I managed to catch up to Juicy as she ran.
"Juicy. Juicy. Juicy. Oh, come on, Juicy!"
The moment I called her by name, she came barreling straight toward me.
She knocked me flat with ease. Something about this felt like déjà vu.
"Woof woof! Kuun! Lord Wof! Oh my, I just—ah, I can't hold it back anymore!"
"W-What are you—"
What was she suddenly talking about?!
H-Her face is so close! She's cute and pretty, but she was out of breath and flushed from running, panting heavily.
How sensual. No, wait—what kind of position was this?!
She was on all fours, still pinning me down.
Just like a dog. No, she IS a dog. No, she's not a dog—she's a wolf-girl. A wolf-girl, and a girl at that.
And this was not an appropriate position for a girl to be in.
And Pakira—she hadn't noticed. Thank goodness.
No, wait! This was not an expression a thirteen-year-old should be making.
It was a woman's look.
"A-And, um—woof. Um, Lord Wof... kuun... Can I... can I please..."
"B-Please what...?"
Juicy's eyes, usually sparkling like stars, were now shimmering with an eerie, otherworldly glow.
That was absolutely not a gaze any thirteen-year-old should be giving. It was a woman's gaze.
"A-And, um—kuuun. Woof woof. Lord Wof. I—I want to become—kyan! I... I want to become a [Fenrir]!"
"Absolutely not!!"
"Kyan?!"
I grabbed Juicy by both shoulders and sat up forcefully.
"Juicy. Absolutely not. Got it? That is the one thing you cannot do."
Scary. Who knew what this wolf-girl might do when she got all riled up.
"Um..."
"Juicy. Absolutely not. That is never happening."
I spoke in a slightly stern tone, looking straight into her eyes.
My voice had naturally dropped lower.
"A-And, um—yes. I understand. I'm sorry. I just got so happy and excited that I lost myself. Woof woof. Lord Wof. I'm sorry."
When I spoke a bit firmly, Juicy shrank back, looking deflated.
She seemed to have calmed down.
Still—losing herself like that. Terrifying. Way too scary.
I'd have to be careful around her.
The quasi-divine Relic [Fenrir] was undoubtedly a classified secret of House Tassan.
If things went wrong, my head could fly off—literally.
"Let's head back, then."
"Um, woof. Y-Yes. Um—are the monoceros going to be alright?"
"Hm?"
That's when I noticed. Monoceros were lying collapsed all around us.
They were barely breathing—most of the herd had been completely exhausted.
"...I think they'll be fine."
They were still breathing, so they should be okay. But I did feel bad.
They were dungeon monsters, sure, but we'd still stirred up their herd for our own purposes.
And those two, parent and child... monsters with parent-child bonds.
On the way back to Pakira, I told Juicy about our various successes.
When we regrouped, I explained my concern about the collapsed Dagaa.
As I was talking, Dagaa flew out from Pakira's chest and transformed into a knife mid-flight.
It stuck into the grassland, and I picked it up and tucked it into my belt. Something about it struck us as funny, and we all laughed.
Then it was time to rest. There happened to be a log nearby, so we sat down.
Hungry, I pulled dried meat from my pouch.
Both of them had brought their own provisions and were eating as well.
Pakira had hardtack and paste. Juicy had dried meat, same as me.
Then both of them started staring intently at my dried meat.
Since they were interested, I cut some with my knife and handed it over.
"This dried meat is quite good, eh."
"A-And, um—woof! Lord Wof! It's way too delicious! I want more!"
"You there—have you no manners?"
"A-And, um—woof. Pakira, don't you want some? It's so, so good. Woof woof! It's delicious! Give me Pakira's share too!"
"Wha— I never said I didn't want any!"
"Grrrrrrrrrr!"
"Meeeeooowww!"
"L-Let's both calm down. There's still more."
Were they really going to bristle up and threaten each other over this?
Good thing I'd brought a bit extra for Dagaa's sake.
I gave all the remaining dried meat to the two of them.
They licked it up just like real dogs and cats, munching away happily.
