Author's note: So this section took an unexpectedly long time to finish. And since it was getting a bit too long for me, I've decided to make the last portions of the chapter into a sort of half chapter for next time. Maybe a chapter 8.5 instead a full on 9.
Also, I may need a Proofreader for my story. As you may have already seen, I don't have a tendency to revise and read over my work. A PR may be helpful to have. If anybody's interested PM me or write something in the comments below.
Well anyways, hope you enjoy.
*****
Children and Rabbits
“................”
The cavern was silent. Both the Boar and I held our breaths. The dust and debris that [Sniper] had stirred were blocking my vision and likewise, the Boar was too far away to see Snapper head. We waited in anticipation, whether the Sea Dragon would move or not remained to be unseen (literally).
As the dust parted, the cavern’s visibility returned to its natural splendor. I fixed my gaze towards the Dragon, and subsequently exasperated in joy as I saw the lifeless husk of a mighty monster who ceased any movement.
“Haaa~ I-It’s finally over…”
I loosened my shoulders and fell flat to my knees. I was thoroughly spent right now. I mean, you can’t expect someone who committed himself to a shut in lifestyle for half a year to not be tired after they just wrestled with a giant fish.
I broke off into a collection of shaky laughs as I leaned back and looked at the ceiling.
After a moment, I got up on shaky feet and approached the now deceased Snapper head. Seeing me move, the Boar returned from his after victory stupor and followed suit. We approached the dead body and for a moment, just stared at the thing.
It was sorta like we were paying our respects to the opponent whom we had greatly struggled with. An opponent who brought us on the very brink of death numerous times. We were giving our respects to such a mighty foe.
Then I kicked the carcass with my foot.
Seeing the enormous thing not budge after a while, I kicked it again some more before announcing,
“Yup, it’s dead alright.”
The Boar next to me snorted in response.
Rather anticlimactic after a big battle like this, all I could do was nod at the Boar who returned it with another snort.
“Welp, time to reap the rewards.”
I approached Snapper head’s left arm and reached for the broken off tusk that had lodged itself into its hide earlier. I pulled it out, admiring the unexpected sharpness of the thing before moving back to get a better view of the whole of the monster.
“Now...where should I start….”
I was planning to eat Snapper head, or at least a portion of him. After such a tremendous battle, it would honestly be a waste to not reap the benefits I’d probably get from a strong monster like this. Although I may hardly ever use the subsequent acquired ability, it still fills me with a sort of sense of satisfaction knowing I did leave a little bit stronger from this fight.
Looking over at the beast next to me, it seems like he too had the same idea. Me being someone who can understand the benefits to what a good quality ‘kill’ this one was, I could sympathize with the Boar.
I’m not sure as to the specifics on how a monster goes about gaining strength from other monsters, but for me, I only need to devour about a portion of the monster. Generally about a kilogram or two would be enough for me to gain the full benefits. And on another note, the monster doesn’t necessarily have to be dead for me to usurp a portion of their powers.
As long as I get a little bit of it down my throat, I’m in the clear.
Of course that doesn’t necessarily mean I can just eat willy nilly. In some cases, what type of body part I eat determines a large factor of what type of abilities I can acquire. This is especially true for monsters with numerous abilities like Snapper head.
You can generally tell what type of ability a certain body part will be most likely give by observing how a monster fights, acts, or just through its general behavior. For example, in Snapper head’s case, if I were to eat a part of its tail, there’s a high possibility of receiving a self-regeneration like ability or something that’ll let me extend my limbs. On another note, eating something like scales to acquire more durability might be a bit hard, considering its tough to chew through substance like that, although possible if I were to use physical enhancement one more time.
Though I already had a feeling as to what ability I wanted to get from this Sea Dragon.
Without warning, the Boar hobbled off towards Snapper head and began mindlessly eating. I ignored him and approached the stomach. Seeing as how this part of its body had expanded whenever it had done its fireball, I guessed that the stomach had some role in that type of ability.
By this point, I could have started eating a little bit of the stomach, but right now I wasn’t quite ready. The main reason I brought the tusk along was in order to slice open this tremendous stomach. There were actually two main reasons for why I wanted to do this. One, I got a higher chance of gaining the fireball ability rather than some other one if I were to eat the insides rather than the exterior and two, morbid curiosity. I was a little bit interested in knowing what type of body part had a role in producing those flames. Rather, I wanted to know what was so special inside that could cause something as tremendously powerful as that fireball, especially coming from a sea creature.
I gently let my free hand rest on the surface of the stomach. I could feel a pulsating heat, which I reasoned was leftover emission from when Snapper head was alive a moment ago.
I found a groove within the underbelly and wasted no time getting to work.
I plunged the tusk in and with a little bit of elbow grease, It was securely in there. I had to stick the tusk deeper up to the point where my hand disappeared into the opening due to the fact that the wall of fat and muscle was too thick.
After a couple minutes of struggling (this was a lot more difficult to do without psychical enhance) I was able to secure a good foothold. With one vertical slash down, I sliced open the stomach.
Instantly, built up, heated air left the new opening. Following it was a stream of blood, gastric acid and even more steam.
I stepped back to let the blood conjugate and colless underneath me. I contemplated whether or not I should probe deeper, but my reason was trumped by my curiosity as I widened the opening with a few more slashes, I held my breath, and stuck my head inside the monster’s stomach.
I was met with a revolting stench. As expected of a stomach it smelled like digestion and a little bit of gas. I squinted through the smell, as if that would help, and observed my surroundings.
Aside from a faint red glow created by the light reflecting from the opening, the pit was dark. With no vision and only the horrible stench as my guide, I probed the stomach lining with my free hand. I felt the contractions, which were slowly but surely dimming down as the body had stopped working. As I felt along the muscle made walls, I came across a rather soft portion.
It was a squishy section located deep within the wall. It’s texture reminded me of mochi, yet when I attempted to grasp it, I yelped in response. The mochi section was hot, incredibly so. It emitted an unnatural heat, which I guessed if Snapper head was still alive, this section would have done more than provide simple burns.
I avoided the mochi section for now. I could already assume that this part played a huge role in the flame production, so I was planning to extract it later, but I’ll wait on it till after I’ve completely explored the stomach.
I finished probing the stomach. I even went as far as briefly searching through the bile of gastric acids, although not much success was found here due to the sheer amount that had pooled at the bottom of the stomach.
I made my way to the mochi section, and gingerly patted it in an attempt to check the heat. Seeing as it didn’t burn my hand upon contact, I started cutting the section out. Like its texture suggested, the mochi section was easy to separate from the wall. I quickly secured it and, prepared to make my way out of the stomach. Honestly speaking, the smell was getting to me, and I was afraid that if I stayed any longer, the stench might rub off on my clothes.
I opted to wade through the pool of stomach juice, holding my breathe while doing so.
Halfway through, a jolt within the liquid startled me. Quickly inspecting the pool, yet finding nothing, I chalked it up to after battle nerves. Truth be told, I don’t think I was in a very favorable situation for in depth analysis, seeing as how monochrome’s side effects were still affecting me. The 1.5 delay is especially taxing, it’s already caused me to trip several times and nearly slip into the acid.
Turning back, I again approached the exit. Expecting nothing to happen, I was quite startled when something latched on to my left leg, causing me to stumble and spill. Luckily I rolled into the limestone floor, rather than backwards into even more gastric acid.
“O-ow...What was that..?”
I inspected my leg. The left leg was hugged quite firmly by a light blue entity covered in the greenish mucus-like liquid of gastric acids.
As my eyes fixated on the new being, my wariness quickly dissipated after a few scrutinizing glares, which had subsequently caused a fit of whimpering when I met eyes with the new character.
A pair of cute, black eyes, with no visible whites in them met my glare. The owner of these eyes was a light blue toned, small, humanoid creature. The little fellow looked exactly like a 3 year old human child, except for the light blue hue of his skin and its sclera-less black eyes.
