I Became a Cub in the Elven Kingdom

”Mmm! Delicious! So good!”

The table in the middle of the carriage was laden with food: meat, vegetables, fruit, cheese, juice, and more. Having gone hungry for most of the day, the members of the Light Squad were thoroughly enjoying their meal.

Amanda and Budno, the two biggest eaters, were devouring their food with gusto. One was tearing into roasted meat, while the other was munching on fruit.

”Delicious! Who would’ve thought a little town beside the canyon would have magical beast meat?” Falm, now in the form of a baby beast, happily hugged a piece of roasted magical beast meat, charred on the outside and tender within, and ate until his face and body were smeared with grease.

With such delicious aromas drifting through the carriage, there was no way he was going to stay inside the Fire God’s Mark and go hungry!

Shu Li couldn’t stand the sight of his greasy belly. He took out a pristine white handkerchief and tied it around Falm’s neck as a bib.

”Eat properly. Stop making such a mess of yourself,” he said with distaste.

”I know, I know! Stop nagging!” Falm tugged at the bib and wriggled his neck uncomfortably. Then he clutched the roasted meat in his chubby little paws and resumed gnawing.

Shu Li sighed softly, picked up a piece of fruit, and began nibbling at it.

Dixio leaned closer to Falm, examining him from every angle until Falm stopped chewing and glared at him impatiently.

”Are you ever going to stop?”

Ever since Falm had emerged from the Fire God’s Mark, this little fire-element Fairy had been staring at him as though flowers had sprouted from his head. Apparently, he was a fascinating novelty. Worse, Dixio couldn’t keep his hands to himself, constantly poking Falm’s belly and bottom with one finger.

”Just looking.” Dixio grinned, flashing a row of white teeth. ”I still can’t connect the little you I’m seeing now with that enormous fire dragon lizard from before.”

That magical beast had been this enormous, and now he’d shrunk into a tiny bundle that could be picked up with two fingers.

The Fire God’s mount was at least ten thousand years old, yet here he was, masquerading as a baby beast and wheedling food and drink out of little Fairies. Over the past three years, he’d lived like a king at the divine tree. Countless little Fairies had sacrificed their favorite treats for the privilege of petting him.

Falm swished his tail and mumbled around a mouthful of meat, ”Then don’t try! Just let me eat in peace!”

Dixio shrugged and turned to Shu Li.

”So... Sperien, have you sorted everything out yet?”

”Ah, well... could you give me a little more time?” Shu Li held his half-eaten fruit, his eyebrows twitching.

Kumandi elegantly wiped the corners of his mouth and addressed Shu Li with perfect seriousness.

”Avoiding the problem won’t solve it.”

Shu Li’s shoulders slumped. He stuffed the remaining half of the fruit into his mouth, chewed rapidly, and swallowed.

”Whose question should I answer first?”

He’d managed to stall for twenty minutes, long enough for everyone to finish eating. There was no putting it off any longer.

After a moment’s thought, he took the Sword of Viona from his storage ring and handed it to Seriu.

”Here.”

Seriu wanted to examine the demonic sword, so Shu Li might as well satisfy his curiosity first.

”Thank you.”

Seriu solemnly accepted the sword with both hands. The instant his fingers closed around it, his entire body went rigid.

Once again, an overwhelming urge to sing surged from deep within him. It was so powerful that he nearly abandoned all restraint and burst into song. Only by exerting tremendous willpower did he manage to suppress it, and a thin sheen of sweat appeared on his forehead.

”What’s wrong?” Shu Li asked, puzzled by his sudden perspiration.

”No, nothing.”

Seriu tightened his grip on the scabbard, shifted across the carriage, and settled into a corner.

”You can carry on talking. I’ll study the sword for a while.”

It hadn’t been his imagination.

The moment he took hold of the demonic sword, a strange sense of familiarity welled up inside him, as though he’d been reunited with an old friend he hadn’t seen in years.

How strange. Why would he feel something like that?

A friend?

Seriu glanced at the little Fairy surrounded by the others, and the corners of his mouth lifted. His right hand gently brushed over the scabbard.

This scabbard really was remarkably plain. So unremarkable, in fact, that calling it a piece of junk wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration.

To put a legendary demonic sword inside such an ugly scabbard... The little Fairy certainly had an unconventional sense of style.

Seriu grasped the hilt, drew a deep breath, and slowly pulled the blade three inches from its sheath. His handsome face immediately appeared reflected in the mirror-bright steel.

