I'm Easy to Take Care Of

The dispute Radel had sparked temporarily died down. On the way back to the White House, Kas thought about Keck Bloodfire and the Baize Shaman.

Malik Axe-Breaker's blood-sworn brother, Keck Bloodfire, seemed friendly toward him, and the legacy of their fathers had brought him plenty of advantages.

But that came with a condition: his ambitions had to have no direct connection to Blood-Fire's.

Blood-Fire might kill anyone to get what he wanted.

As for the Baize Shaman, Kas found him strange. Setting aside the moral constraints of theocracy, his desire for Radel was no weaker than Blood-Fire's, yet he was doing his best to conceal the fact that he had created Radel.

Perhaps he feared the Great Shaman and Her Tribe. Or perhaps he understood that letting the Blood-Ash Furnace burn without end would turn Black Ash completely to dust...

He kept thinking as they walked—about the Black Ember Tribe, Four Causes Alchemy, Sacred Number Theory... When his exhausted, numb brain ran out of inspiration, it seemed almost rational and clear-headed.

Dawn had yet to arrive. The moonlight had just faded, and it was the dead of night when Kas pushed open the White House door, lit by the fire.

He saw Seneya's big head resting on the long table as she dozed peacefully. A few unruly strands of sticky drool ran from between her teeth; she seemed to be dreaming of the smell of roasted meat.

Looking into the inner room, he saw his newly acquired slave, Isidore, snoring in bed beneath a thick blanket. The grime and dust had been washed from his face and hair, revealing an exhausted face.

What had he done...

Kas narrowed his eyes, his hand tightening unconsciously.

He wasn't particularly fond of slavery and didn't care to emphasize the relationship between master and slave.

If Isidore was smart enough, Kas wouldn't mind putting in some effort to take him back to Her Tribe and keep him around as a tool who knew about the southern world.

But that was only if he was smart enough...

Seneya was his wife in name, and Miss Aowu was a fool. She burned her tongue on roasted meat and panted, and whenever he teased her into getting angry, a little coaxing was all it took for her tail to start wagging.

Imagine your silly, easily fooled pet with her head on a cold table, fast asleep.

Meanwhile, a newly acquired slave had washed up and gone to sleep soundly in bed. Anyone would be annoyed at the sight.

If he dared to deceive Seneya, Kas wouldn't mind showing this clever southerner how the Rishiman People punished their slaves.

"Mm~"

Sensing a familiar presence, Seneya's nose twitched. She rubbed her sleepy eyes in a daze and raised her head to look at Kas as he came through the door, letting out a dissatisfied little whine.

Kas closed the door and apologized, "Sorry. Did I wake you, Miss Seneya?"

"Mm~" Seneya shook her head and took a bowl full of boiled meat from beneath her cloak.

"Mm~"

The meat in the bowl was still warm, which meant she had only just taken it out. And it was already the middle of the night.

Kas fell silent for a long while. Something in his heart seemed to have been touched, and a clear echo reverberated through his soul, leaving him unable to settle down.

He let out a long breath, his exhausted face breaking into a gentle smile.

"You were waiting for me to come back? You silly girl, I told you I was going to the banquet. I might not be back until late."

Seneya didn't seem to understand him. She insisted on pressing the wooden bowl into Kas's hands.

She got up and went over to the wooden cabinet, carefully pulling open the handle. Then she took out a wooden cup and a jug full of ale.

She poured the drink very carefully, like a young girl who had only just learned how to live a normal life. The jug looked like a toy about to be crushed in her broad paw.

She watched the tilted spout with complete concentration as a thin stream poured out, gradually filling the wooden cup on the table.

But a slight lift of the jug suddenly made the stream surge. It rushed toward the cup, threatening to knock it over.

"Mm~"

A broad hand caught the cup just before it toppled. Kas looked at Seneya, whose ears had drooped in disappointment, and shook his head fondly.

He downed the malt ale in the cup, set it back on the table, then went to stand behind Seneya. Pressing against her back, he took her furry paw in his hand.

As if teaching a child, he lifted the jug with his right hand and held the cup with his left. Then he said softly, "You need to watch the stream and the cup. At first, you can hold the jug lower, because the cup is light. If the stream comes too fast, it'll knock the cup over...

