Chapter 114

“And as for how to use this spatial pouch around your neck…”

Ailet continued to earnestly lecture the Twin-Horned Wolf on precautions(?). Watching this, I suddenly felt a sense of incongruity and spoke up.

“Ailet. You realize you’re just talking to him now without Elizabeth translating?”

“Oh, you’re right. What a blunder. This puppy has such great reactions that I found myself treating him like a person without thinking. Every time I speak, he nods as if he understands…”

“……”

“He nods… Wait. Mr. Snoopy. Are you… actually understanding what I’m saying?”

The Twin-Horned Wolf flinched and tilted his head to the side. The “Oh crap” expression on his face made his flustered state plain as day.

“My goodness… he really does understand.”

The wolf, seemingly deciding he could no longer deny it, finally gave a slow nod.

“Wait, then why did you insist on only communicating through Elizabeth for the past few days…?”

At that, the Twin-Horned Wolf deftly opened the spatial pouch on his chest and pulled out a pen and a notebook. Then, tucking the pen between his paw pads, he incredibly began to write in Tubilan Empire script.

-My master has no friends.

I heard a thud behind me like someone had collapsed, but the group cleanly ignored it, mesmerized by the marvelous sight unfolding before them.

Ailet continued her questioning.

“What does that have to do with you pretending you couldn’t understand us, Mr. Snoopy?”

-I wanted to give my master a role to emphasize her value.

-I thought you all would cherish my master more if she were indispensable.

“Good heavens…”

“What a devoted soul… he’s a hundred times better than his master…”

“A hundred? A thousand times more devoted.”

I couldn’t hide my astonishment either. Of course, I’d heard that high-ranking monsters were as intelligent as humans. I’d heard it, but…

Even so, how could one not be shocked to see a monster having a conversation through writing?

“Hey. Elizabeth. You’re the owner, and you didn’t even know what your pet was capable of?”

“N-no… I’m telling you, I’ve never seen this before either! We’ve always communicated purely through mental communion!”

At this point, Ailet, being a mage to the core, began asking the Twin-Horned Wolf all sorts of things with a look of intense curiosity.

“Mr. Snoopy. Can you only use the Empire’s language?”

-I can also use the Common Language of the South Continent and the language of the United Kingdom of Halland.

Elizabeth let out another shriek of horror.

“How on earth can you use Hallandic?! Even I can’t speak that!”

-I studied.

The group looked stunned by the perfectly logical answer. Yes, foreign languages are meant to be learned by studying. That’s true, but…

“Wait! Then those Hallandic books back home weren’t just bought by the manager to fill up the shelves…”

-I ordered them.

“How!?”

-In my master’s name. By mail.

“What about the money!?”

-I withdrew it from one of my master’s accounts via mail order. My master doesn’t notice even if tens of millions are withdrawn. Thanks to that, I’ve enjoyed buying whatever I wanted.

“You crazy dog!! No wonder my house was filling up with things I didn’t recognize!”

“…Honestly, the fact that you didn’t care about your house overflowing with stuff you didn’t buy is the more surprising bit of ‘insensitivity’ here.”

“Not you too, Oppa! This is unfair! It’s not like I only get one or two gifts at my house! I just assumed they were some of those!”

The wolf, seemingly deciding to reveal everything now that the cat was out of the bag, began to confess various secrets.

-I personally canceled all the investments my master made that looked truly dangerous. Her debts were paid off a long time ago.

-I couldn’t control the entire portfolio, but I took care of what I could through correspondence.

“Without even telling me!”

-Well, my master is a birdbrain. If she knew an investment was canceled, she’d just throw the money into the trash again. How could I let that happen?

“B-birdbrain…!”

We were lost for words at the exchange. I mean, since when do monsters handle investment portfolios?

-Well, if taught properly, even an orc can do basic arithmetic. Is it not natural for someone as high-ranking as I, who has even studied, to manage that much?

Kelly let out a hollow laugh.

“I don’t know whether to call this guy arrogant or admirable… are all Twin-Horned Wolves like you?”

