How to Raise a Dumb Wolf - Chapter 27

Pal’s words were nothing more than a reflex born of extreme shock. After all, anyone would have been stunned to see a distant cousin who had graduated five years earlier, attained the rank of major general, was constantly busy with official duties, and was supposedly at death’s door recuperating back home suddenly appear at the Heart of the World—alive and well at a girl’s side.

But Pal quickly realized that he had made a terrible mistake. The instant the words left his mouth, the giant wolf’s entire bearing changed, and he fixed Pal with a murderous glare.

Yes. Murderous.

Pal’s panther frame shuddered.

As a massive predator, Les exerted tremendous pressure on those around him. Even under ordinary circumstances, when the giant wolf was making no deliberate show of aggression, his presence was enough to terrify beastfolk smaller than he was. And now there was unmistakable killing intent gleaming in his eyes.

Almost immediately, Pal found himself unable to breathe beneath the force of Les’s presence. Every animal instinct he possessed was screaming at him to run. He was a black panther with direwolf blood, for goodness’ sake—a powerful big cat in his own right. He had always assumed he did not need to fear Les like some tiny animal would!

Pal felt terribly wronged.

He had never said so outright, but in truth… he had always admired Les.

In fact, the reason a nobleman’s son like him had chosen to leave a comfortable life in the Empire and subject himself to the torments of Wold Warrior School was largely because of Les.

Pal was two years younger than Les. For as long as he could remember, his father had constantly compared him with this absurdly powerful cousin, yet Pal had never been able to catch up.

At first, Pal worked hard and made Les his goal. But the more he tried to close the distance, the more hopeless it seemed, until Les gradually became the shadow looming over him. That painful period lasted a long time. Then, after Les spent five years earning countless military achievements and rose amid flowers and applause to become the youngest major general through his noble willingness to sacrifice, Pal finally accepted that he would never catch up to his cousin. From then on, he simply became an admirer.

If he could not become someone like his cousin, then at least he could become his cousin’s right-hand man!

With that goal in mind, Pal abandoned the beast-form frontal combat and human-form hand-to-hand techniques he had studied in imitation of Les. Instead, he turned to stealth and archery, disciplines better suited to a supporting role. He had to admit that while his black-panther form could reach a respectable standard in the first two courses, which placed great emphasis on strength and explosive power, it had no particular advantage over larger, fiercer beast forms. Reaching Les’s level was harder still.

By contrast, the latter two courses came naturally to him. He soon broke through the bottleneck that had held him back for so long. Combined with his earlier training in beast-form combat and hand-to-hand fighting, these new skills made Pal particularly formidable in ambushes, which thrilled him.

At last, he had found the career path that suited him. He decided to study with everything he had, graduate as quickly as possible, then enter the military just as Les had and fight his way upward. He would seize every chance for promotion, make field-officer rank as quickly as possible, and request a transfer to the First Army of the Empire, where he could support his cousin…

It was far too embarrassing to admit aloud, but Pal had secretly imagined that perhaps one day, while he was practicing stealth or archery, his cousin might happen to pass by and witness his magnificent skill. Les would be so impressed that he would personally invite Pal to become his right-hand man.

Now his cousin really had appeared, but…

He was glaring at him!!!

Still holding that idiotic sign thanking candidates for applying to their schools, Pal stood there devastated and utterly blank. He could guess that he had done something wrong, but he had no idea what. Unable to make amends, all he could do was remain frozen in place, mouth hanging open, and endure his cousin’s furious glare like a violent storm.

At that moment, the human girl beside Les blinked in surprise. With a complicated expression, she looked from the gray giant wolf to Pal, then back again several times. At last, she stared at Pal in disbelief.

“Les? Do you mean… it?”

Aisha truly was shocked.

This was already the second time in a short span that she had heard someone connect the giant wolf with the beastfolk major general, Les Wolf. It was impossible not to draw some sort of conclusion.

And honestly, the young man in front of her seemed to mean exactly what she suspected.

Pal distinctly felt his cousin’s glare sharpen.

“N-no!” In a flash of desperate inspiration, Pal denied it. But the terror of Les’s crushing place above him in the food chain—a pressure only beastfolk could sense—threw him into confusion. When it did not ease, Pal assumed he had guessed wrong and hurriedly corrected himself. “No, wait, yes! Him! That’s right! It’s him!”

“Huh?”

Aisha stood frozen, partly because she had no idea how to react to the possibility that the giant wolf might be beastfolk, and partly because she could not make sense of the black-haired young man’s blatant contradiction.

She paused, tried to put the logic in order, then asked uneasily, “Um… are you saying… my wolf is the beastfolk major general Les Wolf?”

Pal had thought the pressure from his cousin had already reached its peak. But in that instant, the bone-chilling terror abruptly doubled. If he had been in beast form, his back would already have arched high in fright, every hair on his body standing on end.

