"Haaaa~"
Sighing deeply, Sophia remained seated in the chair.
Though she had heard of the future king being both wild and kind-hearted, to Sophia, the girl seemed nothing more than a poor and frightened child.
She couldn't have been very old even before the transformation.
Witnessing a homeless child wandering, Encia and Argo must have been mistaken.
It was an error only a beast-kin, who judges everything through strength, could make.
'What should I do now...'
A timid child did not fit the image of a king of the beast-kin.
At least, not by the 'ordinary beast-kin' standards.
However, Sophia, known as an oddity among her kind, didn't dislike the child before her.
She valued a wise king over a powerful one.
As gentle as her personality, with proper guidance, she could become a benevolent ruler.
With her mind and body softened by the Blessing, she would surely absorb everything she was taught.
Sophia decided to make the best of the situation and nurture the child into a good king.
'It's a relief she's under the protection of the Daybreak Guild...'
Though grateful for the guild's protection of the future king, why did the Daybreak Guild make the child live outside the building?
Was it to cultivate the beast-kin's wild nature?
Unable to discern the reason, she grew discontent.
The guild seemed harsh for neglecting the bearer of such a precious Blessing.
"The Daybreak Guild really lacks compassion."
"Why so?"
"Treating a prospective king who has received the Blessing like this-!"
Before Sophia could finish her sentence, Yeoreum appeared out of nowhere and clamped her mouth shut.
Sophia's small hand waved up and down, gripped quite strongly.
"Whale, shall we have a talk?"
"Mmph, mmph!"
Taken aback by the sudden intrusion, Sophia swung her staff at Yeoreum, but she didn't land a single blow.
Yeoreum dodged with movements close to magic.
Watching this, Gyeoul thought to herself that it wasn't a whale, but a shark.
"Gyeoul, I'll have a quick chat with Whale and be back, okay?"
"Okay..."
Yeoreum carried Sophia off to a considerable distance.
Though far from Gyeoul's tent, Yeoreum softly called out, just in case.
"Gyeoul, can you hear my voice?"
Hearing her faint voice, Gyeoul nodded from afar.
How much better had her hearing become?
Since the Blessing shouldn't be known to Gyeoul, Yeoreum ran even further away.
To a place where Gyeoul definitely couldn't hear.
✱✱✱
'Let's put the pot here...'
Left alone in the tent, organizing the belongings, Gyeoul suddenly remembered the minnows she brought from the valley.
She had taken a few to raise in the pond, wondering if they were still alive.
Just as she approached the bucket containing the minnows, two girls approached her from a distance.
"Does the Daybreak Guild not even respect the elderly?"
A girl with a shark's tail grumbled, baring her sharp teeth.
Yeoreum awkwardly shuffled next to her.
"I'm sorry... I didn't realize you were an elderly..."
"Oh dear, my poor bones."
Thud Thud
The shark girl tapped her waist and approached me.
Judging by her actions and manner of speaking, she might be much older than I thought.
Just how old is she to act like an elderly person?
Curious, I decided to ask directly.
"Grandma, how old are you?"
"...Don't call me grandma."
"Eh?"
Didn't she just refer to herself as an elder?
Confused, I tilted my head as the shark girl, leaning on her staff, sat down on a chair.
"I may not look it, but I'm not that old."
"But you're using a walking stick."
"Being of aquatic origin, I'm just weaker on land."
Ah, I see.
So it's like how humans are weaker in water.
Concerned about her condition, I pointed to a nearby pond.
"Do you want to rest in that pond over there?"
"No, I detest water."
A shark that hates water, that's odd.
But I decided not to pry into her personal matters.
What mattered now was why the beast-kin had come looking for me.
"Why are you here?"
"...I've come to teach you the basics, now that you've become a beast-kin."
Sophia glanced at Yeoreum as she spoke.
After exchanging a silent signal, Yeoreum nodded slightly.
"Is there something special I need to learn?"
"A lot. The way beast-kin use mana is different from humans."
"Ah, mana..."
I was planning to refuse anything strange.
But learning about mana was hard to decline.
Mana was the only lifeline that could change my life.
I reluctantly agreed to receive her teachings.
But first, there was one more thing I was really curious about.
