CH 4

And I’m here! The Great Forest! And I’m super deep into the forest! I haven’t done anything, yet I can’t stop the tears from flowing!

It really is a huge forest though, isn’t it. It even took a few minutes to get here after entering the forest.

Well, for now I should prioritize paying attention to the monsters standing tall in front of me over regretting my earlier decisions.

In front of me stands a wolf pack, their numbers… about 20… no, including those who kidnapped me, 34 I think.

That’s quite a lot. The average pack has somewhere from 3 to 10 wolves, so for there to be 3 times even the usual highest… either the boss is specially strong or it’s just a large family. Assuming the wrong answer could be life-threatening.

There’s one wolf in the middle that looks especially menacing, with a bit of gray hairs. That’s probably the boss.

Yeah, this is seriously bad. What I’m talking about is the fact that the wolves are already encircling me with their fangs out. Already?!

“My daughter, what’s that human? Why did you bring him here?”

“I brought him because I took a liking to him.”

Oh, so these two were parent and child. That puts me in a pretty awkward spot.

“I’m asking for the reason.”

“I said already that it’s because I took a liking to him, no? That’s my reason.”

“That’s no reason!!!”

Ahh!… Why does it hurt so much from just him staring at me?!

And why is the daughter able to just brush the pressure off, how strong are you?!

Now I’m really convinced I can’t survive here, everyone’s too strong…

“Hey, you! Where in the world did you meet my daughter!”

Now his focus is completely on me! And even if you ask where, it was just

“At the ranch where I work!”

“How did you get to know her!”

“It started from me helping her when she was stuck in a trap!”

“My daughter can break traps made by humans at any time!”

“I was told by your daughter that she was pretending to have been caught by the trap for fun!”

“That again…”

The boss’ tone seemed agitated during the conversation, but his voice became rather passive with that reply.

And you, daughter wolf, why are you looking at me with those eyes? And why’re you poking me with your nose?

“Stop saying unnecessary things.”

Unnecessary? I mean, what else could I have done, your father’s scary after all…

“Well anyway, bring that back to where you found it.”

His reaction is just like when your child picks up a pet that you won’t be able to take care of…

“I don’t wanna”

“What use is that gonna be? It has no power and no magic power. What are you gonna do after taking in something like that?”

“This is a [Tamer]. I think grandfather’s health will improve at least a bit with this.”

The boss turned to look at me like he was assessing the quality of a product. I think it’s safe to assume there’s something going on here.

“You’re trying to tell me this will improve father-in-law’s health? He’s already lived for so long, and that human isn’t going to be an exception when it comes to saving him.”

“And I’ve brought him here to see if that’s really the case.”

I don’t quite get it, but I’m guessing the old wolf is on his deathbed, and I was brought here to discern the cause of it?

I think I need to join the conversation to move it forward.

“I’m sorry to disturb you during your quarrel, but could you let me meet with this old wolf? Everything’s fine if I diagnose him, right?”

“You, how rude!”

“If your daughter is right and it’s something treatable, I would like to help, and if you’re right and it’s just his time to go, I won’t be able to do anything about it. Just let me take a look at him for now.”

“Ryu?”

The daughter looks at me in an unsettled way, but this is the quickest way to get through this.

“Well then, go ahead and do it. In exchange, get out of my sight after you finish.”

“I don’t mind, but I need more information about him. His age, species, and when his condition started deteriorating.”

The boss wolf clicked his tongue, and turning the other way, said, “Follow me.”