Chapter 18 – The Mystery Child

“Ohh?”

I reeled after having been tackled. And the spell was interrupted.

“Arghhh!”

It was the mysterious creature. I shouted as it rammed into me.
While it was small, it was terrifically fast.
But it was also light in weight, and weak.
And so even after being hit, I took no damage.

“Urrruggah! Gah!”

It bit into me desperately while punching me with its fists.
Perhaps it had seen me create the magic circle near the demon wolf’s nose, and thought that I was going to hurt it.
And so it attacked me like this.

“Well, calm down now.”
“Grrrrr.”

The tail of the mysterious creature went between its legs. It was shaking.
Perhaps that initial attack was all that it could muster.

“Now, now. Calm down.”
“Grrrr. Grrr.”

Even though I tried talking to it in a gentle voice, it would not listen.

“Graaa.”
“Grrr…”

However, once the Demon Wolf howled quietly, it stopped.
It must have told the creature to calm down.

The mysterious creature moved away from me on two feet and went to hug the Demon Wolf.
The wolf then licked the creature’s face.

I was able to get a good look at the creature then.
It was like nothing I had ever seen before.

While its ears and tail were that of a wolf, the rest was just like a human’s.

But there were no humans or demons who had the ears and tail of a wolf.
At least, not on the continent.

Was this creature a wolf or a human?
I could not decide.

‘You calm down as well.’

I used the taming skill to talk to the mysterious creature.

“Fushuu. Fushuu.”

However, I could not hear the will of the creature.
The skill was not working.

(That must be why it ran away the first time I tried talking to it. But still…)

What was important was that the taming skill didn’t work.
It wasn’t that it failed, but that it was fundamentally impossible.

(Thas means that it is either a human or demon.)

The taming skill did not work on humans and demons.
Even though I could tame a dragon, I could not tame a human.

In other words, the fact that my taming skill didn’t work, suggests that the creature is a human who has wolf ears and a tail.

(That means it is the first human we came in contact with on the new continent.)

It was a very special encounter.
This child must have been raised in a very unique environment.

(In any case, we had to talk.)

If the taming skill didn’t work, I would just have to use my voice.

“I don’t have any intention of hurting either of you.”

I said to them slowly, and with a warm smile.

“…Grrrrr.”
“…Grr.”

The child with wolf ears was still cautious.
However, the Demon Wolf seemed to trust me now.
I had not attacked back when the child was hitting me. Perhaps that was why.

“I won’t hurt you.”
“…Grrr.”

As the taming skill did not work, I had no idea if it understood me.
In such cases, your expression and tone were important.

And so I repeated the words slowly and gently. Said that I wasn’t an enemy.
However, the child did not let down its guard.
What a life it must have lived up until now.
It was the Demon Wolf who tried to calm it by licking its face.

“…Just wait here for a moment.”

I realized that persuading it would be difficult. And so I moved away.
As I was using the taming skill, the Demon Wolf would understand what I meant.
And so if the child tried to run away, it would stop it.

I rushed back to the house where Hippolius was sleeping, and grabbed the magic bag.
“Pushu…pushuu…”
Hippolius was still in a deep sleep.

(But the beast child was quite loud…)

Perhaps Hippolius was too big to care about such things.
I took the bag and returned to the Demon Wolf and the child.

“…”
“…Grrr.”

The child was trying to run away, but the Demon Wolf was biting the back part of its clothes.
Yes, the beast child was wearing clothes.
Well, some might hesitate to call them clothes, as it was more like being wrapped up in something like old tree bark.
Perhaps the Demon Wolves had prepared it because they felt sorry for the child, as it did not have any fur of its own.

Demon Wolves were one of the more intelligent types of monsters.
While their paws, claws and fangs would not allow them to become craftsmen, they could still tear bark off of trees.
Though, the child would have had to tie the vines around its own waist.

“Aren’t you hungry? Here, have some food first.”
“Grrr…rrr?”

The child twitched.
Could it be that it understood the word, ‘food’?

And so I took out some of the leftover meat that was for dinner.
It was what we had saved for breakfast.

I moved slowly, and with exaggerated gestures.
This was so the cautious child and Demon Wolf would know exactly what I was doing.

First, I took out a wooden plate, and put it on the ground.
Then I slowly took out the cooked meat and placed it on the plate.