The remainder of the journey was walked in near silence. There was an awkward atmosphere hanging in the air, with Yuki holding an ashamed expression and Hina directing spiteful glares in my direction every now and again. Come on Hina, there’s no need to be that way, to be honest your attempt to get me kicked out of the party was very poorly executed. I’ve already made a solid foundation in this little group of ours, and let’s be honest, nothing you can do will affect my position here. The only thing the entire situation did, was make me aware of who needs to have an accident in the coming days. Hehehe… I’ll show you have to properly orchestrate a plan.

No dramatic events occurred after that bandit incident, which was both relieving and disappointing at the same time, well at least in my opinion. Usually when a hero goes on his journey, lots of things happen like damsels in distress and… you know, dragons and stuff. Unfortunately no damsels, dragons or heretics. Thinking about it, that is probably the top of my bucket list; to actually burn a genuine heretic to death outside of training. I’m only freshly qualified and to be honest, I haven’t come across any heretics… wait do I count as a heretic? I did get into a contract with a self-proclaimed pagan god.

I already told you I never identified myself as a god.

So you say Serenity, so you say. Well in any case, burning myself to death doesn’t sound that fun. Unless it’s while going out in a blaze of glory; like killing an army of heretics with some sort of self-detonation magic… yep. Serenity make a note!

…How?

Anyway, after talking the small exchange with Serenity I could see our destination on the horizon. Plyan, a decently sized city, renowned for a large adventurer’s base and its open market for magical beast materials. Dungeons really do so much for the economy! I couldn’t help but wonder how the spoils from our dungeon runs would be split… if we end up going with evenly split spoils, I’ll just take it easy, but if it’s based on contribution, then I’ll be all over it.

“Cyne, is that the city?” asked Melissa, also having spot our destination in the distance.

I nodded in response. She was becoming far more outspoken lately, the correct term would be developing as a person. Good for her! Unfortunately she still exhibits separation anxiety and tended to cling onto me at all times possible. It really is quite the strain to stop myself from just throwing her off sometimes, but patience is a virtue, I also still want her around so that she can clean up after my recreational activities.

We eventually made our way to the gates where our identities and paper work were checked. The heroes had been given fake identities as beginning adventurers; don’t want to start a massive fuss after all. We got into the city smoothly, but the guards began to eye me somewhat cautiously when they read my profession. If I remember correctly, there aren’t many inspectors in this city, if any at all… why was that again? Whatever, if it’s important I’ll remember it later.

The city was quite nice from its first appearances; the buildings followed a similar style to those in Sol city, but in general things were less densely packed and the buildings tended to be smaller. Compared to huge streets of the always crowded Sol city, this moderately occupied area was comparatively easier to navigate through. The walls also weren’t as large as in Sol city, but once again held a similar style. Taking everything into account, it looked as though someone had taken one of the districts of Sol city and just stretched it a bit to decrease its density. Where’s the originality? I was hoping for a change in culture! Not the same old stuff all over again. Well, at least the weather’s nice.

The day was still young, the sun high in the sky, with only a few clouds dotted around here and there. In the end, we all decided to go our separate ways, promising to meet up at the inn tonight for dinner. We’d be discussing our plans for the dungeon trip and some of the small details associated with it. I didn’t really have anything I wanted to do, so I decided to randomly walk around, with Melissa trailing behind me. After getting something to eat from a quaint stall by the side of the road, a shop managed to draw my attention.

A PET STORE! Perfect. Serenity we’re getting you a body, how does that sound?

Okay, but let me choo-

Alright! Off we go!

When I entered the store, I immediately noticed the rather extravagant decorations and displays, which were comprised of large glass planed enclosures dotted around in a bit of an unorganised fashion. The carpet was a lovely red velvet and the walls on the inside as well as the counter were a polished, dark wood. No doubt, this was a high class store. I suppose commoners wouldn’t be able to afford pets normally, and especially not the peculiar animals running around in here. What even is that?

It took me a while but I eventually pulled my gaze away from the… thing and sent Melissa to go back to the inn. Can’t bring a slave into a high class establishment; that’s just rude. Also, I’d end up having to carve Serenity’s symbol into the animal I purchase, and who knows, maybe Melissa will be against animal cruelty. Then next thing you know, my little helper becomes useless again.

I gave the refined looking shop keeper a nod and smile, which he returned, before drifting through the establishment in an attempt to find the creature that just screams Serenity at you. There were quite a few pets on display, all still relatively young, and after I enquired, I discovered there were more in the displays in the back. Now this is how a customer should be treated! This fellow is well-dressed, polite and fully acknowledges that as the customer, I am always right. It’s a good thing too; I’d had enough of establishment owners I’d been coming across as of late. His polite and formal tone of speech almost caused me to shed some tears of joy.

Alright, time to get serious!

Miniature Black bear? No, not elegant enough.

