Chapter 106: [Fairy Tale] He Has a Little Gray Wolf (32)

Tan was helping himself to the food Lade had prepared for Asi on the table, as if nothing were amiss.

As he ate, he said, “Asi, hurry up and eat. Lade has gone off to earn money!”

For the first time in his life, being able to eat so freely made Tan almost dizzy with delight.

But Asi shot him a glare.

Her lips pressed tightly together, making the faint dimples at her cheeks stand out.

The little girl’s dark eyes were damp as she said, “Dark Valley Swamp is very dangerous. Isn’t it terribly risky for Lade to go alone?”

“What’s there to fear? Doesn’t Lade know magic? What danger could there be?”

Tan’s stomach was thoroughly satisfied, and he smacked his lips twice.

Then Asi suddenly slapped her forehead, remembering.

Yesterday, when she had said she wanted to go to Dark Valley Swamp, Lade had seemed to say he would go today.

But Asi had thought they were going together.

Yesterday, that old lady had clearly said Dark Valley Swamp was dangerous, and that dragon was an evil one, even affecting the plants in the Black Forest. How could Lade possibly manage alone?

Asi swiftly returned to her true form and ran outside.

Lade’s scent was on the path.

In wolf form, Asi’s sense of smell was especially keen.

The moment she dashed out, she collided with Mrs. Griffin in the yard.

Mrs. Griffin was so frightened that she plopped down into the vegetable patch, crushing several tiny insects to death.

“A wolf! A wolf!”

Asi shot past her in a blur and vanished from Mrs. Griffin’s sight.

“It, it came out of Lade’s house. Lade, ar-are you still alive?”

Mrs. Griffin shouted toward the neighboring house.

Lade had brought only a few dry rations with him. When other knights went out on missions, they always prepared a great many things, and their families would send them off with blessings as well.

Lade had none of that.

His parents had left him only a red cloak, which he had brought with him.

It was as if his parents were still by his side. And besides that, he had placed in his pocket the wolf hair the little one had shed yesterday.

Lade had deliberately tucked it into the pocket over his chest, as though Asi were pressed close against his heart.

That thought filled him with a sweet warmth.

He was earning gold coins so the little girl could buy meat to eat, and that made Lade very proud.

“Mm...”

Suddenly, something large hurled itself at him. Lade had been about to dodge, but then he caught a familiar scent, along with that plaintive little whimper.

“Asi, y-you came too!”

Lade was first delighted, then frowned as Asi hurled herself into his arms.

It was obvious she had meant to follow him, but she was only a little wolf. Dark Valley Swamp was far too dangerous.

She could not go.

In Lade’s embrace, Asi changed into a human girl, her arms wrapping around him, her feminine scent drifting into his breath.

It made Lade’s face flush at once, and the hand that had been around the waist of wolf-form Asi suddenly grew hot.

He did not know whether he should keep holding her.

This was Asi.

A little wolf in human form.

His body moved before his mind could catch up.

Lade had already gathered Asi into his arms.

Asi nuzzled him from within his embrace, and her tail wrapped around him as well.

“Lade, how can you do this? We agreed to go together!”

The accusing voice rang in his ear, and then the girl in his arms pushed him away.

Lade’s embrace was suddenly empty, and his heart seemed to go empty with it.

He blinked and, frowning, said, “I didn’t—I didn’t say we were going together.”

Asi pouted. “Anyway, I heard it.”

She lowered her head, her two gray ears still upright, while the gray tail behind her swished back and forth.

Impossible to miss.