Chapter 37: Set out
Dillon’s haircut went so well that even if I don’t wear my mask, it would be hard for others to know my gender.
“I never knew I’d look handsome if I were a male.” I said as I looked at the mirror.
“You are too beautiful Ari, even if you are a real male, I would still fall for your beauty. Because I really did…” Dillon mumbled in a low voice making me unable to hear the last words he said.
“What did you say?” I ask in confusion.
“Never mind…” He said briefly, refusing to answer.
“Iz it weawy Mommy? (Is it really mommy)” Gurion asked as if he couldn’t recognize me after the haircut.
“Done with the haircut? Gurion was looking for you this whole time. He was throwing tantrums already with the elders so I brought him here to calm him down.” My brother said as he approached us while carrying Gurion in his arms.
“Yes… Does it look convincing?” I asked while transforming into my passive-aggressive form.
“Hmmm… I’m not sure… You still look like a female to me.” He answered frankly.
“Wait for a bit. I will just change my clothes.” I said in a haste as I ran outside Gurion’s room to go back to my own room and change my clothes.
When I was running outside; Lowell, Acwulf and some of the tribesmen were stunned as I passed by with my short hair and passive-aggressive form.
I heard them asking one another who I was, so I stopped and looked back to say hello.
“Hi… It’s me…” I said as I smiled excitedly.
“Ari…” Lowell said dazedly while blushing.
“What?! Are those fake? It looks real. The wings, ears and tail look too realistic.” Acwulf commented as he tried to understand what was happening.
“Because they are real.” I responded as I tried to spread my wings while turning around to show them my passive-aggressive form.
I suddenly realized that my brother, Gurion and Dillon followed me at a distance.
“I thought you’d wait for me.” I said as they approached near us.
This is my first time I revealed to the forest wolf tribe my passive-aggressive form. Everyone was shocked beside brother Orson, Gurion and Dillon while Lowell was bewildered due to some other reason.
“What? How come you can transform like that? Your father never mentioned that to me.” Acwulf said in surprise.
“Father asked me not to reveal my chimera-like form because it may cause confusion to the other tribes.” I explained.
“Woah! That makes sense. However, how did a lion beastman give birth to a chimera?” He curiously asked.
“We have no clue either. But the father said he was so sure I was his daughter.” I answered.
“Yeah! There’s no doubt about it. You looked exactly like a female version of your father with your silver hair and amber eyes.” He responded while looking at me intently as he compares my appearance to my own father.
I flinched and shook my head as I imagined a female version of my father. It was so funny, but I don’t think I look like that.
“Oh! I know what you were thinking of.” Acwulf said with a smug look on his face.
“Hahaha! You were imagining your huge masculine and bearded father wearing long hair and a cute dress. Is it?” He said teasingly as he laughed so much at the thought.
Lowell, Dillon and older brother Orson laughed as they imagined what Acwulf had described. Gurion was confused by their laughter, but no one dared to explain to him what was funny about it.
“Hahaha! No..! Don’t… Don’t believe my father… You don’t look like that. Though it is true that you have many similarities except that you were way too feminine despite that short hair.” Lowell said, trying to stop himself from laughing.
A few days later, we finally finished up preparing for our journey.
Lowell finished drawing up the map in a detailed manner while Dillon and brother Orson prepared some tools and toys for Gurion so he wouldn’t get bored during our journey.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.
We wanted to build a carriage, but the vast and thick virgin forest will make it hard for us to use it. So we decided to make a carriage once we got out of the vast forest.
There are a few flat lands and deserts a few miles away so it will be a good thing to have a carriage made by then.
“Ahem… By the way… Are you sure you are comfortable with that bind on your chest? It looks so tight. You can just wear this coat all the time so you won’t need to bind it up.” Older brother asked as he helped me put on my coat
“It is fine brother, it’s not too tight. We need to be on guard all the time so I have to do so.” I answered.
“Mommy! Hug Guyon!” Gurion insisted as he escaped Dillon’s embrace.
“No Gurion, call her brother Ari from now on. You can’t call her mommy anymore or else bad guys will take her away. You should also call me Brother Dillon. This is brother Orson and that is Uncle Lowell” Dillon said while teaching Gurion about what he should call us.
Lowell flinched when he heard Dillon tell Gurion to call him uncle.
“What?! Why am I an uncle?” Lowell asked in irritation.
“You are the eldest among us so you should be the uncle.” He replied indifferently.
Dillon and Lowell were bickering at each other like a cat and dog at a distance to prevent the little one from hearing their arguments.
“Bothee Awi? (Brother Ari)”, Gurion asked in confusion.
He looked so cute when he talked like a baby while he tilted his head when confused.
“Yes Gurion, you will call us brothers from now on so that no bad guys will take me away because we will go to a faraway land and there are many bad guys along the way who take away females so I need to disguise myself as a male. Do you understand?” I carefully said to Gurion for him to understand the situation.
“Yets! Guyon undewstud. (Yes. Gurion understood)” He responded as he eagerly nodded his head.
My brother broke apart the two bickering males, then he gave a knuckle blow on each of their heads.
We started our journey to the north as we set our foot outside the forest wolf tribe.
We waved goodbye to the tribe as Acwulf watched us with worried eyes as we left their territory.