Chapter 98 Snow Wolf vs Goblin
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
We walk through the snowy plains and enter the ‘Goblin Forest.’
As soon as we do, the strong wind calms down, and it feels a lot less cold.
”I can hear birds singing. The monsters from the ‘Dungeon Burst’ must have really decreased in number.”
Liz looks up at the trees from her horse. Before, even the edges of the forest where we are now were filled with monsters because of the miasma, but now it feels peaceful.
”Well, even so, the number of goblins is still higher than before the ‘Dungeon Burst.’ We can’t let our guard down.”
Liz turns to everyone.
”Martina, you take the lead. We’ll mostly follow the same route as last time, but keep an eye out with ‘Detection’ and let us know if anything happens. Rena, I’m counting on you too.”
”Got it!”
Martina and Rena nod and start leading us through the forest. Liz and the wagon follow behind, and I, along with Kazumi and Dorothy, trail after them.
On the way, we catch glimpses of wild boars and poison snakes, but our main goal is the dungeon. Unless they attack us, we just ignore them.
As we move from the outer edge of the ‘Goblin Forest’ to the inner part, I look up at the sky.
The sun is shining through the snow clouds between the trees.
”How about we take a break for lunch soon? Martina! Is there a good spot to rest?”
Liz calls out to Martina, who is leading the way.
”…Yeah, there seems to be an open area a little further ahead where we can rest.”
Martina answers while looking at the map from her horse.
”Alright, let’s head there…”
”Growl!”
”Whoa!”
”Yikes!”
A beast’s growl interrupts Liz’s words.
”Is that… a Snow Wolf?”
I urge Haya to move forward.
”Wait, Hiroya! Martina and I will check it out.”
Saying that, she grabs her composite bow and gets off her horse, and Martina follows her to see what’s ahead.
* * *
”There were goblins fighting a pack of Snow Wolves…”
Liz returns and tells us, looking a bit shocked.
”Now that the forest is calming down, the Snow Wolves must be coming back from the plains.”
Dorothy gets off her horse and walks over to us. I also get off Haya and help Kazumi down.
”Basically, Snow Wolves move south in winter to find food and for the females to give birth. This winter chaos in the forest must have been a big hassle for them.”
”I see. That explains why they’ve been coming so close to the village this year. They didn’t have a place to stay in the forest.”
Liz nods at Dorothy’s explanation.
”So, at this time when the strong monsters have disappeared, the goblins are trying to secure their territory in the forest… What was it like?”
I turn to Liz.
”Huh? Oh, the goblins were about to run away… but either way, there’s a pack of Snow Wolves there.”
”But, listening to Dorothy, should we try to avoid them? We’ve hunted a lot this year…”
Kazumi grabs the hem of my cloak.
”Yeah… we didn’t know about their situation and hunted a lot.”
Liz looks in the direction where the Snow Wolves are.
”And there was a big one. That must be the pack leader…”
Martina follows Liz’s gaze.
(A big Snow Wolf…?)
Could it be the one I fought when I got separated?
”…Can I go take a look?”
”I’ll go too… If we’re lucky, we might be able to avoid a fight.”
”Dorothy, can you really do that?”
Liz looks surprised and stares at Dorothy.
”Elves are forest people, you know? If they want to communicate, we might be able to. Mr. Hiroya, let’s go.”
Dorothy takes my hand and starts running ahead.
* * *
”…The pack is quite large…”
I peeked through the bushes and saw about 30 snow wolves lying around, relaxing.
Among them, there was one really big wolf. Its pure white body had some black dirt on its back.
”Dorothy.”
”What’s up?”
”That big one was fighting right before I met you, Dorothy.”
”Oh, I see… So there’s no room for negotiation, huh? It’s better to go around for the sake of the pack.”
”…Maybe it will let us pass for Rena and the others…”
The big snow wolf lying down lifted its head and looked at us.
”Mr. Hiroya, don’t move. I’ll contact Ms. Rena using ‘Telepathy’.”