The creature had a mop of messy, dark, viridian colored hair, that covered his eyes and a majority of face. Ear like protrusions stuck out through the hair, and they would occasionally wiggle in visible nervousness.
Mindlessly, I reached out for an ear, and began caressing the appendage. The ear felt firm, and a little bit wet (which I guessed was due to the stomach acid). The shape was elvish, long and pointy, an uncommon characteristic that some magicians with extremely high magic capacities have.
This sudden caressment brought on a little whine from the three-year old.
“A-ah, sorry about that.”
I consoled, although more for my benefit than his. The little toddler responded with a cooing noise.
I assumed this child was a he, considering how flat his chest was (although in all honesty, I had no clue when breasts start developing). I couldn’t use his face to discern either, since it was quite androgynous, although I also chalked this up to the age.
As I continued to stare at the brat, I wondered how it had survived being in the creature's stomach for so long. Being able to withstand the combination of intense heat and gastric acids was an amazing feat in itself, especially considering that the thing in question was a toddler. Also, the fact that this child wasn’t the offspring of Snapper head was quite obvious. Just going by aesthetics, the two did not look at all alike, let along from the same species.
It was most probably swallowed at some point in time by the Sea dragon.
I grabbed the child’s chin gently with my left hand and brought its face closer for inspection. Apart from another discoloration of various tones of blues on its cheeks (kinda like blue freckles)m it looked exactly the same as a human. I could not see any visible discrepancies, I did observe a little bit of sleepiness in its eyes.
“He must have hibernated while inside to maintain its survival, like a water bear.....I have to say, what a pretty versatile infant.”
The child stared back in wide eyed fascination. Much of the beginning nervousness was gone after he had made the decision that I wasn’t gonna hurt him.
“Daa!”
The kid stretched out its arms towards to me and babbled in a high pitched voice. He made an indication that he wanted to be carried.
I ignored his attempts to make me carry him and instead pulled out a chunk of the monster meat I recently acquired. I put the meat close to his mouth, motioning him to eat it.
What I wanted to confirm was whether or not this brat was a monster. Although he looked very similar to an ordinary human, the slight discrepancies in his appearance showed that he was something else. Not even to mention the weird circumstance I found this brat in, humanoid monsters do exist, and considering things, there was a possibility this brat was one too.
The monster meat I tried feeding him would act as a crude test. Monsters have a natural fondness to monster meat. It has to go back to the basic concept of survival of the fittest, and idea pretty much engraved in a monster’s existence. Whatever method a monster has of making itself stronger, it will do so under any means necessary. On the other side, humans or more specifically, magicians, have a natural aversion to monster meat. This aversion diminishes as a person grows older, but while in the beginning stages of development, the dislike should be plenty strong.
On a related note, apparently I had no aversion to monster meat. Its a little bit weird, but when put into the context of my physiology, then its not that remarkable.
Whether or not this brat decides to eat will give an indication as to whether he was a monster or not.
At the sight of the meat, the kid’s nose wrinkled in distrust. He shook his head furiously while turning away. If I kept this up any longer, I was certain the brat would start crying.
I shrugged and instead popped the raw meat into my own mouth.
*sigh*
“It tastes just as bland as ever….”
If you ever wanted to find out what monsters tasted like, word of advice? Don’t try it for yourself. Firstly, an ordinary person would most likely die, and secondly, it tastes really bland. It doesn’t taste good, or bad, rather it doesn’t taste like anything. Just a bland, flavorless, and in some cases, textureless substance. It’s a lot like chewing on solidified water.
While I agonized over this minor dilemma, I looked back down at the child who was sitting flat on the limestone, mere inches away from a dissected stomach and a pool of blood.. Once again, it was staring at me with curious eyes.
“Hmmm…..I’m just gonna go ahead and presume you’re not a monster.”
“...da!”
The child reached out for me again.
“Then perhaps, might you be a magical being?”
“...da?”
For a moment I saw Nanami as the child mimicked a common action she would always do. The kid tilted its head to the sideways and I could almost swear I saw a question mark float above his head.
“Although you don’t really look like one though….then again, I’ve actually never seen a magical being in my life.”
“Da!”
“You’re acting just like a human brat too.”
“Da, da!”
“maybe you are human….or…”
“Da!”
“Considering I found you inside Snapper head’s stomach, could you possibly be from the sea?”
“Da?”
I pointed at the lake.
“You know, the sea! Ocean, water, fish.”
The toddler followed my fingers and looked over at the lake. His expression instantly changed to one of familiarity.
“Da, da!”
The child reached out for the small body of water with its stubby arms and began an awkward crawl towards it. He looked over at me once he got halfway and then looked back at the water. He looked over and over between me and the lake. It seemed like the child was making a rather arduous decision at the moment as his expression teared up and sweat began to flow down his brow.
In the end, it decided I was better of the two, and shortly after, began to crawl back. In no time, he was once again sitting in front of me.
“Welcome back brat.”
“Da!”
He raised his arm in an awkward response.
This brat might really be from the ocean. Considering a few things, his kind probably lived fairly deep down. That would actually explain his unworldly durability, considering you’d need a ton of that to stand up to all the sea pressure.
I pondered for a bit.
Well, not that it really matters to me….its not like I’m involved or anything.
The kid continued making strange cooing noises and wouldn’t stop with all the “Daas!”.
Although it’s not like I’m heartless enough to just leave a brat alone all by himself.
I sighed once more. I had decided on a decision. A rather troublesome decision.
“Well first we’re gonna need a name for you.”
“Da?”
“It’s not like I can just keep calling you brat or kid, that’d get a bit repetitive. Now, what would be good…”
I racked my brain for a good enough name. Hopefully, I hadn’t inherited my mother’s terrible naming sense.
“Ah, how about Quinn?”
“Da! Da!”
The kid made happy gestures with his hands and smiled a toothless grin.
“Oho~ It seems like you like it. Then from now on, I’ll call you Quinn.”
“Da! Da!”
I nodded to myself.
Problem solved!
I was planning to take care of Quinn, at least until I find out a little bit more about the whole situation.
I bent down and extended my hand to Quinn.
“Then, hello Quinn, its nice to meet you. My name’s Kelp. I guess for the time being, I’ll be looking after you for the time being, unless of course you want to go back to the sea right now.”
At my introduction, Quinn looked at me questioningly. As a three-year old I didn’t expect him to understand, but nevertheless he displayed a delighted expression, causing his cheeks to redden, causing a peculiar yet strangely appealing purple flush to appear on his face.
Quinn grabbed on to my arm, and like a monkey, he clambered on to my back and continued upwards until he came to sit on top of my head.
“Eh~ ….You're surprisingly acrobatic Quinn, wait, no, that’s not it, Why are you on top of my head in the first place?”
“Da!”
“Um...I see...Well, for now how about you get down?”
I reached for Quinn, but was met with surprising resistance. He yanked my hair back, causing a sharp pain in my scalp. He continued throwing a fit on top of my head, all the while screaming,
“Nuuuu!!!!”
After several minutes of this, I finally conceded, and just let the blue skinned child do whatever he wanted.
I then quickly finished up the rest of the monster meat and waited to feel the effects.
The process of acquiring a new ability is surprisingly simple. I just wait until I feel like something new’s there. Easy as that.
It’s a weird feeling to describe. It’s similar to how you just instinctively know that putting one foot in front of another will cause you to walk. Once I’ve eaten, and I’ve felt the new ability manifest, I instinctively know what type of ability it is and as an added bonus, I also get to know the rough basics on how to use it.
Kinda like right now.
I felt the pit of my stomach tighten and a slight wave of nausea swept over me. Once it passed, I instinctively knew what the nature of my new ability was.
“Good, it’s the one I wanted after all.”
I felt a hot sensation coiling up within me. I restrained this feeling, since after all, I didn’t want a misfire of my new ability. I won’t test it out any time soon, but since I’ve already got a rough handle on how to use it, I don’t even feel like such an action is necessary.
Snapper head’s fire ball, which from now on I’ve named [Inferno], is a special flame generated from highly compressed air that originates from the stomach. Somehow or another, this ability allows me to take in air into my stomach and bypass the lungs, where the air is heated, compressed and turned into fire.
