Virigress' status board Profile: Name: * Level: 1 Race: Young Virigress Age: 5 Months Status: Health: 21/67 Mana: 4/19 Strength: 45 Intelligence: 20 Vitality: 31 Wisdom: 20 Agility: 51 Stamina: 0/68 Effects: [Adrenaline (Moderate)] [Exhaustion (Moderate)] [Bleeding (Minor)] [Broken Leg (Left Hind Leg)] Skill: Magic skills and related:

[Mana Control Lv. 1]

Physical skills and related:

[Enhanced Claws Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Fangs Lv. 1]

[Toxic Claw Lv. 2]

Senses and movement skills:

[Stealth Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Auditory Sense Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Olfactory Sense Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Vision Lv. 2]

[Tracking Lv. 1]

[Night Vision Lv. 3]

[Presence Killer Lv. 1]

[Evasion Lv. 1]

[Terrain Maneuvering Lv. 1]

Resistances:

[Physical Resistance Lv. 1]

[Pain Resistance Lv. 2]

[Poison Resistance Lv. 3]

Others:

[Starvation Lv. 1]

At least it’s not another reincarnator, I thought.

Looking at the green feline monster, I noticed that it had features that resembled a tiger. It had no stripes and its fur was green, but its face reminded me of a tiger cub that I saw on the internet.

[“Wow, the cub is older than me,”] stated Saori.

[“I would find that hard to believe, were it not for the concrete proof that your status board is displaying, Miss Saori,”] said Tasianna, nodding.

The statement would make no sense considering how…mature Saori looked but once you remembered that she was literally reincarnated as a [Young Warg] two months ago, then it would make sense. She also jumped on the Hestia Power leveling train for the first month, so her growth has been abnormal if you compared it to this little Virigress cub here.

We both still had the “Young” prefix before our race name, but monster evolution has accelerated our body’s maturity by quite a lot.

If we were “normal” newborn monsters, then I believe we would be just like this little one here. Nobody would expect that I was only a month older.

“Hey, little one, where are your parents?” I said while raising my pitch to soothe it.

However, when I tried to pet it, the Virigress cub hissed at me with “mrrriiiiiiiehhh”, extended its claws and nearly scratched me but my [Prediction] prevented it. Despite posing literally no threat to me, my skill still dutifully fulfilled its task when the monster cat tried to harm me, although, I could have responded even without it activating.

To me, everything felt like it was in slow motion, anyways, if I didn’t drop my guard down entirely. Thankfully, it’s not snail pace slowmo.

[“Have your parents not taught you to not pet a wild cat, Hestia? Especially when the cat has venomous claws,”] Saori said in exasperation.

Scratching my cheeks, I responded with, [“He he, uh, not really. Most strays I met in the city were pretty nice, even allowing people to pet them.”]

If you brought them food, of course.

["Those cats are used to humans in their day to day life, while this one probably has never seen one yet, considering how deep we are into the forest,"] Saori reprimanded me.

Putting myself in the cub’s shoes, seeing a dragonewt trying to touch me while I’m on the brink of death would terrify me. In this current situation, my survival instincts would overrule the rational part of my mind and anything I would do would be to preserve my life. A cornered rat fights the hardest, after all.

It should have been obvious to me.

I guess being immune to all its attacks made me a bit arrogant. I should’ve considered its point of view first before doing something.

However, before I continued contemplating about it, I should heal it before it dies. Doesn't hurt to be nice once in a while.

Hmm, its left hind leg is twisted, probably a broken bone? Face and body are riddled with small cuts covered in dirt, so chances are high that the bacteria are slowly entering its body through the wounds. The status board hasn’t shown it yet, but you can guess it easily.

Well, not like I ever had those problems with [Cure] and the healing spells.

To start off, I cast [Cure] and [Purify] on the cub, intending to remove any possibility of infections and necrosis. Afterward, a simple [Minor Heal] would be enough to refill its Health.

“Mreoow?” noticing the mana particles cleansing its body and restoring its Health, the Virigress cub gave a confused cry.

