How to Raise a Dumb Wolf - Chapter 46

The place Les took Aisha was the Free Arena in central Wold.

Aisha had heard of it. The Free Arena was one of the Heart of the World’s landmark structures, standing alongside the Tower of Magic and the Great Lighthouse.

It occupied the city’s busiest district beside the market, and countless related venues and shops had grown around it. When no public competition was scheduled, warriors and combat mages used the Free Arena to spar and practice. Students occasionally entered to test themselves as well.

Although Aisha had long heard of it and had seen the great arched building during earlier visits to the commercial district, this was her first time going inside, and she could not suppress her excitement.

Les, by contrast, was clearly at home here. Before long, he led her to the entrance, took several silver coins from his pocket, and handed them to the old man at the booking counter.

“Two two-hour all-arena spectator passes.”

The old man accepted the coins and counted them casually. His pointed beast ears, missing much of their fur, twitched.

He was an extremely elderly beastfolk man, with sparse white hair and several missing teeth. Presumably to catch the breeze, he had left his ears out.

The old man lifted his wrinkled, drooping eyelids, glanced at Les, and removed two paper tickets from a drawer.

“You and your girlfriend came at the right time,” he rasped as he handed them over. “Wold Warrior School’s monthly examinations are approaching, so countless students have booked matches today. Plenty of top students too. Tch, tch. Young people these days are quite capable. I recommend visiting Small Arena A first.”

Aisha stood beside Les. Naturally, she heard the sensitive word *girlfriend* and immediately became flustered.

She looked at Les in alarm and opened her mouth to explain. She herself did not mind, but if he already had…

Oh, no. Pal had emphasized several times that Les had no girlfriend, so it did not mat—

No, that was wrong too!!

Aisha’s thoughts fell into confusion.

By the time she came to her senses, Les had accepted the tickets without changing expression, as though he had not noticed the remark at all. He nodded to the elderly beastfolk.

“…All right. Understood.”

…Huh?

Aisha froze, then realized he must believe such a trivial misunderstanding was not even worth correcting.

By comparison, caring about so insignificant an incident made her seem terribly petty.

She hurriedly shook her head and followed him with forced calm, staring straight ahead.

As a result, she failed to notice how crimson the ears hidden beneath Les’s hair had become.

…

“Um… Major General Wolf… sir?”

After entering with their tickets, Aisha followed behind Les and asked hesitantly. She became stuck on the form of address alone.

He was not much older than she was, yet he had graduated years ago and already held the rank of major general. Every possible way of addressing him felt strange.

Les knew the arena well and turned naturally through several passages. To Aisha, the place resembled a maze. To him, it might as well have been home.

At her voice, he glanced back and suppressed the faint anticipation rising within him.

“…Just call me Les,” he said evenly.

“No, no.” Aisha hurriedly waved her hands. “It’s just… there’s already a wolf living with me named Les. If I called you that too, I would become confused. And it wouldn’t be respectful… I-I’ll call you Major General Wolf.”

Aisha remembered Pal saying he had named the giant wolf after Major General Wolf without his knowledge. Naturally, she would not betray Pal after all the help he had given her. She deliberately made it sound as though she had happened to choose the wolf’s name herself.

But she did not know that the Major General Wolf before her felt his heart catch.

If he had been in beast form, his ears would have drooped in misery.

From Aisha’s perspective, the man stiffened the instant she finished, and his mood clearly worsened. Even as a human, she could feel the atmosphere around him grow heavier.

Growing more panicked, she corrected herself again.

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to insult you. Um… Major General, sir?”

“…It’s fine,” Les said stiffly, suppressing his disappointment and trying to soften his voice. “What did you want to ask?”

“Ah…”

Aisha returned to herself and studied Les cautiously.

“May I ask… what are we here to do?”

She could roughly guess that, since Les had abruptly brought her to the Free Arena after hearing about her bottleneck, he intended to help her overcome it.

But Les spoke so little and explained so little that Aisha had to guess, and none of her guesses gave her a definite answer.

At first, she imagined he might intend to spar with her. But when she saw that Les had bought spectator passes, she became uncertain again.

Could he want her to observe how others used magic and learn from them?

That truly seemed like a reasonable method, and not one Aisha had considered. She lacked the confidence to enter an arena herself. Watching might be best.

Unexpectedly, however, Les’s answer was not what she anticipated.

“…To practice your innate magic,” he said.

“This is the best place.”

“What?”

Aisha froze. She did not understand why a place defined by combat would be suitable for practicing her innate magic—especially when he had purchased spectator passes.

Before she could react, Les stopped before one of the arena doors and pushed it open.

Aisha no longer hesitated and hurried after him.

The Free Arena allowed spectators by default. Anyone who wanted exclusive use of a space without interruption had to pay several extra silver coins.

Except in special circumstances, most people did not object to being watched. On the contrary, winning an exceptional match here was an excellent way to prove oneself. Drawing a large audience offered an even greater chance to establish a reputation, and few high-spirited warriors passed up such an opportunity.

The Free Arena also maintained special combat grounds that randomly matched opponents according to level. Warriors or mages without an arranged opponent could practice freely. Since no one knew whom they would face, these matches offered great variety and unpredictability, making them excellent practical training.

