Chapter 1 – 8 White Family
This year, 10 years after being reborn, I was finally allowed to enter the Forest of the Elder alone. Father had said it was okay when I was only 8, but mother was very firmly against it, so it was pushed back until I turned 10. Even still, I must be back home by evening.
Because of the two-year wait, I decided to learn the magic 『Flying』. Since trying to fly with wind element magic alone doesn"t let you move in a straight line, I combined s.p.a.ce-time and floating type magic. This produced a new original type of magic, called 『Sky Flight』
Using this new magic, I flew back to where I had previously been trying to make progress. From there, I tried to gain experience, while still exploring and pressing onward.
More than half a year pa.s.sed in this way. One day, while using 『Investigation』 to search an area of 10km centered around myself, I noticed two large reactions near the very edge of my range.
I tried using Appraisal on these reactions,
Name: Golden Fenrir
Gender: Male
Rank: A
Race: Phantom Wolf
Name: Silvery Fenrir
Gender: Female
Rank: A
Race: Phantom Wolf
and this information appeared. I"m presently about 20km away from the village. So then, 10km away from me, the monsters must be about 30km from the village. Slowly, I approached their location. Even though it"s within a forest, for beast type monsters and around 30km or so… 2 hours should probably be plenty of time to track them.
With that in mind, the worst-case scenario would be to chase them away. I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible and followed from the air in order to avoid being noticed.
After around 10 minutes of flying, I thought I found them. From 100 meters above, I tried observing them. Both seemed dark and their movements were rather slow. Probably due to me observing them so intently, one of them noticed and met my gaze.
I regretted being seen, I could have brought them down in one shot with a surprise attack. I decided on a hit and run strategy, rapidly descended and prepared to rush out.
I readied my ice magic, 『Ice Lance』when suddenly the same sensation as when I tamed Slalin welled up inside me.
Fl.u.s.tered, I released the magic, and being careful to keep a magic barrier ready, I landed a little behind a tree about 30 meters away from the two wolves.
Without losing my focus, I approached slowly with a magic s.h.i.+eld raised. They both look to be about 4m in total body length. Their blackened color seems to be from a large amount of blood, but whether it is their own blood or from a victim of theirs, I wasn"t sure. They seemed wary, but not hostile.
For 5 minutes, I was in fairly close proximity to them, only about 15m away. When I readied myself to move closer, they suddenly got up and roared.
Shocked, I tried to fly backwards to gain some distance, but some sort of large mouth lunged in from the side. Immediately I unleashed the earth magic 『Earth Needle』 and skewered the head from below. The skewered head belonged to a B+ monster, a "Dragon Snake".
Dragon snakes individually are B+ monsters, but unfortunately, they often form numerous groups while hunting for prey, generally 4 to 5 snakes per group. When there are multiple snakes, the risk rises to A or Their total body length is around 7 to 8 meters, but big ones can reach over 10 meters long.
Using Investigation, I sense 8 hidden snakes, excluding the one already skewered. I use Sky Flight to retreat into the air, since the snakes only have the power to jump a bit over 10 meters, even if they use their whole body. If I get the timing wrong, I could be left defenseless and suffer from a nasty bite. While the two wolves are here, it"s better to take them down one by one.
This has somehow turned into a shared battle alongside the two wolves. And so, a larger battle begun due to the dragon snakes" rude intrusion.
（3 snakes for me, 5 snakes between the two wolves, or is it possible to escape?)
I thought, if I were to run away, the wolves would be probably be killed. More importantly, if the dragon snakes weren"t satisfied with just the two wolves, there is a real danger that they could attack the village.
（Why would this type of monster come to such a lightly infested area!?）
A vast area of the Forest of the Elder, including my current position about 30km from the edge of the forest, is said to be a lightly infested area. Normally the monsters only reach up to around C rank here. A and B rank monsters should only be encountered in areas over 100km away, and only rarely at that.
While considering all this, Tenma launches a magic attack. The dragon snakes fall back from Tenma, and then surround him so that he cannot escape. They don"t seem to be willing to rush in and strike.
