23rd Round Pet

The adventure went smoothly.

Sieg became stronger without problems.

Briefly summarizing the current situation…

“I envy you.”

Everything would’ve been different if I had a Z-rank teacher or senior taking care of me during my 1st round.

I could’ve defeated Demon Lord Pedonar alone in 3 years instead of 10!

Sieg had the most favorable conditions.

“Senior, I’ll die at this rate… Oh-oh!”

“Don’t give up, junior. Beauties are rooting for you, activating the effects of your Male Strength.”

“I would like a little help…”

“Ha! I give you all this experience. You should be grateful.”

“Well…”

“Don’t you want to be strong enough to start a relationship with the girl you like? If you have time to complain, you better defeat another monster. Beauties won’t wait for you to get stronger and propose. They get to know others, get married and have children while you whine. Understood?

“Yes…”

Sieg complained every day, testing my patience.

I tolerated it to ensure the inspection’s results would be positive, but I never would’ve done this under any other circumstances.

Was I too harsh on Sieg?

…. Nah.

He looked like me in the early days of my 1st round.

Of course, the reasons for our dissatisfaction were different.

I was kidnapped into another world, and it was demanded of me to risk my life to save myself.

Because of this, I constantly clashed with Alex, the captain of the Dumpling Kingdom’s Royal Knights.

“You are very kind.”

“Is that sarcasm?”

“It’s a compliment! If I were in your place, I would have spat on Sieg long ago for disobedience.”

“… My swordsmanship teacher taught me this method, so I partly understand Sieg’s displeasure.”

“Is that so… A kind of psychology of disgust?”

“… Maybe.”

However, I wasn’t going to defend or try to understand Alex’s barbaric teaching style.

There were only two options if my student was disobeying me and making me want to use violence.

‘Either give up the role of a teacher or give up the student.’

That only meant we weren’t right for each other.

And that was exactly the situation with Sieg.

“Ah… Are you okay, big brother? The gaze you direct at Hero Sieg reminds me of… my father.”

“…Oh! I’m fine.”

Green Cake paid attention in time, thanks to which I was able to correct the expression on my face.

‘Calm down, Kang Han Soo. I just need to be patient…’

“Kyu-kyu!”

An animal screamed.

“It’s a rainbow fox.”

It was a wild animal that wasn’t classified as a monster since they had males and females and could breed among themselves.

As they grew older, they developed seven tails corresponding to the seven colors of the rainbow, each of them providing them with an additional special power.

“Kyu-kyu!”

The one before us had a white body color, like a normal arctic fox, and a red tail. That was proof that it was young, plus the fact that it was smaller than a rabbit.

“You’ve grown attached to me, huh?”

It jumped onto Sieg’s right shoulder.

Lucky for him.

“Congratulations, Sieg. The wool of a rainbow fox’s tail is very useful for crafting equipment since it increases the resistance property depending on the color. It’s a pity it only has one tail, but there is a way out. Pull it out as hard as you can, and its relatives who’d hear its howl will come running to help.”

“Um, senior?”

“Don’t worry. This time, I will help you and try to get as much fur from the tails of the rainbow foxes as possible.”

“No. That’s not what I mean… I want to raise this fox.”

“Raise? What kind of stupid decision is that?”

“It’ll be my pet!”

“…”

I didn’t quite understand what he wanted to happen.

I looked at his dummies for their opinion.

“I have always respected your opinion, but this time I agree with Hero Sieg.”

“Ah… big brother, it’s a really cute creature.”

“She doesn’t look like a bad fox. She’s so cute.”

“Kyu-kyu!”

It looked like all the dummies thought it would be better to raise it.

Stroking its head, Sieg said, “I’ll give you a name. What do you say?”

“Kyu-kyu!”

“Kyurie.”

“Kyu~”

The little cub happily shook its red tail.

Sieg immediately began to boast.

“There are things that I do better than my senior. I think my tamer skill is much higher.”

“Oh… What the hell is this guy saying?”

Did this F-rank Hero really just challenge and taunt the Z-Rank Hero?

“I checked some information through the mollanphone. Their sixth tail grants her the power of transformation.”

“Do you want to raise it so you can turn it into a human?”

“To an elf!”

“…”

“Kyurie will be a very cute elf, won’t you, Kyurie?”

“Kyu-kyu? Kyu-kyu!”

Disco smiled bitterly.

“It is worth admitting that Hero Sieg is good in this regard. The rainbow fox is known for being alert, which makes them difficult to tame.”

“Yes. I do not doubt my big brother’s skills, but dare I say that Hero Sieg is quite adept at taming.”

Even Green Cake agreed cautiously.

“I’m surprised too. Who would’ve thought this noble creature would become attached to such a waste…”

Even the elf!

I again looked at the fox sitting on Sieg’s shoulder.

Our eyes met…

“Kyu-kyu?”

