How to Raise a Dumb Wolf - Chapter 5

After ending his conversation with His Majesty in some haste amid the awkwardness, Les watched the girl stumble away into the distance with decidedly mixed feelings.

In truth, the human girl did not run quickly. Or rather… she ran remarkably slowly. Even badly wounded, Les could have caught her in a few strides.

But he did not pursue her. He merely crouched where he was and watched in silence as she grew smaller and smaller within his field of vision.

She looked as though…

She had run away in fright.

Les admitted that he lacked experience with the opposite sex. Since joining the army in particular, he might have gone several years without speaking to a girl at all. But he… had never considered himself frightening enough to send one fleeing.

He might be somewhat fierce on the battlefield, but he was in an ordinary state now. He had even made a deliberate attempt at something he was bad at and behaved in a friendly manner. If his attitude had not frightened her away, then it could only have been his appearance.

Les glanced at his reflection in the water. An absurdly large wolf stared back, his body mottled with filthy blood and covered in wounds. He did, admittedly, look wretched…

And terrifying.

His Majesty had reassured him that one failure meant nothing. After a while, he could find another girl and try again. But a wave of weariness swept over Les. He did not particularly want to try. Perhaps he should have told His Majesty from the start that the method did not suit him. He was probably better off acting alone.

He could still move. In a little while, he could find something to eat and recover some strength. Tomorrow, he would seek a safe place deep in the forest, shift into human form, pull out the arrow, and apply whatever medicinal herbs he could find.

Changing forms in his present condition would certainly be painful. But Les was a soldier; it was nothing worth dwelling on. Compared with running for several days in spite of his wounds, it would be bearable. And at the moment—

“Ah!”

A scream cut through his thoughts.

This was the second time in a few dozen minutes that Les had heard the human girl cry out. He frowned slightly, stopped, and raised his head. Several hundred meters away, Aisha had tumbled awkwardly to the ground. At the same moment, the scent of fresh blood reached him.

Aisha had stepped into a steel trap.

She had noticed the old trap on her way in. Rusted and lying in a place like this, it could not have been set by a hunter. It had probably been abandoned in the forest long ago without ever catching prey, then found by children and moved here as a prank or a prop in some game of “hunting.” Aisha knew that many of the town’s mischievous children played with such things, and accidents had happened before. She had meant to remove it after eating her apple.

Instead, terrified out of her wits, she had stepped into it herself.

The weather was not yet very cold, and Aisha wore a dress with only a knitted cardigan over it. The trap’s teeth sank viciously into bare flesh. Cold sweat drenched her almost instantly from the pain.

It was not that Aisha did not know how to open a steel trap. But perhaps the mechanism had broken with age, or perhaps she was simply too panicked. No matter what she did, it would not release.

The fierce beast that had just howled was still close by. Aisha realized that she had fallen into an even more dreadful predicament than before. There was probably no point struggling further with the trap.

She decided to run with it.

Human potential in a crisis was limitless. Under ordinary circumstances, Aisha would never have believed she could run with her leg caught in a trap. Yet now, a miraculous surge of strength welled within her. She swayed to her feet—

Too late.

Before she could take a single step, the giant wolf was in front of her.

Aisha collapsed back to the ground and squeezed her eyes shut in terror.

She felt the blood-reeking presence draw near. The beast’s warm breath washed over her in a powerful current of air.

One enormous paw pressed down on her thigh. Its muzzle approached her lower leg. First came the brush of fur, followed by the sharp points of teeth…

Aisha trembled from head to toe. So this was how terrible the moment before death felt. There was nothing she could do but wait helplessly for the end—

Crack.

The pressure around her ankle vanished.

The pain she expected did not come. Several seconds passed before Aisha dared open her eyes. She saw the gray wolf jerk his head and fling the steel trap—snapped cleanly in two—into the river with a resounding splash.

Aisha stared. “You…”

The word caught in her throat. The gray wolf gave her a long look, then turned to leave.

Les had not helped her out of sympathy or pity. He had merely come to take responsibility.

To a large extent, Aisha had stepped into the trap because of him. Judging from what the air told him, the nearest human settlement lay at least two kilometers away. If she tried to run home as she had just run from him, then even if she did not lose the use of her leg, she would probably suffer lasting damage.

