Turning to his side, Gerald noticed that the one making the sounds was a puppy that was slowly limping toward him! Upon closer inspection, the puppy seemed to have a broken leg. What more, there were visible scars all over its body as well.

When it finally reached Gerald’s side, it lay at his feet before promptly starting to lick the tip of his shoe.

Gerald was more startled than anything. After all, he hadn’t expected to bump into this little one so deep inside the forest. In a way, it was a miracle that this puppy was still alive with so many predatory beasts lurking within the forest.

“…Could you be asking me to save you?” asked Gerald.

Barking twice in response, it then continued licking Gerald’s shoe.

While Gerald’s first thought—upon seeing the puppy—was to extract its blood to make blood essence, after the puppy started licking his shoe, he realized two things. First of all, the puppy was simply too small to make a worthwhile blood essence extraction.

Secondly, he re