Chapter 11
As the sun began to sink in the west, we finally stopped walking.
“Let’s camp over there for tonight.”
Stefan pointed to a spot just off the main road — it looked like a resting place for travelers, with a simple shelter for horses, a well, and some stone paving.
We moved over there, and at last, Raiga let me down from his back. I stretched, feeling relieved.
“Thank you for carrying me all this way. Um… you must’ve been tired, right?”
Carrying a whole person for hours — werewolf stamina really is something else.
Raiga glared at me sideways.
“No… you’re too light.”
“Eh?”
“You’re all bones and skin. Are you even eating properly?”
He frowned deeply as he peered into my face.
I could feel my cheeks grow hot.
He’s not wrong — I am pretty scrawny.
I’ve only been eating the bare minimum to survive…
But hearing someone else point it out is just embarrassing.
“I, um… wasn’t really allowed to eat much meat before.”
“What, meat was forbidden?”
“Yeah. They said eating meat weakens holy magic…”
“That’s rough.”
Raiga muttered with genuine sympathy.
That made my face burn even hotter — being pitied hurts in a different way.
He’s right, though.
Not being able to eat properly is sad.
I wanted to eat whatever I liked, too.
Why did I keep putting up with it all this time…?
— Because even though my parents abandoned me, the temple still raised me.
— So… I had to repay that kindness somehow.
Thinking about it made tears well up in my eyes.
“Uuuh…”
“Wh—whoa, why are you crying all of a sudden!?”
Raiga started panicking, dropping to all fours and then standing up again, flailing in confusion — it was almost funny how lost he looked.
“I just… I wanted to eat what I liked! I wanted to wear cute dresses, like Lady Hanna’s! I wanted to go to tea parties tooooo…! Uwaaaah!”
“R-right, right, I don’t really get it, but… sounds like you’ve been through a lot.”
The werewolf patted my head gently with his big, furry hand.
…Wait.
I suddenly stopped crying, my face going blank.
…That feeling — that soft, fuzzy touch on my head — it felt familiar somehow.
Like it had happened before… somewhere.
“Raiga, what are you doing?”
While I tilted my head in confusion, Stefan, who had just finished tying the horse to the stable, called over to us.
“N-nothing at all!!”
Raiga shot me a suspicious look, then yelled back at Stefan.
“Let’s make tonight’s dinner a feast!”
＊＊＊
The fire crackled, and a pot bubbled merrily above the flames.
Inside, meat, mushrooms, and vegetables danced together in the boiling broth.
I took a spoonful — and froze.
“I… don’t have words to describe this.”
The soup they served at the temple couldn’t even compare — this was on a completely different level.
If the temple’s soup was a one-story house, then this soup was a tower reaching all the way to the sky — it had that much depth of flavor.
“This is the most delicious soup I’ve ever had.”
“Hearing that makes me happy,” Stefan said, smiling from ear to ear.
He had prepared everything for the meal.
All Raiga and I did was gather branches and start the fire.
“It’s that good, huh? As long as there’s meat, I don’t really care what it tastes like,” Raiga said, scooping out only the chunks of meat into his bowl.
“He always says that,” Stefan sighed. “It’s not very rewarding to cook for someone like him. —Hey, Raiga, eat some vegetables too.”
Stefan ladled a scoop of vegetables into Raiga’s bowl.
