This year marked the tenth year since my reincarnation, and I had finally been given permission to enter the Great Ancient Forest on my own.

Father had actually said it would be fine once I turned eight, but Mother had strongly opposed the idea, so I had to wait until I was ten.

There was one condition, however: I absolutely had to return home before evening.

Because of that, during the two years between the ages of eight and ten, I decided to learn the magic spell known as 『Flight』.

If I used only Wind-Attribute flight magic, I could move only in relatively straight lines. So I combined it with Space-Time-Attribute flight magic and levitation magic to create my own original spell, 『Aerial Flight』.

My plan was to use Aerial Flight to fly to the farthest point I had previously reached, then continue exploring from there and gradually build up experience.

I spent about half a year doing that.

Then, one day, when I used 『Detection』 to scan a ten-kilometer radius around myself, I sensed two large presences near the edge of my detection range.

When I Appraised them, this appeared:

Name: Golden Fenrir

Sex: Male

Rank: A

Race: Phantom Wolf Species

Name: Silvario Fenrir

Sex: Female

Rank: A

Race: Phantom Wolf Species

My current position was roughly twenty kilometers from the village, while the monsters were less than thirty kilometers away from it.

On top of that, they were gradually moving in our direction.

Even though we were in a forest, for beast-type monsters, thirty kilometers was a distance they could easily cover in less than two hours.

Thinking that, even in the worst-case scenario, I might at least be able to drive them away, I suppressed my presence as much as possible and decided to approach them from the air without being noticed.

After flying for around ten minutes, I managed to find them.

I observed them from about a hundred meters above.

Both of them looked darkened, almost black, and their movements seemed somewhat sluggish.

Maybe I stared at them for too long, because eventually I made eye contact with one of them.

Regretting that I had not simply launched a surprise attack and defeated them immediately, I prepared to dive from above and use a hit-and-run attack with magic.

I was just about to cast the ice spell 『Ice Lance』 when I suddenly felt the same sensation I had experienced with Surarin.

I hurriedly canceled the spell.

Keeping myself ready to deploy a magical barrier at any moment, I descended behind a tree about thirty meters in front of the two wolves.

Without letting my guard down, I slowly approached while using the tree as a shield.

Once I got closer, I realized that both wolves were around four meters long.

I could not tell whether the blood covering them was their own or from something they had fought, but their fur appeared blackened because of the enormous amount of blood staining their bodies.

The two wolves seemed wary of me, but they did not appear hostile.

For nearly five minutes, we stared at one another from a distance of about fifteen meters.

Then, just as I finally made up my mind to approach them…

The two wolves suddenly rose to their feet and began growling toward the area around themselves.

Startled, I jumped backward to create some distance.

But just as I was about to land, something lunged at me from the side with its enormous jaws wide open.

Instinctively, I unleashed the Earth spell 『Earth Needle』.

A spike of earth shot upward from beneath its head and impaled it.

The creature I had skewered turned out to be a B+ Rank monster known as a 『Dragon Snake』.

Even individually, Dragon Snakes were B+ Rank monsters.

Worse still, these monsters frequently traveled in groups.

They normally hunted in packs of four or five.

When encountered in groups, their danger rating rose to between A and A+ Rank.

They were usually around seven to eight meters long, though larger specimens could exceed ten meters.

I checked the surrounding area with Detection.

Excluding the one I had just impaled and killed, eight more Dragon Snakes were hiding nearby.

I could try escaping into the sky with Aerial Flight, but Dragon Snakes could use the full strength of their bodies to leap more than ten meters into the air.

If I mistimed my escape, one of them could easily snap me up while I was defenseless.

Rather than risk that, it would probably be safer to defeat them one at a time while the two wolves were still here.

That was assuming the wolves were willing to fight alongside me, of course.

And so, with the sudden intrusion of the Dragon Snakes, a chaotic battle began.

(Three for me and five for the wolves… At this rate, I could probably escape.)

That thought crossed my mind.

But if Tenma escaped now, the wolves would almost certainly be killed.

Worse, if the Dragon Snakes were not satisfied after devouring the wolves, there was a possibility that they might eventually attack the village.

(Why the hell are monsters like these this close to the outer part of the forest?!)

The Great Ancient Forest covered an enormous area.

This place, only around thirty kilometers from the forest’s edge, was still considered relatively shallow territory.

Normally, only monsters up to around C Rank appeared here.

Under ordinary circumstances, one would have to travel more than a hundred kilometers into the forest before even having a rare chance of encountering A- or B-Rank monsters.

Even while thinking about that, Tenma attempted to attack with magic.