I nodded in satisfaction.
“Well, now that that’s all done with, I guess its time to head back.”
At my words, the Boar from earlier looked up from his meal and came back. His belly was noticeably bloated and he wore a rather satisfied grin on his face.
“You heading back too, Boar?”
The boar snorted in response.
“I see then...well, I guess I’ll be on my way too…”
As I began heading towards the cavern entrance, I suddenly remembered,
“Oh yeah! I almost completely forgot….I gotta take Snapper head’s body with me, can’t go on and be forgetting the real reason why I went down here in the first place.”
Although I said that, looking at the humongous carcass that filled the cavern, I doubted I could do such a task.
Hmm….it’s gonna be real hard getting that hunk of meat through the tunnel….I doubt I can get it through, even if I just bring the head…
“Da?”
Quinn made a questioning sound as my face contorted in despair.
*sigh*
“It doesn’t seem like I can take snapper head with me in this situation….”
I groaned. Although I had gotten a cool new ability, the main reason I came down here was to hunt down a monster to take back with me. I made the stupid miscalculation of not noticing that there was no way Snapper head was making it back to the forest. And the lake is definitely out of question, I’d just end up feebly drowning.
I sighed and pondered what to do. While doing so, my eyes came to rest on the monster that was conveniently next to me.
I grinned.
“Oh...looks like I’ve found my solution?”
The boar looked at me oddly. It seemed confused of the situation.
“Hey mister pig, how are ya? Since you kinda remind me of another boar I took care of a long time ago, although he wasn’t nearly as large as you, I think I’ll name you Timmothy the 2nd, or just Timmy for short. Sounds good?”
The boar paused for a minute, as if thinking, before nodding his head.
It’s convenient that Timmy over here seems to understand the human language.
“Now, although this may be sudden, but, I have a little favor to ask…”
****
Shortly after, I am back in the forest. With me are Quinn, who is sitting contently on top of my head, and Timmy. We are currently making our way back to the school. And as convenient as it may seem, Timmy has agreed to come back with me, to act as proof of the exam.
“Although I don’t know whether they’ll accept bringing a monster that’s still alive. They did say to hunt one down….”
At this thought, I looked at Timmy. He was in front of me, acting as a sort of guide to the forest since I was completely lost and the book with the map was completely destroyed back at the cavern.
I’m sure they’ll at least add bonus points for bringing back something so big and strong?
…..
“Ah, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it, for now, I’ll focus on heading back to school! Yes, one step of a ti-”
Before I could finish my little speech, I tripped on a twisted root, causing me to facepalm the floor.
With a mouth full of twigs and leaves, I grumbled.
“Damn it! This is the third time already! Damn this lag!”
I cursed this annoying side effect. It’s been causing me pain and heartache ever since the effects kicked in. If only I had something to carry me or something to ride on…..ah.
My gaze fell on to my new found friend.
“Oi! Timmy, come here for a sec would ya?”
At my call, Timmy looked back before making his way towards me.
I patted his back and rubbed his broken tusk.
“Good, thanks. Now, if you’ll excuse me for a second…”
I began climbing his broad back. Timmy was conveniently as big as a small car, which made his back the ideal place to ride on.
In no time I was enjoying the view from atop an AAA rank monster.
“Good, with this I don’t have to worry about tripping anymore! Now onwards!”
“Da! Da-da!”
Following my jubilated yell, Quinn imitated me. He was now resting on top of the fur next to me.
Timmy made an equally as excited snorting sound before he continued onwards. The boar had a better sense of direction than me, so I felt comfortable leaving Timmy with the task of bringing us back.
“Ah~ Finally a break. Good thing too, my lag was getting real annoying, plus my muscle have already started to ache.”
I sighed contently. The fur was surprisingly soft, almost like a furry mattress.
“mmmm….You’re back sure is comfortable Timmy, if I’m careless, I might just drift off to sleep. Isn’t that right Quinn?”
Looking down, I discovered that the toddler in question was already passed out and sleeping contently.
“Jeez, Don’t go drifting off to sleep like that all by yourself, Quinn….Actually that looks pretty good right now, maybe I’ll follow suite…”
I spread out my legs and nuzzled myself against the fur in an attempt to look for an even comfier position. In no time, I had found one, and sleep was threatening to engulf me. Before I completely drifted off, I was able to utter one last remark at Timmy.
“I’ll leave it up to you then, okay...For now, I’ll be taking a quick naaap…..zzzzz”
As the final jaws of the sandman enclosed on me, I heard a faint snort from Timmy. I fell asleep afterwards, to the sound of rhythmic tromping and gentle swaying.
*****
At the square, a young maiden can be seen fretting as she looks over the crowd of gathered students and subsequently towards the forest. The young girl in question was Nanami, Kelp’s quite precocious sister who was currently worrying about her older brother, who still had not gotten back from the forest, despite the time almost reaching 3 hours.
The time limit was approaching quickly and she still could not find a trace of her brother.
Nanami advances towards the front. She quickly passed the arm which was attached to a green toned wrist watch underneath a glowing ray. This machine (which was produced by magic) was something brought by Professor Kiryat. It had the ability to instantly record the information possessed within the wristwatches.
In front of Nanami was the student helper, Yun Hwa, who was currently taking over registrations while the Professor rested.
As Yun Hwa gazed down at her tablet, her eyebrows perked up.
“Oho~ Way to go Nanami! It looks like you’ve hunted quite a few magical beings! I’m may not be allowed to say this but, I think you’ve got the most so far! And on top of that you’re also starting at a very high rank! What a hard working student you are.”
Momentarily distracted from her distress, Nanami blushed and replied Meekly,
“A-ah, thank you….”
Upon seeing this, Yun Hwa’s face lit up and even her smile broadened. Seeing the shy Nanami’s terrible handling at praise instantly brightened Yun Hwa’s face. After all, seeing such a cute spectacle would make any man’s heart beat.
“Oh you! No need to be shy, miss Prodigy! Speaking from your records alone, it seems like you’re more than qualified to brag a little….Oh, it looks like you’ve also hunted quite a few B rankers too! Even those elusive Del Flames. I heard that they’ve got such low magic output that it’s nearly impossible to locate one! How on earth did you manage that?”
“I-I’ve always been really good at detecting magic...but thanks for the praise. I’ve got to go now, I’m looking for someone..”
Nanami scurried out like a frightened mouse before the boisterous Yun Hwa could react.
As she began her search once again, another voice called out to her from behind.
“Little sister~! Little sister~! Over here Little sister!”
Turning around, Nanami sighed in relief upon seeing the familiar face of Avril.
In truth, Nanami was a shy fellow. She was the type who was extremely bad with people and strangers in particular. Even her beloved older brother, whom she practically attaches to by the hip experienced Nanami’s shyness. When the two had met for the first time almost 10 years ago, Nanami was extremely cautious. It took Kelp the better part of 2 years plus some extreme effort on his part before he could solidify his relationship with Nanami to the extent of being able to keep a good conversation going.
Although the reason Kelp’s efforts had taken so long wasn’t due to Nanami’s caution towards strangers. If one lived with another for even a year long, it was normal to grow familiar with that individual. No, in actuality, Nanami had developed a crush, which, to the 7 year old little girl, was a difficult feeling to understand. She could not figure out why her voice would get shaky or why her palms would get sweaty at the mere sight of the young boy.
This, coupled by Nanami’s own crippling shyness was why it took so long for her to grow comfortable around Kelp.
On the plus side, Nanami’s shyness has diminished as she grew older. Now she is able to respond back when a stranger is talking to her (although her face might get as red as a tomato). And what’s more, around people she knows, Nanami can act somewhat like an ordinary person.
“A-Avril sempai, hello there.”
“Oho~ Hey there Little Sister! What have you been doing, It looks like you’re searching for someone.”
Avril approached whilst waving her arm. She showcased a broad grin as she replied back to the fidgeting Nanami.
