I Became the Emergency Food Supply of the Bear Family - Chapter 23

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 23

Malamute’s eyes widened, then blinked.
You’re a member of the Sled Dog Knight Order. So run properly!
That’s what the gesture meant—but he probably didn’t understand. Grandfather would have caught my meaning.
‘He hasn’t even learned Humanization yet. Can’t be helped.’

“Born a half-blood, no less.”

Right, that’s true. I can’t blame him for this.
Just as Na Bom’s ears drooped,
Malamute’s cheerful bark echoed in her mind.
—That’s fair. I’m in training as a member of the order, after all.
This time it was Na Bom’s eyes that widened.
Oh, he understood me.
Malamute laughed with a slightly sheepish hehe, then made another pawprint in the pristine snow.
—I like winter anyway, and the Head Chef’s cooking is so delicious it always fills me with energy!
The Head Chef’s cooking. Yes, that’s true for me too.
Na Bom nodded vigorously in agreement with this new topic Malamute had raised.
—You like the Head Chef’s cooking too?
‘…….’
At Malamute’s question, the fantastic taste of the greens Na Bom had eaten that morning came rushing back. Saliva began dripping from her small mouth.
Malamute barked—”Woof!”—and started licking Na Bom’s face enthusiastically.
Her face quickly grew wet with both her own drool and Malamute’s. Though Na Bom glared with narrowed eyes, Malamute paid no mind and kept bouncing in place.
—You love it too! You know, you know? This is actually a secret.
Malamute pressed close to Na Bom’s side and began whispering.
—Actually, during hibernation season, the cooking at Grizzly Castle becomes even more delicious.
More than usual?
Is that why it was so good this morning?
—Us dogs have strong loyalty, but we need rewards to stay motivated, you know. The Head Chef’s touch is part of what makes our loyalty to the Grizzly Family so strong.
As Malamute lay low, whispering his secret, his front paws began pawing at the snow as if he could hardly contain himself.
—During hibernation, even better food comes out, so we can patrol and defend the castle more diligently during this period!
He cried out and leapt to his feet, then began circling Na Bom repeatedly.
Na Bom shook herself, brushing the snow that was flying everywhere from her face.
‘A polar bear who doesn’t hibernate and raises the spirits of sled dogs at the same time…….’
So it’s the heart of both human and beast that defends this castle. There was no way anyone could have escaped through such an impenetrable defense.
Someone might have thought it ridiculous that loyalty was strengthened by food.
‘I would have thought the same.’
Before breakfast this morning, anyway.
But with food like that, she could truly understand. Na Bom nodded with an unexpectedly serious expression.
Soon Malamute stopped bouncing and opened his eyes wide.
—Snowflake?
Na Bom, who had been sitting quietly in the snow, suddenly rose onto her hind legs and made the same gesture as before.
The motion of drawing a sword from a scabbard at her left hip.
Then she began circling around Malamute on her hind legs.
—I’m not sure what you mean, huh?
As Malamute tilted his head in confusion, Na Bom clung to his body, grunting. When Malamute instinctively lay flat, Na Bom climbed onto his back.
Then she gripped his neck fur with her front paws and tapped his sides with her hind legs.
Like a knight mounted on a horse.
—Ah! I get it now!
Malamute whipped his head around to look at Na Bom sitting on his back and shouted.
—You want us to patrol together!
Na Bom touched Malamute’s head lightly, as if to confirm the correct answer.
Malamute, always so cheerful and openly friendly with everyone, would be sure to talk excitedly about today’s events. If that happened,
‘I could make it clear I’m not just a freeloader eating during hibernation.’
I’ll work hard on Humanization training, of course, but if I fail, the adoption could be canceled.
Even if the adoption is canceled, I might still be accepted as a companion animal, so I should build up good deeds starting now.
Plus, I could repay this morning’s breakfast. Two birds with one stone.
—Right, okay. We can’t leave the castle, so we’ll patrol inside it!
Na Bom nodded enthusiastically.
—Come on, let’s go. Hold on tight!
With that, the puppy and the rabbit riding on his back dashed across the Garden and toward the Castle Wall.
“Hmm.”
Pallas, watching the two from a distance, murmured thoughtfully.
That approach wouldn’t be bad for learning animal movements.

***

The next day.
Under a clouded sky threatening snow at any moment, Na Bom rode on Malamute’s back.
As they bounded along the rampart on the left side of the Inner Castle, Na Bom tapped Malamute’s ribs.
—Huh? What is it, Snowflake?
But before he could even look back, Na Bom’s front paws grabbed his cheek and yanked him sharply to the right. Malamute laughed and immediately changed direction.
—Got it. You want me to go this way?
Maybe Snowflake has a talent for Sled Dog Driving. Her commands are so decisive, really…….
‘I like this!’
Woof!
Excited, Malamute barked and ran exactly as Na Bom commanded.
After not much farther, Na Bom pulled at the fur on Malamute’s neck with her front paws. Malamute recognized the signal to stop and slowed down.
Once Malamute came to a halt, Na Bom hopped nimbly from his back.
Na Bom approached the rampart without hesitation.
—Is there something there?
As Malamute turned to look at her and asked, he noticed it too.
There was a hole in the Castle Wall.
Smaller than Malamute’s head, but large enough for Na Bom to fit through—the kind of hole you might walk past without noticing.
—There’s a hole here! How did you spot it? Your eyesight is really sharp, Snowflake.
At Malamute’s praise, Na Bom shook her head slowly.
She’d had no idea such a hole existed.
‘It just…….’
Something felt like it shouldn’t be passed by, so she changed direction.
So Na Bom approached the hole as if drawn to it. Her small tail twitched upward.
‘There’s something there.’
Through the hole lay a view of the Dense Forest. At the base of a large tree, something was lying in the snow.
Black…… a dog?
—It smells like us.
Malamute, similarly peering through the hole at the collapsed figure, murmured.
—But…….
Just as Malamute was furrowing his brow to add something more, Na Bom tried to push her face out through the hole. As if trying to leave the castle.
—No, you can’t!
Malamute cried out urgently and reached out his front paws to grab her. But Na Bom was more stubborn than expected.
As she whined and struggled to get out, Malamute pushed her rather roughly back inside the rampart.
Malamute blocked the hole with his body and faced Na Bom directly.
—I can’t let you go outside. It’s the Master’s order.
At the mention of Theodore’s order, Na Bom froze completely.
Suddenly the Covenant that Theodore had made came to mind. He must have given the order to the Knights before entering hibernation.
To protect her safely within the castle.
‘…….’
A strange tickle rose in her chest, so Na Bom just pressed hard against the white snow.
—It does smell like us, but it’s an unfamiliar scent. And being outside the castle might mean it’s an enemy.
Malamute’s eyes had become slightly sharper.
Right.
She’d nearly been caught in an avalanche, and leaving the castle recklessly in winter wasn’t safe. It made sense to stay here for her own protection.
But.
‘……It bothers me.’
That dog out there seems to be calling for me.
Just as Na Bom looked back toward the hole,
A wind suddenly swept from behind. When she turned her head, Pallas was standing there.
“Pup.”
Pallas, who had been silently looking down at the two, spoke in a flat voice.
“You are to tell the Knights about this hole.”
But at Pallas’s order, Malamute only blinked. Whining and looking between Na Bom and Pallas, Malamute received another command from Pallas.
“Right now.”
A firmness in his tone rarely heard from him.
Malamute barked sharply—”Woof!”—and immediately bolted toward the Inner Castle.
“Now then.”
As Pallas turned to look at Na Bom, the corners of his mouth slowly rose.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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