CH 33

Chapter 33: The Last Battle Part 5

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

Dietrich-sama then sent a request to ask for the Royal Knight’s help to subjugate the Wolf Witch. It seemed his request was immediately approved. 

Up until now, they had been hiding the existence of the Wolf Witch but since they needed to ask for the Royal Knight’s help, they needed to stop hiding it and tell the Royal Knight everything about the Wolf Witch without hiding anything. 

Some of the wolves, who were the Wolf Witch’s underlings, possessed a powerful curse. If they were to bite you, you’d end up in serious trouble like, for example, the wound wouldn’t stop bleeding. 

The cursed wolves tend to be afraid of light attributes. For that very reason, an amulet which was engraved with the holy mark that contained the divine protection of light was distributed to each knight. 

The training to fight the Wolf Witch’s wolf had begun. Dietrich-sama himself was also going to come to the knight in order to train them. On the other hand, I had to finish the duke’s official duties as Dietrich-sama’s substitute. I had to spend my life confined in the room all day long. 

Since we were both busy all day, I could only meet with Dietrich-sama at night. Though, it wouldn’t be a romantic night date or anything. After all, I would turn into a wolf and become unable to talk. If I were to speak about what we were doing at night, it’d be filled with nothing but playing a fun and enjoyable game with the ball. 

“Come on, Melodia!~ I’m going to make the ball fly away!~”

“Wafuuuuuu~”

……… No, not ‘wafuuuu~’.

While inwardly disappointed at my own whine, I still couldn’t help but to chase after the ball that Dietrich-sama had sent flying to. I jumped into the air and caught the flying ball with my mouth. Then Dietrich-sama clapped, feeling happy with my achievement. After that, I sprinted with all of my might to return the ball back to Dietrich-sama. 

“Good job, Melodia. You’re so quick at catching and returning the ball.”

Dietrich-sama said as he tenderly stroked my head. Of course naturally, my tail wagged from side to side excitedly. 

Was it a dog’s natural trait to be happy when being praised over something useless? Which reminded me, Dietrich-sama also looked so proud when the shop assistant praised him for being able to reply to her words. I must be having the same proud expression on my face right now. 

After playing with the ball until we ran out of breath, we sat in the middle of the garden without anything underneath us, not even a rug. I had a lot of fun today as well. Recently, playing with a ball became my one and only sole hobby. I didn’t get enough exercise during the day so this actually worked out great for me. 

Dietrich-sama pointed his finger toward the sky. 

“Wau….!”

The sky was filled with so many stars, it was as if the stars were raining down incessantly. I had been so engrossed in playing with the ball that I didn’t realize how beautiful the sky was. After gazing at the stars for a while, Dietrich-sama started to whisper to himself. 

“Finally, tomorrow the expedition will begin.”

“Kuun.”

After preparing for three months, the expedition to the Man-Eating Forest was finally about to start tomorrow. I would also participate in the fight by relying on light magic as my weapon. Now that I finally got the hang of it, now must be the perfect timing to launch our decisive battle. 

“It’s been a long…. A really long time.”

A thousand years long battle was beyond my imagination. The Fenrir Knight had fought valiantly during all those years. Now the time had finally come for them to settle this war. 

“The Fenrir Knight has been fighting the witch for a thousand years already. How unbelievable. Not to mention, I’m going to go to the Man-Eating Forest, a place that my father and my other relatives had told me not to go near since I was a kid.”

I looked up at Dietrich-sama. His expression had become stiff. Because I turned into a wolf, I had a good night vision. I was able to see his expression despite the dark.

“Melodia….”

Dietrich-sama had always looked dignified without showing any gap for someone to break into but he was still a young man. He was only 23 years old. Dietrich-sama had to bear the weight of his whole family’s dearest wish. The heavy pressure he had to carry everyday must be very astonishing. 

“When I’m with Gilbert, I always act all tough and mighty. Saying things like ‘follow me’ or ‘it’s alright’ but actually, I’m very terrified.”

“Kuu….”

“I’m so pathetic.”

I saw how his shoulder trembled as he said all that. As I thought, the expectation that was accumulating in Dietrich-sama was something beyond my imagination. Dietrich-sama had been poking at the ground with one of his hands and I put my hand on top of that hand. My hand was that of a wolf so it looked like a dog following the ‘hand’ instruction but I hoped the feeling of ‘I’ll be by your side’ of mine could be conveyed to Dietrich-sama?

Dietrich-sama looked startled and then he looked down at me. Just for a little bit, it looked like he was going to cry. I leaned on his shoulder, warming his body that had become cold.  My canine body had become all warm thanks to the exercise I had done before.

“Melodia…. Thank you. For bringing me courage.”

Then, he showed me a fleeting smile. It seemed my feelings had been conveyed properly to Dietrich-sama. As I looked up toward the sky again, I could see the stars were twinkling before they started to drift away. It was a shooting star. 

They said if you wished to a shooting star three times, your wish would come true. I wished for the Fenrir Knight to win their fight against the Wolf Witch. For a moment, I also thought about Dietrich-sama’s happiness but that was not something I wished to the shooting star. 

Perhaps Dietrich-sama would become happy if I stayed beside him. If that was the case then I had decided that I would be the one who granted that happiness for him.