Charlotte tilted her head, clearly puzzled.

“Luu-chan’s been acting strange this whole time. She keeps growling at the dragon… Do Fenrirs not get along with dragons?”

“No, they’re not natural enemies or anything…”

Allen rubbed his chin and stared at the Noble Dragon.

The dragon continued its forlorn whimpering. But something about the sound felt too uniform, like bait meant to lure something in.

(Better not get too close to this thing…)

He came to that conclusion and glanced over at Luu.

Luu gave a small, silent nod, and with that, their understanding was complete. The two of them subtly positioned themselves on either side of Charlotte, gently urging her to step back.

“Alright. Let’s just—-”

‘Leave and come back later’, Just as Allen was about to say it, a violent tremor shook the ground beneath them. A deep rumble echoed all around, so strong it was difficult to remain standing.

“Eek…!”

“Charlotte!”

Allen immediately reached out to Charlotte, but…

“Kapi!”

“What…!?”

The next moment, a black shadow appeared from nowhere and snatched her away. The ground beneath his feet collapsed in an instant, and Allen was pushed into the depths of the abyss.

“Ugh… Charlotte!”

He jumped up and looked around.

He found himself amidst a pile of rubble.

High above, he could see the open sky. Stone-paved pathways branched out in all directions. The walls were embedded with glowing magic stones, bathing the area in a soft light that made it easy to see, but Charlotte was nowhere in sight.

“Damn it… Fly–!?”

He tried to cast magic.

But there was no sensation of lifting off, not even a few centimeters.

The magic didn’t activate at all.

Allen is shocked. Now that he thinks about it, he remembers using magic on impulse just before he fell. But since he’s fallen to the ground like this, it probably didn’t activate.

Panic and anxiety exploded within him.

Darkness crept into his vision, but he barely managed to hold it together.

“Damn it! What the hell’s going on… Charlotte! Where are you?! Please—-answer me!”

{Shut up.}

He was suddenly shoved with incredible force and skidded across the ground. However, he knew the fluffy feeling hitting him, so he didn’t panic unnecessarily.

“Lu…Luu…?”

{Calm down.}

As he lay sprawled on the ground, Luu stepped on his forehead with a paw.

Looking down at Allen, she gave a low growl. If translated, it would have meant: “There, now you’re quiet.”

“…You… can speak the common monster language?”

{Is that a problem?}

“No, I mean… you’ve never used it before!”

Allen could only understand the languages used by low-rank monsters.

High-tier monsters like dragons or Fenrirs often spoke unique languages specific to their kind, ones difficult for humans to learn. That’s why most people couldn’t communicate with them, only beast tamers could.

This was the first time Allen had ever had a proper conversation with Luu.

Luu tilted her head.

{Why should I bother matching your language? I can talk just fine with Mama. No need.}

“…Mama? You mean Charlotte?”

{Of course. Mother is Mother, and Mama is Mama.}

Luu gave a little snort.

“Mother” must’ve referred to her biological mother, the big Fenrir. Allen had known Luu was fond of Charlotte, but he hadn’t realized she saw Charlotte as a second mother.

(Well… no wonder she’s always been so lukewarm with me.)

Allen couldn’t help but nod in resigned understanding.