How to Raise a Dumb Wolf - Chapter 45

He… looks… as though he wants to talk to me?!

I-it doesn’t look that way at all!!

Aisha had not expected that the instant she resolved to overcome one crisis, another, even stranger and more urgent one would appear directly in her path.

The silver-gray-haired man standing a short distance away watched her without blinking. His gaze was sharp, and even from afar, he radiated an intimidating, unapproachable air. Toward her in particular, he seemed positively hostile.

Aisha pressed her lips together and looked anxiously at Pal, who had described the situation as *he looks as though he really wants to talk to you*.

“Pal,” she whispered, “are you… certain?”

Pal replied with perfect sincerity and certainty, “Of course!” *Why else would he be waiting here for you…*

Still uncertain, Aisha glanced at Les’s expression once more. Then she turned back with her shoulders hunched and said unhappily, “But I think he hates me…”

“How is that possible? One look at his face and you can tell he desperately wants to speak with you!”

“R-really…?”

“Absolutely!”

To make himself sound more credible, Pal deliberately placed great weight on every syllable.

Even so, Aisha remained doubtful as she watched the young man insist so earnestly. She was about to say something else when, from the corner of her eye, she saw the previously motionless man suddenly stride toward them without warning.

Aisha’s chest tightened.

For some reason, what flashed through her mind was the moment he had saved her—the man appearing like a hero in the middle of danger. He had said very little, but he had been powerfully built.

He had rescued her, torn his shirt so she could bandage her wound, and given her his coat. Aisha had carefully washed the coat and kept it in her wardrobe, unsure when she could return it. Perhaps he did not even want it anymore…

“Aisha, why is your face red?”

Pal asked worriedly from beside her. Seeing her frightened enough to blush, he feared she might flee before the two of them had a chance to speak.

Aisha hurriedly covered her face. “Ah, I…”

She could not continue. Only then did she realize that her heart was beating far too quickly as well.

Les was drawing closer. Afraid he might notice something strange, she repeatedly pressed the cool back of her hand against her cheeks, hoping the heat would fade.

“Uh, don’t be afraid…” Pal tried frantically to reassure her. “Les only looks fierce. He’s actually a very good person! Really! Wait… Les!”

In the blink of an eye, the silver-haired man had nearly reached them. Pal hurried forward and greeted him with a smile. They did indeed appear familiar.

Les inclined his head slightly to Pal, then looked at Aisha.

The steady attention of those gray-blue eyes made her heart flutter even more wildly.

“Aisha, this is my cousin, Les Wolf,” Pal said with an air of proper formality now that the moment seemed right. “Les, this is Aisha—Aisha Byrd. She entered the Tower of Magic this year.”

Aisha still did not understand what was happening to her. With her face still flushed, she fumbled with the things in her hands until she freed one and held it out.

“Ah… hello. I’m Aisha Byrd. Um… I don’t know whether you remember, but we met during the entrance examination in Wold Warrior School’s forest. You… you saved me…”

“I remember.”

Les extended his hand and shook hers gently.

During their first meeting, they had barely touched. Compared with their intimacy while he was in beast form, a handshake was utterly ordinary. Yet touching Aisha’s warm, soft hand for the first time in human form still left Les momentarily dazed.

In some ways, contact with Aisha in wolf form never felt as direct as it did in human form. Her hand, for example…

It was so much smaller than his.

The realization softened his heart. After a pause, he opened his mouth and spoke awkwardly, his voice rough from having spoken so little lately.

“I am Les Wolf.”

“I-I already know.” Aisha stumbled over the words. “I saw your portrait on the warrior school wall. Pal also told me about you before…”

Her face heated again.

She felt embarrassed. Finding the portrait truly had been an accident, but afterward, she had deliberately asked other people about his identity. Les had not volunteered his identity at the time, so doing this felt almost like prying into someone’s affairs.

Hopefully… hopefully he would not think her rude.

Sure enough, the man’s brow furrowed, creasing his forehead.

Aisha did not know this was his bashful response to learning she had seen his fifteen-year-old self. She feared her words had left a bad impression and felt faintly disappointed.

“…Mm.”

Only after a long while did Les give a small nod.

At last, they had formally met.

Les quietly clenched a fist, unable to suppress his excitement.