“Oh, that’s right Sempai, have you seen my brother around?”
“Hmm? Kelp? Actually, now that you mention it, I haven’t. Is he not back yet.”
To this, Nanami shook her head. She grew even more downtrodden at the fact that not even Avril knew where her brother was.
“Oh, that’s too bad. I was sure that everyone had already made it back…..although there had been rumours that one person was keeping everyone from being dismissed...Ah! That might be your Brother then!”
The crowd of restless students had grown even rowdier. A rumor had circulated that had all students returned already, they would have already been dismissed. The fact that they hadn’t had caused a rumour to spark amongst the frenzied crowd that one person was keeping them penned in the tiny square. They pushed all their misplaced anger on this mysterious individual who just so happened was running a little bit late.
“Erm...I’m afraid if your brother doesn’t get back soon, the crowd might get a little blood thirsty…”
At Avril’s words, Nanami’s eyes opened wider in shocked dismay.
Before she could refute any of Avril’s words, a commotion gathered along the edge of the forest.
The canopies shook as a slight tremble could be felt. From out of the clearing, a Boar came striding forward.
Many of the Students recoiled in shock and gasped in fright. The boar in question was humongous, and was covered in a mixture of twigs and dried blood. Its fur was so messed up, that it was hard to make out the fur’s original brown color. Along with this and its badly damaged tusks, the beast gave off an aura of ferociousness. A bystander would have made the boar out to be a war veteran, one equally as frightening as their own Professor Kiryat.
The students all stand in blank surprise. From a distance, the Professor can be seen preparing some anti-monster defense spells.
As the initial shock fades, the Boar continues to stand imposingly in front of the crowd. Eventually, the sudden appearance caused a spark of murmurs to occur among the students.
“Oi, oi, what is that thing?”
“I’ve never seen a pig that big before!”
“Do you think it’s a monster? It looks like a monster, it looks alot like a monster!”
“Did this forest even had something like that?”
“O-oi, what do we do?”
While the murmurs reached their climax, the boar began to shake its body. The sudden action caused many students to yelp in fear. A few began to hastily prepare their magic. The commotion abruptly halted though as a black haired young man in a tattered uniform fell of the beast’s back like a flee from a dog’s back.
The student’s stared wide eyed at the newcomer. The Boar was scary in itself, but the appearance of a man who was previously on top of the beast just plain confused them. What made it more surprising was that the man himself wasn’t moving. He was currently lying face down on the dirt, legs spread out and butt poking forward. A rather disgraceful appearance.
“Y-you think he’s dead?”
“Well, he doesn’t seem to be moving…..so maybe.”
The crowd’s growing murmurs was abruptly halted by a quick snort, not from the Boar, but from the young man on the floor. All eyes turned towards him once again. The students waited for a few seconds in silence before they heard a snoring sound resonate from the man.
“Ah, he’s sleeping.”
A bystander remarked.
While all eye’s were currently focused on the snoring young man, another rustle could be heard from the back of the Boar. This time the students were more apprehensive than scared. After the young man had entered the scene, their danger senses had greatly diminished.
From up above the Boar’s back, among its longs tufts of fur, popped out a green head of hair. As the new person moved, more and more of his blue skin could be seen. Eventually a blue skinned toddler stood at the boar’s back. His hazy expression was met with another set of wide eyed expressions.
Quinn looked left and right, before his gaze landed on the sleeping young man. Once he saw the man, He began angrily smacking the top of the Boar’s head. The crowd looked with bewilderment. They not only feared what the Boar would do to the tantruming child, but also feared that it would divert its rage towards them.
But to their surprise, the Boar consented to the Quinn’s demands. It lowered its head, enough for the young child to waddle down from. The kid continued, this time crawling on the dirt floor to approach the sleeping young man.
With great effort, Quinn was able to flip the man right side up, revealing a mop of messy black hair accompanied by a stream of drool. Quinn squeezed himself between the space of the young man’s left arm and his chest. Once satisfied, he immediately drifted off to sleep, continuing his nap from before.
At this sight the crowd could only look on in utter silence and confusion. The situation itself was beyond weird, not even to mention the appearance of a giant Boar and a blue baby.
Nanami makes her way to the crowd, brought on by the students’ reactions and commotions.
“I wonder what’s going on he- ! I-is that Oniichan?”
Nanami’s eyes bulge seeing her sleeping older brother lying next to a blue child. Her eyes dart from the Boar to Kelp and then back again. She had a hard time computing what actually happened.
Just then, a group of 4 made their way to the front. The new group consisted of the teacher and his helpers. Avril was the first to comment, overtaken by her surprise she yelped,
“EH!!? Is that Kelp over there?”
Avril wore a similar expression as Nanami as she too tried to guess what went on.
George, the male helper separated to go question the crowd, whom had broken out of their stupor and started causing ruckus. He shortly came back, and reported to the others.
“Ehm, It seems like the student over there came back riding atop the Boar.”
He made a cautious sideways glance at the Boar.
“Hahahaha! As expected of someone like Kelp! Doing something so crazy right off the bat! School hasn’t even started yet.”
Avril interjected with her somewhat too proud comment.
“Mmmm...Please be serious here Avril, this is quite a problem you know.”
Yun Hwa sighed.
She knew this issue was more than meets the eye. She was a very studious person, and worried more about how this situation would count against the sleeping young man.
“You know that this test was about hunting a monster down right? Not taming and bringing back one. What’s more the Boar brought back the student! For all we know, the student over there could have passed out in the middle of the forest and was brought back by the Boar in question.”
George coughed at this statement. He found such a situation hard to believe.
“I doubt there’s such a friendly monster just lying around the forest like that.”
“Well, in any case, the issue still stands. What do you think Professor?”
Yun Hwa stirred the conversation towards Professor Kiryat.
He glanced at the scene, grunted, and began to walk away before saying, “Hmph. Just handle it amongst yourselves.”
To this curt reply, the students could only sigh in response.
Being the acting vice-leader, Yun Hwa had already come to a decision even before she had asked their teacher.
“It’s regrettable, but I’ll have no choice to fail Kelp over here. It’s quite unfortunate he wasn’t able to meet the requirements. If he had only managed to hunt at least one down….”
Nanami, who had been paying close attention to the trio’s conversation, gasped in horror.
“N-no way...Onii Chan's gonna fail…”
Her eyes watered, as she wavered in front of her sleeping brother.
The Boar, Timmy, who had a slight understanding of the human language comprehended the situation to the extent where he understood what the issue was.
Without warning, the Boar sprinted back to the forest, and action that greatly surprised the Students. After two minutes, the Boar came back from the tree line, this time carrying a mass of dirty white fur with him. He made his way towards the sleeping young man before setting it down right next to him.
The students who had seen a lot of incredible things today, could only stare blankly as the scene unfolded.
George was the first to comment. He had previously been looking quite closely at the dead thing that lay next to the soon to be expelled student.
“T-that’s a horned rabbit. A rank G monster worth exactly 1 point.”
The monster carcass resembled an ordinary rabbit, with the exception of a 15 centimeter horn sticking out of its head.
Nanami who suddenly came to understand the situation confronted Yun Hwa who was still in a daze by the sudden turn of events.
“W-with this he passes, right?”
Yun Hwa displayed an uncomfortable look. The situation before her took a turn for the worst. Now it was even more disarrayed.
“Ehm...but…”
Avril interrupted the wavering Honor student with a strong pat on the back.
“Come on Yun! There’s a monster right next to the man, don’t be such a stickler and just pass him already.”
At Avril’s suggestion, Yun Hwa could only sigh. She guessed she might have been thinking a bit too hard about the situation. It was time to show a little bit of leniency.
“F-fine. I guess this young man, erm, excuse me, Kelp Kusanagi passes the entrance exam with exactly one point!”
*****
Author's note again: Hope you enjoyed the story, and also, like always, some feedback is nice. I'd ask for reviews, but I don't want to be that type of author, but I do greatly appreciate the comments you guys leave me. Its nice to see my work getting appreciated.
till next time.