“… Wait for a moment, Sieg. I will tame and show you a better pet.”

‘Calm down, Kang Han Soo.’

I was now Hero V. I shouldn’t betray my current identity by demonstrating my skills where I shouldn’t.

“I doubt it!”

“Kyu-kyu!”

Did those two just taunt me?

I was especially annoyed by this fox, assenting to its owner…

▷ Plea: Please spare her. The rainbow fox cub is specially trained for student Sieg’s unstable psychology. He needs a friend outside of the Hero’s party. It goes without saying that Sieg has no talent for taming.

… Sociology Teacher?

▷ Confirmation: Yes. Don’t misunderstand me. The reason why all the teachers, myself included, followed Parmael was because of her social status. This is also the case with the current director, Ssosiel. Since Director Ssosiel and Vice-principal Parker Lee have shown us mercy, I’ve decided to once again improve the students’ social skills as their sociology teacher.

That was understandable.

But what about the fact that Sieg had no talent for taming?

▷ Explanation: I have many animals and monsters, but among them, there isn’t a single suitable pet for him. As you might have recently heard, he wants to raise her because of her sixth tail. The common rainbow fox is sensitive to such dirty thoughts, and she never would’ve followed him, but I trained her exceptionally well for this. Please don’t kill or drive her out.

Considering that Sociology Teacher showed himself just to tell me not to kill it, I immediately understood how difficult it was to train it.

I promised not to touch it.

▷ Thanks: Thank you. Then I’ll take my leave. There are many more students who need pets. Good luck to you.

After that, Sociology Teacher left.

… Did he also try to set me up with pets in the past?

I remembered how surprised I was whenever rare animals and monsters followed me.

That aside…

“Sieg, come with me. I’ll show you a better pet.”

“Alright. Show me what you’ve got.”

“Kyu-kyu.”

Sieg stroked his pet, which wagged its tail contentedly.

What creature on the Southern Continent would everyone consider a much rarer and better pet than the rainbow fox?

… I knew one.

***

Just a few years ago, teachers destroyed Shadow A and her daughter’s hideout.

And now, the Temple of the Great Child was built on these ruins to honor the Giant Empire’s state religion.

Before their large-scale project to reclaim land, this temple was the center of the Southern Continent. However, the center was now just a small piece of dried land to the right of it.

Desertification.

Its scale was so inconsequential even the Giant King didn’t pay attention to it, but I was different.

This wasn’t a natural phenomenon, after all.

A trading city was also built on this site.

“Come and check out my goods!”

“Everything’s cheap!”

“Its taste is amazing!”

“How much is it?”

The city was located at the intersection of important trade routes, so trade was quite lively here.

“You’re not planning on buying a pet, are you, senior?” Sieg taunted.

“Of course not.”

I was heading for the city center.

Because of the incredible coolness in the middle of the desert, this piece of land was worth ten times the price of other places.

And there were gorgeous hot springs everywhere.

“Stop. We accept clients by appointment only. If you have not reserved your seats, even if you are a member of the royal family, you’re not allowed to enter…”

“We are heroes.”

“Oh! Please wait for a moment!”

Excusing herself, the half-naked elf who guarded the entrance disappeared for a moment.

Soon after…

Half-naked men and women with only the most important parts of their bodies covered met us, forming a line on our flanks.

The elf, who stood in the center of it, then greeted us, “We sincerely welcome the heroes in the most heavenly place in all of Fantasy!”

We were then separated by gender.

Hero V and Sieg followed the women to the men’s bathhouse, and the dummies followed the men to the women’s bathhouse.

“Where are you going, senior?” Sieg asked, showing off his muscular body in front of the elves, which was nothing like his body when he was just newly summoned.

I waved it off, answering, “To the toilet.”

“Ah!”

“You can go ahead and wash yourself down in the shower first.”

“Alright.”

After parting with Sieg, I clicked my tongue, checking the internal structure of the hot springs.

“Nothing’s changed.”

If so, a lizard would still be spying on the heroes.

I stopped in a certain place and sharply extended my right hand to the wall, but it wasn’t destroyed.

It was an illusion, after all.

With my fingertips, I grabbed someone’s neck between their 6th and 7th vertebrae.

“Kh?!”

Retracting my hand, a beautiful girl with white hair entered my sight.

Leaning so close that she could feel my breath. I greeted her politely, “Hi, Sleloli.”

“My name is Ice Dragon Sleas, Hero!”

“Starting today, you will be my pet.”

“Ha! What is this ridiculous… H-hik?!”

“Any problems?” I asked her as I glared at her.

“N-no… Kh!”

“Good.”

I was the Z-rank Hero.

From the very first round, I no longer needed Sociology Teacher’s help.

▷ Consent: You have very impressive social interaction skills…

Heh! Anyway, it was time to show Sieg my new pet.