Vol 2 Chapter 1 (1/2)

Volume 2 Chapter 1 Part 1

Volume 2 Chapter 1 Part 1

You can grab the PDFhere.

After getting the fox cub to settle down, s.h.i.+n turned towards the direction of the kingdom and began walking. It has only been a short while since he managed to persuade the cub to retract its claws. Previously, he had been completely unable to walk straight due to the p.r.i.c.kling attacks accompanying the incessant paw punches.

Unlike his journey to the shrine, the forest was now filled with the presence of the creatures that lived here. Perhaps the Skull Faces had already been approaching by that time. There had been too many of them for s.h.i.+n to believe that they had appeared naturally. The only places where such numbers could sp.a.w.n were designated undead sp.a.w.n zones where miasma gathered, like gravesites and underground dungeons.

s.h.i.+n continued walking while sighing about how he had to report this incident too. For now, he decided to keep the Elemental Tails race a secret, so he called out to the cub leisurely sprawled on his head.

Aah, theres something I need to talk about with you. Kuu?

The cub responded with a bark that distinctly included a question mark. Based on their exchanges so far, s.h.i.+n knew that the cub was fully capable of understanding human speech.

It might be troublesome if other people see your true form, so would you like to form a contract with me?

In this case, contract was referring to the ability of the Tamer job to contract partners. Unlike Summoners and their summons, each Tamer was limited to a maximum of only five partners, and leveling up a partner required earning XP separately from the player. Even those of other jobs could form contracts if they had experience as a Tamer, so many players contracted a monster as a pet or as support. Those whose main job was not Tamer could only contract one partner at a time, but that was not a problem here.

s.h.i.+n had his support NPC characters, and thus had never felt the need to contract. However, a member of Rokuten, Cashmere, who had been the guilds Tamer and Summoner, had half recommended and half coerced him into becoming at least able to form contracts.

Im not a Tamer, so you wont get any stat bonuses, but other people would become unable to check your name and level as they please, and we would be able to communicate with each other even without using any items.

In order to see a players partners status window, one had to be capable of seeing that players status window first. Although a players level, which was openly visible, was not necessarily an accurate indicator of his or her stats, back in the game it had been common practice to quickly judge another players strength by whether it was possible or not to see that persons status window.

Incidentally, the ability to communicate with each other was so that the partner could understand the players instructions. Also, it provided some privacy, as anything said in the Partner channel could only be heard by the player and the partner/s.

Kuu?! Kukuu!

As if saying Really? Lets do it!, the paw punches resumed with renewed vigor. For some reason, though, s.h.i.+n and the fox cub already seemed able to communicate with each other.

I got it! I got it already, so stop moving around!

So saying, s.h.i.+n took the cub from his head and held it up such that both of their foreheads were at the same height, then intoned the required words.

I wish to walk together with thee. Ku......

The cub barked in response to s.h.i.+ns words. If it had been a monster capable of speech, then the proper response would have been I swear to be by thy side. As the bark faded away, a tattoo in the shape of a peregrine falcon emerged on s.h.i.+ns left arm and the cubs left foreleg. This was a symbol of the contract, and distinguished a partnered monster from a normal monster. The design was, of course, up to the players preference.

K then, once again, more formally,yoros.h.i.+ku. Kuu!!

The cub patted s.h.i.+n with its right paw a few times and gave a bark that seemed to say, Yoros.h.i.+kutoo! It was a truly heartwarming scene.

Alright, since we are now contracted, there is something that I must do first. Ku? Your name. You are currently named Elemental Tail, but that is your race. Now that we are partners, isnt it a given that I must give you a name that only belongs to you? Kuu?! Ku~ku!! Because of that ...... Calm down first! Youre shaking my head!!

As the cub seemingly hurried s.h.i.+n while asking Really?! What is it?!?, s.h.i.+n announced the name that had come to his mind.

What do you think about Yuzuha? Ku~ku~kuu ...... Kuu!

Hearing s.h.i.+ns words, the cub sank into silence for a while, as if it was turning the name over in its mind. Then it raised a high-pitched bark that seemed to say that it had taken a liking to it. Back during the game, the Elemental Tail had, true to legend, appeared to the players in the form of a woman, so the name that s.h.i.+n was suggesting was also a girls name.

Well, you dont actually have a gender. Kuu? Nothing. Well, when you appear in the form of a boy, then you can be called Yuzuto.

Though he had given it a girls name, s.h.i.+n remembered that as a monster, Elemental Tails were not restricted to a single gender, and could appear as either male or female. The one involved with the Kyuubi Quest had usually been in the form of a woman, but the walkthrough sites said that it had also appeared as a man every once in a while. He had never seen its male form firsthand, though.

