Another World Fluffy Cafe

Chapter 18: Meal Time

“Taichi, should I keep going straight like this?”

“Yeah! It seems like it was moving toward the top of the mountain, but now it’s stopped.”

As they reached the midsection of the mountain, it started to snow. It was cold, but Luke’s fluffy fur was incredibly warm. Cerberus was resting on Taichi’s lap, and Daishou had wrapped his tail around Taichi’s neck.

(This is the warmth of happiness…)

—But there was no time to relax.

“Let’s hurry!”

As they neared the summit, the snow grew heavier. Without Luke and the others, they might have frozen to death in an instant.

“Ooooh kyu, it’s freezing kyu!”

Daishou, shivering, clung tightly to Taichi’s neck. Even his proud fur couldn’t keep him warm in this freezing cold.

“Daishou, here, get inside.”

“Thank you kyu!”

Taichi tucked Daishou into his jacket, leaning forward to shield him from the snow as much as possible.

“Oh, a cave!”

“I smell something like a Flower Bear from there.”

“I hope it’s okay…”

Cerberus, who had spotted a cave through the blizzard, jumped down from Luke and went ahead to check it out.

“Hey, anyone here?”

“Come out if you are.”

“Oh, it’s a Korogris!”

“Kyuu…!”

It seemed like there were Korogris around.

“Is everything okay, Cerberus?”

“Yeah!”

Pino responded to Taichi’s question, and Taichi sighed in relief as they headed toward the cave. Just having a place to take shelter from the snow was a huge relief. They brushed off the snow from their bodies and slowly walked inside the cave. It was about 10 meters deep and widened the further in they went.

A Korogris approached Taichi.

“S-sorry kyu! Flower Bears don’t attack people… so please don’t hurt it kyu.”

“Ah, I see… you thought we came to hunt the Flower Bear. Don’t worry, we won’t do that.”

Taichi smiled gently at the trembling Korogris, reassuring it.

“Kyuu…”

Feeling relieved, the Korogris led them deeper into the cave.

There, a Flower Bear, about a meter in size, was curled up and sleeping. A dark brown bear-like creature with flowers blooming on its tail. It was still a child, which made its peaceful sleeping face all the more adorable.

There were a lot of fallen leaves around, indicating it was a bed. Nearby, a bag of rabbit cookies lay on the ground, suggesting that the Korogris had been helping the Flower Bear with Taichi’s provisions.

“The Flower Bear told me it was worried about me and came down the mountain… It thought I might die, just like Hatch did kyu.”

“Hatch?”

“Hatch was its partner, kyu.”

“Oh…”

Taichi looked down at the Korogris’s words. Flower Bears only have one partner in their lifetime, and losing Hatch must have been hard enough. If something had happened to the Korogris too…

“The Flower Bear really cares about you.”

“It’s so kind, kyu… It should be hibernating, but it didn’t because it was worried I’d be alone.”

“So that’s why it didn’t hibernate.”

“Kyuuu.”

It also seemed injured, probably from fighting monsters. Unable to sleep and with less food available in winter, it looked weakened.

(At least the rabbit cookies are full of nutrients, so that seems to have helped.)

Taichi felt a bit of relief at that thought.

“For now, let’s heal its wounds. Healing.”

With Taichi’s skill, the Flower Bear’s wounds healed instantly. Though hunger couldn’t be fixed with magic, they had food, so it wasn’t a problem.

This healing skill, granted to Taichi by the Cat God, could heal tamed monsters.

The Flower Bear woke up, likely due to its wounds healing. Its large, bright blue eyes gazed at Taichi.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Taichi, a friend of Korogris.”

“A friend…”

The Flower Bear stood up and smiled.

“You’re the one who healed me, right? Thank you!”

“You’re welcome.”

The Flower Bear seemed much more gentle-natured than Taichi had expected.

(It had been helping protect Korogris from dangerous monsters.)

Taichi nodded to himself, recalling that as he reached into his bag to pull out some dragon jerky. It needed to regain its strength.

The first to react was Luke.

“That’s for me!”

His eyes sparkled.

“That’s not fair!”

“We want some too!”

“I’m so hungry!”

Cerberus chimed in.

“It looks delicious kyu!”

Daishou was drooling.

Korogris and the Flower Bear were staring intently at the jerky. They seemed to know from the smell that it was tasty, their eyes following the movement of Taichi’s hand as he waved it side to side.

(Cute…)

“I’ve got enough for everyone, so let’s eat together. I’ll have some too.”

Dragon jerky, it was absolutely delicious.

Once everyone got their share, they began eating immediately.

“Mmm, as expected, dragon meat is the best!”

“So delicious~!”

“Way better than acorns kyu!!”

“Kyuuuu~!”

“…It’s so good.”

In no time, the dragon jerky was gone.

“Taichi, seconds!”

“That’s all I brought. You’ll have to make do with rabbit cookies.”

“I guess that’ll do.”

Luke’s plea for more was hard to answer. If he said they were all out, Luke would surely insist on going dragon hunting immediately.

(He’s probably going to suggest we hunt dragons on the way back…)

Taichi really hoped they wouldn’t have to do that.