Episode 1
“Hey.”
“…….”
“Wake up.”
The wolf closed his eyes and pretended to sleep despite the rabbit’s repeated calls. But that stubbornness did not last long.
“I’m going to take you home, so wake up.”
The moment he heard the rabbit’s crushing exclamation, his previously motionless ears twitched.
The wolf slowly opened his eyes. Then, a small white rabbit was reflected in his deep-sea blue eyes.
She looked at him with pebble-black eyes, then opened her mouth with a determined expression.
“I will be your gardian.”
The wolf narrowed his eyes after hearing the rabbit’s words.
Even if I threatened someone or tried to persuade them by offering a large amount of money, they would always say that they will never be my guardian, but what is this?
Could it be that the rabbit was intentionally lying to make me eat something after being on a hunger strike for three days?
But this suspicion was short-lived, and the rabbit added as if to drive a wedge into his doubtful mind.
“There is a condition though.”
“A condition?”
The wolf was very curious about what the conditions would be, but when he eventually heard the words come out of the rabbit’s mouth, the wolf could not believe his ears.
“Go out with me.”
“…What?”
At first he thought he heard wrong. However, the moment he saw the rabbit’s serious face, the wolf’s mouth dropped open.
This was nonsense.
In the first place, she was a herbivore and he was a carnivore, weren’t they?
Right now, he was just keeping her alive for a purpose, but it wouldn’t be strange if he bit off her neck at any time.
This was their relationship.
But what? She want to date?
Come to think of it, he heard that youngesters these days go beyond species boundaries and say crazy things about love and marriage.
When he confirmed the truth of this amazing rumor through the rabbit’s mouth, he was shocked.
“Are you out of your mind?”
He barely managed to keep his wits and asked her in a voice full of pride. But the crazy rabbit nodded obediently again and said.
“It is exactly like that. I actually quite liked you.”
It was a rabbit that said something that didn’t even sound like it made sense and then winked cutely.
The wolf was at a loss for words.
He thought he had met a lot of crazy people in his life, but as of today, that thought has changed.
The wolf’s gaze darkened when he saw the most insane rabbit he had ever met.
It was an unacceptable offer.
Putting aside the fact that the rabbit was a different species than him and all, he already had a woman he loved.
That’s why he was here in the first place.
However, as if saying that he should accept his situation, the rabbit presented only two options to the wolf.
“Now, choose.”
“Will you be my lover and return home with me, or will you die here and become a ghost wandering the continent?”
The wolf closed his eyes tightly after hearing the choices he did not want to choose from.
There was no time to worry.
He now had to choose one of the two.
***
Asgar, a polar continent where the snow does not melt even in summer.
In this land frozen by extreme cold, tribes with mysterious powers have lived since ancient times.
A rabbit that is said to be able to turn back time, a whale that is said to grant the wishes of those who desperately wish for it, and white reindeer that run through the night sky… .
Because of this, Asgar, the land of winter, was called the birthplace of all myths and legends by the people of the southern continent.
And in fact, in the furthest and deepest mountain valley in Asgar, ‘clock rabbit’ beastmen with mysterious powers lived in a village.
From centuries ago to today.
“Brody! Could you get me a box of hay for the rabbits that’s right there by the door?”
Early morning, in front of the hay shop run by the May family, the family’s two daughters had been helping out early on.
“You mean this Timothy from Conrad, right?”
Brody, who was clearing the snow that had fallen overnight outside the store, held up a box toward her older sister Judy and asked.
When Judy nodded yes, Brody came into the store carrying a box.
The sisters poured frost-covered hay onto a basket to dry and spread it out evenly as they chatted.
“Sister, I’m talking about Joshua, the second son of the hardware store.”
“What about that kid?”
“Hasn’t he become more manly these days?”
Judy tilted her head after hearing her sister’s words.
“Hasn’t he become more manly these days?”
“Until a month ago, you said Joshua looked like Timothy from Conrad.”
“Did I do that?”
Judy’s eyes narrowed at the sight of Brody not even remembering what she had said.
She had already noticed that Brody, who had always been indifferent to handsome men, had become much more interested in them these days.
And she was at the prime of her age. She recently reached the age of adulthood, and now she will begin the Estrous period, which signals her true adulthood.
…Wait, Estrus?
Judy immediately felt the sensation of her hair standing on its ends and straightened up.
Having gone into heat several years ago, she knew the symptoms very well.
When that time comes, even the bastards that one normally don’t pay attention to start to appear attractive.
Judy’s eyes went straight to her younger sister. She looked at Brody with a coy look and opened her mouth.
“I can’t believe it… Are you in heat?”
“Really? Is this a symptom of Estrus?”
Brody’s white eyelashes fluttered in surprise. Judy, who saw this, gathered her eyebrows at the unexpected reaction.
Why was she like it?
These days, rabbits usually lie down sick for three days when they are in heat, and there is one reason.
This is because when the Estrus season begins, they have to go on ‘Pilgrimage Route of Resonelle’ alone for a year.
Rabbits, famous for having the reproductive power of cockroaches, come into heat frequently, unlike other animals.
