The Baby Bear of the Black Fox Mansion - Chapter 25

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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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Episode 25
“Ahem. Miel, do I look like a baby panda now?”
Miel asked with bright anticipation, and Dragonian nodded eagerly.
[Of course. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you earlier. Oh? In that case, can I ask you for a favor, baby panda?]
Miel’s cheeks flushed pink.
“W-well, if you put it that way, I can’t refuse. What does Miel need to help with?”
Dragonian’s face brightened instantly.
[I want to visit my grave. I want to know what happened to me. Why I became like this. I have no memories.]
Miel nodded at Dragonian’s words.
Creak.
At the sudden sound, Miel jumped in alarm.
Turning, Lisar had just emerged from the bathroom, damp towel in hand, watching Miel with an odd expression.
“Lisar?”
“……Um, baby bear. Just now…who were you talking to……?”
Pop!
Miel’s startled ears sprang up.
“……!”
At Lisar’s tense question, Miel’s mouth fell open.
‘Oh no! Seeing the ghost was supposed to be a secret……!’
Miel’s body trembled as her face went deathly pale.
* * *
Hiccup!
Lisar gently wiped Miel’s hands with a serious expression, her brow furrowed.
“So….”
Hiccup, hiccup!
“Miel?”
Hiccup, hiccup, hiccup!
Watching the frightened Miel, Lisar blinked slowly.
“I, I wasn’t talking to anyone……?”
“Then who were you speaking to?”
“I was…talking to the air in the sky……?”
“But you asked what I needed help with. What did the air want you to help with?”
“Th-th-that is….”
Miel’s clumsy excuse crumbled; her face crumpled, and once she clamped her mouth shut, the hiccups that had started so suddenly showed no sign of stopping.
Lisar finished wiping Miel’s sticky hands with the towel and set it down, looking at her.
“Is it a secret you won’t tell me?”
“…Mm-hmm.”
“I even gave the baby bear honey cookies….”
Flinch.
“And shared my cookies….”
Flinch, flinch.
“Even gave lots of honey….”
Flinch, flinch, flinch.
“And shared my cake at snack time….”
As Lisar’s words continued, her eyes drooping sorrowfully, Miel’s round ears twitched higher with each sentence.
“So the baby bear doesn’t trust me….”
“N-no, that’s not it….”
Miel shook her head rapidly.
“Lisar might…come to dislike Miel….”
“Why would I dislike you?”
Lisar furrowed her brow.
Miel gazed at Lisar for a moment, then her lips trembled.
“There’s nothing you could do that would make me dislike you.”
Lisar squeezed Miel’s hands gently as she whispered.
“I owe you a debt, so I’ll stay by your side from now on.”
“……By my side?”
“Yes.”
“…Even if Miel smells all messy and musty?”
“Huh?”
Lisar pressed her nose to Miel’s hand and sniffed.
“Ever since we first met, you’ve always smelled sweet. I’ve mentioned it before, haven’t I?”
“……But what if I end up smelling like… well, like something else?”
“Then you’d just be an adorable little bear who happens to smell that way.”
At Lisar’s words, Miel’s ears perked up.
“You find me cute?”
“……!”
The sudden question caught Lisar off guard, her lips parting slightly.
Looking flustered, she flailed uselessly at the air for a moment before finally managing a nod.
“O-of course!”
Her face flushed crimson, Lisar turned away and exhaled slowly.
“A-anyway…….”
“…….”
“I’m saying you can be honest with me. I’m on your side.”
Lisar spoke with quiet firmness.
[Look at the smoke coming off her head. She’d cook up just fine, this one.]
Dragonian, left sitting uselessly like a piece of décor, clicked his tongue.
“Is that what you wanted to tell me?”
“Yeah.”
Miel hesitated.
The last time she’d mentioned to her cousin that someone was there, she’d been treated like a strange child.
They’d even said she was mentally unwell. But Miel was perfectly fine.
