I received a big welcome

---

“It stopped raining…?”
“Wuff?”

Just when we had almost arrived at the mansion, the rain started to die down, and then stopped completely.
I looked up at the sky while taking off my coat. I felt a little lighter then.
But I was still wet.

“Hah… That was tiring. I want to take a bath…and go straight to bed. I wonder if Liza is asleep?”
“Wuff. Wuff-wuff. Wou!”
“Haha. I know. We’ll get you some sausages as well.”

I raised my sword for light and gazed at the cloud while talking to Leo.
Leo did not forget what I had said about sausages.
Well, they were her favorite food.
I just wanted to soak in a hot bath. I could leave Leo to someone else… There would likely still be servants who were awake.

Even with a raincoat, my body became very cold.
While I wasn’t freezing, I still had to warm up so I wouldn’t get sick…

“Uh…I’m back…?”
“Wuff.”
“…”

I arrived at the gate and greeted the three guards.
Nicholas was with them, and they just bowed silently before opening the gate.
While I thought it was strange that they didn’t reply, I passed the guards and went through the gate.

“Ah, Leo. You should shake some of the water off first.”
“Wuff!”
“Ah, hey! Ah…!”
“Wuff?”
“Leo! You just covered me in water…”
“Wuff…”
“No, you don’t need to lick it off…”

I was already wet anyway…but it was like having another bucket of water poured over me.
Huh? You were standing so close? Leo seemed to say as she looked at me. But when I protested, she apologized with a lick.
I did not want to get wet like that either.
Only when we were playing.

I tried to wring out some of the water from my clothes, and then I moved to the door.
That way, I wouldn’t make a mess in the mansion.
And once I was inside, I could change clothes and take a bath.

It was with such thoughts that I opened the door and stepped inside.
The entrance hall was usually dimly lit in the middle of the night, but it was fully bright now. And so it took a while for my eyes to adjust.
I rubbed my eyes and scanned the room. There was a whole line of servants waiting there.
…This was like when they greeted Mr. Ekenhart.

“Welcome back, Mr. Takumi and Leo! Thank you for your work!”
“Wuff?”

The servants all bowed and greeted us with words of gratitude.
Did Sebastian make them do this?
…Or it could be Mr. Ekenhart.
Next to me, Leo was tilting her head with a puzzled expression.

“…Umm…”
“Hohoho. You seem very surprised?”
“Wuff-wuff.”

As I wondered how to respond, Sebastian stepped forward with an amused smile.
I knew that he would look like that.

“Well, of course, I’m surprised… All of the servants are out here in the middle of the night. I thought everyone would be asleep…”
“You and Leo did something very dangerous for Liza’s sake, when the duke could not act. And so we are very grateful…”
“Uh… I see…”

Indeed, part of the reason was that the duke couldn’t act…
If he could not catch Deam, then Leo and I would.
Though, my main motivation was my anger about Liza being targeted. So it felt a little weird to be thanked for it…
Well, I suppose this was just how Sebastian did things. And I should just accept it.

“Oh, there is no point in standing around like this…”
“I will bring a change of clothing.”
“Thank you.”
“Wuff… Wuff…”

Sebastian said, and then the soldiers started to move around busily.
As it was raining, they knew that I would return wet. And so one of the maids brought me a change of clothing.
Since Leo had been running over mud, a few maids wiped her feet clean.
Furthermore, aside from the maid who brought me a towel, other servants brought an extra large towel and wiped Leo carefully with it.
Leo seemed to really enjoy being carefully wiped like that.

Next Chapter

My Beloved Dog is the Strongest in Another World