Chapter 3: Fruit 1

The northern lands are harsh.

It’s bitterly cold, food is scarce, and even walking is difficult as your feet sink deep into the snow.

However, these are problems limited to outsiders who haven’t adapted to this place.
To the beastkin who have lived in this cold place for hundreds of years, such things are no obstacle at all.

The snow is my family, the wind is my friend.

A phrase from a picture book comes to mind.
No matter how I think about it, it was such a cool sentence.
It was a saying more than enough to foster a wolf’s pride.

With every step I take, I hear a crunching sound.
My adorable footprints leave the first mark on the spotless, pure white snowfield.
Then, as if to protect this snowfield, the snow-laden wind blows, pushing my small self back and making it hard to open my eyes.

But who am I?
Am I not a wolf beastkin who has even succeeded in a hunt?
If I were to be defeated by a mere wind, I wouldn’t have been able to hunt the rabbit.

What’s needed at times like these is the tail.

My own unique feature that sets me apart from other wolf beastkin.
My massive, fluffy tail that rivals my own body in size!

My tail was so huge that I could store valuables inside it.
Naturally, I could also fit my body inside.

Like this, if I snuggle my head into the fur…

“Perfect!”

This is the power of a reincarnator’s experience.
None of the other wolf beastkin would have thought to hide their bodies in their tails!

The incredibly fluffy tail is a natural insulator.
Inside it, I melted into a state of immense warmth and drowsiness.
It was so warm, it felt like I could fall asleep right there without any problems.

My breathing becomes regular, my body rises and falls…

“Ngyah.”

I really did fall asleep.

How much time has passed?
What if it’s become night…

I hurriedly pulled my body out of my tail and looked at the sky.
The nights in the North are dark, long, cold, and scary, so if it had turned to night while I was outside, it would be extremely dangerous for my young self.

But fortunately, contrary to my worries, the sky was still white.
Just like before, fluffy snow was gently falling from the pure white clouds.

“Phew….”

A sigh of relief escaped me unknowingly.
Even though I am a reincarnator, I often engage in such inexplicable, strange antics.

I suspect it’s the fault of my younger body, but… it wasn’t a problem with an easy answer.
I hurriedly got up.

It was getting late.
I needed to hurry to tell others my totally cool and amazing hunting story.

The wind had died down a lot, so there was no longer any discomfort in moving.
I shook my body with a shiver to shake off the accumulated snow.

…I had to shake off quite a bit.

“Let’s go!”

But do misfortunes come in waves?

On top of falling asleep, not long after I started walking, my stomach began to growl loudly, echoing all around.
Clutching my stomach, which was crying out in hunger, I thought urgently.

Did I eat after the hunt?
If I had eaten, I wouldn’t be hungry.

This was as big a deal as night falling while playing outside.
Because a child needs to eat a lot.
Simply put, it was a problem of the growth period.

If I don’t eat, I won’t grow tall, and if I don’t grow tall, I’ll have to live as a small wolf like this forever.
It means I won’t become a big, strong, and cool wolf beastkin like my sister!

“No way!”

Not just my sister, but I wouldn’t even be like the other wolf beastkin.
All the wolf beastkin are incredibly tall, and to have to live as a tiny wolf among them…!

I hated the life of being loved for being small.
The little bit of a man’s heart remaining in me was repulsed by it, and in the first place, isn’t a wolf a scary and strong animal, not a cute creature?

I had to eat right away!

“There it is!”

Fortunately, my proud wolf ears and nose had excellent abilities for finding prey.
Sniffing around, I caught a delicious and sweet scent, and when I ran towards it, a luscious, pure white fruit was peeking its head out from between the snow.

It was one of the few fruits of the North, the ice fruit!

It’s incredibly sweet, so it’s my favorite snack.

“Squeak!”

And next to it was a small white hamster.
It seemed to have come here to eat the ice fruit, just like me.

“Hehe….”

A fist-sized hamster looking at me, seemingly flustered.
I smiled at that white furball.

Today was a very lucky day.
To find another prey after the rabbit.
The hamster, feeling threatened, cried out loudly at me, but I was the one who had even caught a monster rabbit.
An arctic hamster like this couldn’t beat me.

I spread my arms wide and opened my mouth, making a very scary threatening sound.
It was a low, cool growl, just like my family did.

“Kiiiing!”

“Squeak!”

“Kaaang!!”

“Squeeeak!!”

A few exchanges of a war of nerves.
The hamster’s bright black eyes glare at me.
I glared back at the hamster.

