Chapter 12: Pet Shop

When they both got out of the forest at long last, Renan stopped Ars who continued on walking and gestured for her to come over with his free hand.

"What is it? Why'd you stop?" Ars questioned as she arrived beside him. "Shouldn't we be going to Elisa town as quickly as possible?"

"Yeah, in a bit. First, I want to see what's inside this thing 'cause it seems to be alive and moving." Renan replied to her.

He took the sack off his back and gently placed it down onto the ground. Then, he untied the rope binding the top to reveal what was inside of it. Honestly speaking, Renan didn't know what to expect from this because originally, he believed that what those guys stole from the beast was some sort of treasure or something similar to that; never did it cross his mind that it was an actual living creature shoved in this thing.

"Woah… This is…?"

"What? Let me see it."

Ars curiously peeked her head inside the sack, and what she saw also left her staring speechless. It had big round eyes and dark brown hair covering every inch of its body, making it look like a cute furball with large eyes. What they were looking at could be described as a miniature version of that field boss they encountered a few hours ago, albeit less keen on wanting to kill them and was more on the mild and docile side of things.

(Child Beast, Lv. 1) [Tameable]

Monster Type: Rare

Health: 200/200

Mana: 100/100

Armor: 10

Physical Damage: 6-11

If they weren't wrong, then this little guy was probably the offspring of that boss. But none of that mattered right now—what mattered was that this pup was actually tameable! Renan and Ars felt like they really hit the jackpot this time, especially Renan who was all smiles.

"Hmm… There seems to be nothing else in here." Renan said after having a quick look around the sack. "Now, the problem is… How do we tame it?"

He turned his gaze towards Ars, who was apparently pondering over this issue also by the way her head was lowered and her eyes were staring absentmindedly on the ground.

After a few moments of silently thinking to herself, she slightly opened her mouth and spoke: "From what I know of, there's a pet shop in the middle of town where a skilled beast tamer resides. It's the only method that works since you need to actually learn the profession first in order to tame wild creatures…"

"I see… Figured as much." Renan sighed helplessly. "I bet the pay's gonna be painfully high to commission a beast tamer."

Ars didn't know what else to say so she just plainly nodded. Straightening things out, Renan put the sack once again over his shoulders and turned his head to look at Ars who was alternating her gaze between him and the sack.

"Look, although I don't like putting this little guy in here anymore than you do, it will only be for a while longer until we get back to town. Other than that, he will have to endure the hot and tight space for the rest of the journey."

"Haaa… I know that… I just feel kinda bad, you know?" She sighed for a moment, before ultimately shaking her head. "…No, nevermind. Let's just pick up the pace so it won't have to suffer unnecessarily."

Thus, she was the first one to walk off and resume their trek. While Renan, silently following behind her, was realistically thinking to himself: 'This is only a game, no…?'

…

Half an hour later, they finally arrived back to the town of Elisa. After passing through its gates, Ars insisted that they should go to the pet shop foremost and brought him along with her by the hand. She obviously wouldn't take no for an answer but was leading him like this really necessary, or did she think that he would try to escape or something? Anyway, before he knew it they had entered the shop's only door and stood before a counter where a burly man was receiving his guests.

"Thank you, come again."

After happily waving goodbye to a group of customers that left through the door, he then turned his attention toward the couple waiting in front of him.

"Good evening! How may I be of assistance to a sweet couple like you?" He cheerfully asked with a smile.

And Ars who heard that quickly tried to explain the situation with her face beet red and hot from embarrassment. Additionally, she was frantically waving her hands at him while saying: "W-Were not like that! Not at all, not one bit…! We-We only came here as friends, okay?!"

"Oho? I see… Is that so, yes?" The shopkeeper teased while making a winky face at her. "There's no need to feel embarrassed, y'know~? See, you're only making your boyfriend feel wronged here."

"No, she's correct alright. Besides, we came here for business, y'know~? So stop trying to make the girl all flustered about it." Renan immediately butted in when he started to feel irritated by this situation the man was putting them under.

By courtesy of his long working experience and handling different types of people in his store before, the burly man was quick to pick up on the uptake and promptly stopped his antics.

Then, with a business-like smile, he finally asked for the purpose of their visit: "I am very sorry for my frivolous behaviour just now, Sir. I didn't mean any harm in any way when I said what I said. Now, if you could please kindly state your order so that I can have it carried out it would be greatly appreciated."

Seeing him bowing his head and acting so humbly, Renan knew he couldn't stay mad at him any longer and thus pardoned his earlier behaviour. As for everything that had happened just now, he simply threw it at the back of his head and completely forgotten it already. Why would he bother to linger on such childish things anyway? Last time he checked, he wasn't such a petty person to begin with.