After meeting with Lina, we went to a desolated place .
"We should be fine here . "
I said while looking around me . We went to the grassland where I used to train Rouga . This place is far from public gazes and we can act without the fear of getting seen by someone .
"I didn't know you would bring Saya with you . "
"I was going out with Lina-chan since this morning . "
I was surprised to see Saya waiting for me in the meeting place where I was supposed to meet Lina . I greeted Saya just like usual before Lina cut right to the chase .
"Can you show me Rouga?"
I responded to her with an affirmation and released Rouga from the servitude space . She appeared in front of us with a depressed expression she was making the whole day .
"How are you feeling?"
"Just like usual, I guess~"
I asked her how she felt and got a dejected answer back .
"You're right . She doesn't look very energetic today . "
"Rouga-chan..."
"Yeah . "
I already explained to her Rouga's condition, but Lina was still surprised to see her with her own eyes .
"She said that she has been feeling like this since this morning . "
"I wonder what happened to her . "
While I was talking about her condition to Lina, Saya crouched and spread her arms as if to tell Rouga to come for a hug . Rouga approached Saya when she saw her taking that stance, but I stopped her from doing so since I was still feeling worried .
"Saya, don't get too close to her now..."
The next moment, my feeling of worry ended up hitting the mark . Rouga charged towards Saya with a recklessly fast speed . She probably couldn't control the strength in her legs . Her speed was not as fast as the last time, though it was plenty to knock out any ordinary person . As I guessed that Saya won't come out safe at this rate, I placed my hand between her and Rouga at the very last moment .
"Fgaa!"
Along with a dull sound, she bumped in my hand and fell on her back and held her nose with her front legs .
That was so close...
I turned to check on how Saya was doing, and realized that she froze in her place with her eyes widely open . Everything happened in a blink of an eye that she couldn't react properly .
"..."
Her mind is in a panicking condition right now . I can tell that much . She most likely realized that she would have died from Rouga thrust .
"As I said, you'd better not get too close to her . "
Saya nodded repeatedly in a firm manner as her face was turning pale . I can't blame for that reaction . I bet that she will get goosebumps every time she remembers that she was about to get blown away by Rouga's enormous rush .
"My nose got bent~"
"It's better for you not to move too much now . "
I advised Rouga to stay still while looking at her still holding her nose and rolling in pain . Lina who witnessed her behavior from the start frowned .
"This is more serious than what I thought . "
"What's the problem?"
Lina moved in Rouga's direction and observed her closely .
"It's exactly as you said . She doesn't seem to be hurt anywhere and her magic didn't amplify . "
She muttered in a low voice and tilted her head as she thought about the reason behind Rouga's strange behavior .
"I want to ask her a few questions . Can you translate them for me . "
"Questions?"
"I can't judge only from her current appearance . "
I agreed with Lina and interpreted her questions for Rouga to understand . The content was questions like, does a part of your body hurts? Or, do you feel sudden pain sometimes? And such . When she got all her questions answered, Lina made a complex face and fell in her thoughts .
"... Yeah . That's the only explanation . "
Apparently, she has an explanation in her mind since she muttered on her own while looking somewhat troubled .
"What explanation?"
I asked her to explain what was on her mind and waited for her until she made the final judgment .
"Rouga is probably about to evolve . "
"To evolve?"
Am I playing Pokémon or something?
"A monster's built becomes more tough and strong the further they level up . The monster becomes a lot stronger after evolving . This evolution differs among the monster type, but it's inevitable for all of them . "
Lina explained while fixing her gaze on Rouga .
"Now that I think of it, Rouga didn't evolve despite being leveled up this much . I checked her status and noticed that she already reached the level range where she should have evolved . "
"Why didn't she evolve then?"
Lina answered my question without thinking too long about it .
"She refused to evolve . And now that she became stronger, she can't restrain the necessity of evolving any longer . As a result, she was unable to control her strength . "
"Is that true, Rouga?"
