CH 26

It seemed that the experiment to determine whether we could tame the monsters through Cure was to be postponed from the afternoon. I stayed with Argo-san and the others as we watched over the campsite.

I still applied Cure for the river’s water…and sometimes I tried to hurl Cure at the direction of the forest, but no other monster like Noir showed up. How unfortunate.

Ah, I suddenly recalled that I had a little bit of a fight and wondered if I leveled up.

“Status Open.”

I tried to open my status screen with a small voice.

Yuuri Kujou. 8 years old. Sage level 2.

HP 176

MP 165

Skills Possessed:

Magic 100

Healing 100

Alchemy 100

Subjugation 1

Titles:

Magic Master

Healing Master

Stray from Another World

Fortune Bringer

My level didn’t increase, but I unlocked a new skill! It was subjugation.

An explanation appeared the moment I tapped on it.

[Subjugation: A skill to subdue monsters; enables the user to befriend one monster.]

That meant I could only befriend Noir for now.

Eh, then my efforts until just now were all in vain, weren’t they…?

Hau…my fatigue just increased after I came to learn the truth that I’d prefer not knowing.

Even though I tried my best…

I began to think of various matters as Argo-san told me that it would be fine for me to take a break after applying Cure to the water. Of course, the kitten, Noir, was sitting on my lap.

First, why was Noir subjugated?

I bet the cause would be the Cure I hurled. That, and perhaps it was because we had an affinity. But, was there something else?

Hmmm…

Nothing came up even after thinking for a while, so I digressed.

Next. Since when did I possess subjugation skill?

Was it before subjugating Noir, or was it after?

But since I had no such skill before I subjugated Noir, that meant I possessed the skill after subjugating Noir.

There was still a problem. Since I was using the magic I knew in the game’s world, I had never used the magic that I didn’t know, that existed only in this world.

For example, the daily magic: Clean. The magic enabled the user to clean their bodies without having the need to bath, and it could also clean a slightly dirty room. All in all, it was a very dreamy magic.

I watched Amanda-san using this magic and even asked her to teach me, yet in the end, I couldn’t learn that magic.

There was no bath at the fort, so I could only wipe my body using the water or hot water in a tub. It would have been awfully convenient if I were able to use the Clean magic…

Well, Amanda-san could use the Clean magic to me, so it was fine. But I also wanted to use it myself…

Other than that, I also couldn’t learn a lighting magic used to light up the surroundings.

That was why, I began to think that I wouldn’t be able to learn magic other than the ones I could learn through levelling up as a sage…

Hmm???

The Clean magic and the subjugation skill. What made those two different?

“I don’t get it, Noir.”

I petted Noir’s throat as it purred in bliss.

How adorable. It was my first time raising a cat, so I wondered if cats were really this adorable.

…N?

My first time…?

Ah, could it be…The Clean magic already existed, but the subjugation skill didn’t exist neither in Elysia Online and in the Elysia continent. In other words, since I was the first one to use subjugation, I could learn it?

Then, would I be able to learn any new magic, even though its characteristic wasn’t that of a sage?

Ooooooh.

Awesome!

I couldn’t think of a new magic immediately, but I felt like it was awesome!

“Noir, it’s a big discovery!”

“Nyaa!”

“I feel so motivated now!”

“Nyaa, nyaa!”

I was hugging Noir tightly while immersing myself in joy when the surroundings turned noisy for some reason.

I wonder what happened?

When I looked around, a group of the knights returned, but there didn’t seem to be anything unusual…Ah, the one returning was Frank-san’s group.

“Frank-san, welcome ho…me?”

I looked at Frank-san whose face was sour as he bit his lips, looking like a sour-faced model from a book.1

Just what in the world happened???

“Ah~, Jou-chan. It’s about the method to befriend monsters. I somehow got it.”

“Is that so? Amazing, amazing!”

I reflexively clapped my hands in joy, but Frank-san didn’t look that happy…?

But why? Why wasn’t he happy when he had figured out the method to befriend the monsters?

“Frank-san befriended a monster, right? Where is it?”

“Jou-chan, you don’t see it?”

“Yosh,” Frank-san said as he lifted me who was still hugging Noir, letting me ride on top of his shoulder just like yesterday.

I could see Frank-san’s faded-blonde hair whose color was similar to a corn’s very well.

“Eh?”

There was something pink within his blond hair???

As I wondered, I looked at it closely and saw a small pink rabbit’s face peeking through the gaps of Frank-san’s hair.

“Kyuu.”

Eh…what’s with this adorable creature???

“And so…puh. Frank targeted the herd of the Horn Rabbits…pupu. He then used, pupupuu. Used Cure, and then that child suddenly rode on his head…? Upupupuu.”