-No, not necessarily. I believe I was intelligent even as a monster, but back then, I had no desire to know anything through that intelligence. If left alone, I would have used it for nothing more than hunting prey and ambushing humans.

“Then, the reason this became possible is…”

-Correct. It was after being tamed by my master. Desires began to form. The desire to protect her. The desire to know her. The desire to understand the world she lives in. Those desires led me here. Although, discovering that my master was a birdbrain was a tragedy.

“HEY!!”

The wolf sniffed, making a face that anyone could see was a grin, then patted the spatial pouch around his neck.

-Anyway, I have understood everything you explained to me. I also know what you want from me. As my master’s pet, I am fully prepared to meet the expectations of her and her companions. Leave it to me and do not worry.

“……”

“……”

“……”

-And finally, I have two requests.

Kelly shook her head as if the situation was absurd and replied.

“Sure, go ahead.”

-First, while I realize it couldn’t be helped given the current situation, I would prefer to avoid conversing like this as much as possible in the future.

“Why?”

-When all is said and done, I am a monster. My role is to fight, run, and bleed for my master. I wish to exist solely for her.

“You don’t want to directly socialize with others and leave Elizabeth out?”

-Precisely.

“But you looked like you were loving it to death when we were petting you?”

-…That is fine. Regardless, that is fine. You may continue to do that even if we don’t speak.

“What a character. Fine. Then what’s the second request?”

-I say again, my master has no friends. Please look after her.

“HEY!! FOR REAL, YOU!!!”

-Because she has no friends to share her personal life with, she sometimes plays house by herself in her room, acting out both roles… Every time she does that, my tears won’t stop.

The rest of us, myself included, instinctively covered our mouths with a collective gasp. The sheer pitifulness of it was enough to make our hearts ache.

Elizabeth, feeling the weight of our sympathetic stares, ground her teeth together.

“…Snoopy. I’m going to kill you.”

Breaking into a cold sweat under his master’s murderous intent, the Twin-Horned Wolf scribbled one last sentence.

-Well then, Snoopy is heading out on recon.

After sending Snoopy off, we found a reasonably inconspicuous spot to set up camp and began monitoring the information being shared through him.

“The artifacts are functioning normally.”

Ailet projected the incoming video and audio into the air using Image Viewing and Sound Relay magic.

Chel turned to Elizabeth, who was still pouting sullenly.

“Elizabeth. What’s the Twin-Horned Wolf’s maximum speed?”

“At that size, he can hit 200 to 250 kilometers per hour at a full sprint.”

“That’s fast. At that speed, he can easily escape if things go south. It’s a bit too fast for now, though, so tell him to slow down. About 30 to 40 kilometers per hour should be enough.”

Despite her grumbling, Elizabeth relayed Chel’s request to Snoopy through their mental link.

The scenery reflected in the shared video began to flow by much slower than before.

Ailet followed up with another piece of advice for Elizabeth.

“He needs to watch out for ground-based monsters, but he has to keep a constant eye on the sky as well. Flying monsters are fewer in number, but they are incredibly territorial. If they spot a stranger, they’ll definitely be on guard. They might even draw other monsters toward him.”

“I know even if you don’t tell me. He says to stop nagging.”

“Tell him to be prepared for what’s coming when he gets back.”

The vivid sounds of the wolf’s breathing and the crunch of soil and gravel under his paws were transmitted alongside the rapidly changing scenery.

Watching the relayed footage, Kelly let out a low whistle of admiration.

“Wow… I’m realizing it all over again, but that guy is seriously smart.”

“No kidding.”

Regardless of my personal feelings about Snoopy, I agreed with her 100%. The reason was simple: just as he had boasted, he was moving with a clear understanding of our intentions.

“His speed is holding steady at the 30 kilometers per hour we requested.”

“Look at how he’s moving his head. He’s clearly conscious of the screen we’re watching and turning his head accordingly.”

Trot, trot, trot!

Snoopy, who had been scanning the surroundings while soaking up all that praise, suddenly came to a halt. The vast plains had ended, and the ruins of a city from the old Bordeaux Kingdom appeared before him.

