Chapter 58

If you’ve worked at the same place for two years, memorizing your colleagues’ faces is usually a piece of cake.

And yet, a brand-new face suddenly appeared right before my eyes.

“Uh, who might you be?”

“Woof!”

In response to my question, the grey, fluffy creature sat down and gave its answer. Unfortunately, I didn’t speak dog, but considering we were in the Purification Yard—which also functioned as a resting area for Familiars—and there was a ring fitted around its front paw, it wasn’t hard to guess the situation.

“I see, a new Familiar. I’m Varna. Let’s work hard together.”

“Woof!”

The energetic reply was cute, but the fluffy creature’s face was anything but. It had a sharp glint in its eyes that looked like it could make a child cry just by staring at them, and a physique larger than a big dog. To put it simply, the impression of bravery—or rather, terror—won out.

If my guess was right, this creature was likely a “Wolf,” possessing combat power on par with a monster.

“Ah, Senior Varna, ’mornin! What do you think of this guy? Cute, right?”

“Grrrrrrrr…”

“Cute… Did you say cute?”

Caliban suddenly popped out from behind the wolf and started petting it. In response, the wolf wrinkled its face with a murderous look in its eyes and let out a low growl. It looked like it was absolutely livid; it didn’t seem like there was any mutual understanding between the two of them at all.

“He looks like he’s super pissed, but he’s actually happy right now.”

“Ehh… That’s him being happy? That makes it even scarier…”

“It seems like he recognized you as a powerhouse the moment he saw you, Senior. He’s acknowledged you as someone higher up in the hierarchy and is showing his respect.”

“Just for reference, what happens if he looks down on someone?”

“He peed on Bevion’s leg. Also, he got into a scrap for about an hour or two trying to snatch away that recording notebook Yagara-san is always carrying.”

“He’s just a naughty brat!! Are you sure you’ve actually trained him!?”

Caliban was supposed to be able to understand the wolf’s voice through translation magic, but even so, his words weren’t very convincing given that terrifying face. For that matter, this was the first I’d heard about him having a wolf Familiar. Don’t tell me he hadn’t learned his lesson from the Veera incident and had caught it in the mountains yesterday? If so, it was dangerous, so I really wished he’d stop.

“Caliban, when did this Familiar join us? I haven’t heard any reports. You didn’t just go out and catch it somewhere, did you?”

“No, no, I’m not so reckless that I’d just jump at any random animal… This boy is my new partner, given to me in the Royal Capital by my Professor! His name is Pro!”

“…A pro at what?”

“My Professor said she actually wanted to name him Pero!”¹

“I don’t care!! And ‘Pero’ doesn’t suit him at all!!”

“Woof!”

Pro, who had narrowly escaped being named Pero, nodded firmly.

Apparently, the subject—or rather, the dog—concurred.

Deep down, I felt grateful that Pro had a sensible head on his shoulders. If I’d been told that a creature with a face like that was actually a “cute-type” character, I wouldn’t have known how to react.

“Still, Professor, huh… I remember seeing her face once during the Familiar User selection.”

“She’s a difficult person who rarely shows her face in public. She’s always saying she prefers animals over people.”

Speaking of Caliban’s Professor, she was effectively the only Familiar researcher in the country. If I recalled correctly, she was a beautiful woman with black hair, red eyes, and wore Gothic-style clothing. Was it Nonoka-san who told me that because many of the high-ranking members of academic societies on the continent were men, female researchers were often treated poorly?

Regardless, sending a cold-resistant wolf Familiar to a student headed for the snowy mountains was quite the bold move. Or perhaps Caliban had requested it?

“So, why did you end up taking Pro in the end?”

“Hmm… How should I put it? Momentum?”

Choosing a wolf based on “momentum.”

“She sounds like a scary person.”

“Well, I think she’s a good person, even if she’s a bit hard to read.”

Caliban spoke while tilting his head, not looking particularly bothered.

“In a way, I think she’s just pure.”

Two days before the mission to Mount Isberg was officially decided. In a room at the Royal Magic Research Institute, Caliban waited for his Professor with an incredibly tense expression.

In his hands, he held the water-filled bucket he had used to transport the Veera back in Kliffia. Inside the sloshing water was the Veera in question. Sensing Caliban’s tension, the Veera’s body was also stiff with nerves.

Much like horses, animals are acutely sensitive to human tension. Now that they were under contract, the emotional distance between the two was even closer.

“I wonder if she’ll be mad…”

“Myu…n.”

It felt like a long time ago now, but during his last mission, Caliban had committed an unprecedented blunder for a Familiar User: he had been “forced” into a Familiar contract by a monster cub—the Veera.

Technically, Caliban had come to report this.

He was a disciple who had been granted rings for the purpose of making contracts, yet he’d been pathetically dominated by a monster. What would his Professor think? It would be easier if she just insulted him for being shameless, but his Professor was not the type to give such straightforward reactions.

“I don’t want her to be mad, but I hate making her cry even more. I’ve accidentally done it a few times before.”

