Chapter 4: Chapter 3: Whitehorn

Naru was beginning to adjust to her new life. In some twist of fate, it seemed like she had been reincarnated as a “magic deer” a type of creature that could transform between a human and animal form.

Despite that, they kept some of their animalistic characteristics when they transformed. For example, they would keep a pair of deer ears and their tail would still be firmly attached to the top of their hips. Additionally, the magical crystal they kept on their chest would remain even once they transformed.

It was, therefore, very easy to differentiate between a normal human and a magical deer if one paid close enough attention.

This magic crystal in their chests also meant that the deer could cast magic. Apparently, Magical deer had peculiar biology that let them channel magic as if it was a second sense.

It wasn’t a surprise, they were “Magic” deer after all. It would be odd if they couldn’t cast magic. Magical Deers also were born with a certain affinity to different types of Magic.

Naru’s mother was apparently able to cast life magic. She was able to accelerate the growth of plants and other things. Her magic was quite weak compared to other deer. Naru’s father in contrast had very strong magic. Apparently, he had affinities to both life and earth magic.

The magic deer lived in a herd inside the grove. The grove was protected by a magical barrier that kept out hunters.

They would still go outside the grove to roam but magical deer had higher specs than the average deer and were already very hard to catch. Any deer that got caught outside the grove was frankly, an idiot.

** ** **

[Mushrooms are tasty!]

Naru had grown accustomed to her deer life. At the start, she had trouble adjusting to her human habits, but it turns out being a deer was convenient. Incidentally, her taste buds were like a deer’s as well. She ate bark(tasty), wild fruits(also tasty) and mushrooms(Extremely tasty). Her mother would even grow some extra delicious mushrooms with her life magic.

 [This is truly pleasant] Naru thought as she munched on some particularly fragrant mushrooms her mother had prepared for her.

Thankfully, it had not taken Naru that long to develop her human form. It seems like it was faster for her because she understood what it was like to have a human body. Most fawns didn’t have an understanding of what it was like to be “human” which is why most magical deer would give birth in their human forms. Naru’s birth was an anomaly and her mother opted for a “naturalistic birth”. When Naru asked her mother why she chose that path she simply told Naru that she thought deer fawns were cuter.

[Am I just a vanity child?] Naru questioned in exasperation after hearing her mother’s answer.

Making clothing on the other hand was more difficult. Naru was only able to make mismatched and poor fitting clothing when she was in her human form and ended up staying as a deer most of the time out of shame. The other deer didn’t seem to care about clothing around each other. They were deer after all so this was mostly a self-imposed constraint. Making their clothing appear with magic was something the deer only did for fun.

Overall, though, excluding making clothes and figuring out her human form Naru led a very lazy life.

Eat, sleep, repeat.

It was quite a relief from her previous life where she had died from overwork.

Prancing around was quite relaxing.

She didn’t have any obligations.

She was a deer after all.

There were no deadlines and no annoying coworkers asking her to go out for a drink. And she didn’t even have to put on makeup!

“Naru!” Her mother called from across the grove

“Yes!” Naru called back walking over to her mother who was standing in her human form with another person.

The person standing next to her mother was a tall imposing man. Naru’s mother was a small woman so he looked even larger in comparison to her.

The man had rough features and a blocky face. His dark hair was trimmed but he had a short bushy beard and mustache and embedded within his large chest was a large emerald.

Thankfully, he was wearing a loincloth so Naru didn’t have to avert her eyes.

Naru noted how he had deer ears and a gem in his chest which made him a magic deer like her. Naru was already small so he looked positively giant next to her.

She instinctively shied away out of fear. Large men were scary after all.

The man's stern expression changed when she shied away, it seemed to sadden.

Her mother leaned in whispered into Naru’s ears which were perked up.

“This is your father, he was so excited to see you but didn’t want to scare you. He might look big, but I promise he is a very gentlemanly.” She explained.

Naru looked at the man again who seemed to be uncomfortable. Observing his face again Naru felt happy that she took after her mother who had much more delicate features.

