The Crazy Killer Whale’s Favourite Penguin

Episode 52: It’s Best to Play (VIII)

Then, not knowing what I was thinking, Suradel’s eyebrows lowered rather sullenly.

“…That killer whale is also me. Aren’t you discriminating against me too much, Lia?”

“Do you think hugging a human being is the same as hugging a killer whale?”

“There is no particular difference.”

He responded shamelessly and let out a puff of laughter.

“I turned into a human to surprise you, but you’re not surprised. You liked it earlier, but now you don’t seem interested in my body. I’m a little sad.”

I suddenly realized that I was lying under him.

It was the opposite of when I humanized on his lap yesterday.

Thus, I desperately fixed my gaze on Suradel’s face.

My eyes kept trying to turn to his body, but I was afraid that if I did, I would cross a really irreversible river.

“I’ll close my eyes, so hurry up and get dressed.”

I closed my eyes as if I was being generous, and I could feel him getting up from his current position.

“Thank you for your consideration, but Lia, you don’t have to.”

“No, I am not fine.”

“Open your eyes. There is nothing for you to worry about.”

At the constant invitation, I slightly raised my eyelids like I couldn’t win.

But what’s this?

When I fully opened my eyes, I saw Suradel, who was dressed perfectly.

…Already?

‘Did you wear it with magic?’

Suradel started giggling, grabbing his stomach. He probably felt the disappointment in my eyes that I couldn’t hide.

“Puhaha!”

Ignoring him, I slowly got up from my seat and shook off the bit of ice from my clothes.

I confirmed with my own eyes that Suradel was a killer whale demibeast.

The intended purpose had been achieved.

The urgent thing now was to find a raccoon demibeast and prevent the extinction of pure-blooded humans.

Suradel, who had stopped laughing before I realized it, asked while wiping the tears from his eyes.

“How is it? Was it helpful to see how I changed?”

“Well. I haven’t seen you change from a human to a killer whale, still… I get a sense of it to some extent.”

Iprus and Hanu were herbivores, so I felt a little sorry to ask them to show me their animal form, but if I had known this was going to be like this, I would have asked to see it sooner.

Before this, I had the vague assumption that it was about changing shape, like playing with clay.

Not at all.

As Suradel said, animalization and humanization seemed close to redefining the composition of the body.

“I don’t know how this is possible…”

Seeing me confused by the unrealistic method, Suradel added an explanation.

“It’s something that everyone doesn’t know, but mana in the air is consumed when humanizing or animalizing.”

“Mana…?”

“Didn’t I say that magic makes unreal things possible? Humanization and animalization are also possible because they are a type of magic.”

“But ordinary demibeasts can’t use magic, right?”

“It’s more like a law of nature than using magic. Lia, the wind caused by your hand fanning didn’t use magic, right?”

“Aha.”

Explaining it that way made it easier to understand.

I remembered how he changed from a killer whale to a human.

It was as if he was scattering into particles. Redefining the composition of the body with those particles… 

I closed my eyes and took a slow, deep breath.

It was the opposite of my previous attempts of turning the body into an animal by exerting a lot of strength.

Then, to my surprise, the response started coming soon after.

Amazingly, as I imagined reconstructing the body as he had explained, the feeling of my body becoming as light as a feather came.

‘Oh? Is it working?’

‘Indeed, I have a talent for animalization…!’

But as soon as I thought about it, my body felt heavy again.

It seemed that I shouldn’t be conscious of my body changing.

I tried a few more times after that, but in the end, I failed to turn into a penguin.

However, I got a sense to some extent, so it seemed that the day I could animalize and humanize freely wouldn’t be far off. 

It was a pity, but I decided to practice only this far today.

There was a lot to do besides this.

I had to learn how to use the magic wand, and thereafter, I must find the raccoon demibeast.

I could practice animalization and humanization alone.

Glancing back at Suradel, I asked,

“Su, what kind of magic can I do with my magic wand?”

“Ice ball.”

Puzzled, I questioned,

“How about healing magic? Or a shield? It can’t be that I can only use ice balls…?”

I should be able to protect my body.

With a troubled expression, Suradel replied,

“Hmm. You seem to be expecting too much, so let me tell you in advance, there is no healing magic or shields.”

Dun.

It was a bolt out of the blue.

‘I was looking forward to doing this and that…!’

