“Hmm, Elania, you’re getting better at this,” Velariah said with delight after I’d pulled back.

I didn’t know what to say… I was lost in her beautiful eyes.

I said nothing and just hugged her and turned my attention to the puppy in front of my… lap?

Did I even have a lap anymore?

I hugged Velariah’s side again and rested my head on her shoulder, which was quite awkward considering I was still taller than her, even when ‘sitting’ like this.

My love for the beautiful elf continues to grow, I hadn’t even told her I loved her yet. I wondered if it was maybe a bit late for that. We hadn’t exactly gone the usual route in our relationship. Then again, I had no idea about this kind of stuff before I met her anyway. At least, I don’t think I did.

Who knew?

Not me.

My heart was warmed further by the sight of the cutest puppy I’d ever seen in front of me. I played with Velariah’s hair with one hand while hugging her with the other. Having four hands was a blessing, I was made more and more aware of that fact.

We remained quiet for what felt like hours (it probably was). Time flew by, and soon I could see small rays of light from the ceiling.

I knew there was some kind of ventilation. It looked like there were tiny holes near the ceiling that allowed air to enter the cave.

The first to awaken was the puppy in front of me. I had been looking forward to it. It gave me something to do in the meantime, I didn’t want to wake the others too early. I felt we had plenty of time.

The first thing I did was give it some more water, which it happily drank. I then had Velariah ‘Borrow’ some more meat from Draco’s pack. I was sure he wouldn’t mind.

My accomplice in crime managed to find some more raw meat wrapped in leaves and I took a small strip and cut it into tiny pieces. The wolf pup was running around in circles while I was cutting, out of pure anticipation.

Keeping pets well-fed sure seemed like a solid way to earn their loyalty.

It happily ate the pieces of meat while Velariah petted it. I joined her and soon the pup was overwhelmed by five hands petting it.

“I wonder when you’ll do that to me.” Velariah half-joked with a broad smile.

“Pet you, or use more hands on you than the average person?” I asked.

“Both!” She exclaimed.

I grinned. “I’m pretty sure that will happen someday, at this rate, at least.”

“Awww, El, don’t force yourself.”

I turned to her. “I really am not.”

Draco stirred and yawned, audibly. I’m pretty sure it would have awoken me if I was asleep. Somehow, Nira and Seralyn were still asleep.

He sat up, reached for his bag and pulled out a canteen. He then drank as he turned to face us.

The leaves that had contained the strip of meat were still on the floor next to me and the wolf pup was licking them.

Oops.

Draco smiled. “I see your new friend is doing well, Miss Elania.”

“Yeah, it is. I’m sorry about taking your food. I’ll make up for it when we get to Dawnleaf.”

“It’s alright, I got plenty. That youngling needed it more than me, anyway.”

“Thank you, Draco,” I said with relief.

The small wolf cocked its head and ran over to the lizardman, jumping into his lap.

“Seems it likes you, too.” Velariah chuckled.

Draco extended a large hand and petted the animal too. “Indeed, it does.”

Then, it did something unexpected. The animal ran over towards a sleeping Seralyn and started licking her face.

“You got to be kidding me.” Velariah smiled. “That creature is crazy.”

“Who?” I asked. “The wolf or Seralyn?”

“Both.” The elf grinned.

Seralyn awoke and looked at the creature currently licking her face. “Yikes. Elania, keep your pets with you!”

“I can’t help that it’s so curious!” I replied.

The elf sat up and rubbed her eyes.

Then, she did something unexpected. She petted the creature that was now running circles around her.

Didn’t expect that from her.

“I guess it is kind of cute.” She said softly.

Nira awoke from the commotion and the canine was quick to shift its attention to her. It ran up against one of her wings and started sniffing her feathers.

“Hey there, little guy.” The harpy spoke with her usual soft voice, one hand still rubbing an eye. The animal then pulled out a feather from her wings.

“Ouch,” Nira responded to the action.

Seralyn grinned.

Then, it returned the feather to me.

Seralyn burst into full-blown laughter.

“It only took you a night to teach it how to do that. I’m impressed.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at her words.

“Have you thought of a name yet?” Draco asked.

I shook my head. “Haven’t thought of it yet. I’ll do that when we get home. I suggest we finish whatever needs to be done here before we are on our way.”

“Time to torch this place,” Seralyn exclaimed.

“I knew I was right when I asked for that,” I said. “How exactly do we torch this place though?”

Draco reached into his bag and pulled out a large glass container with a dark yellow liquid inside. The color reminded me of gasoline, but I doubted it was that.

“With this.” He said.

The torches on the walls had gone out sometime during the night. The only thing alight in the cave right now was the campfire. We packed our stuff back into Draco’s large bag while I created a thick thread for a very specific reason.