He didnt know if there were other Elemental Tails in this world that could similarly appear in human form, but if so, he secretly hoped that they would all choose to be female. Elemental Tails ranked pretty high in his list of favorite monsters. He sincerely prayed against the curveball of all of them choosing the form of a man.

In light novels, anime, and manga, it was a common pattern to fall asleep with a fox cub in ones arms and wake up next to a naked beautiful girl, but if it turned out to be a guy, then that would be a total nightmare. He had no intention of denying the people who swung that way, but he had even less intention of stepping into that world.

(My LUC is low. I hope itll turn out alright.)

Kuu?

The fox cub, no, Yuzuha, tilted its head quizzically at s.h.i.+n, who had been muttering things like I hope I dont have any strange luck to himself for a while. Though the cub felt a tinge of unease at s.h.i.+ns suspicious behavior, it decided to stop thinking about it with an oh well. Though it was an Elemental Tail, it was still just a cub. It was not good at thinking too deeply about complicated things.

Having obediently retracted its claws, Yuzuha was now lightly patting s.h.i.+ns head with its foreleg, eliciting a Whats up? from s.h.i.+n. For a long time, Yuzuha had been all alone while enduring the poison and the curse, so even s.h.i.+ns simple response filled its heart with delight.

Nn?

When they had neared the edge of the Northern Forest, a familiar electronic Pon! sound rang in s.h.i.+ns ear. It was a sound that he had heard many times before, as it had accompanied level ups, message notifications, and event announcements. Judging by how Yuzuha did not react, s.h.i.+n inferred that he was the only one who had heard it.

I got a message. Oh right, is it from Tiera?

At the same time as the electronic sound, the half transparents words You have received a message had also appeared at the edge of his vision. Having spent only a few days in this world, this blatantly unrealistic occurrence momentarily gave s.h.i.+n the delusion that he was still inside the game.

The way the system is still halfway in place is seriously weirding me out.

It didnt feel weird seeing the game windows back when it was VR, but here in reality it gave s.h.i.+n an out of place feeling that he couldnt shake off. This is what you get when you mix the game with reality?, thought s.h.i.+n with a grimace. However, it was still an extremely useful function, so he had no choice but to just get used to it. With a sigh, he opened the message.

To s.h.i.+n I tried sending a message to Master and it worked. I do not know if Master has a message card with her, but when I get a

reply from her I will contact you again.

P.S. Is it possible to send items along with a message card?

It seemed that Tiera, having met Schnee before, was able to successfully send a message. This possibility had completely slipped from s.h.i.+ns mind.

Oh well, she was able to contact Schnee, so thats fine then.

Thinking alls well that ends well, s.h.i.+n wrote a reply and tried to attach a few more unused message cards with the mail. The attached message cards turned into particles of light and were sucked into the writing paper. Though there was a weight limit to the kinds of things that could be attached, this was quite convenient in its own way.

Is this how it works over here?

Though he had easily accepted things like that back in the game, he couldnt do so in reality. s.h.i.+n made a mental note to inspect all of his items later. While the usage of some might have been relaxed a bit, some others might now work in ways completely different to his expectations.

Remembering the large number of items in his inventory, s.h.i.+ns motivation took a sharp nose dive. However, he told himself that he must wade through it all, for the sake of when he truly needed to use them.

I guess Ill count on you for the heads up when Schnee gets back to you sounds about right.

s.h.i.+n finished up his return message with instructions on how to attach items, then sent it off before starting to walk again. The eastern gate that he had been aiming for was now right in front of his eyes. Despite wanting to hide Yuzuha, he couldnt very well not report the host of almost a hundred Skull Faces, so he decided to head towards the guild.

Yo, s.h.i.+n. This time youre back with something unusual riding on you, eh?

The person who had called out to him from the eastern gate was Beid. Perhaps due to seeing each other everyday, the stiff formality from their first meeting was completely gone.

This is my new partner, Yuzuha. I want to confirm, are there any regulations related to bringing in partner monsters?

s.h.i.+n doubted that the country would so easily let a monster in, even if it was accompanied by a Tamer.

There are lots of regulations on aggressive and large monsters, but there arent many that would apply to that little squirt with you. There are a few doc.u.ments that you will have to fill out. Then I will need to make a record of the tattoo that represents your partners.h.i.+p. After that, youll be good to go. Thats surprisingly lenient.

Having expected a more rigorous process, s.h.i.+n now felt slightly let down.

