“I really need clothes.”

Such a thought randomly popped into his head one day.

“Kyu?” Ena tilted her head and stared up at him. While she could understand the general meaning behind Ellis’s intentions, what she couldn’t get was why.

‘Isn’t it fine like this? The Ellis that I know is a man who wears no clothes.’ That was the sort of message that her eyes conveyed.

“It’s not that I’m uncomfortable being like this, but rather, it’s the complete opposite. I’m getting too comfortable not wearing clothes. Any longer and I’ll start losing what little common sense I have left.”

He had been rather troubled about this topic for quite some time now. What did it mean to be human? Ellis was fully aware that he was no longer human. From an objective standpoint, he fully accepted the fact that he was a homunculus. Still, somewhere deep inside, there was a part of him that still believed himself to be human.

Should he cling to such lingering feelings or should he completely abandon them? Which of the two was the correct answer? Was there even a correct answer to his situation? Acceptance or Abandonment? His past or his present?

All these complicated thoughts stemmed from the sudden realization that he had lived life without wearing any clothes for almost two years now.

It’s been over half a year since they first climbed the rock wall. Their journey brought with it many ups and downs. Ellis and Ena grew stronger, they gained new companions (subordinates) in the form of a fledgling wolf pack, and slowly but surely, they progressed further down the river.

It had been a seriously hair-raising experience, the type that would gradually turn into an unforgettable memory somewhere in the distant future. At the same time though, he felt that it was also the sort of thing that could be easily glossed over with a montage or a time-skip.

In all that time, the group continually followed the river in hopes of finding civilization. Unfortunately, they did not find civilization.

Ellis heaved out a sigh. Rather than spend the rest of the day worrying about all this, he much rather preferred worrying over the little things. To him, it all boiled down to one thing; “What can I make clothes out of?”

Leather? Fur? How does one go about making clothes from leather and fur? No matter how many times he asked himself that question, Ellis did not have an answer.

In that case, should he start experimenting? Wasn’t he supposed to air dry leather under the sun or something? It was unfortunate, but he was stuck within this forest. The light that passed through here was dim. It was like being under a perpetual thunder cloud.

What’s more, it recently started to rain. For now, it was only a light drizzle, but the weather made it impossible to actually create hides and leathers.

Outside of his lack of experience and the bad weather, the most important reason for his reluctance was that Ellis simply did not think it would work. If that’s the case, why even bother trying?

With a defeatist attitude like that, he probably wouldn’t get very far.

Right now, he wished for something like a t-shirt monster to appear. Considering how fantastical Lull was, there was a small possibility that it might actually exist. The t-shirt monster, the softer, somewhat smellier cousin of the infamous dungeon crawling staple known as the Living Armor.

As he sighed for the umpteenth time today, something suddenly brushed up against his leg.

Looking down, he could see a familiar face peering up at him. It was a small wolf with black fur and a white discoloration on its left ear.

Wight, the leader of the wolf pack. She was a good child who often liked to play around.

Staring into her upturned puppy-dog eyes (no pun intended), Ellis’s expression softened. Her intentions were quite clear. Wight was a smart girl. Although she wasn’t as smart as Ena, she still possessed the capacity for understanding. If Ena had the intelligence of a ten-year-old child, then Wight was more along the lines of a five-year-old.

He rubbed a specific spot behind her ear. Ellis knew that this spot was something like a weak point for her. As long as he rubbed this particular spot, Wight would be no more than putty in his hands.

“Thanks for cheering me up.” He said with a small smile.

Wight barked out a somewhat shaky response. Her face was a mixture of desire and pleasure. She further pushed the crown of her head towards his open palm.

Ellis unconsciously chuckled. Watching her act like a needy child made him momentarily forget about his worries.

“…”

Unbeknownst to Ellis, Ena’s face scrunched up. She stared at the two with clear displeasure. After a while, she turned away. Her eyes peered into the distance. It was almost as if she was looking for something.

Ellis did not notice this, but her tails suddenly shivered. They began to glow with a dark purple luminescence.

A few seconds passed before the light stopped. Ena then trotted over towards him. She pushed Wight aside and nudged his leg.

“Kyu!” she called out.

“What is it?” Ellis looked down. Wight was sprawled on the floor with a pitiful look on her face while Ena stared up at him with what he could only describe as an expectant expression.

It’s Ena, this time, huh? Is she also trying to cheer me up? For a moment, his heart felt touched.

Ena suddenly pointed towards a specific direction. Ellis followed her paw and stared at the looming forest ahead.

“There? What’s over there?”

In truth, they never really wandered very far outside the vicinity of the river. At times, he often wondered what sorts of monsters lurked further into the forest.

Without bothering to explain, Ena suddenly sprinted into the forest. He hesitated for a moment before he chased after her. Wight and the rest of the pack also followed.

Nearly fifteen minutes passed. They eventually stopped behind a bush. Ena pointed towards a small clearing in front of them.

“That’s…” Ellis widened his eyes.

