My Beloved Dog is the Strongest in Another World

We all hid in the kitchen

“Well, I leave the rest to you, Ms. Lyra.”
“Yes. Lady Liza. Let’s wait here for them to return.”
“Okay. I will stay here with sister Lyra!”

And so I left Ms. Lyra with Liza, and then took Leo with me as I left the room.
Liza nodded willingly. It did not look like she was worried much at all.
I suppose it was because Ms. Lyra was staying with her. But I think she was also less worried about being left alone in general.

“Wuff! Wuff!”
“Okay, okay. We’re going, so just wait a little. Rushing won’t help us find the culprit any sooner, you know?”

Leo was angry at this scoundrel who was eating food, and wanted to go to the kitchen as soon as possible.
And so together, we made our way to the kitchen where Ms. Helena and the others were waiting.
As we still had time, rushing just meant that we would have to wait longer.
Perhaps I should have grown some herbs that would help us stay awake?

I thought about this, but quickly dismissed the idea.
It wasn’t so much a matter of whether I could do it or not, but if I made something without enough knowledge about it, I might accidentally make something very strange.
I didn’t want to create something with hidden side effects, or something that was addictive or dangerous.
I had to learn more about herbs and medicine, and could only make things that I knew were safe.
I thought of such things as we walked and noted that while Leo’s tail usually wagged happily, it was currently standing upright as if angry.

“…Is it almost time?”
“Indeed…”

As soon as we arrived in the kitchen, I had Leo try to sniff out the area, but there were too many scents due to the food, and she could not determine anything.
After that, the lights were turned off and we hid and waited for something to appear.
As for the people on watch, it was Phillip, Ms. Helena, Sebastian, and a few other cooks and guards.

Aside from the pantry, there were several cooking stoves and ovens. So it was not too difficult to hide…if you were a human.
But Leo was so large, so for now, she was crouching between two stoves.
It seemed really cramped.

Even if something did appear, Leo would likely not be able to move immediately. But I told her that I would handle it with magic.
Regardless, in spite of how uncomfortable it was, Leo was determined to catch the culprit.
She could not abide the idea of someone stealing food and not being scolded.
Had I really been that angry when she did it?

Well, I think it was because I had read about it in a book. You needed to be firm so that they wouldn’t make a habit of it.
Back then, we could not communicate as well… I’m sorry, Leo.

Clink.

“!”

As I was thinking of the past and feeling bad for Leo, I suddenly heard a faint sound in the dark and quiet kitchen.
I wasn’t the only person who heard it, and the others immediately looked a little nervous.
I could see Leo’s ears twitching.
She was trying to find out what it was that had come.

Seconds felt like minutes as we waited, and I tried my best to not make a sound in the dark kitchen.
While we wanted to stop the theft of food, it wouldn’t solve anything if we merely scared it away without finding out what it was.
And so we had to capture it.

“…”

I kept still and tried to erase my presence as I stared at the kitchen.
Now that my eyes had adjusted, I could see decently well.
This was because some moonlight was coming in through the window.
Also, before coming here, we had all eaten some herbs to enhance our senses.

I could even hear the breathing of the others, which I normally would not have been able to hear.
It was probably the same with the faint sound from earlier.

Click…click…

From the kitchen entrance, I heard the sounds of something hard touching the floor.
Something had likely entered the kitchen and was searching for food.
The sounds were very quiet, and it was clear that the intruder was carefully trying to avoid being caught.

Click…click…

The sounds slowly moved towards the pantry.
And as it got closer, I could hear its breathing.
This…did not sound like a human?

Thanks to the herbs, I could hear the breathing of the others, and this sounded different.
I suppose it reminded me of Leo?
But then again, I was no expert, so I could be wrong.

In any case, the sounds of its footsteps were getting close.
The tension in the room grew as it approached.
And then…
I saw that Leo’s nose was twitching.

Was she catching its scent?
Perhaps it was familiar to Leo.

Click…click…

As my attention was on Leo, the footsteps suddenly stopped.
It was as if it had noticed something.
Did it realize that we were here?
In that case, it might run away…

I turned to look at Sebastian, wondering what to do.
There would be no point in this if it ran away without anyone having seen it.
In that case, perhaps we should all move at once and try to capture it.
It wasn’t close enough for me to reach it, but it shouldn’t be that far away either… What should we do…