How to Raise a Dumb Wolf - Chapter 67

“Transformation magic and beastfolk transformation?”

Aisha repeated the subject, still surprised by Thorne’s choice.

“Is that the kind of magic you’re best at? Or are you especially interested in it? You’ve… never really mentioned it before.”

Students of the Tower of Magic generally chose a graduation project in the field they knew best, a question that fascinated them, or both. A thesis could demand months or even years of work. Anyone without aptitude or interest in the subject would suffer terribly.

Yet despite studying beside Thorne for so long, Aisha did not truly know his specialty. Partly, this was because he rarely spoke about himself. After lessons, he stayed quietly in his room to study or assist Eric, keeping a routine remarkably similar to their professor’s. But it was also because Thorne appeared to have no particular weakness. He completed every assignment Eric gave him, and any criticism concerned an imperfect detail rather than a fundamental mistake. Their levels were far enough apart that Aisha could not distinguish the subtle strengths and weaknesses in his spellwork.

Come to think of it, Thorne had always been evasive about his private affairs. He gave only his first name and never a family name. At first, Aisha assumed he simply did not care to mention it. After she asked several times and he vaguely brushed the question aside each time, she realized that he was deliberately withholding it. Whether it was a secret or merely something he disliked discussing, she did not know.

Aisha was not inclined to press people. Since Thorne did not wish to speak, she stopped asking. Besides, she herself had not been perfectly honest about such things, so she understood him. In a sense, their circumstances were similar, and their shared silence had become an unspoken agreement.

Sometimes Aisha even suspected that Thorne knew something about her situation but had chosen not to say it.

“…There’s no special reason,” Thorne answered lightly. “There are many people of mixed heritage here, so research should be convenient.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Mm. I’m good at everything anyway.”

“…”

Aisha smiled helplessly at his matter-of-fact expression. More frustratingly, he was not boasting.

Their conversation seemed finished. When Thorne offered nothing more, Aisha began to turn back toward Eric.

“Hey, Aisha, lately you…”

She stopped at the continuation and looked at him. Thorne’s gaze was fixed intensely upon her, but the instant their eyes met, he turned away.

He raked a hand through his black hair. “Never mind. It’s nothing.”

Though puzzled, Aisha merely nodded and returned her attention to Eric’s lecture.

…

The magical exchange soon ended. As usual, Thorne reported his recent thoughts and progress to Eric and accepted his guidance, then set out alone to begin his afternoon’s research. Instead of returning to his palace room, however, he went straight to the forest.

Most magical research had nothing to do with forests. A man like Eric, who would happily spend the entire year inside a laboratory, almost never sought contact with nature. Thorne did not mind working outdoors. He stayed inside mainly because it was convenient; when a task required travel, he had no objection.

The afternoon forest was quiet and empty. Aisha would not arrive until after three, so Thorne was probably the only human there. He followed the path inward, stopped in a clearing, and whistled.

“Chii!”

A medium-sized black shaggy beast came racing happily from the trees. With lightning speed, it decisively crashed into Thorne—no, it decisively leaped at him, struck his solid body with too much force, bounced backward off its own nose, and rolled twice across the ground before rising to rub the offended snout.

Thorne: …

With a sigh, the black-haired boy crouched and rubbed its head. The shaggy beast promptly pressed into his palm, then waited expectantly for today’s food. Thorne drew a small packet of treats from his pocket and opened it. The animal cared nothing for the quantity and buried its face in the food with delight while Thorne took several measurements from its body.

He had purchased the creature at the market and kept it in the forest after choosing transformation magic as his subject. Shaggy beasts were gentle, affectionate, easy to care for, and trusting of humans. Even when transformed by a mage, they did not panic like other animals and cooperated readily, making them ideal subjects.

Besides…

It was unexpectedly cute.

Thorne stroked its black fur again without expression. The animal cooperated so enthusiastically that it rolled over and presented its belly.

Aisha’s guess had actually been right. Though Thorne had no great shortcomings in any field, if forced to name his greatest strength, he would choose transformation magic. He had previously studied transformation magic that transferred animal traits to humans. In fact, he first noticed Aisha because an experimental spell allowed him to smell the scent of a large animal upon her.

His research had been shallow then. He understood only that it was a scent through which an animal expressed affection. A pet’s affection for its owner hardly seemed strange.

But while considering possible projects in Micks, Thorne met people of mixed human and beastfolk heritage and learned more about scent from them. His magic allowed him to perceive everything a beastfolk nose could detect, so their explanations were easy to understand. He suddenly realized something.

The scent he had found on Aisha did not express simple fondness. It proclaimed desire, possessiveness, and forceful courtship all at once. A pet leaving such a scent was not wholly impossible, but it was far rarer than ordinary affection or possessiveness.

And then…

The soldier named Les Wolf appeared in Thorne’s mind.

Though the man was beastfolk, he rarely assumed beast form. Thorne had seen it only once, shortly after they reached Micks. The giant wolf looked absolutely identical to Aisha’s pet.

The sighting had been distant, so Thorne could not compare their scents. But Major General Wolf plainly liked Aisha. A wolf identical to his beast form had marked her with the scent of a suitor. It was difficult not to wonder.

Once suspicion existed, details previously ignored became strange. When Aisha was in Wold, Wolf also appeared in Wold. When she traveled to Micks, he just happened to visit Micks as well. And…

Thorne stroked the shaggy beast, now happily finished with its food. It chirped in reply. He drew his wand, closed his eyes, and silently cast a spell.

When the golden light around him faded, every piece of information in the forest reached him through scent.

Just as he thought.

The giant wolf was not in the forest. It only stayed here when Aisha visited. Perhaps that remarkably “intelligent” wolf merely hid deeper among the trees at other times, but there were far too many coincidences now.

Thorne frowned.

He had little interest in most matters outside magic, which he found tedious and troublesome. Love and girls were no exception. Older students at the Tower teased him that he was simply too young to understand, and Thorne saw no reason to change.

But if girls had to be sorted into those he liked and those he did not, Aisha unquestionably belonged in the former group. He could not explain exactly why. He had not disliked her from their first meeting, and perhaps their similar circumstances played a part.

Before, he possessed only an uncertain intuition and could safely ignore it. Now…

Worse, Aisha lately looked unmistakably in love.

Thorne dragged an irritated hand through his hair.

He had no conclusive evidence, but at the very least, he needed to find a chance to warn her.

Tch. What a nuisance.

Unable to understand his expression, the shaggy beast stood nearby with one paw raised, tilted its head, and chirped happily.

…

What even Thorne had not anticipated was that Aisha stood in the garden at that very moment, wearing Major General Wolf’s coat and holding a familiar white ribbon. She stared at the major general’s back—he had no idea what had fallen from his clothes—and her face suddenly blazed crimson.