Join In!
"Mount? *That* thing?"
Annette went white as a sheet.
The monster wolf had blood on its muzzle. The beast was, quite literally, the size of a house — five meters at the shoulder, maybe ten in body length, with six legs and a face crisscrossed with scars. No matter how she looked at it, it didn't have the countenance of something that would quietly become a mount. Why a creature like that existed so matter-of-factly in the first place was another mystery entirely. If she'd run into that monster while fleeing, she would have been A/N/N/E/T/T/E by now.
"It's the conclusion I reached after careful deliberation," Caric said with utter confidence. "Me, I could ride anything. But if you tried, your spine would explode."
"I-I'm actually confident in my riding!"
Annette spoke as if she didn't want to be a burden.
"Sure, I imagine a princess would be. But comfort is better, isn't it?"
"I-I suppose so."
"And the size is just right. Lay a hide over it and it's as good as a bed."
The six legs were a considerable advantage too — far less swaying. But Caric spared her any further detailed explanation.
"Wait here."
Caric stomped off across the ground. Watching him approach the six-legged wolf, he looked reckless. Even standing over two meters tall, he wasn't half the beast's size. That, in fact, was exactly what Annette had been worried about. Could even Caric subdue a demon beast like that?
"UUL-BARAAA!"
As Caric charged, bellowing the name of his ancestral god, the six-legged wolf made a strange expression. It was the kind of face that translated roughly to, 'What is this idiot?' A snack was walking up to him of its own accord. Usually humans were small and low in mana, not even worth a glance — but this one looked like it might actually have some chew to it?
Just as the beast stretched out its foreleg, Caric — arriving a beat faster — launched into the air. His fist crashed into the wolf's snout like a thunderbolt.
CRACK!
The enormous head snapped sideways.
"Hng?"
The six-legged wolf learned that when something hurts enough, it raises questions. *Is this right?* Its vision flashed white and its breath caught, the impact feeling like every one of its front teeth had been knocked loose at once. How could a mere snack do this...?
While the wolf was still reeling, Caric seized it by the scruff of the neck — hard enough to tear out tufts of fur. And then—
WHAAAM!
He slammed it straight into the ground.
"Join in!"
A five-meter-tall mass of muscle went hurtling into the snow. The six-legged wolf roared.
"AWOOO!"
But before it could even rise—
BOOOM!
Caric headbutted it once more. The massive head was driven back into the snow.
"Join in!"
From there, it was repetition. The wolf could do nothing but lie face-down in the snowbank, over and over, while Caric repeated the same words.
"Join in!"
The six-legged wolf had absolutely no idea what the hell it was supposed to be joining, and Caric had no intention of explaining. It had never once occurred to him that the beast might understand his words in the first place.
WHAM!
WHAM!
WHAAAM!
Violence that left no room for hesitation, again and again.
After a long while of this, the six-legged wolf stopped trying to get up altogether.
"Grrrr… hng."
A low, sunken whimper — clearly nothing like its earlier roars. The wolf looked at Caric with an expression of utter desperation. One that said, *Okay, okay! I don't know what it is, but I'll join it, you lunatic!*
A clear sign of surrender. Only then did Caric nod slowly.
"Now we're talking. Congratulations on ceasing to be a beast."
"Grrrf."
The six-legged wolf let out a short cry, as if agreeing with everything he said, and even curled its tail in.
Caric was satisfied.
"Welcome to the journey of becoming an imperial honeybee."
"Grrr."
"Chest harness first."
From his subspace, Caric pulled out one of the many tools he'd hauled around — equipment for 'joiners,' which he'd used from time to time before.
With the six-legged wolf thus converted into a mount, Caric returned to Annette. Her mouth was hanging wide open.
"Keep that up and a bug'll fly in."
"Hup."
Annette shut her mouth. But her red eyes still wavered with shock.
"Caric, you really, *really* did it."
"I almost never make bad decisions."
And even when he did, he turned them into good ones. Truly, the highest wisdom came from muscle.
"I've never met anyone like you, Caric."
"Is that a compliment? Well, the Grand Shaman did used to fell mountains."
"I don't think those two things compare…."
"Never mind that. Let's figure out our heading."
Caric pictured the Demon Realm in its entirety. It was shaped something like the Scandinavian Peninsula — a fact he only knew thanks to Annette. All this time, he'd lived without realizing the land stretched this far, or that its base connected to the Empire.
"So we go this way."
Caric set his bearing to the south-southeast.
"Straight to the Great Wall?" Annette asked. They'd been so focused on training that they'd barely discussed their route.
"No. Apparently there are perception-dampening spells and all sorts of wards on it."
Caric held up something like a sigil.
"There are people who can help us with that."
Annette's eyes narrowed with suspicion.
"That, um. You know them, don't you? Of course you do."
The rumors circulating about the Empire — its trains and its parties and whatnot — almost all traced back to these people.
"That's an Imperial Intelligence insignia!"
"Intelligence?"
"So they've been operating beyond the Great Wall all along…."
"Interesting." So they'd been spreading the rumors and controlling them at the same time.
"I've cooperated with them a few times. Got the sigil back then."
"It's probably a collaborator's mark."
"Really? They swapped it out twice, so I figured it was something decent."
"Tw—twice?"
That would make it the highest grade, most likely.
"Well, good news all around. If these guys didn't work out, I'd have had to go to the sacred land."
"The sacred land — where the shaman grandmother lives?"
"Where the few remaining barbarian elders live. Hidden away at the far north."
"I'd like to see it someday too."
"Go and all you'll get is a lecture. Enough — let's move."
Caric scooped Annette up in one motion.
"C-Caric?"
