Chapter 71
“Chuut?”
What are you so sure about?
Share it with me too.
I tugged on Kenig’s sleeve and tilted my head, but he only patted my back.
Then he told the coachman to stay put while they went to put out the forest fire.
“The mountain is steep. It could be dangerous, sir…”
The old coachman sounded worried, but the ones heading up were a pair of insane dragon-people.
All they had were their blindingly beautiful looks and their ridiculous physical abilities.
Before the coachman could even reach out, they were already halfway up the mountain.
“Chuuuuut…!”
Save the squirrel…!
Along with me, as the whole world spun around.
* * *
“Chut-chut!”
It’s been forever since I’ve been on a mountain!
Put me down, put me down!
Unable to endure my whining any longer, Kenig finally took me out of his pocket.
I carefully set my feet down, eager to enjoy the mountain’s energy, when—
ZAP.
“Chu-ut.”
Ow, that stings.
The moment my foot touched the rocky ground, a static-like current swept through my whole body.
But it wasn’t friction-induced static.
This was definitely…
Mana.
It was definitely mana!
And at the same moment I realized it, the secret conversation the Kreuz siblings had made perfect sense.
Kenig and Eloise already knew this mountain had mana.
Those who had strong mana—like the Kreuz siblings—were extremely sensitive to its presence.
This was likely related to the “aggressiveness of mana” Eloise had mentioned before.
Mana acted on its own, regardless of one’s will.
And somehow, that rule also applied to someone like me who supposedly had “not even a speck of mana.”
Proof: the moment I stepped onto this rocky mountain, my tail started trembling.
There was only one reason mana would be leaking from a place this remote.
There was crystal ore buried somewhere in this mountain.
“Cherry, are you feeling unwell?”
Eloise noticed my symptoms first and held out her hand.
My heart’s pounding, but I’m not dizzy.
Thankfully, it wasn’t a precursor to transforming back into a human.
“Chut-chut.”
I’m okay for now!
I climbed onto Eloise’s hand and shook my head.
“That’s a relief. If your body feels off, tell your big sister anytime. I’ll knock Kenig out and hide you if I have to.”
T-That extreme?!
As expected of the young lady of the Black Dragon Castle.
Her expressions were always delightfully violent.
Awkwardly smiling, I carefully set my feet onto a low rock again.
Sting, sting.
It felt like stepping onto sun-heated, mana-soaked stone.
So… I can feel the mana, but it’s not strong enough to overwhelm me?
Naturally, the crystal vein would be buried deep beneath the mountain.
Still, it would be ideal if I could see the crystal with my own eyes.
“Chuuut…”
I was mumbling to myself when—
[Who are you creatures, caw?!]
CAAW, CAW—
A pair of crows circled above us, shrieking loudly.
[Get out of our treasure vault, get out!]
Treasure vault…?
* * *
I stared up at the pair of crows circling overhead and fell into thought.
Crows liked shiny things.
Crystals were shiny.
There were crystals buried in this mountain.
Which meant—
There’s a good chance the crows’ “treasure” is crystal.
My eyes sparkled.
Time to act.
I’d use the crows to locate the crystal.
Convincing them would be as easy as cracking an acorn.
After all, I used to be the boss of Bear Mountain.
Which meant I already knew what crows liked.
“Chutchut.”
Pardon me.
I climbed Kenig like a tree.
“Ugh. Cherry, what are you…?”
Kenig couldn’t even finish speaking, startled as I fumbled into his pants pockets.
His ears were turning red, uncharacteristically.
But I kept digging until I burrowed into his sleeve.
And found something very nice.
The cufflinks attached to his shirt cuffs.
“Chut-chutchut!”
Shiny shiny!!
The clothes he bought in a rush at Gelennde were cheaply made, but that didn’t matter.
Crows didn’t care about human notions of value.
They just needed something sparkly.
Like these overly shiny cubic cufflinks.
Still…
They say a good face completes the fashion.
Even cheap sparkle looked like luxury when worn by someone like Kenig.
I admired him all over again.
Tink.
I bit the cufflink off with my front teeth—when a soft snort sounded above me.
Of course it was Kenig.
“Squirrel thief.”
He frowned, baffled, yet still took off the matching cufflink on the other sleeve and handed it to me.
“I knew you hoarded acorns, but I didn’t know you had this sort of hobby.”
“Chu?!”
It’s not a hobby!
Also—how do you know I hoard acorns?!
My tail flicked anxiously.
Then—
“I’ll buy you lots when we get home.”
…That was unexpected.
I didn’t have a hobby of collecting jewels, but—
If he’s offering, I’m not stupid enough to refuse.
“Chut!”
I nodded vigorously—when something clinked behind me.
Then Eloise placed something in front of me—
“Cherry, Cherry, if you had such a hobby, you should’ve said so earlier.”
Ruby earrings and a diamond brooch.
No, sis—these are real!
I backed away in horror, shaking my head.
“You don’t like these?”
Eloise’s face fell, but I couldn’t accept something this outrageous.
These were only for trading with the crows.
After a long tug-of-war, I finally convinced her to give me a few cubic gems from her skirt decorations instead.
Now that we had everything we needed, all that remained was the trade.
* * *
Caw, CAW!
The crows flapped wildly at the sight of the pile of fake cubic gems on platinumus leaves.
[So many shiny things! So rich, so rich!]
[We’ll show you the shiny cave! Follow us, follow us!]
They began leading the way.
“Chutchut!”
I pointed at the crows, but behind me, Kenig and Eloise just stared blankly.
“You… just negotiated with crows?”
“As expected. Cherry Cherry has the talent to run a trade company with me one day.”
They seemed shocked—but for different reasons.
Fair.
I rubbed my nose shyly and tugged Kenig’s pants leg.
No time to dawdle.
The crows led us all the way to the mountaintop.
A ridge of sharp rocky peaks lined up like jagged shoulders.
The place where the crows perched was a cliff that stretched out like a long tongue.
[This way, this way!]
I hesitated.
We were so high up that the tall conifers looked like tiny dots below.
The forest swayed with the wind, like a giant mouth waiting to swallow us whole.
My head spun just imagining falling.
Instinctively, I stepped back—
[Jump off from here.]
One crow spread its wings and pointed at the cliff edge.
Are they insane?!
I knew flying creatures weren’t normal, but this was too much.
But my fear became reality.
Before I could dodge, the crow grabbed my shoulder and lifted me straight off the ground.
The moment its grip loosened—
Kenig!
His name surfaced before any scream.
“Cherry…!”
Kenig sprinted and caught me in his arms, but even a Black Dragon Duke couldn’t defy gravity.
“Chuuuuuu—!”
Save the squirrel…!!