I created a makeshift leash and strapped it around the pup’s neck. I didn’t want it running off into danger. I could possibly deposit the animal into my unused saddle bag as well. I doubted it could keep running for long, it still looked very young. I handed the leash to Velariah before I made my way outside.

Being a walking silk factory turned out to be mighty convenient for whenever I needed a strong rope.

I walked through the tunnel with a torch that Nira had refueled with her magic, and took down the threads that were partly blocking the entrance.

The temperature was already rising to its peak. The difference between day and night in the forest seemed to be of little influence on how warm it was.

After I’d removed the blockage I walked back inside.

Draco was spreading the liquid in his glass container all over the walls and ceiling of the cave. In particular, he soaked the mushrooms with it. Once the bottle was empty, he placed it back in his bag before signaling it was time to move out. I equipped my armor and took my spear with me.

Velariah placed the puppy in my unused saddlebag and made her way out of the cave after handing me the leash. Surprisingly, it remained in its place. Its head stuck out from under the flap and looked at me curiously with its tongue stuck out.

I smiled at the puppy and tried to reach out to pet it, but I couldn’t reach quite that far.

Nira and Seralyn exited the room, and I followed them after handing my torch to Draco.

Once I was outside, I smelled smoke. Seconds after, Draco came running out of the cave in a hurry, without his torch.

“It’s done,” he stated. “This cave will be useless to the goblins from now on.”

Black smoke came out of the cave entrance and I could see a few small plumes rise above the ground on top of the cave too.

I saw the puppy jump out of the saddlebags and run in the direction of the cave entrance. I yanked on the leash to pull it away from danger. I kept pulling until it was in front of me and picked it up with my two gloved hands.

“It’s not the smartest one, is it?” Seralyn asked.

“It’s just curious, I think. I don’t think it’s had time to learn that fire is dangerous.” I replied.

“Hm. That’s a fair assumption.” She said, eying the pup in my arms.

I lowered myself to the ground to allow Velariah and Nira to step on. It seemed they got the idea, as soon they were on my back.

I took one last look at the large corpse of the felled animal in the center of the clearing before the cave. In bright daylight, its appearance was even more frightening than at night. It was clearly a wolf that looked as if it had risen from the dead about a week or so after it had died.

The way back was surprisingly peaceful. We didn’t run into any more goblins, hobgoblins, or trolls. It did appear we were taking a slightly different route - I noticed some plants that I didn’t recognize. Draco had us halt for a moment as he gathered some of the strange plants. They looked like dandelions but they were black instead of the usual yellow. He put them in a small pouch and handed one to Velariah.

Velariah brought one up in front of my nose and forced me to smell it.

“Is that?” I asked. The smell was strikingly familiar.

“This is shadowbloom, an excellent flower to use for shampoos, I love their smell.”

“Hmm, so do I.” I took the flower by the stem from her hand and held it in front of the puppy’s nose.

It sniffed curiously before sneezing in the cutest way I’d ever seen.

I giggled at its reaction.

“Can I hold it?” Velariah asked.

“As long as you don’t drop it. Try to come up with a name while you’re at it. I heard you’re good with naming things.” I chuckled at the irony. I also handed the flower back to the elf.

“I won’t. Also, very funny.”

I replied with a small laugh.

I wondered what Nira was thinking. She was completely clueless as to what we were talking about, after all.

I carefully handed the leash and the small creature to her and used my free hands to hold on to her frame. Now that she didn’t have her hands around my waist she’d need something to keep stable.

I actually wondered if it was still necessary. My movements had become more fluid as time went by. I didn’t shake in the same way a horse did, not in the slightest. My midsection remained level, unless I was running at high speeds.

I highly doubted Velariah would admit they weren’t necessary.

And Nira, well, Nira had her claws. Even if she was sitting on a bulb, they kept her in place.

With the ball of fluff out of my hands, I thought back to the fight last night.

“Draco?” I called out.

“Yes?” he replied.

“What do you think would be the best course of action, regarding what happened last night? I assume we’re informing the guild of that creature, right?”

“Certainly.” He replied with a simple answer.

I hoped the guild would have answers about something like this. Necromantic magic could be a possibility. I didn’t dare to ask if it existed in this world, lest I give away information that I don’t want to give away. I’d ask Velariah in private when we got home.

I hoped Valtheril would return soon. I didn’t like the idea of cleaning up the goblins in the forest while something like this stalked the land.

“Should we send a message to your father?” I asked Velariah.

“I doubt that’s of any use. For all I know, he could be on his way back already and the message will pass him by.”

What a mess I got myself into again.

I highly doubted all the things that happened so far in this forest were a coincidence. I mean, I was not even from this world. I’d suddenly found myself here. Next thing I know, some human who possessed an awful lot of wealth got into a fight with me. Then, a troll warband shows up. Now, I ran into some half-dead wolf.

