Author’s corner: HELLO HELLO! Some more pet and a surprise appearance!

ANYWAY, today is a short chapter since I didn’t have much mind to write more, and was distracted most of the time. Also, yeah, I know. I’m evil. SO WHAT? MUAHAHAHAHHA!

ALSO, tomorrow might not have any update since I have class during the morning AND the afternoon, so I will be pretty much dead when I get back home…

ALSO(2), SOMEONE GIVE HAMMIE A COOKIE! HE DESERVES IT!

Have a good read!

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So, do you know that whole “I’m bad and won’t tell you more” thingy I do from time to time? Well, I think I might have found someone who’s as mean with that as I am. You see, Goulder, after writing down some directions into a piece of paper and saying to go there and see that person, refused to tell me anything else about the class. Really, he told me absolutely nothing.

That guy? He’s just plain evil! He simply walked away while laughing at our curiosity!

We sighed in unison as we watched the old man walk towards his desk where he sat down and called for a mug from a nearby waitress. I turned back to the girls in the tables and they simply shrugged a bit at loss on what to do.

“So… Are we going there now?” Hanbei asked.

“Hmm… No. I have some hides that should finish curing today. I want to prepare them for tanning before leaving, since that will probably take some time.” I said after thinking for a moment. “But I guess it will still take some time before I can do that, so by my best guess I will only leave around afternoon…”

“What will you do until them, Shishou?” Yuu asked curious.

I leaned back into my chair and thought about it a bit. A quick look into my inventory and I saw that I only had a couple or so pieces of leather left. Only sufficient to make one or two equipment… Maybe a couple of pets costumes?

“I’ll probably end up doing a few more costumes for pets. I should be able to make a couple until them, since they are mostly simple.” I said while looking towards Aura’s hakama.

“Wait, you made these yourself too?” Hanbei jumped into the table, surprising me.

“Err… Yes?”

“Waah! These things are so cute! Can I see them?” She asked with blinking eyes.

Yuu had to pick her up by the collar and pull her down from the table before she calmed down. I laughed a bit awkwardly while acknowledging, I just needed to confirm it with Melinda before anything took place.

We left the guild immediately afterwards and Han happily picked up a lazy Lieutenant who had been napping all this time in the sun. Well, he didn't sleep even once since we met, so I guess I can cut him some slack.

After a relatively short trip, we reached the workshop. Some quick knocks on the door and the half garuda opened the door a bit groggily, probably just having woken up. She was shocked on seeing the two girls with me, but after a quick introduction she allowed us inside and I told her what I planned on doing. She said that it was fine as long as the guests didn’t make too much of a ruckus.

[Me]: Hey, remember that whole pet clothing thingy?

[Argento]: Of course! How can I forget a goldmine like that?

[Me]: (^.^’) At least you are honest. I’m sending you a map, so you can send me around three people. I only have material for that much.

[Argento]: Leave it to me!($.$)

After the quick chat, I sent Argento a print of the map that I got from Rusty back when I first arrived. From there I started to prepare myself for the work ahead.

While I quickly cured and tanned the hides, the girls started watching in wonder as I made most of the work manually. After a few minutes, we heard a knock on the door, and Hanbei offered to investigate. She came back followed by three people.

One I recognized as the djinn girl who had asked me to make something for her rabbit pet, back at Argento’s stand. The second one was a Fairy girl wearing leather armor and carrying around a miniature bow. Lastly, was a dangerous looking beast-man whose arms were completely covered in black fur and ended in a pair of claws.

Their pets followed them all: a rabbit for the Djinn, a young wolf pup for the Fairy girl, and a falcon and a red tail for the beast-man.

As the three of them came in, I decided to do their pieces in the order of entry. I started by taking the measurements of each of their pets. For some reason, the guy was staring holes through me the whole time as I worked on the girls first, and when it was finally his time, he asked me.

“Look, that merchant told me that you make equipment for pets. Does that mean that they give status for them?”

I blinked in surprise. Yeah, he didn’t really look like someone that came here to leave his pets a bit cuter.

