Master, I Swear I Didn’t Mean To! - Chapter 77

The first place she checked was the flowerbed on the balcony.

“Hmm… not here.”

“I already searched this area.”

“And the warehouse from before?”

“Yes.”

Hmm. Eki tilted her head, then headed toward the front entrance of the Thousand Dog Tower. Cassius stopped abruptly at the landing of the spiral staircase.

“…Eki. I’ll look around inside the tower.”

“Okay. I understand.”

Cassius’s unusually subdued voice worried her, but since he had been downcast for days anyway, Eki didn’t dwell on it and headed outside to look around the yard.

“Fairy! Where are you!”

She should have at least given it a name. Calling it just ‘fairy’ felt awkward.

Master definitely wouldn’t have named it.

As she was thinking that, she heard rustling from the bushes to her left and turned her head.

“Fairy?”

The rustling grew louder.

It was already the middle of a dark night, and the cold wind brushing over her body gave her goosebumps. The unknown sound coming from the leaves made her swallow hard.

‘I should have brought a candlestick.’

Eki slowly approached the bushes. And the moment she whispered again,

“Fairy, are you there?”

【 Raaah! 】

“Kyaaah!”

The damned fluffball fairy suddenly shot up right in front of her face.

Eki toppled backward in shock, flailing her arms, not even noticing that her bottom had landed on damp soil.

“You! How could you scare me like that!”

【 Hahaha! Ahahaha! That was so fun! 】

“Seriously…!”

She then realized belatedly that her palms and bottom were all wet and made a tearful face.

“Ugh. My pajamas are soaked.”

Especially the shawl she had draped over her shoulders. Since it fell onto the ground, leaves, mud, and bits of grass clung to it. Sniffling, Eki shook it off and glared at the fairy still giggling as it twirled in the air.

“It’s all wet because of you. Why were you hiding in the bushes?”

【 I wanted to jump out and surprise whoever came! 】

“…Ha. Of course.”

The mischief level of a fairy, especially a newborn one, was worse than that of a puppy. It wouldn’t reflect even if she scolded it, but she still felt she should say something, so Eki planted her hands on her hips.

“Still, you can’t just leave the Thousand Dog Tower without a word. Master was looking for you.”

【 Cassius’s room is too boring. He doesn’t even show me when he takes off his clothes and he locked me up in that weird glass jar! 】

“Yes, I’m sorry about that too. We won’t lock you up anymore, so let’s go back.”

Wait. Did it just complain about not seeing him change clothes? This kid… it really was her fairy.

While the fairy twirled and hesitated, Cassius’s voice boomed from an upper floor window.

“Eki! Why did you scream all of a sudden? Did something happen? Are you hurt?”

“Ah, Master! I’m fine! The fairy startled me so I just fell for a moment!”

“What? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No!”

Even so, he must not have been reassured, because Cassius sounded like he was coming down the stairs. The fairy rolled its huge candy-like eyes around and clapped its tiny hands.

【 Good. I’ll go back to Cassius’s room. But I have one condition. 】

“Condition?”

Before Eki could fully repeat the word, the fluffy fairy grabbed her forearm, or rather placed its tiny hands on her arm, and pulled her toward the entrance. She could have resisted, but instead she went along with a surprised “Ah, wait,” and followed the fairy back into the tower.

Just then Cassius reached the first floor, breathing hard.

“Let me see.”

“Master, I’m really fine.”

“Why are your clothes wet again?”

Ignoring her attempts to stop him, Cassius inspected various parts of her body. Her bottom had gotten muddy so she was terribly embarrassed, but he didn’t even seem to notice the fairy he had been desperately looking for and focused only on her. Eki’s face reddened, but she didn’t actually dislike the attention and pressed her lips together shyly.

At that moment, the fairy crossed its arms and floated above their heads.

“What are you doing?”

Cassius immediately swatted upward as if chasing a fly. But the fairy grabbed his hand instead, then tugged Eki’s hand in as well.

【 My condition is for the two of you to stick! together for three days! 】

“What?”

“Huh?”

Before they could finish voicing their confusion, the inside of the Thousand Dog Tower flashed with bright light. Startled, Cassius quickly covered Eki’s eyes.