The Childhood Friend of the Villainess in a Romance Fantasy

Translator: Elisia

Editor/Proofreader: TempWane

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As I took a deep breath, I felt the refreshing air fill my lungs.

Even in places untouched by industrialization, a town was still a town. It wasn’t easy to experience the crisp, invigorating air of an early morning forest in the heart of the royal capital.

As expected, only a real forest could offer the essence of a forest.

“Awwooo!”

I exhaled deeply, mimicking a wolf’s howl.

Wolves had exceptionally keen hearing, so they could easily catch my sound even from some distance away. Of course, no matter how hard I tried to imitate a wolf’s howl, it was impossible to sound exactly like a real wolf. Picking out the distinct differences must have been a simple task for them.

“Awwoooo—”

From far away, I could hear a wolf’s howl in response. It seemed quite distant, so I waited for a moment, setting down the bag I had slung over my shoulder.

Thunk. The ground echoed softly as it hit the floor.

Still, it wasn’t as loud as during the depths of winter, so I supposed the ground was finally beginning to thaw.

Near the royal capital, warnings had already been issued to avoid stepping on the ice covering the lakes. It was that time of year when the ice would start melting, making it clear that anyone foolish enough to venture onto it would face certain danger.

Even in this northern country, spring had arrived.

“……”

Spring never came to Delkis. Though it wasn’t far from the Grand Duchy of Grattanmount, the spring that visited Grattanmount never seemed to reach Delkis.

Surely, there had to be some magical explanation. I should ask the Tower Master about it the next time I meet them.

Ten years was by no means a short time. Strictly speaking, I had spent more time by Amelia’s side than I had living in Delkis.

I wondered if, someday when I returned to Delkis, I would be able to witness spring there too.

As I unpacked my bag, lost in thought, I heard panting sounds from afar.

Woof, woof! The sound of an energetic barking reached my ears.

It was actually a wolf barking, and the sound was far louder than that of an ordinary dog. For anyone encountering it for the first time, it would surely have been terrifying—

“Gray!”

Amelia, with a bright smile on her face, didn’t seem particularly scared.

Gray ran right past me, heading straight for Amelia.

“Kya!”

Amelia toppled to the ground because of Gray but still eagerly stroked his head.

“Ah, wait, Gray, stop! That tickles!”

Despite her protests, she didn’t push Gray away as he fervently licked her face.

She had deliberately skipped putting on makeup that morning, likely anticipating this playful interaction with Gray. Although a little makeup wouldn’t have caused Gray a stomachache, Amelia was strangely cautious about such things.

Judging by how fond she was of Pori, she seemed to have a general fondness for animals.

“Ahahaha!” Amelia laughed heartily, a genuine, joyous sound I hadn’t heard in a while.

It was a relief to see her like that, but—

Gray, aren’t you licking her a bit too much?

I understood that licking was a wolf’s way of showing affection to humans. Even ordinary dogs licked their owners or people they were fond of, but watching this made me feel… uneasy.

Every time I had to touch Amelia, I needed some excuse to make it less awkward.

That lucky mutt.

As I watched Amelia and Gray with a sullen expression, I felt a nudge against my shoulder.

When I turned my head, Snow’s face came into view.

Her clear, ruby-like red eyes were gazing at me. Sniffing the air around me, Snow opened her mouth and—

“Ugh.”

Before I could react, she licked my face.

It’s been a while, but you still smell like a dog, don’t you?

After nudging me a few more times playfully with her nose, Snow turned her attention to my bag.

Yeah, yeah—you’re saying properly butchered meat tastes better, right?

Looking around, I noticed Snow, Gray, and their pack closing in around us. It was a fearsome sight, one that could leave an unfamiliar observer trembling on the ground—but for us…

“Ah, Gray!”

The moment I pulled out a large chunk of meat from the bag I’d opened, Gray, who had been playing with Amelia, whipped his head toward me.

That’s more like a wolf.

Smirking, I tossed the chunk of meat into the air.

Snow and Gray leapt for it simultaneously.

*

Normally, this was a place I visited alone, but Amelia had a reason for following me today.

“I want you to find the Information Guild.”

Amelia had said that to me last night.

The Information Guild, if compared to modern times, was like a “task agency.” Just as certain services in the real world handle morally questionable requests—things that private detectives might do—this world was no different.

In fact, the legal system here wasn’t as tightly knit as in modern times, and personal information wasn’t meticulously documented in written form. Thus, an Information Guild that compiled such details into “reports” wielded influence far beyond that of a mere task agency in this world.

Moreover, as the term “guild” suggested, its scale was larger than one might expect. Whenever competitors arose, they were either absorbed or driven out of business, making it a true representation of the term “guild” in a way.

In the original story, the Information Guild’s headquarters near the royal capital remained elusive until Adele had the idea to search outside the capital rather than within it. She eventually found it there. However, until she passed that insight along to the Crown Prince, Adele consistently suffered from the consequences of Amelia’s use of the guild… or so it was described in the novel I read.

In the novel I read, while Amelia knew about the Information Guild’s existence, its agents never approached her directly. Since the guild specialized in “information,” they likely concluded that Amelia led a far more upright and innocent life than expected, deeming her unworthy of deeper involvement.

Because of this, Amelia didn’t deal with the guild early on, even though she knew about it. She feared that leaking her knowledge of it might make others perceive her as the villainess Amelia from the original work.

But now, things were different.

I was here, armed with knowledge of the “original work.”

Of course, what I knew was a simplified version described in the novel.

Still, I knew enough to empathize with Amelia and help brainstorm solutions, so it should be fine.

“The Information Guild should be in this forest.”

The novel states that the guild’s headquarters were hidden within the vast forest closest to the capital. The problem was that all we knew was that it was “somewhere in the forest.”

Even in the original, no detailed description of its location was provided.

If this had been an old-school high fantasy novel, there might have been a world map included, but web novels usually didn’t go that far. For us, finding the Information Guild meant relying on our own two feet.

Unless, of course, we had someone else do it for us.

“So, you plan to use my wolves to track them down.”

Taking inspirations from the original story, the Crown Prince used “people” to search for the guild, but we didn’t need to do that.

We had a pack of massive wolves that could cover tens of kilometers in a single day.

That was why Amelia had clung tightly to my waist as we rode horseback from the capital to this forest.

“Alright, everyone, gather around and sit.”

At my words, all fourteen wolves came and sat in a circle.

Each wolf’s shoulder height was over two meters, so even their sitting posture was intimidating.

At least no one was missing. Seeing how obediently they followed my commands, they still considered me their alpha.

I had worried that a wandering hunter might attempt to hunt them, but thankfully, that hadn’t happened.

“Hmm…”

But now that I had them all gathered, I wasn’t sure what to say.

If I had even a piece of clothing from someone in the guild, I could have let them sniff it and track the scent.

Though they listened well, I wasn’t entirely sure how much of my words they actually understood.

“Have you seen any humans wandering through the forest?”

I tried asking just in case, and Gray tilted his head in confusion.

I couldn’t tell if he didn’t understand my question or if he simply hadn’t seen anyone like that.

“I’ll handle it,”Amelia said, stepping forward. I moved aside, giving her room.

She moved to where I had been standing, cleared her throat, and rummaged through a small bag slung over her shoulder.

From it, she pulled out a piece of paper.

…The paper had a crudely drawn figure on it.

It depicted a person wearing black clothes from head to toe, resembling a ninja more than anything else.

“Find someone dressed like this.”

…

Uh…

I hate to say it, but…

Can they really figure it out with just that?