We didn't have to walk too far before we started going off into the forest. The request was saying that it was just in the area, so it shouldn't be too far from the city. However, it was still bringing us pretty deep into the forest before my ear twitched, and I heard some growling. I really wanna try my new Monster Tame skill, but I only want the best Dire-Wolf to make mine.
I unsheathed Noroi, and looked in the direction that the growling was coming from. A strange looking, but VERY large wolf slowly creeped out of the shadow of the trees, and I was confused how it's able to hide itself considering its size. If I had to compare its size to something, I'd say it was close to Toyota Pickup Truck. Its fur was black as a night sky, eyes were blue like this world's moon, and it had a grey strip leading from its head, down its back, to the tip of its tail. This definitely wasn't a Dire-Wolf, so to figure out what kind of beast it was, I used my Gods Eye to look at its status.
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Name: (N/A)
Race: Midnight Hound
Level: 58
Danger Rank: S
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S-Rank huh? Well then, let's see if I can tame it with my current skills level. I step in front of Sana, signaling her that I'll take care of the beast. I'm not entirely sure how the skill works, so putting Noroi back in her sheathe, I stare at the beast and activate the Monster Tame skill.
Taming in Progress
Target: Midnight Hound
Requirement: Best the beast in a trial-by-combat. Should the user best the Midnight Hound, and it recognizes you as its superior, it'll then resign its fate to the users decision.
Process: Should the Midnight Hound deem the user as its superior, the user must then enter a blood pact with the beast.
Wait, how am I able to use the skill on it? Maybe the lower the skill, the higher requirement for a stronger monster? So for this monster, I'll need to win in a Trial-by-Combat huh? Should be easy enough, right? This is really interesting though, it makes things more interesting than just automatically taming it. If that's how it worked, then this skill would've become completely boring.
With that, I took a fighting stance in front of the Midnight Wolf to show that I wish to be the one to fight it. It rushed towards me and pushed me down to the ground, but using the momentum, I kicked it off of me and into the nearby tree. The tree actually cracked from the impact, and I suppose it must be expected since it's a Rank-S monster.
The wolf and I both rose up from the ground, but before it could make a move I dove right at it. Tackling its side, I knocked it back to the ground, and pressed my left knee on its wind pipe. At the same time I used my right knee to pin down its front paws, and then, while leaning over, I used my hands to keep its hind legs pinned down.
"Submit!" (Sora)
It continued thrashing around a little, and growling at me until I used more strength to keeps its body pinned to the ground.
"Do you finally submit to me?" (Sora)
It answered me with a dejected whimper, at which point I slowly and cautiously released the hold I had on it. As I stood up, so did the wolf before is bowed its head to me. Now I need to give it a name and perform a blood pact like the skill instructed for the process. Using Noroi, I made a small cut on my palm, and then made a small cut on the bridge of the wolf's nose. Pressing my cut hand against the cut on its nose, I whispered to it, "My name is Sora. From now on I will be your new Master. I grant you the name of Ikari." There was a red glow where my hand was on its nose. After the glow disappeared I pulled my hand away and it was completely healed.
<It is a pleasure to be with someone as powerful as you master.>
I hear a feminine voice in my head. Looking at Ikari sitting in front of me with its head bowed forward I asked, "Was that you I heard in my head Ikari?" After asking the question Ikari nodded her head and spoke inside my head.
<Yes Master, it is me that you have named Ikari speaking with you right now. What would you like me to do first Master?>
Huh, well that's something I'll need to get used to for a bit. Putting off my questions for later I spoke to Ikari, "First, don't call me Master, please call me....boss. Secondly, my companion and I are on a request to deal with some nearby Dire Wolves so could you lead them to us? It would be nice to make this quick and easy."
<I wish I could Boss, but there are no Dire Wolves anywhere nearby. Perhaps the humans saw me moving amongst the trees and confused my race with those wolves.>
I see, that would make sense. They are both Canine-Type monsters so unless you got a good look at it, then you could be mistaken. "If there aren't any Dire Wolves in the area, then do you mind if I ask why you were lurking this close to a Human city?" I asked Ikari.
<I heard a rumor of one of the Demon Generals meeting his end, so I wished to find the culprit and see how powerful they were.>
So she was hoping to meet me and test my strength huh? Should I tell her that I'm the one that beat him? Or should I just leave it be? Oh well she'll find out eventually. Standing up and turning to Sana I told her, "Ok, we're heading back to the city to report the information given to me by Ikari. It seems that someone confused her for a Dire Wolf since they couldn't get a good look at her." She nodded in response but why did it feel like I saw her eye twitch when I said the Midnight Hound was a 'she'...maybe it's just me.
When I started walking towards the roadside, Sana tugged on my sleeve. When I looked at her she simple asked, "Can I ride her?" She looked so cute asking that question but I had to keep the reaction inside. So looking between her and Ikari, I answered her, "If its ok with Ikari then I don't see why not."