The civilian girl plainly had nothing to do with the war. Besides… she was very young.

Les did not want her fate to become more difficult because of him. As a soldier, he understood that impaired mobility was not merely unsightly or something that might invite mockery and exclusion. It could leave a person permanently slower and less able to move—including in an emergency or a moment of mortal danger.

At the thought, Les paused. He turned his head back toward her. Her lower leg was injured, and the bone might even be broken. Walking home would undoubtedly worsen the damage. He should at least try to take her back—

Les went still.

The wound on the girl’s leg had been bleeding heavily only moments ago. Now the blood had… stopped. Not only that, the injury itself seemed considerably smaller.

Aisha breathed a sigh of relief after attempting to treat herself.

She had been lucky. The trap truly was old, and its bite was weaker than she had feared. Her bone was not broken. Her current healing ability could not have repaired it if it were… Although if it had broken, she probably could not have stood up at all just now.

Aisha cautiously climbed to her feet and gave two little hops.

No problem.

The wound had not healed completely, but the pain had eased a great deal. Judging by experience, a scab should form within a few hours. Gradually relaxing, Aisha raised her head. Only then did she notice that the wolf had not left. He was looking back over his shoulder at her, his expression…

Impossible to read.

Aisha’s face warmed for no reason.

By now, she was almost certain that he had no intention of harming her. He had even known how to free her from the trap…

“Um…” Aisha ventured. “Could you possibly be… beastfolk?”

The wolf only watched her without speaking.

Aisha blushed more deeply.

She was embarrassed by her own foolishness. Of course. Philray lay at the very northern edge of the entire human federation, with darkfolk territory beyond the forest. The Empire of Beast bordered human lands only in the south. Even a beastfolk deserter from the fighting in Duke could never have traveled this far.

It was far more likely that this wolf lived deep in the forest and had run to the outskirts after being chased by hunters.

Fortunately, the wolf could not understand her. Since the founding of the Heart of the World, the races had adopted a common tongue, removing barriers to communication among sapient races. But naturally, the common language had not spread to animals.

The thought put Aisha at ease. After a moment, she let her gaze fall once more upon the gray wolf’s… right shoulder.

His body bore many wounds, large and small, but that one was unquestionably the worst. The black arrow buried deep within it was horrifying. Her healing ability alone could never treat such an injury. In its present state, she could not even begin.

First, the arrow had to come out. That might require tools. Nor could she immediately heal his other wounds. Dirt and grit might be embedded throughout the torn flesh, and everything would need to be cleaned first. That, too, would probably require tools…

He had freed her from the trap. Perhaps, in return…

Aisha pressed her lips together and began to speak—

Les did not hear what she said. By chance, the ringing in his ears returned at that exact moment. All he saw was the human girl open her mouth, say something rapidly, and then run away. She disappeared safely from sight without encountering any further mishaps.

Les lowered his gaze.

He did not understand how her injuries had healed so quickly, but since she appeared to be fine, he needed to attend to himself. The brief distraction of the human girl faded, and pain flooded back into every limb and bone. He could guess that several of his worst wounds had already begun to fester. If he wished to continue serving after returning to Beast, he would be wise not to let them deteriorate further.

First… he needed strength.

Les looked around and found the apple Aisha had dropped. He hesitated, then lowered his head, picked it up in his jaws, chewed, and swallowed.

It offered little nourishment, but when he could ill afford to expend more energy, a little was better than nothing.

Then came the wounds.

Soldiers were skilled at tending injuries, especially under harsh conditions.

Moving as carefully as possible so as not to pull at torn flesh, Les washed the blood and grit from his body. By the time he finished, he was soaked through, every strand of fur plastered wetly against him.

He returned to the bank and lay down. Unable to shake himself dry, he could only let the sun’s warmth dry his fur. Les closed his eyes and then…

Rapid footsteps sounded nearby.

His eyes snapped open, sharp and alert, and met that pair of hazel-green eyes once again.

Les froze.

It was the same girl as before, only now she carried a basket. In the languid glow of the afternoon, she looked slender. Her flaxen hair had been pinned behind her head, though several strands had come loose, and the setting sun dyed it a deep gold. There was something inexplicably warm about the sight.

Les’s heart suddenly, and very strangely…

Skipped a beat.