Chapter 412: Fenrir’s Answer
"What is troubling you?"
The voice that suddenly came from behind made Qiong Xing lift his head from where he had been looking down.
When he turned around, he saw Fenrisúlfr in his usual adorable puppy form walking toward him.
"It is still too early to be awake. The air is cold."
It was indeed still early.
Rather, it was the middle of the night.
However, Qiong Xing had been unable to fall back asleep.
Since he was already awake, he carried Fenrir outside and sat on the swing he had built some time ago.
"Were you thinking about what I said earlier today?"
Qiong Xing smiled softly instead of answering and beckoned Fenrisúlfr closer.
"Fenrir, it’s cold. Can you get bigger?"
"...That is exactly what I have been saying. Very well."
The overprotective Fenrisúlfr sighed in exasperation, but returned to his original size and lay down, wrapping himself around Qiong Xing, who was sitting on the ground, as though sheltering him.
"It’s warm. Thank you."
"You are not very strong, so you must be more careful."
Compared to his beastman mates, Qiong Xing was certainly weaker, but was it really that bad?
"...Fenrir... do you regret becoming my familiar?"
The question frightened him, but he could not keep himself from asking.
His voice naturally became quiet with anxiety, but Fenrisúlfr heard him clearly.
After several seconds of silence and a deep sigh, Qiong Xing flinched.
"It is true that I am not particularly good at expressing my feelings, but even so, you worry far too much. I am here because I chose to be."
The answer was nothing like the one Qiong Xing had feared.
Those gentle and warm words made his eyes sting.
As if to hide it, he buried his face in Fenrisúlfr’s soft fur.
"If you are worrying that making me your familiar has bound me, then that concern is meaningless. It is true that I may not have as much freedom as I once did, but I have received something from you that is worth far more."
"Far more?"
What had Qiong Xing ever given him?
...Food, perhaps?
"Hahahaha, you really do not understand, do you? That is right. You are dense. Far too dense. That is exactly why you cannot help but worry."
...Was he really that dense?
"Your overflowing magic power. Your warm, delicious meals. A home to return to. And above all, your heart that calls me family and embraces me. Those are all things you have given me."
"That is not..."
"I know that is what you want to say, but not everyone is capable of doing such things. That is why I chose to stay by your side, even if it meant giving up the freedom I once had."
Qiong Xing understood, more or less, what Fenrisúlfr was trying to say.
Even so, anxiety made him question whether it was really true.
Fenrisúlfr had originally lived freely, bound by no one.
Wouldn’t life with Qiong Xing feel nothing but restrictive to him?
Had he not grown tired of it?
Those thoughts would not leave his mind.
"It is true that I said earlier I no longer have the same freedom, but even that is not entirely accurate. You ask things of me, but you never command me. You worry when I leave your side, but you never become angry or scold me for it. To be perfectly honest, there are times when I even forget that I am your familiar."
"Because... Fenrir is family."
Although they had used a familiar contract, it had only been because Albe had been worried about the danger and would not have accepted anything else.
From the very beginning, Qiong Xing had never intended to treat Fenrisúlfr as someone beneath him.
"Exactly. That is what you would say. But thinking that way is not normal. The very word itself shows it. A familiar contract is made to control another and bind them. Tell me, does that describe you at all?"
If that was the proper meaning of a familiar, then Qiong Xing truly was different.
He nodded and Fenrisúlfr smiled before nodding in agreement.
"That is why I am still here by your side. It is true that a familiar contract is powerful. But someone with strength like mine could break it if I truly wished to. The same goes for that child of yours."
"..."
Fenrisúlfr was referring to Mayo, the subject they had discussed earlier that day.
Qiong Xing had asked whether Mayo, like Fenrisúlfr, Iseul, and Raon, would one day be able to change size, take on different forms, and speak.
"If you make a contract like mine. As long as Mayo becomes your familiar, Mayo will be able to change size and speak."
Hearing that, Qiong Xing hesitated.
Mayo was the child he had raised as his own.
The thought of making Mayo his familiar filled him with uncertainty.
To him, a familiar contract felt almost like putting a collar around a dog or cat.
"I asked Mayo. I explained that if we used that method, Mayo would be able to talk and go outside with us."
"I see. And?"
"Mayo smiled and nodded. Just like always, Mayo rubbed against me as if saying Mayo was happy... but... I started wondering if that was really the right choice. Maybe it would be better to leave things as they are... I just... stopped knowing what was best."
Qiong Xing wanted Mayo to be happy.
That had been his promise to Mayo’s parents, and it was also his own heartfelt wish.
But what was happiness for Mayo?
What could he do to make Mayo truly happy?
The more he thought about it, the less certain he became.
Part of him wondered whether Mayo should be returned to the forest.
Yet the thought of cruel humans attacking and hurting Mayo filled him with worry.
"...I do not know if I should be saying this, but compared to the long lives of beings like us, a human lifetime is nothing more than a fleeting moment. When the contractor dies, the contract disappears as well. If that is the case, then even if it is through a contract, spending that brief moment together with precious family while being able to talk to one another is, in my opinion, a great happiness."