Sensing his cousin’s shifting emotions through his scent, Pal knew it was time for the next step.

“Why don’t we sit in a nearby café for a while? We’ve walked so far, and Aisha, as a mage, you must be a little tired. Les, would you like to come too?”

Les nodded immediately, then looked at Aisha and waited nervously for her response.

What?

Aisha was bewildered. She was not actually tired. Most people had little faith in a mage’s stamina, but Aisha had grown up in Philray, where hills and mountains were everywhere. She was fitter than the average girl and would not tire after walking only a short distance.

But when she raised her head, she met a pair of calm gray-blue eyes.

Aisha knew little about Les Wolf and could not guess what he was thinking. But she had become deeply familiar with a wolf called Les. To some extent, she could read a wolf’s gaze.

Their eyes were the same gray-blue. They looked so much alike.

As though compelled by something beyond reason, Aisha nodded.

…

Half an hour later, in a small café near the military academy.

By the time Aisha returned to herself, she was sitting at a window table.

Most schools in Wold were surrounded by a substantial number of cafés, mainly providing students and instructors with places to talk and relax. They were generally tastefully furnished. Even without researching in advance, the three had easily found somewhere suitable for conversation.

Yet in this warm, comfortable room, the atmosphere around the only occupied table was terribly awkward.

Aisha was extremely nervous.

After they ordered coffee and pastries, Pal suddenly claimed he had forgotten part of the errand he needed to finish. Then he transformed into a black panther and raced out the café door, never to return.

That left one man and one woman sitting face-to-face with a small round table between them and three cups of coffee upon it.

Before leaving, Pal had specifically said he would be gone a long time and that they need not wait for him. He plainly did not intend to come back.

Looking at the man opposite her, who sat so straight that he could have put on a uniform and stepped directly into military formation, Aisha clenched her skirt uneasily.

“Aisha.”

The man suddenly spoke her name.

For no apparent reason, her heart gave several wild beats. She quickly looked up.

Les watched Aisha’s wide-eyed unease. Her hazel-green eyes were clear and bright in the sunlight, but the fear flickering within made him sigh inwardly.

Of course, he could tell Aisha did not feel close to him. That was perfectly normal. This was only their second meeting, and Les had never possessed an approachable personality. On his estate, even his vassals did not dare approach him, much less a human girl.

Aisha did not know she embraced and stroked him every day. Nor did she know they had even… kissed.

Things that came easily in beast form became presumptuous in human form. Les wanted to be as close to her as he was as a wolf, but he dared not frighten her.

He could only proceed slowly.

Besides… human form allowed things his beast form could not. That was why he sat here today.

After a pause, Les tried to make his tone gentle. But once the words emerged, they remained stiff and rigid.

“…You live in the Tower of Magic now?”

“Ah, y-yes…” Aisha answered, plainly uncomfortable.

“Which teacher do you study under?”

“Eric. Mr. Eric Green.”

“On the ninth floor of the upper section?”

“Mm…”

To Aisha, this was a perfect example of conversation made solely because neither person knew what else to say.

Still, at the mention of this subject, she pressed her lips together and unconsciously looked troubled.

She had decided to face the problem directly. She simply had not decided how.

This seemed like an opening. Les composed himself and asked, “As far as I know, Eric Green is currently one of the finest mages and teachers of magic… But you do not look happy.”

Aisha had not expected him to say that. She froze, then quickly shook her head with a smile.

“It’s not so bad. I’ve simply reached a small bottleneck recently…”

“What kind of bottleneck?”

Aisha blinked. She had never expected Les to care so much about her studies.

She met his unwavering gray-blue eyes. Les continued looking directly at her, waiting for an answer.

So Aisha smiled, loosened her shoulders as though unconcerned, and began, “Well…”

She briefly described her recent condition, then said, “Neither my innate magic nor my general magic has improved lately. I don’t know how to advance. I’m planning to ask Thorne again, or… perhaps find out whether there are any teachers in the tower who possess innate magic themselves.”

So that was it.

At last, Les understood why Aisha had so often seemed dejected lately, and why she had exhausted her magical power through excessive practice several times. He finally felt somewhat relieved.

Honestly, Les was no expert in magic. He had never observed Eric Green’s lessons and could not tell whether the problem was related to his teaching.

Still…

After thinking, Les rose.

“Come with me.”