There was a large patch of moss growing on the ground. It was located between an intersection of four towering trees. Standing in the middle of the moss was a somewhat large creature. Its appearance was… odd, to say the least.

Looking at it, Ellis was reminded of the Giant Sloths that once existed in Earth’s prehistory.

It had two stubby legs and a pair of long arms that reached all the way down to the ground. Its hands were accompanied by a set of sharp claws. This wasn’t the first sloth-type creature he had seen in the forest, but what set it apart from the others was its fur. No, rather than fur, it was wool.

This Giant Sloth had wool covering almost every part of its body.

From afar, it resembled an upright sheep or maybe a ball of cotton.

For the most part, the creature itself looked rather passive. Its absent-minded expression and the way it moved its large body in such a lethargic manner added credence to that observation.

It occasionally scraped at the ground, but that was only to gather moss onto the tips of its claws before it licked them clean with its rather long tongue. Apparently, this thing was vegetarian.

Ellis’s shoulders visibly trembled.

“I see… I get it now.” He mumbled to himself. “Even if I don’t know how to tan hide, wool is a much easier material to deal with. If things work out well, I might just be able to wear clothes again.” Just thinking about the possibilities, Ellis could barely control the rising excitement in his heart.

He turned to Ena. “Thank you! You’re the best companion anyone could ever ask for!” Without thinking, he pulled her in for a hug and happily rubbed the crown of her head.

Ena froze for a second, before she closed her eyes in bliss. A sound resembling a sigh leaked out from her mouth. After a while, she discreetly glanced over at a certain wolf. A small, indiscernible smirk floated to her face. Nobody noticed the change in her expression. Nobody that is, except Wight.

Ellis eventually loosened his grip and focused his attention back on the wool covered sloth.

“Alright you guys, go and get it!” He pointed to the clearing and shouted.

Wight and the rest of the wolf pack howled in response. They immediately jumped out from behind the bush and dashed towards the clearing.

With Umbra, the trusted second-in-command leading the way and with Wight flanking the rear, the small pack of adolescent wolves furiously launched their attacks.

Ellis watched the ensuing battle. Lately, it had become somewhat of a routine for Wight and her siblings to do the majority of the hunting. He only ever fought whenever the group encountered a super strong opponent that the others were helpless against. Ena did something similar. She only attacked when either the wolf pack exhausted themselves or they simply could not beat the enemy.

As for the rest, that was the responsibility of Wight and her fellow cohorts.

To no surprise, the battle ended fairly quickly. The sloth really was quite weak. Of course, it was only weak by the standards of this messed up forest.

The battled lasted for less than five minutes. Eventually, Wight dealt the finishing blow with a jumping bite to the throat. Aside from a few minor injuries, the wolves were relatively unharmed.

When the sloth died, Ellis immediately rushed out.

Without waiting, he quickly began sheering the corpse. Since he had no tools, he naturally sheered it with his bare hands. After a while, the corpse had been completely stripped naked and there was now a pile of wool standing in front of him. The wool resembled a misshapen ball of cotton. It towered well over his head.

“With this, I can slowly create clothing through a process of trial and error.” He spoke with relish.

Wool was a rather easy material to deal with. As long as he found a way to create yarn or thread with it, he could probably weave something like a shirt, or at the very least, a giant sheet to cover his body with.

As he was about to reach for the wool, the ground suddenly shook. Ellis frowned. This sort of thing, it was a familiar experience.

All of a sudden, he felt his back growing hotter. He turned around, just in time to see a searing ball of flame flying towards him.

Ellis reacted. He raised his hands in front of him and took the brunt of the force with his body.

Unlike in the past, the fire did not do much damage to him, but that wasn’t the case for the rest of his surroundings. While Ena and the wolves somehow managed to escape in time, the wool didn’t.

Nothing but a pile of ashen remains. His hopes, his dreams, his ambition, all of it gone.

Ellis stared lifelessly at the burnt spot on the ground. The creature that threw out the fireball arrived shortly after, but that barely registered within his head.

It was another dragon.

Green, like the first one, except slightly darker. This dragon greatly resembled the one from before. In fact, Ellis did not know this, but their current assailant was actually the lover of the dragon that he had previously killed. Somehow, it sniffed out the lingering scent of its deceased partner on Ellis’s body. Naturally, it came for revenge.

Of course, Ellis did not know about any of this. Even if he did, it was unlikely that he would actually care.

His shoulders visibly trembled. Invisible tears streaked down his cheeks. He turned to the dragon with bloodshot eyes.

“Y-you…”

In response, the dragon immediately let out a ferocious roar. Another fireball flew out from its mouth and rocketed towards him. Ellis made no attempt to dodge. The fire quickly consumed him. It raged for a moment before it gradually dissipated.

From out of the smoke and dust, Ellis stood there, unharmed. His hair was slightly frayed, but his eyes were icy.

Without another word, he attacked.

It did not take very long before the dragon was reduced to a pile of minced meat. After the battle, Ellis slowly slumped to the floor. He had passed out from the mental shock.

Today was not the day for him to wear clothes.