Chapter 45 - The Prince of the Beastly Kingdom is Supposed to Have a Harem…10
When Ruth got out of the bath and changed places with Clark, the lights in the inn had already been dimmed.
(I'd like to give that Ocal a bath too someday. But first, I'll have to wake it up... Huh?)
As Ruth was returning to the main house through the inn's dining room, he noticed a lamp on one of the tables. Looking closely, Rossa and his guest, Herald, were having a somewhat serious conversation.
"...Come on, please."
"I'm sorry, but I can't help you..."
"But it’s you who..."
Ruth didn't really understand what they were talking about, but Herald looked extremely troubled, and Rossa shook his head in response. Judging from how serious he looked, Rossa was likely discussing something from their past as friends, and he likely did not want Ruth to hear about it.
Ruth decided to return to the main house, his footsteps creeping in.
"Now, I have to write a reply to Jio..."
Lying in bed, Ruth put the hot water bottle under the futon while thinking about how to reply to Jio. Since it used magical power, it would be a problem to make mistakes while writing, and because he couldn’t write long sentences, he needed to organize his words.
(Should I tell him about the five days of interruption? Or maybe about that white giant..?)
At that moment, there was the sound of the wind slamming against the window of Ruth's room.
(...It's cold today, I wonder if the Ocal is okay...)
While thinking about how to respond to Jio, his consciousness gradually drifted towards the Ocal, who was sleeping in the storage room next to his. Animals had a higher body temperature than humans, so they didn't really feel the cold, but it worried him because it was currently in a weakened state.
"...I think I'll sleep next to you. It’ll be troublesome if you wake up and start acting out."*
*He’s talking to himself here but referring to the Ocal in the next room
Fortunately, next to him was spare bedding from the inn and a large sofa that was scheduled to be discarded. Although the sofa had some holes, it was large enough for the large Rossa to sit comfortably on, so Ruth would have no trouble sleeping there.
Ruth went out into the hallway with a lamp, a futon, a hot water bottle, and Jio's book, partly to keep an eye on the Ocal so that he wouldn't freak out when he woke up.
"……hm?"
The moment he stepped out into the hallway, Ruth felt like someone was watching him. However, the hallway was pitch black and there were no lights, and even when he squinted, he couldn't see anyone there.
(Maybe it's just my imagination?)
Ruth opened the door to the next room and slipped inside.
Inside, a white giant beast lay still, showing no signs of moving. Ruth patted it again to make sure it was still alive, then replaced the slightly warm water bottle with his own. There was no sign that it had eaten the soup he had brought.
Ruth cleaned up the sofa where his luggage had been placed slightly diagonally in front of the Ocal, laid out the futon, and set the lamp aside. He opened Jio's book and put some ink on the pen he brought.
(Um… "There's a terrible snowstorm in the village"...)
After writing that far, he quickly let go of the pen. All of his magical power was taken away from him, and he suddenly felt a sense of fatigue. It seemed that with the amount of magical power Ruth had, this was the best he could write. He couldn't write anything about the Ocal at all.
(Oh well, let's go to sleep now...)
Ruth closed the book and crawled under the covers. He sensed the Ocal's presence and closed his eyes from the sleepiness that came over him, hoping that he would wake up tomorrow.
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
"Ugh… It’s cold… Uwah!"
Ruth woke up feeling a chill, but in front of him was a mass of fluffy white fur. Startled, he jumped up and finally realized what was in front of her.
"Huh? Why is the white ocal here with me..."
Ruth, who had been sleeping on the sofa, found in front of him the fur of the neck of the white ocal that hadn't even moved until yesterday. The ocal didn’t react to Ruth's movements and remained with its eyes closed next to him. Although he had been sleeping on the floor and couldn't have moved on his own, he must have ended up entering the futon of his own will.
"But why... Wow, it's really cold..."
After getting up for a while, he noticed that the room was strangely cold. It was cold last night too, but not to this extent. The chill felt like being outside, and it seemed to be flowing in from the next room. In other words, from Ruth's room.
(I can hear the wind outside… maybe the window was left open?)
It was possible that the boards were not properly hammered down and broke under the force of the blizzard. The ocal may not have been able to bear the cold and instinctively moved closer to Ruth, who was warmer than a hot water bottle.
Ruth pushed the ocal aside for the time being, put on his cloak, turned on the lamp, and left the room.
(Uwah, it sounds really loud...)
When Ruth arrived in front of his room, he noticed a noise that sounded like a storm coming from behind the door. Maybe the window really was broken and snow was coming in.
"Ruth, what's wrong?"
“Ah, Clark.”
The person who came to Ruth's room was Clark, also wearing his nightgown and cloak and carrying a lamp.
Ruth explained that he had been sleeping in the next room to watch the ocal, and that he had noticed that something was wrong with his room.
"If a window is broken, it shouldn’t be left as it is. If you don't cover it, the whole house will get cold."
The interior doors were thinner and less sturdy than the exterior doors. Therefore, if they left things that way, the cold air would continue to come in through Ruth's room, and it may affect not only the main house but also the inn.
"Let's open it then."
"Be careful."
Ruth tried to carefully push the door open, but it was not easy to open due to the resistance of the wind. So he put all his strength into it and managed to open it halfway, and then it suddenly swung open forcefully, almost slamming against the wall.
"Uwah…"
"Damn, the window is completely destroyed..."
The inside of the room was like a storm due to the broken window. The snow was blowing in violently with the wind, making it difficult to see anything through the pure white. The bed and desk against the wall were frozen with snow and small pieces of wood were scattered about. The maps on the wall and the port paintings Alec had given him were torn and flying around the room.
(That’s...!)
Ruth hurried inside to retrieve the painting. However, Clark restrained his arm.
"Wait, Ruth... there's someone on the floor."
"Eh…?"
Following Clark's line of sight, Ruth looked at the floor next to the bed and saw…
"...Is that…Mr. Herald?"
--An old friend of Rossa's, the adventurer Herald, who came with the bunny-eared Julia, was covered in frost all over his body and had collapsed like a stone statue.
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