（What"s with them? Are they hesitating because they saw the magic I used to strike the last snake？ Or maybe their aim is for…）
“Gyan!”
Just then, a wolf cried out from behind. Tenma looked back, and the dragon snakes now had the advantage on the wolves. One of the wolves had fallen to the ground after being body slammed. It was forced into a desperate struggle, with one dragon snake viciously snapping at his head, while a second latched onto his throat.
When Tenma noticed the wolves, sensing a good opening, he began attacking all three of the dragon snakes surrounding him at once.
“Don"t underestimate us!”
With a thunderous shout, Tenma turned toward the snakes and put up a barrier. Stopping their attacks, he used the wind magic 『Wind Cutter』 and with three shots, the three dragon snake"s heads were hit simultaneously.
Without even being aware that they had been cut, the three dragon snake"s heads and torso continued to move. Tenma left them struggling and ran to the wolves.
As he approached, it became clear they were both close to the end of their lives. One had a badly torn up abdomen, the other serious bite wounds to the head area.
“Take this!”
Tenma turned towards the three dragon snakes still alive, and shot very highly compressed air, 『Air Bullets』while being careful to not hit the wolves.
The wolf"s wounds started at the base of the throat and were around 3cm wide. Although he wouldn"t die instantly, he was on the ground, writhing in intense pain from his terrible wounds. He probably won"t last long.
The remaining two dragon snakes were on the verge of rising up to attack the fallen wolf but, the previous Air Bullet attack had taken away their momentum. They realized the other 6 dragon snakes were dead and retreated at full speed.
Tenma checked on the wolves. The one with the throat wounds was already dead, and the fallen one was surely going to perish not long after.
Too much blood was lost, and the damage was too great, so not even healing magic would be effective at this point. As Tenma approached in order to make it easier on the poor wolf, he noticed something strange.
Its stomach was large, but it wasn"t due to fat. At first, I had thought that it was just an acc.u.mulation of blood there, but then realized my mistake. It was milk. Meaning, there was probably a baby.
Just as Tenma realized this, the wolf gathered her strength and started to bear down. The birth had begun. Tenma vigilantly watched over her, so that no other carnivores could approach.
Around 10 minutes pa.s.sed since she had started to strain. A single white colored pup was born.
After such a dangerous situation the wolf seemed as if she couldn"t move. She barely managed to turn her head and stared weakly at Tenma. Tenma met her gaze and raised the pup overhead, presenting him right in front of her eyes. With her being otherwise unable to move, she stuck out her tongue and weakly started to clean the pup.
Before long, the cleaning was over and once again she stared at Tenma. Tenma brought the baby wolf to where the milk was, and the pup started to desperately drink.
By the time the wolf pup had finished breastfeeding, she had already pa.s.sed away, with a satisfied look resting on her face.
Tenma placed the bodies of the two wolves and the 6 snakes into the Dimensional Bag. Holding the wolf pup overhead, he became Tenma"s familiar.
“Since your parents have pa.s.sed, it seems I"ve become your family now, hm?”
I continued speaking to the pup,
“Your name is… s.h.i.+ro… yeah, s.h.i.+romaru it is!”
“Kyuun”
“Nice to meet you, s.h.i.+romaru!”
Thus, Tenma"s number of familiars had… No, his family had increased in size.
Author"s Note: This time, Tenma gained a new familiar.
Originally, I had intended for both parents to become familiars too, but I realized I only wanted to add one at a time, so in the end the two parent wolves died.
Please look forward to the success of the wolf pup, s.h.i.+romaru.
— Status —
Name: s.h.i.+romaru
Age: 0
Race: Phantom Wolf (Golden Fenrir x Silvery Fenrir)
t.i.tle: Tenma"s Familiar
HP: 100
MP: 200
Strength: Please don"t get your hopes up
Defense: Same as above
Speed: Same as the last
Magic: Is it yummy?
Mind: I don"t understand
Growth: I"ll do my best!
Luck: Not yet
Skill: Cry 10・Spoiled Kid 10
Divine Protection: Beast Protection