Previous Chapter:Chapter 7
Next Chapter:Chapter 8.5
Also, I may need a Proofreader for my story. As you may have already seen, I don't have a tendency to revise and read over my work. A PR may be helpful to have. If anybody's interested PM me or write something in the comments below.
Well anyways, hope you enjoy.
*****
Children and Rabbits
“................”
The cavern was silent. Both the Boar and I held our breaths. The dust and debris that [Sniper] had stirred were blocking my vision and likewise, the Boar was too far away to see Snapper head. We waited in anticipation, whether the Sea Dragon would move or not remained to be unseen (literally).
As the dust parted, the cavern’s visibility returned to its natural splendor. I fixed my gaze towards the Dragon, and subsequently exasperated in joy as I saw the lifeless husk of a mighty monster who ceased any movement.
“Haaa~ I-It’s finally over…”
I loosened my shoulders and fell flat to my knees. I was thoroughly spent right now. I mean, you can’t expect someone who committed himself to a shut in lifestyle for half a year to not be tired after they just wrestled with a giant fish.
I broke off into a collection of shaky laughs as I leaned back and looked at the ceiling.
After a moment, I got up on shaky feet and approached the now deceased Snapper head. Seeing me move, the Boar returned from his after victory stupor and followed suit. We approached the dead body and for a moment, just stared at the thing.
It was sorta like we were paying our respects to the opponent whom we had greatly struggled with. An opponent who brought us on the very brink of death numerous times. We were giving our respects to such a mighty foe.
Then I kicked the carcass with my foot.
Seeing the enormous thing not budge after a while, I kicked it again some more before announcing,
“Yup, it’s dead alright.”
The Boar next to me snorted in response.
Rather anticlimactic after a big battle like this, all I could do was nod at the Boar who returned it with another snort.
“Welp, time to reap the rewards.”
I approached Snapper head’s left arm and reached for the broken off tusk that had lodged itself into its hide earlier. I pulled it out, admiring the unexpected sharpness of the thing before moving back to get a better view of the whole of the monster.
“Now...where should I start….”
I was planning to eat Snapper head, or at least a portion of him. After such a tremendous battle, it would honestly be a waste to not reap the benefits I’d probably get from a strong monster like this. Although I may hardly ever use the subsequent acquired ability, it still fills me with a sort of sense of satisfaction knowing I did leave a little bit stronger from this fight.
Looking over at the beast next to me, it seems like he too had the same idea. Me being someone who can understand the benefits to what a good quality ‘kill’ this one was, I could sympathize with the Boar.
I’m not sure as to the specifics on how a monster goes about gaining strength from other monsters, but for me, I only need to devour about a portion of the monster. Generally about a kilogram or two would be enough for me to gain the full benefits. And on another note, the monster doesn’t necessarily have to be dead for me to usurp a portion of their powers.
As long as I get a little bit of it down my throat, I’m in the clear.
Of course that doesn’t necessarily mean I can just eat willy nilly. In some cases, what type of body part I eat determines a large factor of what type of abilities I can acquire. This is especially true for monsters with numerous abilities like Snapper head.
You can generally tell what type of ability a certain body part will be most likely give by observing how a monster fights, acts, or just through its general behavior. For example, in Snapper head’s case, if I were to eat a part of its tail, there’s a high possibility of receiving a self-regeneration like ability or something that’ll let me extend my limbs. On another note, eating something like scales to acquire more durability might be a bit hard, considering its tough to chew through substance like that, although possible if I were to use physical enhancement one more time.
Though I already had a feeling as to what ability I wanted to get from this Sea Dragon.
Without warning, the Boar hobbled off towards Snapper head and began mindlessly eating. I ignored him and approached the stomach. Seeing as how this part of its body had expanded whenever it had done its fireball, I guessed that the stomach had some role in that type of ability.
By this point, I could have started eating a little bit of the stomach, but right now I wasn’t quite ready. The main reason I brought the tusk along was in order to slice open this tremendous stomach. There were actually two main reasons for why I wanted to do this. One, I got a higher chance of gaining the fireball ability rather than some other one if I were to eat the insides rather than the exterior and two, morbid curiosity. I was a little bit interested in knowing what type of body part had a role in producing those flames. Rather, I wanted to know what was so special inside that could cause something as tremendously powerful as that fireball, especially coming from a sea creature.
I gently let my free hand rest on the surface of the stomach. I could feel a pulsating heat, which I reasoned was leftover emission from when Snapper head was alive a moment ago.
I found a groove within the underbelly and wasted no time getting to work.
I plunged the tusk in and with a little bit of elbow grease, It was securely in there. I had to stick the tusk deeper up to the point where my hand disappeared into the opening due to the fact that the wall of fat and muscle was too thick.
After a couple minutes of struggling (this was a lot more difficult to do without psychical enhance) I was able to secure a good foothold. With one vertical slash down, I sliced open the stomach.
Instantly, built up, heated air left the new opening. Following it was a stream of blood, gastric acid and even more steam.
I stepped back to let the blood conjugate and colless underneath me. I contemplated whether or not I should probe deeper, but my reason was trumped by my curiosity as I widened the opening with a few more slashes, I held my breath, and stuck my head inside the monster’s stomach.
I was met with a revolting stench. As expected of a stomach it smelled like digestion and a little bit of gas. I squinted through the smell, as if that would help, and observed my surroundings.
Aside from a faint red glow created by the light reflecting from the opening, the pit was dark. With no vision and only the horrible stench as my guide, I probed the stomach lining with my free hand. I felt the contractions, which were slowly but surely dimming down as the body had stopped working. As I felt along the muscle made walls, I came across a rather soft portion.
It was a squishy section located deep within the wall. It’s texture reminded me of mochi, yet when I attempted to grasp it, I yelped in response. The mochi section was hot, incredibly so. It emitted an unnatural heat, which I guessed if Snapper head was still alive, this section would have done more than provide simple burns.
I avoided the mochi section for now. I could already assume that this part played a huge role in the flame production, so I was planning to extract it later, but I’ll wait on it till after I’ve completely explored the stomach.
I finished probing the stomach. I even went as far as briefly searching through the bile of gastric acids, although not much success was found here due to the sheer amount that had pooled at the bottom of the stomach.
I made my way to the mochi section, and gingerly patted it in an attempt to check the heat. Seeing as it didn’t burn my hand upon contact, I started cutting the section out. Like its texture suggested, the mochi section was easy to separate from the wall. I quickly secured it and, prepared to make my way out of the stomach. Honestly speaking, the smell was getting to me, and I was afraid that if I stayed any longer, the stench might rub off on my clothes.
I opted to wade through the pool of stomach juice, holding my breathe while doing so.
Halfway through, a jolt within the liquid startled me. Quickly inspecting the pool, yet finding nothing, I chalked it up to after battle nerves. Truth be told, I don’t think I was in a very favorable situation for in depth analysis, seeing as how monochrome’s side effects were still affecting me. The 1.5 delay is especially taxing, it’s already caused me to trip several times and nearly slip into the acid.
Turning back, I again approached the exit. Expecting nothing to happen, I was quite startled when something latched on to my left leg, causing me to stumble and spill. Luckily I rolled into the limestone floor, rather than backwards into even more gastric acid.
“O-ow...What was that..?”
I inspected my leg. The left leg was hugged quite firmly by a light blue entity covered in the greenish mucus-like liquid of gastric acids.
As my eyes fixated on the new being, my wariness quickly dissipated after a few scrutinizing glares, which had subsequently caused a fit of whimpering when I met eyes with the new character.
A pair of cute, black eyes, with no visible whites in them met my glare. The owner of these eyes was a light blue toned, small, humanoid creature. The little fellow looked exactly like a 3 year old human child, except for the light blue hue of his skin and its sclera-less black eyes.
The creature had a mop of messy, dark, viridian colored hair, that covered his eyes and a majority of face. Ear like protrusions stuck out through the hair, and they would occasionally wiggle in visible nervousness.
