Ash tried to wriggle out, but the grasp was too tight this time. He could still breathe, but he couldn't get away, no matter how hard he struggled. He froze when he felt something soft and squishy touching him from behind. His eyes widened for a moment as he remained still to process the information.
Ash tried to gaze up, only to be met with even more softness. He froze for a few seconds again and chose to ignore it as he attempted to glance at Lucy’s teacher, Martha. As far as Ash could tell, she had long jet-black hair and, well, smelled good.
His sense of smell improved after he became a dog so he was certain that she wearing any perfume, making it all her natural scent. That smelled good since he was allergic to strong perfumes in his previous life. It smelled like a fresh spring breeze.
Although he couldn't see her face, he could discern that she should be beautiful since the builders working on the unfinished wall he passed by were mostly staring at her right before they were told to get back to work and not bother her. Well, some were also looking at Ash, but he wondered why some of those gazes were threatening.
Besides that, now that Ash had calmed down, not because of the threat of being separated from his other half but also because he always wanted to travel into another world.
Now that he was a dog, he would suspect that he would live in an even less desirable state than ordinary.
Before entering the town, Ash could see a few brown and greenish tents clustered on the other side of the wall, like they were campers. When they got inside, however, others were wooden huts, and others were made of bricks with chimneys on them.
It made him feel like based on his knowledge from his previous life, he was somewhere around the seventeen to eighteen hundreds.
However, the existence of the stone wall that was still being constructed suggested that it could still be effective in this era.
Maybe there are already cannons, but so far I don’t see any. Will those creatures I previously saw get here? Can these people even defend it right?
Ash’s thoughts churned at the possibility, but his attention was suddenly drawn to the murmurs of different people they passed by or encountered.
“Have you heard? The town on the other side of our region got destroyed by some weird disease that would make people attack each other.”
“Yes, I heard it too. I talked with some people who were from the neighboring towns. They said it was done by one of the Pirate Emperor’s subordinates, if I heard correctly it was the Plague Lord. Good thing the envoy from Soren was in Volgurund when it happened. He immediately appeared with the Maidens of Light before the calamity spread across the neighboring towns.”
“Good morning Garrison Commander!”
“Can you believe it? The Legendary Magus from the empire would visit Mistranos! Why would he even want to come at this time? Mistranos isn’t known for its mid-grade mages. He should be better off going to other Kingdoms.”
“Maybe he was hunting the wandering Mage, Don’t tell anyone that you heard from me.”
“Garrison Commander, have a great day!”
I think I found great information. I’ve always been wondering why some of the cool names I chose were already taken, there must be others like me who beat me to it. Hmmm? What was that? Garrison Commander? Where!?
Ash took a lot of time to find this so-called “Garrison Commander” only to find no one worthy of the title.
Hey Martha, did you hear what they said? Maybe I missed him somewhere, Ash tried to turn around and talk with Martha but she didn’t reply.
She ignored his barks as she turned to another street and passed by more houses.
Ash didn’t engage in further conversation. As if doing so would let Martha magically understand him he only waited patiently.
If visiting a doctor could help him cure his debuffed stats he was more than happy to come. He only wished it could’ve been Lucy who went with him since he couldn’t understand what Martha’s vibe was. She feels young maybe between mid thirties, but the way she talks and presented herself felt like she has been to war.
Did she?
He turned around brought his jaw down but no words came out. He was planning to ask her only to stop halfway. The last thing you want to do when someone threatened to rip your body in half is to bark at their face.
He slowly closed his jaw and gazed forwards.
He closed his eyes and was finally able to feel the difference between Lucy and other people. It was quite, comforting, being with Lucy since she could somehow decipher some of his barks or maybe because she just interpreted his mood. Unknowingly, the young woman somehow quickly erased his depressing thoughts after learning the Corgi thing.
I should’ve been a wolf! Ash complained inwardly as a small tear exited from the corner of his eyes.
He shook his head as he cleared his thoughts and focused on the task at hand. He was about to meet this "Dr. Kolver." Since this is another world. This man must either be someone with a buff body, maybe a mad doctor with all of the creepy apparatus, or maybe even a kid.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
He prepared himself so that he wouldn’t be surprised by this world’s weird customs.
They arrived in a nice neighborhood with houses neatly spaced from each other. The architecture and layout were more modern than he expected to see in the new world.
The area was composed of tidy streets and single-story homes with sloped roofs and dormered verandas. The lawns were filled with mowed grass, and some even had flower beds on them.
Martha stopped before a nice wooded door with faded-green paint. I has a weird symbol embossed on the upper half. This one was older the other houses which meant that the other houses was built after this one.
Thu-thu-thu-thu-thump! Thump-thump!
Martha knocked with a beat and after a moment, the door opened as an old man emerged from the other side. A look of surprise could be seen on the wrinkly old man’s face as he stepped aside to let Ash and Martha in. He looked out the door one last time to check something before closing it and locking it behind him.
With a resonant voice, the old man asked, "Martha, what is this? What did you do?”
A normal old and decrepit person! She threatened to kill me! Save me, doctor!
Arf! Arf! Arf!
With his gaze lowered towards Ash, the old man continued, “Hush little one. Hush! Martha Why do I feel like it's insulting me?”
Ruff? Woof? Woof!? Arf! Arf!