"... Yes . "
Rouga nodded after staying quiet for a short while . It looks like there is no doubt about it . The reason for her strange behavior is due to the necessity of her evolution . She kept on refusing it for too long to the point where she was unable to endure its compelling force .
Rouga's current level is 113 . As Lina said, she must have evolved a long time before she reached this level . I'm impressed that she endured it until now . I kept looking at Rouga with an intrigued face when Saya suddenly asked a reasonable question .
"Why did Rouga-chan refuse the evolution?"
"I want to know that as well . A monster can sense the approach of his evolution long before it takes place . Therefore, she couldn't have refused it just because she didn't know about it . "
Lina agreed with Saya's remark . Her question was indeed on spot . We still don't know the reason Rouga refused to evolve . She knew about it all this time and kept quiet . Why would she do something like that?
"Why didn't you talk about it, Rouga? You can answer me honestly now . "
When I asked her to tell me the reason, Rouga stopped rolling on the ground and while still holding her nose, speechless .
"... It's because..."
After a period of silence, she finally opened her mouth .
"I can't go back to my home... If I evolved..."
The answer was completely out of my prediction . I widened my eyes and asked her back .
"You mean, that kennel?"
"I can feel it . If I evolve, my body will grow larger and I won't be able to go back home . "
So, that's the reason she kept quiet and refused her evolution all this time?
I couldn't immediately react to her response from the surprise .
"Hey, what did Rouga-chan say?"
"I want to know too . "
Saya and Lina who couldn't hear what she said, asked me to interpret for them .
"Well, she said that she refused the evolution because she won't be able to enter her kennel . "
"Her kennel?"
"Is that all?"
Both of them reacted just like me, by inclining their head and looking at Rouga with a confused expression . Well, all three of us found her reason to be absurd, but it must be quite important for Rouga, herself .
"I'm sorry for lying~"
Rouga lowered her head and apologized for lying to me all this time . She looked totally dispirited . She must be feeling guilty for causing me troubles by hiding the topic of evolution from me . She loved her home so much that she refused to evolve . That's how much she wanted to stay with us . I honestly felt happy to know her feeling for us and smiled as I gently patted her head .
"You didn't do anything wrong, Rouga . You just wanted to go back home . "
"Fue?"
I cheered her up while caressing her fur . She let out a confused voice since she wasn't expecting me to react this way .
"You are not mad at me?"
"I don't have a reason to be mad at you . "
Everyone wouldn't want to lose the place they call home, and I have no right to blame her for trying to stay with us .
"You could have just told me . I will do something about it, so you can evolve with a peaceful mind . "
"Chief..."
If she keeps refusing her evolution forever, I'm the one who will end up in trouble, after all . Rouga cheered up a little when she felt relieved by my reaction .
"Okay! I will evolve!"
She made her resolve and declared that she will be evolving . That's the Rouga that I know . I was slightly moved to hear her cheerful voice once again .
"... Eh? What happened?"
Saya and Lina couldn't keep up with what was going on and waited for me to explain .
"Rouga decided to evolve . "
"Really?"
"Yeah . I will take care of the problem of her size with my skills later . "
"That's great! Rouga-chan!"
Saya shouted in rejoice when she caught up to the situation and went to pat Rouga . I will create a skill that lets her shrink her size after she evolves . As for her looks, I will somewhat manage to do something about it . As I contemplated a plan to make Rouga maintain her former size and appearance, Lina who was quiet until now declared a shocking truth .
"You can transform back to your former body after evolving . You know that, right?"
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
Rouga and I reacted the same way to Lina's stunning declaration by exclaiming in a ridiculous voice .
What did she just say?
"She can transform to her former body?"
"Yeah, she should be able to manage to do it with a little training . Normal monsters can't do that because the idea of transforming back to their former appearance is outside of their scope of intelligence . "
"But why is such a function is possible for monsters who should always look stronger in their nature?"
"That's because Metron-sama added it as a hidden function because he thought that it would be interesting . "
Hidden function... That's something an annoying kid would come up with .
