We are still at the plain, and it is quite awkward to be around monsters that I could deal with even if I’m at level 10. It has been a month after the events in the ghost village, and we have ventured quite far already.

Right now I’m preparing something grand. It’s a special day after all. I check Faeran’s stat everyday to know a certain information.

NameFaeranAge1GenderMaleLevel36RaceFenrirHP747/747MP1445/1445Strength67Defense79Dexterity104Agility132Magic power268Magic Defence197

That’s right, today is his first birthday. Mine is probably 2 or 3 months away.

I made a few toys for Faeran to redirect his attention. I am now cooking the best food I have ever made on this world. With all the knowledge I have, I promise to make the best for him!

Of course...the toys weren’t enough to make him busy. It’s not that he didn’t like the toy, he wanted to be with me instead of playing alone. His cuteness gave me a small heart attack, but I really need to make this a surprise. I need to keep him busy for a while. I looked him in the eye and said something with a serious expression.

“This is the first order I will give you. This is an important task, and I want you to do as I said even if you die in the process.”(Sania)

The serious vibe made Faeran’s eye burn with passion. This was the first order he will receive and he is all fired up to do it.

“Good, I like the look on your eyes.”(Sania)

“Nuu” Faeran sat in front of me with a straight posture.

“I’ll go away for awhile, so I want you to stay near my bag and guard it. No matter what happens, I want you to prioritize the bag, ok?”(Sania)

“Nuu” Faeran lowered his head before entering his lightning form.

H...he didn’t have to do that. Well, I guess it’s fine as long as he is busy.

Faeran sat near my bag and released an intimidating pressure around, which made every life around to run away...I think it’s a bit too much, but what’s done is done. I need to finish preparing my surprise.

___

I moved to a faraway place and started cooking. I would go back to check on Faeran from time to time and he was still in his lightning form...if this keeps up, he will faint sooner or later.

While the food was being prepared, I started thinking of a new toy for Faeran. It should be something sturdy, something we could play....since he probably wants both of us to play. Hmm a rope is overused? Frisbee? No, I need a new concept.

For the food, I have prepared a soup with chopped meat so that Faeran could enjoy them with his small jaws. I also grilled some meat after marinating it with the best combination possible. Since Faeran likes sweet stuff, I needed something sweet but not too sweet; need to make sure he is healthy. For desert...no, I don’t have the needed ingredients. After 30 minutes, the meat was ready. The soup still needed 10 more minutes, so I used the time to think of a gift.

What does he like?...he would probably like it even if its just dirt as long as it came from me. Should I go with the old school Frisbee after all? W-what about.

I created something and an hour after making Faeran guard the bag, I returned. I left a few of my utensils behind but I doubt anyone would take them so I’ll get it later.

Just the smell from the food made Faeran sharply turn his head to me. It seems like he wanted to jump on the food anytime, but was forcing himself not to and continued guarding the bag. He looked really eager, but my order was keeping him on his place.

I placed the food near him, but far enough so that he couldn’t reach it. I went to my bag, took out his bowl and gave him a serving of the soup.

“It’s ok, you don’t have to follow the order anymore, you can eat.”(Sania)

Faeran released his lightning form and slammed his whole head to the bowl. He started eating the food like a wild beast, and his face was covered with soup.

“Pft...Happy birthday Faeran”(Sania)

He probably doesn’t know the concept of a birthday, but he is happy just by being given food by his beloved mother.

___

After eating, I had to wipe him since he aggressively ate the food and covered himself with it. Good thing there was a lake nearby. After cleaning him, I made him sleep on top of my bag. I went back to my utensils and cleaned them on the lake. When I got back to Faeran, he was still sleeping, so I just sat an the ground and watched his sleeping face.

A peaceful day like this is really relaxing, especially when I have Faeran with me. I hope he likes my gift.

I watched as the 1ft tall grass sway to the side because of the cold and relaxing air. There were small animals peeking from the grass and some were peacefully running around. It was a nice relaxing day all together. When afternoon came, Faeran woke up.

I presented to him a small pillow with my face sewn on the front. It was easy to create the clothes but it was hard to sew a figure on something using only a large needle made from a bone and threads from the animals around us. Anyways, I created a pillow since most of his time is spent sleeping instead of playing.

He didn’t know what it’s for so I had to show him how it’s used. He curled around the pillow and poked the face on it. In a matter of minutes, he started sleeping again.

“Success, he likes it.”(Sania)

It was still a few hours before dinner, so I slept near him. The day went by and I am confident to say that Faeran enjoyed what happened today.

___

We ventured again, and a week after Faeran’s birthday, I saw man in his early 20s running away from an animal. It was a 4ft tall lizard which had green scales. The man looked like pitiful so I sent a sword wave to the lizard.

800 exp gained

He continued running after I killed it, he can’t even sense that I already killed the lizard? Ah, his eyes are even closed...

