Fantastic Creatures’ Travelogue Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Come on, Please Behave Like a Real Werewolf, Okay?

Translator: QComp

Editor: Moxie

Lily threw herself behind the sofa, and even before that, she had already changed into her werewolf form. She squatted behind the sofa, carefully sticking half of her head outside, thus letting her silver hair drop to the ground. Her silver-white furry ears were fiercely trembling, as though she was ready to fight. Hao Ren saw that in the mouth of this “mysterious” creature, half of a sprig of noodles and green beans were being held, and these things seriously undermined her more-or-less “dignity”. In addition, what destroyed her dignity more was her next actions, while shivering, she grabbed her chopsticks and pointed at the black-and-white cat at the foot of Hao Ren, and her tone was almost crying as she said, “Cat… cat!”

“Meow?” The cat curiously tilted its head and looked at the uninvited guest. Meanwhile, the simple meow the cat had released caused Lily to shiver twice. But aftewards, the cat just ignored Lily with an elegant gesture that a cat should have.

Hao Ren was stunned to see all of this happening; his mind almost crashed in processing the situation as he looked doubtfully at Lily, “You… are afraid of cats?”

“I… I’m not afraid of cats!” Lily stubbornly raised her head, like a proud fighting dog, “I am just a little timid.”

“Aren’t they the same?!!” Hao Ren felt that not only his world view was not available, but his brain failed to respond as well. He angrily pointed at Lily regardless of the fact that the other party was a werewolf, a werewolf whom he had just met, “Please! You’re a werewolf, aren’t you?!”

“I’m a werewolf!” Lily seemed to be a little ashamed of her reaction too, and maybe the words and expression of Hao Ren stimulated her instincts as a werewolf. Anyway, she was bold enough to slip out from behind the sofa and pretend to return to the table, while she actually tiptoed along the living room’s wall and circled around to the other end of the living room, “Are you sure that this cat is safe?”

“Why not,” Hao Ren readily picked up the cat, “I have not seen a better cat, am I right, Roll?”

The cat, with a very humble gesture, immediately meowed in response, making Hao Ren overjoyed. Standing up, Hao Ren went on to fill the cat’s food bowl, then he placed it beside the table, this was the cat’s royal spot when dining. At this time, he introduced Lily to his cat, “Her name is Liu Lili, a werewolf… Um, it seems to be of no sense to you. Well, all you should know is that she is a new tenant. Your future life quality depends directly on how much rent she will pay, so be respectful, do you understand?”

The cat really seemed to understand what he said. As a sign of acknowledgement, it nodded reservedly towards Lily who was still alert not too far away, before it continued to have its meal.  Lily seemed convinced now that this cat was harmless, and she carefully returned back to the table, however, she still sat on the chair farthest away from the cat. While holding her bowl of noodles, she seemed to have suddenly remembered something, “What did you just call the cat?”

“Roll,” Hao Ren glanced at his only current ‘family member’, “it is called Roll, the ‘Roll’ in the Rock n’ Roll.”

Lily’s wolf ears and silver hair disappeared as she calmed down, and then she looked at Hao Ren in astonishment, “How could she have such a strange name?”

“This cat came to my house last year,” Hao Ren chuckled, introducing the origin of the cat, “Even I do not know what breed it is. This place is wild and desolate, and wild cats and dogs could be considered as a disaster. Thus, it is normal that one or two of them will occasionally go to others’ house when the owners did not pay attention to them. But after this cat came, it never went away, and although I drove it off a few times, it still chose to remain…”

“So you gave it the name ‘Roll’, hoping that it would roll away soon?” Lily asked while her eyes were plastered at Hao Ren.

“No, that’s because it likes jumping on the bed when I watch TV, and each time, I will shout out ‘Roll’ to drive it off. At the beginning, it was very useful, but after a few times when I shouted that, it will come by, rubbing against me vigorously- the cat thinks its name is ‘Roll’. And so it became its name.”

Lily listened with her eyes wide open, and then she bent her head and continued eating silently. After a moment, she muttered, “Feels like a very strange place.”