"Excuse me, but what exactly is a beast-kin?"
"...You don't know what a beast-kin is?"
"Yes. This is the first time I've ever seen a beast-kin."
Was my answer strange?
Both girls blinked simultaneously.
"How have you lived your life not knowing what a beast-kin is?"
"I'm sorry. I've mostly lived in the mountains..."
I had never seen a beast-kin in my eight years of living.
Perhaps beast-kin were more common in this world than I realized.
"There's no need to apologize. It's fine as long as you know now."
Ahem
The shark girl cleared her throat and drew a circle with the tip of her staff.
Then, she uttered something shocking.
"Our beast-kin kind came through a gate. We are beings from another dimension."
"A gate? Isn't that the portal monsters come through?"
The reason why monsters continuously appeared at the beginner's hunting ground.
It was because they came through the gate.
But the fact that beast-kin arrived through the gate was shocking, leaving me agape.
It raised the possibility that I could return to my original world by using the gate.
"Can I enter the gate too?"
"It's possible, but you'll need to improve your skills first."
"Right. It's a dungeon inhabited by monsters after all..."
"Yes, be careful. If you don't clear the dungeon, you'll be trapped in that world forever."
Trapped forever.
That phrase made me realize something.
The beast-kin were trapped in a dungeon called Earth.
And maybe, I was trapped in a similar situation.
✧✧✧✧✧
I could go home.
Just that small hope made my tail wag from side to side.
It made finishing the tedious task of cleaning the house feel effortless.
'I can return to my original world by clearing the dungeon, right?'
I had caught a glimmer of hope to return home.
Feeling happy for the first time in a while, I sat outside the tent with a tape and a metal necklace string, intending to make a necklace with the goblin's mana stone I had obtained in the beginner's hunting ground.
Zzzzt-
I tore the tape long, roughly attaching the mana stone and the necklace string together.
It looked shoddy, but I didn't mind as it was for my satisfaction.
"Gyeoul, what are you doing?"
"I'm making a necklace. It's the first mana stone I ever got, so I want to keep it as a souvenir."
"Hmm... Can I see it for a moment?"
The girl extended her hand towards me.
Assuming she wouldn't steal something as trivial as a goblin's mana stone, I handed it to her without suspicion.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'll attach it more beautifully."
Tap Tap-
As the girl tapped the mana stone, intense heat emanated from its tip.
Part of the mana stone melted from the heat.
'Wow.'
The melted part of the mana stone adhered to the metal necklace as if they were one.
"How did you do that?"
"I used the energy within the mana stone. You'll be able to do it too, Gyeoul."
Saying so, the girl gently blew on the still-hot mana stone.
It was then that the shark girl emerged from the tent, holding a bucket with minnows.
"What are these creatures? They're screaming for help."
"Ah! My minnows!"
I had been so busy that I had completely forgotten about them.
I rushed toward the shark girl in a panic.
"Did you bring these to raise?"
"Yes. I plan to raise them in the pond and then catch them to eat."
"Ah... You really are wild."
'Wild,' she said.
Is that something beast-kin appreciate?
Although I had many questions, I decided to release the minnows into the pond first.
"Can I go release the minnows?"
"Yes. The items are ready. All we need now is to transport the fish."
"Okay!"
A fishing spot with various fish in the pond.
Just imagining it made my tail wag uncontrollably.
Feeling elated, I carried the bucket towards the pond.
"Oh my, what kind of beast-kin is that child?"
"Who knows...?"
I felt the stares of people strolling near the pond.
It was a bit frightening, but this place was now my front yard.
As someone who had paid the residence fee, I decided to act confidently.
'I'm the manager of this pond, after all.'
Slosh, slosh, slosh-
As I released the minnows from the bucket into the pond, dozens of them dispersed throughout.
In a short time, they would multiply into hundreds, even thousands.
Lost in this pleasant thought, I turned around and locked eyes with a woman sitting and resting on a chair.
She was frozen mid-bite into her sandwich, and I, too, became petrified in front of her.
She was the mean woman who had laughed at me being chased by a horned rabbit.
"Ah."
I instinctively stepped backward upon seeing the woman.
Forgetting completely that there was a pond right behind me.