"Ha—more or less."
I landed in her outstretched palm, then returned to the ground, and shook my ear a little embarrassedly: "Sorry, I made you sit here all this time."
"Just sitting meditation is a good way for me to rest for a while."
Shen Xue waved her hand, and as she slowly stood up and stretched, a series of cracking sounds came from her joints, almost startling me: "It's almost mealtime, go and wake those guys up."
It was then that I noticed that, at some point, a small pot had been placed on the makeshift fire beside me, and an enticing aroma of stewed meat wafted out from the gaps in the lid, along with a distinct smell of wild vegetables.
I don't know how she did it.
"I just cooked it casually. It might not taste as good as that girl's cooking, but at least it's edible." Miyuki paused, then added, "Most of the time, I'm traveling alone."
She didn't need to explain so much to me.
I meowed and turned to dart into the cave.
The Pegasus, who had woken up early, paced back and forth at the cave entrance. When they saw me enter, they curiously peeked out and nuzzled me, or offered the tips of their feathers to gently scratch my body. Only the strongest of them, the leader, snorted impatiently, stopping his companions from doing so. He then took two steps forward, lowered his head, and gently pushed my body into the cave, as if gesturing for me to hurry inside.
The cave where we rested last night is now almost completely dark.
I was a little confused, but I quickly understood why.
Since no one was constantly tending to or adding to the campfire, it burned out quickly, no matter how long it burned, especially with the extra wind I supplied to replenish its oxygen. The subsequent fireballs, though able to illuminate the surroundings, also burned for a while before gradually shrinking and dimming, eventually extinguishing in mid-air, because I had accidentally fallen asleep, cutting off the supply of magic power.
This caused the cave, which had been relying on fire to maintain its internal temperature, to gradually become cold.
Although it may not be as good as the outside world, that's only a matter of time.
Thinking about it this way, it seems that the people sleeping inside don't have much in the way of keeping warm. The plush coats and blankets they wear can provide some warmth, but that's only if the temperature difference between the inside and outside isn't too great; they can't create heat out of thin air.
If those guys are still fast asleep, they'll obviously catch a cold.
Thinking this, I rubbed my claws together a couple of times, leaving shallow marks on the stone surface, and then lit the fire again.
The golden-red glow illuminated the interior of the cave.
Aian was still sleeping in the same position as when I left, only curled up even smaller, hugging her arms and legs tightly, as if her body was spontaneously preserving warmth. Hikari was also still sleeping in the same spot, her sleeping posture exceptionally docile, hardly moving at all, only her brows were slightly furrowed.
Only Anne Fines is truly the oddball among the trio who are still dreaming.
She moved sideways, tearing off the fur coat and blanket that had been covering her, and finally snuggled into Hikari's bed, which was more than ten meters away from her, hugging her tightly. She even put one leg on the little fool's leg, showing absolutely no trace of the upbringing and manners that she had mentioned from time to time in her self-narration.
She's a girl, after all.
With that in mind, I simply jumped onto her side, lowered my head, and gently patted her repeatedly with the pads of my paws: "Hey! Wake up!"
Annie frowned and waved her hand, trying to sweep away the noise around her, but I ducked to avoid it.
I continued patting her on the shoulder: "Hey hey hey? Did you hear me? It's already morning!"
Hikari, lying opposite, opened one eye, glanced around, first noticing the girl sleeping in her arms, then turned her gaze to me, who was lying on the girl's face, and blinked gently.
There was a rustling sound behind me. I turned around and saw Ai An sitting up after waking up. She was rubbing her eyes and yawning as she rummaged through the clothes folded to the side.
I winked at Hikari again, then lowered my head for the third time, thought for a moment, and decided to try my trump card: "How are you, you lazy pig? It's time to get up!"
"Ugh...! I'm not a little pig!"
With a hint of explosive energy beneath the silence, Annie, who had been lying on her side with her eyes closed, suddenly sat up!
Then, within two seconds, he started snoring softly again.
"Good morning, Mr. Yumi. Perhaps we should let her continue sleeping?"
Hikari leaned closer, pulled me into her arms as I landed lightly on the ground, and whispered in my ear, "Anne was on guard duty early yesterday morning."
I was somewhat surprised: "She actually offered to keep watch? No, she actually dared to offer to keep watch?"
This weakling, completely incapable of fighting and only able to rely on others for protection, actually volunteered to keep watch one day? And according to Hikari, she actually did it?
Hikari smiled too: "At first we were worried too, but Anne was very firm, so we agreed to let her be in charge for the two hours before nightfall. Then..." She paused, then suddenly asked me, "Mr. Yumi, do you remember the wolf that Anne mentioned in front of our cabin before, the one she tamed?"
I instantly understood what she meant: "Has that wolf followed us here?"
This made me a little nervous.
It wasn't entirely because the wolves in the Abyss Mountains were large enough to easily swallow me whole, nor was it entirely due to some kind of fear of wolves. The main reason was that wolves are usually social animals.
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