CH 12

Chapter 12 - New Name, New Beginning

The day we would set off for the country of the dwarves.

The father was being stepped on from early in the morning.

“Um?…”

“Sorry, Ryu. This stupid wolf keeps complaining that he doesn’t want to separate from his daughter.”

“Oh, I see.”

No wonder he’s been stepped on this whole time.

He glares at me strongly as I look at him. Stop threatening me so much, I already know that you don’t like the idea of me traveling with your daughter alone…

“Is ojou not here yet?”

“You’ll be surprised when you see.”

The mother replied while laughing.

I wait excitedly wondering what I’ll be so surprised about.

*****

“S, sorry for the wait.”

A pretty girl slowly revealed herself from hiding behind the grandfather.

She has jet black hair and snow white skin, with chests that look a little underdeveloped. She also looks a little younger than me though, so they’re gonna be big in the future.

“Sir, who is that young girl?”

“Hehehe, you can’t tell after all. Why don’t you introduce yourself?”

“Um, can you really not tell, Ryu?”

They seem to know me? And judging by the reactions of the other wolves, she’s probably someone I know as well. This voice is also just like ojou’s… wait… same? Does that mean?!

“Are you ojou?!”

“Haha, you got it.”

What’s going on?! Ojou looks like a human!

“The shapeshifting technique worked, grandmother!”

“Yes, you should be able to travel without suspicion now.”

It is really well done, but…

“Can you not hide your tail and ears?”

“I still need a little more practice for it, and besides I feel restless without them.”

Hmm, so it isn’t quite perfect.

“Ryu, as you can see my granddaughter can’t use it quite perfectly yet, so please protect her for us.”

“Yes, please leave ojou to me.”

As I said that, ojou’s cheeks flushed red like a peach and her tail wagged furiously.

Is it really something to be that happy about?…

“Father, since she’s acting like this, wouldn’t that be fine as well?”

“Yes, it would. Though it’ll get a bit lonely…”

“It can’t be helped dear, she’s already a lady, not a girl.”

The grandmother consoles the grandfather, rubbing her face on him.

""

What’s this about?

“Ryu, listen well.”

Really, what is this? The atmosphere’s all tensed up.

“We think we should tell you our granddaughter’s real name.”

Real name? Ojou’s? Wait…

“Sir. Isn’t disclosing ojou’s, no, monsters’ names in general taboo? Why tell me?”

“Because she strongly desires you.”

“…Doesn’t she consider me as a pet?”

“If your relationship was something like that, we wouldn’t be telling you.”

It’s a bit troubling when they expect so much from me too…

I’m a human and I’m even weaker than ojou, so I don’t get why they expect so much from me.

“Why can you trust me so much?”

“Ryu, you’re more dutiful than you realise. Otherwise I wouldn’t ever think of giving you my granddaughter.”

“So it’s alright for me to make your daughter my familiar, yes?”

“If you’re going to be with her all your life.” he said casually.

“Then I’ll take her. Ojou, be my woman.”

I said boldly.

“Bold Ryu is nice too…”

Ojou said, flushed and wagging her tail. Oh, I didn’t think this would go like this…

“Then let me tell you her na-“

“No don’t, I’ll do my own ‘name-giving’ for her.”

“Ryu?!”

“Sir. Her name is of too much value, leave telling me it for a more important day in the future.”

“But Ryu, ’name-giving’ is too dangerous!”

""

“You know what my MP is like, right? So don’t worry, it’s no biggie. More than that, I’m worried about the name side of it.

“So what name are you thinking of right now?”

“A simple name like Ril.”

“That really is a simple name…”

“I did expect it, but it’s no good after all?”

“No, I’m fine with that. In fact, I want that!”

At this moment, our souls connected.

It feels warm inside, a feeling I never want to let go of.

“Sir. I’ll protect Ril no matter what.”

“I’ll leave her to you.”

“You can count on it. We’ll come visit every so often.”

“I’ll be expecting children as well.”

“You’re too hasty… Well, let’s go, Ril.”

“Yeah. I’ll be going, grandfather, grandmother, mother!”

“Your father! Say it to me, your father, too!”

She left without saying another word, and our journey together started.

—————

TL note: Yesterday was the first day without an update, sorry about that. I will be getting busier, and my computer is in repair right now, so the updates will probably become less frequent. With that being said, I’ll try to be doing at least one every two days. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!