episode_0009

I thought to myself as I smelled the approaching intervention.

Oh, he’s like this again.

As someone who has never raised a dog in my past life, I have no knowledge of the habits of canines.

And it’s been a few months now that the wolves have started following me. If I had often watched documentaries, I would have known something about the habits of wolves, but I wasn’t interested in things like the natural environment.

The first time I was bitten off with its entire head like this, I thought it was going to be eaten, but when I observed it, it seemed to be an expression of its intention, ‘I have no intention of eating you.’

If not, they’re playing. They say dogs play by biting each other, and they seem to be like that too.

I bit my head and turned my hand towards Amelia and shook it. I was trying to express that I was okay, but Amelia seemed to think I was asking for help and screamed in even more panic.

Is it that scary?

… … Well, when I imagined myself bleeding out with my head torn off by a wolf, it was worth it. If you see something like that in real life, not in a movie or a cartoon, it’s enough to make you scream.

So I quickly put down the wolf cubs that were in my arms, and grabbed Snow’s mouth with both hands.

And opened it.

Snow, who must have felt my strength and decided that I wanted to escape, followed my hand and opened his mouth. As expected, as a northern wolf, he was strong, so my hand trembled a little even as he opened it that way.

It felt like I was alive after escaping from the muggy snow and breathing in the refreshing winter air.

The hair was still wet with dog spit, and it smelled like a dog. No, it wasn’t a dog, it was a wolf. Anyway.

“… … .”

I could have just ignored it, but I felt like this would happen again next time if I didn’t scold him here. It doesn’t matter when it’s just the two of us or when I’m mixed in with a pack of wolves, but it would be difficult if he did it again in front of guests.

So I held Snow’s mouth with my hand.

“?”

And turn Snow’s mouth towards me,

“Kwakae!?”

He took a bite of his nose.

You might ask why, but in reality, that was the only place I could bite. The entire mouth part of the wolf was too big for me to bite into. But if I bite the furry part, doesn’t that mean wolf fur will remain in my mouth?

It’s called a wolf’s nose, but it’s not as small as a dog’s nose. It’s big enough to fit my entire head in the mouth, so it’s almost like a crocodile’s mouth. And the nose at the end is also quite big. At least you don’t have to worry about your nostrils going into your mouth when you bite your nose. Not required.

“Kwak, kwak!”

Snow was about to run wild, but then corrected her posture again. There are still babies sucking milk, so she can’t run wild.

I asked a little harder on purpose. I need to take the initiative once like this so I won’t do it again next time.

For a kid with a big size difference like me, it probably wouldn’t have hurt too much, but the reason I almost jumped was probably because I was just startled.

When I looked at the nose with clear teeth marks and took a step back, Snow looked at me with those red eyes.

The face looks a little despondent. Good.

Still, I felt a little sorry, so I patted Snow near the nose and picked up the child who had been squirming under my feet again.

And then I returned to Amelia, who was still frozen.

“Here it is.”

“Ah.”

After I spoke, Amelia blinked a couple of times.

“Trigram, are you okay?”

Amelia, who asked in a somewhat dumbfounded voice, ironically had a face that matched her age.

“It’s okay. This is like an expression of affection.”

“Expression of affection… … ?”

Amelia gave a puzzled expression.

“Dogs play too, so this is like that.”

“Is that so… … ?”

But let me tell you, it might be a little dangerous if it were someone other than me. The blood of Delkish flows through my body, and thanks to the blood of the giant, I won’t be scratched by the wolf’s teeth unless the wolf tightens its jaw, but ordinary people like Amelia are. Because your skin may be torn.

“Still, it is recommended not to get too close to an adult wolf. Even if you get bitten as a joke, you could get hurt.”

I turned my head and looked again at Snow, who had his face down on the ground as if he was depressed. I could clearly feel how big the northern wolf was because he didn’t look up at me even though he had his face down.

“Rather, here.”

When I showed Amelia the puppy in my arms, her blank expression gradually returned to its original state.

“grunt.”

The wolf cub, which had been sniffing with its nose towards my chin, turned its nose towards Amelia this time when she came closer.

Although it is said to be a cub, it is large. Although it was not the size of a large dog, it was larger than a small dog such as a Pomeranian.

Even though it is big, it still can’t open its eyes properly. The pink skin is more visible than the white fur. The body temperature is also very warm.

“Wow… … .”

Most babies born in nature are cute. I don’t know if it’s the mother who evolved that way because the one who stimulates the maternal instinct is better at surviving, or because it’s better to protect the next generation when the maternal instinct is stimulated by seeing things like this, but anyway. Wolf cubs are cute.

“Can I touch it?”

“It’s okay.”

If the cub in my arms had been a puppy the size of the palm of my hand, I would have been a bit worried. However, the wolf cub in my arms right now was not so big that it would squeal to death at the slightest touch.

Originally, they were wolves that survived the crazy temperature outside the castle. There would be no harm so great that Amelia would touch them.

Amelia slowly stretched out her hand.

The wolf cub sniffed in Amelia’s direction, then buried its nose in the palm of her hand. Is that an instinct? That’s what I did when I first saw Gray Donna.

“Cute… … .”

Amelia muttered, her eyes sparkling.

*

Still, I don’t think it would be a good idea to separate the cub from its mother for too long. After letting Amelia handle it for a while, she returned it to Snow’s arms. The baby must have gotten hungry in the meantime and quickly snuggled into Snow’s arms.

Amelia looked a little disappointed.

“… … If you would like, I can send you a few.”

Amelia looked shocked for a moment at my words, but then looked at me as if she was a little strange.

“If I take those kids with me, will they follow me?”

“… … .”

After thinking for a moment,

“I think it might be too much.”

I spoke honestly.

If anyone could tame a wolf, there would have been people raising wolves.

No, they might not have raised it themselves. They don’t raise deer to ride because they don’t have anything to eat, so they don’t have the capacity to raise wolves that mainly eat meat.

However, even so, considering that the northern wolf is not completely bred and is released into nature and no one raises it, it is unusual for the northern wolf to follow people. Everyone was surprised to see the wolf following me.

If you raise them from a young age, the story will be different… … Considering the disaster that would occur if the Eucharist did not listen, I thought it would be better to just answer like that.

“Then there’s no point in taking him with you… … .”

Amelia slumped her shoulders.

“… … For the purpose of confining it and appreciating it… … ?”

“I don’t want to force you to take me to the point of causing so much pain. If a wolf doesn’t run around in the grassland, is it a wolf?”

The wolves here run through the forest, not the grassland, but I decided not to bother tagging them.

“Of course, that is true.”

I honestly agreed.

Those who are in awe of wolves are in awe of wolves because they see a different side from dogs. If you simply raise them like dogs, they will not be wolves, they will just be dogs. Even so, they say there is almost no genetic difference.

“By the way, to what extent does the Druid’s ability apply? It doesn’t apply only to the young lady. Seeing that it is maintained even at a certain distance from the wolf pack, it seems like an ability that can be clearly controlled.”

“… … ?”

After hearing Amelia’s words and making a puzzled expression, Amelia looked at me intently.

“… … Northern wolves are quite dangerous beasts, right? Of course, they know how far they can control them with their abilities, so they are taking care of them inside, right? The range of their abilities, or the number of individuals they can work with. Didn’t you know that?”

“Uh… … ?”

Now that I think about it, I guess so?

I never thought to look into it.

“… … .”

Amelia looked at me with a dumb expression and said,

“Let’s get out of here for now.”

He suggested calmly while glancing sideways towards Snow.

“… … I understand.”

And I had no choice but to follow his words.