However, the Dragon Snakes kept their distance.

They merely surrounded Tenma to prevent him from escaping and made no attempt to attack.

(What are these things doing? Did seeing me kill one with magic make them hesitate? Or are they waiting for something…?)

“Yelp!”

At that moment, Tenma heard the cry of a wolf from behind him.

When he turned around, he saw that the wolves were losing.

One had been knocked down after taking a direct body slam.

The other seemed to have crushed the head of one Dragon Snake with its jaws, but another Dragon Snake had bitten into its throat.

It was in a desperate situation.

Perhaps the three Dragon Snakes surrounding Tenma saw the moment he became distracted by the wolves as their chance.

All three attacked him at once.

“Don’t underestimate me!”

Tenma shouted.

He deployed barriers toward all three of them and stopped their attacks.

Then he fired three shots of the Wind spell 『Wind Cutter』.

The instant the three Dragon Snakes landed, their heads fell from their bodies.

They died immediately.

Perhaps they had not even realized that they had been cut.

The severed heads and bodies of the three Dragon Snakes continued writhing, but Tenma ignored them and ran toward the wolves.

Two Dragon Snakes were already dead near the wolves.

One had had its abdomen torn open.

The other had had its head crushed by powerful jaws.

“Take this!”

Tenma fired compressed-air projectiles using 『Air Bullet』 at the three remaining Dragon Snakes, carefully choosing angles that would not hit the wolves.

The Dragon Snake biting into the wolf’s neck was struck in the head.

A hole about three centimeters wide opened in its skull.

It did not die instantly, but the intense pain and impact sent it thrashing violently across the ground.

It probably did not have long to live.

The remaining two Dragon Snakes had been just about to leap onto the wolf lying on the ground.

However, the Air Bullets stopped their attack.

Then they noticed that six of their companions had already been killed.

Without hesitation, the two surviving Dragon Snakes fled as fast as they could.

Tenma checked on the wolves.

The one whose throat had been bitten was already dead.

The other wolf was in such terrible condition that it could die at any moment.

Seeing the enormous blood loss and severe injuries, Tenma realized that even healing magic would probably have no effect.

Thinking that he should at least end its suffering, he approached.

But then he noticed something strange about the wolf.

Its abdomen was swollen.

It was not simply fat.

At first, Tenma wondered whether blood had accumulated inside its body.

Then he realized he was mistaken.

Its breasts were swollen with milk.

In other words…

It must have babies.

As Tenma thought this, the wolf suddenly began straining before his eyes.

It had gone into labor.

Tenma watched over the wolf while remaining alert for any other carnivorous beasts that might approach.

Around ten minutes passed after the wolf began straining.

Then…

A single white pup was born.

The wolf was clearly in critical condition and could barely move its body.

Yet it managed to move its face and eyes slightly, looking toward Tenma.

The moment their eyes met, Tenma instinctively picked up the newborn pup and held it in front of its mother.

Unable to move, the wolf extended its tongue.

Using the last of its strength, it carefully licked its child clean.

When it finally finished, it looked at Tenma once again.

This time, Tenma carried the pup toward its mother’s belly.

The little wolf desperately latched onto a teat and began drinking its mother’s milk.

By the time the pup had finished nursing…

The mother wolf had already died.

There was a satisfied expression on her face.

Tenma placed the bodies of the two wolves and the six Dragon Snakes into his Dimension Bag.

Then he picked up the little wolf and made it his familiar.

“I’ll become your family in place of those wolves.”

Tenma spoke gently to the pup.

“Your name will be… Shirou… Yes, 『Shiroumaru』!”

“Kyuuun~”

“Nice to meet you, Shiroumaru!”

And so…

Tenma gained a new familiar…

No.

He gained a new member of his family.

Tenma has gained another familiar this time.

Originally, I planned to have him make both parent wolves his familiars, then later realize that somehow another wolf had appeared without him noticing.

But both parent wolves ended up dying.

Please look forward to seeing what the little wolf—now known as Shiroumaru—will accomplish.

－－－STATUS－－－

Name: Shiroumaru (志狼丸)

Age: 0

Race: Phantom Wolf Species
(Golden Fenrir × Silvario Fenrir)

Title: Tenma’s Familiar

HP: 100

MP: 200

Strength: Please don’t expect anything.

Defense: Same as above.

Speed: Same goes for this.

Magical Power: What’s that? Is it tasty?

Spirit: I don’t know.

Growth Potential: I’ll do my best!

Luck: It hasn’t shown up yet.

Skills: Crying Lv10 / Acting Spoiled Lv10

Blessing: Blessing of the Beast God

Something like that.