“Myumyu-n…”

Caliban’s Professor, Linda Cortese, was a person who suffered from a disastrous lack of emotional expression and communication skills.

Once she started explaining something, she wouldn’t stop—like a tsunami. Once the explanation was over, she would come to a sudden halt, like the silence after a storm. She might pout over a minor slip of the tongue and refuse to speak for hours, or be shocked by a casual comment and stay depressed for a long time.

Conversely, if there was some kind of growth from Caliban that made her happy, she would suddenly leave the room and return ten minutes later with a cake to start tea time—all without explaining how she got to that point.

In short, she was a person who only knew how to hit the gas or the brakes at full force.

Her expression never changed and she never voiced her thoughts, yet her emotional fluctuations were a roller coaster. This difficult Professor finally appeared before the two of them several minutes later.

“…”

“It’s been a while, Professor. You’re wearing the clothes I bought you.”

“…Yeah.”

Linda, whose inorganic, expressionless face didn’t twitch in the slightest, nodded with a tiny voice.

Since she spent more time with animals than humans, she usually wore incredibly tacky clothes that made people question her fashion sense—unless she was wearing her Gothic work attire. After Caliban pointed this out once and made her cry, he had spent his first paycheck to buy her some clothes.

Since then, Linda had entered a sort of “age of enlightenment” where she distinguished between her animal-handling clothes and her private wear. Incidentally, before that, she used to wear “damaged Gothic” clothes that had been ripped all over by playing animals—an alluring, or rather, avant-garde style that only Caliban really knew about.

“So, what is it. That creature in the bucket.”

Questions that pierce straight to the heart are so concise they take your breath away. The flat, monotone delivery lent her words an indescribable sense of pressure, though she likely intended them to be perfectly ordinary. Telling himself not to be nervous despite knowing that, Caliban steeled his resolve and spoke.

“Actually… when I tried to use the ring you gave me at my assignment, this little Veera-chan, uh…”

“Myu, myuu…!”

—He couldn’t say it. He couldn’t say that the ring had effectively been swiped and he’d entered a contract where the master-servant roles were essentially reversed.

Furthermore, how could he bring himself to mention that the Veera’s parent had doubled down on the contract as an insurance policy?

While he hesitated over how to phrase it, Linda approached soundlessly and stared intently at the Veera. It was that look she got when observing animals—eyes opened unnervingly wide. To put it mildly, it was terrifying, but he’d learned not to point it out since it only made her sulk.

“Resonance Ring… operating normally… the link is…”

Linda continued to stare, then slowly brought the ring she wore on her own finger into contact with the Veera’s ring. The next instant, her eyes snapped wide open! Before he knew it, she had dashed out of the room at high speed.

“…Veera.”

“Myu, myun?”

“…I might have made the Professor really angry.”

“Myu-nn!?”

Usually, when Linda was saddened, she would stay rooted to the spot and sink into a deep gloom; the fact that she’d bolted at such speed was a behavior typically seen when she was ticked off. If Caliban’s observations from his month of intensive lectures under this creature known as “Linda” were correct, she was fuming.

An angry Linda would never return to the room on her own. One had to go to her, apologize fervently, and keep making corrections until her intent was fully understood. Strike while the iron is hot, Caliban muttered to himself. He stood up to settle the situation quickly before her anger could be directed at the Veera—and at that exact moment, the closed door slammed open as Linda charged back in.

“Gwahhh!? Pro-Professor!? You scared the life out of me…!!”

“This.”

“Eh?”

“This.”

Linda, whose vocabulary was severely lacking, thrust a ‘Contract Ring’ toward Caliban—one different from the one he was currently wearing. Unable to keep up with what was happening, Caliban blinked in confusion.

“What on earth is this ring…?”

“That ring is a special one linked to one of my Familiars, Pro. Pro doesn’t trust humans, but he is a reliable Familiar who will lend his advanced wolf capabilities to a human who treats him as an equal or better through a contract. Among my Familiars, he is an old friend who hates master-servant hierarchies and views me as an equal, but after seeing your noble spirit in opening your heart to a Veera and daring to take a lower rank to reach out to them, Pro has approved of accompanying you. This is an expression of expectation and gratitude for you taking a giant step into the world of mutual understanding, not just as a Familiar User, but as one living creature among many in the great outdoors. Take it, and take Pro with you. I am proud to have been able to welcome a human like you as my disciple. To think you would find one of the essences of interacting with other species in less than a year, you are a good boy.”

“Wait, eh, hold on!?”

Having finished her one-sided machine-gun monologue, Linda suddenly pulled Caliban’s head into an embrace. She moved from a dead stop to action so quickly that even Caliban, a knight, couldn’t react in time. For her, who faced animals head-on, capturing a human wasn’t a particularly difficult feat.

Then, with perfectly natural movements, she began to vigorously nuzzle and stroke him as if she were petting a large animal. Thoroughly, gently, as if playing with him. Specifically, exactly like someone doting on a large dog.

“Caliban is a good boy. Caliban is a capable boy. Caliban will surely achieve great things.”

