CH 19.1

The Princess Runs with the Wolf

I gave a name to Silver Wolf, who became my familiar. The origin of the name is a hero of this world. It is said that he was the one who ended the 300-year war in a civilization several generations ago.

“That’s hardly a name for a monster, though…”

“It will be your loss if you mind it, you know…?”

The Silver Wolf started to glow. So dazzling, you are going to be a nuisance to the neighbors when you start glowing so suddenly. I’ll have to train him not to do it in the future.

“Young lady!! That’s an evolution.”

“It’s too bright, I rather he didn’t do it.”

I don’t care about evolution. I heard that even goblins can evolve, so whatever you do, stop glowing first.

I don’t know if my wish was granted, but it was over in about 30 seconds.

“He’s becoming larger.”

“Young lady, please step behind me.”

Alethia shielded me behind her and pointed her kukri sword at Coote, but…

“Grrrah!!”

“Ugh.”

The howl of the former(?) Silver Wolf was strong enough to coerce even the ogres. Aletheia and the knights were frozen stiff by it, but I was not affected? Is this because he has no intention of attacking me? If that’s the case, then let’s give him plenty of love, because I made Coote my familiar for petting and transportation. As he evolved, he grew from two meters to about three meters in size, and his silvery fur became even more beautiful and smooth. I don’t know what species he is, but it’s probably strong. I don’t think I could beat him now. I could if I managed to hit him, but I don’t think could lend a strike. When I came out from behind Aletheia, Coote was staring at me fixedly.

“Y… Young lady…”

“It’s fine. Coote is my familiar.”

I stood in front of Coote and undid my transformation. Originally, I had silver hair and green eyes, but I changed them to red hair and gold eyes, just like my brother’s. This is the art of transformation that Aletheia uses, but I learned it from her mainly to hide the Mark in my eye. In addition, I’ll be changing my hair to black with dark eyes when I register at the Guild, but I won’t be changing my facial features. That’s because on top of changing the color of my hair and eyes, I will be wearing a mask to disguise myself. I will be totally manifesting my second year syndrome delusions! I know it’s still early for me, but my inner troll was itching to get started.

“… Paw.”

“Woof.”

What a surprise. Coote was able to give me his paw right away. He even took care not to put any weight on my hand so as not to burden me.

“Good boy, good boy.”

Of course, I’m going to hug this good boy. Ohh, this fluffy yet silky fur could keep me warm even in winter, so it would be possible to sleep together with him as long as I force Aletheia a little to agree (I won’t kill her, just have her be more obedient).

It seems that the petrification that Aletheia and the knights were experiencing was lifted when I started patting him. It seems to me that Coote was angry that Aletheia was hiding me from him. How do I know? I somehow can read his thoughts to some extent. I’m guessing that some kind of link was formed between us now that he became my familiar.

“… There don’t seem to be any danger.”

“There was none from the beginning.”

“However, please don’t do anything like this again. I won’t be able to show my face before His Majesty if something happened to you… or rather, I will kill myself if something happens to you.”

Crap… Aletheia was seriously mad. I will have to follow up on this matter later.

“… I won’t do it again.”

“You have not given up yet… you are not reflecting enough! Please have more self-awareness. If you keep acting out of curiosity, you will really hurt yourself. Although I’m really glad that nothing happened to you, I will have to properly report this to Her Majesty.”

Nggh, I don’t want Mother to be angry with me. That sounds too scary… somehow, I have to… it’s not possible, I have already been checkmated.

“Please get back into the carriage if you understand. You dog over there, you follow after the carriage.”

“Grrrr!”

“Wanna fight? Young lady is going to hate you if you do something to me, you know? You can at least understands the words, right?”

Coote is a clever doggy, so I’m sure he understood words even before his evolution. In other words, he’s… not a humanoid-type, so I don’t really understand how this works, but he doesn’t want to be hated by me, so he’s obedient. What a cute child, I’m going to fluff him later.

“But before that, I’m going to ride Coote!”

“So fast~ run even faster!”

“Young lady~~ we will fall off if he goes any faster than this, please calm down~”

It was a great ride, and even though he was carrying me and Aletheia, and going very fast, it didn’t shake or vibrate at all. I’d like to ride this child instead of a carriage. No, let’s just ride him instead from now on.

And so, we rode on his back for about an hour. We don’t need a carriage anymore, do we? I think it’s definitely better this way.

“I will take him instead of the carriage.”

“Absolutely not.”

Aletheia was stingy and objected to riding him at first, but we ended up riding together, and in the first place, Coote was very careful not to drop us. I don’t think there’s anything dangerous about this… besides, Coote is a boss-like monster in this area, so things like goblins break into run when they see him. Too convenient.