The moment its attention was directed elsewhere, I gently grabbed it by the neck and pushed its head to the ground.

“Mraaaaoewwww!”

[“Princess Hestia!”] Tasianna cried out.

[“Don’t worry, I’m just checking its leg,”] I said to reassure my two surprised companions.

I made sure to tell my spell during “Invocation” to not heal the leg, in case I messed it up again like when I ruined any chances to heal my left wing’s mana paths.

The cub was screeching and hissing like it was possessed, struggling under my hand in total fear, unable to even budge my grip by even a millimeter.

It was trying to scratch my arm but [Draconic Barrier] made every attempt fruitless, even preventing the toxin in its claws to touch my skin. Well, it would have no effect anyway even if it could pierce through.

While it was in this state, I was holding and stabilizing its left leg so it wouldn’t harm it any further from all these movements.

I know a veterinarian would probably know how to handle this better, but I never owned a pet, nor have I watched a documentary about it before. All I knew was from a wildlife documentary series that I happened to enjoy watching.

When calm words won’t work then let the animal tire itself out. It had [Exhaustion (Moderate)] anyways, so it shouldn't take long. As expected, it only took thirty seconds for it to calm down.

[“Shhh, I’m sorry. I know you must be scared and stressed but I’m not here to hurt you,”] I told the cub through [Telepathy]. [“I used magic to heal your wounds and I will also heal your leg, so please allow me to help you for just a few more seconds. I promise that I will free you once you are in tip-top form, again.”]

Maybe its ‘cause I successfully persuaded it or maybe its ‘cause it had no more energy to resist, in any case, the cub looked at me in the eye for a second before glancing away, leaving its guard down completely.

A spectator would have told me to use [Telepathy] first before using brute force, but I had low confidence that it would have believed me in the current situation. If its parent did a proper job, then distrust for other monsters should have been imprinted into it once it was able to move. At least, that’s what I would have done.

I couldn’t have used the same methods as when I first met Saori. Fortunately, as she had [Telepathy], I was able to erase her fear and gain her trust early on.

However, not only can this monster not respond back but I wasn’t even sure it could understand me properly. [Telepathy] sends out information from one mind to the other, so it should have automatically translated my words into something that the virigress could understand.

That's why I resorted to dominating it. I might look back on this and cringe, but it was the best plan I could think of to gain its acceptance in a short amount of time…at least, that's what my parallel mind explained.

I might have watched too many animal docs…

Anyways, using the trust that it was reluctantly giving me, I examined its leg.

Yup, definitely broken into two pieces. Something crushed its shin, causing it to splinter.

The cub was groaning and moaning in pain but allowed me to continue, nevertheless. Unfortunately, “Invocation” needed me to go into detail and I wanted to not leave any lingering damage.

Ja, I could have paralyzed some monsters and allowed the cub to kill them for a level up, which would heal its entire skeleton, but could it do this in its weakened state? Not to mention with its low stats?

Sigh, it’s so annoying that leveling up won’t heal my wing’s mana paths.

After that complaint, I held the cub’s left hind leg with both hands and used [Major Heal] on it, using the right hind leg’s skeletal feature as a reference. I didn’t know how to confirm all the broken pieces of the shin but simply telling the System “repair the bones that I was holding my hands” seems to have done the trick.

It was still vague but specific enough to work perfectly.

[“Can you move it? Give it a try,”] I said.

It was having a hard time standing up, due to [Exhaustion], but it seems to have little problems moving it while it laid on the ground. Its eyes looked in wonder at its fully healed body.

[“That’s good to see, so where are your parents?”] I asked the cub.

“Mreooow,” it answered.

…Ok, that was a stupid question.

[“The stampede definitely separated them,”] Saori said. [“Maybe they are still in the area, but it is likely that they are gone due to all the chaos.”]

It couldn’t move. It couldn’t speak. It probably doesn’t even know where it was. Why did I even ask that question in the first place?

