I Became the Emergency Food Supply of the Bear Family - Chapter 24

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 24

Na Bom couldn’t fathom what Phalace’s expression meant. She simply blinked, her eyes vacant.
Phalace bent his knees at once, bringing himself level with Na Bom’s gaze.
“Would you extend your front paw for me?”
Na Bom quietly obeyed Phalace’s soft command, stretching out her right foreleg. At that, Phalace cradled the small, furry paw in both his hands.
Moments later, he released it and spoke.
“That animal outside the castle is troubling you, isn’t it?”
Na Bom nodded quietly.
“Then go and have a look for yourself.”
‘Pardon?’
At Phalace’s suggestion, Na Bom’s eyes widened.
Going outside the castle walls was forbidden—an order from the lord, from Theodore himself.
“I’ll be watching over you. It’s fine.”
……
At Phalace’s composed expression, Na Bom recalled what Theodore had said.

“Allow me to introduce him. For the next month or so, this is Phalace, the Grand Mage who will teach you Humanization.”

A Grand Mage.
If that was the case, then should danger arise, he’d protect this raccoon, or rather, young tiger… or was it a cat?
In any case, he’d keep me safe. It should be fine.
Na Bom slowly turned her body.
As Na Bom carefully poked her head through the gap, the Moat came into view beneath the castle wall. Though the water had frozen solid, it was still quite deep.
“Ah, there’s a moat. I’ll teleport with you to—”
Before Phalace could finish, Na Bom launched herself through the opening.
Startled, Phalace teleported to her at once. Yet contrary to his concern, Na Bom landed lightly upon the frozen surface.
‘The creature’s braver than I expected.’
Phalace let out a soft laugh.
As Phalace’s gaze followed Na Bom’s footsteps, it suddenly shifted to an animal lying beneath a tree.
……?
The frown that formed on Phalace’s brow was subtle, barely visible.
When Na Bom drew closer to investigate, she found it was a dog—far larger than a malamute.
Black ears. Black body. Black paws.
A dog painted entirely in black.
The dog lay unconscious in the snowy field, breathing heavily with struggle.
Na Bom circled the animal cautiously, examining it thoroughly. Yet she found neither bloodstains nor even a single small wound.
There didn’t seem to be any injury, so what was wrong?
‘P-Phalace.’
Perhaps the Grand Mage would know what afflicted the animal. With that thought, she called to him, and he responded quietly from beside her.
“I’ve cast Healing Magic upon your paws.”
Startled by his sudden proximity, Na Bom’s eyes fell upon his hands.
So that’s why he held my front paw—to cast the spell.
“Press your foreleg against its body. It will help.”
At his words, Na Bom could only nod numbly. Yet even as she stretched her paw toward the dog, doubt seized her.
But why had he cast the spell on her instead?
If he was going to stand beside her anyway, wouldn’t it be more effective for the Grand Mage to use his magic directly?
The doubt was fleeting. Na Bom’s foreleg descended onto the dog’s belly.
The chest beneath the fur heaved rapidly. Through that alone, she could sense the animal’s shallow breathing.
‘But…’
Is this actually helping?
She’d expected light to emanate from her paw at the mention of magic, yet everything was so silent.
“That will do. Remove your paw.”
A flinch. Just as suspicion bloomed thickly in her mind, Phalace’s voice reached her ears.
She quickly withdrew her paw and examined the dog’s condition.
‘Oh.’
A clear change was visible, and Na Bom let out a small gasp.
The chest that had heaved so rapidly, the shallow breaths—both seemed far more stable now. Though the animal still hadn’t regained consciousness.
“Now, let’s return to the castle.”
With those brief words, Phalace hoisted Na Bom into his arms. Startled and thrashing, she reached her paws toward the dog.
‘W-Wait, just a moment!’
But the Castle Wall already loomed before her eyes. Phalace had teleported them.
‘The dog still hasn’t woken…’
“What we just did wasn’t entirely prudent, I should note.”
At Phalace’s words, Na Bom’s ears twitched.
Helping an injured animal wasn’t prudent?
Yet she fell silent at Phalace’s measured response.
“There’s no assurance that animal isn’t an enemy.”
‘I see…’
“Showing that much mercy to a potential foe is already generous. Leave the rest to the Sled Dog Knight Order, and rest yourself for today.”
With that, Phalace set Na Bom down on the ground. Anna had come looking for her, mentioning it was time for lunch, so Phalace entrusted Na Bom to her care and teleported away again with a flash.
Standing atop the Castle Wall, Phalace’s gaze descended toward the world beyond.
In the snowy field lay the dark animal, still unconscious.
‘It will open its eyes soon.’
The chill that had filled its body seemed to have dissipated.
Though the fundamental problem remained unresolved.
Phalace was a Grand Mage. He could wield many spells, and among them, even the highest of arts—Healing Magic—lay within his grasp.
Possessing such Magical Power, he had known at once upon seeing the animal.
The condition the animal carried was congenital. Such a malady could never be resolved by Healing Magic alone.
If the symptoms were temporary or mild, Healing Magic could treat them sufficiently. But that was all. Healing Magic held no power beyond that.
And so the faith in Eostre endured even now.
Eostre.
The goddess of spring who brings new growth to frozen earth, who awakens new life.
“Ah…”
Through his parted lips escaped a sound between a sigh and a laugh. Phalace’s trembling hand rose to cover his mouth, electrified with excitement.
‘To witness such a force with my own eyes.’
Phalace was a mage, and mages were seekers of knowledge. For him, observing a power he’d never encountered before was the greatest thrill imaginable.
That light that had poured from those small paws—it was drawn into the animal, becoming warmth that settled within.
Had she pressed her paw longer, perhaps even the fundamental affliction might have been cured—
‘That degree of healing was appropriate.’
The rabbit was still young. Pushing her further could cause her body untold harm.
Based on Theodore’s report, the rabbit seemed to have healed the second one’s exhaustion, so there should be no complications.