While Dorothy was talking to me, I couldn’t take my eyes off the boss snow wolf.
”…You think we might have to fight, Rena?”
Liz crouched down next to me, getting her composite bow ready. Kazumi was behind her. Martina and Rena, the dwarf sisters, were waiting back where they were.
”…Remember when I got separated? That was the wolf I was fighting.”
Liz grinned at me.
”So, this is the first opponent you couldn’t take down, huh? Should I take care of it?”
”Wait a second.”
Dorothy grabbed my shoulder and stared ahead. It looked like the pack was moving.
”Did they notice us…?”
Kazumi nervously placed her hand on my arm.
”No… It seems like they’ve known we were here for a while… Just the boss, though…”
The big snow wolf slowly walked toward us, while the rest of the pack stepped back behind it.
”…Liz, it looks like that wolf wants to settle things with me… I’m going.”
”Be careful. I’ll back you up if anything happens.”
Liz patted my shoulder.
I stood up from the bushes and started walking. I moved away from Kazumi and the others, placing my hand on my waist where ‘Yamikirimaru’ was.
At that moment, the boss wolf suddenly turned to look back at the pack. Seeing that, 3 smaller snow wolves slowly walked up to it.
They lined up in front of the boss wolf and lay down in the snow.
(? What’s going on here?)
”Excuse me.”
Dorothy ran up from the bushes.
”It seems they don’t want to fight. Please wait a moment.”
She knelt down in front of me, staring at the boss wolf.
”…I see, that’s what it is…”
”What are they saying?”
”They said, ‘This winter, we couldn’t go into the forest and couldn’t find food, so we’ve been living in the plains near the village… Because of that, we’ve lost too many from our pack. I know your strength well. I don’t want to lose any more members. I’ll offer you 3 female wolves. Please let us go.’ …What do you want to do?”
”Female wolves…?”
”We can’t just keep adding more harem members.”
Dorothy, that’s not something to laugh about! I turned around and waved to Kazumi and Liz.
* * *
”I see, that’s what it means.”
”Isn’t it good? If we take them in as Hiroya’s females.”
Kazumi seemed a bit angry.
”But they’re wolves, right?”
”They might turn into beautiful ladies!”
Kazumi turned away with a pout.
”…Dorothy, tell them this: ‘You want to increase your pack, right? We can’t take valuable females for that. If you don’t want to trouble the village, we have no intention of fighting your pack.’”
”Got it…”
Dorothy stepped forward and made eye contact with the boss wolf.
After a while, the boss wolf walked up to Dorothy and licked her hand.
”Mr. Hiroya, it says this: ‘Thank you. We have enough females, and the ones here are not of age yet. I want you to take them as guards. This is my pride as the leader of my pack. I can’t accept your kindness without giving something in return’.”
”Hiroya even goes after immature females.”
Liz grinned.
”Huh? You’re saying that, Liz? I just turned 9!”
Liz made a cute face and stuck her tongue out.
”I think it’s a good offer to accept, to keep the boss wolf’s pride intact.”
Dorothy is teaching seriously without joking around.
”Liz, what do you think?”
”I agree with Dorothy. If you follow her advice, we can trust her to guard the horses and supplies at the dungeon entrance… sounds good, right?”
”Yeah. Even Hiroya wouldn’t mess with the wolves.”
The two of them agree with Dorothy. Kazumi is saying something different from before, though…
”Okay. Dorothy, I accept the offer.”
”Sure.”
After finishing the conversation with Dorothy, the boss wolf comes up to me and lies down.
”Mr. Hiroya, please gently stroke his neck.”
I gently stroke it like Dorothy said. The wound on its back that I cut with a knife is already healed.
”The deal is done. Now, let’s go back to everyone.”
I stand up and turn my back to the pack. When I walk away, I glance back and see the boss wolf and the other wolves sitting and looking at me. Three small snow wolves follow me.
(What’s going on… should I be happy about this?)
Even though I avoided a fight, I returned to where Rena and the others were waiting with mixed feelings.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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