[“It would be very difficult to track them, I believe,”] Tasianna added, pointing at the ground. [“There are too many footprints and even with [Tracking], it would be far too hard to ascertain which belonged to the virigress’ parents.”]

[“Saori couldn’t you try and find their scent?”] I suggested to Saori, knowing her nose was the best among us.

[“I could…but in this chaos? I am not a trained police dog, Hestia. I still have not fully gotten used to my new sense of smell and discerning through hundreds of smells is impossible for me, right now,”] said Saori, shaking her head.

She was able to do it in the troll's cave, but I guess jumping from tracking four people to a triple-digit one might be asking too much.

[“Besides, do we really have the time to do this?”] she asked. [“We are currently being chased and you want to track down this cub’s parents? In this giant forest? I have nothing against detours if we are careful about them, but it would be a fool’s errand to do this actively.”]

I sighed, [“…Doesn’t that mean that we need to leave it here?”]

[“You have already done your best, Princes…Hestia. You have generously shown kindness by preventing its death. Nobody can fault you for your future actions,”] Tasianna said to reassure me.

Hmmm…oh!

Coming up with an idea, I picked the Virigress up, causing it to yelp “mreow?!”.

[“Then instead of searching for its parents, how about we just keep h…uh,”] before continuing, I lifted the cub’s tail up and looked at its private spot to determine its gender. [“Ah, it’s a him! How about we keep him and bring him along with us?”]

Hearing my request, Tasianna expressed shock, [“Wha-?! Princess Hestia, you cannot suggest keeping the monster with you! It's wild and dangerous and could possibly hurt you!"]

[“Hurt?”] I tilted my head. [“The only way he could kill me is with the power of cuteness.”]

I wrapped my arms under his forelegs and pressed him closer to my body, literally cuddling him now. He was dirty but that was no problem for my self-repairing and self-cleaning mana dress.

It’s true that the cub wasn’t the most cutest thing alive due to how fierce and wild it looked even as a cub, but a baby is still a baby.

As he was a monster and also five months old, his body was large enough to match my torso while his legs even reached down to my thighs. Watching him limply hang on my arms was simply adorable. He even turned his head around to look me in my eyes before turning back and accepting the situation that he was in.

It seems I was actually able to gain enough trust that he would allow me to treat him like this. Smiling, I petted his head with my hand.

[“See?”] I opened my mouth. [“Isn’t he the cutest? He’s even allowing me to cuddle him like this without being defiant about it.”]

[“Prin…Hestia, the cub is only allowing you to do so due to [Exhaustion]!”] Tasianna rebuked. [“Also, please stop rubbing your face on its fur! You are dirtying your delicate face!”]

Tasianna flew up to me and pushed my head away from the cub, before cleaning it with water produced by [Create Water].

[“Will you take care of him?”] Saori asked, chuckling from watching this comedic scene I was sharing with Tasianna.

[“Yup!”] I jumped up! [“I will feed him. I will wash him! I will trim his fur! I will also clean his litter box!”]

Saori stayed silent for a second, before saying, [“…Taking care of a wild monster will be more difficult than a normal pet, Hestia. Do you believe you can handle the responsibility of being a virigress owner?”]

["I can handle the responsibility. I am a grown girl now! I promise I will the most responsible dragonewt in all of dragonewt history!"] I said with pride.

[“…Sigh,”] however, it seems my answer made Saori exasperated, as she had to massage her temple. [“Why did I participate in this comedic act? I am an adult. I should not have acted so silly.”]

I giggled, [“You can never be too old for jokes, Saori! It just means that you aren’t a boring woman in your late twenties! You grew up properly!”]

[“Wha-What do you mean with ‘late twenties’!”] mentioning her age seems to have triggered her, as a red color spread across her whole face. [“Excuse you, Hestia! I was 26, that is not ‘late’. That is the prime time for women like me. And boring?! Pah, once we are in an elven village or city, then I will bring you to a bar or tavern and I will show you how 'boring' I really am.”]

