After telling Sebastian that I would ride on Leo for the rest of the way, I then told Ms. Claire and Ms. Lyra.
I gave them the excuse that Leo really wanted to carry me.
“I’m sorry for blaming you, Leo…”
“Wou.”
Leo nodded as if to say, ‘you’re hopeless, aren’t you?’…
After resting for about thirty minutes, we set off for the forest once again.
Perhaps because she was happy to have me with her, Leo would sometimes start running very fast, and I had to make her slow down so that we didn’t leave the carriage behind.
“Leo. Calm down a little while running.”
“Wou…”
While she was apologetic, she still seemed like she wanted to run.
…And she wouldn’t be able to run much once we entered the forest…hmm…I know what we could do.
“Leo. Follow my directions and run. Then you’ll be able to run around a lot.”
“Wuff!? Wuff-wuff!”
And so I gave directions for Leo to run around the carriage and the guards.
Though I had been the one to suggest it, I didn’t think that she could run circles around a moving carriage and horses so quickly…
Several times, she would move closer to the horses before moving away again, and Ms. Lyra started to look at me with a jealous expression.
“Mr. Takumi, I am only joking. Hohoho.”
…Sebastian. So this is what he was like after you got to know him then.
I had thought that he was a stiff and proper butler…
And so the party continued to move amidst this playful and calm atmosphere, until we finally reached the forest.
The carriage stopped at the edge of the forest, and Ms. Claire and Lyra stepped out.
I also got off of Leo close to the carriage.
“Leo. Are you tired?”
“Wuff? Wuff-wuff!”
Leo raised her two front paws as if to say that she was completely fine.
Her gestures were somehow becoming even more human-like.
But more importantly, Leo had run around so much and still wasn’t tired at all..
“This is as far as you can go by carriage.”
Sebastian said as he got down from the driver’s seat and tied the carriage to a nearby tree.
Then the horses were rounded up in one place and given water before being tied to a tree as well.
“What will you do with the horses while we are in the forest?”
“They will stay here until we return.”
“I will be watching them!”
When I asked Sebastian the question, one of the guards answered as well.