Chapter 36

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

16:30

I finally arrived at my house. I had done a lot of things so it took me quite a while to return. For some reason, Sarasa and Juno were already waiting for me. They were sitting on a chair in my garden while chatting. 

Do you guys have that much free time? I see…

I parked the wagon next to the stable, put the horse back into the stable and filled the water trough. By the way, the name of my horse was Rocinante. The two of them helped me to unload the food and the ingots I had purchased. 

I prepared today’s spoil, the battle bull by marinating it with salt and crushed garlic. Then I cut the vegetables into suitable sizes. Today’s meal was beef barbecue.

Since we were having beef, red wine would be the best pair. I served a fruit wine that was similar to a red wine although the taste was slightly different from red wine. I set out cups, plates and forks for 3 people and began grilling the meat. 

It smelled very good. When I bit into the meat, the particular flavor of the beef filled my whole mouth. The deliciousness of the beef brought me into a moment of bliss. After that, I drank the red wine-ish fruit wine. It was the best. Sarasa and Juno were also munching into their meal with supreme bliss painted on their faces. 

We were enjoying our meal when I heard the cry of a beast.

It turned out a blue wolf was approaching us without me realizing. The wolf got caught in the ankle snare trap. But still, this wolf was really big. It was about 3 meters big and the color of this wolf was a bit different from the blue wolf I knew….

We grabbed our equipment, ready for battle. After all, wolves usually hunted in groups. I immediately shot an arrow coated with donur poison at the blue wolf. The arrow hit the wolf’s body. The blue wolf convulsed before it laid limp. We circled around the shed, searching for any additional enemy but we didn’t see any other wolf. 

We went back to the blue wolf we had defeated. Out of curiosity, I used appraisal on the wolf. 

【Ash Wolf: A type of high-ranking blue wolf. A rare monster.】

There you go.

As we approached the ash wolf to dismantle our kill, we heard a soft whine coming from the pitfall trap. 

It was the ash wolf’s pup…

I held the pup in my arms and the pup started to wag its tail. 

But…. This pup… Is so adorable….

I gave the wolf pup a small portion of the battle bull steak along with some water. The wolf pup wagged its tail happily as it ate the meat. Maybe because the pup had eaten until it was full, the pup walked toward a bundle of straw near Rocinante, curled its tail and went to sleep.

I’ve become this wolf pup’s parent. 

The wolf was trying to kill me so there was nothing else I could do but in return, I had become this pup’s parent. As I stared at this innocent wolf pup, suddenly I felt like something was prickling and stinging into my heart. I was filled with feelings of guilt. 

Although I wasn’t entirely sure if it was because of guilt or something else, I had decided to bear the responsibility of becoming this ash wolf’s pup parent. If I raised this pup since it was young, the pup might be able to learn to love humans. If by the time this pup became an adult and this pup still bore hostility toward humans, then when the time comes, I had no other choice but to take responsibility and dispose of the wolf later on.

But most importantly, what if the pup realizes I was the one who killed its parent and then the pup wants to avenge its parent? When that time comes I just have to deal with it the best I can with sincerity since this world is based on the survival of the fittest after all. 

　◇◇◇

As for the adult ash wolf, I dismantled it together with Juno. I appraised the fang.

【Ash Wolf’s Fang: When used to refine a weapon, the metal will change.】

And so, I decided to take the fang. As for the skin, since it belonged to a high-ranking individual, it could fetch a considerable amount of money. We decided to divide the total amount of money we could get from this ash wolf and then deducted my portion based on the price of the fang. 

Sarasa decided to buy the skin for her shop and Juno would be the one to report the subjugation to the guild for me. 

Also, I liked this shade of gray with a hint of black hue so I gestured to Sarasa if she could make it into a mantle for me. 

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

T/N: Ahh this chapter makes me feel complicated. On one hand I feel bad for the ash wolf but on the other hand, this wolf is coming to MC’s house with the intention to kill. Both the adult wolf and the wolf pup are innocent. They had to hunt, otherwise they couldn’t eat. Ahh this chapter makes me want to hug my dogs tight… (ಥ_ಥ)