“Well, when I equipped lieutenant back there,” I pointed towards where Lieutenant was still napping. “it said that he wasn’t getting all the status because I lacked a class skill, so my best guess is that it does give something, but I’m still not sure what.”

“Hmm… I see, then I would like something for the red-tail. Something that increases intellect, if you will…” He said, then he looked strangely at me for a moment before shaking his head. I raised my eyebrows in suspicion, but he shook his head. “Nothing, I just thought you were someone else… Also, I’m only paying after I see the work with my own eyes, ok?”

“Sure, suit yourself. Just don’t think you can outrun lieutenant if you try to pull a leg on me. Last guy who did it fell on the street and had his hand frozen solid.” I gave him a light warning. He gave a light laugh in response.

“Fair enough.”

After that, I told them that it would take a couple of hours to finish their orders. Thus the two girls left with their pets to walk around, while the beastman decided to wait here. He pulled a piece of wood and started carving it distractedly.

I started by working on something for the bunny first. After a few exchange of opinions with Hanbei, I decided to make him a suit and a top hat for something like the rabbit from Alice in wonderland. The girls helped me a bit by passing me the tools and some pieces of leather here and there. Midway, Yuu asked Melinda, who was working on her own projects on the other corner of the room, if she knew someone to teach her tailoring. Melinda herself taught her the skill and started by teaching her the basics on working with it.

According to her, she had learned it because it was fairly similar to leatherworking, but if Yuu wanted to learn something a bit more advanced, she would need to find a professional.

After the bunny, we went to the wolf pup. Since this one was also for cuteness instead of functionality, me and Han went with a simple street-wear, like a hoodie. We only made the upper part since Argento warned me that they paid for a simple set.

Around the time we were finishing the piece, we heard a growl coming from the door. We all turned there in a moment, just in time to see Aura and the Red-tail staring at each other while growling.

I looked surprised at the scene for some time. But before any of us even had the time to react, the Red-tail tried to attack Aura with a bite while she made a small ice knife to protect herself. They took distance to prepare for another attack, but right as they were about jump at each other, I threw one of my knifes right in the middle of them, startling the two.

“No fighting, you hear me?” I said angrily. Aura stiffened for a moment before relaxing her stance and lowering her head guiltily. The red tail looked at me angrily and started to snarl at me.

“CINDER, STOP THAT!” I heard the shout coming from behind me, and the fox immediately stood down while also lowering her head. “Why did you do that?” The beastman asked angrily.

“And you too, Aura, why the hell did you start fighting?” I asked her, and she only looked downwards for a while. I sighed, a bit brokenhearted by the sight, I’m too soft on her... “This time, I’ll let go. Next time, I will have to be a bit more cruel, you got it?” She nodded weakly. I turned to the guy. “Sorry about that… She has a bit of a bad history with red tails.”

“Okay, I also have no idea what got into Cinder…” He said as he looked at the two foxes trying to not jump at each other’s throat. Then his eyes widened when he saw Aura’s three tails and he turned to me, his face paling for a moment. “Wait… What exactly is your fox?”

I tilted my head confused for a moment, but shrugged it off.

“She’s a Freezing tail, kind of like an ice version of a stronger red tail, why?”

Suddenly he covered his face with his hand and took a couple of deep breaths as if calming himself before finally speaking again.

“By any chance… Were you fighting her in a forest to the north yesterday night?” He asked me a bit wary. I blinked in surprise.

“Actually, yes! How did you know?”

“That doesn’t matter… Now, have you heard of Green eyes, the Brutal?” He asked again while staring a hole into me.

“Well… I did hear that he was in the village back where I started, but besides that I’m kind of in the dark about him. Why?”

He let out a loud sigh before starting to laugh dryly for a couple of seconds.

“Nothing… Absolutely Nothing! But I may need another trip to the bar after this… I suddenly feel like an idiot…” He said in a strange tone.

Geez, weird guy.

I turned back to Aura, since she had pretty much disappeared an hour ago and suddenly appeared again causing a ruckus like this. When I raised a questioning eyebrow she suddenly perked up and signaled inside. I followed her a bit worried and saw that she had been in the kitchen all this time and there were a few sandwiches ready to eat on the table.

