Pathfinder
Chapter Twenty-one
Poppy took a step back as Trigger checked to see if his horseshoes were in good condition.
They were almost brand new.
After saddling the horse and adjusting the height of the saddle, they attached bags to both sides of it.
It looked like a large backpack hanging on the sides of the horse.
To relieve Poppy, who continued to be tense, Trigger offered him a puppy carrot.
The puppy carrot that came out of a small bag on his waist was only about the size of two fingers, but it seemed very tasty.
Poppy quickly developed a liking for Trigger.
He thought this tiger-in-human-form was actually a pretty decent guy.
“Put your belongings in the bags hanging on both sides here.”
At Trigger’s words, Garam made a serious expression.
The space was ridiculously small for her prepared belongings.
Trigger noticed Garam’s worried expression and asked.
“How much luggage do you have?”
“Would you like to see it?
I brought some gifts for you, too.”
“Okay.”
Garam led Trigger into the inn quickly.
Fortunately, they didn’t run into Roana, but the other employees who saw them looked at them with curious eyes.
There was nothing romantic between them for others to consider them as lovers, and they looked too different to be family.
Garam gave them an awkward smile and quickly pushed Trigger into her room.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Garam couldn’t even understand why she was acting like that herself.
She could have just said he was a close friend she met there.
She was acting awkwardly for no reason.
After a moment, Garam, who had her head against the door and reflected on her foolish behavior, showed Trigger her piled-up belongings.
“This is it.”
The luggage piled up in one corner of the room was almost as high as Trigger’s waist.
It was absolutely not an amount that a horse could carry.
Even if the saddle was as wide as a tortoise shell, that much luggage could never be transported without a carriage.
Trigger suppressed the urge to click his tongue.
“What is this?”
Most of the luggage consisted of food brought from Garam’s world.
Trigger picked up an unidentified paper box.
Listening to the rustling sound inside, it seemed like there was something in it.
It was lighter than expected, but the size was unreasonable for a horse to carry.
“It’s a snack.”
As Garam said it with an awkward smile, Trigger looked at the pile of luggage for a while and responded to her.
“I’d kick you if I were a horse.”
If Garam had traveled with him, it would have definitely been Trigger who needed to carry all that luggage.
Garam smiled awkwardly again in response to Trigger’s gaze.
“Haha, I guess you’re right.”
Garam thought she should probably get rid of the snacks.
No, upon further thought, there was no need to throw them away.
She could just give them to someone else.
“Do you want to take these?
They’re delicious.”
“Do they have meat?”
Trigger’s expression brightened at Garam’s words.
“Well, they’re mainly cookies and grains that are baked or fried.”
Trigger’s disappointment was evident as he shook his head.
“No thanks.”
“Why not?
They’re tasty.”
“You know, tigers are carnivores.”
Come to think of it, on the day they first met, Trigger had been grilling some strange meat called “meat tree fruit” or something.
Garam had thought it was fruit that tasted like meat at first, but it turned out to be real meat.
Still, Garam tried to persuade him a little more out of regret.
“But you can still eat vegetables, can’t you?
I don’t think you’d die if you ate them.”
“Humans don’t die from eating feces, either.
So why don’t you eat that?”
Trigger’s words left Garam momentarily speechless.
His stern expression indicated that he wasn’t interested in anything other than meat.
Garam thought she should bring some canned meat or sausages later.
She then extended the gifts she had brought.
“These are gifts I prepared specially for you.”
“Oh, let me see.”
Trigger rushed over eagerly but was soon disappointed.
While the items Garam had brought were indeed unfamiliar, he lost interest once he heard their explanations.
Garam had brought mainly cat items, inspired by a pet supply store she passed by when she was in her world.
Most of them were cat toys or balls of yarn, and there were also some snacks and unidentified items.
Trigger sniffed at the snacks for a moment but wrinkled his nose at the strong scent of preservatives.
“I might have liked these if I were born about a week ago.”
