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

Chapter 54 – An Old Wizard Walking a Wolf and Cow

I left Vi-Vi in Millet’s house and went outside.

Cruz, Moofy, and Femm came with me.

「Moo」

「Ruff Ruff!」

Moofy and Femm suddenly perked up when they heard the word 「walk」.

Femm bounced around me like a ball.

Moofy pushed her snout into my chest.

Cruz rubbed both of the animals.

「Everyone really loves going on a walk.」

「Femm really acts like a dog.」

「Moo Moo」

『That’s not true.』

Moofy was mooing to herself.

On the other hand, Femm quickly sat and talked in spirit speech. But its tail was still wagging.

「Okay, Femm. If we’re going on a walk, let me ride you.」

『I guess I have to.』

Femm wagged its tail quickly while growing to its original size.

Moofy nuzzled Cruz after seeing me ride Femm.

Maybe Moofy wanted Cruz to ride her.

「Cruz, do you want to ride Moofy?」

「No…no need to. I can run.」

「Moooo…」

Cruz liked to run. She really liked to exercise.

Moofy mooed sadly after hearing it.

「I think Moofy wants you to ride her.」

「What? Really? Do you Moofy?」

『Ride.』

Moofy used spirit speech again…and hadn’t for a long time.

We were a bit surprised.

「Okay, I will then.」

「Moo Mooooo!」

Cruz rode, and Moofy mooed happily.

Cruz smiled and rubbed Moofy’s head.

Moofy might want to have Cruz ride her because she’s always rubbing Moofy’s head. It would be better if she held back a bit.

「Okay, let’s go for a walk! Go wherever you want, Femm.」

「Rawf?」

Femm looked back at me with a look like 「Can I really do that?」

「Sure. Just make sure you go at a speed where Moofy can keep up.」

「Rawf.」

Femm ran happily.

Cruz rode Moofy behind, Cruz laughing away.

「Moo Moo Mooo!」

「Weehee hee, so fun!」

Moofy was pretty fast. Faster than a normal cow.

Cruz was just hanging on.

While I was watching them, I thought,

This seemed a lot like walking a dog.

「Femm. If you want to do THAT, you can, okay?」

「Ruff?」

「You know, marking your territory.」

「Rawf!」

Femm barked in a strange voice.

Since Femm was pretty much a dog, it probably wanted to mark its territory on a tree or something.

It wasn’t an extreme statement to say that dogs loved walking just so they could pee on each other’s territory.

「You really don’t have to hold back.」

Femm suddenly stopped.

『No way.』

「What?」

『I wouldn’t do something like that.』

「Come on, you know you’re doing it secretly.」

『I am NOT.』

Femm refused flatly.

It seems that a magic wolf king has some amount of pride attached to it.

「Okay. Sorry for bringing up a weird topic.」

『You noticed?』

Femm panted heavily through the nose.

Cruz rode Moofy and said,

「The woods are so peaaaaceful.」

「Yeah.」

Mulg used to be plagued by wolves and boars.

That’s why I was hired as a guard.

「There was a huge boar that I had to kill. And the magic wolves became my friends.」

「I see.」

「Because of them being here, no other magical beasts come close.」

「Wuff.」

Femm barked pridefully.

I guess they really had marked their territory, in a way.

But I wondered how much territory was actually theirs.

「Where does your territory go to?」

「Ruff?」

I asked, and Femm thought a bit.

『It’s quite a far way.』

「I see.」

That sounded rather ambiguous.

I guess it wasn’t like human relations in land management where we stake an exact claim.

「Take me to the edge of your territory!」

「You can’t make them Al, they’re going to get really tired!」

『It’s no problem for me.』

『No problem.』

Cruz was against it, but Femm and Moofy overruled her.

Moofy had no idea what the territory was but still was ready to go.

If Moofy got tired and couldn’t move, though, we’d have to camp all night before going back to town.

「Well, we may have to camp tonight.」

「Camp! Yassss!」

Cruz’ eyes glimmered.

I was used to camping, but I didn’t want to if I didn’t have to. I had no idea why Cruz was so into it.

Femm and Moofy started running happily along.

