Episode 36
***
As they left the coast of Winkel Bay, the northernmost part of the Knohen Continent, a desolate plain unfolded before them.
This place was called the ‘Abandoned Land’, and there were no trees or grass there, just a snow-covered plain.
With the help of the underwater taxi drivers, the Gentoo penguins, the three reached the frozen shores of Winkel Bay and entered the ‘Abandoned Land’.
The three of them who looked at the horizon where not a single plant was visible immediately let out a sigh.
“How long does it take to walk from here to reach a forest?”
After hearing Kyle’s question, Brody began to unfold the map.
She had been so excited after she parted the sea, but as time passed, she lost energy again and lay down on Kyle’s back.
As she continued to unfold the map, Kyle looked at Shiloh.
Shiloh met Kyle’s eyes, looked back, then pointed to himself and asked.
“Are you looking at me now?”
Kyle frowned at his playful attitude and asked.
“Why are you standing there with such a clueless look on your face? You must have passed through this land on your way to Asgar.”
“Ah. Unfortunately, I didn’t go through the North Sea but through the West Sea, so I don’t know much about the geography here.”
He was quite confident in saying that he didn’t know.
Kyle looked at the fox with displeasure as he shrugged his shoulders and answered calmly, then quickly turned his head away.
Finally, Brody looked at the map and said,
“If we travel without resting for about three days…we will come across a forest.”
It seemed as if Kyle wanted to know more about the forest, but when she started to struggle to speak, he told her to stop and resumed walking.
Shiloh, who had decided to travel with them only to the forest, followed them.
He looked at Brody, who was hanging on Kyle’s back like wet laundry, with worried eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“Ugh…”
Even after hearing the answer, Shiloh’s gaze did not easily turn away.
Brody felt sorry for herself as she was withering away without even being able to eat.
The next day, Kyle walked across the plains at a faster pace than usual.
He didn’t care whether Shiloh followed behind or not.
Now, he was also getting anxious because Brody seemed to be having a hard time just drinking water.
It isn’t that I am worried about her. I am worried that she would die before she could be of any use. That is it.
At least he thought so.
Normally, Shiloh would have followed Brody closely, checked on her, and asked useless questions about whether she was okay but he had been keeping his distance from him since a while ago.
Of course, Kyle wasn’t interested no matter what he did, but after a while something happened that made him pay attention.
“Hey, Kyle!”
He thought that he had misheard, but the cheeky call came again.
“Kyle!”
Kyle looked back, dumbfounded.
That cheeky fox dared call his name.
Brody was the only one allowed to call Kyle this way.
But before he could even think about kicking him, Shiloh’s strange behavior caught Kyle’s eye.
Shiloh was sniffing the floor, then suddenly started kicking at one spot.
How much snow did he dig out?
He, who had been clearing away snow with his snout, suddenly shouted happily, calling Brody’s name.
“Brody! Crowberry! I found some crowberry!”
Kyle furrowed his brows.
If it was crowberry…
It was a small fruit that Brody had previously picked and eaten on the white stone plains of Asgar.
When Kyle heard that, he ran straight towards Shiloh.
Where Shiloh dug, there were really black crowberries hidden in the frost-soaked grass.
“Brody, wake up!”
Shiloh bent down and told Kyle to go down, but Brody couldn’t move, so he bit Brody’s neck and lowered her to the floor where the crowberry was.
He placed the crowberry in front of Brody for her to see it.
At first, she was blankly blinking, but then she realized that the fruit in front of her was meant to be eaten, and her body began to move on its own.
Brody crawled with her eyes closed, slowly nibbling at the crowberry.
It seemed like she hadn’t come to her senses yet.
Brody finished eating the crowberry and dozed off, her small body shaking.
“Brody, just wait a minute. I’ll find some more berries for you.”
More crowberry should be found around here.
Shiloh said he would go get more berries and then turned away from her.
However…
“…”
As he was about to go in search of fruit, he realised that the ground around him was completely turned upside down, and for a moment he thought a hurricane had passed by.
The one who turned everything upside down like this was Kyle.
As soon as he saw Brody eating the fruit, he immediately started digging up the whole ground.
Shiloh who didn’t need to go far to search looked at the floor and laughed at what Kyle was doing.
Thanks to him doing it for him, he didn’t have to dig out the snow.
Shiloh picked up the crowberries one by one and placed them in front of Brody.
When it had piled up, Brody, who was about to fall asleep, slowly came to her senses as she smelled the sweet scent of the berries.
When Brody opened her eyes, she saw a pile of crowberries in front of her and her eyes widened.
‘Is this heaven?’
She was confused as to whether she had ended up starving to death and went to heaven as she rose up.
