“Then we just don’t tell her about the cage, or the puppy inside, and everything will be just fine.”

Krenocia says “That only works if she doesn’t find out. If she does, she will be even more pissed that we tried to hide it and she will be pissed at both of us.”

“In that case, we had better hope she doesn’t find out. Wait! If you haven’t told her, then she isn’t mad at me yet. I can just ask her about the puppy and then I won’t be in trouble no matter what!”

Krenocia says “What if she tells you not to open the cage?”

“If she has a good reason, I might listen to her. If not, I will just disobey her and deal with her being pissed at me.”

Krenocia says “That would cover you, but I’d still be in danger. I still have to worry about her finding out I hid your actions from her.”

“Don’t worry. If she finds out and gets mad at you, I will help you deal with her anger.”

Krenocia says “How would you do that?! It is not so easy to appease her anger!”

“I would help her “punish” you!”

Krenocia says “Oh? Oh! Okay!”

“I thought you would like that idea. Anyway, I had better talk to Seronia now, Asuna is getting impatient.”

Krenocia says “Alright, let me know how it goes.”

“Seronia, got a minute?”

Seronia says “What trouble have you found now?”

“None. It was actually Asuna who found this one. Anyway, can you help me figure out what’s in the crate and if it is dangerous, before I open it?”

Seronia says “Wait, you are showing prudence?! What’s the catch? This is some kind of trap, right?”

“What?! No, no trap! Why would I even try to trap you?!”

Seronia says “Who knows? I’m sure you could come up with something to get out of me once I was trapped!”

“I don’t need to trap you if I want something. I’d just ask, like I am doing now. Why are you suddenly acting paranoid?”

Seronia says “Krenocia told me you were plotting something!”

“Oh, she did, did she? I am not plotting anything. It sounds like your sister is just messing with you. My only plan right now is to open this cage and summon my angel. Nothing else.”

Seronia says “Well, that does sound like something my sister would do. Alright, it is a hound type beast and it is very young. It probably isn’t even a week old, definitely not weaned yet. That may be why someone put it in such a cage.”

“So, I need to figure out how to feed it before I take it out. Good to know. Can you tell me anything else about its breed?”

Seronia says “No, I’m sorry. The cage interferes too much for me to be able to tell you more. You would have to open the cage first.”

“Then I guess that is what I am going to do.”

Seronia says “Luckily, with it being so young, it shouldn’t be a threat. If you feed it, then it should bond with you.”

“Alright. Thank you for trying.”

Seronia says “Thank you for asking first, for once.”

I very wisely don’t say anything to that and Seronia quickly breaks the contact. I quickly look through my pouch for a scrap of supple leather and then use my mana to thin it out. When I am done, it looks like a glove, but one with only a single finger on it.

I fill the glove with milk, with a little beast blood mixed in, and then have Asuna hold it. With that prepared, I turn my attention to the magical lock on the cage and start solving it. The lock is decently complex, about what I was making a few months ago, but it is easy for me to open.

The physical lock is even easier, it just snaps off in my hand with the application of a little strength. As soon as I open the cage, the enchantments cease to have an effect and the puppy starts moving. It doesn’t open its eyes, but it does start moving around and sniffing the air.

Then again, if it is as young as Seronia thinks, then it probably can’t open its eyes yet. I move my hand in front of its nose and let it sniff me before I pick it up and take it out of the cage. It makes a slight mewing sound as I pick it up, but it doesn’t struggle or try to escape.

I gently stroke it for a minute so it can get used to my touch, then I flip it onto its back. I find out that it is a boy and that he doesn’t like being on his back, until I scratch his belly. I then take the glove from Asuna, warm it using my mana, and punch a small hole in the end of the finger.

It is just enough to let the milk mixture start leaking out and I quickly put it into the puppy’s mouth. At first the puppy seems confused, but he soon figures it out and starts drinking. He doesn’t stop until the glove is half empty and his belly is visibly swollen, then he falls asleep.

I make him a nest of blankets and lay him in it, with Asuna watching my every move. As soon as the kid is in place, Asuna curls up around him in her natural form. It makes me a little nervous, I’m not sure what to do if her motherly instincts kick in.

I don’t think that she is old enough, but I don’t really know enough about her species to be sure. There is someone who knows, so I jump on the network and send a message to Muyaun. I explain the situation in the message and ask her if there is anything I need to worry about.

Unfortunately, she doesn’t seem to be awake because I don’t get an answer to my message. I will have to wait until she messages me back, which is fairly annoying, but unavoidable. For now, I am going to leave her alone and let her do whatever she wants.

I throw the cage in my pouch, I doubt I will have a use for it, but it is made of decent material. It had to be, to be able to hold such a complex enchantment as the stasis required. It may come in handy, but more likely it will just sit in the pouch until the next time I clean it out.

I really want to summon my angel, but if I do that now Mercy and Lin will be upset. I am sure that it is something they are going to want to witness, so I need to wait for them. Since we are waiting anyway, I take out lunch for Asuna and myself, it is about that time.

We are almost done eating when the baby wakes up and starts sniffing around. It seems like he is panicking, but he quickly calms down when I move my hand to where he can smell it. After that, he starts sniffing at Asuna and she stays perfectly still to not frighten him.

He makes a mess of the nest I made him, but the cleaning stone deals with it so that I don’t have to. He crawls around exploring and even crawls over parts of Asuna as he does. After moving around for a while, he sniffs his way to me and makes a cute mewling sound.