"Dogs don’t like me, Martha. I thought I'd have an ordinary patient for a change, rather than stinky miners, but it's just you and Ash. Sigh. Why did you bring him here? Or maybe you wanted advice? Start talking."
Ash still struggled to accept that no one could understand him despite his efforts to get his thought across. He even missed that jumpy young woman even more. Although it felt like she sold him to the devil.
Maybe this is what I get for not helping Lucy when she needed me. Well, how can I make this brute of a lady understand my bark-ish accent?
The old man walked across the living room. Its two wide windows welcomed the morning light, which made the area well-lit even without light bulbs or electricity. Not that Ash would expect to see them anytime soon, but instead, he found candelabras and what he suspected to be a matchbox.
It was weird but Ash could conclude that the old man would expect visitors by how large and accommodating the room was but maybe because it was still early, they were the first ones there.
Between two quite large green sofas was a tiny table with a pen and lots of paper. It was evident that the old man was working on something before the two came.
Ash concluded that on a normal day, this man should be entertaining patients here which means there must be a clinic someplace in this house.
Martha was silent all this time which made him look up but still couldn’t see her face from his angle, so he scanned the grumpy old man from head to toe.
The elderly man would look back from time to time and gaze at Ash making him see his features. He still retains black eyebrows despite having all-white hair. The wrinkles at the edge of his eyes and mouth were deeply recessed. His dark blue eyes appeared murky as he faced back to the front.
He wore a black robe that touched the floor with the silver-rimmed black hood on his back unused. It can also be said that the robe isn’t big, but the old man is short and corpulent.
He carries himself with a slow but steady gait. Every time the old man took a step, the hem of the robe was dragged along with him, producing a light scraping noise at short intervals.
He walked into the dimly lit area at the edge of the living room which Ash suspected to be the actual clinic. With a pull of a lever, the old man activated a mechanism that shed abundant yet still lacking light inside the room.
The elderly man groaned and clicked his tongue while nearing the set of drawers, saying, "Tsk. I don't want guests this early in the morning. Sigh. Let’s get this over with. What now?"
His tone was somewhat irritated rather than angry, and he continued ranting as he unlocked the first compartment of a neighboring drawer, checked the contents, took out a match, and ignited the candle inside the adjoining lantern, providing some light and shadows throughout the room.
Is this some secret room of some kind? Oh, it’s just the clinic.
Martha followed the old man inside with Ash in her arms. They went inside a room filled with various items on display. Numerous different cylinders held liquids of one kind or another; some were empty, but the majority contained various leaves, mushrooms, and seeds. There was a long, rectangular metal table in the middle of the space. He put the lantern on top of it.
"Tell me Martha, what seems to be so urgent that you had to disturb my morning news. I told you can only come at this time when there’s an emergency."
Ash could feel Martha was unsure of something but he couldn’t point out what it was. It took her a moment to ponder and reply.
"Dr. Kolver, this dog… Ash is the reason why I am here."
Martha stated while lifting Ash towards the face of Dr. Kolver. Ash looked like he attempted to smile but only exposed his set of teeth awkwardly making Dr. Kolver wince in front of him.
“Ugh! I can’t see why some people find owning them appealing. They should just stay on the farms to guard from wolves. But judging by Ash's size, I’m sure he couldn't survive even one night.”
Hey! I can hide and survive for one night! Even though at first I thought I was a wolf myself, Ash deflated internally.
Martha was silent for a moment before giving out relevant information. “It’s a Corgi. Lucy’s mother gave it to her on her 5th Birthday.”
The old man furrowed his brows even more as he gazed down for a moment and said, “Ah, that woman. She was a kind soul. I wonder where the wind took her.”
Dr. Kolver glanced back at the pup and clicked his tongue. “Tsk. Let me administer something to calm it down while I check his condition. Hold it steady.”
The old man turned around and opened a different compartment. He picked up a container with a bit of purple powder inside and removed the cork that was sealing it. He then told Martha to hold Ash still as he placed a vial near Ash’s nose and said, “Don’t worry, this is only a stronger dose of calming powder, pulverized from the dried leaves of a slumber tree. I added something that can alleviate the sleeping effect, so this should help me examine him for a few minutes.”
No! I am not even trying to escape! I can behave! Ash tried to reason with them, but his barks could only achieve such results as his nose inhaling something. Multiple small and rectangular translucent screens popped out and were stacking on top of one another.
[You inhaled a light amount of sleeping powder.]
[Attempting to negate the effect...]
[Insufficient Endurance stat!]
[Negation failed.]
[You are moving into an unconscious state.]
I thought it would just calm me down!? It’s an instant sleeping pill!?
Doctor Kolver then masterfully retrieved the vial and sealed it with the cork.
"Martha, don't worry. That was just a light dose. He would wake up after around an hour, just enough for me to finish scanning him."
Ash was falling asleep as he was being placed on the rectangular metal table, getting a view of Lucy's teacher.
With his blurry gaze, he could discern that she has long, jet-black hair that reaches down to her elbows. Her brown eyes, although looking serious, allow Ash to sense a vague desire for something unattainable.
If Ash met her in normal circ*mstances, he would love to be friends with her, but as he succumbed to his drowsiness, he heard one last thing.
“Dr. Kolver, I’m here about Ash because the fact is, last night... I already buried him.”