Frank-san still had a sour face as he bit on his lips. Eh? Was he sullen, or was he being stepped on? Well, whichever was fine~.

“Argo. If you want to laugh, then just laugh.”

“Bwahahahahaa. No good. My stomach hurts.”

Even the people around us had their shoulders shaking.

H…hmm. Well, certainly having a small pink rabbit peeking through Frank-san’s hair as he had a stern face seemed surreal…

“M-moreover, it was a variant child…pink on top of it. Upupupupupupu.”

Argo-san…I understood your feelings, but you laughed too much.

“W-well, but you managed to understand the conditions to befriend monsters, so that’s quite an achievement, right? Pupupuu.”

That’s right. Just like Argo-san said, thanks to Frank-san, we got to know the conditions to befriend monsters-!

Frank-san and the others who found the Horn Rabbit herd didn’t kill anyone, but first, they captured them in a net. Then, one by one were let out from the net as they came in direct touch with Cure, and sometimes they tested by hurling the Cure, hitting each one with Cure.

Then, there seemed to be a pink-colored child among the Horn Rabbit herd. The Horn Rabbits were normally white in color, so we were able to tell a variant apart on a glance.

Since variants were stronger than normal monsters, they hurled a Cure—not approaching it just in case—and suddenly it began to cry out sweetly, “Kyuu, kyuu” like a spoiled child.

When they tried to let it out from the net, it ran at full speed and hopped on Frank-san’s head, rubbing its head as it cried out sweetly, “Kyuu, kyuu” again.

It was really spoiled~.

With that, we understood that the monsters won’t be tame unless we had affinities with them. As to whether we had to hurl the Cure, we still couldn’t come to a conclusion because we hadn’t done enough experiment on that.

Also, there seemed to be a lot of monster children, so we were going to try it out on them from now on.

“It seemed impossible to calm the monsters with Cure, but it seemed we were able to befriend them. Which meant, if we were to try on strong monsters, they might become a help to our fighting power. It might be alright for the village’s priests to bring them rather than bodyguards.”

Frank-san was thinking with a serious expression on his face, but I couldn’t focus on him because the pink rabbit who was peeking from his head destroyed the serious ambience.

“But if we can control a strong monster, then it will cause the superiors to go into an uproar.”

Argo-san seemed to notice that the conversation wouldn’t go anywhere if he were to continue laughing. But he avoided looking at Frank-san’s direction…

“But they might ask us to bring the monster children to the temple. If we show them Noir and this child, the old geezers at the temple might ask us to bring the monsters there so they could control them. But that will be no good.”

“Yeah. Even a werewolf child isn’t that strong, and we can’t catch it even if we try to. In the first place, monster children aren’t seen that often unless it’s in the middle of monster flood, when the number of the monsters multiply.”

That’s right. Although I don’t like the monster flood, but I got to meet Noir due to it.

“Then, that leaves us with this option. We should report this to the temple after the monster flood is over.”

“Right. Since we’re in the middle of exterminating monsters, it’s impossible to tell them that we let the children live and capture them. But I think it’s alright if Frank slips this information to his trusted friends that can be taught about how to hurl the Cure.”

Frank-san folded his rigid arms and nodded. But that caused the rabbit on top of his hat to be in everyone’s vision field.

“By the way, have you decided on a name for that child? Pupuu.”

Argo-san looked at the rabbit on top of Frank-san’s head and had another laughing fit.

“Aah? Name? Won’t ‘Rabbit’ be fine?”

“Y-you can’t! You have to properly give it a name, or it will be too pitiful!”

Although I was being glared at, I wasn’t afraid!

I had to do my best for the sake of the rabbit!

“Aah, then shall we have it made as a preserved food or emergency rations?”

“Youuuu caaaaaannnn’tttt!”

“Nah, but well. I thought of hunting some to be today’s food ingredients.”

“This child is Frank-san’s partner, so you can’t eat it—-!”

“Then, you decide its name, Yuuri.”

Frank-san said in exhaustion, and the rabbit that was quiet until just now, perked its ears as it began to cry out, “Kyuu, kyuu.”

Ehh, could this be its objection…probably?

“It seems like Frank-san has to decide its name.”

“Give me a break, oi…Whatever can be its name, it doesn’t matter.”

“You have to properly give it a name. For example ‘pink’ or ‘meat’ or ‘ears’.”

“Hey-! Argo-san too, please give it a more adorable nameeeee!”

Good grief, really!

You two, please think more seriously!

In the corner of my eyes, I saw Noir yawning as if it was tired of it all.