Adventurer's Guild Café: I Was Wrongfully Exiled by the Saint, So I Will Enjoy My Second Life with My Fluffy Friends - V 2.1 Chapter 3.17

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself standing alone in the darkness.

I looked around, not knowing where I was.

Then, suddenly, a pair of feet appeared before me.
I followed them upward—and the breath caught in my throat.

“So this is where you’ve been, Kuna.”

“Fa…ther…?”

There was no mistaking it.
Standing right there in front of me was my father.

“At last, we meet again.”

“Wh-What are you doing here…?!”

“Aluda has been overwhelmed by monsters. We had to evacuate here.”

“That can’t be…”

Just as despair began to wrap around me, two more figures emerged from the darkness—
my stepmother and Agnès.

They looked at me with cold eyes and smiled with thin, twisted lips.

“Kuna, let’s go back to Aluda, shall we?”

“N-No…”

I tried to shake off their hands, but they pulled me with surprising force.

“Come now, Kuna. Let’s go home.”

“It’s time to come home, Kuna.”

“Dear Sister, quickly now.”

N-No…!

I don’t want to go back!

But my body was being dragged, slowly, deeper into the shadows.
I didn’t want to go into that darkness.
And yet… my strength was fading.
I had no more power to resist. I was on the verge of being swallowed whole by the dark.

── No, Kuna. Wake up!

Just as I was about to give in, a clear, serene voice echoed through the darkness.

Why hadn’t I noticed it before?
On the far side of the darkness bloomed a field of golden flowers.

The beautiful voice—it felt like it was coming from the flowers themselves.

── You mustn’t go that way.

“Why…?”

It was so hard to resist.
I just wanted to fall asleep…

── Your place is where the light is.

“But… I can’t… I don’t have any strength left…”

── Just hold on a little longer. Your precious friends are doing their best right now.

My… friends…

── That’s right. When I asked them to protect you, those little ones evolved. They changed—for your sake, to save you.

My friends…

That’s right. Where was Lili?
Lulu, Pipi, Simon, Gier…
They were all still out there, waiting for me.

── You don’t belong in a place like this. You need to return—to where everyone is waiting. Isn’t that right?

Yes… that’s right.
I promised Ruri, didn’t I? I promised we’d all go home safely together.

I can’t just fall asleep here. I won’t.

The moment I thought that, strength surged back into my body.

Then, from somewhere in the darkness, I heard the song of a beautiful bird.

Pyururu… Pyururururu…

What a lovely sound.
The melody stirred something deep within me—warmth, strength, hope.

If I could wake up to a voice like that each morning… how happy I’d be…

Just as that thought crossed my mind, it hit me.

This—this is a dream!

I twisted away from my father’s grasp and broke free.

“This is a dream…! There’s no way father and the others would be here!”

The moment I realized it, my father, my stepmother, and Agnès melted like mud and vanished into the darkness.

I turned toward the golden flowers—and saw a woman standing there, alone.

The moment I saw her, tears welled up in my eyes.

That familiar figure—her silver hair, and those golden eyes that glowed like the blossoms at her feet…

“Mother…?”

There was no mistaking her.
With wolf ears and a tail, just like mine—she was my mother.

“Mother… Mother!!”

Even though I knew it was a dream, I reached out to her, desperate to touch her—to hold her hand, even just once more.

── Be strong, Kuna. I’m always watching over you.

Smiling gently, Mother’s form dissolved into shimmering particles of light, and faded away into the darkness.

◆

“Nn…”

What was that…?
Somewhere, a beautiful sound was drifting through.

Like the song of a bird… or the voice of a mermaid.
Pyururu… Pyurururu…
The sound gently slipped into my consciousness, stirring me awake.

“!”

With a gasp, my eyes flew open.

“I… I’m awake…!”

I looked around.
The space around me was still filled with water, golden flowers blooming gently across the surface.
Above me, the glowing orb continued to shine with blinding brilliance.

“So it really was a dream…”

It seemed I had fallen asleep for a while in the darkness.
I let out a soft sigh of relief.

“Mother…”

It was her—she had protected me.
The memory of her, buried deep in my heart, had reached out to me when I needed it most.

That feeling of love overflowed in my chest, and tears welled up in my eyes.
Even if it was just a dream… I wish I could’ve stayed with her a little longer.

“…But, a dream is still just a dream.
And now… I have a place I need to go back to.”

I rubbed away the tears streaming down my cheeks and stood up.
Even mother wouldn’t want me sitting here crying forever.

When I looked up again, in that eerie space where the glowing orb floated, I saw it—
a single, radiant streak of light cutting across the air like a shooting star.

Pyururu… Pyurururu…

That gentle song echoed through every corner of the darkness.

“…Wait.
That sound—I heard it… in the dream…”

But I was already awake…
And yet, the voice still rang out clearly through the shadows.

Not just one voice, either.
Soon, more joined in—layer upon layer of sound, rising together in harmony.

Where were they coming from?

A chorus of birdsong, weaving together into something bright and warm.

“So beautiful…”

What was that light flying through the air?
As I gazed at it in a daze, mesmerized, it began to flutter down toward me.

It was a small, fluffy yellow bird.

It looked like one of those birds I’d seen in a nature book once—what was it called? A Shima-enaga, I think…

What stood out most was its long, trailing tail feathers.
They shimmered a brilliant gold and swayed gently in the air, floating gracefully in the darkness.

I reached out instinctively—and the little bird landed right on my index finger, chirping a cheerful piii.

“Huh…?”

There was something oddly familiar about that face…

“Pyururu.”

Startled, I looked around.
Where was Lili? She was nowhere in sight.

No way…

“Wait… Lili?”

“Pii.”

The little bird’s round, black eyes shimmered with tears as it gave a tiny nod.
Its fluffy neck feathers bounced as it moved—mofu.

“You’re… Lili!?”

Whaaat!? Seriously!?

She turned into this gorgeous, unbelievably fluffy bird!?
Is this… an evolution!?