How to Raise a Dumb Wolf - Chapter 43

So you finally decided to take the risk and make a move on the human girl. But she’s Tina Killott’s daughter. Are you sure something this dangerous is all right?

The words were written plainly across Pal’s face.

Les knew Pal had misunderstood him, and his own poor explanation was partly to blame. Even so, heat rose faintly in his face. He lifted a fist to his lips, coughed, and turned slightly aside in an attempt to hide it.

Unlike Pal, however, his skin was relatively pale, so the attempt accomplished little.

Fortunately, there were few customers in the café at this hour. No one was likely to notice them.

After a pause, Les tried to explain.

“I didn’t mean… that. Aisha hasn’t been herself lately. It may have something to do with her studies. I want to… understand what’s wrong.”

Remembering how pale Aisha had looked after exhausting her magical power, Les pressed his lips together.

He could hardly follow Aisha into her lessons with Eric Green, so he did not know precisely what had happened. But… it was easy to imagine that she had encountered some difficulty or reached a bottleneck.

That was common in any kind of study. Still, when it continued for a long time, it was genuinely painful.

To be honest, a mage’s studies were very different from a warrior’s. Les could not promise that he would be able to help. He simply… did not want to stand aside and watch Aisha suffer.

Composing himself, he looked directly at Pal.

“I want you to help me.”

“O-of course I’ll help!”

At Les’s words, Pal instantly became flustered and excited.

Of course he was willing to help his cousin. The entire reason he had become a warrior was his hope of serving as one of Major General Les Wolf’s key aides—in any capacity. This was the opportunity he had awaited for years!

Pal secretly clenched a fist, barely restraining himself from growling *Yes!*

But in front of his cousin, he dared not appear so eager or undignified. He needed to display his reliable side.

Scratching his hair, Pal racked his brain for a plan.

“First, we need a time when it won’t seem strange for your beast form to be absent, so you can meet her under your real identity. Hmm… an afternoon on one of her lesson days would be best, wouldn’t it? A day when Aisha has no general lectures… Wednesday? But she rarely leaves the Tower of Magic lately…

“What if I find a way to bring her out, then pretend we happened to run into you and introduce you? How does that sound?”

It was close to the arrangement Les had imagined, and even more thorough. After a brief pause, he nodded.

Pal was greatly encouraged by his approval. He sat straighter and continued offering ideas.

“We’ll definitely need to make some preparations first… Uh, I don’t understand much about this either, but, for example… hmm. Should you buy some new clothes? Wearing military dress all the time is rather stiff. Girls may prefer men who are charming, funny, and romantic.”

Les: …

Pal had once again focused on the wrong point and brought the conversation back to romance, leaving Les deeply uncomfortable. The words *witty, humorous, and romantic* discouraged him further.

Les knew his shortcomings. Everything from his expression to his temperament was too rigid. Making a girl happy was absolutely not one of his strengths.

After some thought, he said awkwardly, “I’m not trying to…”

“I know,” Pal hurriedly replied. “But if you want Aisha to tell you what’s troubling her, don’t you need to win her favor first? Dressing in a softer, more approachable way will make it easier for a girl to trust you. Besides, in the long term, you do want to win Aisha’s affection, don’t you?”

Les pressed his lips together. Unable to refute him, he tacitly agreed.

He rarely wore anything besides military uniforms. He even owned several with the medals removed, leaving no visible indication of his achievements or rank so they could serve as ordinary clothing.

He had been accustomed to that for years. But to women… perhaps it did create distance and pressure.

“Oh, and you should make your gaze gentler too,” Pal suggested, trying hard to appear mature despite having no experience with women himself.

…Gentler?

Les frowned uneasily.

“Uh… I don’t know how to do it either.” Pal finally cracked, scratching the back of his head and lowering his voice. “I’ve never liked anyone before… Maybe you could practice in front of a mirror for a few days?”

“…”

That seemed to be his only option.

Les reluctantly nodded.

…

“…Control the wand’s direction and force… Keep your magical output steadier. You don’t need to rush. Good. Exactly.”

Eric’s voice was calm and even. Holding her breath, Aisha finally completed the magic array she was drawing on the laboratory table.

The array ignited, then gradually vanished. If it could be enlarged on a battlefield and made more powerful, it would certainly be useful.

Aisha breathed softly in relief. That completed the morning’s lesson. It was Wednesday, so she had no classes in the afternoon and could rest for a while.

She raised her head slightly and looked at Eric Green, who stood beside her with a frown, waiting for his evaluation.

He had just restored the burned array with the laboratory table and was examining its outline and the precision of its magical patterns inch by inch. His concentration was absolute.

Stray hair had fallen along both sides of his face, making his already severe expression even harder to read. Aisha became involuntarily nervous.

Then Eric’s brow relaxed slightly.

“Not bad. You’re becoming more proficient. If Tina saw this, she would certainly praise you too.”

“…Thank you.”

Aisha thanked him as always and studied him cautiously.

