Chapter 100
Fortunately, her fall was cushioned when she landed on a bush, but her ankle felt sore. Feeling angered, Adele quibbled with him.
“Why would you do that?!”
The boy glanced at her indifferently. “I thought you were a monster.”
“Monster? I—”
“Tsk. I didn’t do it on purpose.” The boy hurriedly moved to the side so that Adele could move, guiltily avoiding her eyes.
In the end, the boy’s behavior wasn’t too bad, so Adele de cided to accept his clumsy apology. She said something else instead, “Are you hurt anywhere? Whose blood is this?”
She was about to touch him when he swatted her hands away.
“I’m not hurt, don’t mind me.” To prove his words, he even did a little jump. Still, Adele couldn’t get over the boy’s injured appearance and grabbed his arm.
“Urgh!”
“See? You must be injured if you’re hurting like that. Hurry home and get treatment.”
“I said, don’t mind me.” He pried Adele’s hand off his person and warned her, “That creature will come soon. If you want to live, get down from this mountain this instance.”
Somewhat curious, she asked, “What kind of creature is it that makes you act like this?
The boy sighed, slightly exasperated by Adele’s question, then he held out his hand.
“Take my hand and stand up.”
This little man was trying to be a gentleman, but Adele couldn’t resist laughing because his hands were tiny compared to hers. Still, it was good that he was doing his best to be polite in spite of the situation.
Males, even little kids, have their own pride. Hence, the boy hurriedly turned his head away. Adele wasn’t able to see it, but an imperceptible blush emerged from his cheeks.
As she was contemplating whether or not to hold his hand, a flash of white entered her field of vision.
She warily raised her fingers, “Is that the creature you were waiting for?”
His eyes followed to where her finger was pointing when he abruptly took a step back and drew his sword.
A white fox, about three times his size, growled with its teeth bared menacingly.
The boy narrowed his eyes, thinking that this beast should be killed as soon as possible, especially now that he wasn’t alone. He really didn’t want this stranger’s death on his hands.
As the confrontation between the two became more tensed, the fox suddenly shut its mouth and sniffed. It quickly bypassed the boy and rushed behind him where Adele was.
His heart almost stopped, and he hastily ran to block the beast’s attack. However, what he saw left him stunned.
Adele had some leaves in her hands, and the fox… was docilely licking them.
“…”
Adele laughed and played with the animal, “Oh? You like this?”
It whined.
The fox joyfully slathered its tongue all over the leaves. Seeing the boy getting closer, it suddenly growled again. Adele playfully waved a leaf to attract its attention.
“You want to eat this, hm?”
The fox acted all cute and whimpered.
“I don’t know what happened between you two, but stop fighting now, okay?”
It appears that the fox understood her words when it moved its head, somewhat resembling a nod, and then obediently put the leaf in its mouth. Adele could practically feel its chest purr in satisfaction.
It continued to wag its tail to show that it was delighted. When the leaves had run out, the fox proceeded to lick her palm and Adele giggled.
“I don’t have any more leaves left—stop! It tickles, ah!”
The fox turned around with regret, it knew when to back down as it rubbed its snout against her palm. By this point, Adele realized it was a female.
The fox glanced back at the boy scornfully. This was the person that had stabbed her friend.
A little helpless, he could only stare right back.
Adele organized the contents of her bag in silence. “White foxes are large and sharp-toothed, but they are docile unless they are attacked. If you give them those leaves, they like it. That’s why I always bring them around.”
At her words, the boy sulked and kicked a stone with his foot. Not wanting to further damage this poor boy’s pride, Adele stretched out her hand and smiled.
“Will you hold me? I can’t stand up.”
Wordlessly, the boy grabbed Adele’s hand pulled herself upwards with relative ease. Adele felt surprised, he was quite strong for his age. It also had to be noted that she was quite taller than him.
In addition to him carrying a knife and hunting all by himself, Adele didn’t think he was some ordinary boy. Brushing the dirt off her dress, she spoke to him, “You don’t seem to be from this area. Why are you here?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“Aren’t you going to treat it?” she asked, referring to his wounds.
“I said I’m fine, don’t worry about it.”
The boy cut off the conversation and turned around to leave, but Adele saw the clothes on his back kept getting darker with blood every passing second. It meant there was an open wound.
This stubborn little man, where is he going without even treating that first?!