We are stricter on ones that look like they would get pretty dangerous if they went on a rampage. Besides, whenever a partner monster causes a problem, the owner will have to bear full responsibility. But because of that, there are places where people would purposely rile up your partner and then demand compensation, so be careful. Aah. So therearethose kinds of people. Enough to give us a headache. If we limited the powers of the partners too much, then they would get directly targeted. Its pretty hard to find the right balance. I had thought it was just a lenient system, but it sounds like you guys have actually given it a lot of thought.

There are people who would catch and sell off rare monsters, so s.h.i.+n now understood what Beid had said about it being dangerous to thoughtlessly over-regulate everything. It was apparently permitted to attack back if someone tried to straight up capture someone elses partner. However, the cleanup was annoying, so Beid recommended s.h.i.+n to do it somewhere out of the way and do a thorough job. Though s.h.i.+n had misgivings about a city guard giving him this kind of advice, the people who would lay a hand on partner monsters were either members of trafficking rings or criminals of that type, so there would be no need to go easy on them.

Name is Yuzuha, race is demon fox. Next is ......

s.h.i.+n filled in the required doc.u.ments that Beid had brought over. The demon fox that he had filled in was a very common sub-race under fox types. It had been very popular among the players as a pet. While Elemental Tails were top-tier bosses, they were still a type of demon fox. Its just that they had been given a different racial cla.s.sification of Elemental Tail. It was similar to how high humans and high elves were cla.s.sified separately from humans and elves. Thus, what s.h.i.+n had written on the form was not a complete lie. It simply wasnt the entire truth either.

...... Alright, Im done filling them out. Please confirm. ......Fumu. No particular problems. All thats left is to register the symbol of the contract. Please touch this with the arm or leg that your symbol is on.

After confirming that there were no problems with the doc.u.ments, Beid handed them over to another guard, in exchange receiving a purple sphere the size of a baseball. s.h.i.+n and Yuzuha laid their respective left arm and left foreleg on the sphere. When they did so, the sphere glowed weakly, then their peregrine falcon symbol appeared within.

With this, the entire registration is over. Also, knock on wood, if your partner dies or is abducted, then there will also be formalities for canceling the registration. Remember it just in case. Understood. Ill pray to never have to deal with that.

After nodding to Beids business-like explanation, s.h.i.+n left the gate behind. He walked on while ignoring the people sending occasional glances at Yuzuha on his head. He had expected the attention. Even little kids were pulling their parents hands and pointing over while exclaiming Its a Fox-san!.

While enduring the attention from the people around, s.h.i.+n pa.s.sed under the signboard of the Adventurers Guild. Even in the guild, Yuzuha continued to draw peoples eyes, and s.h.i.+n felt their inquisitive stares every step of the way towards the reception desk. At the reception were two reception ladies who looked like two peas in a pod. They were Selica and Silica.

Excuse me. Theres something I want to report. I will receive it.

Both people responded at the same time. Their timing coincided perfectly. Though both of them also glanced at Yuzuha, their gaze was more for confirmation than for curiosity. As expected of these two.

Umm, who do I ...... ? I will I will receive it! ...... Silica. What is it? s.h.i.+n-sama is currently in front of me, so I will receive it. Eh~, isnt it fine even if I receive it? You may not. I will do it. Your personality seems a bit different from normal ...... How so? Never mind, I understand. I will behave myself.

From an outsiders perspective, the two of them looked like an older sister who had it together and a flippant younger sister. s.h.i.+n could only tell them apart by their hairstyles, but he had apparently guessed right. It seemed like they had been disputing over who would receive the report, but eventually Selica emerged the victor. Their fierce exchange had been carried out in tiny voices, so s.h.i.+n had missed some of it, but he decided to not worry about it. It made no difference to him who he reported to.

...... Ah, may I give my report? Yes, of course. We apologize for the disturbance. Please go ahead. Im here to report an encounter with a large number of Skull Faces in the vicinity of the central part of the Northern Forest. I have already defeated all the ones that I could confirm in the area, but I dont know if there are still any stragglers elsewhere in the forest. By large number, you mean ...... ? I dont have a specific number, as I didnt have time to count, but there were almost a hundred of them. Wha ......

Almost a hundred Skull Faces. As he had reported subjugating the strange Jack cla.s.s yesterday, reporting that he had defeated more Skull Faces again did not elicit much of a reaction from Selica. However, when he supplemented with the number, she could not hide her shock.

