Chapter 52
The first thought that crossed Ralph Steiner’s mind when he first encountered Ruan Daen, the assistant to the Northern Grand Duke, was this:
‘Ah. This person will eagerly pet me if I approach, and even give me treats.’
There’s a common misconception about Ralph Steiner: that since he likes all people, he doesn’t judge them.
Of course, it was true that Ralph greatly liked people. When he said he wanted to become a knight as a child, his mother seriously told him that guarding the house from intruders wouldn’t suit his temperament.
Although he liked people perhaps excessively… it didn’t mean he didn’t distinguish between them. If he had been that undiscerning, he wouldn’t have succeeded as a merchant in the first place.
Rather, he had quite a good eye for people, and his judgments about people were generally correct.
And according to Ralph’s judgment, Ruan Daen was… the kind of gentle person who would reach out and pet him without resistance if he just looked at them a bit.
Ralph knew that while time spent with people was generally enjoyable, time spent with someone like Ruan was even more so. That’s why Ralph was in such a good mood from the moment he first met Ruan Daen.
But for such a gentle person to be a friend of a friend—Dietrich Reinke, who shared the same secret and would wag his tail whenever he saw Ralph and often playfully paw at him, left good memories for Ralph—and moreover, to be someone who greatly cherished his group and even possessed outstanding abilities to care for his group.
Ralph’s fondness for Ruan, which had started from the point of ‘good person!’, skyrocketed boundlessly. Along with it, Ralph’s mood at meeting such a good person also soared.
On top of that, he had met his long-missed aloof friend—although his ears and tail weren’t visible, there was no doubt he had been wagging his tail furiously this time too!—the people of Reinke and the dwarves were good folks, the business Ruan proposed was extremely interesting, and the food was incredibly delicious.
During the half-day spent in Reinke, Ralph was truly having an insanely good time.
But separately from that…
As time passed, Ralph was growing increasingly anxious.
His body was fidgety from a severe lack of physical activity.
In fact, from the moment he arrived in Reinke, Ralph Steiner had been extremely excited.
This was because… he had been confined to a narrow ship for a long time, unable to fulfill even 10% of his usual extensive physical activity.
His whole body was itching, and even when he tried to sit still, his bottom kept fidgeting. Honestly, he felt like jumping into the sea right away to swim to his heart’s content and then run at full speed like a madman.
On top of that, the clue for the sleeping sickness cure was within reach, and all sorts of good things were happening. It was impossible not to be excited.
If it had been his childhood, when his mother’s ultimate task was to drain his energy before the furniture was broken due to the aftermath of her mochi-like son running around excitedly, he would have already jumped into the water and more.
But now he was a dog who knew there were times when he had to behave properly, and he also knew that now was one of those times. Therefore, even though he wanted to jump up and spin around 15 times in place whenever he felt good, he was suppressing his fidgety body and playing the role of a well-behaved dog, but…
As time passed, he could feel in real-time that the end of his patience was approaching.
Fortunately, Reinke’s side, considering the guests’ travel fatigue, ended the schedule before the Labrador Retriever with burnt-out patience could cause trouble. If they hadn’t, who knows what the large dog, burdened with something other than travel fatigue, might have done.
Ralph, who had used up his patience to the limit, transformed into a dog and bounced out of the Northern Grand Duke’s castle as soon as he parted with Ruan.
After rushing out like that and sprinting at full speed for a while.
When he found Ruan at the place he had followed a delicious scent that had tickled his nose, just as he was feeling refreshed from having somewhat satisfied his need for physical activity, Ralph thought it was lucky.
He was glad to see Ruan and glad to smell something delicious. Moreover, as it had been from the first impression and according to what he had experienced today, that gentle person would surely share that delicious-looking thing with him.
Spending time cozily sharing something delicious with a gentle person. Just thinking about it made him want to spin around 20 times in place—wasn’t it lucky?
As he approached wagging his tail, the gentle Ruan indeed didn’t disappoint Ralph’s expectations and shared the delicious thing with him. He even cooled it down well and broke it into small pieces, perhaps worried that Ralph might hurt himself.
