episode_0145

“In addition to the people who came as escorts, the patrol around here is done by wizards from the Doma Tower. They are people we invited and gathered together, so it would be difficult if an unfortunate accident occurred.”

The magic tower lord spoke with a hint of humor.

“The reason people in high places can entrust their children to our magic tower is because there are excellent wizards like me. If I save my energy on this, there is no reason to provide me with support.”

Although this is true, it was hard to believe it as I kept looking at my wolves and seeing their expressions of interest.

“To be honest, yes, I missed seeing these wolves. That’s why I wandered around the forest more actively than usual.”

Seeing the wolves growling towards him, Matapju said.

“So, you’re saying you didn’t follow us?”

“That’s right. I’ll say it again, it’s almost a coincidence that I risked my career to meet you like this.”

“‘Close to coincidence?’”

Amelia asked sharply, noticing the nuance hidden in the words.

“Anyway, I looked for wolf footprints. The footprints are much larger than those of wolves native to the South, so it is easy to follow them if you look for them. Honestly, the footprints were so clearly visible that I was curious about how wolves find and hunt prey.”

… … I didn’t have anything to say about that either. The height of his shoulders was much taller than most people’s, so of course the footprints were also huge. Probably bigger than a lion or a tiger?

“So I want to ask you, did you by any chance order these wolves to attack me too?”

“… … No, I never did that. Of course, I asked them to come this way, but the target of the attack was not the forehead tower owner. ”

To be precise, I just called Snow and Gray by their names. These kids were so smart that they easily answered what I wanted just by hearing my voice.

When I answered while looking at the Magic Tower lord very suspiciously, the Magic Tower lord’s face lit up.

“So, you’re saying that you didn’t tell these kids to attack people beyond or to be on guard?”

Why do I ask the same question so many times?

“Oh, there is nothing to worry too much about. I think one of my theories is correct.”

“… … Hypothesis?”

When I asked, Snow showed his expression and growled as if telling him to speak quickly. The man under Gray’s feet made a huffing sound.

“Druids are beings who live in harmony with nature. They are another part of the distant ancestors of old Delkisi.”

“… … .”

“And the ability to live in harmony with nature is very different from simply living by training or hunting animals. It is the act of living above nature. This is the way most people living in Delki City today.”

“So?”

“So, I think the young lady’s ability is not simply to ‘get close’ to animals, but that the animals that come within the range of her power can feel the young lady’s feelings. Of course, that is also the case right now. It’s just a hypothesis I came up with after seeing it.”

“… … .”

I saw Snow.

When I reacted as if I was a little confused, Snow sat down on his haunches and tilted his head.

… … no way?

“The underlying instinct of all beings in nature is fear. From that fear, vigilance is derived, and whether or not to tear down that vigilance has a great impact on relationships with other beings.”

The Lord of the Magic Tower continued speaking as if he were a god.

“It is very difficult for an animal to immediately understand the complex emotions that appear on a person’s face by looking at them. It is almost similar to how a person understands the emotions by looking at an animal’s face. So, the movement of these wolves is simply a matter of honor. It’s not that I judged him by his facial expression or voice, but because of his ability—Ah, you don’t seem very interested.”

I think that guy is also not good at reading expressions on people’s faces.

That’s right. I really wasn’t even remotely interested in such theoretical things.

Because, even if you don’t know that, you can get along well with them.

“Well, it’s good. I saw the results with my own eyes this time, so it’s okay. Rather, I’d like to give you one piece of advice.”

“… … Let me tell you.”

When I answered with a slightly tired expression, the Mage Tower shrugged and spoke.

“If living things are divided into plants and animals, this means that humans are also a type of animal. After all, aren’t they ‘moving creatures’?”

So what.

You want me to use this ability on people too?

Do you think this is some sort of hypnosis app?

“Oh, wait.”

Amelia stopped the magic tower lord from turning around to leave. The magic tower lord turned around with a bright smile on his face, as if he thought he was going to ask her something.

“As I’m leaving, I hope you don’t let the escorts come this way. And I hope you don’t tell others about what you saw here.”

Amelia said that in a tone as if asking her to put out a fire as she went.

“I think I know the person there.”

Matapju smiled and nodded, then started walking again.

“… … Phew.”

Only after the magic tower had gone did Amelia let out a small breath.

“Well, it was still meaningful information. If it’s an ability that can be used on people too… … .”

However, after speaking up to that point, Amelia looked like she was about to burst out laughing when she saw my expression.

“You don’t want to connect with that guy, right?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

When I said this in disgust, Amelia laughed briefly, “Hahaha.”

“Well, I guess so. And the assumption itself seems a bit wrong in the first place.”

“Really?”

“Yes. If your ability makes the wariness of animals, including humans, disappear, then you should only have people around you who like you. Everyone in the classroom would have naturally approached you long ago, and I could even hang around with you at the dance. I guess it wasn’t there?”

“But that’s only when I used my abilities.”

“No.”

Amelia said firmly.

“You use your powers without knowing it on a regular basis. You did the same when you caught Pori. Could it be that the wild squirrel was lying in such a comfortable position in your hand without you even using your powers? Even if you had used your powers, you should have been scared at that time. Because I was planning on catching and eating Pori.”