Unlike its ordinary scabbard, the demonic sword itself was exquisitely crafted and magnificent. Even after ten thousand years, its edge had lost none of its brilliance.

This was the very sword that had slain the Demon Lord with such ease.

Could the Sword of Carlos accomplish the same feat?

Seriu was immensely glad he’d joined the Light Squad and accompanied them to Woba Grand Canyon for this assignment.

Although the Demon Lord’s nightmare had awakened the deepest fears buried in his heart, it had also unlocked a memory sealed away for twenty-two years.

When he was ten, he’d accompanied his mother, the queen, to a banquet hosted by his royal uncle, Danton. While chasing a black cat, he’d accidentally wandered into a passageway.

Deep inside, he’d discovered a madwoman imprisoned in a cell, along with a statue of his ancestor, Sede Trik.

Every prince of the Kingdom of Cecilia dreamed of becoming the master of the Sword of Carlos, and Seriu was no exception.

So he’d knelt before the relief carving of his ancestor and prayed for strength.

Unexpectedly, a beam of white light shot out of the carving and struck him.

He lost consciousness.

By the time he woke, he’d already been returned to the royal palace, and every memory of what had happened in the passageway had vanished.

His mother told him he’d accidentally fallen into an ornamental lake at his uncle’s residence. Fortunately, a passing servant had rescued him. Otherwise, the consequences could have been disastrous.

She also told him that his uncle had been terribly remorseful and had come to visit him personally. But Seriu had remained unconscious, so his uncle had sat with him briefly before leaving.

At the time, Seriu had no recollection whatsoever of falling into a lake.

Now, piecing that account together with what he’d experienced in the nightmare, he suspected his uncle had been responsible for his ”memory loss.”

According to his mother, he’d been unconscious when his uncle visited him in reality. Yet in the nightmare, he’d clearly been awake and facing his uncle.

And when his uncle uttered those bizarre words, Seriu’s terror had reached its peak.

Thankfully, Sperien had stabbed the Demon Lord to death with the Sword of Viona, freeing him from that horrifying nightmare.

He’d disliked his uncle ever since childhood.

Although Danton was celebrated as the most handsome prince in the Kingdom of Cecilia and admired by countless young women, Seriu had never wanted to be alone with him.

There was something about his uncle’s aura that filled him with revulsion.

He had no idea what methods his uncle had used to erase his memories of the underground passage.

After waking from that incident, Seriu’s swordsmanship had improved by leaps and bounds. He’d always assumed he’d simply developed a sudden aptitude for it.

Looking back now, perhaps that beam of white light had been responsible.

Seriu slid the Sword of Viona back into its scabbard, his gaze as calm and still as water.

He had a feeling that, with his memories returning, it wouldn’t be long before he recovered the long-lost Sword of Carlos.

After handing the demonic sword to Seriu, Shu Li decided to answer Kumandi’s question first.

”Well, the story of how I met Efit is a long one.”

”Take your time. We’re in no hurry.”

Angel briskly cleared the remains of dinner from the table, produced a plate of sunflower seeds he’d bought in town, and set it in the middle.

”We’ve got a long journey home. Perfect time for a story.”

Everyone else grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds and nodded enthusiastically as they cracked them open.

Having finished his roasted meat, Falm yanked off his grease-stained bib, hopped over to the plate, and scooped up a sunflower seed with his short, chubby paws.

Shu Li’s mouth twitched again.

”You people...”

”One moment.”

Angel took out his magic staff and murmured an incantation. A flash of white light swept through the carriage, and a gentle glow enveloped the entire compartment.

”What’s that?” Hector asked.

Angel smiled, put away his staff, and winked.

”Soundproofing magic. You never know who might be listening.”

He pointed toward the coachman driving at the front.

Although the coachman was an ordinary human, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t spread their secrets if he overheard them, causing all sorts of unnecessary trouble.

Shu Li gave Angel a thumbs-up.

As expected of their sweet-faced little schemer. Careful, thorough, and dependable.

Angel flashed a toothy grin and resumed cracking sunflower seeds.

”Ahem.”

Shu Li cleared his throat and began.

”This all started when I was little.”

Hector, Siti, and Nasha immediately sat up straight, abandoning even their sunflower seeds.

They still hadn’t recovered from discovering that the Light Squad included five little Fairies and a young dragon. Now that Sperien was about to tell them his story, they couldn’t have been more attentive.

”How little?” Amanda asked curiously.

Dixio, who’d already heard the story, beat Shu Li to the answer.

