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IBP 13
Sadly, after the meal, my sister kicked me out without a second thought.
“Stop joking.”
“I’m not joking....”
“You’re done eating, so get out now.”
“Hey, you’re kicking me out way too coldly. I’m just a baby....”
“Ruth, you shut up and get lost.”
“Wow, she’s actually swearing at me. I guess she was only going easy on Coco because she’s a baby.”
...Anyway, this is all because I look weak.
Another reason to catch the tiger was added to my heart.
Before returning to my annex.
I looked toward the area near my grave and spoke bravely.
“Animal friends, summon!”
Even as I said it, I hadn't specifically been thinking of a mouse.
Scurrying along the wall, a white mouse crawled out.
“I shall bring the leader of our mouse colony, the ‘Emperor of Mouse’!”
“Mm-hmm....”
I nodded toward the slightly goofy-looking mouse.
Soon after, the ‘Emperor of Mouse’ made a grand entrance through a hole in the wall.
“...Hmph, truly astonishing. You wish to catch a tiger?”
Having heard my story, the mouse curled its tail in a circle, looking troubled.
“Yes!”
The mouse shuddered.
“I cannot help you. A mouse like me is but a single bite to a tiger!”
“Why! You’re the ‘Emperor of Mouse’!”
“Ahem. Even the great ‘Emperor of Mouse’ has things he cannot do.”
“.......”
“I really don’t want to go anywhere near a tiger! My instincts are telling me. Avoid the tiger. Stay away from the tiger! Or you’ll become a half-chewed mouse!”
“Then, an animal that can help me is....”
“Absolutely, absolutely none!”
This time, it was different from when I drove away the maid.
The animal friends who could help me had vanished.
With a gloomy expression, I gripped my head tightly.
‘When I think of my sister, my brain sparkles! Get to work!’
Right now, I have no person or animal to help me.
‘First, I need to find where the tiger is.’
Even in the future I had seen, it didn't show where the tiger was discovered.
The only thing I can trust is my brain, blessed by the God.
It was while I was deep in thought, gripping my head tightly.
“Gasp!”
A bolt of realization suddenly struck me.
“What is it, Coco?”
“Listen, you said you don’t even want to go near the tiger, right? Instinctively!”
“That’s right! That’s why I will absolutely not help you find the spirit beast tiger!”
“Mousey! No! You just helped me.”
“Huh?”
I patted the head of the confused mouse.
“You and your little animal friends. Is there a place in this entire mansion that you instinctively never want to go to?”
At those words, the mouse solemnly slapped its tail against the floor.
“Ugh, there is! It used to be my granary, but it’s become a truly terrifying and horrifying space!”
“Is it a place you’ve recently started avoiding?”
“Yes! Hmph, as for where that place is....”
* * *
The place I ran to, hair fluttering in the wind, after hearing the mouse's words.
‘This is the place the mouse finds most terrifying lately.’
It was near a building in the far west of the Duke's castle, where there were many soldiers and the wind blew fiercely.
‘The weakest animals, like mice, instinctively fear places where terrifying beasts like tigers reside!’
I let out a little giggle.
‘Moreover, there are habits unique to animals that humans don’t know.’
I thought about something that everyone searching for the tiger had forgotten.
‘Animals are simple. They only think of one thing.’
I am a puppy who loves rolling around on the grass.
And I heard tigers are similar.
They love tiger grass, so they roll around in it diligently?
‘Even here, it probably only thought of one thing. Tiger grass.’
I trotted along and looked around the area.
The tiger grass here was pressed down, as if it had been trampled.
As if someone was weighing it down.
I raised my hand and rubbed the air. While deep in thought, I whispered softly.
So....
“You know. The tiger might be here.”
I pointed to the pressed-down grass.
As if explaining it to the ‘Emperor of Mouse,’ who wasn't there.
“The wind is blowing hard today. But.... the grass isn't moving.”
Even today, with the strong wind, that tiger grass remained pressed down and did not change direction with the wind.
‘The spirit beast tiger's supernatural ability must be hiding its body.’
I murmured quietly.
“I think it’s hiding on top of the tiger grass.”
* * *
The escaped Black Tiger swallowed hard and looked forward.
‘Did she read my mind?’
In a gloomy corner of the Duke's residence where no one visited.
A black tiger was hiding, using invisibility.
‘I thought I wouldn't be caught since I'm invisible.’
Lying on a small patch of grass next to a crawlspace, the Black Tiger breathed in short, ragged gasps.
But just then.
“Hello!”
The silver-haired brat, having completed her reasoning, shouted cheekily.
Looking straight toward him, who should definitely be invisible.
‘Is she calling me?’
The Black Tiger pressed its body even closer to the tiger grass.
“You’re here, aren't you, Black Tiger!”
...A clear, ringing voice that was simply impossible to ignore.
The gentle Black Tiger couldn't run away and pressed letters firmly into the ground.
[Can you perhaps see me?]
...Of course, these letters couldn't be seen.
Humans could not read the writing of the Black Tiger.
“Yep! I can't see you, but I can!”
The Black Tiger's mouth fell open.
‘A human who can read my writing?’
After a moment of panic.
The polite tiger wrote on the ground again.
[I see. Today seems to be a very lucky day.]
“Why?”
[It's amazing that I can communicate with a human. Everyone else didn't know....]
“Gasp, really? You didn't even play with people passing by?”
It was a tiger with a shabby appearance, its teeth all fallen out due to the long monster war.
Who would talk to a toothless tiger?
Hiding that fact, he pressed the letters firmly with his claws.
[Yes. Originally, I was killing magical beasts in a very cold land, but no one talked to me, so it was hard.]
“...I see....”
[That's probably why I became able to erase my body. Since no one cared about me anyway.]
Letters were being written on the ground little by little.
The little girl, who looked at those casually written words as if engraving them into her eyes, blinked.
“That's not true.”
[What is?]
“I'm interested in you!”
‘There is a human interested in me...?’
A withered paw tried to reach toward the girl, then flopped down.
As his composure wavered, his invisible body slowly began to reveal itself.
A shabby body with ribs sticking out, exhausted from the long war.
The Black Tiger gazed at the tiny girl with gentle eyes.
“It must have been really hard living as a stray tiger.”
The Black Tiger stared at the girl with his yellow eyes.
A girl with spirited, round eyes.
A girl who tenderly gripped his paw, which was missing clumps of fur.
A tiny, young girl who was barely one-tenth of his size.
“You know, my name is Coco.”
“.......”
“Let's go with me now. Actually, at first, I wanted to catch you because I wanted to become family with my sister.”
“.......”
“But now, I just want to be your friend!”
[Friend....]
“Yep! I'll play with you, heal your aching heart, and make you happy.”
“.......”
“Oh! And I'll introduce you to my sister, the coolest person in the world!”
The girl beamed a wide smile and reached out her hand.
However....
The Black Tiger lifted his front paw with a hesitant expression.
[I cannot]
...The Black Tiger could not take that hand.
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