Chapter 29: Return to the Town
“Have you warmed up to me yet?”
I held down the head of the wolf monster—the Green Wolf—while placing a piece of meat in front of it.
“Good boy, good boy.”
With my free hand, I gently stroked the Green Wolf’s neck, but it seemed to twist away, trying to avoid my touch. However, it didn’t seem to be fully committed to escaping, likely because the meat was too tempting.
“Alright, you can eat now.”
As soon as I released my grip, it lunged at the meat with enthusiasm. I tried to pet its back during the feast, but it showed no reaction, completely focused on devouring the food.
“Hmm, I wonder how it will react after finishing…”
As you can see, I was conducting an experiment to see if my Tame Skill would develop. The Green Wolf devoured the meat voraciously until it was completely gone. After licking its lips, it suddenly adopted a low posture and glared at me as if to warn me.
“…Is this a failure?”
Rio, who was crouched behind me, muttered softly.
“…No, no way that could be.”
Just a moment ago, it had forgotten all about me while eating. I couldn’t believe that a wild monster would let its guard down so easily. Surely, it must be tamed.
“Good boy—ow, ow, ow!”
The moment I reached out to pet its fluffy neck, it bit me.
“Hahaha!”
“Hey, that hurts!”
It hurt so much that I yanked my hand away in irritation, and the Green Wolf yelped before scampering off somewhere.
“—!!”
I was laughing so hard that I could barely make a sound, caught in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. And here I was, the one who got bitten…
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
When I shot a glare at Rio, she took my hand, her eyes glistening with tears from laughing.
“Considering how much it hurt, you don’t seem to have any real injuries.”
As she used Water Magic to wash my hand, which was sticky with the Green Wolf’s saliva, she gently patted it.
“If only we had a master here, we could tell right away if your skill developed.”
“Well, you should just work on your Appraisal Skill, Shuu.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
If I kept appraising things, it would eventually level up, and I would be able to see my skill list. But it was tedious, and I often forgot. While it was exciting to gain new skills, nurturing them felt like a chore. The biggest issue was not knowing how far I needed to develop it to access the skill list.
“Is it about time to set up camp?”
“Yeah. Should we just build a house here?”
Since we had been conducting the taming experiment in a relatively open area, we decided to make this our campsite for the day. Earth Magic was incredibly convenient.
In the end, I managed to gather fifteen Regulus Fruits. I had thought they were red, but it turned out there were mostly yellow ones around here. I did find a couple of red ones deeper in the forest, though. I carried a basket woven from vines on my back, filled with the fruits. And then there was our prey. I had hunted a deer and a bear, but I was currently pondering how to transport them.
“How should we carry them?”
“I guess we have no choice but to drag them…”
“Is that really the best option?”
We were at the shared carriage stop in the Forest of Enchantment. I was trying to figure out how to retrieve the prey from the Dimensional Box and bring it back…
“…What if we levitate them with magic?”
“Wouldn’t that draw too much attention?”
“Well, that’s true. But dragging them might lower the value of their pelts, right?”
That was a matter of life and death for us, given our lack of funds. It would be a shame to ruin the quality of our catch after going through the effort of hunting them with minimal injuries.
“That’s a serious issue.”
“Right?”
“Then let’s get going.”
Once we decided on a method of transport, all that was left was to head back. I levitated the prey while tying a vine rope around the bear’s ankle to carry it by hand. I tied a rope around the deer’s antlers, and Rio took hold of it.
“Whoa!”
“What?!”
As we stepped into the square, it seemed a shared carriage had just arrived. The adventurers disembarking were taken aback by our appearance.
“Whoa… Are you all heading back now?”
The coachman, an older man, called out to us as we emerged into the square.
“Yes, we’re on our way back.”
“How about a ride?”
“Ah, no thanks. We’ll walk back. We’re a bit short on cash.”
“I see… Well, take care then.”
Despite his strained expression, he didn’t press further, and the carriage turned back toward the town. The adventurers who had gotten off the carriage were whispering among themselves while glancing our way, but they didn’t seem inclined to approach us.
“We’re definitely standing out.”
“Yeah, but it can’t be helped. This is for the sake of money.”
“Right.”
As we made our way down the road, we surprised the passengers of passing shared carriages while heading toward the northern gate of the town.
“Oh, it’s you guys… I was a bit worried since you didn’t come back yesterday… You really did hunt a Great Deer and a Murder Bear, huh…”
The gatekeeper greeted us as we stepped into the town. I wondered if it was the same coachman who had offered us a ride.
“And what’s that… How did you bring them back?”
“That’s a secret.”
I was pulling the prey with a rope, but it was subtly floating in the air. While it was close to the ground, it was obvious that it was levitating if one looked closely.
“You’ve got some skills too, huh, young lady?”
As Rio and I walked through the town, we attracted the attention of many merchants.