「Ruff Ruff」「Mooo mooo!」

While they were making noise and running, I talked to Cruz.

「Cruz, sorry about what happened today.」

「It was my fault, I apologize. I bought burdock.」

「You shouldn’t let people fool you – it’s dangerous. You better be more careful.」

「Yeah, I made Luka worry about me too.」

「I should have told you something like that might happen, sorry.」

「I’ve already learned so much from you, Al.」

She smiled. Still 15. She still has so much to learn.

「Sorry for asking for you to run an errand on your day off.」

「Don’t worry about that at all.」

「It was wrong. If you want a favor in return, just ask.」

「Huh? Anything?」

「I didn’t say anything…」

No need for her to turn my words against me.

But if I could help her, I definitely would.

「Hm…」

「Just say it then.」

「I can’t think of one now…give me a while.」

「Okay.」

That sounded a bit scary, but oh well.

While we were talking we had run quite a long ways.

『Right around here.』

「Wow, your turf is huge!」

And after saying that, Femm wagged its tail with pride.

It was quite a large territory for 20 magic wolves.

「So who owns the territory over there?」

『Several things. But the strongest is a bear.』

Almost like something from a chess game.

Just a bear alone is quite a powerful force. And if it was magical, even stronger.

「Killing a bear doesn’t leave anything good behind, so I don’t like fighting them.」

「Yeah, doesn’t taste good.」

Cruz thought I was talking about meat, but she was completely misreading.

The best spoil from a bear was its pelt. But even so, it wasn’t expensive.

「Let’s take a rest.」

「Yeah.」

「Ruff」「Moo」

I got off of Femm and sat down. Cruz sat beside me.

Femm and Moofy ran off and played.

I just zoned out looking at the forest…so did Cruz.

—-pwisssssssh

Moofy peed in front of us.

She was a sacred beast, so I thought she didn’t need to eat or drink.

But she did eat and drank. I guess if she does, then eventually it comes out.

Just then, the sounds of the insects around us became quiet.

「ＧＡＡＡＡＡＡＡＡ！！」

A massive bear came hurtling at Moofy, and our cow was still peeing.

「Mooo!」

Moofy reacted quickly. Just like a herbivore, it could sense danger quickly.

It rammed the bear, and the bear staggered.

「Garrrfffff!!」

Then Femm jumped on it, seized it by the neck and wrestled it down.

Cruz and I didn’t even move while this happened.

「It attacked quickly.」

『I was reacting to Moofy peeing there.』

「Hmm…」

Femm told us, but we didn’t know. I guess that the bear felt its territory was being invaded.

「ＧＲＡＡＡＡＡＡＡＡ！」「ＧＡＡＡＡＡＡＡ！」

「ＧＹＡＡＡＡＡＡＡＡＡ！」「ＧＧＯＯＡＡＡＡＡＡＡ！」

We could hear the cries of several magical beasts around us rise up.

Femm got ready. Moofy, on the other hand, looked around confused.

「Are they all coming at us at once?」

「Looks like it. I hope they’re not bears either.」

There’s no way it’s because she wanted to eat something else, right? I don’t have time for all that again.

What appeared was were wyverns, three basilisks, and one earth dragon.

The wyverns were medium size, about the size of three horses.

The basilisks were normal, about a horse’s size.

The earth dragon was large, about five horses.

And they were all coming at us at once.

「These guys are a bit stronger than that bear, huh?」

「Yes, but we can kill them off, right?」

「Sure.」

「Okay then.」

Cruz charged at the earth dragon closest to her.

The wyverns came after her in attempt to attack her from behind.

「A flying beast is a wizard’s target.」

I shot several magic arrows at them.

It broke through their dragon-class magical barrier, pierced, and destroyed their wings.

They fell and hit the ground.

Just then, Cruz slashed off the dragon’s neck.

She then went after the basilisks behind the dragon and killed them.

「Femm, sense any more?」

『I don’t think there are any.』

If Femm said so, then I could relax.

「Cruz. NO EATING.」

「What? …okay…」

She was totally going to eat them. I knew she would.

I told her once more not to do it, and started slicing up the beasts for treasure.