make a false sign."

"Ahh."

I nodded at her words, and Rene continued,

"That hat means us, his friends. So if he had not accepted it, then it would have meant he did not think of us as friends. A request from someone who is not your friend is a little uncomfortable, is it not? But he took the hat, which means he accepted us. He thinks of us as friends, and whenever the time comes, he can accept our requests, and we can accept his."

"Then why did Exel hesitate before taking it?"

Perhaps because she needed a little time to think, Rene went back inside and sat leaning against the beer barrel Exel had been sitting on just moments before, while I perched on the table in front of her and looked at her face.

"Who can say? There is hardly anything more difficult than understanding another person's actions, so I cannot be sure, but perhaps it meant something like this. 'Do I need to devote myself to these people? Could they do the same for me?' Friendship... I am sorry, Han. I do not mean to blame your race. Yes, in the case of humans, I think friendship is, in a way, a kind of contract. That is merely my perspective. So do not be sad."

Rene spoke with the corners of her eyes lowered slightly, so I smiled and waved my hand.

"It is not as if I am sad, so go on."

"Ah, if that is the case, I will continue. Strictly speaking, when it comes to humans, friendship is something bound by a contractual relationship that even they themselves do not realize exists. To put it simply, if a friend has once done something for them, then they, too, will gladly do something for that friend. But if that friend has never done anything for them, then they will help with a slightly reluctant heart. Even if you tell me I am wrong, I would not really have anything to say. So please understand me."

"What part of you could I possibly fail to understand? It is true, after all. You do not have to be so sorry. More importantly, does that mean the other races are not like that?"

At that, Rene smiled faintly and nodded.

"Yes. That is right. Shall I give you my people as an example? Once elves acknowledge one another as friends, then even if that friend offers them no reward at all, they will sacrifice themselves and devote themselves for that friend. Ah, that means something a little different from marriage. For elves, marriage is a kind of binding. That is why elves do not seek a mate so early. Ah, I got sidetracked. I will continue. Of course, dwarves, who value friendship, the kobolds who visited here last time, and the Lizard Men are much the same. They all differ a little, but at the very least, they do not abandon their friends or try to use them. That is the difference between humans and the other races."

"Ahh, so that is why Exel hesitated to become friends with us? Because I am human, even if you did not realize it."

Rene smiled brightly, rose from the beer barrel, and climbed up onto the table where I was sitting. She sat beside me, rested her head against my shoulder, and said,

"That is right. But look. In the end, he accepted you. As a friend. Just as you accepted me."

I looked quietly down at the blonde hair spilling over my shoulder, then carefully raised my arm and wrapped it lightly around her shoulders. At that, the lips she had kept pressed together slowly curled upward, and she, too, lifted her arm and wrapped it around my waist.

"Rene."

"Yes?"

"I am happy right now."

"Hehe~ So am I."