Chapter 105: [Fairy Tale] He Has a Little Gray Wolf (31)

"Ryder, Harris and the others have already left Red Cap Town. These next few days, hurry over to the knight shop and exchange for gold coins. They always give you more gold there than you can earn at the market."

With a basket on his back, Ryder looked at Mrs. Griffin.

"Harris and the others left?"

Mrs. Griffin pinched a tiny bug to death on a cabbage leaf with her fingers and went on, "Yes. I heard it was a quest posted by the Knight Recruitment Office, and there were a lot of gold coins on the line!"

She made an exaggerated gesture at Ryder and added, "But this job is terribly difficult. It is in Dark Valley Marsh. That marsh was never safe to begin with, and they say a mad dragon went in there and has been raising hell ever since. Look at it now—there is not a blade of grass growing in the surrounding forest. It was all burned away by the fire the dragon breathed!"

Dragons were the guardian beasts of this continent. Their power was formidable to begin with, and this one was a dragon gone mad.

Ryder frowned as well. "The Black Forest has been affected lately too. There are hardly any herbs left to gather."

It was precisely because the herbs could no longer be collected that Asa had been able to turn back into a wolf and hide in the basket.

Asa had been sleeping very comfortably in the basket, her tongue hanging out, when Mrs. Griffin's words about "a lot of gold coins" startled her awake.

She stared wide-eyed for a long while before finally coming back to herself.

Her tail, pressed tightly against the side of the basket, twitched uneasily.

Half-dazed, she listened.

Was Ryder... already very poor?

Asa grew a little flustered.

She poked her head out secretly to take a look, then quickly drew back in.

Outside, they were talking again about the Knight Recruitment Office, dragons, Dark Valley Marsh, and gold coins.

Asa's eyes lit up.

There was gold!

Ryder wasn't only feeding her; Greedy also needed to eat a lot.

Asa counted on her fingers inside the basket, then suddenly let out a sigh.

Ah, being human is so hard. Even being a wolf who can turn into a person is exhausting.

And she still had to worry about money.

Just as Ryder came home, Asa sprang out of the basket and instantly took on her human form.

"Ryder, let's go to Dark Valley Marsh."

Crouching on the floor, Asa blinked up at Ryder.

Her jet-black eyes sparkled brightly.

Little hearts seemed to burst from them in flurries of light.

Her tail behind her also wagged ingratiatingly.

Ryder crouched down too and patted Asa's head.

"Asa, it's very dangerous. The dragon's power is immense."

His face red, Ryder finished speaking, his expression more serious than ever before.

Asa tilted her head and thought for a moment. "But there will be gold coins."

To Asa, gold coins could buy food, and by that logic, gold coins were practically food.

Ryder thought of the few gold coins left at home. Over the years, he had not saved much money, and these past few days the Black Forest had suffered from the dragon's breath, leaving the herbs in even shorter supply. He had not managed to set aside a single coin.

He clenched his hands and bit his lower lip in torment.

He felt ashamed again.

How could he be this poor?

He could hardly afford to keep Asa anymore.

"Asa, I-I'll go tomorrow."

The next morning, Asa woke early because the warmth of his embrace was gone.

Even though Asa had turned back into human form, neither of them had suggested sleeping in separate rooms.

So, naturally, they had slept together.

After waking, Asa rubbed her eyes.

On the table, she saw food laid out beside a note.

"Ryder: Asa, I've prepared all the food for you. It should last four or five days. You absolutely must not go outside. If I haven't come back after three days, go to the wolf clan. They are your real family."

Ryder had wanted to say more: that although he was very poor, he truly would take good care of the little wolf and hoped she would not look down on him.

He would work very, very hard.