I dont dare to think this, but were they like the one from yesterday? No, the ones that I encountered this time all had levels and equipment within the normal cla.s.sifications. The group was a mixture of p.a.w.n and Jack cla.s.ses, and they were moving like they were purposely surrounding a certain building. A building, you say? Yes, a s.h.i.+nto shrine. Um, its a place that enshrines a G.o.d.

He didnt know whether they were familiar with s.h.i.+nto shrines, so he gave a rough explanation.

s.h.i.+nto shrine ...... Ive heard that there are such places in Hinomoto, but I didnt know that there was one inside the Northern Forest.

It was probably because there had been a barrier that repelled all living creatures. Moreover, it hadnt been a very large area, so he could understand how no one had noticed it before.

I had approached the place because it had caught my interest, but when I got close, I heard the sound of something breaking. At the same time, the Skull Faces arrived and began closing in. I think something like a barrier had been originally in place. Did you find anything there? I didnt really notice any objects in the building, but there was a drawing that looked like a magic circle. Thats all that comes to mind.

He had decided to keep Yuzuha a secret, so he instead raised other points of interest.

Thank you for reporting to us. We will look into it together with the matter of the Jack cla.s.s from yesterday. Please contact us again if you realize or remember anything else. There are things that only s.h.i.+n-sama would know, since you are the only one who was there. Understood. Ill come again if anything else comes to mind.

His gaze swept over the bulletin board with requests stuck all over it. When he had chosen the Hilk gra.s.s request, he had only looked at the G rank ones. On a whim, he decided to also check out the high reward requests beyond his current rank. To his surprise, he found a separate bulletin board at the side. It was placed almost like it was being hidden behind the main one. This other board was about 30 cemels in height and width, and most of the requests on it looked handwritten. He couldnt help comparing the two boards that were side by side, but the difference in appearance was too great.

With his curiosity tickled a little, s.h.i.+n decided to give the requests on this board a cursory scan. When he did, a certain one seemed to jump out at him. He grabbed it with a hand and gave it a second, more detailed, read.

A request for a Skill Inheritor. Please come contact us at the orphanage next to the church in the east district if you wish to accept this request. The compensation is negotiable.

After reading the content of the request, he noticed that it had not been given a rank. s.h.i.+n remembered Silica explaining that unranked requests were posted by people with special circ.u.mstances, and ranged from poor children to those involved with crimes. When he had asked why such a system was in place, the response that he had gotten was because everybody is free to make requests.

It looks like this board is where all those unranked quests are posted. Judging by the other requests, there might be a bit of truth in that rumor after all.

While voicing his impression, s.h.i.+n also recalled a piece of information that he had gathered withListen. Though it was only on the level of a rumor, it was also a pretty interesting piece of information. It was about the connections between so-called dark guilds and Adventurers Guilds. To be more exact, it was between publicly acceptable guilds like the Adventurers and Merchants, and the dark guilds where even crimes like a.s.sa.s.sinations and abductions could be requisitioned. Furthermore, the rumor also said that public guilds had a nonintervention policy on requests made to dark guilds to purge oppressive clients and n.o.bles who shoved unreasonable demands on adventurers. s.h.i.+n didnt know how much of it was truth, but he would not be surprised if something was really happening.

The orphanage, huh? If I remember correctly, isnt that where Millie is?

He recalled what Wilhelm had told him before they parted the other day. As Millie was the one who had arranged the meeting between s.h.i.+n and Yuzuha, s.h.i.+n considered that she might be involved somehow. Leaving things as they currently were would leave a bad aftertaste.

...... Guess I can drop in.

In the first place, he had already planned on visiting the orphanage to ask Millie about Yuzuha, so he could inquire after request on the way. So thinking, s.h.i.+n set off for the orphanage.

Following the directions from Selica, s.h.i.+n found himself in front of the church roughly ten minutes later. When he had heard church, the image in s.h.i.+ns mind was of a chapel with stained gla.s.s windows. To his surprise, what he found matched his expectations exactly. Beyond the large doors thrown wide open were rows of long pews and colored light falling from stained gla.s.s windows. The sun was coincidentally currently situated right behind the stained gla.s.s, such that the light illuminating the dim interior shone like a halo, creating a truly mystical atmosphere. Aside from wors.h.i.+pers, there were only two Sisters, and no sign of anyone resembling a Father or Reverend.

(I see a few differences in the decorations, but this looks exactly like theChurchfrom the Architecture skill.)

s.h.i.+n stood still and surveyed the interior of the chapel. True to its name, the Architecture skill is a necessity for building buildings. Higher levels in the skill unlocks greater scale buildings and more intricate interior design. Partly due to being compared to Cain, who was Rokutens Illusionist and Architect, s.h.i.+n himself had also reached level VI in Architecture. Thanks to that, he knew enough about buildings to identify their good and bad points. His a.n.a.lysis was that though the interior design was slightly old, everything was diligently maintained. That alone was enough to tell him the character of the person currently managing the church.