I half cried and grabbed him by the collar.

“W-Why?”

Suradel then raised his head slightly to make it easier for me to hold onto his collar.

He seemed very happy to be caught by the neck.

‘Crazy guy.’

“Well, if you can use healing magic and make a shield, you will never use the ring.”

“…….”

The absurd and ridiculous reason made the strength in my hand drained by itself. 

I didn’t even have the energy to get angry.

“If I just say this, I think Lia will get angry, so I shall add…”

Suradel’s mouth lifted in a playful way.

“In an emergency, calling me will solve the problem much faster and more reliably than using a magic wand.”

His strangely reasonable words made it difficult to get angry, and my expression rotted away.

I always wore the platinum ring in case of an emergency.

However, the thought of actually using it made my bones ache.

‘You’re saying I have to spit that starter out of my mouth…?’

I shook my head and consoled myself.

‘I can make it such that I don’t have to call him in the first place.’

There’s a saying that the best defense is offense.

Come to think of it, attacking suits my personality more.

“Don’t be too disappointed. It actually has some really great features.”

That instantly lifted my depressed mood.

“What?”

With a serious expression, Suradel spoke in a whisper, as if telling a really great secret.

“There’s a slot right under the wand head where you can mount a photo sphere.”

“…Why did you put something like that on it?”

“Listen till the end, Lia. This is really huge. Aside from the photo sphere…!”

“What else?”

“It’s a slot compatible with video and recording spheres.”

I gritted my teeth at the series of useless functions that unfolded in a lengthy manner.

But thinking about how he made it for me, I managed to suppress my anger and asked,

“Okay, but what other magic can I use with the magic wand?”

“First of all, you’re not used to dealing with mana. So practice with low-level magic, the ice ball, and once you get used to it, I’ll teach you higher-level magic.”

‘Ah, it could be dangerous because I am a beginner.’  

I was disappointed, but it wasn’t something I couldn’t understand, so I nodded.

“Then teach me how to deal with mana.”

“Managing mana is easy. Because the mana in your body has a path, it does not cover the user like mana in the air.”

Something blue spurted from his hand, and reached towards me as if asking me to touch it.

It was close to the shape of a sphere, but it shook irregularly.

“Feel the mana, Lia.”

I slowly brought my hand to the mana he held out.

“…Oh. It’s cold?”

A warm energy flowed into me when Primo checked my mana reaction the other day.

When I put my hand on the mana lump, it quickly shrunk in size. It felt like it was being absorbed into my body.

It wasn’t a bad feeling.

Rather… 

“I feel at ease. It’s like returning to a fetus and curled up in my mother’s belly, it’s familiar…”

Then as though something was off, Suradel tilted his head.

“But Lia doesn’t have a mother. How would you know what it feels like to stay inside her belly?”

I closed my eyes tightly.

It was a dizzying remark that I had no words for even if it was done in deliberation.

…It’s true that I was born from an egg, but why does it sound so immoral?

“Anyway, I know how you feel.”

It was such a comforting and familiar energy that I immediately had a sense of how to get it out.

It was hard to explain in words, but I knew it instinctively.

The presence of mana in my body.

As I focused my senses on my fingertips, recalling what Suradel had done, mana began to clump together like it had noticed my will.

It was such an easy success that I wondered why I hadn’t realized the existence of mana before.

Very carefully, I blew mana into the wand and then shouted the start.

“Ice ball.”

The snowflake-like crystals of the magic wand began to glow, and in an instant, the ice-like mass at the end grew in the form of a sphere.

It was surreal. That I could really use magic.

“Su, but how much will this grow…”

Kwagwagwagwagwagwang-!

The ice, which had grown to an unbearably large size, was suddenly shot out.

…Uh, huh?

Like a meteor had been dropped into the sea, a huge tidal wave rose with a loud roar.

It didn’t stop there. The seawater froze around the place where the ice ball landed.

Fortunately or unfortunately, even the tidal waves that had risen in all directions froze, so the waves never hit us.

The corpses of the fishes affected by the magic began to float on the sea.

It was a grotesque scene that could only be seen in a disaster movie.

I looked back at Suradel, who was giggling like a broken machine.

“Eh, this is an ice ball…?”

Wasn’t it the lowest level of attack magic?

Ame: What’s low to you might not be low to another?