Chapter 18

“A new traveling companion?”

“...So...Do you want to come with me?” She asked him, while trying hard to hide on her face, how excited she was at the idea.

Kalysto had always wanted a pet, but due to her family’s precarious financial situation while she was growing up, she had never been able to have one. And after that, it had been practically impossible during the years she had lived in the orphanage. But here, now in this new world, maybe she could finally do it.

Although I don’t have the money to support him and I haven’t yet sorted out my housing. She was worried. But... then I can find a way to fix that. She thought, as she waited for that little guy to accept the hand she had just extended to him.

But instead of taking the three steps that distanced him from her, the puppy sat on his hind legs and watched her with cautious attention.

“Arf?” He barked, turning his little head to one side, looking adorable and full of confusion.

Kalysto was touched by the sight.

“I can’t guarantee that I’ll put a roof over your head, not at this moment,” she said, “but at least I can assure you that you won’t go hungry if you come with me, besides, at least this way you won’t be alone...” she said. The little one ducked his head and turned away from her, letting out a pitiful whimper as he approached the body of the other puppy that had been pierced by the spear. Then he looked at her. Her heart squeezed in her chest as she saw the pain and sadness in that crystalline gaze. “I am sorry,” she whispered. And he seemed to understand her words, but still he stretched out the paw she had healed, and then pointed to his wounded brother, a body lying near his mother’s. And he let out a pitiful bark, almost as if he demanded that she heal him, too.

And Kalysto closed her eyes before looking at him again and answering.

“I can heal, but I can’t revive the dead, I’m sorry,” her voice cracked as she answered that, and the little boy seemed to understand.

Both were silent for a few minutes while the little boy sobbed next to the bodies of those who had once been his family. And although she did not want to interrupt the sad farewell, she remembered that there was still a dragon lurking nearby, along with the small army that followed him on horseback, and the group of hooded men.

Plus the goblins and the orc that almost killed her.

“I’m sorry, I really am, but if you stay here, it will be hard for you to survive on your own and I can’t stay here much longer. I have to leave. You’re welcome to join me, but you must decide quickly,” but seeing that the cute puppy remained silent, watching her with those big, beautiful sky-blue eyes, she added. “Besides, I have cookies.”

And that did the trick.

The puppy approached her and placed his paw on her outstretched hand. Immediately, a violet window appeared.

[The “nameless” Fenrir wishes to establish a soul-bonding contract with you. Does the user wish to accept this entity as her pet?]

“Yes!” she exclaimed, full of enthusiasm.

A white light surrounded their joined hands and a thread of sky blue light shot out from the puppy’s paw and circled around Kalysto’s hand until it reached the inside of her wrist, where the silhouette of a howling wolf’s head was drawn on her skin.

Another tattoo? don’t they have any other way to record the contracts they make here? Don’t they know that paper exists?

But then she looked again at the tender creature in front of her, who was looking at her full of hope and her heart immediately softened.

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What the heck does it matter? At least this one is my favorite color. She settled for it. It was a good price to pay in exchange for getting something she had always wanted.

Kalysto was quick to wrap him in her arms, stroking his soft fur as she wished they had enough time to get to know each other better, instead of giving him so little comfort.

“All right! I need to name you,” she commented, setting him back down.

“Arf!” Agreed the puppy.

Then she lifted him up again, exposing his belly in front of her to try to determine his sex, but the little guy didn’t seem to like her technique as he immediately used his white tail to cover his private parts.

“Ok, I understand... I was never very good at determining the sex of cats when they were small anyway...” she assured him, “I thought canines would at least be easier,” she muttered. Then she exclaimed, “Inspect!”

And two windows appeared before her.

[The user’s skill level is not enough to access the statistics of the selected target.]

“What the heck... So I have to wait until I level her up to find out your gender?” She complained.

And as if he could understand her, the puppy barked as if in agreement.

“Arf!” His expressive face was full of dignity.

Kalysto, on the other hand, frowned at him and let out a long sigh.

“Since you’re being so picky, I’ll give you a female name.”

-Arf? -He didn’t seem to like those words, by the look on his face.

-That’s what you get for not telling me," she muttered. -Let me think... I know. I’ll call you Tsuki.

-Arg? -Again confusion shone on his face, and the pup tilted his head to one side, not understanding.

“It means moon in Japanese,” she assured him. “Your white fur and those soft blue spots on the tips of your ears, on your tail and on your paws, you remind me of the moon. In the world where I was born, there is only one lonely moon in the sky, not like here,” she said, pointing to the two moons high in the sky.

And the pup seemed to understand. So he barked in agreement.

And for the next twenty minutes, they both spent the time burying the bodies of the other cubs and the big she-wolf, whose huge body was full of old scars. Kalysto dug the earth with her bare hands and placed the last mound over the makeshift grave of the mother of the cubs, while Tsuki used his paws to help her.

“Very well, I think we’re done at last,” she exclaimed, and the cub let out a long, sad howl, mourning her loss. Kalysto knelt down beside him and said a silent prayer. She wanted to pet him and give him some comfort, but her hands were too dirty. She even had traces of dirt under her nails. So she restrained herself.

“We have to go,” she declared, and Tsuki frowned at her with distrust. “Don’t look at me like that. If the smell of blood doesn’t attract them, the loud howl you made is sure to attract the unwanted attention of some hungry monster. Besides, recently a dragon was flying over the area so ... we’d better get away from here as soon as possible,” Tsuki looked at her as if he didn’t agree with her words, “Besides, I need to wash my hands and what you need is a bath.”

“Arf?”

“You smell weird,” she clarified.

Kalysto had barely stood up and shook the dirt from her hands against the fabric of her pants, when an arrow shot out of the bushes, and buried itself in the rump of her new pet.

“What the heck? It’s been less than half an hour since I cured him and they’re already trying to kill him again?” she growled.

She didn’t have time to run to the place where her bow had fallen before, so she pulled another one from her inventory and immediately aimed at the bush where she thought the arrow had come from while she covered the puppy’s body with hers and shot two more arrows into the bushes near her target, just to make sure she was aiming in the right direction. And when she heard a whimper from the same direction she had shot last time, she shot another arrow.

“Get into the cave and get to safety, Tsuki!” She ordered, but instead of following her orders, the young fenrir ran towards the bush where they suspected their aggressor was.

“Where the hell do you think you are going?” She questioned him, but the wolf ignored her and his white figure was lost in the bushes. “Come here!” she growled, as she ran after him to catch up.

She found him a few seconds later, with his fangs well buried in the thigh of a goblin whose bow was lying on the ground a few meters away from him while its owner struggled to get the little fenrir off his back with blows.

Witnessing the beating enraged Kalysto, who did not hesitate to draw an arrow and shoot it into the goblin’s throat. The pitiful whimpering of her wounded cub as the goblin fell to the ground and he himself followed in his fall as he did not lose his prey, made her blood boil and she finished approaching them with an arrow in her hand. And as the goblin struggled to breathe, she kicked him in the head and buried the arrow in his eye.

“Didn’t your parents teach you to respect other people’s pets?” She hissed at him in anger and pulled the knife from her inventory and buried it viciously in the neck of the wounded monster twice.