How about it.

Scary, right.

This is a wolf!

“Kaaang!”

“Squeak!”

A touch-and-go situation where something could happen at any moment.

Fluffy snow gently falls.

I breathe in, and out.
The hamster’s body puffs up, then shrinks again.
The moment a large snowflake lands on the ground, the battle began.

“Pfft!”

“Squeak!”

I jumped high into the air and slammed down on the hamster.
But the hamster, as if it had been waiting, ran and slipped under me.
The hamster smirked at me, who had grandly planted my face in the snowfield.

How dare you!

“Kraaang!”

“Squeak, squeak.”

“Kaang!!”

I let out a fierce roar and charged at the hamster on all fours.
My excellent physical abilities as a wolf beastkin shone, and just before my teeth could reach it, the hamster hid underground.

“Kkyaeng?!”

A mouthful of snow.
I can’t come to my senses from the cold that makes my lips numb in an instant.

You hamster, you’re smart.
As expected of a veteran animal that survived in the North.
I appoint you as my worthy opponent.
You may be proud!

The hamster that had hidden underground soon poked its face out near the ice fruit and glared at me.

“Squeak, squeak~♡”

…The feeling that it was mocking me, calling me a loser, must be my imagination.

“Hmph!”

This is a bloody battle.
A bloody battle for the ownership of the ice fruit.
The victor gets the sweet ice fruit and delicious prey, and the loser gets neither.

I looked at the hamster and puffed up my tail immensely.

But the hamster, undeterred by my threat, grabbed the ice fruit with both hands and fled into its tunnel.

“Kkyaeng?!”

Hey, where did you go!
Are you running away from there?!

I’m flustered.
This is not part of the plan.

My eyes darted around.
In a situation where my stomach was crying out in extreme hunger.
I couldn’t lose my food here.
I could let the hamster go, but not the ice fruit!
It’s so delicious!

I soon shook off my panic, perked up my ears, and focused.
It was time to fully manifest my special ability, the ability of my ears to find things hidden in the snow better than anyone else.

—Rustle.

—Rustle, rustle.

I can hear it.
I can hear the hamster’s movements.

It seemed this reckless hamster hadn’t managed to get far from me yet.
Perhaps it was hard to dig a tunnel while holding an ice fruit as big as its own body.

Hehe.

That will be your downfall.

I get into position.
I prepare to jump.
I bring my hands together.
I raise my tail high and wait for the right moment.

One….

Two….

Right now!

With my tail assisting my balance in mid-air, my body dug into the exact spot where I heard the sound.
The pure white snow was dug up, and soon, the hamster and the ice fruit in the tunnel were clearly captured by my two eyes.

“Squeak!!”

“Gotcha!!!”

I immediately bit the hamster with my mouth and threw it high into the sky.
In my hand, the luscious ice fruit was held, showing off its pure white color.

The hunt is a success!

I held the ice fruit in my hand and grinned foolishly.
The sweet smell filling my empty stomach already made my mood soar.

“Kkyaaeng??!?!”

At that moment, my tail tingled and electricity flowed up my spine.
As I jumped high into the air in surprise, the hamster, which I had clearly thrown high into the sky, jumped out of my tail and cried at me.

“Squeak!”

—Loser.

The hamster spat out the white fur that was in its mouth.
And then, it dug a tunnel and disappeared far away.

“This…!”

How dare it bite my tail.
I was angry and tried to chase it, but I couldn’t hear the hamster’s sound anymore.
It seemed to have escaped properly.

Hmph, just you wait.
You won’t live long if you keep living like that.

I missed the hamster, but in reality, the hamster was too small and was a kind of ‘chicken rib’ with no parts to eat.
Meaning, it wasn’t a pity to miss it.

The ice fruit, which was my goal, became mine like this, so in conclusion, this battle was my great victory.

Hehe.

Just thinking about the ice fruit makes my mouth water.

The texture like chewing ice, the taste like drinking sweet juice, the cool temperature, the ice fruit was a perfect fruit with nothing to throw away.
It was so rare that I couldn’t eat it often, but….

It’s mine now!

I looked back at the ice fruit that I had dropped on the ground earlier.

“Huh?”

But in front of my ice fruit, for some reason, there was a small arctic fox I had never seen before.

And that fox, while I was tilting my head, took my ice fruit in its mouth.

And then….

“Huh? Hey! That’s mine!! Where are you going!!!”

It ran away just like that!

I was startled and ran after the fox.