Buying and Eating
On my way to the Adventurers guild, we passed the area with street stalls .
Grulf’s eyes were moving in every direction and his tail was wagging .
“What should we eat?”
“Grr . ”
Grulf stopped in front of a certain stall .
It sold chicken on skewers .
“Grulf, is this what you want to eat?”
“Groof!”
“I see . ”
Indeed, the smell of grilled chicken was wafting around the area . It smelled delicious .
I asked the cook,
“Uh, would it be possible to buy some without salt or sauce?”
“You don’t want any salt or sauce? Sure I can, but it won’t taste as good, you know?”
“It’s a reward for this guy, for working so hard . ”
I said, pointing to Grulf .
He seemed satisfied by this .
“Oh, I see . In that case, I have some uncooked meat as well . ”
“Grulf, which do you prefer?”
“Grrr . ”
To be honest, I had no idea what he meant with that reply .
“So, do you want it raw?”
He wagged his tail vigorously . Raw would probably be better, anyway .
“Or do you want it cooked?”
I asked . And his tail wagged vigorously again .
“Okay, I’ll take both raw and cooked then . ”
“How much?”
“Three of each . And then three more with sauce for myself . ”
“Very good! Just wait one moment!”
After a few minutes of waiting, the chicken skewers were ready . The pieces were very large .
I paid for them and then Grulf and I walked to a nearby park .
“Here, I’ll take the meat off for you . ”
“Groof-groof!”
Grulf sat and wagged his tail .
I removed the skewers and put the meat down on a sheet of wrapping paper .
“Go ahead then . ”
“Gruf-gaff-gaff…”
He ate it ravenously . He seemed to enjoy it .
And so I ate my own meat skewers with sauce . It was delicious .
“Don’t tell Lord Gerberga that we ate chicken, alright?”
“Gruff-gruff . ”
Grulf continued to tear into the pieces .
It was very good . But perhaps Lord Gerberga would be very angry if he heard about this .
“It might be good to keep it a secret from Luchila as well . ”
“Gruff-guff-guf . ”
Grulf was so preoccupied, that I was not sure if he was even listening .
“I probably should have bought more, since you’re so big . ”
“Gruff-gruf!”
Grulf was finished in no time .
I looked down at my own skewer .
“This has sauce on it, so I can’t give it to you . ”
“…Gr…”
Grulf put his chin on my lap and looked up pleadingly .
Then he just stared at the stick in my hand .
“I told you, you can’t have it . ”
“… . Grrrrrr…”
He whined sadly and drooled .
Now my lap was getting wet .
As I thought, Grulf was too big to be satisfied with six skewers of meat .
“I’ll buy something else for you later . ”
“Grrrr . ”
Grulf whined, but his tail started to wag .
After I was finished, I decided to go around and buy Grulf some additional food .
Mostly, it was meat . And quite a lot of it .
I carried it all back to the park and fed it to him .
“It might have been better to visit a butcher directly…”
“Gruff-guff-guff…”
Grulf was busy eating .
He was still a pup . I wanted him to eat a lot and grow big .
“Woah, that is a big doggy you have there . ”
A small child said .
She appeared to be a beastkin and had a tail and beast ears .
“May I pet it?”
She was a polite child .
“He’s eating now, so you better wait . ”
“Okay . ”
“Gruff?”
Dogs didn’t like to be touched when they were eating . They would think that you’re trying to steal it .
However, they won’t get angry if they are used to it from when they are young .
Maybe I should do that with Grulf as well .
Perhaps I will do it next time .
The child waited patiently for Grulf to finish eating .
When he was done, she asked again .
“May I pet him now?”
“Yes, you can pet him . ”
“Thank you . ”
The child petted Grulf . Her tail was wagging .
“Ehehe . ”
“Grr . ”
Grulf also wagged his tail comfortably .
After that, we said goodbye to the girl and headed for the Adventurers Guild .
And I submitted the rat carcasses and accepted the money .
The desk worker looked at me with a serious expression .
“Were there a lot of demon rats down there?”
“I had him help me, and we searched quite a bit, but we only found ten of them . ”
“I see . That is good then . It seems that there were many yesterday, so I would advise that you be careful when going down there in the future . ”
“Understood . ”
After that, I checked the quest board again .
There were still no goblin hunting quests .
“Grr?”
Grulf was also looking at the quest board with a serious face .
Could he read?
“Let’s buy something to take home with us . ”
“Groof!”
And so we bought a lot of snacks on the way back to the mansion .
“Grooff-groof!”
Grulf was in a very good mood . He was looking forward to eating some treats .
“Oh?”
“Grr?”
A child was standing in front of my mansion .
“Isn’t that the same child that was petting you earlier?”
“Grr . ”
“I wonder what business she has here . ”
And so Grulf and I walked up to the child and asked her .
“Do you have any business at this house?”
“Ah, hello again! And the doggy! What a coincidence!”
“I happen to live in this house, actually . ”
“Is that so . ”
Then the child bowed politely .
“I am Shia’s younger sister . My name is Nia . You must be Mister Locke! My sister talks about you a lot . ”
Apparently, Shia’s younger sister was very polite .