Chapter 34: Chapter 34 – Feelings

After the Prinja-Boar attack, Mabel and I stuck together like glue. She was obviously baffled by my reaction to her being injured, but she gave me all the time I needed to make sure she was really okay. Telling her what the licking really meant came at the cost of a laughing fit however, as Mabel couldn’t fathom the fact that my magic required me to become somewhat of an overjoyous dog in order to heal her.

I didn’t mind her laughter at all. Sure, I was feeling ashamed, but it was the best way to make sure she really was alright. My magic had completely healed her, leaving behind no scars or blemishes on her skin, something she was readily showing to me.

Even though Mabel was fine, I was still not over how bad I had been at fighting those boars. Not only was it my fault that she had been hurt, I also destroyed most of the fur of the boars, turning half the profit into ashes. Later of which we had realized only after the fight had been long over. Sadly, there was nothing to be done.

Mabel didn’t blame me. She knew I was a newbie to fighting and still took me with her. Still, she tried her hardest to make the best of the situation and dismantled the corpses of the boars, going for meat and their tusks specifically. Apparently the boar's main weapon could be carved into various tools or artworks, depending on who you sold it to. The same could not be said about their bones, which were pretty much useless. As for the skins… Mabel at least knew what could be tried to save them.

“Put this one into your inventory magic,” she said, holding the burnt skin of one of the boars. “Maybe it fixes it.”
“I don’t think it will…”

Despite knowing it wouldn’t work, I quickly tried what she had told me and shoved the skin into Itembox’s inventory only to pull it out again after a few moments of grace time. And Indeed, I was proven correct. The boar skin was gone. There was no more charred, black and brown fur, instead the whole thing was colored in a brownish red. Where the skin was clearly destroyed before, now it looked pristine and valuable. It was soft to the touch as well, so much in fact that I couldn’t help but lay it over my shoulders immediately, pulling it close to my body.

“So warm,” I purred.

Mabel’s eyes were sparkling. I could almost hear her think of all the money she would make selling this pelt.

“Mine!” I immediately argued.
“We can keep two.” She argued back while intensely staring at my treasure. “One for each of us.”

After making me accept this profitable deal, Mabel and I quickly tested other aspects of my magic. First I had Itembox swallow a whole boar carcass, then some individual bones and two tusks.

The carcass was a flop. It produced nothing new, just the same old boar carcass. The same could be said about the bones, who returned just as useless as they were before storing them away. Only when I pulled out the boar tusks did a change occur: four hand sized figurines of Cilia appeared in my hands, all of which were carved to be perfect replicas of the real one.

“Those could be worth a ton.”

Mabel was right, but I saw a very different value in the figurines she likely thought to be mere foxkin. With them in my hands, I could easily show Ofris and the others how Cilia looked. I could show them my new ‘mother’ and maybe even make them pray to her, giving the lonely goddess something to do. Maybe she would even answer a prayer of theirs should she feel like it.

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“Her name is Cilia,” I explained while softly stroking one of the figurines. “She is the goddess that blessed me.”
“Better keep them safe, then.”
I shook my head. “I want you and Ofris to have one.”
“Me?”
“I am sure she would love that.”
“I will take mine when we are back in Siltar. Those tusks are strong, but I wouldn’t trust them too much.”

After telling me that much, Mabel quickly went back to her gruesome work. She dismantled eight more boars before giving me their materials to store. The tusks she kept herself this time, knowing that they could be sold more easily if they hadn’t carved into a beastkin shape first. As for the fur, she happily announced that we would make a fortune selling them.

“She really likes her money.”

When she had finally finished her work, it was her time to really shine. I had really liked watching Mabel fight, but I far more loved watching her turn boar meat into a delectable meal. For that she was using nothing more than a campfire and some spices she had brought with her - spices that now came in fox-themed shakers after having been in my Itembox all this time.

When we finished our makeshift meal, the sun was already setting. It tinged the meadow and the trees surrounding them in a soft red, with the statues themselves taking on most color. Mabel’s eyes were shining just staring at those images.

“It looks so beautiful!”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Mabel seemed to have a slight childish side from time to time, one that only came out when something looked cute or beautiful. Somehow that included me as well, going by everything she had said and did while around me.

“What is it, cutie?”
“No- nothing!”

Mabel sent me a knowing smile, before turning her attention to the fire. She began absentmindedly poking it with a stick while I was becoming more and more restless. My tail was nervously waving from one side to the other, which she immediately noticed.

“Don’t worry. I won’t bite.”

She didn’t bite. Mabel just kept her distance, always leaving me on the edge of panicking without ever pushing me over it. She liked me, that much was obvious, even though we only knew each other for days. But what were my feelings? I couldn’t say.

Mabel was nice and open-hearted, aspects I really liked about her, and she had protected me like a knight in shining armor. Of course I couldn’t help but be drawn to her in some way to another, but that wasn’t love. At least it wasn’t right now. As for the future I couldn’t tell.

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