“Should I leave? I don’ wanna scare her…” He asked Naru’s mother. He had a very deep and gravelly voice. Apparently, Naru’s discerning gaze gave him the impression that she was extremely frightened of him.

He looked forlorn.

While Naru was initially frighten by the man. Seeing the contrast between his imposing visage and the meek way he held himself now looked incredibly cute.

Naru’s smiled; she wanted to make the big sad man happy.

“Papa!” she yelled jumping to embrace him.

The man stiffened his deer ears raising slightly surprise.

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Despite that, he quickly hugged her back. To be quite honest his hug was strong enough to make it difficult for Naru to breath, his rough chest hair tickled Naru’s face, but she was determined to hug him for as long as it took. It wasn’t all that bad, the hug made Naru feel very protected.

After they stopped hugging Naru kept up her child act

“Papa your muscles are so big you must be really really strong.” She said

The man was now grinning after seeing his daughter so readily accept him and give him compliments

“Bwahahaha! Of course! I’m the leader after all!” He said puffing out his chest in pride. He needed to make a good first impression for his cute daughter after all.

“Leader?” Naru asked

This time her mother chimed in

“Your father is the most powerful deer in the village.” She explained

“Wow, Papa you’re so cool!” Naru said hopping in excitement

[So, such a powerful man is my father?] Naru thought. She felt fortunate for that fact.

[Does that mean I’m pretty powerful too?]

Even though she had been playing around in this world, she was approaching her new life rather carefully. She still didn’t know what existed outside the grove and what kind of threats might exist. Naru desperately wanted to learn magic as quickly as possible. She wanted to be able to defend herself if needed. She knew that being able to cast magic was a given since she was a magic deer, but she was unsure of how magic worked. She quickly thought of an idea that would let her bond with her powerful father while also learning magic

“Papa, teach me magic!” Naru said giving her cutest smile.

Her father looked surprised.

“Eh?” he said his ear upturning once again.

“Teach me magic!” Naru said again repeating herself.

Her father upon hearing the request again gave a difficult expression.

“Well, I dunno young un’ yer mother might not like it if I teach you something like that so early. Can’t you wait a few more years” He said scratching his head.

“Pretty please, I want to be strong like you Papa!” Naru begged. She was making use of her young doe-like eyes to her fullest.

Her father’s deer ears fluttered upon seeing his cute daughter give him such an expression while also complimenting him. Whitehorn was a powerful magical deer but he still had two weaknesses, flattery, and his supremely cute daughter.

“I… guess… I can teach you a little.” He said his face crinkled into a worried expression as he accepted Naru’s request

[Jackpot!] Naru thought before her father interrupted her.

“You’ll have to ask Fern for permission too,” He said while gesturing to Naru’s mother who stood next to him. She had been watching the conversation with a bemused look on her face.

Naru quickly turned towards her mother with pleading eyes. Like a child who wanted a toy in a store.

“Mama please!” she begged again.

Her mother rested her palm on her cheek adopting a thinking pose.

“Oh, I suppose as long as you let me nuzzle you more.” She said.

“Eh?” it was now Naru’s turn to be confused.

“Well, when you were born Mama didn’t get much time to have lovey-dovey time with her cute fawn. You turn away from me when I tried to nuzzle you” her mother explained with a sad expression.

[Red Alert!] Naru who had the psyche of a grown human was thoroughly uncomfortable with such conduct. Naru was a person who disliked skinship and her mother would always try to nuzzle her to show affection. Thus, she avoided her mother in her deer form because of that fact.

[I guess I’ve been a little cruel…] Naru thought. Thinking back to all the times her mother had given her a sad expression when she turned away from her.

“Okay…” Naru said with a defeated tone. She quickly turned into her deer form and laid down.

Her mother gave a delighted expression upon hearing Naru’s answer

“Ah! My little fawn!” and turned into her deer form as well.

Naru felt something wet on her. And saw her mother rolling her tongue.

[Wait! I didn’t agree to be licked too!]

Unfortunately for Naru, she was in her deer form, and her complaints were promptly ignored.