I quickly called the others since there were more than enough sandwiches for everyone. Their faces when they heard that it was Aura who made it was priceless. Even the red-tail looked a bit more respectful at her, before turning her head away.

Afterwards, I came back to the workshop and quickly finished making the Wolf’s clothing.

Next was the red tail. After quickly asking the beast-man if he was bothered by looks or only wanted status, I put myself to work on my plan for her. The best part? Since he paid the full price, I could go all out.

I made her the whole Shinto priestess outfit I had initially thought for Aura, with the kimono with large sleeves, the wide red hakama and a red sash. I also added a couple of the red tail gems I had as an adorn to the Kimono.

It’s probably for best that I keep quiet the fact that the leather is also from red tails, right?

By the time I finished, the girls came back with their pets and, after a few final adjusts, they left happily with their outfitted pets. I also finished the adjusts on Cinder’s clothes and helped her put it on.

“You two kind of look like sisters like this…” I said after looking at her and Aura who was nearby.

Since Cinder was bigger than Aura, she would probably be the older sister, right? The two looked at each other for a moment before turning their heads away. I chuckled at the scene before turning back to the Beast-man who was staring at a window.

“Wow, that adds a whole thirteen intellect and ten mind!” He said impressed. “As well as a few inventory slots…” He turned to me. “So, do I pay you or the Gnome?” He asked.

I got my part of the money directly from him and told him to find Argento after he left.

To tell the truth, I was a bit worried that the girls would have gotten bored during this time, but much to my surprise, they actually were enjoying themselves here while working. When I asked them they told me that it was a different experience from what they are used.

By now, the Blazing tails and Aura’s hides had finished curing, so I immediately went to start the tanning process by brushing that stinky thingy all over them. Melinda once again warned me that it would take some time due to the sheer size of the hides, but since this wasn’t much of a problem, I left them there.

When I looked at the clock for the real world, I turned to the girls and called them.

“Look, it’s around seven o’clock in the real world now. I will leave really quickly to eat something, take a shower and then come back. It should take thirty minutes maximum, Is that alright?”

“Hmm… Then I’ll also leave for a bit.” Hanbei said.

“I’ll stay here and keep learning tailoring. It’s surprisingly fun!” Yuu said happily. I nodded and then turned to Aura, calling her to come closer.

After getting some more privacy, I crouched down and said.

“Hey, Cyg, what will happen with Aura and Lieutenant while I’m offline?”

Aura’s fur turned into a silver coloration while she passed control of the body to Cygnas, then she looked up to me and said.

“That’s actually up to you. If you want you can leave them here, and they will naturally come back when you log in, or you can set them to a kind of sleeping state until you next log in.” I nodded.

“So, what would Aura rather do?” Cygnas lowered her head for a moment before looking back at me.

“She said she’d rather stay sleeping until then.” I nodded before turning to Lieutenant who had approached us. He lifted his paw with only one of his fingers not curled up. “I guess he’d rather stay around.” Cyg said in a happy tone.

I smiled before quickly opening the pet menu and setting Aura to go into hibernating state while Lieutenant was kept around. Afterwards I logged off.

My breakfast was fairly fast as I ate bread and butter, missing Aura’s sandwiches. Afterwards I took a quick shower before going back to my room and turning on my pc. I still had fifteen minutes before the promised time, so I quickly looked around my tabs on the browser.

With five more minutes left before needing to log in, I searched around the web about medieval weapons, and stumbled on a page talking about bows. After a quick read, I already had a new idea on how to upgrade my old bow, so I went back to my bed and logged in.

I didn’t really need to worry much about classes and such, even though today is Monday, because there’s a large holiday around, and my next class, if there will be any class this week, comes on the Thursday.

With some quick commands I was already logging in back into Melinda’s home. I met up with an excited Yuu who was talking something with Hanbei.

“So, what did I miss?” I asked as I approached then. Yuu jumped in surprise before turning back to me and smiling mysteriously. That smile is kind of bad to my health.

“It’s a secret, Shihsou!” Yuu said smiling.

