“Vince is just asking me about my—”

“Tell me the truth.” Sylara cut Liam off before he could concoct some lie. It would seem honesty was the only way out here. Damn rogue.

“Vince said a dachshund is having puppies soon.”

“Get me one.”

Liam wasn’t surprised. “What will you do with a dachshund puppy?”

“Train it.”

“To do what?” To Liam’s knowledge, dachshunds were bred to hunt small burrowing animals. Sylara hardly needed a dog specialized in that role.

“Kill.”

“Absolutely not!” Liam wasn’t sure who Sylara was going to train the dachshund to kill, but he wouldn’t give her an Earth-dog for that purpose.

Lilith snorted but didn’t say anything.

“Fine,” Sylara relented. “Just to hunt.”

“I guess if you promise not to overdo it, it’s okay. Then again, I don’t even know when the puppies will be old enough to adopt.”

“Ask.”

Liam sighed and typed into his phone, “Actually, one of my cousins was interested in getting a dog. I’ll see if they’re interested. When will she have the puppies?” He summarized the text for Sylara and received a response back a few moments later.

“Oh, dude, she had them already. Let me see when you can pick one up. I’ll check.”

Liam internally cursed Vince’s misleading texts. “Vince’s finding out when they’re available, but probably not for a while.”

“Hm.” Sylara seemed to be pouting.

“Can I have one too?” asked Lilith. “They are cute after all. Of course, I won’t use it for combat or anything. I just want to feed it and play with it when I’m not busy. My family can take care of it when I’m away.”

Liam hadn’t given any thought to whether or not demons would even keep dogs. “Do demons raise dogs?”

“No, only hellhounds.”

“Denied.”

“Oh, come on Liam! I won’t let the little cutie anywhere near any hellhounds or other carnivorous demon beasts! I promise!”

“What about omnivorous demon beasts?”

This time, Sylara snorted.

“I’ll be careful!” Lilith insisted. “No letting any demon beasts larger than a small dog near the puppy!”

“Well, let’s see how long it takes before I can adopt one or two anyway,” said Liam. “Also, I’m not sure how you plan to sneak back to your territory with a puppy. Imagine you’re creeping out of the summoning chamber and then the dog barks…”

“I’ll figure something out!”

“Whatever you say, Lilith.” Liam glanced over at the computer. “Actually, what happened last night?

“We both finished the human missions,” Sylara explained. “We were going to start the monster missions next.”

“Already!?” Liam found the energy these women put into video games somewhat frightening. “Either way, Lilith, I’ll probably have more guests coming through the invisible door soon. I can’t have them seeing you, right?”

“Eh, I’ll just hide.”

“Dammit Lilith. I can’t just put you up forever.”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“Let’s wait until you get an answer back on the dog question.”

Liam didn’t like that plan, but he thought it was probably pointless to argue further. Regardless, he received a text back.

Vince wrote, “The puppies are ready next week. You want one?”

Liam really didn’t appreciate how the puppies went from not being born yet to being ready next week in the course of a few text messages, but there was no point in complaining about it. He needed to focus on his cover story.

He wrote back to Vince, “Actually, I just called my cousin, and her sister is jealous and wants one too. How many are available?”

“Dude hold on.”

While waiting, DM translated the conversation for Lilith and Sylara. He figured Vince was separately texting with whichever relative or friend of his is the source of all these dachshund puppies.

Vince replied with the answer. “There are two left. A boy and girl. That okay?”

Liam conveyed the question and received prompt responses.

“I want the male dog,” said Sylara.

“That’s fine with me. I’ll take the little girl.”

Liam recalled the fact that Nathan gained the “seeds of magic” after passing through the invisible door. Likely, these two puppies would also gain magic to some extent. So long as Sylara and Lilith planned to keep the dogs on their side of the invisible door, it didn’t seem like a problem. They would both figure out how to handle it if the dogs gained magic. Probably. “Okay, let me text him back.”

After texting Vince again, Liam received a reply that he had dibs on the last two puppies. He told Sylara and Lilith to stay where they were while he grabbed his laptop. He pulled up several articles on raising puppies and on dachshunds in particular.

“Okay, both of you pay attention. I’m going to read to you everything you need to know about dachshunds and what we know about raising puppies in this world. You can’t read these articles and it would be too much of a pain to translate it all so you’ll just have to memorize what you need to know.

“Okay, but hurry up. I want to get started on the monster missions.”

“Me too.”

Liam was pretty sure they meant aliens but he didn’t correct them. He spent the next twenty minutes reading to them everything he could find about becoming a first-time dog owner and dachshund parent.

----------------------------------------

Liam sat at the kitchen table cradling his head in his hands while Lilith and Sylara each played mission 2-3 of the real-time strategy game independently. Occasionally, they would announce findings and realizations to the other regarding how to complete the mission.

When a ringing bell echoed from down the hallway, Liam raised his head. He turned to look at Lilith but she wasn’t there. Amazingly, she had even paused the game before vacating the chair. He heard the sound of the closet door shutting in the kitchen. Looking the other way, Sylara just kept playing the game. Liam shook his head and stood up.

“Hello!”

Liam walked toward the source of the voice. He was pretty sure he recognized it.

“It’s Lyria Moonseeker!”

“I’m coming,” he called back as he walked down the hallway. They met in the master bedroom.

“It’s good to see you again, Liam. Is now a better time?”

“Yeah, I’m all done with that other stuff.” Liam heard more noise from the bathroom and turned his head.

“Oh, I have one other with me,” Lyria explained. “Allow me to introduce you.”

A wide-eyed middle-aged man walked into the bedroom as well. He wore robes of a much plainer design than Lyria’s or even Beth’s.

“This is Minister Foss. He works for the kingdom on the other side of the invisible door.”

Foss gathered himself. “Ah, yes, that is me. I hope you have time for a formal discussion about several matters of business.”

“Formal?” Liam repeated back.

“Ah, allow me to explain,” Lyria jumped in. “Previously, we traveled here simply to make contact and establish friendly relations. As you noticed, we did not pursue any agreements beyond maintaining contact. Now that your other matters are attended to, the king has tasked Minister Foss with having more detailed discussions regarding our friendship and, hopefully, our alliance.”

“That is correct,” said Foss. “I have a list of items to discuss with you, and also am empowered to answer most questions you may have regarding the other side of the invisible door. Lyria Moonseeker has joined us both because she has met you before and because she can answer any questions you may have about magic.”

“Ah, that makes sense.” Liam didn’t mind the lineup they sent over to meet with him. “No Alaric or Thane?”

“Yes…” Lyria’s voice made her sound a bit conflicted. “We thought it would be too much of an imposition to send a large group into your home again. Also, Alaric thought it likely Thane would insist on consuming more of your spirits if he came along.”

“Is that normal for dwarfs?” asked Liam.

“Ahahaha…” Lyria didn’t answer.

“Anyway, may we sit and discuss several items? We don’t need any drinks or mean to impose further than that.”

Liam had no objections to the minister’s proposal and appreciated that he didn’t seem to have any ulterior motives regarding creature comforts. Before they could relocate, Lyria gazed at the bedroom door while she asked Liam a question.

“Liam, I hear some strange noises coming from the other room. Is there somebody else here?”

“Yeah, it’s exactly who you think it is.”

Lyria raised a palm to her forehead. “I feared as much…”

Liam led the pair into the main room, where Sylara was still playing the game and had her back to them. She paused the game and spun her chair around, revealing that she was wearing Liam’s clothing—clothing that was casual and modest by Earth’s standards but certainly exotic by the standards of the other world.

Lyria and Minister Foss stood slack-jawed.