“Arwf… (Sheesh. That was a long night…) ”
We’re currently walking back to the mansion after settling the score with Carmilla.
In other news, Bal carried out Garo’s orders to a tee, protecting Shiro and Kuro and hiding in the forest. Deciding one is not fit for a battle and focusing on hiding oneself and others is the kind of veteran move I’d expect from Bal.
As for Shiro and Kuro, despite having gone through some scary stuff, they’re still sound asleep. Seeing the little snot bubbles coming out of their noses was more than enough to make me smile in spite of myself. I definitely can’t let the young lady see their overwhelming cuteness. I feel a greater threat to my position from them than from any enemy.
“Grwl. (We will be taking our leave, then.) ”
Garo is bringing Ururu back to the village, and Nahura will be tagging along so she can go around caring for the wounded.
“Grwl, grwl. (We wish to sincerely thank you for saving us in our time of need.) ”
“Woof, woof. (And thank you for helping save the young lady. I want to come and see Shiro and Kuro again soon, too.) ”
“Grwl. (Yes—my daughters and I will look forward to your visit.) ”
Garo bows her head, then leaves to go deeper into the forest with Bal and the others.
Speaking of people who are still fast asleep, my own master, Lady Mary, is still sleeping. Only she could keep on dozing away after all that commotion. She’s got the toughest nerves around.
Still, despite everything that’s happened, the young lady was never wounded, and everyone at the mansion is safe. I think we can consider this case closed.
I have to say—how dare they come after me, one after another, to threaten my peaceful pet life? Demon lords, heroes, battles for the fate of the world… Go do them somewhere else. Please.
“Squeak. (Well, they do say everything comes in threes.) ”
Len says something terrible as she brushes the young lady’s hair out of her face.
“Arwf-rwf. (Ha-ha-ha. That would be ridiculous. It would never happen.) ”
…Right? It wouldn’t, would it?
“Squeak, squeak. (In either case, you would never lose no matter who came along. In fact, you may as well go straight to defeating the Demon Lord yourself.) ”
Well, I obviously don’t want to. Why would a pet dog ever fight the Demon Lord? That would be insane. That’s a job for a real hero to take on.
So maybe, Hero, you could do some actual work. Go protect world peace instead of heaping the trouble on me. Protect my life’s peace, too, while you’re at it.
I don’t know where you are, Hero…but I’ve already taken care of things twice, so I really need you to take the wheel next time. I got reincarnated into a dog so I wouldn’t have to do any work, after all.
Sometimes I feel like thanks to that airheaded POS goddess resurrecting me as this Fenrir thing, events have been heading in a strange direction. Not to worry—I’ll stubbornly turn the wheel back on course toward the happy pet life I was meant to have.
“Arwf. (Isn’t that right, young lady?) ”
“Mmm… Together forever… Routa…”
That’s right! You and I, together forever!
I snuggle against the young lady, who clings to me even as she sleeps, and walk slowly down the path back to the mansion.
✦ ✦ ✦
After Routa and the others left, there was a small bat flapping unsteadily near the now-quiet lake.
“Kee, kee! (I can’t believe it… I can’t believe they’d even beat me that easily…!) ”
“That’s why I told you, Miss Carmilla, that our opponent was a terrifying one…,” grumbled the skull, sighing, gripped in the bat’s feet.
“Kee! (You didn’t do anything, Uncle, so be quiet! Or else I’ll drop you!) ”
“P-please do not do that. Nothing will come of us having a falling out.”
Carmilla and Lich had been defeated by Routa, but they both stubbornly refused to die. At the end Carmilla had made it look like she’d lost it and attacked, but she’d actually created a shadow of herself and used it as a decoy to escape. It was very on-brand for her to do something like that, given her propensity for calculation.
“Kee… (We can’t do anything against that thing… I hate to say it, but his strength might actually exceed the Demon Lord’s… )”
“For now, let’s build up our forces and wait for the other generals to awaken. Thankfully, there is plenty of leftover mana in this area.”
The crystal palace had been destroyed, but most of the mana holding it together was still drifting around the lake.
“The ultimate destruction magic the Fen Wolf King fired, especially, scattered excess mana into the surroundings. If you and I gather it all back up, we should be able to recover much of our strength.”
“Kee… (Yes… As immortal monsters, our immortality is our true strength. Just you watch, Fen Wolf King. We’ll take our revenge on you one day…) ”
After their opinions were aligned, a gust of wind suddenly blew through.
“Kee?! (What’s this wind?!) ”
She was unable to resist the winds with her weakened bat wings, and she and Lich were both scooped up into it.
“I’m sorry, but that plan won’t work.”
It was a person, controlling the little whirlwind with a fingertip, sitting on a staff. The woman looked exactly like the kind of witch who would appear in fairy tales.
“I’m quite sure I’ll be using the mana here, too, for my own magic…just like I have been for over a thousand years.”
She brought her face closer to the captured Carmilla and smiled meaningfully.
“Kee, kee?! (Wh-what?! What are you talking about?! Who the heck are you?!) ”
“You… You were there, too—the witch…! Yes, your name was…Hecate…! You said you’d be using the mana, too , didn’t you? Then were you the one who stole my graveyard as well…?!”
The two trembled in the presence of the mysterious witch. She possessed a different sort of dreadfulness from the Fen Wolf King. Maybe this was what prey caught in a spiderweb felt like.
“As for you two… Well, it seems you’re naught but shells now, sapped of all your strength. But I cannot simply leave you two to your own devices… Ahh, I have a good idea.”
The witch put her index finger to her chin as she thought, before her face broke into a smile, as though she’d just thought of a good plan.
“I’ll make you both my familiars,” she said, activating a spell with one hand.
“Kee, kee?! (What?! Don’t be stupid! Some random elven witch wannabe could never make generals of the Demon Lord’s army such as us…into…familiars…?) ”
The end of Carmilla’s sentence trailed off.
Thanks to the spell the witch had activated.
“Kee, kee?! (What—what is this?! It’s such a complex subordination spell…! And it’s tougher than me, a vampire?! How many years do you have to train to come up with such a barbaric, awful thing…?!) ”
“Curse… Curse you, witch—you are much older than your looks would imply, aren’t you…?! How many thousands of years have you lived—”
“Oh, hush now.”
Still smiling, the witch cast the spell on them.
““M-mgyaaahhhhh!!””
Two shrieks reverberated in the moonlit night.