Looking towards the cave they went silent for a moment, but soon Erna, hesitantly asked them. “Should we check it out? I think we would definitely find something inside. However we don’t know if it is dangerous in there.” While speaking she didn’t go in circles and directed her gaze at Ariel, in a direct fashion.

He already knew that the reason she asked this question was because he was injured, but Ariel also felt intrigued by the cave’s presence and responded in an unconcerned manner. “Although my injury is a bit painful, it won’t affect me so we should check out what’s inside.”

Even though the others were a bit skeptical, with Ariel’s assurance and their own curiosity they decide to go inside it. As they closed in all of their concerns disappeared and they slowly became more alert in case something happens.

When they crossed through the cave’s entrance, they could finally get a better look at its interior. Although it seemed like a common, rough cave, the coldness and dampness in the air was quite unusual and proved that there was something unique about it.

Going further inside, the grey stone walls became slightly more smooth and at the same time the pathway got a bit wider. It took several minutes until they at last noticed that they would soon enter a much more spacious place. They felt thankful for this, since they haven’t seen anything special yet and had started to become a bit downcast.

However as they reached the end of the passage, the air around them became several times more damp and cold than before. Making them unconsciously shiver a bit. Soon they saw that the space they reached was a big room with several pools of water, scattered around it.

What was attracting their attention however was a pedestal right in front of them, only several meters away. It had many tribal symbols etched on it and seemed quite ancient from the looks. More importantly there seemed to be something blue on it.

Having their interest caught, the four of them slowly approached the pedestal. Walking past the pools they noticed how clear and sparkling the water was, almost as if it didn’t have a speck of impurities, making the sight very surreal.

Unfortunately they didn’t have much time to enjoy this view and hurried towards the blue thing they saw. As they came closer they noticed that it was actually some kind of small animal, quietly sleeping on the stone pedestal.

The four of them felt a bit dumbstruck seeing this unusual scenario, but when Sarah got a better look at it, she was overcome by the urge to snuggle the little animal. She ran up towards it and quickly took it into her arm giving it a hug.

Seeing his sister doing this, Brendon let out a warning. “Be careful, we don’t know what it might be, I have never seen such a creature.” Unfortunately the warning seemed to be in vain since Sarah just looked towards him with a smile and responded in a cheerful manner. “How can this little thing be dangerous? It is so cute and soft!” Girls seemed to always stay girls, and the little thing’s cuteness prevailed.

Her friends could only let out a resigned sigh and take a better look at the creature in Sarah’s arms. From far away, the only thing they noticed was that it had a blue color, but now they saw that it was actually striped blue and black, and its form resembled that of a small bear.

This description is not mistaken. To Ariel, the small creature instantly reminded him of a panda bear, only one with a strange color scheme. However he also didn’t see anything dangerous about it and decided to come closer to it with Brendon and Erna.

Just as they were examining it, suddenly the little bear opened its cute little eyes and looked towards the people surrounding it. This caused them to quickly put up their guards, but seeing that it wasn’t doing anything they slowly relaxed.

When everyone calmed down, Sarah spoke. “This little thing seems to have an affinity with water. How about I contract it?” It was clear to see she was very excited to make it her familiar and they didn’t have the heart to reject her silent request.

Only Erna gave out a last warning. “It is your choice, but be careful.” The next moment Sarah broke out into another lovely smile and started a silent chant while looking towards the creature in her arms.

This was a contract spell which is used to make magical beasts familiars. There are a lot of ways to go about it, the most common one is to show your strength and make it submit like that. There is also away of rearing it since it is cub or making friends with one. The most disgusting way is to beat them so terribly that they submit against their will.

Of course this also determines how loyal they were, so most people try to get as close to their familiar as possible. In this occasion, Sarah tried making a contract without injuring it or causing any harm. Usually it is hard to make a contract like this, but the small panda bear seemed to completely accept her and the symbol or her hand formed in a quick manner.

Seeing it finish Sarah grew excited and hugged her new familiar even closer to show her happiness. The others just watched this with warmth in their eyes until she finally calmed down and spoke. “I never thought I would find my familiar in this place. I am so glad we came here.”

To her words Ariel simply nodded and responded. “It’s lucky that we noticed this place, it must have been destined for you two to meet, but we should hurry back to the camp, tomorrow we’ll have a difficult day, since we still need to find a beast for Erna.” With his words the party quickly turned around and rushed back to the twin’s camp without looking back, leaving the silent cave behind them.

When they finally reached the base, they were already quite hungry and tired, so the four of them divided their roles, and got to work. Brendon and Ariel went to gather some fire wood, while the girls were left in charge of preparing dinner as well as making a place to sleep for the two new comers.

Their work lasted for a couple of hours before they regrouped back at the camp fire. Ariel and the others sat down around the now roaring fire and decided to start making their plans for tomorrow.

First one to speak was Ariel, as he shot a look towards Erna: “So do you have an idea about what kind of creature you want? We will try to help you look for it.” His question made the questioned Erna show an unexpected expression of embarrassment as she responded. “I have already found the creature I want, but just at that time I encountered the chimera, so I had to get away.”

At her words the others revealed a satisfied expression. They were worried that they couldn’t find anything for her, but if she already knew what she wanted and where to find it, it would be much easier.

With obvious relief in his voice, Ariel continued to pursue the identity of the beast. “So what is it? If it is something that Erna picked it will definitely be something amazing.” Ariel was quite confident in his friend’s knowledge and figured that she would have picked something good. The other two also agreed wit his statement since they have already knew how serious she was about everything.

However hearing his question Erna turned red before shouting. “Y… you will know when we see it, there is no reason to reveal it now.” Seeing her rare, embarrassed face, the interest of theirs was instantly peaked as they started guessing what kind of beast it could be.

Fortunately for Erna, the food was soon done and they stopped pursuing the issue. When the food was laid out on everyone’s plate, the first one to dig in was unexpectedly Ariel. He started eating like there was no tomorrow, which completely startled the rest.

Deciding to ask his friend, Brendon opened his mouth. “Ariel, did you not have anything to eat or something? Why are you so hungry.” Brendon’s question made Ariel Slightly embarrassed as he replied. “You see… My food is not exactly something you would call delicious.”

Hearing his words, his friends burst out into laughter and Sarah was the first one to speak. “So even you have something you’re bad at. However now I am very intrigued to see how bad it is.”

Knowing that he was not perfect made Sarah slightly relieved, this is the first time she found something that she might be somehow useful at for him, but first she wanted to find out how bad at cooking he was.

Erna had also forgotten about the previous events and started urging him. “Come on, make something for us to taste. It can’t be that bad, right?” Under their constant persuasion Ariel could only give out a sigh and give in, since it is they who had to eat it anyways.

That night all three of his friends experienced one of the worst incident in their lives as well as endured the most horrible stomach ache they have ever felt and only their groans of pain could be heard during the night.

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If you want to read further, visit https://verathragna.wordpress.com/ I will always have an extra chapter there