Chapter Volume 7 itr1: v7 interlude 1

Chino, the daughter of Glauss the wolf tribe’s strongest warrior, had been brought back to the mansion with Liam and dressed as a maid.

“Kuu! This mansion is too big!”

Although it was called a mansion, there was enough space inside to easily house the entirety of the Kingdom of Aarl’s Royal Capital.

In fact, it was too big to call it a mansion, and Chino had become lost in one of the ever extending corridors.

There were signs on the walls telling her where she currently was, but Chino had no idea what they said.

She knew how to read because of the time she spent inside the education capsule, but she had no idea what the words really meant as she had only received the bare minimum education.

“I-is it that way? No, I’m pretty sure I passed by this place earlier. Kuu! I thought I’d be able to go back by following the smell.”

She was in a pickle because of the cleaning robots moving about in the corridors.

As the mansion was too big to clean by hand, there were cleaning robots going around.

Chino had planned on following her scent back to where she’d come from, but the robots had already cleaned up and erased her smell.

“W-what should I doooo! Kuu…”

Discouraged, she plopped down onto the floor.

As she was somewhere not many people frequented, she hadn’t seen anyone pass by.

It was then that she picked up the faint scent of a dog.

“Hm? A dog?”

When she raised her head, she found a dog staring back at her from a distance.

It was as if the dog was telling her to follow it.

For some reason it looked quite fed up with her.

“Y-you’re just a cheeky dog! I’m a wolf, you know!”

She was happy about its appearance, but her instinct told her that she shouldn’t allow others to slight her.

She chased after it, but no matter how much she tried she couldn’t shrink the distance between her and the dog.

“S-so fast!? How could it be faster than me!?”

She was surprised by how fast it ran.

Chino’s leg strength was akin to a wild beast, yet she was failing to catch up with the dog.

Just as she was about to get serious, the dog disappeared after turning a corner.

“W-where did you go! I-i-it’s no use hiding, you know? C-come out, please.”

She trembled from suddenly being left alone.

That was when Amagi came over and called out to her.

“I gave you a terminal, did I not?”

“But I don’t know how to work it.”

From a modern Japanese standpoint, the terminal that Chino had been given was a kid’s version, yet she still had no clue how to use it.

“We should really hurry with your basic education. Now, Chino, follow me.”

“U-umu!”

Chino followed Amagi back to where Liam was.

(Was that dog the household pet?)

As she was returning, she kept thinking back to the dog from before.

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“How unbecoming of a maid.”

“She’s such a useless girl.”

When Chino returned she was greeted by Tia and Marie, who were in maid uniforms and preparing tea for Liam.

She wasn’t happy with either of the girls, but she knew that she couldn’t win in a fight.

In fact, it wouldn’t even be considered a fight.

Her instincts were telling her to refrain from fighting them.

There was something else that her instincts told her to do.

“A-Amagi-dono, I mean… Amagi-sama, Thank you for your help… back there.”

Amagi was not offended by Chino’s slip of the tongue.

“It’s fine. But next time you get lost, tell someone. Okay?”

“O-okay. I mean, understood.”

Liam moved from where he was when he heard Chino’s clumsy words of thanks.

It was because she had given Amagi a bow.

“Chinoooo! You’re such a good girl!”

Liam ruffled her hair and gave her a good pat on the head.

She didn’t know why, but Chino’s instincts were telling her who in the room that she should submit to.

“S-stop! Don’t think you can tame me by doing things like… afuu…”

For Liam, the selling point in doing this was watching Chino as she desperately resisted the comfortable feeling of being stroked.

Then he shot the two girls a cold look for making fun of Chino.

“You’re so cute… You two, on the other hand, aren’t cute at all.”

Tia and Marie were shocked beyond words on hearing that they weren’t cute.

Chino asked Liam a question she was curious about.

“B-by the way, do you happen to own a dog? If you do, introduce it to me. I’ll have it know who’s at the top.”

She knew that she was the weakest among everyone present, but she wanted to at least beat that dog.

Liam tilted his head in confusion.

“Dog? That would be you.”

“I’m not a dog, I’m a wolf!”

Liam laughed and stroked Chino’s head.

“Right, you’re under that impression. That’s so cute of you, Chino.”

“Listen to what I’m saying! And don’t stroke my head so casually… afuuu…”

She desperately resisted in hopes of hearing about the dog, but the feeling of comfort from being stroked eventually got to her.

In the end, she wasn’t able to learn anything about the dog.

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?: (Why did I help?… It’s because she’s my junior.)

,.–、_

ゝ-じ,゜._゜,.）

し-じ-