The Otherworldly Husky 

Ard never thought that the one decent night’s sleep he’d had in two days would turn into a nightmare.

If only it had just been a nightmare. When Ard woke up, he found a strange, square detection device in his hand.

From the back of her drake, Yexi saw Ard staring blankly at the radar-like instrument in his hand, as if he had lost his mind. “What is that thing?” she asked.

Ard sighed. “It’s a gift from a certain blonde goddess with a touching level of intelligence. She wants me to find something from another world for her.”

The description sounded vaguely familiar to Yexi. She seemed to recall meeting a blonde drunkard who had not only gotten her completely intoxicated but had also tricked her into signing a fraudulent contract.

Ard confirmed her suspicion. “Yes, it’s the same goddess who put a bounty on my head. Sigh. Being a-worker-for-hire is one thing, but having this kind of boss is just the worst luck. The range on this radar is a hundred meters at most, and the area she gave me is Quentin’s entire domain. My goddess. Oh well, no point in worrying about it now. Let’s just take care of the matter at hand. It’s only a few more days.”

Ard said optimistically, “Who knows? Maybe the thing will just deliver itself to our doorstep.”

Before returning to the lord’s city, Ard and Yexi first went to check on the Counselor, the “Sixth Master,” still stranded on the high mountain cliff. As they climbed up, they heard him shouting and cursing. “You little beast! Get away from me! That’s my food! Scram!”

Puzzled, Ard walked over and saw a handsome, cute… husky puppy? with beautiful, fiery blue eyes and a striking black and white coat.

Ard was stunned. “A husky?” he blurted out.

Yexi also came over and examined the ‘husky’ that was trying to drag away the Counselor’s food.

Seeing Ard and Yexi, the Counselor cried out, on the verge of tears, “My lords, please, take this little beast away! It just appeared out of nowhere yesterday and has been stealing my food! If you hadn’t come today, my last rations would be gone!”

Yexi walked over and, seeing the puppy was about to flee from the newcomers, deftly picked it up by the scruff of its neck. The ‘husky’ struggled, its four little paws flailing, but to no avail. It then decided to try and intimidate this reasonably attractive human female with its authority. It bared its teeth, put on its most ferocious expression, and barked wildly. “Woof, woof, woof!”

Yexi raised an eyebrow, her gaze as calm and deep as a tranquil pool, and met the puppy’s defiant stare. The puppy felt as if all the warmth had been sucked from its body. The bone-chilling cold in her eyes told it that this female was an existence it absolutely could not provoke right now.

So, the clever pup changed tactics. Its ‘ferocious’ expression instantly turned innocent and cute. It stuck out its tongue, let its little limbs go limp, and looked utterly adorable, letting out a soft, low whine. “Awoo~”

Ignoring the Counselor, Ard watched the ‘husky’ with great interest. “It’s quite smart. I just wonder if it’s the type to run off the moment you let it go, a true master of home demolition.”

“This seems to be an Arctic Wolf,” Yexi said, completely unmoved by the husky’s cute act. She turned the pup over in her hands, examining its physical characteristics. “But the fur of an Arctic Wolf should be pure white. This one, whether it’s a genetic mutation or a hybrid, actually has black fur. It really does look a bit like a husky.”

Ard was stunned. “An Arctic Wolf? What’s it doing here? No matter how prone to wandering it is, it couldn’t have gotten lost all the way from the arctic to here.”

“Arctic Wolves are prized for their elegant appearance and adorable pups. Many people keep them as pets. This variant was likely captured and was being brought here to be sold at auction. It probably escaped on the way.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Ard knew of this, of course. But capturing an Arctic Wolf was no easy task. The arctic environment they lived in was extremely harsh. The sub-zero temperatures, blizzards, and year-round darkness were commonplace. Ordinary practitioners would find their combat power halved the moment they set foot in the arctic, and they would still have to contend with the constant threat of natural disasters. The creatures that lived there were all incredibly tough, perfectly adapted to the environment. They had a terrifying sensitivity to danger, and the Arctic Wolf was one of the best, perhaps even the apex predator of the arctic lands.

The pack-living Arctic Wolves could roam the arctic with impunity. Their packs had a certain social structure, and they lived and bred under the leadership of an alpha. The protection of their young was second only to hunting and survival in their society. To capture an Arctic Wolf pup was tantamount to declaring war on the entire pack. And the consequences of declaring war on an Arctic Wolf pack in the arctic was something even a dragon would be unwilling to bear. It was rumored that an Arctic Wolf pack, with the advantage of their home terrain, could even trigger natural disasters to annihilate their enemies.

Even if one were lucky enough to capture an adult Arctic Wolf, its wild, untamable nature made it impossible to domesticate. It would simply starve itself to death, finding any and every way to commit suicide.

