The Stupid Devil’s Slave’s Travelogue

Chapter 12. Lee Soo 3

I woke up.

Not because it was cold, but because it was hot.

My back felt warm.

‘Body heat?’

I turned my head and saw that the wolf was hugging me from behind.

Why me?

I slowly shifted and turned towards the wolf.

I examined the wolf’s chest.

The wolf’s armor was a mess, stained with the blood and sweat that had been on my back.

My nose, numb from the stench of blood, couldn’t even pick up the fishy smell anymore.

Given my current state, I wasn’t in a position to be picky about anything.

As I turned over, my sweat-drenched back cooled me down.

However, there were leaves stuck to my body.

‘I cleared the leaves before sleeping, so why are they stuck to me?’

I turned my head and scanned my surroundings.

But the place where I had been sleeping was far away.

I had rolled all the way over here while asleep.

‘…My sleeping habits are seriously a mess.’

I knew I should keep my distance.

But if I wanted to follow this wolf when she left, I had to wake up at the same time as her, no matter what.

To make sure the wolf couldn’t abandon me, I clung to her like I was hugging a body pillow and tried to sleep.

* * * * * *

Even though my surroundings had felt cozy when I fell asleep, now they felt chilling.

A sense of dread hit me.

In the end, it seemed she had left me behind.

I looked around just in case, but of course, the wolf was nowhere to be seen.

“Dammit─…”

A sigh twisted out of my throat on its own.

I never expected she’d leave a kid, not even an adult, alone in a deserted mountain area.

‘Isn’t this practically attempted murder?’

I peeled the leaves off my body and got up.

I had no clue how to make my way back to civilization.

Suddenly, I recalled something my father had once told me.

─All civilizations begin at water.

So, to find civilization, all you had to do was follow a river.

If I did that, maybe I could find Beastfolk somehow.

But I had no idea where a river was.

I climbed up the tallest tree around.

Bzzzzz─!

A swarm of mosquitoes attacked the exposed gaps in my defenses.

I couldn’t catch them, so I just waved my hands around to shoo them away and climbed a bit higher.

They came at me like a swarm of bees attacking a beehive.

If this were back on Earth, I would have screamed and fallen over, but thresholds for such things change depending on where you live.

I reached the top of the tree.

But all I could see around me were dense trees.

‘…I’m really screwed.’

If I killed myself, I’d just move on to the next life.

If I jumped from here, it’d be straight to the next life.

Looking down at the dizzying height below, chills ran through me, and I gripped the branch tightly.

‘It’s definitely going to hurt! What if I don’t die in one go?!’

Maybe if I kept searching, I’d find a less painful way to die.

At the very least, dying here wasn’t an option.

I climbed back down the tree and wiped off the beads of sweat that seemed to be trying to get into my eyes.

Buzz─!

I crushed the remaining ashes from the campfire and smeared them all over my body.

It stung like hell, but it was better than getting bitten by mosquitoes.

“Are you using that as camouflage?”

“Who the hell camouflages with ash?”

The presence caught my attention and stole my gaze.

The wolf.

The wolf was standing there.

And she wasn’t alone.

Someone stood next to her—shorter than the wolf but still quite tall.

‘Are all species that live in the forest tall?’

A human—no, not a human.

Her ears were pointed.

There were other differences, too.

Though her appearance was similar to a human, thicker strands of hair stuck out between the regular strands, and flowers were growing from them.

“Hmm? A human male, huh? He’d be perfect as a slave.”

My eyes widened.

The embodiment of fantasy was standing right before me.

‘For real? Is this really, really an elf? It’s a real elf!’

A forest fairy, an elf, was standing before my eyes!

“Elf?!”

My chest swelled with excitement at the sight.

The wolf’s ears twitched, and her gaze turned towards me.

“Huh? You know about elves?”

“Of course, I do! Who doesn’t know about elves?!”

I responded to the wolf and looked at the new figure beside him.

The elf was staring at me with a rather serious expression.

“Are you a half-elf?”

I was stunned by the sudden question.

“…What?”

The wolf glanced at the elf with a look of irony.

But the elf’s eyes were fixed on me, unwavering.

‘This isn’t a joke.’

Judging by her expression, she was dead serious.

“What are you talking about?”

“You just spoke in Elvish. Since you don’t have the grace, your father must be an elf.”

“I didn’t do that, though? We’re speaking Hosotte right now.”

The elf widened her eyes and looked at the wolf.

Then both of their gazes fell on me simultaneously.

“You know Elvish too?”

“No?”

“What are you talking about, kid? You just spoke in Elvish.”

“You bitch, are you messing with me?”

The wolf’s expression turned hostile as she looked at the elf.

It seemed the wolf thought the elf was lying.

I couldn’t make sense of the situation either, so I cautiously spoke up.

“You two are speaking the same language, aren’t you? Drakarr Common.”

The wolf and elf exchanged glances.

Their faces were marked with obvious confusion.

“…Isn’t that a Draconian?”

Draconian?

The wolf, staring straight at me, shook her head.

“If it were, would I be here?”

It seemed like these people were interpreting my words in different languages.

In fact, I had had my suspicions since the wolf had put a knife to my throat and threatened my father…

A common language among races?

There was no such convenient thing.

Even among humans, languages differed from nation to nation.

Finally, the puzzle pieces clicked together.

