“Stop! Stop hurting Pochi!” I shouted while throwing rocks, sticks, and just about anything I could find on the floor. I managed to catch the dragon’s attention, and it turned towards me.

Pochi took advantage of that and jumped incredibly fast at the dragon, biting its neck in a powerful critical hit. Even when the dragon fell onto the ground after letting out a deafening roar, Pochi kept biting, as if to finish it. Still on the floor, it twisted its body around a few times until it finally stopped moving at all.

Yes! Pochi won! He defeated the dragon!

“Pochi! You were awesome!”

He turned towards me and wagged its tail side to side with the same happy face he made when we were playing fetch at home, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. I patted his nose and told him that he was a good boy.

“Are you hurt?” I asked, and looked at where he’d been hit by the dragon’s tail, but there was no wound to be seen. He started jumping around, probably to show me that he was fine. I was so, so glad.

“You were so cool, Pochi! Really great!” I complimented him while still patting his nose. I’d usually hold him in my arms and pet him all over, but now he was definitely too big for that.

Will he be able to get back to his usual size? Will he even be able to hide in my shadow anymore? If he can’t do that, then I’ll have to keep him in the garden... Mother complained enough about the vegetable field, so this won’t make her happy... She’d probably tell me that I can’t keep him... What would I do then?

While I was busy thinking about this, I noticed smoke coming out of the dragon on the floor. I-Is it going to explode?! I thought, but the smoke quickly vanished, and the dragon with it. What? Where did it go? Why did it disappear? Can dragons just disappear?

That was surprising enough, but when I looked back at Pochi, I realized that he’d also gone back to his normal puppy-size.

I have no idea what’s going on anymore... is it some kind of trick?! Disappearing dragons, shrinking dogs... how does this even work? ...Well, magic does exist in this world, so I guess it all makes sense.

“Oh, Pochi, I’m so glad you went back to normal! We’ll still be able to play in the garden!” I was so relieved that I wouldn’t need to build a house in the garden for Pochi, and he could still live in my shadow.

I patted his little head as he breathed with his tongue sticking out and his tail swinging from side to side. I noticed he was looking at my hand, which was still holding one of the sticks I’d grabbed to throw at the dragon.

“Do you want to play? Okay, try to catch it!” I said. I pulled my arm back, preparing for the throw, when someone grabbed it.

“I’m sorry to interrupt you while you’re having so much fun,” said Laura, who had appeared behind me all of a sudden, short of breath and with a troubled expression. “There are a ton of things that I’d like to ask you, but first... are you hurt?”

“No, I’m not.”

Pochi had protected me from the dragon, and I had come out of it without a scratch. And even Pochi himself, despite his fight just now, looked fine too. I checked him after he went back to his normal size, but I couldn’t find any wounds. Another thing to write off as a mystery of magic.

“That’s good. Now, Maria and Dewey...”

“Right! Maria and Dewey!”

Forget about throwing sticks!

I ran towards them, and Maria, with a pale face, asked me whether I was wounded. I told her I wasn’t, and her face instantly changed to show her relief.

“What about Dewey?” asked Laura, looking at him. He was being held by Maria, his eyes closed but visibly still breathing.

Maria let Dewey go and pushed him into Laura’s arms. “I used my Light Magic to heal him, but the blow was so strong that he lost consciousness, and it would be better if a doctor took a look at him.”

“Okay. As soon as we’re out of here, we’re bringing him to one,” Laura said, taking Dewey into her big, strong arms.

Maria, however, was looking down uneasily. He’d gotten hurt trying to protect her, so that would make it even worse if anything serious had happened to him.

Maria finally stopped looking at Dewey, raised her head, and walked towards me.

Hm? Does she need something from me?

She stopped in front of me, looking into my eyes and glaring. “I apologize in advance for being rude,” she said, bowing her head.

It was the first time Maria had ever looked at me like that, so I was surprised.

Wh-What? Why? I asked myself, confused, and Maria, as angry as I’d never seen before, started scolding me.

“Why did you lure the dragon your way?! You could have died! Did you even think about what could happen?! I bet not!”

