Ooh, that’s an awfully reasonable tax percentage. Taichi had worked as a corporate drone his whole life, so he didn’t know very much about running his own business, but he could more or less guess this was probably a pretty low tax rate. It also made it much easier to calculate, since tax was relative to location. Business owners were required to pay their income tax once a month to the Commerce Guild. He would need to be careful to remember that.
“Will you be opening for business right away?” asked the clerk.
“I think so. I’ve already got everything—” His voice cut off, shoulders jumping with a sudden realization.
The clerk blinked, waiting for him to continue.
“Actually, no. I’ve, uh...got a few more things to get in order.”
“All right, then. Once you’re ready to open for business, please return to this counter.”
“Will do,” said Taichi.
He thanked the clerk for all her help and sped back to the Fluffy Café—which was now his home as well as his workplace.
Well, perhaps “sped back” was an overstatement. Taichi didn’t possess the required stamina to sprint continuously from the middle of the city to its outskirts. He swore to himself that he would exercise more so he wouldn’t get as easily worn out. He had to cycle between running and walking before he finally made it back.
Taichi burst through the front door, the bell clanging noisily to announce his entrance. The noise roused Luke, who had been deep asleep on his beanbag chair.
Still drowsy, he yawned. “You have some nerve, human, waking a proud Fenrir such as myself from—what’s the matter, Taichi?” He’d started speaking in that usual holier-than-thou theatric way he always did before cutting himself off, eyeing a very out of breath Taichi suspiciously. It didn’t take a genius—or a proud Fenrir, for that matter—to realize something was amiss.
“Big problem,” Taichi choked out. “We don’t have enough fluffy creatures...to open our Fluffy Café!”
The only fluffy creature he had was Luke.
“That’s all?” Luke asked, exasperated.
“Oh, c’mon, this is a big deal! At least to me!”
Taichi had made so much progress. He had a fully furnished location, but if he had no fluffy creatures in it, how could he possibly hope to get people to understand how amazing they were? He said as much to Luke, who snorted at him.
“Then go tame some,” said the wolf. “You’re a Tamer, aren’t you?”
Taichi perked up. “You make a great argument!”
If he lacked the creatures he needed, he could simply go and tame them. With that in mind, Taichi and Luke headed for the Tamers’ Guild. He hoped Chartelle could help point him in the right direction.
“You want to know where you can find some fluffy monsters?”
“Yes!” Taichi said eagerly. “The more familiar and friendly the city folk are with them, the better!”
“Well, I don’t know about ‘familiar’ or ‘friendly,’ but there are Berry Bunnies in the southwestern grasslands. They’re the sort newbie adventurers tend to hunt.”
Taichi’s excitement soared with Chartelle’s explanation. Bunnies were sure to be adorable and fluffy! It was a shame she hadn’t recommended him a cat-type monster instead, but he had to start somewhere.
“Thank you! I’ll go check it out right now!”
“Since you have Luke with you, I’m sure you could tame more powerful monsters,” said Chartelle. “But I guess you’re doing this for your café, not for battle. Good luck out there.”
“Appreciate it! I’ll see you later!”
With a disappointed smile on her face, Chartelle gave him a wave, and Taichi hurried out.
Soon enough, Taichi found his way to the southwestern grasslands. There was a forest on the other side of the grasslands, the entrance of which was an area newbie adventurers often used for hunting.
“I would have no problem catching one of these Berry Bunnies, but they’re quite agile. I wonder if you can handle taming one,” Luke said skeptically. “If you need, I could catch them for you.”
Taichi politely declined. If I left it up to him, he’d chomp them in half! A rude thought, perhaps, but he couldn’t help worrying whether Luke would be gentle. No, the better plan was to sneak up behind one and tame it before it could scurry off. While he was forming this strategy in his head, the bushes behind him rustled and an adorable cry of “Kree!” pierced the air.
“Hm?” Taichi spun around to find a bunny behind him. Its floppy ears had ivy twining at the base, where little raspberries sprouted. Taichi didn’t have to touch its coat to know it was soft, its appearance so utterly adorable his spirit nearly left his body. “This is...a Berry Bunny, right? Huh. Wow, berries really are growing from it.”
The way Luke spoke about them, he’d expected these bunnies to be more apprehensive and wary, but that didn’t seem to be the case. The white-furred Berry Bunny hopped right over to him.
Aww, it’s so precious! Taichi dropped to a crouch to get closer, and the bunny pressed a tiny little paw to his knee.
“Hm? Berry Bunnies are usually extremely cautious. They don’t tend to venture so close,” Luke said, confused.
It wasn’t until Luke’s comment that Taichi remembered his title: Fluff Master. Perhaps that was what prompted something as fluffy as this Berry Bunny to forsake its usual caution and approach. Being a Fluff Master is awesome! Tears sprang to his eyes.
“All right. Tame!”
“Kree!”
The Berry Bunny leaped toward his chest, and Taichi happily caught it. He nuzzled the fluffy creature, its fur soft as silk on his cheek. Luke had an amazing coat too, but this was hard to pass up.
“And since I’ve tamed you, I need to give you a name, don’t I?” said Taichi. “You have a beautiful white coat, so I’ll call you Marshmallow!”
“Kree!” Marshmallow’s ears wiggled happily, indicating it was pleased with the name he’d given it.
“Can’t I communicate with you, since I have the Speak with Monsters skill?” Taichi wondered.