“I-I get it! I get it, so—ngh…!? L-Let go… ah!? Not there, tickling me there is—!?”

Though it looked rough at a glance, Linda’s caresses—honed by petting every kind of animal imaginable—hit all the right spots for comfort even on a human. Unable to resist, Caliban could only let out pathetic whimpers as she continued to dote on him.

Incidentally, what awaited Caliban once he was released from the cuddling was a full-powered Water Sweep from the Veera, whose attack was fueled by the sadness of being ignored and jealousy over the flirting happening right in front of her.

“…And well, she’s a person who’s a bit extreme but way too honest with her feelings.”

“Don’t you ever tell that story to the senior knights who’ve been single for years. I won’t be held responsible if you get lynched.”

It seemed this junior of mine was being pampered like a pet cat by that Professor Linda.

I suppose he’s to her what I am to Nonoka-san.

I couldn’t help but feel they had a lot in common, including the fact that she was almost certainly a weirdo.

“In any case, it sounds like your Professor is more of a mystery to you than wildlife, and she’s your current subject of research. Good luck with that ‘mutual understanding.’”

“Haha, I feel like I won’t manage it even if it takes a lifetime…”

I didn’t think that was necessarily true. After all, if she was taking good care of the clothes Caliban bought her, then Professor Linda was gradually changing because of his influence. In that sense, Caliban was steadily closing the distance between them.

Well, there was no point in an outsider like me saying that.

“But I’m grateful we could borrow Pro. He’s amazing. He was originally from the snowy mountains, so he’s perfect for operating in the snow, and above all, his nose! With a nose many times sharper than a human’s, we can track orcs using scent even in cases like Kliffia!”

“Scent… that was a blind spot! Right, that makes sense. There are cases where dogs cower or bark like crazy before an orc appears. That’s because the dogs sense the orcs by their smell. If so, having a Familiar with a superior sense of smell makes tracking much easier!”

“Woof!”

As Pro barked and puffed out his chest with a hint of pride, I felt a strange sense of excitement.

The Royal Foreign Hazardous Species Countermeasures Knights were still progressing, one new discovery at a time. Even in this endless war against the ever-increasing orcs, we could still find new breakthroughs like this.

“You’re quite reliable! I’ll be counting on you when things get tough, you professional of smell!”

“Awoooooo!!”

Pro’s howl echoed as if promising to meet those expectations.

…Calling it “Pro’s howl” made it sound like he was a professional at howling. I found myself feeling that adding “Pro’s” to anything gave it endless versatility.

“By the way, Senior. Why have you been keeping your distance from Pro this whole time?”

“Why? Well, it’s that. I’m actually not great with dog-like animals.”

In an instant, the air in the Purification Yard—which should have been warmer than other motive carriages because of the Veera—froze over. While Caliban stammered, trying to find words, Pro looked up at me with eyes that seemed to be judging something vaguely disappointing. “Pro’s gaze” sounded like a professional appraiser’s eyes, but that was beside the point.

Yes, ever since discovering Pro, I hadn’t stepped within a two-meter radius of the dog once. Nor had I used my authority as his hierarchical superior to messily rub his head or poke my finger into his nose. It wasn’t that I couldn’t touch him at all, I just simply didn’t want to get close if I didn’t have to.

“Eh? …But you’re fine with orcs?”

“Yeah.”

“What about ghosts? You can drive away a dog, but you can’t cut a ghost even with your prized sword!”

“It used to be impossible, but I’m fine now… we have the ‘Spiritual Senior’ after all.”

Incidentally, “Spiritual Senior” referred to the one member of the idiot trio of knights who was always talking to walls.

Caliban slumped his shoulders and let out a deep sigh, as if to say a terrible coward had somehow mixed in with the brave knights of the kingdom. They say happiness escapes when you sigh, but that’s probably just a superstition. If it were true, there wouldn’t be a single person in our knight order with an ounce of happiness left.

…I chose to look away from the very real possibility that we actually had none.

“I’ve never heard of someone these days who’s fine with orcs but scared of dogs. You’re an adult, so let’s overcome it. It’d be cowardly not to, especially after you talked so big to Calme.”

“I-It’s not like I can’t touch them! I just have some bad memories involving dogs from when I was a kid, so I’m just not fond of them!!”

The “terror of being chased by a dog for no reason” that I’d suddenly recalled when meeting Rosalind was actually still a thorn in my side to this day. I understand now that they only chase because it’s their instinct, but the younger me—who was an idiot, a weakling, and ran away dripping with tears and snot—could never fully grasp that.

Furthermore, the fact that I gained an cross-country running ability far beyond an ordinary person’s as a result of being constantly chased by dogs was a true story that even my best friends still don’t believe. I wonder where that dog is now. For a second I thought about wanting to see it again, but I decided against it because it’s still scary.

—Later on, this idea of “investigation via dogs” reached the ears of Commander Luger and would eventually open up a new category of livestock known as “investigation dogs”… but that is a story for another time.