Mindlessly, I reached out for an ear, and began caressing the appendage. The ear felt firm, and a little bit wet (which I guessed was due to the stomach acid). The shape was elvish, long and pointy, an uncommon characteristic that some magicians with extremely high magic capacities have.
This sudden caressment brought on a little whine from the three-year old.
“A-ah, sorry about that.”
I consoled, although more for my benefit than his. The little toddler responded with a cooing noise.
I assumed this child was a he, considering how flat his chest was (although in all honesty, I had no clue when breasts start developing). I couldn’t use his face to discern either, since it was quite androgynous, although I also chalked this up to the age.
As I continued to stare at the brat, I wondered how it had survived being in the creature's stomach for so long. Being able to withstand the combination of intense heat and gastric acids was an amazing feat in itself, especially considering that the thing in question was a toddler. Also, the fact that this child wasn’t the offspring of Snapper head was quite obvious. Just going by aesthetics, the two did not look at all alike, let along from the same species.
It was most probably swallowed at some point in time by the Sea dragon.
I grabbed the child’s chin gently with my left hand and brought its face closer for inspection. Apart from another discoloration of various tones of blues on its cheeks (kinda like blue freckles)m it looked exactly the same as a human. I could not see any visible discrepancies, I did observe a little bit of sleepiness in its eyes.
“He must have hibernated while inside to maintain its survival, like a water bear.....I have to say, what a pretty versatile infant.”
The child stared back in wide eyed fascination. Much of the beginning nervousness was gone after he had made the decision that I wasn’t gonna hurt him.
“Daa!”
The kid stretched out its arms towards to me and babbled in a high pitched voice. He made an indication that he wanted to be carried.
I ignored his attempts to make me carry him and instead pulled out a chunk of the monster meat I recently acquired. I put the meat close to his mouth, motioning him to eat it.
What I wanted to confirm was whether or not this brat was a monster. Although he looked very similar to an ordinary human, the slight discrepancies in his appearance showed that he was something else. Not even to mention the weird circumstance I found this brat in, humanoid monsters do exist, and considering things, there was a possibility this brat was one too.
The monster meat I tried feeding him would act as a crude test. Monsters have a natural fondness to monster meat. It has to go back to the basic concept of survival of the fittest, and idea pretty much engraved in a monster’s existence. Whatever method a monster has of making itself stronger, it will do so under any means necessary. On the other side, humans or more specifically, magicians, have a natural aversion to monster meat. This aversion diminishes as a person grows older, but while in the beginning stages of development, the dislike should be plenty strong.
On a related note, apparently I had no aversion to monster meat. Its a little bit weird, but when put into the context of my physiology, then its not that remarkable.
Whether or not this brat decides to eat will give an indication as to whether he was a monster or not.
At the sight of the meat, the kid’s nose wrinkled in distrust. He shook his head furiously while turning away. If I kept this up any longer, I was certain the brat would start crying.
I shrugged and instead popped the raw meat into my own mouth.
*sigh*
“It tastes just as bland as ever….”
If you ever wanted to find out what monsters tasted like, word of advice? Don’t try it for yourself. Firstly, an ordinary person would most likely die, and secondly, it tastes really bland. It doesn’t taste good, or bad, rather it doesn’t taste like anything. Just a bland, flavorless, and in some cases, textureless substance. It’s a lot like chewing on solidified water.
While I agonized over this minor dilemma, I looked back down at the child who was sitting flat on the limestone, mere inches away from a dissected stomach and a pool of blood.. Once again, it was staring at me with curious eyes.
“Hmmm…..I’m just gonna go ahead and presume you’re not a monster.”
“...da!”
The child reached out for me again.
“Then perhaps, might you be a magical being?”
“...da?”
For a moment I saw Nanami as the child mimicked a common action she would always do. The kid tilted its head to the sideways and I could almost swear I saw a question mark float above his head.
“Although you don’t really look like one though….then again, I’ve actually never seen a magical being in my life.”
“Da!”
“You’re acting just like a human brat too.”
“Da, da!”
“maybe you are human….or…”
“Da!”
“Considering I found you inside Snapper head’s stomach, could you possibly be from the sea?”
“Da?”
I pointed at the lake.
“You know, the sea! Ocean, water, fish.”
The toddler followed my fingers and looked over at the lake. His expression instantly changed to one of familiarity.
“Da, da!”
The child reached out for the small body of water with its stubby arms and began an awkward crawl towards it. He looked over at me once he got halfway and then looked back at the water. He looked over and over between me and the lake. It seemed like the child was making a rather arduous decision at the moment as his expression teared up and sweat began to flow down his brow.
In the end, it decided I was better of the two, and shortly after, began to crawl back. In no time, he was once again sitting in front of me.
“Welcome back brat.”
“Da!”
He raised his arm in an awkward response.
This brat might really be from the ocean. Considering a few things, his kind probably lived fairly deep down. That would actually explain his unworldly durability, considering you’d need a ton of that to stand up to all the sea pressure.
I pondered for a bit.
Well, not that it really matters to me….its not like I’m involved or anything.
The kid continued making strange cooing noises and wouldn’t stop with all the “Daas!”.
Although it’s not like I’m heartless enough to just leave a brat alone all by himself.
I sighed once more. I had decided on a decision. A rather troublesome decision.
“Well first we’re gonna need a name for you.”
“Da?”
“It’s not like I can just keep calling you brat or kid, that’d get a bit repetitive. Now, what would be good…”
I racked my brain for a good enough name. Hopefully, I hadn’t inherited my mother’s terrible naming sense.
“Ah, how about Quinn?”
“Da! Da!”
The kid made happy gestures with his hands and smiled a toothless grin.
“Oho~ It seems like you like it. Then from now on, I’ll call you Quinn.”
“Da! Da!”
I nodded to myself.
Problem solved!
I was planning to take care of Quinn, at least until I find out a little bit more about the whole situation.
I bent down and extended my hand to Quinn.
“Then, hello Quinn, its nice to meet you. My name’s Kelp. I guess for the time being, I’ll be looking after you for the time being, unless of course you want to go back to the sea right now.”
At my introduction, Quinn looked at me questioningly. As a three-year old I didn’t expect him to understand, but nevertheless he displayed a delighted expression, causing his cheeks to redden, causing a peculiar yet strangely appealing purple flush to appear on his face.
Quinn grabbed on to my arm, and like a monkey, he clambered on to my back and continued upwards until he came to sit on top of my head.
“Eh~ ….You're surprisingly acrobatic Quinn, wait, no, that’s not it, Why are you on top of my head in the first place?”
“Da!”
“Um...I see...Well, for now how about you get down?”
I reached for Quinn, but was met with surprising resistance. He yanked my hair back, causing a sharp pain in my scalp. He continued throwing a fit on top of my head, all the while screaming,
“Nuuuu!!!!”
After several minutes of this, I finally conceded, and just let the blue skinned child do whatever he wanted.
I then quickly finished up the rest of the monster meat and waited to feel the effects.
The process of acquiring a new ability is surprisingly simple. I just wait until I feel like something new’s there. Easy as that.
It’s a weird feeling to describe. It’s similar to how you just instinctively know that putting one foot in front of another will cause you to walk. Once I’ve eaten, and I’ve felt the new ability manifest, I instinctively know what type of ability it is and as an added bonus, I also get to know the rough basics on how to use it.
Kinda like right now.
I felt the pit of my stomach tighten and a slight wave of nausea swept over me. Once it passed, I instinctively knew what the nature of my new ability was.
“Good, it’s the one I wanted after all.”
I felt a hot sensation coiling up within me. I restrained this feeling, since after all, I didn’t want a misfire of my new ability. I won’t test it out any time soon, but since I’ve already got a rough handle on how to use it, I don’t even feel like such an action is necessary.
Snapper head’s fire ball, which from now on I’ve named [Inferno], is a special flame generated from highly compressed air that originates from the stomach. Somehow or another, this ability allows me to take in air into my stomach and bypass the lungs, where the air is heated, compressed and turned into fire.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
I nodded in satisfaction.