“He’s asking whether to enter or go around.”

“Tell him to enter.”

The moment he received our decision, he entered the city without hesitation. He moved through the eerily silent city with equal stealth, holding his breath.

About five minutes passed.

Suddenly, he stopped and pressed his body low to the ground.

“What is it?”

“He says to look to the left.”

“…Snakes? Desert Vipers, rank-6 monsters. Are there only three?”

“He’s asking if he should take them out. For the record, even at that puppy size, he can suppress rank-6s in under five seconds.”

“…Tell him to just let them pass. If things get noisy, it might attract other monsters.”

Instead of pouncing on them, Snoopy skillfully hid himself. It was a movement that showed he clearly recognized his current role as a scout.

After successfully slipping out of the city quietly, he didn’t run off immediately. Instead, he sat up and pulled the map and pen from the spatial pouch with his forepaws.

Tucking the pen between his pads, he marked the route he had traveled so far and his current position on the map. Then, he dotted the map to show which routes he intended to search next.

Kelly gasped.

“Whoa… is this for real? He’s doing that specifically for us to see, isn’t he?”

“Heh. Impressive, right?”

“Why are you acting so proud?”

“Because he’s my pet.”

After checking the map, Snoopy dashed across the plains again. He didn’t run in a straight line; instead, he zigzagged to thoroughly check a wide area.

I watched the scene with a somewhat dazed expression until a sudden sense of incongruity struck me. I quickly shouted to Elizabeth.

“Elizabeth. Stop.”

“Huh? Oppa?”

“Make the dog stop. Then, go back fifty meters.”

“Oh, uh, okay…”

“What’s wrong, Sword God? Did you see something?”

“Yeah. I saw it.”

“Saw what?”

“…Something that shouldn’t be here.”

The identity of the thing that shouldn’t be there was revealed almost immediately. Snoopy had also realized what it was and pointed the clairvoyance artifact on his head directly at it.

Ailet let out a soft gasp.

“My goodness… those are human footprints.”

“Yeah. And they’re fresh—less than a day old.”

“You’re saying there’s someone besides us wandering around this Demon Territory?”

“…And they don’t even have any companions. They’re acting alone.”

“That’s impossible…”

At the sight of the unbelievable tracks, everyone groaned and looked at one another.

After taking a moment to organize her thoughts, Ailet spoke to the group.

“There are three possibilities I can think of.”

“……”

“First: a Demon King.”

Most of the group shook their heads at that. Anyone with even a passing interest in the subject knew about the Curse of Confinement placed upon the Demon Kings.

“Unless it’s near the Demon King’s castle, there’s no way a Demon King would appear here, hundreds of kilometers away. If that were possible, the Western Continent—at the very least the Tubilan Empire, which is closest to the Demon Territory—would have fallen long ago.”

“Well, true. Then the second… someone who ended up in the Demon Territory for the same reason we did.”

Again, people shook their heads.

“To pull that off alone, they’d have to be at least as strong as Oppa. I don’t think people like him are just lying around everywhere.”

“I suppose you’re right. Then third… a Doppelganger.”

A low groan escaped the group’s lips. It was the most plausible hypothesis.

However, Chel shook her head once more.

“…It’s the most likely, but would a Doppelganger living in the Demon Territory really feel the need to imitate a human? There are plenty of forms better suited for survival.”

“Besides, to take a human form, they need information about the target, like blood or bodily fluids. And the only place to get that is the Western Continent.”

“Why would a Doppelganger imitating a human in the Western Continent bother coming back to the Demon Territory? How? Even if it were possible, why would it do such a thing?”

I stared intently at the image and let out a bitter smile toward her.

“I don’t know the answers to the ‘why’ or ‘how’… but I think I know who that Doppelganger is imitating.”

“…How?”

“Look closely. Doesn’t that tread pattern on the footprint look familiar?”

“…Wait. No way, is that…?”

“Yeah. It’s the tread from the C&K Guild combat boots we’re all wearing.”

That was it. The Doppelganger that had left those footprints not long ago… was definitely imitating one of us.