”We were only four months old!”

Hector stared in astonishment.

”That young?”

At four months old, wouldn’t they still be babies?

Siti asked hesitantly, ”Four months... Could you even walk?”

Nasha shook her head.

”A four-month-old human baby can’t even crawl, much less walk.”

Realizing they’d misunderstood, Shu Li explained, ”Fairy cubs can fly, walk, run, and even talk from the moment they’re born. We’re different from human babies.”

”Th-that’s incredible!” Hector exclaimed.

”It certainly is,” Ace agreed.

Shu Li glanced at Ace and noticed that his surprise seemed entirely genuine.

Ever since he’d stabbed the purple-haired monster to death with the demonic sword, a question had been bothering him.

In the nightmare, when the Elven King opened the wardrobe door and told him he was taking him to kill the monster, Shu Li’s mind had suddenly cleared. He’d instinctively thrown himself into the Elven King’s arms and burst into tears, sobbing so hard that his tears soaked the front of the King’s clothes.

Once the purple-haired monster died and the nightmare ended, Shu Li discovered Ace standing directly behind him. They were very close together.

Ace opened his eyes and asked whether he was real.

Shu Li had patted Ace’s chest in response, only to discover that the fabric beneath his palm was slightly damp.

That was strange.

Why would a small patch of Ace’s clothing be wet for no apparent reason?

And in such a peculiar place, too.

Puzzled and suspicious, Shu Li had deliberately examined Ace’s eyes, but there was no sign he’d been crying.

Shu Li, on the other hand, found a trace of moisture on his fingertips when he touched the corners of his own eyes.

Had he been crying in reality as well as in the nightmare?

Could the damp patch on Ace’s clothes have come from his tears?

But given their positions at the time, with Ace standing behind him, there was simply no way his tears could have soaked Ace’s clothes unless they’d somehow flown backward through the air.

The more Shu Li thought about it, the more an old suspicion resurfaced—one he’d previously dismissed.

For now, though, he decided to keep that suspicion to himself until he found conclusive evidence.

Kumandi calmly asked Dixio, ”You already know about this?”

Dixio stuck out his tongue and pointed at Angel and Budno.

”The three of us already know the story of how Sperien met Efit.”

Originally, it had been a secret shared by the four little Fairies. Now it was becoming a secret shared by the entire Light Squad.

Kumandi turned back to Shu Li.

”Go on.”

One look from the quiet, studious Fairy carried enough authority to make Shu Li rein in his wandering thoughts.

”Well, it was the Midsummer Festival, remember? The entire Fairy Clan was going to the Elven Kingdom to celebrate with the Elves. We were assigned rooms in the courtyard for the Elf children, and Dixio and I shared a room. That afternoon, while I was taking a nap, I heard a strange voice...”

Shu Li proceeded to describe, in vivid detail, how the Elven Mother Tree had lured him out. He even imitated the Mother Tree’s ethereal voice so convincingly that it sounded almost exactly like the original.

Goosebumps rose all over Siti’s skin, and she clung to Nasha beside her.

Kumandi frowned deeply.

”...I didn’t want to pay any attention to it at first, but the Mother Tree’s voice kept echoing in my ears. Before I knew it, my mind had gone all hazy. When I came to my senses, I’d somehow left the room and was standing right in front of the Mother Tree. It was completely bare, and it looked so pitiful that I reached out to touch it. And then...”

”And then what happened?” Hector asked nervously.

Leaving aside the question of why a tree could talk in the first place, the Mother Tree’s behavior hardly sounded like that of a respectable tree.

At some point, Seriu had set aside the demonic sword and was listening with complete concentration.

Shu Li raised his right hand.

”The Mother Tree’s bark pricked my finger, and a drop of blood came out.”

Amanda’s little mouth fell open.

”Was it bad?”

A little cub’s skin was so delicate! Even a tiny cut must have hurt terribly!

Falm spat out a sunflower seed shell.

”The Elven Mother Tree drank your blood, didn’t it?”

Shu Li nodded gravely.

”Yes. Not only did the Mother Tree absorb my blood, it also took the initiative to form a contract with me.”

Of course, he’d only learned about the contract afterward.

The Mother Tree had been so severely corrupted by the power of darkness that it was no longer in its right mind. There was no telling what irrational things it might do.

”A contract?” Kumandi asked. ”What kind of contract?”

Shu Li replied, ”A... rather extraordinary contract that lets me travel anywhere on the continent through the Mother Tree’s roots.”