“Ah… … .”

Certainly, that is so.

I was terrified the first time I met wolves, so they should have reacted much differently.

“Your ability is something different from those things. It’s not something you can judge by looking at it once. Using your ability is like a kind of amplification, and even in normal times, you are already special.”

“Hmm… … .”

Well, is that so?

Before I knew it, I saw Snow lying on the ground in front of me.

Because it was so big, even if it lay down like this, it was really huge.

I reached out and gently scratched Snow behind her ears. Snow’s eyes narrowed in satisfaction.

Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.

I don’t know the principles or anything, but I’m satisfied enough.

“Then, should we just do what we were doing? Because of this, even the escorts are shut down.”

“Please save me! Never again… … I will never do something like this again!”

The man, who had been holding his breath until now, heard Amelia’s words and started screaming again.

“Let’s first hear what it is like?”

Amelia’s smiling face as she said that was somewhat eerie.

*

“So, to sum it up, they were suspicious of Becky’s disappearance, and now that they had the chance, they came to keep an eye on him.”

“Yes!”

“Have you ever seen wolves wandering around?”

Amelia asked as if she was genuinely curious.

“I knew there were giant wolves, but I usually went undetected when I used Aurors… … !”

However, all plans seem to have gone awry when the kingdom’s greatest wizard enters the forest.

“Hmm… … I don’t really want to say this, but I still have to be a little grateful to the Lord of Matapap.”

Amelia nodded and said.

“Well, okay. Since we’ve come this far, could you just tell me where the information guild headquarters is?”

“Sorry, Grand Duchess… … !That much… … !”

“If you tell me, um… … .”

Amelia looked at me.

I gave Gray a slight gesture.

Gray’s foot pressed against the man’s back.

“Keuuu… … !”

“If you tell us your story here—”

“Amelia! Lady Elsie!”

As Amelia was about to continue speaking, she heard someone’s voice from far away.

It was a voice we both knew.

“… … It must be difficult to show these two people like this, right?”

“Yes.”

I quickly nodded to Amelia’s question.

“… … Please wait patiently. If not, I will definitely chase you and make you see blood.”

The man nodded enthusiastically at Amelia’s words.

Gray’s feet were removed, and the man quickly stood up and knelt down.

It still looked tattered, but at least it looked a little better than when his life was threatened just a moment ago.

Amelia waited for Adele to run towards us and asked with a slight smile on her lips.

“We are safe. Rather, how did we get here?”

“Oh, that is.”

Adele raised one hand up. Adele’s left arm was covered with thick leather, and there were scratches here and there from how many times she had already been scratched.

“Boo.”

And Alexander landed on top of him.

“You have received guidance.”

“Yes, Diane is behind you too… … Ah, it has arrived now.”

“Gasp, Adele, gasp… … It’s too fast… … !”

“Should it have come slower than that?”

In response to Adele’s question, Diane glared at Adele.

“By the way, what were Amelia and Elsie doing here? Did you hear the man screaming earlier?”

“Of course I heard it. The person who screamed is here—”

Amelia turned her head as she said that, then realized that the man was no longer sitting there.

Only the distinctive mark left by an Auror remained where the man had been.

“… … .”

“Oh, I let you go on purpose.”

Amelia looked at me silently, so I answered that way.

There are fourteen wolves around, so you can’t miss them. Aurors can hide their presence, but they can’t change their appearance to transparency.

Oh, of course, it was quite easy to hide it. I was a little curious because I had never seen it in person, but it seemed to increase the speed of its movement as the sound of it disappearing and moving away was made extremely quickly.

If there had been no other abnormalities in the man’s body, he might have succeeded in escaping like this.

If the man’s body was ‘just fine’.

“I think it will be difficult to get an answer. Wouldn’t it be much faster to let go and chase after him?”

You can hide your presence.

You may be able to stop the flowing blood. Whether you use magic or a potion unique to this world.

However, the smell cannot be removed so easily. The blood flowing from the body gives off a surprisingly strong smell. Especially if the wound is large and the blood is flowing, even a person can smell the unique smell.

Even if you heal the wound and wash it with water, it is only a temporary solution, and the smell cannot be removed unless it is covered with a worse smell.

However, if wolves have a much better sense of smell than humans, it would be easy to follow them at a certain distance. If they follow just enough to be within sight, they will be able to keep watch even if they stop for a moment to clear their scent.

And, wolves are experts at that. They can easily chase without the help of aurors or anything like that.

Once it appears, it is almost impossible to escape from within this forest.

Considering the habits of wolves, it made sense that when I put out pork to them earlier, they did not rush to the meat but first smelled it. They bit the man once and continued to chase after him, so they must have been wary of their surroundings.

And the reason I didn’t chase him until the end was probably because I saw the man encountering the Lord of the Tower.

“Um.”

Amelia smiled with a satisfied expression, then looked at Adele, who still had Alexander sitting on her left arm, and spoke.

“Could I borrow Alexander for a while? I have a letter I want to send.”

Amelia said, looking at me, Adele, and Diane in turn.

“I think it would be better to be sure when doing something like this.”