"But the best way is to hold the cup. Then even if the stream gets stronger, you can still catch it easily."

"Mm~"

Seneya tried pouring the ale again. With Kas's help, she did it successfully this time and let out a little whine that sounded like a victory cry.

She turned her head and saw that those familiar eyes were full of fatigue and warmth. The deep blue of his pupils was much dimmer than it had been during the day.

She quickly turned around and sniffed all over Kas, letting out anxious whimpers.

She looked like a little dog whose meat had been stolen, darting around the woods in every direction.

She searched for a long time but couldn't find any injuries. She raised her head, eyes brimming with tears, as if she thought Kas had been cursed too.

"Awoo~"

"I'm fine, silly girl. I'm just a little tired." Kas smiled and rubbed Seneya's wonderfully soft ears. Then he realized something.

If a girl waited up for you late at night, fell asleep with her head on the table, and still had a bowl of food she'd prepared for you in her hands...

He looked into Seneya's clear, flawless eyes and watched her offer him the food and drink with such concern. A strange sigh rose in his heart.

Damn it, why was there so much bullshit in the Sorrow Mountains... If this big girl were normal, I'd drag her back to the tribe and make her my wife, even if I had to snatch her.

But I can't even understand what she says, and all she knows is eating, acting cute, and wagging her tail.

Wait, I can't understand her speech... but she's got a normal mind. I can teach her to read and write!

Kas acted on the idea at once. He pulled Seneya over to sit beside him, dipped a finger in some ale, and wrote the Rishiman word for "I" on the tabletop.

"Miss Seneya, this is the word 'I.'"

Kas had her sitting beside him, and she no longer resisted like she had at first. She rubbed her sharp claws together, letting out a strange series of awoo sounds.

"Awoo~ Ah~ Woo~"

"?"

His puzzled look prompted Seneya to explain with actions.

She extended her index finger, and her sharp claw easily scratched back and forth across the wooden table. Her focused, serious expression made it clear she wasn't doodling.

A minute passed. She stopped scratching, her ears drooping in disappointment. "Mm~"

Kas frowned as he studied the marks on the table, as if they'd been slashed wildly by ten thousand blades. He tried to work out what was going on.

Seneya had normal intelligence; he was sure of that. But she lacked common sense and practical skills. Perhaps she was the daughter of some great clan chief who'd never done manual labor.

Based on that, she should have received an education. At the very least, she should be able to write a grammatically correct letter in Rishiman.

The claw marks gouged into the table were extremely chaotic, but their general patterns were discernible. They ran from left to right, and their height was almost uniform—the standard form for handwriting.

Was it another witch's doing...? Even her ability to express herself in writing had been deliberately blurred. This already involved her cognition. What kind of curse had Seneya suffered?

But I'm the Great Wise One with an intelligence score of five!

The highest IQ in the Sorrow Mountains!

So what if it's a cognitive impairment? I'll think my way through it!

Kas's eyes widened like copper bells as he stared at the seemingly random claw marks on the table. His inspiration was spent, and he could hardly think his way through it any longer.

But for Seneya, for his beloved dog, he popped the last Lip-Blue Berry into his mouth.

His vision clouded over once more. Countless claw marks wriggled around in his eye sockets like slippery loaches, as though they were about to grow a brain.

A line of elegant writing appeared on the wooden table.

Thinking this might be an important clue about the curse, Kas held back the boiling blood that flowed through his heart like hot chocolate, along with the stinging dust clinging to his skin.

He slapped both hands on the table, bent over, and stared intently at the characters.

[I'm actually easy to take care of, Kas. Your cooking is really good. Can I have meat grilled on a stone slab next time, too? Jerky is so hard to eat.]

He turned his head in disbelief. What came into view was Seneya's clear-eyed gaze.

Her eyes shone like stars in the black night sky, brilliant and pure, without a single blemish. They brimmed with an expectation he could understand.

The sweet taste of blood spread from his throat to his mouth. Kas knew he'd finally been unable to withstand the endless torment. He was about to throw up blood.

But couldn't you write something with useful information in it? Why were you always thinking about food?!

You... stupid dog!

After spending the whole night thinking too hard, he finally spat blood and passed out from the werewolf lady's adorable stupidity.