Hao Ren rolled his eyes, Are there any creature in this house which is stranger than you? A werewolf lady who subverted people’s common sense completely!

After finishing the meal, it was already nine, and it was ‘Roll’s activity time’. The kitten went to the second floor to patrol its territory, while Hao Ren put the dishes and chopsticks into the kitchen sink and prepared to wash them tomorrow. Then he lit a cigarette and sat in the living room in a daze – continuing his reflection for the whole day, and sighing about how strong he was in accepting all these things.

At the meantime, the werewolf just briskly ran upstairs and downstairs in order to get accustomed with the environment of her new renting house for the future. She did all this in a seemingly insulting, yet naturally engaging manner, and she would sniff everywhere she went as if memorizing the odors. Even though she was currently in a human form, Hao Ren imagined a picture where she had the pair of pointy ears and the tail swinging. If he was in his normal condition, he might have rebuked her actions with a few words, just like when he saw tenants scurrying around like that. But right now, he did not want to say a single word, as a wolf, it was only natural to them to delineate their territory after moving to a new place. As of this moment, Hao Ren could only hope that the werewolf’s territory awareness could be combined with a human’s common sense. She should keep in mind that this place is actually someone else’s house, and that she was just a tenant. That alone would be fine; taking into account Lily’s behavior up to now, he thought it should not be too difficult.

Anyway, no matter what the situation was, Hao Ren was certain that he could not win over the werewolf.

Was it right or wrong to have invited a non-human creature with visually great combat skills?

And as he calmed down again, Hao Ren still could not help thinking about this question. But eventually, he felt that every choice he had made was right, and to tell the truth… he was quite expectant on what would happen next.

This was avery dangerous state of mind , and as a normal person, he should learn to avoid disadvantages, rather than fall curious about a mysterious new world which might ruin his own life. However, Hao Ren had been bored with the dull routine long enough.

He liked to read novels, liked watching TV, and liked watching those bizarre fantasy stories, which every unemployed young bachelor living alone would have. Although it would not be unbearable with the dull routine, and even if he really encountered his computer suddenly popping out a “yes” or “okay” dialog, his first reaction would certainly be unplugging the power plug; this would not stop him from having the sense of eagerness in the face of some “new stimulus”, as this was the most common desire for bizarrerie, and some people would be deterred by their instincts. But for other people… maybe they would have the same reaction as Hao Ren.

Anyway, he would have to be mindful of that strange and dangerous enormous bird-like bat. Although he had no idea why he was targeted by such a thing, but because it had already happened, he could only accept it as reality. Rather than become a man who would try to escape from it, he would actively think of ways to improve their safety factor. For example, their fighting strength looks strong, such as keeping the werewolf who seem strong and easy to get along with beside him.

“Oh landlord, here is the rent!” Lily ran up and down for several times, before she finally remembered her current status. As such, she went back to her room to get her wallet with an eager expression, counted the right amount of rent and stuffed it into the hands of Hao Ren, “As you wrote in the ad, a down payment should be given for the first three months. And, how much for food in addition?”

Oh, not only easy to get along with, but also a werewolf who would obediently pay the rent –  has anyone met a werewolf with such an endearing behavior?

“No meal fees.” Hao Ren found that Lily frowned when she smelt the cigarette, so he hurriedly put it out, “Anyway, it won’t make much difference with your meal. Besides, don’t always call me the landlord, I have a name. you can just call me Hao Ren.”

“I see, the landlord.”

“Call me Hao Ren…”

“Fine, landlord.”

“…Never mind, I will go back to my room to sleep now. You may do as you like, but pay attention that you don’t go into those locked room. As for the other places, go there as you like.” Hao Ren sighed and got back to his room. Lily also decided to leave, but she had a new topic halfway, “Well landlord, will you perform a ‘night raid’ [1] on me? There seems to be only the two of us in the house, and this is my first time I rented a single male landlord’s house…”

Hao Ren almost knelt down, and then he turned to glower at the irksome werewolf, “For my own safety, I will never do a night raid1 on you. REST a.s.sURED, one hundred percent!”

…