Garam had brought them with Trigger in mind, but it seemed like he wouldn’t be interested in playing with any of the toys.
Still, Trigger appreciated the effort and picked up the gifts.
They were items from another world, after all, and the snacks would have a unique taste.
“But what’s this?”
“Well, I’m not sure either.
There seems to be something inside.”
Trigger and Garam were holding a small white container.
They didn’t know what was inside, but the container felt surprisingly light.
Garam, who had never raised a cat, shook the container for a moment and then looked at the label.
There was no elaborate description, just the price and a simple name: Catnip.
“It’s probably a snack.
I’ll open it.”
The container had a rather annoying design.
Instead of twisting open, it seemed to be designed to be peeled open with a fingernail, somewhat like a disposable plastic container.
Moreover, it wasn’t easy to open and required a bit of effort.
As Trigger was about to say that he would open it seeing Garam’s effort, there was a loud sound, and the container flew into the air, scattering its contents.
Garam was completely covered in the contents of the container falling from above.
“Ugh, what is this?”
Fortunately, it wasn’t wet, so her clothes weren’t ruined, but she was taken aback.
The contents turned out to be ground dry grass.
Garam shook off the grass that had settled between her clothes and suddenly realized that Trigger was making a strange expression.
His expression seemed completely blank.
Trigger didn’t even attempt to help Garam shake off her clothes.
He just stared at her with empty eyes.
Sensing that something was wrong, Garam reached out her hand, and Trigger suddenly pounced on her.
“Trigger?
What are you doing?”
Fortunately, there was a bed right behind her, so her head didn’t hit anything hard, but the impact was still there.
While Garam was bewildered and didn’t know what to do in this strange situation, Trigger pressed his nose against her body and took a deep breath.
Even in her state of shock, Garam soon realized what Trigger was doing.
He was smelling her.
How could there be such an alluring scent in the world?
Trigger couldn’t regain his composure.
The catnip tucked into Garam’s clothes emitted an intoxicating fragrance.
It made him want to bury his nose in the crevices of her clothes and inhale deeply.
His body felt languid, and his excitement was almost suffocating.
It was almost a miracle that Trigger heard Garam’s exclamation.
He could barely hear or see anything.
All he could focus on was his frenzied sense of smell.
“Whoa, whoa!
Trigger, snap out of it!
You’re not an animal!”
In response to Garam’s shocked voice, Trigger replied with a dazed expression.
“I am an animal.”
As soon as Trigger said that, he began to transform to match his words.
His body swelled and bulged all over, and soon, a long tail sprouted.
Hair began to grow smoothly over his arms, covering them in thick fur.
His hand turned round and wide in the blink of an eye.
At that moment, Garam was suddenly pinned beneath a massive tiger.
With a body weighing well over a few hundred kilograms, Garam’s bones felt like they were about to break under the immense weight, and she let out a series of desperate cries.
“Ugh, Trigger!”
Garam pounded on Trigger’s body, trying to summon her strength, but the tiger, who had become almost as large as a small house, didn’t even flinch.
Instead, he pressed down on Garam with his front paws and eagerly smelled the scent of catnip from the folds of her clothes.
Realizing what Trigger was doing, Garam desperately moved her body and threw her top far away.
It was a relief that the clothes in that world were designed to be easily untied with knots.
If it had been something like a hoodie, she would never have been able to take it off.
Trigger’s head snapped around to follow the top Garam had thrown.
Trigger came down from atop Garam and fervently smelled the scent on the piece of clothing, rolling and pawing at it.
It was as if she was watching an enormous cat.
Garam watched Trigger in astonishment and recalled a TV program she had seen once.
They said animals from the cat family all love catnip.
In that program, even the majestic tiger had enthusiastically played with catnip strewn on a piece of wood in an instant.
By the way, Trigger was huge.
If someone were to see him, it would be a big problem.
So Garam quickly locked the door.
It took Trigger nearly half an hour to finally free himself from the catnip’s magic.
