Chapter 53

Preparations for Fortifying the Passage

After Milka and Grulf finished meeting each other, Goran came out of his room.

“I thought I heard some barking…? Oh, but who is this?”

“I’ll tell you over breakfast.”

“I see.”

And then Luchila and Gerberga came out as well.

Gerberga was walking behind Luchila.

Perhaps Luchila would not have to carry Gerberga too much inside of the house.

And that was a good thing, as Gerberga needed to get some exercise.

“Ah, so Grulf is awake now.”

“Grrr.”

Luchila knew all about Grulf’s deep sleep the previous night.

“You should wake up when there is a noise like that.”

“Grrr…”

Grulf’s ears flattened on his head as Luchila petted him and gave a gentle lecture.

And then Gerberga approached Grulf.

“Cluck-cluck!”

“Grrrr…”

Gerberga was less gentle in his reminder of Grulf’s failure, and the wolf seemed to shrink down in size.

I didn’t understand what Gerberga was saying, but it must have been a rebuke.

“Well, Grulf. Don’t take it too hard.”

“Grrr…”

I encouraged him. Then Milka said,

“Mister Locke. Where are the cleaning tools?”

“Ah, now that I think about it. We probably don’t have any.”

“What? You don’t?”

“We only moved in yesterday.”

“Oh, is that right.”

“We will have to go and buy some later on.”

“Thank you!”

Milka said cheerfully.

And then we had a simple breakfast.

As there was no cook, we could only eat the leftover bread from yesterday.

“Delicious, delicious! This is so incredibly delicious!”

“I’m glad you like it.”

Milka was visibly impressed by the leftover food.

As we ate our breakfast, I explained to Goran and the others about what had happened.

About Milka and the secret passage.

“A secret passage to the palace, eh?”

“That makes me suspicious of its security.”

Goran and Serulis said with worry.

“I plan to reinforce the hole and the entire tunnel today. I will also install a door on the palace side.”

“A door?”

“A door that only chosen people can use. I think it would be good to have an emergency escape route.”

“That’s true.”

Royalty generally had secret escape routes. And they might as well have more than one.

Shia had been listening quietly, but now said,

“But why did this baron’s wife set those traps?”

“The trap that Milka was caught in?”

“Yes. I do not understand why she would make it for a passage that only she and the king would walk through.”

“Maybe she was cautious of someone else entering.”

“Like who?”

“Well, the previous, previous queen, of course.”

“I see… That could be a possibility.”

Shia nodded with a serious expression.

A king would likely have lovers with little shame.

That would not have made the queen very happy.

Perhaps the queen had followed them to the mansion during their tryst.

That wasn’t something that either the baron’s wife or king would find amusing.

And so they humiliated her but stringing her up.

After that, she would never think to follow them down here again.

As I wondered about such things, Milka was saying,

“Delicious, delicious!”

As she stuffed the food into her mouth.

Serulis was looking after her already.

“This tastes good too.”

“Thank you.”

“Do you want this as well?”

“Can I? You’re a nice lady! Thank you!”

“Do-do you want even more?”

Serulis seemed to really enjoy looking after people.

And she seemed to enjoy the compliment as well.

At the same time, Goran was patting Grulf on the head.

“I see, so you were not able to get up!”

“…Grr…”

“Bah, don’t be so down on yourself. Your time to shine will come soon enough.”

Upon hearing this, Shia added,

“Grulf is still a wolf pup. It cannot be helped that he wasn’t able to get up.”

“Grr?”

Grulf tilted his head to the side.

“But he’s so big. And he’s still a pup?”

I couldn’t help but ask Shia.

Grulf was the size of a small horse.

“Sacred beast wolves become much bigger.”

“Is that right.”

“Grulf is…likely around 10 years old.”

“How many months would that be for a dog?”

Dogs were considered to be full grown adults at 1 year. I wondered how long it took for sacred beast wolves.

“The equivalent would be a 5-month dog. After all, it takes sacred beast wolves 20 years to reach adulthood.”

“Is that right. So Grulf is still a puppy.”

“Grrr!”

Grulf barked proudly as if to protest.

Perhaps he was the age when he wanted to be seen as an adult.

However, considering how he was last night, I could no longer see him that way.

“I see, I see. That’s very cute.”

So for now, I just patted him on the head.

After we finished eating breakfast, Shia decided to go to the Adventurer’s Guild.

She wanted to see if there were any good quests.

“Say hello to Ario and Josh for me. And tell them I will be there if they need any help.”

“Can I tell Ario and Josh about this house?”

“Of course. Since it’s my house now.”

“Understood!”

Goran also left for work.

For a long time, he insisted that he would help me reinforce the tunnel, but Serulis rebuked him.

And Serulis stayed with us.

“I will help too!”

“I see. Thank you.”

And then we left the house to go shopping.

We needed materials to reinforce the wall.

I also wanted to buy a door to install in the room next to Eric’s bedroom.

I picked up Gerberga and left the house.

Grulf followed us as well. But he drew a lot of attention due to his size.

“The store that sells building stones is over there!”

Serulis had been raised in the capital and knew her way around it well.

“I also want you to buy cleaning tools for me.”

“Don’t worry, they are sold close to the same store.”

“Hurray!”

And so we enjoyed our walk through the capital.