Centuries ago, rabbit beastmen searched for various ways to suppress these biological characteristics, and what they finally figured out was ‘practice’.
Learning patience through rigorous training and giving up the desire to reproduce inherited from our ancestors.
The person who first came up with this method and put it into practice successfully was ‘Resonelle.’
That’s why the path he traveled was called ‘Pilgrimage Route of Resonelle’ and became a mandatory course for rabbits.
Every Clock Rabbit had to walk that path. It was still the same centuries later.
Of course, as time passed, young people began to say that they would rather live with their sexual desires.
This was because the task of carrying out the ‘Pilgrimage Route of Resonelle’, which consists of snow-covered mountains and plains, was very difficult.
So Judy expected that Brody, who liked to live her own way, would turn against her parents by saying that she would accept her sexual desires.
She thought that she would cry and make a fuss because she didn’t want to go to the training.
However, Brody didn’t make a fuss at all when told that she was in heat.
Judy wondered if it was possible that her temperament had changed .
However, this was a mistake she could have made because she did not know her sister’s true feelings.
The reason Brody is calm right now is not because she has matured, but because she is thinking very foolish thoughts.
A few days later, a cute little luggage bag was prepared in front of May House’s living room.
This was the bag Judy took with her when she went on the journey many years ago.
Clock Rabbits usually live in human form, but when practicing, they transform into rabbit form.
This is because the bodies of animals, with their thick fur and fast speed in the face of threats in the wild, are better suited for travel than humans, who are vulnerable to cold and danger.
Moreover, the pure white fur of the rabbits living in the snow country itself was their protective color.
And , of course, the looks of a rabbit was different than a human.
It was better.
Brody the rabbit sat down with her luggage on her back as she chewed on dried carrots.
Since she wouldn’t be eating carrots much in the future, she was quickly storing them in her stomach.
A huge human named Judy approached Brody. She handed Brody a small bottle.
“Take this.”
Brody’s eyes widened. The liquid in the bottle was red cypress tree sap.
The red cypress tree is a mysterious plant that only grows in Clock Rabbit Village, and by drinking its sap, even people suffering from deathly diseases are completely cured.
Brody took the bottle and held it in her hand, her eyes turning red.
She felt the heart of her sister who opened her box of savings and bought her precious medicine out of fear that something might go wrong during the trip.
“Thank you. After all, I only have one sister…”
“Yes, little sister.”
Judy patted Brody’s tiny body, which she wouldn’t have been surprised if it was mistaken for a baby rabbit’s body.
She felt sorry for the difficult journey her younger sister was going to go through, but she held it in because she could not show herself to be weak as the older sister.
Brody sniffled, lowered her bag and untied the straps.
Inside the bag were a special emergency package of dried carrots prepared by my mother, a world map specially provided by my father, a cartographer, a small pocket knife, an emergency rope, and a flint.
I placed Judy’s gift between them.
“Come on, Brody. Come here.”
Mom came out of the room with a string and watch and called Brody.
As Brody approached, the mother neatly tied a pink satin ribbon around her daughter’s neck.
At the end of the ribbon was a gold pocket watch. It was an item similar to the symbol of the Clock Rabbits.
After making all the preparations, Brody and her family came out to the hay store and said their goodbyes.
“Have a nice trip, Brody. Take care of yourself.”
“Yes, Mom.”
Mom picked up little Brody and held her tightly in her arms. Dad also stroked Brody’s head with an affectionate hand.
“You have to return after successfully completing your training.”
“Yes, Dad.”
And Judy ended up crying.
“Well, Brody….”
“Don’t cry, sister.”
Brody, who got down to the ground, placed her front paw on the tip of her sister’s shoe and offered comfort.
Now it was time to leave.
The May family waved at Brody as she walked away.
Brody, who was running up the snow-covered hill, also turned around and raised her front paw to wave at her family.
The family wiped away their tears with handkerchiefs as they watched Brody fading away.
Brody continued running until she reached the crest of the hill.
Looking down from above, the hay store was as small as a pea. Brody stood there and watched closely as the family entered the store one after another.
And when she could no longer see her family, she ran downhill as excitedly as if she had a motor on her feet.
It was a completely different atmosphere than before. The way she kicked the ground hard with her hind feet was unusual.
After a while, she saw a large clock tower at the entrance to the village in the distance.
The round body passed the pitch-black clock tower then passed through an arch made of fir branches.
As she left the village, a huge glacier lined the side of the road.
Brody picked up a little more speed as she ran along the bank of the glacial valley. If she wanted to get to her destination on time, even if she had to run now, time was running out
The May family had no doubt that Brody would go north to the Kalks Mountains, to practicebthe ‘Pilgrimage Route of Resonelle’, but in fact Brody had no intention of doing so.
Her destination was the ‘White Stone Plain’ along the way.
Her goal was to meet someone who would otherwise be abandoned in the White Stone Plain.
‘Kyloden met the guardian Brody May in the White Stone Plains.’
Although it was a phrase she had read many years ago, Brody remembered it accurately without a single typo.
And she remembered this for one reason.
This is because, just five years ago, while reading the novel “The Blue Wolf,” I possessed Brody May and waited for today.