<Although I would prefer my Master to be the only one to ride me, I will allow it if it's boss's companion.>
I nodded at Sana telling her that Ikari didn't mind. When she walked up to Ikari, I was going to help her get on but then I watched her simply climb up until she sat on its back. It was pretty cute but mostly funny, watching her climb up Ikari.
Once she was comfortable, I began walking with Ikari following right behind me. When we got on the road, I took another look at Ikari and I gotta say, she had a beautiful coat of fur. I decided to walk side-by-side with her and, as I stroked her fur, we made our way back to the city.
Obviously the guards were in a panic when they spotted Ikari. However, once they saw me walking beside her, and Sana riding on top, they calmed down a bit. They were still being cautious though. When we were coming up to the gate I had a sudden thought and asked Ikari, "Hey Ikari, it'll be a problem getting around the city with your size, is there a way for you to shrink yourself? Or maybe doing something like hiding in my shadow?"
There was a bit of silence after my question before she responded to me.
<it's possible for me to do either one, however if I shrink myself then I won't be able protect you from any dangers Boss.>
So she wants to be like my guard huh? Well she shouldn't have to worry about that considering I don't think there is anyone in the city that can currently contend with me. "You don't have to worry about that, I took you down so obviously I'm a lot stronger than I look." She nodded her head after a moment of silence, then she sat down allowing Sana to simply slide down her back until she was standing on the ground. Once Sana was on the ground, I watched as Ikari's body actually shrank down till she was about the size of a normal wolf, but it was still just a bit bigger than one.
With Ikari now at a reasonable size, we walked up to the Guards who were still looking at Ikari cautiously. "Hey guys, we wanna enter the city, but is it ok to bring along my tame?" They looked between me and Ikari before answering my question, but not without stuttering a little first, "Y-y-ya, you just need to have a collar, or something on the beast to let people know that it is a tamed monster. However if you don't have something like that on you, then the Guild can provide you with something as long as you prove that the monster is your tame." Hmmmm I see, since I don't have anything on me, I'll have to ask Serene where I can get Ikari something to wear. However, it'll be difficult if she wears it, and then has to change to her original size. If that happens then there's a possibility of the item breaking from the stress of her size increasing.
Maybe the blacksmith, Amdagaer, can make something that'll be able to adjust itself to her size differences, like a magic fit-all type of thing. I'll have to ask him after I pick up my gauntlets in a few days, but for now Ikari will remain in her small size until then.
We past through the gate and into the city, making our way to the Guild to give them an update on the information for the Dire-Wolves request. There were a lot of people who avoided us because of Ikari, but there were also some children that ran up to pet her. It was cute watching the children run happily while enjoying Ikari's fur. It didn't seem like she minded the children playing with her fur though, so it seems like it's fine. I could see the parents around had worried faces at first, but once they saw that it was safe, and that I didn't mind it, they calmed down and had gentle warming smiles as they watched them play with Ikari.
We had to say goodbye to the children as we entered the guild. Serene was surprised when she saw us walk in, since we just left not too long ago. Then she was even more surprised to see the black wolf next to me, some of the adventurers actually put their hands on their weapons. I had to calm everyone down by rubbing Ikari's head, "Guys please settle down, this is my new tamed beast, her name is Ikari. Please treat her well."
Some of them seemed to calm down, but I could still see a few people looking at her cautiously. Ignoring their stares I walked up to Serene and started to recount what Ikari had told me about how it wasn't a Dire-Wolf like they thought, but was instead a Midnight-Hound. Her face turned a little pale, until I told her that I tamed the Midnight-Hound. Her face turned even more pale when she looked at Ikari, understandable especially if you were to see her in her original size.
We were thanked for updating the information and technically completing the request, then we were given our reward as well as a bonus for the new information and compensation for it being a monster that was stronger than the one listed in the request. In total they gave us around 143,000 ruld.
I wanted to take another request, but before I had a chance to check the board, Serene asked me and Sana for our guild cards. I didn't quite understand why but when Sana, and I gave her our cards, she took them behind the counter and exchanged them for the A-Rank, mythril, cards. Apparently thanks to me taking down the Demon General it helped in skipping a lot of the procedures to advance to the next rank. Which meant we can take even higher ranked, more difficult requests from the guild. That means things will get to be fun, I decided to also ask how its going with the fat nobleman that was coming by and Serene responded with, "Oh he hasn't come by since you took the Dire-Wolf request, I think he will still try to cause you trouble about the Demon you took down so please don't do anything too mean to him if it comes to be too much."
I responded with a nod saying that I'll be going to a blacksmith to see about acquiring something to put on Ikari to show that she's a tamed beast.
With our business handled Sana and I left the guild to go see the blacksmith I met with about my gauntlets. On the way there I saw something in the corner of my vision that surprised me quite a bit. It was a flashing icon of an envelope, with a small red exclamation point on it.
....
.....
I had a message? But from who?