A week had passed since Luna had brought home the two Bloody Wolves. She had been too busy taking care of them to visit our tent, so Elga and Livia told us about them instead. It seemed the wolf pups had finally grasped the fact that their parents had passed—and also that Luna had protected them. Perhaps it was thanks to that that they had now grown completely attached to her like family.
Today, Luna finally came to see us, holding a pup in each arm.
“Grr...”
“Garr...”
The two Bloody Wolves growled. Their names were Grr and Garr—Luna had seemingly named them after the different sound of their growls. Both of them had coats of bloodred fur, but Grr’s was slightly darker than Garr’s. I was grateful to have a way to tell them apart other than their growls.
“All right, you two, say hi to Miss Reina,” Luna said. As if they could understand what she was saying, the wolf pups cutely looked up at Reina, then growled.
“Grr...”
“Garr...”
“C-Cute,” Reina said, trembling at the sight of them.
“Hey, Luna, can they both already run?” I asked.
“Yep! But they’re pretty mischievous, so if I don’t hold them they go off to play somewhere right away.”
“I see. Well, monsters don’t come by here, so you can let them play a bit.”
My presence acted as a deterrent against monsters, so they hardly ever showed up. But that sensitivity and tendency to flee worked against me whenever I tried to go hunting.
“Hmmm... Do you want to play?” Luna asked the pups, who responded with a synchronized growl. “Okay... I guess I have to.”
She placed the two of them on the ground. Not a moment later, they broke into a fierce dash, as if they were having a race. They ran around everywhere, as if to say that the nearby buildings were nothing but obstacles in their path.
“C-Cute...”
“Are you okay, Reina?” I asked.
“It might be over for me. I’ve seen only dangerous monsters since coming to this island, so I’m totally calm around those two.”
“I see...”
Speaking of which, she had been under some quite heavy pressure on the island. When I thought of it that way, maybe it was a good thing for her to relax like this every once in a while.
As for Grr and Garr, they were running around us in circles, though I had no clue what they found so fun about it.
✦ ✦ ✦
A while after that, we spread out a tarp on the ground and sat down. The weather was good today, so the idea to eat outside had been raised. We had made boxed lunches, so it was like a picnic.
I casually glanced at Reina. She was happily petting the two wolf pups, making everything seem nice and relaxing.
“You look happy, Reina,” I remarked.
“Look, Arata. Just look at their calm faces as they sleep. They’re practically begging for someone to protect them...”
Reina was normally stiff and composed, but now her expression was much softer. Although it only made sense when I looked at the scene she was smiling over.
“Yeah, they sure are cute.”
“Right?”
The two pups were lying sprawled in Luna’s lap with their stomachs exposed. They were so vulnerable that it was hard to imagine that they had been brought up in the wild until only recently. They seemed to really trust Luna. Occasionally, Reina would mess with them, and they’d irritably shift, snuggling up to Luna. Then, Luna would softly pet them, and they would let out peaceful breaths and continue sleeping with satisfied looks on their faces.
“Hahh... So cute,” Reina said.
“Have you been stressed out lately, Reina?” I asked.
“Huh? I don’t really think so...”
“Oh.”
I had been thinking that, if I was unconsciously doing something to make her stressed, I would need to fix that. It seemed that my worry was unfounded. I breathed a sigh of relief, and as I did, Luna looked up at me.
“Do you want to pet them too?”
“Can I?”
“Yeah. They both know you’re their friend, so it’s okay.”
“All right, don’t mind if I do...”
I tried gently petting the two pups as they lay with their stomachs completely exposed. They looked like they found it a bit ticklish, but they didn’t behave in a way that made it seem like they disliked it.
“They really are asleep, right?” I asked Luna.
“Yeah, they are. But they can tell, somehow.”
They say dogs rank their owners, and these two looked to exhibit the same behavior. Number one was Luna. After that were Livia and Elga, then me. And, I got the sense that while they allowed Reina to pet them, it was only because Luna said it was all right.
“You know, they have cute faces, but they’re pretty harsh, aren’t they?” I said.
Well, if they weren’t that harsh, they wouldn’t be able to survive on this island.
“I wonder what will happen when they get bigger,” I continued.
“They’ll still be my little brothers, even when they grow up, so I’ll protect them,” Luna said.
“Huh... Well then, take good care of them.”
Luna was an only child, so these were her first siblings. If they helped her grow, I was sure that would be a good thing.
“Hahh...so cute,” Reina said.
I was incredibly satisfied as well, having been able to see another side of Reina, and I had these two pups to thank for it.
“Yeah, this is nice.”
Reina, Luna, and Elga had all been total strangers to me at first, but somehow or another, I really enjoyed this family-like atmosphere. I had wanted to live while having nothing to do with anyone else when I reincarnated here, but now I wanted to live together with them on this island for a long time to come.