I ate the hardtack from Pakira and Juicy's dried meat.
Hardtack, huh. I'd wondered what it'd be like, so I tried it.
It was bread-bean. A simple, salty taste. Huh—so this is what happens when you dry the moisture out.
The paste... this paste... smelled like blood. No way—was this blood paste?
Ah, Pakira. She loves blood sausage, after all. Yep. Tastes like blood.
I quietly closed the paste lid and rinsed my mouth with black bean tea.
As for Juicy's dried meat—mm, delicious. It had a refined, elegant flavor throughout.
This was probably high-end stuff. The dried meat was beautifully colored and glossy.
But... ha, my dried meat was better, wasn't it. A small victory, but it made me happy.
The two of them were still munching away contentedly.
After our rest, Pakira tried to put the two horns she'd claimed into her pouch.
"They're heavy."
"Oh, they ARE heavy."
They were quite long and thick, so naturally the weight was substantial.
The two of them tried to carry them together but couldn't manage.
"What is this weight?"
"It's a bit much, isn't it?"
"A-And, um—shall I carry them for you?"
"Don't bother. These are abnormally heavy."
"Oh, right. Juicy, could you handle it?"
"A-And, woof. Yes! Lord Wof. Heave-ho!"
She picked up both horns effortlessly. Pakira's jaw dropped in shock.
On my instruction, they were placed one by one into Pakira's pouch. Incredible.
The fact that they slipped right into a small red pouch that couldn't even hold half a horn was just surreal.
In they went, smoothly and easily. Right—they were a legendary storage pouch.
They said it could hold as much as an inn room. So about four and a half tatami mats' worth?
It's a familiar trope in isekai stories, but it really is convenient. I want one someday.
Then we set off to find the next herd.
We fended off a three-eyed rabbit attack, fought a one-eyed deer, and passed by a two-eyed bat.
Wait—a two-eyed bat? Isn't that just... a normal bat?
And like that, we finally found the next herd.
I counted this time. About twenty head.
But to our surprise, three of them glowed green. There were none with yellow light.
Using Juicy as bait would be far too dangerous, so we scrapped that idea.
After some deliberation, Pakira ended up hunting two of them with Wind Edge.
Impressive. Peering through Fortune's Eye the whole time, she looked like a sniper.
Still, it was over quickly. The commission only called for four horns, so we let the rest scatter.
Once the horns were severed and the monoceros fell, the herd scattered in every direction.
They're running, huh. Well, of course they would. Anyone would run.
We shared a wry laugh.
"So that's how it goes."
"...I see."
"A-And, um—that was pretty anticlimactic."
"Indeed it was."
Well, that previous fight had been way too irregular.
A parent-child pair, and they even had a Relic—nobody could have predicted that.
Hmm. Parent and child.
"Pakira, do dungeon monsters actually have parent-child bonds?"
"What a strange question. I don't know for certain, but I doubt monsters have that kind of relationship."
"Is that so."
But those two monoceros clearly had been parent and child. It nagged at me a little. Maybe I'd ask the witch about it.
Juicy lifted the two long, thick horns and slipped them into the pouch.
That made four monoceros horns in total.
"That's everything, then."
"So it was. Here, Wof. You dropped this."
Saying that, Pakira handed me something wrapped in cloth.
I took it and unwrapped it—oh, my knife's blade.
"Pakira, this..."
"It'd be a waste to just throw it away. You can have a new handle made, can't you?"
"...Thank you."
She'd gone out of her way to pick it up for me.
Right. As long as the blade was intact, I could just have a new handle crafted.
I'd been so consumed by anger that I hadn't even been able to think of something so simple.
Pakira gave a bashful smile.
"There, there. Now then, you two—shall we head back?"
"Yes."
"A-And, um—it felt like forever but also like it flew by—we ran so, so much. I had the best time! It was so much fun!"
"I had fun too."
"Indeed. It was quite a different kind of party from Torquetam."
"N-Na...!"
Yep. There had been some hiccups, but the commission was completed successfully.
We headed back to Hydrangea—to the Delvers' Guild.