I jumped in front of the man to make him stop. When he saw me, he started yelling and pushed me away...I couldn’t even feel a thing. Is this guy even trying? Anyways, I held his head and make him look back. I pointed at the lizard which was now cut in half. He released a sigh and sat on the floor.

He had a short blue hair and fluffy rabbit ears. His eyes were covered by his bang so I couldn’t see it and his body was a bit built. You can say he is athletic, but that’s all. He didn’t have the solid lean build like Eugune, or am I just putting my standards a bit too high? Anyways, he was wearing a white shirt with metal plates on the chest and shoulder. His brown pants had metal pads on the knees. Hmm? He also had a sword behind his back.

As I observed him, he also observe me. His eye widened after seeing the dress and his jaw dropped after seeing the 2 swords on my back. He lowered his head and started speaking. I didn’t understand a thing, but based on his tone and movements, it was words of gratitude.

He also gave me a few brown colored coins

8 bronze coins obtained

After 9-10 months, I have finally gotten this world’s currency.

As I observed the carvings on the coin I heard something.

*growl*

A monster?

When I looked, it was just the man’s stomach making the sound. He started waving his hand like he was denying something. The wind pushed his bangs to the side, and clear blue eyes were looking straight to me. In contrast to his eyes, his cheeks were dyed in red from embarrassment.

Since it was also time for lunch, I killed a few animals and cooked them. The man just stared at me as I cooked the food; he seems to be amazed by something. I had 3 more spare bowls for this kind of situation so I gave one to him and gave him food. The moment the food entered his mouth, his tail moved a bit...I didn’t see it, I just sensed the movements around me.

It seems he wanted another serving, but held back. He probably felt that it was too much to ask a stranger, but I did cook more than normal in any case he wants more, so I grabbed his bowl and gave him another serving. He was surprised by my actions, but stayed quiet and just accepted the bowl.

When we finished eating, the man’s stomach was full from a total of 5 servings...does he have an infinite space on his stomach?

Here comes the hard part, how do I talk to him? I doubt we would understand each other, so how?

“Um, can you understand my words?”(Sania)

There was a big question mark on the man’s face; I get it, it’s impossible.

“This will be hard...”(Sania)

The man noticed my slightly irritated expression and grabbed my hand. I didn’t do anything since I couldn’t sense any hostility coming from him. He linked our little finger and after that, I heard a voice on my head.

“C...could you hear me?”(?)

W...what?

“D-don’t worry, It’s just me.”(?)

Well, the voice in my head did match the voice of the man in front of me when he was yelling earlier. So I got a gist on who it is, but I might be wrong, so I asked.

Are you the man in front of me?

“A-ah, yes.”(Man)

I see, so how does this work? It seems convenient, can you teach me?

“This is a higher level telepathy magic. Telepathy only sends the exact message that you sent, but this spell automatically rearranges the message in a way that both of us could understand each other despite having different language.”(Man)

Hmm, sound like a complicated magic. You’re probably a high class magic user.

“N-no, I’m average. A-actually, this is the only spell I’m good at, so I was kicked out from the academy and had to try my luck on being an mercenary...but as you can see, I am also not fit for it.”(Man)

He looked down and made a complicated expression. He didn’t know if he wanted to feel sad or angry.

You seem a bit discourage, then let me ask you, can the other people use the same magic as you?

“N-no, but it’s not really a combat magic, so it’s useless.”(Man)

What do you mean useless? If you didn’t have this magic then we wouldn’t even understand each other. Have more confidence, just because you are different doesn’t mean you are useless, at least you don’t look useless to me.

“T-thank you”(Man)

I’m not praising you, I’m just stating a solid fact. Your magic is helpful to me and that’s that, so stop being depressed and have more confidence.

“Nuu”(Faeran)

Faeran jumped to the man’s shoulder and patted his cheeks. So he also cheers other people.

That’s my Faeran, what a good child.

“Faeran?”(Man)

That cute little creature on your shoulder is my familiar, his name is Faeran.

“FAMILIAR? YOU’RE A BEAST TAMER? DID YOU UNDERGO A CONTRACT?”(Man)

Yes, we did go through a contract. You seem surprised, is it rare to see someone with a familiar?

“Y-yes, most of the monsters on this world aren’t friendly and only weak ones can be made into a pet...but only a pet, not a familiar. Seeing your familiar; it’s not battle oriented, so it can be mistaken for a pet, but if you did undergo a contract then you are considered a beast tamer, one who has full control over their familiar.”(Man)

I see, so what’s so surprising about them? I mean, my familiar is not battle oriented so I don’t see why you have to react that much.