The majestic tiger, who had regained his composure, couldn’t help but feel embarrassed as he pulled out the mugwort that was stuck in his now torn clothes and swallowed it.
“Well, it seems like I got too excited, and that’s why I lost my transformation.”
Trigger scratched his nose and said with a sheepish smile.
Trigger eating the mugwort and transforming into a human, looked like the rewound process from human to tiger.
His fur quickly retracted into the follicles, and his body shrank.
Garam watched the transformation in fascination and then put on a new set of clothes.
She bundled up the clothes that were covered in catnip and tossed them into a laundry basket.
Trigger’s drool along with the catnip had rendered them unwearable.
Trigger looked at the clothes with a regretful expression, but soon after meeting Garam’s eyes, he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
“I made a spectacle of myself.
By the way, what’s with this grass?”
“It’s catnip.
Animals from the cat family in my world love it.
It seems you do too.”
“The scent is amazing, but I don’t really want to get too close.
It makes me look like an idiot.”
Having finished speaking, Trigger looked down at his own clothes with a puzzled expression.
Thanks to his transformation while wearing the clothes, describing Trigger’s clothes as rags wouldn’t be an overstatement.
In the end, Garam gave Trigger one of her new outfits that could fit him, regardless of his physique.
“Fortunately, the pants are long enough.”
“That’s true.
Isn’t this too big for you?”
“Well, most of the clothes here are too big for me anyway.”
Most of the travel clothes were oversized for Garam.
She was relatively tall in Korea, but in that place, there were people who were close to 180 centimeters, even among women.
Therefore, it wasn’t surprising that the average size of the clothes in that world was larger than those in Garam’s world.
Actually, upon closer inspection, the clothes Trigger had been wearing were also too big for her, so Garam had been wondering what to do about it.
“Thank you.”
Trigger, holding the clothes, quickly removed his current outfit and put on the new one.
It was more like tearing off the clothes rather than putting them on, as they ripped when he applied some force.
With the torn clothes discarded, Trigger was then quickly dressed in the new ones.
Fortunately, the size fit him well.
“Um, by the way, what should we do with these snacks?”
“Well, if they are rare food items, how about selling them somewhere nearby?
You can say they’re exotic Asian delicacies.
People here might like them.”
“But I already have enough money.”
Saying that, Garam retrieved a bundle of gemstones from under the bed.
She had sold a few rings, and that was all, so the original contents of her bag were almost all there.
Trigger was amazed when he saw the precious metals that filled Garam’s bag.
The translucent shine was something only the finest Dwarven items could match.
Trigger, who was quite indifferent to money, felt more concerned than greedy when he saw those items.
What if someone found them and harmed Garam to steal them?
“What if you get robbed?”
“I can always bring some more.”
“It’s not about that.
It’s your life we’re talking about.
What if they kill you to take them?”
“Actually, I was planning to deposit them at the bank after buying the tools for the horse today.”
“In that case, it’s better to do it now.
I’ll carry them.”
Without waiting for an answer, Trigger picked up one of the bags of gemstones.
Garam was impressed by how he effortlessly lifted it as if it were a sack of cotton.
“Oh, wait a moment!”
When Trigger tried to pick up the other bag as well, she quickly stopped him.
She took out the most valuable ring and put it in the pouch that was strapped around her waist.
In that pouch, she had a mythril coin, some 100 gold coins, but just in case, she took another ring.
“Now we’re ready.”
Garam grabbed about ten rings and then stepped back.
Then Trigger picked up the remaining bag from the floor.
With that, the two of them soon arrived at the bank.
Perhaps because it was lunchtime, the bank was relatively quiet.
In Garam’s world, lunchtime was the busiest time, but there, only wealthy people usually used the bank, so it was different from her world.
Moreover, the bank didn’t provide any interest.
It was more like a storage warehouse than a bank.
They securely stored items and charged for the service.
“I’d like to deposit some items in a vault.”