Because of this, Arctic Wolf pups were incredibly rare on the continent, always fetching a price but never available for sale. To own one was a symbol of status and power, much like the limited-edition sports cars and famous watches of his past life. To encounter a suspected “Arctic Wolf” pup here… it was truly a fantastical turn of events.

“But it’s only a possibility,” Yexi said. “The difference in fur color is too great. I’ve never heard of an Arctic Wolf with black fur, and they never interbreed. We’ll only know its specific breed when it’s a bit older and starts to show its racial abilities.”

“That’s simple. We can just ask it,” Ard joked, turning to the husky. “Hey, little doggy, are you an Arctic Wolf?”

Of course, Ard didn’t expect a response. But to his astonishment, the pup gave a solemn nod, its nose in the air, a look of “I’m-a-big-deal” on its face.

Ard: “???”

Yexi: “???”

“You can understand human speech?” Ard asked, amazed.

The husky nodded again.

Yexi frowned. “Could it be that it just nods whenever it hears a human speak?”

This time, the husky shook its head.

“…” This was the first time Ard had ever seen such an intelligent creature. Considering its age, this dog’s IQ was off the charts. “Has this dog become a youkai or something?”

Yexi was also amazed. “It does seem to be quite smart. Are all Arctic Wolves this intelligent?”

“I don’t know,” Ard said, scratching his head. “To be honest, this is the first time I’ve seen one. And we can’t even be sure of its species, can we? But how did it get up here?”

Yexi decided to put aside the question of the dog’s intelligence for now. The cave they were in was on a sheer cliff face, with no gentle slope to climb. Yet this dog had managed to get here. Yexi was certain this little thing hadn’t been here the first time they came.

Ard turned to the Counselor, his voice cold. “Has anyone else been here these past two days? You’d better be honest.”

Seeing Ard’s fierce expression, the Counselor said hastily, “No, really, no one! May I be struck down if I’m lying! This little beast really just appeared out of nowhere yesterday!”

Yexi asked the pup directly, “You understand human speech, right? How did you get up here?”

The husky pointed to the cliff outside, then made a climbing motion with its little paws.

Ard was dumbfounded. “You climbed up?! It’s that high and that steep, and you’re telling me you climbed up? Even I had a hard time climbing… what’s with that look?”

Ard was met with a look of utter contempt from the husky pup.

“…” Ard decided it was best not to argue with the pup any further. He gloomyly threw the pen and paper to the Counselor. “I’ll dictate, you write. I’ll leave you some more food for the next few days.”

“Yes, yes, of course.” The Counselor, being unable to move freely, had been no match for the agile pup and had had his food repeatedly stolen. And the pup’s appetite was considerable. He had been living on scraps for the past two days.

After getting the letter from the Counselor, Ard threw the rest of the dry rations from his pack to him. Seeing the man wolfing down the food, he was clearly starving. Also drooling was the ‘husky’ beside them. The sheer volume of its saliva showed its astonishing desire for food.

Yexi took a large piece of dried meat from her pack and stuffed it into the ‘husky’s’ mouth, stemming the waterfall of drool. The ‘husky’ devoured the meat, then looked at Yexi with pitiful eyes. Yexi fed it another piece. Though it was so small, the ‘husky’ seemed to have a bottomless stomach. As long as she put food in its mouth, it would swallow it down, not picky at all.

Soon, the backpack behind Yexi was completely empty. The ‘husky’, having eaten nearly twice its own body weight in food, let out a satisfied burp.

Yexi said, puzzled, “Its appetite is not normal either. Theoretically, a creature cannot consume several times its own body weight in food at once. But this ‘husky’s’ stomach seems to not be in its body.”

Ard was also amazed. “Is this the legendary dimensional stomach? I’ve learned something new today.” He stretched. “Well, business is taken care of. Let’s go.”

Yexi nodded. She carried the husky to the edge of the cliff. “You’ve had your fill. You can go now.”

The husky peeked its head over the edge, looked at the drop below, and swallowed hard. Then, it ran back to Yexi, wagging its little tail and rubbing against her leg, a sight that made Ard incredibly envious.

Yexi asked, “Don’t tell me you can get up, but you don’t know how to get down?”

The pup’s expression froze, then it nodded awkwardly.

Ard was speechless. “Then why did you come up here?”

The pup patted its stomach, pointed to the food beside the Counselor, then touched its own nose. The rest was left for Ard and Yexi to infer.

Ard guessed, “You were hungry, smelled food up here, and ran up. But then you found you could get up, but you didn’t know how to get down.”

The husky nodded, looking at Ard with an appreciative gaze, as if to say, “You’re not completely stupid, kid.”

Ard felt his intelligence had just been insulted.