Did Valtheril know that strange things were happening? Was that why he prepared to assault the goblins? Or did he not have the knowledge about these things?

It freaked me out.

I liked the nearby village and some of its inhabitants. All these strange things happening one after another have put me on edge. For all I knew, some kind of ancient evil dragon would awaken and wipe out Dawnleaf. I couldn’t stand the thought.

I hoped Valtheril would be able to help out.

His power seemed insane. Surely he would be able to figure out what was going on?

For now, the most we could do was go home, and at least make sure this lovely little puppy would get a good place to live. I looked behind me to see Velariah petting the half-asleep puppy. It really was a cute sight to behold.

“You seem to be lost in thought, Miss Elania,” Draco said while walking next to me.

“That’s because I am. There are a lot of strange things happening and I’m wondering if they’re connected.”

“Hmm, I can see why you would think that.” He said. “However, I wouldn’t break my head over it, if I were you.”

I shook my head. “It’s not that easy for me.”

“It will be fine,” Velariah said. “We will figure out what’s going on soon enough.”

“I hope you’re right.”

My mind refused to calm down. There were the lynxes from before as well that somehow fled their natural habitat. It would strike me as odd if that had any connection to this, considering the distance between the forest and the mountains.

And then there was the witch of the forest who murmured something along the lines of ‘a storm rolling in’. It could have been the literal storm the other day, but I started to doubt that now.

My head hurt from overthinking this.

The sound of an arrow release from Seralyn brought my attention back to the present. I’d been walking without even looking.

I was at the ready within a second with my blades. I released one hand from Velariah and put my spear in that hand.

“Take it easy, Elania. It was only one goblin.” Seralyn reassured me.

She walked over to a corpse a bit further ahead and retrieved her arrow from the dead goblin.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Relax, Elania. We need you with us here.” Velariah said behind me.

I didn’t reply. From then on, I paid attention to my surroundings.

The rest of the trip was quiet. We only found one more goblin between us and the edge of the forest.

We reached Dawnleaf at the peak of the afternoon. The first order of business would be getting some proper food. My companions had a quick breakfast earlier, but it hadn’t been much. I insisted I’d pay for a nice lunch, partly as a way to make up for taking the meat from Draco’s bag.

Not that it would cost much, but it was about the gesture.

We reached the gates and Velariah and Nira jumped off my back after I lowered myself. The elf then handed me the leash and put down the little wolf to the ground.

Said wolf seemed to be curious about the cobblestones that were on the ground. It sniffed and extended a paw at one of them before backing off.

I shook my head.

This thing was so clueless. It was hilarious to observe.

Then, it ran over to the grass and proceeded to drop a turd.

I doubted I’d have to pick up after myself. Even if I wanted to, I didn’t think plastic bags were a thing yet.

I picked the puppy up as we entered the city. There were a fair amount of people out and about on the streets. Weren’t there going to be guild trials anytime soon?

I’d lost track of the days. When you had no hard obligations, it seemed to be easy to lose track.

We walked over to the guild hall and entered it, getting quite a few stares on the way, but all of them seemed to be out of curiosity.

My companions sat down and ordered, but I was fixated on the quest board. I needed something to take my mind off of things. Something simple in the neighborhood would be ideal. I wanted to stick close to Dawnleaf until Valtheril’s return.

I should probably just get the money for the ritual together in the meantime. I think that, and maybe a visit to the dungeon, were the only real options for things to do in the meantime. Maybe I’d help Arch by visiting them too. I wondered if any others had visited the dungeon yet.

“Anything interesting?” Velariah said, looking over my shoulder.

I sighed. “The most interesting thing I’ve seen is a Saibon Boar.”

“Let’s take it. Just the two of us.” Velariah said.

I nodded. “Sounds okay.”

“You’re really anxious, aren’t you?”

I nodded again. “Vel, I don’t believe in coincidence. It’s just too much.”

“You’re right.” She said, “Too many strange things have happened and it appears you got sucked into the middle of it all.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” I spoke. “I do love going out with you guys and experiencing new things… and battling with you, but I am not the kind for mysteries and conspiracies. It’s just too much for me. I’d like to help with the goblins and whatever is wrong in the forest… but I’m scared.”

“Being scared of the unknown is normal.” She assured me. “That’s why there’s five of us. We help one another out.”

“Thank you, Vel. I needed that.” I turned to her with the puppy still in my arms.

She petted it with affection before turning to the quest board and taking off the quest for the Saibon Boar.

“Let’s get something to eat. After that, let’s take that puppy to Elly and then see what we can do.” Velariah suggested.

“Let’s do that,” I replied. “Have you thought of a name yet?”