“I… there’s someone…….”
“Yeah?”
Lisar nodded, her expression serious now.
“Miel, I can see a spirit.”
“……What?”
Lisar blinked.
The answer she’d received was completely unexpected. Arms crossed, Lisar tilted her head.
“A spirit? Not something like a Spirit proper?”
The Eastern Eagle.
She’d heard that the members of Argent House could see Spirits.
Since ordinary people couldn’t see them, they often appeared to be talking to empty air, she’d heard.
“Truly?”
Miel tilted her head in turn.
“They’re usually about palm-sized, or shaped like animals, and they’re kind of translucent.”
“But this one’s a person…….”
“A, a person.”
Lisar blinked again.
She’d never heard of a Spirit in human form before.
‘Though I think I’ve read somewhere that a Spirit King or something of that caliber could take human shape…….’
Couldn’t it be?
“Hmm. So you see this spirit, but why?”
“Well, there’s actually a spirit right here…….”
Miel pointed beside Lisar with her finger.
“A, a spirit?”
Lisar’s entire body went rigid in an instant.
Seeing this, Dragonian, floating idle in the air, turned slightly and swayed his feet lazily.
“The spirit asked me for help… so I asked if you could help with whatever it is.”
“…I see.”
Lisar’s eyes darted around.
She didn’t think Miel would lie, but Lisar herself didn’t believe spirits actually existed in the world.
It made more sense to her that this was a Spirit or something of that nature.
“What does it look like?”
At Lisar’s question, Miel began explaining eagerly.
It had horns on its head, pointed ears, pointed eyes, curly red hair, was a bit taller than Lisar, wore clothes made of iron, and had cheeks and arms like a fish.
“Hmm, like this?”
Lisar, who was lying down beside Miel while drawing, asked.
Miel stared intently at the Sketchbook, then peeked forward, glancing back and forth between Dragonian and the Sketchbook for a long while.
[Hey, what’s this. It doesn’t look like me at all. Your drawing really is awful.]
And finally, Miel nodded.
“Similar.”
Dragonian’s eyes went wide.
[No, similar how? I don’t look handsome at all. Why is my jaw so sharp? There’s supposed to be this grand, imposing presence, you know?]
As he narrowed his eyes and pressed the point, he looked even more like the sketch.
“Exactly the same.”
At Miel’s words, Dragonian grabbed his own head.
Talking with Miel always felt precisely like talking to a wall.
‘Must be the bear in him—stubborn as they come.’
Dragonian furrowed his brow.
“Let me look into this. What this is.”
“Mm.”
At Miel’s response, Dragonian pressed his forehead.
[I’m a Dragonian, damn it! A great hybrid of dragon and man! You don’t know?]
He cried out in exasperation.
Blink, blink.
“Mm, don’t know.”
Miel, whose bright eyes had been blinking, answered flatly.
[…….]
[Of course! You wouldn’t know! How could you possibly know!]
After a long silence fell between them, Dragonian let out something between a shriek and a wail, grabbed his disheveled hair, and rolled across the floor in frustration.
“Why? What did that ghost tell you again? Miel.”
“Yeah. He said he’s a dra… dra, dra-nian-uh. Drill and human mix? Like that.”
Miel explained, rolling her eyes.
Dragonian’s jaw dropped.
[Ahhhhh!! My communication channel is broken and nothing gets through properly!!]
Dragonian shrieked, and Lisar, unable to see his state, tilted her head.
Though she wore a puzzled expression, she didn’t forget that she’d decided not to doubt Miel’s words, and nodded.
“The Drill Tribe…… there’s a race like that?”
After pondering briefly, Lisar glanced at Miel and smiled reassuringly.
She didn’t want Miel to think she was unhelpful.
“The Drill Tribe—let me look into it. I should be able to find something quickly.”
“Mm.”
“So what exactly does that ghost called Drill want your help with?”

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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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