Did something happen? Nn? Ah, sorry. Its just that Ive never been to this kind of place before.

s.h.i.+n had been blatantly checking out the church while standing right outside the doors. One of the Sisters had called out to him, mistaking him for someone who was coming to the church for the first time and currently confused about the way things were done. She was a young lady with black eyes and brown hair in a chignon hairstyle.

(T/N: For those too lazy to look up chignon, it is achieved by pinning the hair into a knot at the nape of the neck or at the back of the head.)

In anybodys eyes, someone who came to a church and was not praying but only stood in front of the building for no apparent reason would appear quite suspicious. Despite that, the Sisters tone and way of speaking indicated a complete lack of wariness against s.h.i.+n. s.h.i.+n had no business with the church, so he asked her about the orphanage, which was apparently not visible from where he currently was.

Im here for business with the orphanage. ”Oh, youre here because of the request!

The Sisters reaction seemed overly surprised. He wasnt sure if it was because very few people came for that request, or if it was because they had not expected anyone to respond in the first place.

Umm, for now I want to listen to the issue first. Also, is there a beast child called Millie here? I want to talk to her about Yuzuha, this little guy here.

So saying, s.h.i.+n pointed at Yuzuha, who was still on his head. Having only just noticed Yuzuha, the Sisters eyes became as wide as saucers. Then she answered s.h.i.+n, but now with a bit of wariness in her eyes.

What do you want with that girl? She said something quite odd when I saw her yesterday. I decided to look into it a little when I was on a request earlier today, and ended up meeting Yuzuha.

From the Sisters att.i.tude, s.h.i.+n thought that there might really be something about Millie, so he replied in a smaller voice to prevent nearby people from listening in.

...... Very well. Please come this way. Sister Ras.h.i.+a, I will leave this place to you.

For some reason, the Sister was being wary of s.h.i.+n, but after quietly mulling over what s.h.i.+n claimed Millie had said, she left charge of the area to the other Sister and prompted him to follow her.

The Sister stepped outside the large doors, and headed to the back of the church. What he saw there was an old, detached building that closely resembled a traditional j.a.panese apartment. Though there were signs of repair here and there, the overall impression was not seedy at all. This was apparently the orphanage.

I will call Millie over, so please wait here a while.

Entering the orphanage, he was brought to a place that looked like a reception room. He sat down on the sofa and looked around the room. Before long, the Sister returned, bringing Millie with her.

...... Its s.h.i.+n-nii!

She had been hiding behind the Sister, but when she saw that the person sitting on the sofa was s.h.i.+n, she trotted over with small steps and plopped down next to him.

...... It seems that you really arent a bad person after all.

So saying, the Sister sat down on the opposing sofa.

Its a bit embarra.s.sing if you look at me with a charming smile like that ...... Fufu~, sorry. Its just been so long since theres been someone that Millie would accept so readily. Wilhelm mentioned something along those lines too. Ah, my name is s.h.i.+n. Im an adventurer. Please accept my heartfelt grat.i.tude for listening to Millies request. My name is Thoria Serias. Im a Sister of the church and the manager of the orphanage.

This Sister turned out to be a person in charge. s.h.i.+n wasnt familiar with the distribution of roles in the church, so he accepted that at face value.

I came here today because there is something that I wanted to confirm. So Millie, is this little guy the Fox-san that you were talking about yesterday? Un, yes. Thank you. Youre welcome. Yuzuha, you should thank her too. I was only able to save you because of Millie. Kuu!

While rubbing the head of Millie, who was tightly hugging s.h.i.+n in grat.i.tude, s.h.i.+n also reminded Yuzuha to not forget to say thanks. In truth, he didnt know what would have happened to Yuzuha if not for Millies words. Yuzuha came down from above s.h.i.+ns head and lowered its head to Millie. Satisfied with the gesture, s.h.i.+n then turned towards the Sister. The Sister had been warmly looking on the exchange between Millie and Yuzuha. When s.h.i.+n turned towards her, though, she fixed her position and met his eyes.

There is one more thing that I wanted to confirm. Its about the request posted at the guild. If its alright with you, may I hear more about it? Yes, s.h.i.+n-san appears to be a trustworthy person.

Thoria nodded with a serious face. It seemed that there really were some special circ.u.mstances behind this unranked request.