“We are not so weak that we must be saved by the sacrifice of lesser lives.”

Recalling Theodore’s eyes, so full of resolve, Phalace’s brow furrowed deeply.
‘If he so much as suspected I was experimenting with an unproven method…’
The man might very well turn even against Phalace himself, the Grand Mage.
Though, of course, the suspicion that the supreme mage of the mortal realm could be mistaken never crossed his mind.
‘If only the Humanization succeeds without incident, there’s nothing to fear.’
Phalace nodded to himself in affirmation, and the hair loosely tied at the back of his head swayed with the motion.
‘But why was that creature collapsed out there in the first place?’
The animal seemed young as well.

***

That evening, after finishing her meal, Na Bom stepped outside the Inner Castle cradled in Anna’s arms.
She’d guided Anna to the very Castle Wall where the gap had been, and they’d stopped there.
“You suddenly want fresh night air? You’ve been moving awfully busily lately, haven’t you, Snowy? Hmm? Is there something there?”
As Na Bom continued to stare at one section of the wall, Anna noticed.
The gap had already been sealed. The Sled Dog Knight Order must have closed it on the malamute’s report.
“Snowy?”
Na Bom, who had been gazing thoughtlessly upward at the wall, turned back to Anna and shook her head rapidly.
Scaling the wall was dangerous. And she couldn’t ask such a thing of Anna anyway.
‘Did it wake up?’
It hadn’t snowed today, which was fortunate—but if that creature remained collapsed in such a winter field much longer, something truly terrible could happen.
‘No. Phalace said it would be fine.’
Even if it might have been an enemy.
Na Bom shook her head and dispelled her thoughts, then gestured to Anna that they should return to the castle.
Taking one last look at the wall, Na Bom found herself thinking:
‘…How fortunate.’
That day.
That Theodore saved me—I’m truly grateful.
‘I must work hard at the Humanization training.’
There’s something I want to tell Theodore, so badly.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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