"For this small favour, I will accept your request! But don't expect me to follow you forever!"

Alright, alright.

After the contract was completed, I realised I could now communicate telepathically with the sheep. It was a strange feeling. We weren't communicating in English, but some of mind wave thingy that made us both able to understand each other? Not sure how that worked or how to describe it.

At first, I was a bit worried that I'd get another person constantly seeing all my thoughts. The horror! But luckily, it could only hear what I wanted it to hear.

"Why have you requested my services anyway? This great sheep is very busy."

Why was a sheep of all animals so prideful? I was sort of tempted to just ditch the goat, but finding another animal that was as strong but conviniently injured might be hard. Wait, how strong was the sheep anyway?

[Please name your pet.]

[Greathorn Sheep, Lv1]

[EXP: 0/100]

HP: 100

MP: 50

STR: 5

MAG: 2

DEX: 1

AGI: 3

DEF: 3

Of course. It was still Lv1 and already stronger than me in every aspect? Not demoralising at all...

[All entities will be Lv1 by default, including new pets. Anything above Lv1 has its stats artificially increased by the System.]

That made a lot more sense. It was still depressing, however. I imagined some sort of mountain crushing monster beating me up at Lv100 in the far future... but it was still considered Lv1.

"Hey! Hello? Is this how you treat your new companion?"

The sheep didn't seemed pleased that I kept silent for so long.

Sorry. I got distracted.

"So, are you going to answer my question or...?"

What the heck was I supposed to answer? Oh, I just wanted a pet? Oh, you're so strong and I don't want to die so I decided you would be a good protector? What the hell? I decided to quickly change the topic.

Ahem. By the way, what's your name?

"I guess I forgot to introduce myself, My name is Bhaaaa Baa. What's yours?"

...

Why.

Well... it did sort of make sense. That was all the sounds sheeps made, didn't they? It sounded all the same to me, but maybe it had all sorts of complicated intonations for sheep.

How about coming with a name with a meaning? Or something other than baaah baaah?

"What? You're pronouncing it wrongly! And Baahaa Ba has clearly has a meaning! It means Mighty Horns!"

The sheep stamped its hooves in anger.

Why do I care anymore? Screw it, I might as well just get Tablet to name it baaa baa or something...

[Greathorn Sheep has been named Baaa Baa.]

"HEY! That's rude! You can't go naming me dumb names!"

Sorry! My friend has a weird sense of humour.

What the hell? I was kidding, Tablet!

Wait, if Tablet was doing translations, why was it not translated to the literal meaning? And why can it translate sheep, but not the language of people here?

[Names are not directly translated for maximum authenticity. The tamer skill works not by translation, but by thought analysing. Unavailable for those not connected to the System.]

I found that excuse "very believable".

Anyway, can you just allow the sheep to set its own name? It's less troublesome that way.

[Fine.]

The name was settled as Sheepy of Mighty Horns for some reason. I decided not to ask.

When we got to the town, I opened my cargo segment. Sheepy hopped out of it and did a weird yawn. After I noticed that Sheepy was not as fast as my top speed despite having higher AGI earlier, I convinced it to get into it.

"Pretty dark in there," Sheepy commented.

To my relief, this town seemed to have pretty lax security and no walls. The guards didn't even ask us for any identification as we entered.

A few people stared at us in curiosity. It must have been a strange sight, just an unidentified machine and a sheep walking right next to it.

I didn't expect to get interaction so soon, but a little girl ran up with a smile just moments after we entered. She said something, then gave Sheepy a pat on the head.

"And you're ugly." Sheepy shook her hand away in disgust and snorted.

The girl seemed upset. She plucked some nearby grass and tried to feed the ram. Sheepy spat the saliva-covered grass at her, making a mess on her dress.

"Disrespectful! I don't need someone to feed me!"

Hearing Sheepy's angry bleats, the little girl ran away with tears.

You didn't have to go so far. Wait...

I suddenly recalled its first sentence it said. It seemed like Sheepy was replying so something she said?

You can understand her?

"She didn't show any respect! And yes, what do you think I am? Stupid?"

Well, that was awkward. But at the same time, this was good! If the goat could translate, then it might be easier for me to get books for Tablet to decipher the language!

Well, I'm actually not from around here. Would you mind helping me translate a bit?

Sheepy paused and stared at me blankly.

"Seriously? That's the reason you wanted my help?"

No! I didn't realise you knew, I just realised. I was looking for a strong fighter to be on my side! But would you mind doing me a small favour with translation too?

Seeing how the sheep seemed pretty prideful, it should like being complimented, right?

Sheepy seemed bashful.

"Well... I guess I'm pretty strong!"

It did a weird bleating laugh.

Really? I didn't expect it to be so easy to please. I was pleased. Maybe it wasn't going to be as hard as I thought it would be to keep it from breaking the contract!

The main issue now was how I was going to earn some money. I really wanted to try some human food for a change. Honestly, there were probably a lot of better things I could be doing in a town, but for now I felt really lost and unsure. So why not?

Unfortunately, I was also very lost on how to earn money.

After some contemplation, I decided to try talking to one of the guards by asking Sheepy to come up with the words and for Radio to say it.

How do I say "How do I earn money?"

Sheepy gave me a strange look as if I were a big idiot.

"I wonder who was in that dwarven machine. They must be pretty rich to own one of those!"

"Yeah... It sure must be nice to have a lot of money. To think he'd spend so much instead of just getting a plain carriage!"

"Kind of weird that he got a pet sheep instead of some other crazy animals though, isn't it? I thought rich people liked exotic stuff like that!"

Two guards were chatting casually.

Suddenly, they were greeted by the strange machine again.

"Ahem!" One of the guards coughed. "Is there something you'd like?"

There was awkward silence for a moment.

"Plez... Haw tu maake munnie?"