“I... I didn’t, but... I mean, you two were in danger, so I just... I just went and did it without thinking about it too hard...”

I tried to excuse what I had done, but Maria’s expression turned even angrier.

“I am thankful that you tried to save us. But to use yourself as bait... If anything had happened to you, I... I...” Tears were now falling from Maria’s wide eyes.

“M-Maria!”

“If anything had happened to you because of me... How could I...” she kept saying, crying. She must have been so worried about me...

“I’m sorry I made you worry. I won’t do dangerous stuff anymore,” I said, sorry for what I had done, and I hugged her.

“...Please do not,” she said, blushing and hugging me back.

She was shivering and shedding tears, so I gently stroked her back. I felt terrible that I’d made her worry about me.

Maria eventually calmed down and stopped crying and shaking.

“Oh, you’re awake,” said a deep, manly voice besides us.

“Waaah?!” replied a different, terrified voice.

We turned to look, and saw that Dewey had just woken up in Laura’s arms.

The first thing he saw upon waking up was the face of a huge, muscular woman staring at him... I’d have screamed too.

Maria, who had regained her composure, left my hug and walked towards Dewey.

“Dewey, are you alright? Does it hurt anywhere?” she asked, and he jumped up and out of Laura’s arms.

“I’m perfectly fine!” he said, flailing his body around.

He really looks okay. I’m glad.

Maria was relieved at seeing that he wasn’t hurt. “Thank you for saving me, but don’t do anything dangerous anymore, okay?” she said, stroking his head. Dewey’s face instantly flushed red.

Hehe, look at him. He’s completely fallen for her. This must be his first crush! Ahh, it’s too cute!

“Excuse me... can we leave already? We have caught the suspicious man,” said Hart, who had just come back after getting lost.

Behind him was Sora, holding the rope connected to Hart in his hand and carrying the suspicious man on his back.

“Uh? Is it okay to touch him, Sora?” asked Laura, surprised, remembering that Maria had warned her against that.

“He is unconscious, so I think there is no problem,” said Sora.

“Yes,” added Maria, “his aura is not as threatening anymore. It should be safe.”

“Fine then,” said Laura, reassured.

“We should leave before we run into anything else,” Hart pointed out, walking in the complete opposite direction to where the entrance was.

“This way,” said Sora, pulling on his rope. Who’s examining who, again?

“Dewey, if you can’t move well I can always carry you,” Laura kindly said to Dewey.

“Thank you, but I can move on my own,” he replied coldly.

Maybe waking up to Laura’s stare had been hard on him... He seemed to have no intention of being carried around.

While we were walking out of the cave, Sora also scolded me under his breath, calling me a “reckless idiot” and gently smacking me on the back of my head. He didn’t put it kindly, but his expression really looked worried, so I just apologized.

“Don’t ever do that again!” he said while giving me a noogie.

I had made so many people worry... I’ll have to be more careful from now on.

The cave wasn’t exactly dark, but when we stepped out into the forest, it was bright enough to feel dazzling.

“Oh? There are birds,” I said, noticing them flying over my head. There were none when we’d gone inside the cave. I wonder why...

“Maybe,” said Maria, “the animals had left the forest because of that dark aura I felt. It has almost disappeared completely now, so that could explain why the animals are back.”

“It disappeared? When?” asked Laura.

“When that large creature did. Maybe the aura was emanating from it.”

“I wonder if the animals left the forest for fear of that creature.”

“That seems likely,” said Maria.

They were right. We went back to the village, and, after a while, the animals started going back to their old habitat in the forest. At Hart’s suggestion, I sent Pochi after the few who had taken a liking to the crops and didn’t want to go back, and he quickly drove them back into the forest.

Hart also wrote a report on what had happened, lifting that responsibility from the rest of us, since we couldn’t properly explain all the things that had happened involving Dark Magic. He wasn’t very useful on the field (if anything, he was a burden), but when it came to administrative work, he was an outright genius.

Cleaning up after the mission would normally have taken several days and multiple people, but he managed to do all of it alone and in less than a day, giving out all the appropriate instructions and quickly finishing all the work we needed taken care of.

And so, a few days later, we were back at the Ministry.