With each warrior’s consent, the arena published that month’s rankings for its highest-tier random matches. Whenever a famous, highly ranked warrior or mage fought, spectators could fill the venue to capacity.

But the arena Les entered clearly held no formidable competitors.

It was a small, self-contained arena chamber—the smallest type provided by the Free Arena, a miniature battleground able to accommodate only a two-on-two match. There were no spectators apart from Les and Aisha. In fact, the two people fighting looked over in surprise at the sound of the door.

Both competitors were male darkfolk.

The one facing the entrance saw Les, then Aisha. His eyes lit up, and he threw both arms into the air.

“Yeah!! A girl!!”

The instant he finished shouting, his opponent punched him squarely in the unguarded face.

“You think I’d fall for such a cheap, underhanded trick?! You’re dead wrong if you think I’ll turn around! I’ll look after I finish beating you… Holy hell, there really is a girl!! Great! Today I’m going to beat you so badly in front of her that—”

Bang!

Before he could turn back, the darkfolk he had punched launched a furious counterattack. He seized his opponent’s wing, dragged him close, and drove a much heavier fist into the back of his head.

The match dissolved into a brawl.

The two grappled, rolling from midair to the floor and fighting back into the air. Torn feathers soon drifted throughout the arena.

Aisha, who seemed to have accidentally intensified the scene, stared in bewilderment. She could not decide whether, as a spectator, she ought to stop them.

Of course, spectators were not supposed to interfere with a match. And because of her experiences in Duke… Aisha was still somewhat averse to darkfolk men.

She remained where she was, uncertain.

Les frowned.

Had he known there were male darkfolk inside, he would never have opened this door. Because of the extreme imbalance between the sexes, darkfolk men competed intensely for mates and were exceptionally conscious of the opposite sex.

The way they looked at Aisha… irritated him.

Still…

Judging from the intensity of the fight, they would make excellent practice material for her.

While the two fought fiercely, Les composed himself and spoke.

“I… do not understand much about magic, so there is little I can do to help you.”

“What?”

Aisha had been focused on the fight and did not expect him to speak. She quickly turned.

Les swallowed to moisten his dry throat and continued.

“But I have spoken with many mages. For mages and warriors alike, bottlenecks have certain things in common. Either there is a crucial technique you have not discovered, or your mastery has not reached the level required for the next stage.

“In other words, a bottleneck occurs when other aspects have advanced to a higher level, but one weakness remains. Magic or combat skill then lingers at the same level for a long time. You feel one breath away from the next stage, yet can never break through.

“If no suitable book or teacher is available to guide you, there is only one method.”

He paused, then spoke one word.

“Practical experience.”

Aisha blinked and instinctively reached for her notebook. But she had only planned to tour Wold with Pal today and brought nothing for studying. Her hand found empty air.

She could only listen with all her attention and prepare to remember every word.

Les continued steadily.

“Generally, applying your skills in practice may reveal the crucial technique. Even if it does not, it allows you to accumulate substantial experience. Either way, it helps overcome a bottleneck.

“It is a brute-force method, but… effective. Your innate magic cannot be trained through combat, so instead… you must use it on other people repeatedly.”

“But…” Aisha widened her eyes. “I usually practice on vegetables and fruit…”

“Those have already been picked. Their life force is very limited.”

Les frowned after saying it, less than entirely certain.

“This is only my inference… Perhaps what you’re attempting is close to restoring the dead to life. The leap in difficulty is too great. But the severity of a person’s wounds can be observed directly. You could treat progressively more difficult injuries and see whether that increases your power.”

He was right!

Aisha knew it instinctively.

Now she understood why Les had brought her here.

She looked again at the darkfolk wrestling in the arena. Her perspective had changed. She no longer saw two warriors from whom she might learn combat techniques, but… two patients.

Something stirred in Aisha’s heart, and she could not resist glancing secretly at Les beside her.

She had not realized it immediately, but… Major General Wolf had spoken a great deal to her in only a few minutes. This was the first time she had heard the man say so much at once—more than all the words she had ever heard from him combined.

And…

Aisha pressed her lips together.

Major General Wolf’s expression changed very little, which made him appear perpetually blank, cold, or stern. But in truth… he clearly did have emotions. The changes were simply too subtle to notice easily.

For example, while explaining how to overcome her bottleneck, he had looked… very earnest.

Warmth filled Aisha’s heart.

She did not know whether his caution in expressing emotion was inborn or a habit of military life. But… inexplicably, she found it a little adorable. Merely thinking so filled her with a faint, irrepressible delight.

Perhaps this man… was not as… unapproachable as she had imagined.

…

The two darkfolk fought and grappled for fifteen minutes. At last, one pinned the other to the ground until the loser could no longer struggle free.

When it ended, both lay panting. Not even the presence of a girl and the expensive hourly rental could make them get back on their feet like men.

Seeing the fight conclude, Aisha, who had been ready for some time, drew a nervous breath. She glanced toward Les. The cold-faced Major General Wolf inclined his head slightly.

Strength immediately filled her.

Aisha hurried into the center with her wand and knelt between the two darkfolk so she could examine them.

She calmed herself, composed her thoughts, and asked politely, “Um… good afternoon. Would you be willing to let me… practice my healing magic on you?”