A Traveling Companion

With that, Sovell bent down, grabbed Barghest by the all-important scruff of her neck, and lifted her up.

"Whine-woof! Woof!"

"Oh-ho, still not giving in?"

Seeing such a stubborn little creature brought out Sovell's playful side.

He held a finger up to Barghest's mouth, but secretly reinforced his entire hand with magecraft.

Barghest had no idea how devious people could be and bit down without hesitation!

And then...

"Whine! Whiiine-"

Hearing Barghest whimper from the pain in her teeth, Sovell laughed quite heartlessly.

"Hahahahaha! Little girl, you're eight hundred years too early to take me on.

A fairy cub attacking a fully grown human, though? You've certainly got guts."

As he spoke, Sovell's hands began to wander, feeling Barghest all over.

Ah, in the literal sense.

Sovell kept feeling that the little black dog before him seemed rather listless, especially considering her unusual behavior in attacking an adult.

Sovell suspected that this female Barghest cub might have suffered some injury that forced her to take such a tremendous risk and attack him for his flesh and blood.

After lifting Barghest's paws, Sovell confirmed his suspicions.

"Just as I thought..."

Across Barghest's belly were three claw wounds deep enough to expose the bone!

Had this Barghest not been a phantasmal species, injuries that severe would have killed her the very day she received them.

Fortunately, it was precisely because she was a phantasmal species that she had survived this long with such injuries and boldly attacked Sovell, giving her this slim chance at survival.

"Where are your family and companions? Did they... abandon you too?"

"Whine, whine..."

Barghests were social fairies that attacked passing humans in packs in the wild.

Yet this cub was here all alone. Sovell had also used the wind to search the area within a five-li radius and found no sign of another Barghest.

This was clearly quite abnormal. Sovell guessed that the injured Barghest cub might have been driven out of her pack because of her grievous wounds and wandered here from some distant highland.

Finally, her dwindling vitality had awakened her innate craving for flesh and blood, leaving her no choice but to target him as he happened to pass by.

Watching Barghest's body gradually lose its strength, Sovell ultimately cast healing magecraft on her.

"Breeze intertwine (Gentle Breeze Winding Around the Fingers)."

After the two-phrase healing incantation was cast, blue-green light filled the wounds on Barghest's belly, which then began to heal into healthy flesh.

"Let's just call it compassion for one of my own kind."

As Sovell spoke, he took a piece of bear jerky from his backpack and rubbed apart its tightly packed muscle fibers to make it easier for Barghest to eat.

Barghest eyed the pile of bear jerky-or shreds?-warily, then approached and raised her nose to sniff it. Finding no suspicious smell, she began chewing down mouthfuls of shredded bear meat.

Even after being made into jerky, Giant Bear meat retained a great deal of vitality and magical energy. What was more, the piece Sovell gave Barghest was a small chunk of heart.

The Barghest before him had never eaten human flesh and blood. Sovell was certain of that.

At most, this Barghest had consumed a few scattered souls after people died in town, along with the negative emotions people gave off.

Sovell himself possessed the bloodline of a divine-beast-class phantasmal species-the White Dragon of British legend-making him particularly sensitive to the "stench" left by human, or primate, flesh and blood.

To Sovell's senses, whether a phantasmal species had consumed human flesh and blood was as obvious as the difference in killing intent between someone who had killed and someone who had not.

"All right, all right, eat slowly. I'm not going to steal it from you, little girl."

Sovell smiled as he said this, rubbing Barghest's head and making his voice as gentle as he could.

Clearly, the sight of this Barghest abandoned by her companions reminded Sovell of being abandoned by his birth mother as a child.

If Father hadn't brought me back to the palace, I probably would have been as helpless as her until I died... just as she would have if I hadn't met her.

With that thought in mind, Sovell cast magecraft to remove the grime from Barghest's body.

"Spotless."

Barghest's fur, clumped together with dried mud, instantly became clean and smooth.

"Mmm~ Now that feels right."

As he spoke, Sovell scooped Barghest up and held the shredded bear meat to her mouth.

"Hey, little girl, want to come with me?"

"Whine~ Woof, woof!"

"You're sure? Then let's get going~!"

"Woof-whine!"

Who knew how Sovell understood the meaning behind Barghest's barks? In any case, Barghest did indeed want to go with him.

Ultimately, there were only two reasons:

First, surviving alone in the wilderness was certainly a poor prospect for a cub. Her chances of survival were even lower than if she chose to follow Sovell into an unknown future;

Second, Sovell was strong enough, particularly given the aura of dragon kind he had emitted while reinforcing his body with magical energy.

Barghests instinctively obeyed the law of "the strong prey on the weak" and were naturally drawn to powerful individuals. Powerful enemies were an exception, of course. After all, it would be troublesome if they simply bowed down to a powerful solitary prey animal while hunting it as a pack.

And Sovell's act of healing Barghest was enough for her to stop considering him an "enemy." That was why she decided to go with him.

Sovell tucked Barghest into his gorget, feeding her bear jerky with one hand.

With his other hand, he picked up Rhongomyniad from the Gale Knife Rack beside him and slipped it back into Invisible Air at his waist, which had turned into a sheath again.

"Hey, hey, hey, hold on!

Little girl, keep those horns away from my hair! It's about to get singed, hey!"

Sovell frantically pushed Barghest's head around, trying to keep her as far from his hair as possible.

The silver-haired boy left with Barghest, and the sound of dry leaves crunching once again rang through the woods.

And now, only a little over a day remained until Artoria drew the Sword of Selection!

"A Thundercloud-Devouring Hound Demon... This boy really does have good luck. Tsk, I feel like I've said that dozens of times already...

Oh well. With the right upbringing, this Barghest could certainly become a powerful companion."

Inside the wooden cottage in Avalon, the Magus of Flowers used his [Clairvoyance • Present Sight] to spy on Sovell's movements as usual, once again marveling at Sovell's enviable good fortune.