Only when he mentioned her mother did a nearly imperceptible gentleness enter his expression. Eric spoke of Tina extremely often, but even after observing him for a long time, Aisha still could not be certain she had not imagined it.

Besides… his words left her conflicted.

In truth, she had reached a bottleneck. Perhaps she had improved a little, but the progress was becoming slower and slower. Apart from greater familiarity, almost nothing was advancing. Yet Eric corrected her less frequently, as though he saw no problem with her slowing improvement.

Sure enough, Eric continued, “Go back and keep practicing. Tomorrow, I’ll begin teaching you transformation magic. For the next lesson, in addition to the inspection of the burning magic array, submit preparatory notes on transformation magic.

“And you, Thorne—take back the diagrams for the thirteen combined magic arrays and revise them. Annotate the governing formulas and their functions. There must be no computational errors.”

“Yes, Teacher.”

Both students accepted their assignments.

After putting away her things, Aisha saw Thorne still discussing details with Eric that she could not understand. She said goodbye and left first.

From the corner of his eye, Thorne saw her go. He said nothing and returned his full attention to Eric’s explanation.

…

Meanwhile, Aisha had returned to her room to rest and recover the magical power consumed during class.

Les had gone to the forest again, leaving the room silent and empty. Aisha wanted very much to nap against him, but she could not… Perhaps she had become too dependent on Les.

The thought that a grown woman like her still wanted to rely on a wolf whenever she was tired made Aisha blush at herself.

She patted her cheeks to calm down and decided to take an independent, self-reliant nap in her own bed.

Aisha fluffed her pillow, pulled back the blanket, and prepared to lie—

Plop!

Before she could even cry out, a white, spherical object flew through the window at astonishing speed, struck her, then dropped into her lap.

Startled, Aisha looked down. An exceptionally small white owl, so fat it was nearly round, shook its head and sprang upright. It hooted twice, then flapped its wings and flew back outside.

Was that… a messenger owl?

Aisha was truly astonished. She had seen the creature in the Tower of Magic handbook. Before communication magic was invented, messenger owls notified mages on the tower’s upper floors that visitors had arrived. They were no longer used at all.

Messenger owls had a peculiar characteristic. Their natural flight was slow, so someone had to hurl them upward to accelerate them. The harder they were thrown, the faster they flew. In an era without communication magic, it truly had been more convenient than climbing floor after floor…

No, no, wait. That was not the point.

Why was anyone using one now?!

And she had a visitor?!

Aisha barely knew anyone in Wold. She was not especially close to any of the new students from her general lectures either. It was difficult to imagine who might come looking for her.

She glanced at the completely silent communication magic array beside her bed, then walked skeptically to the window and looked down.

Pal stood below holding the tiny messenger owl, waving at her with an awkward expression.

Aisha froze, then hurried downstairs.

…

“…Someone from the Tower of Magic told me the communication magic broke down today and is under maintenance. Then they gave me this.”

Once Aisha arrived, Pal held the owl and explained with embarrassment and guilt. The tiny white messenger owl wore a ferocious expression, looking particularly strange in Pal’s hands. Stranger still, it kept pecking him.

“Apparently, it didn’t used to look like this… But it hasn’t had much flying work in recent years, so it gradually grew fat in captivity.”

Pal’s eyes shifted as he spoke.

In truth, he had not thrown the owl. Les had. For some reason, the moment Pal picked up the owl, it began pecking him. Helpless, he handed it to Les—but even in Les’s hands, it continued trying to peck Pal.

It was far too strange. What had Pal ever done to offend an owl?!

But he could not tell Aisha the truth. After throwing the owl, Les had gone ahead to hide and would follow them later.

As a result, the moment Pal finished lying, the owl pecked him with even greater enthusiasm.

Aisha smiled at the fierce-looking creature. If the communication magic was broken, there was nothing anyone could do.

She looked at Pal in confusion. “Then why did you come to see me?”

“Uh, it’s like this.”

Pal spoke stiffly. He was not skilled at lying.

“I remembered that I promised to show you around Wold if you were certain you could stay. I thought you’d more or less adjusted to life in the Tower of Magic by now, so I came to keep that promise.”

Because Aisha still needed advice about Les, she and Pal had remained in contact.

At his explanation, she suddenly remembered. Pal had indeed said he would show her Les’s walking route and related places after her examination.

But… by now, Aisha had mostly learned Les’s route between the Tower of Magic and the forest on her own.

After a pause, she was about to decline and tell him not to trouble himself when Pal continued—

“There are actually several routes suitable for walking. And I don’t know how familiar you are with Wold yet. If you want, I could show you around as well. Uh… is there anywhere you’d like to visit?”

There was.

Life after entering the Tower of Magic had been busier than Aisha expected. She had wanted to go out and look around but never found time.

Perhaps she truly had pushed herself too hard recently and needed room to breathe…

Aisha paused. “…Do you know where Wold Military Academy is?”

“What? Oh, yes.”

Pal froze, then nodded.

“Wait here. I’ll return… hmm… this bird first.”