“Well, now that that’s all done with, I guess its time to head back.”
At my words, the Boar from earlier looked up from his meal and came back. His belly was noticeably bloated and he wore a rather satisfied grin on his face.
“You heading back too, Boar?”
The boar snorted in response.
“I see then...well, I guess I’ll be on my way too…”
As I began heading towards the cavern entrance, I suddenly remembered,
“Oh yeah! I almost completely forgot….I gotta take Snapper head’s body with me, can’t go on and be forgetting the real reason why I went down here in the first place.”
Although I said that, looking at the humongous carcass that filled the cavern, I doubted I could do such a task.
Hmm….it’s gonna be real hard getting that hunk of meat through the tunnel….I doubt I can get it through, even if I just bring the head…
“Da?”
Quinn made a questioning sound as my face contorted in despair.
*sigh*
“It doesn’t seem like I can take snapper head with me in this situation….”
I groaned. Although I had gotten a cool new ability, the main reason I came down here was to hunt down a monster to take back with me. I made the stupid miscalculation of not noticing that there was no way Snapper head was making it back to the forest. And the lake is definitely out of question, I’d just end up feebly drowning.
I sighed and pondered what to do. While doing so, my eyes came to rest on the monster that was conveniently next to me.
I grinned.
“Oh...looks like I’ve found my solution?”
The boar looked at me oddly. It seemed confused of the situation.
“Hey mister pig, how are ya? Since you kinda remind me of another boar I took care of a long time ago, although he wasn’t nearly as large as you, I think I’ll name you Timmothy the 2nd, or just Timmy for short. Sounds good?”
The boar paused for a minute, as if thinking, before nodding his head.
It’s convenient that Timmy over here seems to understand the human language.
“Now, although this may be sudden, but, I have a little favor to ask…”
****
Shortly after, I am back in the forest. With me are Quinn, who is sitting contently on top of my head, and Timmy. We are currently making our way back to the school. And as convenient as it may seem, Timmy has agreed to come back with me, to act as proof of the exam.
“Although I don’t know whether they’ll accept bringing a monster that’s still alive. They did say to hunt one down….”
At this thought, I looked at Timmy. He was in front of me, acting as a sort of guide to the forest since I was completely lost and the book with the map was completely destroyed back at the cavern.
I’m sure they’ll at least add bonus points for bringing back something so big and strong?
…..
“Ah, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it, for now, I’ll focus on heading back to school! Yes, one step of a ti-”
Before I could finish my little speech, I tripped on a twisted root, causing me to facepalm the floor.
With a mouth full of twigs and leaves, I grumbled.
“Damn it! This is the third time already! Damn this lag!”
I cursed this annoying side effect. It’s been causing me pain and heartache ever since the effects kicked in. If only I had something to carry me or something to ride on…..ah.
My gaze fell on to my new found friend.
“Oi! Timmy, come here for a sec would ya?”
At my call, Timmy looked back before making his way towards me.
I patted his back and rubbed his broken tusk.
“Good, thanks. Now, if you’ll excuse me for a second…”
I began climbing his broad back. Timmy was conveniently as big as a small car, which made his back the ideal place to ride on.
In no time I was enjoying the view from atop an AAA rank monster.
“Good, with this I don’t have to worry about tripping anymore! Now onwards!”
“Da! Da-da!”
Following my jubilated yell, Quinn imitated me. He was now resting on top of the fur next to me.
Timmy made an equally as excited snorting sound before he continued onwards. The boar had a better sense of direction than me, so I felt comfortable leaving Timmy with the task of bringing us back.
“Ah~ Finally a break. Good thing too, my lag was getting real annoying, plus my muscle have already started to ache.”
I sighed contently. The fur was surprisingly soft, almost like a furry mattress.
“mmmm….You’re back sure is comfortable Timmy, if I’m careless, I might just drift off to sleep. Isn’t that right Quinn?”
Looking down, I discovered that the toddler in question was already passed out and sleeping contently.
“Jeez, Don’t go drifting off to sleep like that all by yourself, Quinn….Actually that looks pretty good right now, maybe I’ll follow suite…”
I spread out my legs and nuzzled myself against the fur in an attempt to look for an even comfier position. In no time, I had found one, and sleep was threatening to engulf me. Before I completely drifted off, I was able to utter one last remark at Timmy.
“I’ll leave it up to you then, okay...For now, I’ll be taking a quick naaap…..zzzzz”
As the final jaws of the sandman enclosed on me, I heard a faint snort from Timmy. I fell asleep afterwards, to the sound of rhythmic tromping and gentle swaying.
*****
At the square, a young maiden can be seen fretting as she looks over the crowd of gathered students and subsequently towards the forest. The young girl in question was Nanami, Kelp’s quite precocious sister who was currently worrying about her older brother, who still had not gotten back from the forest, despite the time almost reaching 3 hours.
The time limit was approaching quickly and she still could not find a trace of her brother.
Nanami advances towards the front. She quickly passed the arm which was attached to a green toned wrist watch underneath a glowing ray. This machine (which was produced by magic) was something brought by Professor Kiryat. It had the ability to instantly record the information possessed within the wristwatches.
In front of Nanami was the student helper, Yun Hwa, who was currently taking over registrations while the Professor rested.
As Yun Hwa gazed down at her tablet, her eyebrows perked up.
“Oho~ Way to go Nanami! It looks like you’ve hunted quite a few magical beings! I’m may not be allowed to say this but, I think you’ve got the most so far! And on top of that you’re also starting at a very high rank! What a hard working student you are.”
Momentarily distracted from her distress, Nanami blushed and replied Meekly,
“A-ah, thank you….”
Upon seeing this, Yun Hwa’s face lit up and even her smile broadened. Seeing the shy Nanami’s terrible handling at praise instantly brightened Yun Hwa’s face. After all, seeing such a cute spectacle would make any man’s heart beat.
“Oh you! No need to be shy, miss Prodigy! Speaking from your records alone, it seems like you’re more than qualified to brag a little….Oh, it looks like you’ve also hunted quite a few B rankers too! Even those elusive Del Flames. I heard that they’ve got such low magic output that it’s nearly impossible to locate one! How on earth did you manage that?”
“I-I’ve always been really good at detecting magic...but thanks for the praise. I’ve got to go now, I’m looking for someone..”
Nanami scurried out like a frightened mouse before the boisterous Yun Hwa could react.
As she began her search once again, another voice called out to her from behind.
“Little sister~! Little sister~! Over here Little sister!”
Turning around, Nanami sighed in relief upon seeing the familiar face of Avril.
In truth, Nanami was a shy fellow. She was the type who was extremely bad with people and strangers in particular. Even her beloved older brother, whom she practically attaches to by the hip experienced Nanami’s shyness. When the two had met for the first time almost 10 years ago, Nanami was extremely cautious. It took Kelp the better part of 2 years plus some extreme effort on his part before he could solidify his relationship with Nanami to the extent of being able to keep a good conversation going.
Although the reason Kelp’s efforts had taken so long wasn’t due to Nanami’s caution towards strangers. If one lived with another for even a year long, it was normal to grow familiar with that individual. No, in actuality, Nanami had developed a crush, which, to the 7 year old little girl, was a difficult feeling to understand. She could not figure out why her voice would get shaky or why her palms would get sweaty at the mere sight of the young boy.
This, coupled by Nanami’s own crippling shyness was why it took so long for her to grow comfortable around Kelp.
On the plus side, Nanami’s shyness has diminished as she grew older. Now she is able to respond back when a stranger is talking to her (although her face might get as red as a tomato). And what’s more, around people she knows, Nanami can act somewhat like an ordinary person.
“A-Avril sempai, hello there.”
“Oho~ Hey there Little Sister! What have you been doing, It looks like you’re searching for someone.”
Avril approached whilst waving her arm. She showcased a broad grin as she replied back to the fidgeting Nanami.
“Oh, that’s right Sempai, have you seen my brother around?”
