The daughter of Glass, the strongest warrior of the Wolf Tribe—Chino.

She had been brought to Liam's mansion and was dressed as a maid.

"Ugh! Th-this mansion is... too big!?"

Though it was called a mansion, it was spacious enough to easily swallow the entire royal capital of the Aarl Kingdom.

No, it was even larger than that.

The very fact that it could be counted as a single mansion was a threat in itself.

And, because the similar-looking corridors went on and on—Chino was lost.

The plates on the walls indicated her current location.

However, Chino couldn't read them.

She had been put through an educational capsule to learn how to read, but even if she could read the characters, she couldn't understand their meaning.

Currently, she had only received the bare minimum of education.

"Th-this way? No, I feel like I just came this way. Ugh! And here I was thinking I could just follow my scent back."

The reason she was clutching her head was the cleaning robot moving down the hallway.

This wasn't a mansion that could be maintained by human hands alone; robots were automatically handling the cleaning.

Just when she thought she could follow her own scent back, it had been thoroughly deodorized, leaving her with no idea where to return.

"Wh-what am I supposed to doooo!"

Feeling helpless, she whimpered, "Kuuun," and slumped to the floor.

It must have been a sparsely populated area, as she hadn't passed anyone for a while.

Then, she caught the faint scent of a dog.

"What's that? A dog?"

Lifting her head, she saw a dog in the distance, watching her.

It was as if it were telling her to come this way.

However, its posture seemed somewhat exasperated.

"H-how impudent for a mere dog! I'm a wolf!"

She was happy, but her instincts told her that if she was looked down upon, it was over, so she didn't act subservient.

She chased the distant dog, but the gap between them never closed.

"S-so fast!? Faster than me!?"

She was astonished by its incredible speed.

Chino, who had the leg strength to catch even wild animals, couldn't catch up at all.

As she stubbornly gave chase, the dog turned a corner and vanished.

"Wh-where did it go!? H-h-h-hiding is useless! P-please, come out."

As she suddenly felt lonely and began to tremble, Amagi appeared.

Upon finding Chino, she spoke to her.

"I believe I gave you a terminal."

"Th-this... I don't know how to use it."

The terminal Chino showed Amagi was what you would call a kid's version in modern Japan.

And Chino couldn't figure out how to use it.

"It seems we should hurry with your basic education. Chino, we're going back."

"Y-yes!"

Following behind the walking Amagi, Chino was thus able to return to where Liam was.

(I wonder if that was a pet dog?)

◇

"What a useless maid."

"She's truly a hopeless child."

When the lost Chino returned, Tia and Marie, also in maid outfits, were preparing tea for Liam.

Chino was angry at the two of them, but she didn't think she could win in a fight.

In fact, it probably wouldn't even be a contest.

Her own intuition was telling her not to fight.

And at the same time, her intuition told her something else.

"Ah, Lord Amagi. No, Master Amagi, thank you so much for—for before."

Amagi didn't point out Chino's slip of the tongue.

"It's quite all right. Next time, be sure to ask someone for help before you get lost."

"I-I'll do that. I mean, I will."

Seeing Chino express her thanks in a clumsy tone, Liam made his move.

It was because Chino had bowed her head to Amagi.

"Chinooo! You're such a good girl!"

Liam roughly ruffled Chino's hair.

Chino didn't understand what was happening, but her instincts had accurately judged who she should obey in this place.

"H-hey, stop it! I won't be won over by something like this—ahfuu."

The sight of Chino desperately trying to hide her pleasure at being petted seemed to hit a soft spot for Liam.

At the same time, he grew cold towards the two who had teased Chino.

"You're so cute. —Compared to you, these two aren't cute at all."

Tia and Marie, having been told by Liam that they weren't cute, were deeply shocked.

Then Chino asked about something that had been bothering her.

"S-so, by the way, do you have a dog? Introduce me. I want to make it clear which of us is superior."

Here, she was at the bottom of the pecking order in terms of strength, but she wanted to win against that dog.

But Liam tilted his head.

"A dog? You mean you, right?"

"I'm not a dog, I'm a wolf!"

Liam laughed and petted Chino's head.

"That's what you think, isn't it? You're so cute, Chino."

"Listen to me! Hey, don't just pet my head so casually—ahfuuuu."

She desperately resisted and tried to ask about the dog, but being petted felt so good that Chino couldn't fight it.

In the end, she couldn't ask about the dog.

???
,.--、_
ゝ-じ,゜._゜,.） (The reason I helped? ...Because she's like a little sister pet.)
し-じ-J