Then he leapt high and landed on the six-legged wolf's back. After spreading a thick, soft fur hide over the mount, he sat Annette down and settled in snugly behind her.
"The wind will be strong. There are bugs too. Keep a barrier up in front of your face."
"Y-yes, sir."
When he pulled the chest harness tight, the wolf began to walk.
"How is it?" With her firmly supported at his back, Caric asked the Annette nestled in his arms. "The ride's not too rough?"
"No, it's fine."
A flush crept over Annette's face.
"It might be a bit warm, but bear it. If I don't hold you up, you'll wear yourself out just keeping your balance."
"I-It's not warm at all."
"Good then. If anything's wrong, don't suffer in silence — tell me."
Annette only nodded. The ends of her hair swayed and tickled Caric.
The journey that followed over the next several days was remarkably comfortable. The six legs crossed in ceaseless rhythm, guaranteeing a steady ride — though that was at a walking pace. Even that 'walk,' with strides so long, outpaced a carriage. Annette leaned against Caric's chest, taking in the scenery in peace. No — perhaps *peace* wasn't quite the word.
"Your barrier's wavering."
Annette flinched at the low voice above her head.
"Out of mana?"
"N-no."
The barrier steadied again.
"Tell me if you're tired. I'll bring out that thing from a few days back."
"The barrier-warded rat skull… you mean?"
"Yes. It was pretty convenient, wasn't it? All you had to do was carry it."
"…Uh, hm. Yes. If convenient… then it was convenient."
Annette barely suppressed a sigh as she remembered the feel of that skull. She gave a small shudder.
"I'm just going to treat this as training practice."
"Don't push yourself too hard."
"I'm really fine. Just now, it was simply a little hard to concentrate."
"Because of the swaying?"
"That's part of it…."
Being reminded, yet again, of her current situation turned Annette's ears red. Fortunately, Caric's attention had drifted elsewhere.
"Those guys are running away again."
He was watching the frost giants in the distance. At first they'd come bounding over gleefully at the sight of the six-legged wolf, practically licking their lips — then they'd caught sight of Caric's face and fled screaming in the other direction.
"It's not like they're orcas. They charged just fine last time."
Unlike the disappointed Caric, the six-legged wolf was preening with pride.
"Grrrrr! Wuff!"
It seemed to believe they were fleeing in terror of *it*. Caric quietly considered correcting it, then decided not to. Fine — you be happy, at least.
"When we get back, if you tell the imperial people, no one will believe you," Annette added. "They treat frost giants as half natural disaster, half wilderness hazard."
There was fresh astonishment in her voice. A man frost giants *ran from*. But it wasn't only Caric's strength that stunned her.
Before long—
"Please, save us!"
The moment a faint scream, half-swallowed by the wind, reached them—
"Wait here with a leg or two free."
Caric halted the six-legged wolf and sprinted off alone into the distance. Within seconds, he had crossed the snowfield and carved a monster bear into pieces. While the hunter who'd nearly died sat slumped where he'd fallen, dumbstruck, Caric tossed him a bundle of herbs from his subspace and returned.
"Th-thank you!"
Even with the gratitude ringing at his back.
Days like this had been one after another of late.
*The Demon Realm really is the Demon Realm,* Annette thought. Here, every single day was a battle for survival. And even in a place like this, Caric had lived by his own rules and his own way.
"I'm so glad I met you, Caric."
"Heh heh heh, I think so too. A man of character like me doesn't come around often."
"Truly."
And Annette agreed with complete sincerity, without a hint of teasing.
"Well, this comfortable journey is about to end."
In the far distance, the outline of a city was emerging.
"Time to walk, I suppose."
The two dismounted from the six-legged wolf. It immediately began casting furtive glances their way. Annette did too.
"Baekgu."
When Caric called the slapdash name he'd given it, the beast lowered its head.
"Wyyyne."
"You know that honestly, the cleanest thing would've been to kill you before we left."
"Wyyyyine."
"And then if I ate your meat, you'd become a part of me. Which is its own kind of happiness, I suppose?"
The six-legged wolf's eyes shook wildly.
"Your seniors all ended up that way. But, well…."
This one had been basking in Annette's Radiance every time they rested. It was meant for stamina recovery, but it would have had a purifying effect too — whatever demonic taint it had, it was surely gone. And when Caric had roughly combed through its memories with the warded skull, it had never eaten a human either.
"…I'll make an exception for you."
"Grrf!"
"Yay!"
Even Annette, standing beside them, rejoiced. Caric snorted a small laugh. Stroking the bridge of the wolf's nose, he murmured,
"So live a good, honest life. Otherwise, I'll come back and turn you into bread."
"Grrrf?"
"I'll tear you apart, grind you into flour, knead the dough, bake it, and eat you."
The six-legged wolf curled its tail in tight.
"Off you go, then."
The beast cast one more glance, as if asking whether it was *really* allowed to leave. Only after Caric said it a few more times did it finally go.
"Do you think we'll meet again?"
"Who knows. With the Radiance, you'll at least live long."
With the six-legged wolf thus seen off, the two set out toward the city.
"Is there an Intelligence branch in that city?" Annette asked.
"There is. That one's about as close to a headquarters as it gets."
"And we can just walk right up to a place like that?"
"Normally I don't go looking for them. In more ways than one."
Annette would understand what he meant shortly.
"Caric, it has been an honor as always."
Before they'd even reached the city gates, a figure in a black wool coat slid silently into view. Somehow, impossibly, he had known they were coming and had been waiting.
"Everything is prepared to receive you. Your companion as well—"
The agent's voice, flowing as smoothly as water, cut off abruptly. The moment he got a clear look at Annette's face, he froze like a statue.
"Her Highness, the Princess?!"