“Hmm? Kelp? Actually, now that you mention it, I haven’t. Is he not back yet.”
To this, Nanami shook her head. She grew even more downtrodden at the fact that not even Avril knew where her brother was.
“Oh, that’s too bad. I was sure that everyone had already made it back…..although there had been rumours that one person was keeping everyone from being dismissed...Ah! That might be your Brother then!”
The crowd of restless students had grown even rowdier. A rumor had circulated that had all students returned already, they would have already been dismissed. The fact that they hadn’t had caused a rumour to spark amongst the frenzied crowd that one person was keeping them penned in the tiny square. They pushed all their misplaced anger on this mysterious individual who just so happened was running a little bit late.
“Erm...I’m afraid if your brother doesn’t get back soon, the crowd might get a little blood thirsty…”
At Avril’s words, Nanami’s eyes opened wider in shocked dismay.
Before she could refute any of Avril’s words, a commotion gathered along the edge of the forest.
The canopies shook as a slight tremble could be felt. From out of the clearing, a Boar came striding forward.
Many of the Students recoiled in shock and gasped in fright. The boar in question was humongous, and was covered in a mixture of twigs and dried blood. Its fur was so messed up, that it was hard to make out the fur’s original brown color. Along with this and its badly damaged tusks, the beast gave off an aura of ferociousness. A bystander would have made the boar out to be a war veteran, one equally as frightening as their own Professor Kiryat.
The students all stand in blank surprise. From a distance, the Professor can be seen preparing some anti-monster defense spells.
As the initial shock fades, the Boar continues to stand imposingly in front of the crowd. Eventually, the sudden appearance caused a spark of murmurs to occur among the students.
“Oi, oi, what is that thing?”
“I’ve never seen a pig that big before!”
“Do you think it’s a monster? It looks like a monster, it looks alot like a monster!”
“Did this forest even had something like that?”
“O-oi, what do we do?”
While the murmurs reached their climax, the boar began to shake its body. The sudden action caused many students to yelp in fear. A few began to hastily prepare their magic. The commotion abruptly halted though as a black haired young man in a tattered uniform fell of the beast’s back like a flee from a dog’s back.
The student’s stared wide eyed at the newcomer. The Boar was scary in itself, but the appearance of a man who was previously on top of the beast just plain confused them. What made it more surprising was that the man himself wasn’t moving. He was currently lying face down on the dirt, legs spread out and butt poking forward. A rather disgraceful appearance.
“Y-you think he’s dead?”
“Well, he doesn’t seem to be moving…..so maybe.”
The crowd’s growing murmurs was abruptly halted by a quick snort, not from the Boar, but from the young man on the floor. All eyes turned towards him once again. The students waited for a few seconds in silence before they heard a snoring sound resonate from the man.
“Ah, he’s sleeping.”
A bystander remarked.
While all eye’s were currently focused on the snoring young man, another rustle could be heard from the back of the Boar. This time the students were more apprehensive than scared. After the young man had entered the scene, their danger senses had greatly diminished.
From up above the Boar’s back, among its longs tufts of fur, popped out a green head of hair. As the new person moved, more and more of his blue skin could be seen. Eventually a blue skinned toddler stood at the boar’s back. His hazy expression was met with another set of wide eyed expressions.
Quinn looked left and right, before his gaze landed on the sleeping young man. Once he saw the man, He began angrily smacking the top of the Boar’s head. The crowd looked with bewilderment. They not only feared what the Boar would do to the tantruming child, but also feared that it would divert its rage towards them.
But to their surprise, the Boar consented to the Quinn’s demands. It lowered its head, enough for the young child to waddle down from. The kid continued, this time crawling on the dirt floor to approach the sleeping young man.
With great effort, Quinn was able to flip the man right side up, revealing a mop of messy black hair accompanied by a stream of drool. Quinn squeezed himself between the space of the young man’s left arm and his chest. Once satisfied, he immediately drifted off to sleep, continuing his nap from before.
At this sight the crowd could only look on in utter silence and confusion. The situation itself was beyond weird, not even to mention the appearance of a giant Boar and a blue baby.
Nanami makes her way to the crowd, brought on by the students’ reactions and commotions.
“I wonder what’s going on he- ! I-is that Oniichan?”
Nanami’s eyes bulge seeing her sleeping older brother lying next to a blue child. Her eyes dart from the Boar to Kelp and then back again. She had a hard time computing what actually happened.
Just then, a group of 4 made their way to the front. The new group consisted of the teacher and his helpers. Avril was the first to comment, overtaken by her surprise she yelped,
“EH!!? Is that Kelp over there?”
Avril wore a similar expression as Nanami as she too tried to guess what went on.
George, the male helper separated to go question the crowd, whom had broken out of their stupor and started causing ruckus. He shortly came back, and reported to the others.
“Ehm, It seems like the student over there came back riding atop the Boar.”
He made a cautious sideways glance at the Boar.
“Hahahaha! As expected of someone like Kelp! Doing something so crazy right off the bat! School hasn’t even started yet.”
Avril interjected with her somewhat too proud comment.
“Mmmm...Please be serious here Avril, this is quite a problem you know.”
Yun Hwa sighed.
She knew this issue was more than meets the eye. She was a very studious person, and worried more about how this situation would count against the sleeping young man.
“You know that this test was about hunting a monster down right? Not taming and bringing back one. What’s more the Boar brought back the student! For all we know, the student over there could have passed out in the middle of the forest and was brought back by the Boar in question.”
George coughed at this statement. He found such a situation hard to believe.
“I doubt there’s such a friendly monster just lying around the forest like that.”
“Well, in any case, the issue still stands. What do you think Professor?”
Yun Hwa stirred the conversation towards Professor Kiryat.
He glanced at the scene, grunted, and began to walk away before saying, “Hmph. Just handle it amongst yourselves.”
To this curt reply, the students could only sigh in response.
Being the acting vice-leader, Yun Hwa had already come to a decision even before she had asked their teacher.
“It’s regrettable, but I’ll have no choice to fail Kelp over here. It’s quite unfortunate he wasn’t able to meet the requirements. If he had only managed to hunt at least one down….”
Nanami, who had been paying close attention to the trio’s conversation, gasped in horror.
“N-no way...Onii Chan's gonna fail…”
Her eyes watered, as she wavered in front of her sleeping brother.
The Boar, Timmy, who had a slight understanding of the human language comprehended the situation to the extent where he understood what the issue was.
Without warning, the Boar sprinted back to the forest, and action that greatly surprised the Students. After two minutes, the Boar came back from the tree line, this time carrying a mass of dirty white fur with him. He made his way towards the sleeping young man before setting it down right next to him.
The students who had seen a lot of incredible things today, could only stare blankly as the scene unfolded.
George was the first to comment. He had previously been looking quite closely at the dead thing that lay next to the soon to be expelled student.
“T-that’s a horned rabbit. A rank G monster worth exactly 1 point.”
The monster carcass resembled an ordinary rabbit, with the exception of a 15 centimeter horn sticking out of its head.
Nanami who suddenly came to understand the situation confronted Yun Hwa who was still in a daze by the sudden turn of events.
“W-with this he passes, right?”
Yun Hwa displayed an uncomfortable look. The situation before her took a turn for the worst. Now it was even more disarrayed.
“Ehm...but…”
Avril interrupted the wavering Honor student with a strong pat on the back.
“Come on Yun! There’s a monster right next to the man, don’t be such a stickler and just pass him already.”
At Avril’s suggestion, Yun Hwa could only sigh. She guessed she might have been thinking a bit too hard about the situation. It was time to show a little bit of leniency.
“F-fine. I guess this young man, erm, excuse me, Kelp Kusanagi passes the entrance exam with exactly one point!”
*****
Author's note again: Hope you enjoyed the story, and also, like always, some feedback is nice. I'd ask for reviews, but I don't want to be that type of author, but I do greatly appreciate the comments you guys leave me. Its nice to see my work getting appreciated.
till next time.
Previous Chapter:Chapter 7
Next Chapter:Chapter 8.5
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