Chapter 17 – The Demon Wolf’s Story

While it now understood that I wasn’t hostile, it had still not let its guard down completely.
It crouched low and inspected me.

‘What are you doing here?’
“…”

While hesitant, it replied.
I had been right, and they had come here to eat after being lured by the smell.
They had been hungry.
When I looked closely, I saw that the Demon Wolf was very thin.

From now on, we would have to be careful with how we dealt with leftover food.
It would be very dangerous if we started to attract Demon Bears.

‘I see. That’s fine. But what about the others in the pack?’
“…”

It was saying that there is no pack.
Apparently, it was just the two of them.

‘And why is that?’
“…Kyuon.”

The Demon Wolf whimpered sadly.
They had all been killed by a bear.

And no ordinary bear could have hunted down a pack of Demon Wolves.
A demon beast. A Demon Bear.
And even then, it would have to be an especially strong and savage one.

For Demon Bears, a pack of Demon Wolves would not be an enemy to take lightly.
If anything, Demon Bears were sometimes the ones being hunted by Demon Wolves when there wasn’t enough food.
And so this Demon Bear would have to be incredibly strong.

Yesterday, Hippolius had been hunting boars.
Hippolius had eaten one and then brought back another for us.
And so that was two in all.

Why would a Demon Bear attack a pack of Demon Wolves if there were plenty of boars around?
Besides, Demon Wolves did not taste very good.

Not that I had ever eaten them. That information came from a monster that I tamed a long time ago.
You would have to be a Demon Bear with a particularly violent and wild nature in order to attack something strong and bad tasting.

Something overly aggressive would be difficult to tame.
You would have to do something about their rebellious spirit.

The basics of taming involved making the monster feel that it ‘wouldn’t mind being tamed.’
And then I would have to work harder to make it ‘want to be tamed.’
Otherwise, it was difficult to build up enough trust.

(It might be better to hunt the bear instead of taming it.)

Hunting down a Demon Bear would be hard, but someone like Victor should be able to do it.
Still, we could think of that later. Right now, there was a Demon Wolf in front of me.

‘What about that one that ran away?’
“…”
‘So it’s your friend. Was it from your pack?’
“…”
‘It didn’t look like a normal wolf… Is it sick?’
“…”

According to the wolf, the mysterious creature was not related to the wolves by blood.
But it had been adopted by the wolf pack when it was a baby.
However, the Demon Wolves saw it as part of the pack now.

“…”
‘I see.’

According to the Demon Wolf, the mysterious creature was weak and would get sick often.
Its sense of smell was not very good, and it was clumsy and bad with hunting.
And so the wolf felt that it had to protect it.

‘That’s very commendable.’

I liked those who looked out for their friends. They were trust-worthy.
It was the same with both humans and monsters.

‘Would you like to join us?’
“…”

The Demon Wolf was still cautious of me.
However, it was clear that it wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea either.

After all, the rest of their pack had been killed.
It was still young, and the mysterious creature was weak and slow.
They had come here, desperate for food, in spite of the risk.
That meant they were having trouble securing food.

‘If you work with us, you will have food on a steady basis.’
“…”
‘Don’t you want to eat until you are full?’
“…”

The Demon Wolf was conflicted. It just needed one more push.

‘And you’ll have a soft place to sleep.’
“…”
‘That one that ran away. Perhaps it won’t be so weak with a proper bed and food?’
“…!”

When I brought up the well-being of the mysterious creature, the Demon Wolf seemed to be moved greatly.
It really did care about its friend.

‘I will give you a name, power, a bed, and food. And when your enemies attack, we will fight together.’
“…”
‘But you will have to follow my orders. Is that alright?’
“…”
The Demon Wolf agreed.

‘Thank you.’

And so I started to think of a name.
I studied the Demon Wolf’s features. Its coat was dirty, but white.
And it was very skinny. You could see its bones.
A skinny wolf. There was an old word for that. Fetar.
No, it would get fat soon enough. Maybe I should name it after its fur.

‘…What about Shiro(white)?’
“…”

The Demon Wolf liked the name.

‘Alright. Now I will connect us with magic energy. But don’t worry, it won’t hurt.’

I gathered magic energy into my palm and started to create a magic circle.
And then I placed my hand over the Demon Wolf’s nose.

“I, Theodore Du…”
“UGAAAAAHH!”

Before I could finish, something slammed into me from the side.