“You lucky golem…” Hanbei said with a mischievous smile. I raised an eyebrow confused, but ignored it.

“So, ready to start our travels towards Mystery class number 1?” I asked in a playful voice, the two of them nodded.

Thanks to our inventory, we didn’t really need to pack up anything, so I only warned Melinda that I would be out for some time and should be back tomorrow or after. I had no idea on the distance to the place we were going, so it’s best to give it a large margin for error.

On the way out, I decided to pass through Sol’s place and also warn her, since she was doing a pretty big work. After mindlessly entering the house, which left the two girls a bit worried on entering without warning, we reached the inner room where we found Sol in her mad scientist look while mixing a few potions.

“What’s this, boy? Last time it were two critters, now it’s two girls? Aren’t you evolving in life?” She said while turning back to us. “Name’s Sol. Best alchemist in this whole city!”

“And a certified Loli-baba, I might add…” I discreetly added, making the two girls stare at me for a moment.

“I’m not sure of what that means, but I’m over six hundred years.” She added, making the girls stare at her now. “That’s what he was talking about, right?” She asked slightly confused.

“Yep! Anyway, Granny, these are Yuu and Hanbei. Girls, that loli-baba is called Sol, and she’s the one who taught me alchemy, and is helping me with a few problems.”

“Nice to meet you, I guess… Anyway, I don’t think you came here just to introduce them to me, right?” She cut the two of them before they could even introduce themselves.

“Exactly, I’ll probably be out of town for a day or two, so I thought that I should warn you beforehand. Could you pass it to Torg?”

“If he appears around here…” She said while shrugging.

Good enough.

“Well, this is all, when I come back I will contact you and see if you got anything new out of the crystals.” I said while turning back to the entrance. She simply nodded while waving her hand away.

But before we left the house, Yuu turned towards her and bowed.

“Thanks for helping Shishou in whatever it is that you are doing.” Will she thank everyone who helps me? Isn’t she taking this a little too serious?

“Shishou? Who’s that?” The granny asked confused. Hanbei then explained to her.

“Shishou means master in our native language.”

“Master?” Sol asked surprised, then turned to me and gave a mischievous smile. “I didn’t know you were into that kind of thing, boy… To have a girl that age calling you master…”

I face-palmed when she said those words, while Hanbei shared the hag’s smile. It took Yuu almost a full ten seconds to understand her words and suddenly blushing furiously.

“Wa-wa-wa… It is not that! It is not that kind of master!” She said hurriedly while shaking her head. “It is in the meaning of a teacher! Yeah! Shishou is kind of like a teacher!”

“So you are into teacher and student play?” She asked with a fake surprised tone.

What the hell is with the hag distorting all the words? Yuu blushed even more and crouched as if she was trying to hide herself from view, making Sol and Han start laughing loudly. I could only sigh, but I suddenly felt something in my leg. When I looked downwards and saw Aura trying to push me away from Yuu. It took Yuu a couple of minutes to recover from her embarrassment at the hand of the hag, and after quickly dragging the two of them away before the situation repeated itself, we were once again back into the streets. I almost went towards the elevator out of habit, but my memories made me take a full one-eighty and walk towards the edge of the city. The girls followed me with interrogation marks popping above their heads.

I stood at the edge of the outer street and looked downwards. Deciding that it was a good place, I turned back to the girls and took a small vial from within my pouch.

“So… What are we doing here?” Hanbei asked me confused. I walked past them until I was the one on the back of the group and winked towards lieutenant. He immediately understood my actions and approached Aura.

“Now, my dear friends, we jump!” I said with a wide smile.

The girls looked at me surprised then looked down the edge of the street, paling at the height of the fall.

“Why… Would we do that, Shishou?” Yuu asked confused.

“Jump? From here? This is madness!” Hanbei immediately retorted, but when she noticed her words, she immediately grimaced.

There’s no way in hell I would let such a joke escape, right?

“Madness?” I said as I put my hands into their shoulders, smiling widely. Then I frowned in my best angry face and shouted. “THIS, IS… Actually, it IS madness…”

Then I jumped down the edge while dragging the two of them with me.