The young Terup had been the same.

The Terup didn’t understand the wolf’s words.

From the start, it was an idea that didn’t make sense.

I remembered what the wolf had said to me.

‘Those who have lived earnestly know the value of life.’

A child not even an adult yet could naturally speak other Beastfolks’ languages, making such a remark understandable.

It dawned on me that my father’s violent actions had an explanation.

If my father had been able to speak with Terup…

He would never have so harshly pushed away the young Terup.

Of course, he would have asked first.

‘But how is that even possible?’

The wolf and the elf were looking at me with suspicious expressions.

There was nothing ordinary about this situation.

‘It’s almost certainly related to demons somehow!’

I couldn’t decide whether to reveal this fact or keep it hidden.

Even if I decided to keep it hidden, I had no idea how to justify it.

How would they react if I told them?

Like saying I made a deal with a demon while living in another world.

Or that I was reborn with a new body after parasitizing someone else’s womb, and now I can speak the language of other Beastfolk?

‘Definitely the kind of thing that gets you burned at the stake.’

I had to keep it hidden at all costs.

“The truth is, I’ve met a Draconian before.”

The wolf tilted her head, twitching her ears.

“What?”

“There was a time when I got fed up with studying and ran out of the house to take a break, and a Draconian came up and asked me. He asked if I hated learning that much.”

“And then?”

“When I said yes, he cast a translation spell on me. Since then, I’ve been able to talk to any Beastfolk.”

It was a hastily concocted lie.

A Draconian, my ass.

I’d never even seen a single strand of a Draconian’s hair in my life.

I didn’t even know what Draconians looked like or what race they were.

‘Will they buy it?’

The wolf gave a doubtful look at the elf.

“Is that possible?”

The elf nodded.

“If it’s a Draconian, it’s possible. There’s no other explanation besides magic anyway.”

“It’s almost unheard of for a messenger to bless a human unless it’s a direct command from a dragon.”

“But if it’s not that, how else would you explain this?”

Surprisingly, the elf was persuading the wolf for me!

The wolf, now convinced, fell silent.

I was just grateful to the elf.

Still, can Draconians really do that kind of thing?

‘…If so, aren’t they basically gods?’

I couldn’t grasp the situation, and I was too busy coming up with lies.

Now that I had relaxed a bit, I could finally get a good look at the elf the wolf had brought.

It was a woman.

She had strikingly white skin and deep green-brown eyes. Her hair was a greenish black. Her sharp features and the flowers in her hair created an odd mismatch.

‘What on earth are those flowers?’

I couldn’t see her scalp clearly, but green vine-like plants grew out between her hair, with fresh leaves and bright white flowers catching my eye.

She was a fantasy come to life.

At the same time, I was tempted to figure out the mechanics of the magic involved.

The elf had her hair tied back, revealing the start of her scalp, where plant-like roots spread out like veins.

‘Flowers really do grow out of her head.’

And she seemed far removed from the nature-loving elves I had always imagined. She wore leather armor, and a rabbit and some unidentifiable bird were slung at her waist.

“…Do elves eat meat too?”

“What kind of question is that?”

So it’s perfectly normal for them to eat meat, huh?

Despite going to school and learning in science and home economics classes what living things eat, I still asked the obvious.

‘Just because you have fantasy elements, why are you looking at me like that?’

The way she looked down at me with a disdainful expression was unpleasant.

“…Nothing.”

“All Beastfolks eat meat. Isn’t that obvious?”

“Humans must be so noble and pure that they survive on just plants and water.”

The elf smirked, looking down at me.

“Well, I’ve never seen anyone other than my parents before───”

“Oh my! So that’s why you left home? To meet people?”

The elf sneered mockingly.

‘I get it! I know, so just stop it already!’

The wolf chuckled at the elf’s mocking tone.

There was still something I needed to ask.

“What was that about being a slave earlier?”

The wolf answered, not the elf.

“You asked to be taken along, didn’t you?”

I thought yesterday’s conversation was over.

But apparently, the wolf didn’t think so.

“Yes. So?”

“There’s only one way for a human to enter the Union of Yunaira.”

…Which was as a slave, no doubt.

This elf must have come along to explore that option.

The elf looked at me curiously, as if her interest had been piqued.

“Sell him to me. I’ll give you the price of three adult human males.”

The wolf glanced my way, then turned her head halfway towards the elf and shook her head.

“No. He’s mine.”

“You’ve only just met him, right? What use do you have for a human?”

“This human─── hey, what’s your name?”

“See? You don’t even know his name.”

The wolf looked down at me.

It would probably be best not to use the name given to me publicly.

It might be the key for my father to find me.

…I’ll have to keep this name in my heart until we meet again.

“Li… Si-hyeon.”

“Li Si-hyeon? What kind of name is that? Sounds like something you’d hear in Horus. Are you sure you’re not some social experiment of the Draconians?”

The elf’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

Whether she thought that or not, the wolf didn’t seem to care.

Ignoring the elf, I turned to the wolf.

“Just call me Si-hyeon.”

I am Jeon Si-hyeon.

I have to live as Jeon Si-hyeon, not Lian.

“Alright, I like Si-hyeon.”

The wolf casually put her hand on my shoulder.

What’s this? After being so cold, why suddenly act all friendly?

“I’m not selling him.”

…It seemed the wolf had developed some odd attachment.