I told Ms. Claire and the others what I had discussed with Leo
Oh, I had gotten lost in thought, so now Leo was looking at me strangely.
“It’s nothing. Alright then, so you’re fine with us going to the forest?”
“Wou! Wou-wuff-wou! Wuff-wuff! Wou! wuff-wuff!”
Uhhh… This time…hmm…okay! And I’ll be able to exercise a lot and it will be fun! Because I couldn’t exercise much in the room we used to live in… Is that what you said?
Leo was making faces and using her voice and paws to communicate with me.
Still… Exercise, huh…?
“I don’t know what to say… I’m sorry…that I couldn’t take you outside so much…”
As I apologized, Leo put her face close to mine and licked my cheek.
Apparently, she was saying, ‘don’t worry about it.’
“…I hope you’ll continue to put up with me, buddy.”
Even when I did take Leo outside to play, it was usually only for a short while… Because I was so busy with work…
Leo had nodded at the word buddy. It was because of her that in the past world, and this world as well, that I felt like I could keep going on.
…Oh, this was no time to get lost in such sentiments.
And so I patted Leo on the head and then turned to Ms. Claire and the others.
…While my feelings of gratitude and remorse towards Leo had caused my eyes to moisten a little, I blinked a few times to clear them before moving away from the corner of the room.
“Ms. Claire. We have decided.”
“…Mr. Takumi. You look like you were crying. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. Please don’t worry about me. It’s nothing.”
“…Very well. If you insist.”
…I had thought that I was in the clear, but I suppose it was still on my face.
I suppressed the feelings of embarrassment and gave Ms. Claire my answer.
“Ms. Claire. We will go with you to the forest.”
Ms. Claire’s face lit up at this.
There were no traces of her earlier anger.
Yes, she looked much nicer when she smiled.
On the other hand, Sebastian and the maids were throwing daggers at me with their eyes…
I had to tell them that it would not be that dangerous even if we entered the forest.
Well, if Leo was to be believed, that is.
However, I was confident that if we were with my buddy, we would be safe.
“Uh… Mr. Sebastian, Ms. Lyra, Ms. Gelda.”
“There may be fenrirs in the forest, as well as the strongest of all monsters, the Silver Fenrir. That’s why it’s considered dangerous, and you want to stop Ms. Claire from going, yes?”
“…It’s exactly as you say.”
Ms. Claire had become composed again.
I suppose she understood that they were sincerely worried for her, and that’s what had caused them to close in on her like that.
And she had probably become angry because she was interrupted, and because she felt that they were ignoring her desire to go.
…But I could be wrong about that.
“Mr. Sebastian, I talked with Leo about it…and Leo says that it will be safe if she is with us.”
“…Is that so? But even with someone like the great Leo there, a whole pack of fenrirs will be…they might overwhelm her with their numbers. And if a Silver Fenrir were to appear, like it did with the first duke…”
“So you think that if the fenrirs and Silver Fenrir were to come out at the same time, Leo would not be enough to deal with them?”
I understood why they felt that way.
However, Leo had addressed all of my fears.
But since I was likely the only person who could understand her, I had to convey it to others.
“Uh, according to Leo…”
“Please wait. First of all, you are able to understand what she is saying, Mr. Takumi?”
As I was about to explain, Ms. Lyra spoke as she stepped forward.
Ms. Claire seemed to glare at her for a moment, but also understood that they were worried about her, and so she said nothing.
“Uh…umm… Neither I or Leo really understand why. But perhaps due to being together for so long, I have a good idea of what she’s saying.”
Leo nodded at my words.
Just like I could understand her, Leo could understand me.
“The great Leo is nodding…so what you say must be true, Mr. Takumi…”
Seeming to be somewhat satisfied by this, Ms. Lyra bowed once to me and Ms. Claire, and then stepped back.
Ms. Claire was thinking about what I had said.
“Uh, Ms. Claire. May I continue now?”
“…Ah, of course. Excuse me.”
“And so…uh, according to Leo… Fenrirs are just small fry for Silver Fenrirs. And it’s the same with any other monster in the forest. In fact, since Silver Fenrirs are superior to fenrirs, they would submit at the mere sight of Leo.”
I told them that Leo said fenrirs were small fry. The maids were very astonished by this.
“Mr. Takumi. While it is said that Silver Fenrir are above fenrirs…is this true? Fenrirs are still ferocious monsters that attack humans in packs. It’s hard to imagine that they would submit to another, even a Silver Fenrir…”
“Hmm… It is true, isn’t it, Leo?”
I turned to Leo and asked for confirmation.