My Eldritch Horror Wife Followed Me To Another World
Chapter 74: Fishy Smell

Chapter 74: Fishy Smell

Malak looked up when Sosora entered his room. She had returned home after the sausage party, and Malak was only expecting to see her tomorrow. But just a few hours were still enough for him to start to miss her, and he was happy to see her. However, his excitement cooled when he noticed the frown on Sosora’s face.

"What’s wrong?" He asked with a voice of concern as he stood up and put his hand on Sosora’s arm.

"It’s Tair..."

"Tair? What does he want this time?"

"No, it’s nothing like that. I invited him to the sausage party, and he said he was going to come. He even sounded pretty excited. He didn’t show up, so I just assumed that he was busy with something else." Sosora’s frown deepened as she talked.

"But...?" Malak asked while guiding her over to take a seat on his bed.

"He’s not in the village. According to the elders and his wife, he said he was going to the sausage party." Sosora finally looked up at Malak, worry and confusion deep in her eyes.

Malak’s brow also furrowed.

He wasn’t at home. He hadn’t been at the sausage party he said he was going to be at.

Something was wrong. Tair was missing.

"And there’s no chance he got lost?" Malak asked just ot explore and eliminate all possibilities.

"Tair? No way."

"Could he have gotten unlucky and..." Malak didn’t want to say it, but he couldn’t just stay silent now.

"...And encountered a monster king on the way to the sausage party?" Malak asked, wincing slightly. They both knew what would have happened to him if he had run into a monster king and wasn’t back by now. He was most likely dead.

Sosora’s expression darkened. It was a possibility.

But everyone else had managed to enter and leave the center of the forest without any monster kings coming for them. Considering that most of them had been there multiple times and disturbed the peace quite a lot, they should have been much higher priorities than Tair.

Besides, Tair wasn’t a fool. He wouldn’t antagonize the monster kings in any way that would make him more alluring to the monster kings than anyone else. He was also a seasoned warrior.

The Splash King and the Midnight Panther were probably the only two monster kings that could take him down without Monkey or Yamanas sensing a thing. And the Midnight Panther only acted at night. The Splash King...

They knew too little about the mysterious Splash King to even theorize on its strength and habits.

That meant they couldn’t rule it out, but it was unlikely. There would be no reason for the Splash King to target Tair over the other visitors.

"I’m worried, Malak. If he...If Tair encountered a monster king, his death would be my fault," Sosora said, her hands on her lap and her head hanging down.

"No." Malak shook his head. "It’s not your fault. Would it have been your fault if he tripped and fell? Would it have been your fault if he got caught in a landslide? No. But I don’t think he encountered a monster king." Malak’s eyes were narrowed. He put an arm around Sosora’s shoulder to comfort her. At the same time, his gaze tried to pierce the walls of his home and scan the forest.

"It smells fishy. But it’s too late now. So, let’s investigate tomorrow. At first light, we’ll organize a search party. Who knows, maybe he’ll have found his way back by then?" Malak said, trying to sow some hope. It didn’t work. Sosora was too smart. And her instincts were too sensitive.

She was of the same mind as Malak. Things smelled fishy, and it had nothing to do with Malak’s neighbor, Elder Kobo, eating fish for dinner.

The initial question, ’Why is Tair missing?’ just doesn’t make sense. Since it doesn’t make sense, they must have missed something. And the only things they could have missed would be suspicious things that they didn’t even know to account for.

But in the darkness, there was no way they would find any traces of Tair.

"Yeah, you’re right." Sosora nodded and stood up. "I’ll...get going then."

Malak grabbed her hand before she could take more than a step away from the bed.

Sosora turned around and looked at him with a tilt to her head.

"Stay," He said simply.

"Mal—"

"Take the bed. I’ll sleep on the floor." Malak cut her off before she could protest.

Malak didn’t have any hidden intentions. He just didn’t want Sosora to be alone or to fly home in the darkness.

Sosora hesitated. She looked at Malak’s pure and sincere eyes. She could tell that he wasn’t pushing the boundaries of their relationship already.

"No." She sighed. Malak’s expression fell, and he let go of Sosora’s hand. If she didn’t want to stay, he couldn’t stop her from leaving.

"There’s no need for you to sleep on the floor," Sosora continued, returning to the bed. She took out a wing and flapped it once, sending a gust of wind toward the lit candle on Malak’s desk, blowing it out and sinking his room into darkness.

Malak’s eyes widened, and he followed Sosora back up into the bed.

As tacitly promised, there was no fidoodling.

They lay on their backs next to each other. Malak was on top of the blanket, and Sosora was under it. Malak lay with his hands clasped over his stomach. Sosora fidgeted with hers as she glanced at Malak’s profile.

Sosora felt like her heart was beating out of her chest. Malak had been assertive almost the entire day. She didn’t want to lose her imaginary position and tried to show him how it was done.

But now, her mind was full of the worry that Malak would hear her heart pound against her ribcage like it was a drum. Her face felt hot. Putting out the candle had been a good idea. Otherwise, Malak would definitely have seen how hot and flushed she was.

But at the same time, now Sosora couldn’t see how flushed Malak’s face was. If she did, she might have realized that she didn’t have to worry about Malak hearing her heartbeat. The only sound he heard other than his and Sosora’s breaths was the sound of his own heart beating like the hooves of a stampeding horse.