"No, it's my fault... Thinking it was fine to take my eyes off Aisha, even for a moment..."
Aisha had gone missing, leaving us both pale with worry and panic.
What if something happened to her?
What if she had been kidnapped?
What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?
"Calm down!"
"Ah!?"
Licorice snapped us out of our panic with a firm scolding.
"What good is it for you two to lose your heads? Pull yourselves together! Stand tall!"
"Y-You're right."
"I'm so embarrassed..."
Thanks to Licorice, we were able to regain our composure. I was grateful for her level-headedness.
"Fate, could you check in with the military police? They might have taken Aisha into custody for her safety."
"Got it."
"Licorice, can you search from the skies? It might be tough to spot her, but it's worth trying everything we can."
"Hmph! Leave it to Licorice the Magical Flying Fairy!"
Did she really need to add "Flying" to her title...?
"What about you, Sofia?"
"I'll take the old-fashioned route and search on foot. I think I can cover the entire town in about an hour."
"Makes sense."
With her absurd physical abilities, Sofia could pull off a thorough search that way.
Though, sprinting through the town at her speed might give people a scare...
Still, for Aisha's sake.
It wasn’t like she was doing anything bad, so they'd just have to deal with it.
"Let’s regroup in an hour—"
"…san…san!"
"Huh?"
I thought I heard Aisha's voice.
Looking around frantically, we spotted her.
"Daddy! Mommy!"
"Aisha!"
"Aisha-chan!"
She had a worried expression, tears streaming down her face.
But she wasn’t hurt. She was safe. Aisha was running toward us.
Both Sofia and I dashed forward, embracing her at the same time.
"Thank goodness! You’re safe, Aisha!"
"Oh, you have no idea how worried we were!"
"Wahhh! Daddy! Mommy! Licorice! Uwaaahhh!"
She must have been terrified.
As we held her tightly, she broke down crying.
But tears meant she was okay.
We stroked her head gently, relieved and grateful for her safety.
"Not bad, Aisha. Finding your way back on your own, huh? I might just have to rethink my opinion of you."
Then... chomp.
"Chomp?"
"Huh?"
We calmed Aisha down...
Then, reacting to a strange sound, I turned around and saw Licorice completely engulfed in the jaws of a puppy, with its teeth clamping onto her!
It took her a moment to grasp the situation, but when she did, Licorice’s face turned pale.
"Gyahhhhh!? I-I’m going to be eaten!!!?"
"Licorice!?"
"Let go of Licorice right now!"
Out of nowhere, Sofia pulled out a sword, but—
"Wait!"
Aisha, panicking, stepped in to stop her.
"This puppy helped me..."
"What? What do you mean?"
"Well..."
According to Aisha, this puppy had guided her here.
It was her savior—or rather, her "savior dog."
"I see... Thank you."
"Woof!"
"Ahhh! Don’t bark while you still have me in your mouth!"
"Um... this puppy is an important friend of ours. It’s not food, so could you please let her go?"
"Woof."
As if understanding my words, the puppy obediently released Licorice. What a smart little one.
"Eww... I’m all slobbery..."
"There, there."
Having fully calmed down, Aisha was now consoling a sulking Licorice.
"This isn’t just any ordinary dog, is it?"
"Yeah. I’ve never heard of a dog with silver fur and gem-like eyes before."
"It’s not a wolf either... But it doesn’t have the sinister presence of a monster. What could it be?"
"I wonder..."
"Whimper."
The puppy let out a small, soft sound, as if to say, I mean no harm.
It was unbelievably cute.
Sofia, apparently abandoning any attempt to analyze its existence, was now gently petting the puppy’s head.
"Hmm..."
It was definitely intriguing, but...
It didn’t seem to be a bad creature.
If that much was clear, maybe it was fine to just let it be?
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