[“Sooooo…can I keep him?”] I asked Saori in one of her rare unrestrained moods.

[“Yeah, keep him,”] Saori consented!

[“Miss Saori!”] Tasianna objected. [“No, we mustn’t. This is too dangerous and-and how can we be sure that we can take care of the virigress in the first place?”]

[“You do not have to worry, Miss Tasianna,”] Saori said, waving her hand. [“Hestia can do it. I can assure it. She was the one that took care of me when I was a mere newborn.”]

[“Did you hear that, Rajah? You are coming with us, if you don’t mind,”] I told Rajah, the virigress cub.

“Mreowh,” he said.

[“Oops, I did it again. Tap your left paw on my arm once, if you are against it, and twice, if you want to come,”] hoping that [Telepathy] is working properly, I asked him once again.

Rajah hesitated for a bit but after tapping his left paw twice, the elation of seeing this forced me to beam a smile.

.

“A Sea of Trees ♫

The shimmering emerald of this world ♫

The place that I found you ♫

Oh, Rajah, my love ♫

My little emerald tiger! ♫”

.

Not able to hold down my emotions, my mouth couldn’t hold back, and a song came out. It was a slight variation of my song “A Sea of Trees” that I sang during my first flight, changed to mention Rajah.

[“Hey, Hestia!”] although I wanted to continue singing, Saori blocked my mouth with her hand. [“What did I tell you about keeping quiet? The wyverns are not here anymore but that does not change the fact that we must be careful!”]

[“Oops, I apologize, Saori…My emotions went a bit crazy,”] I said apologetically.

[“It is fine. I understand,”] she released my mouth. [“Anyways, you already have a name for him? Rajah? That does not sound like an English, German, or Japanese name.”]

Of course, it isn’t. It’s a name from the movie “Aladdin”, belonging to the tiger from Princess Jasmine.

At first, I considered “Simba”, but he wasn’t very lion-like. I also had “Shere Kahn” in mind, but that guy was a dick. My little Virigress is not a bad guy. So, I gave him a name from a tiger that I knew was very likable. Who cares if “Rajah” was exotic, when my name “Hestia Atsuko” was already unique in this new world, in the first place.

[“Come on, Tasianna. Say ‘welcome’ to Rajah,”] I pushed Rajah in front of Tasianna.

[“…I welcome you to our little group, Rajah. May we serve Princess Hestia with all our body and mind,”] Tasianna said in the most formal way possible.

Rajah said “mreoow” and tried to swat Tasianna away like a fly.

[“…Dear Goddesses, Zephira and Plesia, please grant me the strength to endure all of this for my dear Princess Hestia Atsuko,”] Tasianna began praying after dodging all of Rajah’s slow swipes.

Nervously laughing, I apologized to her for Rajah’s behavior, [“He he, I promise I will make it up for you, Tasianna. I will make sure to discipline Rajah properly.”]

Saying that I looked at Rajah while having [Noble Aura] activated, [“Rajah, that was Tasianna, my friend. She is not an enemy and if you annoy her then she will freeze you into a popsicle. If you don’t listen to me then I will actually have to discipline you…ok?”]

Acquisition requirement fulfilled. [Terror Aura Lv. 1] acquired

Oi, was zur Hölle?! (Oi, what the hell?!)

Rajah called out “mreoooorah” in panic and started shaking in my arms as sparks began flying around me. Did I unconsciously activate [Spark Flame Veil]?

[“…Well, let us forget about it for the meantime,”] Saori came in to diffuse the situation like she always would. [“We still have some plans until night comes, so let us be off.”]

As Tasianna and Saori went forward, I turned Rajah around and had him face me, [“I kinda skipped the process, but I think I should do it properly.”]

Remembering how Saori named me, I imitated her words, [“From today onwards you shall be ‘Rajah’. Let’s have as much fun as we can possibly have, alright, Rajah?”]

“Mreow,” he cried.

[Young Virigress *] was given the name [Young Virigress, Rajah] by [Young Spark Inferno Dragon, Hesta Atsuko]