Leo Was Shocked That The Girl Was Scared Of Her
“Wuff! Wuff-wuff. Wuff! Wuff!”
Just as I was wondering what to do, Leo slowly approached the girl and looked into her face and barked.
The girl raised her head, and the moment that she saw Leo, she immediately hid again and started to tremble with fear.
…Well, that big face was in front of her suddenly, so it was no wonder.
Leo looked like she was trying to tell her that she didn’t need to be afraid, but it was no use.
“It-it’s going to eat me!”
“Wuff!? Wuff-wuff! Wuff! Wuff!”
“Hah… Leo, you’re just scaring her even more. You should move away for now.”
Leo was shocked by the words of the girl, who misunderstood and believed that she was about to be eaten.
I won’t eat you. She seemed to say as she pressed her nose against the girl, and tried patting her with her paws, but it had no effect.
And while I felt bad for Leo, I asked her to move away from the girl.
Ah, Leo walked over to the corner sulkily… Her back was turned to me, and she seemed so crestfallen.
Upon seeing this, Mr. Ekenhart went to console her.
Thank you, Mr. Ekenhart.
I then squatted down next to the girl and talked to her gently.
She was shaking like a leaf. If anything, it seemed like Leo had frightened her much more than the children did earlier…
In any case, I needed to make her calm down and tell her that there was no need to be afraid now.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Mr. Ekenhart patting Leo’s back.
“No one will insult you or hurt you now. Don’t worry, don’t worry…”
I gently repeated the words to her.
In times , it would have been nice to have experience with comforting frightened children.
Well, this was not a usual situation. And anyway, it was best if there weren’t any frightened children to begin with.
Regardless, after repeatedly reassuring her, she finally spoke in a quiet voice.
“Don’t worry. Nothing scary will happen…”
“…Really. Because there is nothing here that you have to be afraid of.”
She stopped shaking and seemed to have believed my words. And so she removed her hands from her head and slowly looked up.
Her face… Well, the part of her head that she had been holding down was a surprise, but I ignored it and smiled gently and told her that it was fine.
I hoped that the surprise hadn’t shown on my face…and that I was smiling normally… While I was worried, she was looking straight at my face.
And so I was careful to not let anything show.
“See? None of those children are here now. So it’s fine.”
“…What about that big wolf?”
She was talking about Leo.
I could still see the fear in her eyes as she looked around as if searching for this wolf.
Was it okay to show her now…? As for Leo she was still being consoled by Mr. Ekenhart, but was looking in our direction.
She made sure that her back was still turned to us, but… She must have been very shocked that a child thought that she was going to eat them.
It would be one thing if it was an adult, but Leo had always been popular with children…
“Is the wolf…gone now?”
“No, uh… That wolf won’t eat you or hurt you or anything.”
“Even if it’s big, it wont. She may be big and have scary eyes, but she is actually very gentle.”
As I squatted next to her, I met her eyes and explained in hopes of making her feel safe.
Though, I think Leo heard the part about her having scary eyes, as she had flinched… I’ll have to apologize to her later.
…Still, wolves were pretty scary when seen up close…
Not that I thought Leo was scary in the least… But this was no time to be thinking about that.
“Yes. She really is a kind wolf. She will not eat or attack anyone. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have let her in the town, would they? The guards would have captured her.”
“…They would? I don’t know…”
“Well, I suppose. But if you trust me, then try looking behind you. Don’t worry. There is nothing to be afraid of, remember?”
I didn’t know if she would still be scared after seeing a sad-looking Leo, but we couldn’t do anything until she got over it.
We could not leave without her seeing Leo, and it would be dangerous to send Leo away.
Perhaps she wouldn’t trust someone she had just met, but thanks to my repeated reassurances, she seemed to believe in me.
And so she nodded and hesitantly turned around.
“…! See? It’s fine. This is a gentle wolf that would never attack you.”
“Yes. I think so. …I’m sorry, good wolf.”
While the girl tensed momentarily after seeing how big Leo was, she was brave enough to speak to her.
In answer, Leo let out a pitiful moan.
It was like she was desperate to not be scary…
But as I was thinking about such things, I turned to look at the girl… And there was something on her backside that should not have been on a human.
Still, I coughed so that my surprise would not show, and then I called to her gently.
She then apologized to Leo for being scared.
Leo told her that it was fine, and then she turned to her slowly and pushed her nose close to the girl.
Leo still sounded rather pitiful… Besides, she looked rather amusing, as she had remained in a sitting pose while turning just her head to look around.