Chapter 19 – Taming a Demon Wolf

The child stared at the meat. It was drooling.

“You can eat it.”

I said with a smile. And then I took a step back to give it some space.
This I also did very slowly.

Steam was rising from the meat.
As time stopped inside of the magic bag, the meat was still piping hot.

“You can eat it.”

I repeated.

“…”

The child was still drooling as it looked at me and then the meat.
And then it turned to the Demon Wolf.

“Woof.”

It howled quietly.
Thanks to the taming skill, I understood what the Demon Wolf was saying. It said that it was okay to eat the meat.
And then the Demon Wolf moved slowly towards the plate, and ate just a little bit of the meat.

“Groof… Woof.”

After eating some, it encouraged the child to try it as well.
And then the child finally moved.
It moved towards the meat and put its face on the plate like the wolf did. And then it started biting into it.

“You shouldn’t eat too quickly. It might burn you.”
“Groof-groof-groof.”

However, the child did not slow down. It must be very hungry.
I took out another plate and put some meat on it.
This was so that it could cool off before it was finished with the first plate.

“There is a lot of meat left, so you can slow down.”
“Grrff. Gruff. Gruff….groof.”

It finished eating and then moved to the next plate.
I had served quite a lot, and yet it ate it so quickly. It was a big eater for a child.
While it might be too much, it couldn’t be helped, as the child was hungry.
And so I thought that it should eat until it was full.

“You should eat too. There is plenty more.”

So saying, I gave the Demon Wolf some meat as well. Raw meat would be good enough for it.
I put the meat on the plate, and the wolf ate it hungrily.

And then I waited quietly so that I wouldn’t bother them during their meal.
Once they had eaten everything, the Demon Wolf and the child sat down meekly.

“Are you full?”
“Stomach full.”
“I see. That’s good… Wait, you can talk?”
“Little.”

That was surprising.
Obviously, it wasn’t fluent, but it was speaking with the words of humans.
But then again, it wasn’t too strange that it could talk. Even on the new continent.

After all, the language of humans was a gift bestowed to us from the god of speech.
So even if we were on a different continent, as long as there were humans and demons, we could understand each other.
There were different regional dialects, but the difference was not big enough that people couldn’t communicate at all.

The fact that we could talk meant that this child with beast ears and tail really was a human.

And so I smiled and spoke to the child again.

“What I was trying to do to the Demon Wolf. It wasn’t an attack.”
“Arr?”

I decided to give a simple explanation of what I had wanted to do.
But it wouldn’t understand what taming was. And so I had to put it into simpler terms.

“I was talking to the Demon Wolf about becoming friends.”
“…Okay.”
“What about you? Do you want to be a friend?”
“Friend…”
“You’ll get your share of food…”
“Food!”
“And don’t you want a warm place to sleep?”
“Sleep! Hmm. What do?”

The child said as it started to discuss the matter with the wolf.

“Grr…Grr…”
“Hmm. Hmm.”
“Grrr…”
“Okay.”

And then the child looked at me.

Judging by its size, it looked about five years old.
But since it was starving, it might not have grown much, and so it could be older.

Regardless, it was still a child.

“I…will…be…friend.”
“Groof.”

The child and the Demon Wolf agreed to become friends.

“Good. I look forward to working with you. So, can I tame the Demon Wolf?”
“Woof.”

The Demon Wolf said that I could, but the child didn’t understand what I meant. Most people thought of taming as what was the 3rd step in the skill, which was turning them into a familiar.

“To put it simply, it will be easier to lend it power.”

I couldn’t start talking about connections and magic energy.
And so I sacrificed the details and prioritized comprehensibility.

“Okay.”

The child seemed to be satisfied with my explanation. I could finally tame the Demon Wolf.
And when I did, I would need a name.

While the Demon Wolf had given me permission, it would probably be a good idea to ask the child, as they were friends.
Thinking this, I decided to ask.

“…I was thinking about calling the Demon Wolf, Shiro. Do you mind?”
“Good! Shiro!”

The child agreed.
Apparently, the child liked the name Shiro as well.

“Shiro.”
“Woof.”
“Shiro!”
“Woof-woof!”

The child repeated the name as it petted the wolf happily.
Both the child and Shiro jumped up and down and wagged their tails.
They looked so happy and were having fun.

But it was quite late in the night. It was time to finish up here and go to sleep.
They were both still very young. And so they should sleep at night.

“Alright, can I tame it first?”
“Okay.”

The child sat down next to the Demon Wolf, who was already sitting.
Both the child and Shiro were sitting like dogs. They looked very cute when next to each other.

“Alright, here goes.”
“…”

I gathered magic energy into my right palm and created a magic circle.
And then I held the magic circle over the Demon Wolf’s nose.

“I, Theodore Dulcame, bestow upon you my power and the name ‘Shiro.’ Now, become my familiar.”

And just like with Hippolius, the magic circle began to glow. …No. It didn’t.
And there was no reaction from the Demon Wolf.

“…Woof?”
“Huh?”

The Demon Wolf was confused. And so was I.

Next Chapter

Hen na Ryu to Moto Yuusha Party Zatsuyougakari The Strange Dragon and the Former Choreman of the Heroes Party