No—his hair was standing on end even in human form!

Cousin, if you have something to say, can’t you just say it?!

Pal was instantly drenched in cold sweat, beads as large as beans streaming from his forehead. He was still thoroughly confused, but if he could not understand even now that his cousin did not want anyone connecting his beast form with his identity, he was liable to end up pinned beneath a wolf’s paw and ground into the dirt.

“No!” Pal denied with swift and absolute conviction. “Definitely not!”

The pressure from Les was still terrifying, but at least it did not rise any further. Pal managed a small breath of relief.

Perhaps people really did become more resourceful in a crisis. Watching the girl’s expression grow increasingly puzzled, Pal gritted his teeth and launched into an explanation.

“Les… really is his name! But he isn’t Major General Wolf. He’s… he’s my old pet! Since he looks exactly like Major General Les Wolf’s beast form, I got carried away and gave him the same name! He’s a real wolf, not beastfolk!”

Calling the last descendant of the Ancient Direwolf Clan his pet was a considerable risk. Pal was so nervous his heart nearly stopped… Fortunately, his cousin did not seem angry. Not only did he refrain from pouncing on Pal to fight him, but the pressure actually eased.

Pal hurried to press his advantage.

“Les Wolf is actually my distant cousin. I’ve seen his beast form, and it truly looks exactly like this wolf! If you put the two of them side by side, you wouldn’t be able to tell them apart at all! Ahem… Of course, I named the wolf behind my cousin’s back. My cousin is already the last descendant of his clan, and this wolf’s breed is probably rare too, so after we found him in the wild, we raised him… He’s trained! He used to help us hunt animals and things like that. He can understand simple commands, and he’s very intelligent! But several years ago, he suddenly left on his own… Where did you find him?”

Pal carefully concealed his hunger for gossip and looked eagerly at Aisha.

When she heard that the giant wolf had nothing to do with the beastfolk, Aisha’s heart finally dropped back into place with a thud.

All that had filled her mind a moment ago were the things she had done with the giant wolf lately—all the kissing and hugging… Merely imagining that he might be beastfolk made her face burn uncontrollably. It was far too embarrassing…

Thank goodness he was not.

Relieved, Aisha smiled at Pal. “I found it in the forest near my hometown. It was injured at the time… Um… it’s been with me ever since, so… well… do you want to take it back?”

Without realizing it, Aisha leaned closer to the giant wolf and lightly caught a tuft of his fur between her fingers. Her expression was deeply worried.

Feeling his cousin’s gaze immediately settle on him, Pal understood at once. Looking straight ahead with a perfectly righteous air, he declared, “Of course not. Animals have the right to choose too. Since he left us of his own accord and chose you, then as long as you’re willing, of course you may keep him.”

“Really?”

Aisha’s face lit up, and she happily wrapped her arms around the giant wolf’s neck.

Pal watched with complicated feelings as his usually cold, taciturn cousin’s tail gave a small, involuntary wag when she hugged him.

“Yes, of course,” he answered solemnly.

“Mm… But I’ve never kept an animal before, and…” Aisha grew embarrassed. “If there’s something I don’t understand, may I ask you?”

“Certainly! Wolves like this can be left to roam freely. He won’t bite anyone, and at the Heart of the World, people will probably assume he’s beastfolk anyway, so it won’t matter… The forests north of Wold have plenty for him to hunt, and he should be able to find his own way there. If he occasionally disappears for a few days, you don’t need to go looking for him. He’ll come back on his own…”

Pal numbly recited methods for raising giant wolves that even he did not believe, trying only to make every detail as favorable to Les as possible. He could tell that his cousin was pleased with his inventions because the pressure continued to fade.

Aisha, however, listened very seriously. Partway through, she hurriedly pulled a notebook from her luggage and began writing everything down. When she had finished, she let out a long breath.

It seemed… there was very little she needed to do. Raising it—no, raising *him*—would not be difficult.

The common tongue distinguished between third-person pronouns in speech. Hearing Pal consistently use *he* for the wolf, Aisha hastened to correct herself as well. It was true… Since she did not really think of the giant wolf as a pet, this form of address felt closer, more like family.

And then there was… Les.

Aisha pressed her lips together.

She had never settled on a name for the giant wolf because she could not think of one that felt right. Unlike Pal, the name Les held no special meaning for her. It belonged to neither a relative nor a soldier she knew, so there was nothing strange about using it. And… unexpectedly, it suited him.

Aisha paused. She placed her hand gently against the giant wolf’s face and gazed into his eyes. A little nervous, she tried the name aloud.

“…Les.”

The giant wolf visibly stilled. Then his tail swayed several times in unmistakable delight. A few seconds later… he pressed his forehead against Aisha’s.