The Strongest Wizard Becomes a Countryside Guardsman After Taking an Arrow to the Knee

Chapter 25 – A Wolf King’s Work
After leaving the hot springs, I went back to my house and ate dinner.

Not with just Vi-Vi and Femm, but with Collette and Millet also.

「Today is beef stew, everyone!」

「Wuff wuff!」

Thanks to Moofy, the price of beef in Mulg was hyperdeflated.

And the beef was still good…so everyone was happy.

You could enjoy a nice bath and sleep soundly.

Even though I wasn’t so sure how well the hot spring was working.

***

Late night. Femm suddenly sprung up.

「Femm, what is it? Do you have to use the bathroom?」

『…』

「If you do, you can go ahead outside.」

『No.』

Femm’s spirit speech sounded a bit worried.

「Well, what is it?」

『Hmp…』

Femm’s ears twitched. It was focusing on the sounds it heard.

While Femm and I were talking, Vi-Vi woke up.

「I’m SLEEPY!」

「Then sleep.」

「Yawwnn.」

And Vi-Vi just went back to bed.

On the other side, Femm jumped off the bed. Its tail stood up straight.

『I’m being called.』

「By whom?」

『You can’t hear? By a brother…howling far away.』

「I can’t hear anything…」

I tried focusing my ears, but I still couldn’t hear anything.

However, Femm’s keen hearing probably heard something.

『Seems like something bad happened.』

「Hm?」

『I have to go…okay?』

「Sure…do you need help?」

『Just your good intentions will suffice…it’s my duty as Femm the king.』

「I see, well go do your best.」

I watched Femm prepare to leave the house.

When it did, it assumed its larger, horse-like size.

「It’s been a while since I saw you that size.」

『That’s not true.』

When I first met Femm, it had a far slimmer, hungry wolf look.

Now Femm looked far more virile and tough.

『I’ll be back.』

「If you have any trouble, let me know.」

I rubbed Femm’s head one last time.

『I see. I’ll be back here for tomorrow’s dinner.』

It said while sniffing away at me around my chest.

Then it stuck its nose into my hair.

After doing that for a moment, Femm took off running.

「See you…well, back to sleep.」

I got back in bed and closed my eyes. But it was hard to get back to sleep.

I was worried about what happened to Femm.

All of the magical wolves were mature magic wolves. That’s why they’d be okay even without Femm there.

Even so, if Femm was called by another, that meant that there was a big problem afoot.

And if it was a problem among the big king wolves, then Femm would be the one to take care of it.

But it was still a huge worry.

It wasn’t until dawn was close that I finally got some sleep.

I had a dream.

Femm was fighting a magic boar. Femm was having a hard time and was injured.

「Al! Al, wake up!」

「Ah, Vi-Vi, good morning.」

「What is it? You were having a nightmare!」

「I had a really bad dream.」

「Only a low-life would have a nightmare where they were talking in their sleep!」

Vi-Vi said, restlessly looking around.

「Hey, so where did the doggie go?!」

Vi-Vi only woke up once last night. She then slept soundly and didn’t know what happened last night.

「There was a problem in its pack, so Femm went back to the forest.」

「Hmmm?」

Vi-Vi said nothing after that.

I thought she would be happy as she was scared of Femm, but she wasn’t.

After eating breakfast with Millet and Collette, I went back to my work as guard.

It was strange not seeing Femm running around like it usually did.

After Vi-Vi went to see the cow, she came back to me.

She started scribbling away at a magic circle like usual.

「Sigh…」

「Are you worried about the doggie?」

「Femm said it wouldn’t come back until dinner.」

「If Femm said it would return, then there’s no worry.」

She started scribbling again.

「Al…look here.」

「Hm? What is this?」

「Heh heh.」

「No really…what is this?」

It was a magic circle I didn’t understand.

「It’s a magic circle that, if you draw it on your forehead, your bad dreams disappear.」

Vi-Vi said with a proud face.

「There’s a magic circle like that? I had no idea.」

「Of course! I made it myself just now!」

「Wow…that’s something.」

I said, and I analyzed the magic circle.

It was well made.

The base was a sleep effect with curse dispel. Putting the two together would probably bar you from seeing bad dreams.

However,

「Isn’t this part connected to this other part?」

「Hm? But if you connect it, then the nightmare erasing effect is gone.」

「But, if you don’t connect it, then the flow of magic is interrupted.」

「You might be right…」

If the flow of magic was stopped, then the magic circle wouldn’t work.

「Well, failure leads to success.」

「Heh heh.」

I gave Vi-Vi a little praise anyway.

It was time for dinner.

I waited for Femm in my house, but it didn’t return.

Millet and Collette came to the outside of my house.

「Mr. Al. I brought dinner.」

「Millet. Thanks again.」

「Old man. Did Femm come back?」

「Femm must be really busy.」

「I hope that nothing bad happened to Femm.」

Millet looked worried as she squeeze Collette close.

「Femm’s a magic wolf king…it’ll be fine.」

「You’re right.」

Millet and Collette still looked worried.

I was worried too, of course.

And Vi-Vi was too, although she didn’t say anything.

As we all ate dinner without Femm, suddenly

「Wuff Ruff!」

Femm jumped into the house. It was the same huge size as last night.

Femm was out of breath…it’s beautiful silver hair had mud all over it.

Collette ran up and held it.

「Welcome back.」

Femm licked Collette’s face.

「Femm…you were late.」

『I need your help.』

「Leave it to me.」

I had answered, and Femm wagged its tail.