“Only a few individuals can survive a contract. Most of them die from it so only a few dared to try getting a familiar. The thing is, if you can survive contract, it means you have the capacity to tame stronger ones. Imagine taming a Kuran Belkan, you could conquer a city without raising a finger. You could even try your luck and tame deity class monsters. With such a powerful monster on your side, ruling the world is no longer a dream...although they are just from stories in a book and doesn’t really exist.”(Man)

I see, rule the world huh? I wonder if I could ever see a deity class monster outside of a book.

I looked at Faeran, and giggled from my own sarcasm.

“As of now there are only 2 known beast tamer on this continent, there might be some hiding, but I am completely sure that the number of beast tamer around the world won’t exceed 10. Each of them are a force to be feared and it is never a good idea to fight them. Imagine angering a single beast tamer only to see a thousand monsters flying around the city destroying everything in sight.”(Man)

Sound a bit scary.

“Also, a beast tamer can only get a familiar weaker than him/her. A monster would never obey a master weaker than it. A beast master’s strength is him and all his familiars combined, so if you can’t defeat a monster, just tame weaker ones and increase your force before challenging a stronger one.”(Man)

You seem to know a lot, is this a common knowledge?

“I have been gathering information since that is the only thing I’m good at aside from my telepathy magic.”(Man)

Faeran jumped on top of my head and stared at the man in front of me.

Anyways, is there a village around? I’ve been traveling for awhile and I really want to rest in a village.

“There is, but not a village. The Zealon City is a few days travel from here.”(Man)

I see, could you show us the way?

“O-ok”(Man)

By the way, I’m Sania Pendragon.

“I’m Zell, Zell Superbia.”(Zell)

___

Since I helped Zell earlier, he said that he wanted to be useful to me. He asked me if there was anything that I needed, so I told him I wanted to learn his language. Based on our conversation earlier, only a few if not, only he can use this level of telepathy, so this is the best opportunity to learn the language. The thing is, it is easy to learn how to write if his skill is active. After I have a solid foundation, he will cancel his skill and teach me how to read what I have written. Well, we didn’t have the materials to write, so we have to buy them at the city.

Anyways, it’s still afternoon, so we are walking to the direction of the city. There is one thing bothering me, isn’t he trusting us too easily? I grabbed his arm and asked him directly.

You should be a bit cautious of strangers, what if I was actually a bad person?

“That would never happen, I’m sure of it.”(Zell)

It seems like you are confident in your answer, could you perhaps enlighten me.

“First, there is no point even if I am cautious. You are too strong, if you felt like it, you can kill me anytime. Second, I have the ability to access if people can be trusted or not. Third, the fact that you are warning me about it now is a proof that you can be trusted. You would have acted the same since me trusting you would be a great asset if you were really scheming something.”(Zell)

Your speculations may be right but maybe wrong for different situations. What if I’m just acting?

“Last reason, I just felt like I wanted to trust you. It’s that simple. I want to trust you so I trust you.”(Zell)

That’s a bit...

“I don’t care if you betray me, I will simply do my best to help you. If my ability and knowledge could be useful to others then I don’t care what happens to me.”(Zell)

So it’s that after all.

“O-ok, so do you have anything in mind? What place do you want to visit first after we get to the city?”(Zell)

A place where we could buy paper and a pen.

“N-no, after that, maybe the stores? Tavern? Theater? It’ll be my treat.”(Zell)

This is bad, with his way of speaking...is he perhaps.

Do you like me?

“N-no i-its not that, I just want to show my appreciation for helping me earlier.” Zell looked down and stretched his hands in front of me like he was blocking my view.

No, I’m over thinking things. There is no such thing as love at first sight. Love is something that develops slowly. He’s probably just happy that I praised his abilities.

Sorry, just forget what I said earlier. I don’t know why I even asked that.

“I-it’s ok”(Zell)

“Nuu” Faeran felt something, and so did I.

A group of people were moving to our location, and based on what I can sense, they are all from the exelia race. We tried to avoid them, but it seems that we are their target. I don’t remember making an enemy out of anyone so why?

Since Zell was with us, we couldn’t run away. I had my bag on one hand and swords on my back, so I can’t carry Zell. When they got closer, I could see 4 people wearing different types of clothes. One wore an armor, a shield on his left arm and had a sword on his back. One wore a light vest and there was a bow and a stack of different colored arrows on his back. One was wearing a long robe and she was holding a spherical object on her hand. The last one was a female with light clothes...on her hands was a large handle connected to a gigantic blade that’s bigger than her own body.

Well, they didn’t seem like they were there to fight. When Zell saw the group, words came out from his mouth.

“F-Felicia Zaran”(Zell)

_________

Author's Note:

Spoiler : This chapter was planned a long time ago, so it came out quickly. Another reason is to make up for not releasing a chapter on the 18th of January.

Some may think that Zell fell too fast, but it's not love yet, he simply like Sania for her cooking, encouragement, strength and the fact that she saved him. His feeling might develop into love or stay the same. It depends on the future events.