Chapter Eighty: The Cat That Forgot Its Wildness
At the mention of a break, the shameless kitten’s eyes shot open as it gave me a cheeky look, demanding food. I flick its forehead lightly before activating the Camping Car. Opening the door, the savory aroma of roasted pork fillet from the rice cooker wafted out, tickling my nose.
I microwaved some barley tea from a fridge to warm it up, poured it into mugs, and passed them around. I also took a small piece of bone-in cocatrice meat and held it to the kitten’s mouth—it immediately started munching away with little "nyam nyam" sounds… Indeed, being a lynx, it seems to have no issue with raw meat. I piled some shredded cockatrice meat onto a small plate, making a nice little mound. This should keep it occupied while eating.
‘Nyaa! Nyaaan tasty! So tasty! Nyaaan this is delicious!’
“The cat seems pleased…”
“Well, first things first, Rin… No matter how tame it seems, don’t try domesticating a monster!”
“Ah, yes, my apologies! It just reminded me of my house cat…”
“I understand the feeling, but you’re not a tamer, Rin… If it had attacked, that would’ve been really bad!”
After watching Ms. Aria gaze gently at the kitten devouring the cockatrice meat, I nervously sat down, unable to withstand the pressure from behind.
First, the scolding comes from the party leader. Then a warning from Mr. Xenon. No, yes, I have no excuses. I was starved for fluff and did something foolish. I sincerely apologize…
According to Mr. Xenon, pinching his temples as he explains, the act of taming monsters to use as combatants is generally only permitted for tamers… or rather, only those with a tamer’s license can register tamed monsters as "familiars," so even if a regular person somehow tames a monster, they can’t bring it into towns. No matter how well you tame a monster, without a tamer’s license and registering it as a familiar, you can’t bring it into towns or take jobs with it… Well, of course. Having unqualified people freely bring unregistered monsters into town would be disastrous.
Wild monsters generally don’t accept beings weaker than themselves, so to tame one, you need to demonstrate considerable strength. Essentially, you need to completely defeat them once, which means the tamers themselves need to be quite powerful. Furthermore, a tamer subdues a monster by giving it a unique “name,” and the monster is tamed by accepting that name. As a result, most licensed tamers seem quite capable, which is probably why the guild keeps track of such adventurers and their familiars through the licensing system to manage numbers and types of familiars.
Apparently, there are also cases where wealthy eccentrics raise monsters as playthings to show off at parties and such… but even then, they either employ dedicated tamers or the wealthy person themselves has obtained a tamer’s license, so while ethically questionable, it’s not an issue credential-wise.
Even for non-tamers, there are cases where eggs or monster offspring with weak egos end up becoming tamed through being raised from a young age, which is likely closer to the situation I blundered into. In such cases, the person who ended up taming them can register as a tamer and register the tamed monster, allowing them to legally keep it. They don’t necessarily need to make tamer their main job—they can take it on as a side job regardless of main profession if they want to keep or use a monster as a combatant.
So to clarify, rather than changing careers to become a tamer, anyone whose main job is something else still needs the "tamer" certification if they want to keep a monster or use it in combat, right?
“But well, I’m glad you are unharmed, Rin. It’s a good thing it was such a docile monster.”
“Again, I apologize for the trouble.”
“Once we’ve finished investigating this dungeon and returned to the guild, I’ll have you register not just as a porter, but as a tamer too. But please make this cat the only one you tame, alright?”
“Eh?”
“No, I’m not heartless enough to tell you to abandon it after seeing this situation.”
As we talked, the kitten finished the poultry meat and leaped onto my lap, shamelessly exposing its plump belly as it started dozing off with little puffs. It’s completely at ease now… Where did that "wildness" go…? Watching the kitten sleeping tummy-up on my lap, gently snuffling, Mr. Ville sighed in resignation. He reached over and gently scratched under its chin, making it purr.
When I feel a soft hand on my head, I instinctively look up to meet Mr. Ville’s strawberry-colored eyes filled with mixed emotions. Mr. Ville looked half-amazed, half-troubled, but he still smiled kindly at me. I thought for sure everyone would say to just leave the monster behind…
“Since it’s become ‘Named,’ I suppose that’s for the best. You have no intention of abandoning that kitten, do you, Rin?”
“It’s become so attached to me, if there’s no issue I’d like to take it back with me.”
“Cats are cute, so I think it’s fine!”
“Even if it’s a winged lynx, it’s just a kitten. It is said if you raise them from young they become extremely tame, so no worries about being attacked, right?”
Looking around, everyone was regarding the kitten with warm eyes. Ms. Aria in particular seemed ready to snuggle and dote on the sleepy little furball.
What a kind world this is… And lucky you, kitten… no, Gomamiso! You’re so fortunate our Gourmands party is full of such kindhearted people! With anyone else, you might have been mercilessly hunted!
So at the very least, wake up! To thank them for taking you in, why don’t you show off your adorable side, maybe act a bit coy and cute!?
“In that case, let’s resume our exploration so we can head back soon!”
“Yes, my body’s warmed up too!”
“Still, there didn’t seem to be anything, right?”
“I didn’t detect any monster presences either.”
After magically cleaning the emptied mugs, Mr. Ville stood up, and everyone else followed suit to resume exploration. I also got up, cradling the softly snoozing kitten… Gomamiso. It cracked its eyes open slightly when I picked it up, but quickly closed them again to keep napping.
Quite the nerves on this one…
I could leave it to sleep, but who knows what mischief it might get into inside the car. Plus, I’m not sure if I can dismiss the manifestation with a living creature still inside. At any rate, let’s push through a bit further, for the day when I can keep this cat!
No comments:
Post a Comment