“Kanata...” said Zag’giel. “Your faith in us moves our heart. We will meet your expectations.”
“Just you wait, Lady Kanata!” said Fenrir. “I’ll show you how strong I can be!”
“Mistress said she would never hand me over to those men...” Elizavett muttered to herself. “’Tis as good as a confession of love! Oh, be still my heart...”
Of course, it was neither as a fighter nor as a lover that Kanata needed the three fluffballs. But alas, nobody there had the wherewithal to point that out.
† † †
“Nonetheless, we must consider this a problem,” said Zag’giel. “Weak as they are, those knights from before will interfere with our quest if they continue to pursue us. They will be trouble for Kanata every time they appear.”
“That newcomer really did bring a whole lot of unwanted trouble along with her, didn’t she?” Fenrir remarked.
“That, I cannot deny,” Elizavett sighed. “But why have they come to attack me again, after being content to leave well enough alone for so long?”
“Do you not know?” Zag’giel asked.
“How would I? I cloistered myself away in my castle for a thousand years!”
“A true shut-in, then...”
“Oh, spare me,” said Elizavett. “And you,” she added, turning to Fenrir. “You said the girl arranged things such that I wouldn’t have to deal with would-be vampire hunters, did you not?”
“It has been a thousand years...” Zag’giel mused. “Even the orders of a Saint would be forgotten after so long a time, we suppose.”
“Forgetting Her Holiness’s sacred will after a mere thousand years!” Fenrir huffed. “The nerve!”
The three of them were sitting in the body of the wagon, seriously discussing the situation, while Kanata watched her beloved furballs fidget and squirm, despite their best efforts to maintain a dignified bearing, with rapt attention.
“Kanata,” said Zag’giel. “A thought occurs.”
“Hm?” Kanata asked, not bothering to wipe the drool from her chin. “What is it?”
“The three of us are servants of the Beast Tamer Kanata, no?”
“That’s right! You’re my precious companions!”
“In that case, are we not to be considered your property?” Although Beast Tamer was considered a failure Profession—the weakest and most undesirable of all—the Adventurers’ Guild saw to it that a Beast Tamer’s personal information was in the kingdom’s records. As long as a Beast Tamer took full responsibility for the actions of their magic beasts, it was not against the law for them to walk around with their companions in broad daylight. Zag’giel suspected that the reason for this was that a Beast Tamer’s companions were conceived of as their own property. “If we were to think of things in that light, in attacking Elizavett, those men are acting as bandits, come to pillage Kanata’s belongings. Should we bring suit, the law may even see fit to punish them.”
“Whoa! Zaggy, you’re smart!” Kanata said, patting the fluffy Demon King on the head.
“Hah,” he said, with a distinct note of pride. “It is nothing.”
“Drat!” said Fenrir. “Once again, the Demon King has me outmatched for cunning...”
“To think I became my Mistress’s property without even realizing...” Elizavett said. “My heart is all aflutter...”
“Maybe we should go ask the guild!” Kanata suggested.
“A wise course,” Zag’giel concurred. “If luck would have it, perhaps we can put a stop to those knights.”
“All righty then!” Kanata sang. “We’re off to see Miss Melissa!”
There would most likely be an Adventurers’ Guild in the next city they visited as well, but Kanata thought it would be best to speak directly with Melissa, the guild worker in charge of her case. She cast a spell, and immediately the three of them were transported to the front of the Adventurers’ Guild, wagon and all. The people passing by were shocked to see a wagon appear out of thin air with no warning whatsoever, but when they noticed it was Kanata driving the thing, they seemed to understand. Oh. This again... their faces seemed to say as they went on with their business. Kanata had magically teleported to the guild plenty of times before. The people of the Royal Capital were starting to get used to her peculiarities.
Besides, Kanata was the savior of the Royal Capital. Nobody was about to complain.
“Hello, Miss Melissa!”
“E-Eeek!!!” Melissa, the woman at the reception desk, shrieked when she saw who it was.
“Eeek...?” echoed Kanata.
“I-I’m sorry,” Melissa said. “That was rude of me.” Every time Kanata appeared, it meant more work for the beleaguered guild worker. By this point she had developed a fair bit of trauma. Melissa cleared her throat and sat up straight, smiling brightly, like a professional receptionist. “Hello, Miss Kanata. What brings you here today?”
“Well, you see...” Kanata began, launching into explaining the situation. Soon she was registering both Fenrir and Elizavett with the guild as new companions, while answering Melissa’s questions about the details of what was going on.
When they were finished, Melissa made a sympathetic but glum face. “You are correct,” she said. “A Beast Tamer’s magic beasts are treated as their personal property, and as long as they don’t harm anybody it is against the law for someone else to attack them. If they didn’t belong to the guild, they would be liable to receive criminal punishment from the kingdom itself. However...”
“However?” Kanata asked.
“I’m afraid the guild’s authority doesn’t extend to the Holy Church. Without them, we’d have no way of giving people their Professions. They’re an organization with a tremendous amount of power.”
Professions were an enormous blessing. Even if everything else about a person was exactly the same, they would be many times stronger with a simple Profession like Fighter than they would with no Profession whatsoever. As the overseer of the Selection Ceremony, where children obtained their all-important Profession, the Holy Church was halfway above the rule of law.
“I’ll apply whatever pressure I can, of course,” Melissa said, “but frankly, the Temple Knights of the Holy Church can do whatever they want if they say it’s for the sake of hunting undead...” Suddenly she realized she might have said too much. “Excuse me. What I mean to say is that their faith is far too deep to expect them to stop what they’re doing because of pressure from the Adventurers’ Guild.”
“Oh...” said Kanata.
“I’m very sorry there’s so little I can do,” Melissa continued. “But at the very least, Miss Kanata, you can rest assured that the Adventurers’ Guild will testify that you acted in self-defense if those men end up hurt.” In other words, as long as the knights attacked first, Kanata and her companions had full license to send them flying. It didn’t quite resolve the issue, but at least they shouldn’t have to worry too much about being attacked on the road, given Kanata’s enormous strength.