““Eh…””
What was her intention to bring it along? It couldn’t be helped for Shin’s and Tiera’s voices to be in harmony.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit excessive?”
“No way, you don’t like it…?”
Schnee’s face became gloomy.
“Wait, wait, why are you depressed?”
“Well, Shin has a contract with an Element Tail, so if it’s not a stronger monster maybe you wouldn’t be pleased with it?”
“Kuu? Guu-chan, don’t want?”
“Guruu!?”
Though what Shin meant was: ‘You don’t have to strain yourself’; Schnee seemed to have interpreted it as ‘You are not satisfied with this level?’. She was overly enthusiastic, too.
And, hearing the two people’s conversation, toward Yuzuha’s remark, the Gruefago expressed its surprise. Judging from its facial expression, it probably said, “Really?!”. As expected from a divine beast, it didn’t need to say out loud what it was thinking.
“No, a Gruefago is strong enough. Besides, it is a unique monster and I see almost no other flaws.”
“I am relieved when you say that. I thought it would be useful if the monster was as smart as a person.”
“So that means, it understood the things we talked about just now?”
“Yes. Though it can’t talk with words, most of our words are understood.”
“Guruu!”
“Leave it to me, it said.”
Yuzuha promptly followed up. It seemed that fellow monsters understanding each other was possible. After all, a divine beast class had high intelligence.
“This is my master. Be sure not to be rude.”
Schnee said while presenting Shin.
“Guru!!”
“Nice to meet you.”
Shin said as he patted the head of the Gruefago. Without a sign that it disliked it in particular, the Gruefajio closed its eyes partly, indicating that it felt good.
“By the way, what is this fellow’s name?”
“It’s Kagerou.”
“Is it because it can use illusions?” (T/N: The ‘影’ kanji, from ‘幻影’[genei] which means illusion, is pronounced as ‘kage’.)
“Yes. Is it too simple?”
“Well, that might be good. I think it’s a cool name.”
It was certainly simple, but Shin thought it was not bad. It was a name that is occasionally seen in games and manga.
“Guruu”
“I like it.”
This beast seemed to like it, too. Yuzuha, who moved to Kagerou’s back from Shin head, interpreted it properly. Since it might be hard to understand with only barking and gestures, it was very helpful.
“Then, Kagerou. I will give your first mission!”
“Guruu!!”
“That is, pull the wagon!”
“Guruaa!!”
To Shin, who exaggeratedly informed the beast, Kagerou answered full of motivation. Though Shin worried that it might complain, it didn’t seem to mind pulling the wagon.
With Schnee and Kagerou added to Shin’s party, they returned to Beirun from the forest, and came back to the shop where they left the wagon. At the time when they passed through the gate, Kagerou was registered as a monster partner of Schnee, similar to what Shin did in Bayreuth. For Kagerou, because its build was quite large unlike Yuzuha and its appearance seemed to be a little ferocious as well, it was necessary to hang a plate that indicated “Tame” on the monster’s neck.
Schnee was strongly warned that if Kagerou barked, acted violently and so on, there would be penalties for that, but that was inevitable. Unlike the monsters of the horse group, it was considered very likely that it would act violently.
Did bringing Kagerou along have some effect? Although Schnee and Tiera were beautiful women, no suspicious men tried to pick a quarrel with them. People like punks generally had a low sense of danger and lacked the ability to read the mood. But when they saw Kagerou, there were no daredevils who tried to pick quarrels with the group.
With Yuzuha riding on Shin’s head, they might have thought that Shin was Kagerou’s tamer, too. It was natural for a strong man to be with 2 beautiful elf women; it was from the air he gave off, everyone who looked at Shin’s party thought.
“Customer… this is also another great one you brought.”
The storekeeper was surprised when looking at Kagerou that appeared alongside Shin.
“There’s a little connection with someone I trust.”
“You don’t say, is it that beautiful woman whom I didn’t see yesterday?”
“Yeah, sort of.”
“I envy you brother, with how your young ladies look.”
What did the storekeeper imagine when looking at Tiera and Schnee; Shin’s shoulders were clapped down on hard. Though the storekeeper was acting a little overly familiar, there was almost no feeling of discomfort, which was expected from a merchant.
“It’s not such a relationship…”
Before he knew it, the way he was called changed from “customer” to “brother”. Incidentally, even with such a poor excuse, the smirking storekeeper didn’t seem to be listening.
Currently, Schnee had changed her appearance with a skill. With blond hair, red eyes, and a ponytail hairstyle, her impression appeared to be more energetic than usual.
Therefore, the collection of gazes she received from passerbies, was even more than Tiera and Kagerou got combined.
Shin received the wagon while sighing