Before long, a white fox named Shiloh appeared in front of her.
“Brody, wake up and eat these berries.”
Shiloh appeared in a pure white form and offered her a fruit to eat.
There seemed to be a halo behind him as he gave her the fruit.
Brody almost mistook him for an angel for a moment. Of course, after realizing the reality, she turned to him in bewilderment and asked.
“How…”
Although it was only a word, Shiloh understood it immediately and smiled.
“I brought some to cheer you up. So eat quickly and cheer up.”
Brody was touched by Shiloh’s words.
What a kind and gentle fox!
She thought that all the people who had made the fox into the symbol of slyness and dark-heartness should go to jail.
Brody was touched by the camaraderie she had developed with her companion after spending several days together, and gladly accepted the crowberry he offered her.
While Brody was filling her stomach and sharing her affection with Shiloh.
Kyle searched the area and found that crowberry was no longer visible. So he decided to end the search there.
When he returned, he saw the rabbit next to Shiloh. She seemed to have eaten the crowberries and regained her energy.
He thought it was fortunate.
He had been feeling really heavy-hearted for the few days he was carrying the rabbit on his back, but now he felt much better. He let out a deep sigh of relief without realizing it.
Unlike before, when she had been lying there mumbling in an inaudible voice as if in a trace, she spoke to him again in a loud and clear voice.
“Kyle! Where have you been and now you’re back?”
After screaming like that, she said while pointing to the crowberry that she had left behind even though Shiloh told her to eat them all.
“Kyle, come here and eat. Shiloh has searched all over here and brought me all this. How is it? It’s awesome, isn’t it?”
Brody pointed to the messy floor and thanked Shiloh for his hard work.
Kyle was speechless for a moment when he heard that.
He was the one who turned this place upside down. The fox just picked up the crowberries that were exposed above the snow.
The rabbit was under the mistaken impression that the fox had done all this.
No, I think it was the fox who said that in the first place.
It was clear from the way he stood there with a sly expression on his face, pretending not to know anything.
Anyway, that’s just how that sly and dark fox was.
Kyle felt resentment and irritation boiling inside him.
So, he tried to tell her right away that it was he, not the fox, who had turned this snowfield upside down.
But even though the words were rising to his throat, his mouth wouldn’t open.
He was wondering what the point of saying that would be.
It was pointless to ask that **** rabbit to acknowledge his efforts.
Even if he did that, the rabbit would end up liking him more, and he would just end up getting annoyed.
Kyle swallowed the words that were rising to his throat at that thought.
***
In the ‘Abandoned Land’, crowberries were growing here and there for the benefit of travelers passing through.
So the three of them ate crowberries until they got close to the forest.
After three days of walking across the barren land, a forest began to appear on the horizon.
Brody explained to them while looking at the map.
“That is the Forest of Ennea. It is a forest located in the northwest of the Knohen Continent. The Forest of Ennea is the land of the White Fox Clan. It is the private property of the Ennea tribe, but as long as there are no conflicts, even if you pass through their territory and are caught by the clan, there will be no problem. Many nomads have already received permission to pass through there.”
After listening to the local characteristics her father had written in the book, Kyle tilted his head for a moment and asked.
“White Fox Clan? Then aren’t you part of the same clan?”
His gaze turned to Shiloh.
But Shiloh hurriedly waved his paws in denial to Kyle.
“Not all white foxes are from the Ennea tribe. There are also some who are like me, wandering foxes with no roots.”
At first glance, it seemed like a normal denial. So Brody didn’t really suspect anything and just let it slide.
Well, she has been pretty open to Shiloh lately, who had been taking such good care of her.
But Kyle was different.
He had been reacting unusually sharply to him since the last time he stole his credit, so he caught very quickly that Shiloh’s expression when he heard the question just a moment ago looked unnatural.
As if his identity had been discovered suddenly and he was denying it.
Of course, it could be because Shiloh didn’t like him.
When someone you didn’t like did something, even if small, it could be pretty irritating.
But there was another point that felt suspicious.
It was a problem that had been bothering him for some time now. He was looking after rabbits more than usual.
Kyle, who never believed in unfounded favors, thought that was the most suspicious.
He never understood why Shiloh was so attentive to the rabbit.
It was less obvious when he was on the ice floe, but as he came inland, that incomprehensible interest became even more intense.
One night, as his suspicions toward him grew stronger day by day,
The answer to that question came out of nowhere from Brody’s mouth.
Brody, who had peeked her head out through a hole in the wall of the cave she was in today, suddenly spoke to him in a serious tone.
“Kyle, I think Shiloh has a crush on me.”
