Leo Was Quite Adamant
“Still… If good Leo felt it was important… Then that is even more reason to do something about Liza.”
“Uh, Leo. We were just discussing what we should do with Leo. Apparently, they won’t take her at the orphanage, because they don’t have enough rooms…”
“Wuff!? Wuff-wuff! Wuff!”
“Huh? Is that right? But… I don’t think…”
“What is it, Mr. Takumi?”
“Uh, Leo says… That she always meant to take care of Liza…and that she will bring her back to the mansion… But we need your permission, and Ms. Claire’s…”
While Leo may have intended to do that…we were just guests there. So I didn’t want to trouble them by bringing in some kid as well… However, Mr. Ekenhart agreed with a nod.
“I am saying that you can take her back to the mansion.”
“Uh…are you certain?”
“Mmm. After all, it is what Leo wants. And so we must support her in any way we can. Besides…”
Mr. Ekenhart gave his permission without a second thought.
But was it really alright?
I doubt that Mr. Ekenhart, Ms. Claire or the people of the mansion would mistreat her, but… They were already taking care of us. Besides, Ms. Anne had also recently moved in…
As I wondered about this, Mr. Ekenhart moved closer and whispered to me.
“Surely you understand, that you cannot just return her to where we found her?”
“Yes, of course, but…”
“Leo will have to go and help her every time that she is in trouble… Now that is something that could cause chaos.”
Apparently, helping beastkin was very important for Leo.
If Leo did go to help her every time she was in danger, then maybe people would stop picking on her… However, it was true that Leo suddenly appearing there could cause confusion.
Besides, there was no guarantee that we would even be around, and Leo wouldn’t be able to stop it… I didn’t want to think about how Leo would react if something happened to Liza…
She might go berserk and destroy the whole town.
No, Leo wouldn’t do something like that… Though, maybe that was what Mr. Ekenhart feared.
“Our house honors Silver Fenrirs. And so I will support good Leo’s opinion!”
Mr. Ekenhart then stepped away from me and made this declaration.
Leo nodded approvingly.
So, that was decided then… Though, would Ms. Claire be upset that the decision was made without her?
“Liza…you’re clean now.”
While I was still thinking about whether or not this would be alright, Liza returned from her bath along with one of the workers.
She was wearing new clothes and all of the dirt from before was gone.
Though, they did not have any clothes for beastkin, and so her tail came out from her back.
…I guess it was too much to expect them to have pants with a hole for the tail.
Right now, she adjusted her pants so the tail came out from her waist.
I had been worried about her being in an unfamiliar place at first, but it seemed like she was used to it now.
She looked just like the other children, and was smiling and cheerful.
Yes, after seeing her , I definitely agreed that it was better to take her back to the mansion.
And so all of my doubts were pushed away… It was the power of a child’s smile.
Speaking of Liza, her ears and tail were brown, just like a fox.
As if to express her cheerfulness, her ears pointed in the shape of triangles.
Her tail was fluffy, just like Leo’s.
As she looked at me or at Leo playing with the children, her tail would wag and her ears would twitch, which was rather cute.
“Mmm. You look much better now that you are clean.”
“…There is a scary old man over there…”
Mr. Ekenhart saw that Liza was clean and nodded.
However, Liza muttered something after seeing him.
She seemed to be scared, and hid behind me while grabbing onto my leg.
Leo pushed her nose towards Liza as if to reassure her… But the problem was Mr. Ekenhart.
I didn’t know if it was because she called him old or scary, but Mr. Ekenhart was taken aback.
One would think he had been struck by lightning.
It reminded me of Leo, when she had been taken for a people eater.
Hmm? One of the children who was attached to Leo was now walking towards us…
“…Will you play with us?”
“It’s fine. Go on and play with them.”
The girl who had moved away from Leo was not pulling Liza’s sleeve as she invited her to play.
She seemed to be the same age as Liza, or maybe a little younger.
Perhaps the kids here thought that Liza was another orphan.
But Liza had looked up at me as if uncertain.
I suppose she didn’t have much experience with playing with other children, and so she didn’t know what to do.
And so I smiled and pushed her back with some reassuring words.
She smiled and nodded, and then went over to where Leo and the other children were.
“I’ll deal with the matter. So you can go and play.”
Leo had turned to me questioningly, and so I nodded and told her that she could go.
Upon seeing this, Leo nodded and then went off with Liza and the children.