Totu came to the center of the hall and looked at the center of the table. He sighed and looked at the front of the table. One big wooden piece was placed on the table, and he took out, from inside the colorless bracelet, a set of wooden carving tools, like:
Chisel
Flat or angled blade
Used to cut straight lines and remove wood
Gouge
Curved blade
Used to scoop or carve curves
Carving Knife
Sharp, thin blade
Used for fine details
V-Tool (V-Chisel)
V-shaped blade
Used for lines, patterns, and textures
Mallet
Wooden hammer
Used to tap chisels
Rasp / File
Rough surface
Used to smooth and shape
Totu placed all the equipment on top of the table and looked deeply at the big wood placed there. He said "Nothing's coming to my mind right now. I'm not sure what to do, so let's start first and figure things out as we go."
Totu took a small knife and slowly moved it across the wood, leaving faint scratches behind.
With the small knife in hand, Totu scratched the wood slowly, patiently, softly, then stopped for a moment. then he took a chair, sat down, and closed his eyes, thinking deeply. "Nothing is coming to my mind right now. I'll close my eyes and think for a while—maybe a new idea will come", totu close his eyes thinking.
One minute of thinking… two minutes of thinking… five… ten minutes… and Totu fell asleep.
He had only scratched a small part of the wood before falling asleep, and silence returned all over the place.
Outside, the sky was bright. The sun was warm, the sky blue, and white clouds floated as sunlight spread across all areas.
Suddenly, a big whale covered the sun. The whale's shadow covered the entire forest and storehouse. The whale was fully blue in color, with dark blue eyes like gems, and its body looked like an ocean in the sky. When the whale moved, it released star-like power around its body and moved gracefully.
The whale swam through the clouds beautifully and flew downward into the forest. When it came closer to the trees, the whale turned its head, adjusted its body, and flew toward the storehouse at the center of the forest. When the whale came close to the storehouse, its entire body was covered in bright blue light. When the blue light faded, the whale's large body disappeared into thin air.
When the light fully faded, only a small figure stood in midair. The whale's body had disappeared and transformed into a little puppy standing in the air. The little puppy was pure white, snow-colored, and its eyes had changed into normal black. The little puppy walked in midair and went toward the storehouse.
The puppy quietly slipped inside through the window and saw Totu sleeping calmly on the chair, his head placed on the working table. The little puppy landed directly on the working table and walked toward Totu. When he saw Totu's baby-like face sleeping peacefully, the little puppy directly licked Totu's cheek.
Totu slept peacefully, but when he felt the soft sensation on his face, he slowly opened his silver-blue eyes and saw something white in front of him. He couldn't see clearly because he was half-awake. He opened his mouth and let out a breath, straightened his back, slid the chair slightly, blinked his eyes a few times, and then clearly saw the little puppy in front of him.
The little puppy's eyes were fully open beautifully, and he spoke,
"You fell asleep again, Totu. You've been becoming quite lazy recently."
The little puppy's voice sounded like a child's sound, neither loud nor low. He didn't speak slowly or quickly; his voice was perfectly steady.
When Totu heard the pleasant voice, he directly held the little puppy with both hands, lifted him up, looked at him, and spoke,
"Why didn't you come here recently?" Totu asked, then placed the little puppy on his lap and looked at his face, waiting for an answer.
The little puppy spoke smoothly, "Mm, I've been very busy recently. Because of that, I didn't come here."
When Totu heard this, he understood why the puppy hadn't come. He stroked the little puppy's fur softly and spoke,
"Tolu, you worked hard, so I'll give you a gift. I'll cook you five dishes, ok?" Totu said caringly.
Tolu didn't express any emotion and replied plainly, "That's my duty and my responsibility."
Totu heard Tolu but didn't reply. He knew it was meaningless. Totu changed the topic and said, "Tolu, you know something? This journey to the Butterfly Fairies' world—I completely lost and nearly got captured, and I didn't gain anything even a single fruit." Totu spoke in a sad tone and sighed.
Tolu didn't reply, only made a sound, "Ooo." He didn't react much.
Totu expected Tolu to be very interested and ask questions about his journey, but he didn't expect Tolu to show no reaction at all. Sometimes Tolu joined his journeys, sometimes he didn't because he was busy with his work. Usually, when Totu returned, Tolu was very interested and asked curiously—but this time, there was no reaction.
Suddenly, something crossed Totu's mind. He stopped rubbing Tolu's fur and looked at him with meaningful eyes.
Tolu was relaxed, leaning on Totu's lap, while Totu stroked his fur. Totu always stroked his fur because it was very smooth, similar to Toku's fur—different, but both very smooth.
When Totu spoke about his journey, Tolu casually made an "Oooo" sound. He didn't think much. But suddenly, Totu's fingers stopped stroking. Totu's curious gaze locked onto him. Only then did Tolu realize he had made a mistake.
Realizing this, Tolu jumped onto the working table and faced Totu's questioning face.
Totu locked his eyes onto Tolu and asked, "Tolu, tell me—are you hiding something?"
Tolu didn't change his expression and replied, "Totu, I'm not hiding anything. Why should I be surprised? I already expected it. Your last few journeys were very difficult. Last time, you were captured. This time, you didn't gain anything—that's acceptable. But I didn't expect you to escape so surprisingly. And even more, I was surprised that you wanted to kidnap five Butterfly Fairies. That was very excessive. When I first heard it, I truly didn't agree, but when I heard everything, I—"
Tolu stopped speaking because Totu's cold gaze fixed on him. Tolu understood he had spoken too much; his tongue had slipped. Now he was caught. There was no way out.
Totu spoke coldly, "Tell me—was it Toku who told you all this?"
Totu already knew the little shameless puppy always spoke too freely.