Even as he ate his fill of the unfamiliar but delicious food and enjoyed being petted to his heart’s content, feeling good from the gentle person’s kind consideration, Ralph just thought it was a lucky night.
That’s how it was.
But then…
How did the situation end up like this?
“So you really are the head of the merchant group.”
‘How… did you find out?’
Ralph had never once been caught as a dog therianthrope before.
This was partly thanks to Ralph’s mother putting effort into basic training since he was a puppy, shocked by the sight of her husband behaving too dog-like—this doesn’t mean behaving like a human scum, but really acting like an animal belonging to the family Canidae of the order Carnivora in the class Mammalia—when they first met, but…
It was also because no one ever thought, ‘That person must be a therianthrope,’ when looking at a person.
He had lived a safe life firmly protected by the world’s prejudices until now. Why did something like this happen?
Ralph Steiner first did his best to put on an innocent expression that said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
But as always, that expression didn’t work.
“Mr. Merchant Group Head?”
Ruan was looking at Ralph with an unwavering face, as if already certain that the dog in front of him was the merchant group head Ralph Steiner.
Ralph knew. When humans acted like this, it was no use pretending he didn’t know anymore.
‘What should I do?’
Ruan was a good person. Ralph knew that too.
It wasn’t just because Ruan was a friend of a friend and shared food and petted him. Ralph had learned during the day spent with Ruan that he was a gentle and kind person who knew how to observe others carefully and provide thoughtful consideration.
Ruan Daen was truly a good person.
But being caught as a therianthrope was a different matter.
If the story of Ralph Steiner being a therianthrope and about therianthropes spread through Ruan…
Thinking about the dangers that he himself, his relatives, and other therianthropes would face, Ralph felt the hair on his back standing on end.
This wouldn’t do. He couldn’t let such a thing happen.
Ralph first folded one front paw… holding it politely in front of his chest, making himself look as small as possible. Then he looked up at Ruan with pitiful eyes.
Seeing Ralph like this, Ruan seemed to realize something and hurriedly spoke.
“Ah. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intimidate you, Mr. Merchant Group Head.”
Ruan, seemingly feeling that wasn’t enough, lowered his body to meet Ralph’s eyes and continued.
“Mr. Merchant Group Head. I already knew about therianthropes, and I have no intention of revealing that you are a therianthrope. I didn’t bring this up to find leverage to manipulate you either.”
Originally… he knew about therianthropes?
Only then could Ralph grasp what the situation was.
Those who didn’t know about the existence of therianthropes would just think Ralph was a bit unique even if he showed somewhat ‘inhuman’ behavior, not that he was a therianthrope.
Because that was beyond the range of situations they could imagine.
But Ruan already knew about the existence of therianthropes, so it seems he easily noticed that Ralph was a therianthrope by observing his behavior.
And the fact that he, as the Northern Grand Duke’s assistant, knew about therianthropes meant…
‘It seems Dietrich revealed that he’s a therianthrope.’
If that aloof friend had revealed his secret to this extent, it probably meant he could really be trusted.
Feeling relieved, Ralph finally put down the front paw he had been holding up.
‘It doesn’t seem like there will be a problem for now, but… I should still talk to him.’
Since there were limits to the communication possible in dog form, Ralph moved towards the bushes where he had left his clothes bag before approaching Ruan.
Thanks to his mother, who had nearly fainted several times while dating Ralph’s father, instilling habits early on while raising a son who took after his husband, Ralph always carried a clothes bag when in dog form.
Since it would look strange for a dog to carry a bag, he hid it when encountering people.
Ralph changed into his human form in the bushes, got dressed, and returned to Ruan.
Ruan’s gaze was filled with shock as he faced Ralph, who had returned in human form in an instant.
Even if he knew about therianthropes, was it still shocking to see a dog suddenly transform into a human he knew in such an unrealistic situation?
Just as Ralph opened his mouth to comfort Ruan, who seemed greatly shocked,
Ruan, who had been looking at Ralph in astonishment, muttered lowly.
“My goodness… He carries… clothes around…”
Was that what was shocking?