I doubt such a system is required in a world of monsters ruled by the law of jungle . Well, because of that, Rouga can maintain her current form, so I don't really mind .
"Tell me that earlier..."
"Sorry, all I could hear is your voice talking to Rouga, so I didn't understand your conversation . "
Lina averted her eyes while making a sorry face . She missed the timing to say it because she didn't understand our conversation . If she said it earlier, I wouldn't have worried this much . Despite the problem being perfectly resolved, I couldn't shake off the perplex feeling in my heart at that moment .
――――――――――――――――
"Okay, Rouga! Try evolving now . "
"Okay~"
After resolving the problem of the after-evolution, Rouga will finally evolve . Saya, Lina, and I watched over her from a distance .
I wonder how she will look after evolving...
I fixed my eyes on her without even blinking and watched her pumping energy into her body as she started trembling .
"Yaa!!"
Right when that ridiculous scream resounded in my head, Rouga's body started shining . The light wasn't so bright, but Rouga's appearance was gradually changing as she got covered within it . She eventually turned into a light bulb and continued to transform within it . Soon enough, the light fainted away and Rouga in her new form appeared out of it .
Too huge .
That was the first phrase that came to my mind when I saw her . She charged in my way, but what was particularly different in her was the size . Saya and Lina reacted the same way by exclaiming at how much Rouga got bigger .
"Awoooooo!! (I did it!!)"
Rouga rejoiced with a loud howl . She became twice the times larger in size after evolving that I had to raise my head to look at her face . She used to be around the height of my arm, but now I can readily ride her without any problem . If I were to compare her to someone, that would be Ouka . She became as large as her fox form . I feel as if I just witnessed my child turning into an adult .
"How are you feeling?"
"Good~!"
I asked her how she was feeling and got an energetic response back . Surely, it wasn't only her size that changed . Her fur became thicker around her body and particularly in her tail and torso . She got fluffier than ever when I touched her . It felt even better to touch her fur now . I exclaimed while being impressed as I moved my hand around her fur and suddenly saw Lina and Saya joining me in enjoying her fluffiness .
"She is so fluffy . "
"Yeah, her fur feels nice . "
Both of them got immersed in patting her around . Her race of[Silver Wolf]changed to[Diamond Wolf]but she didn't obtain any new skill, but her status and ability increased exponentially . After finishing on checking her new status, I took another look at Rouga .
When I look at her now...
"You... You started looking like an actual wolf now . "
"I always looked like a wolf . "
Her pride didn't let her accept my little remark . She was right, but I just can't shake off the feeling that she turned into a different monster . Her cute and adorable ambiance was completely shifted into a gallant and reliable one . Karen will probably get delighted if she were here . Let's show it to her later when we're back .
"Rouga-chan, you look so cool now . Just like a wolf . "
"Yeah, she looks like a wolf . "
"That's because I'm a wolf!"
Rouga swiftly made a comment about Lina and Saya's remarks . Both of them were speaking while relishing the sensation of her soft fur . Since they can't hear Rouga's voice, they didn't hear anything and continued patting her . Even Lina who knew that she was a wolf got used to her former dog form that she forgot about that fact . It can't be helped . She didn't look like a wolf, after all .
"But this is fine on its own . "
"Yeah, she looks like a reliable watchdog . "
"I told you I'm a wolf!"
Rouga yelled at them so they can understand that she is a wolf, though her words will never reach them . Anyway, Rouga managed to evolve without any trouble and succeeded in transforming into her former form after a training .
――――――――――――――――
Bonus
Like a wolf .
"You look pretty gallant now . "
"Really?"
"Yeah, just like a real wolf . "
"That's because I'm a wolf . "
"You're also giving off a vibe of elegance . "
"Really?"
"Yeah, just like a real wolf . "
"I told you, I'm a wolf . "
"Your style is pretty refined too, just like a wolf that went through a history of battles . "
"You're doing this on purpose aren't you, Chief?"