Monochrome snake? Right colours, but doesn’t feel right… so a maybe?

White fox? It gives off the impression of cheekiness; it doesn’t reflect her well in my opinion, so no.

Bat? Wait… I think this thing is what was used to make my clothing. Are all these guys magical beasts? Upon closer inspection, I could get the impression that they held magical cores, from the slight natural magical energy leakage I could see, due to Serenity’s influence. Nice, anyway bat?… no, too ugly.

…

Soo tired. Too many animals. After an hour of browsing, taking Serenity’s opinion into account, none of them were suitable so far. Serenity was adamantly against taking over the badass spider with a skull on it when I tried to convince her. She was right, what was I thinking back then?

My mind had started to wander, but I was snapped back into attention by what was in my opinion, the perfect match. I hurried over to the exhibition to get a closer look. It was an owl, a small one at that, perfect for travel, being only slightly larger than my hand outstretched.

The owl, a creature of the night, a serene and calm looking thing. I personally adore owls. This one looked almost identical to the typical barn owl one would find almost anywhere, but followed a monochrome colour scheme like that one snake from before. It’s perfect. How about it Serenity?

I’m tired of all of this. As long as it’s female, it’s fine.

Does the gender actually matter?

If you were going to get a new body, wouldn’t you prefer one of the same gender?

Point taken. After quickly enquiring after the owl I discovered that it was indeed female, and gained the seal of approval from Serenity. The only issue was the price, which nearly made me pass out. 500 gold. 500 gold coins. I know it’s a magical beast but really?

“Excuse me, but why does it cost so much?” I asked, hoping to find a way to lower the price.

“I’m sorry sir, but all of our animals are magical beasts, and this one in particular is an exceptionally rare sub-species of owl magical beasts.” He answered, politely.

Damn it, it looks like a regular old barn owl, except for the colours and size. Of course, since I’d promised Serenity that owl, I had to deliver! Cyne Wight, as a gentleman, does not forget his debts. This should settle the case of her calming me down during the companion choosing at the heroes’ banquet.

After handing over, a soul crushing 500 gold, I was given the little owl in a nice, decorative cage. It looked at me curiously, turning its head at odd angles. At least it’s adorable. Now time to carve something into its back with a knife!

Excited, I quickly headed into the closest back alley to do the deed. Having someone come over due to the cries of pain of the owl would be troublesome, so I just used the tier 6 spell serenity taught me to send it to sleep, after which I started to carefully carve into it. Wow! This spell is nice; there’s literally no reaction from the owl.

10 long minutes of animal abuse later I finally carved a seal up to standard. That familiar dark wispiness flowed from the seal on my hand and into the owl’s. After a few moments the flowing strand of darkness had halted, and the owl hopped up, breaking my spell. It then turned its gaze to me.

Cyne, it worked.

Serenity had successfully made the owl’s body hers, and flew up to my shoulder, perching herself there. Wow, that’s some impressive flying, wouldn’t it be difficult having never had wings before?

I can make use of its memories and instincts, so there’s no problems.

Well that’s quite convenient, so what can that owl actually do? It’s a magical beast so it should have some fighting capabilities right?

That’s correct. It appears to rely on speed and surprise attacks to blind its enemies with its talons before slowly bleeding them to death. These little owls are capable of taking down larger, and more powerful magical beasts, as long as they have the benefit of a surprise attack and enough time.

This little purchase was both adorable and dangerous. Perfect combo, and I love the slowly-bleeding-them-to-death tactic! Serenity also looked great as an owl. It was surprisingly funny to see the little bird on my shoulder making sounds as she spoke in my head. They were some pretty weird sounds though; she was making clicking and hissing sounds each time she spoke. Are owls supposed to sound like that? Serenity try hooting.

Okay

The next moment she let out the most Sol awful sound. Never before had I heard such ear rending screech. It was within an inch of bursting my eardrums. It looks as though you have a stun attack as well Serenity.

It’s just the sound it normally makes. In fact, regular barn owls also make similar sounds, although I’ll admit this magical beast variant’s calls are more unnerving. The screech I just gave should be this owl’s equivalent to a hoot if compared to other-

Alright, got it! Looks cute, sounds awful. OUCH! The second after I interrupted Serenity, I received a sharp pain on my ear. I quickly brought my hand to cover it, and turned in the direction of whatever the danger was. I came face to face with an unhappy looking owl perched on my shoulder. Wait… Serenity, was that you?

… No

If I had to say, I don’t think Serenity would lie to me, but the situation was a bit too suspicious. But why on earth would she have reason to attack me? I continued to ponder the mysterious case for the entire trip back to the inn, holding my still sore ear whilst ignoring the pedestrians’ gazes at the little owl perched on my shoulder. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t figure out who the culprit was, and so I eventually came to the conclusion that I’d simply imagined the whole ordeal.