“Hold on, this isn’t the time for distractions!” Kanata exclaimed. “I need to help this baby. Well, let’s see. First of all—” She looked down at the giant birds she had captured.
The birds went stiff. This girl had looked careless and off her guard, but now they found their beaks held tight in her vice-like grip, unable to escape. They could do nothing but wait to be killed.
“Gu... Gug...” The birds withered under Kanata’s icy gaze. If they were human, they would have broken out in a cold sweat by now.
Kanata yanked the birds close to her face. “Bad!” she scolded as if they were mischievous children. She didn’t speak especially loudly, but the invincible strength in her voice struck the birds like lightning. Literally.
“Gu... Gey...” The birds spasmed violently and fainted, their eyes rolling back in their sockets. If they were conscious, they were too overwhelmed by fear to move.
“Don’t do it again, okay?” Kanata said in a motherly voice, squatting down near their heads.
Then she turned to look at the furball. The critter was pure black and completely round. If it weren’t for the eyes and ears, there would be no way of knowing which part was the face.
“M-Miu,” it cried, with all the loveliness of a sweet little kitten.
“Oh wow!” Kanata cried. “I can’t handle the cuteness!”
She staggered back, clutching her heart as if it had been struck. At that moment, there was no doubt in her mind. She had to bring this critter with her. But first, she had to tend to its wounds. Despite the relentless attacks, the furball wasn’t seriously injured, but it still had more than its fair share of painful cuts.
“Pain, pain, go away~♪” Kanata sang.
She held her hand over the furball cat and focused, and its wounds started to close before the guards’ eyes. Judging the danger to have passed, they ran up to Kanata.
“She’s using healing magic now?!” one said. “So quickly, and without an incantation!”
“You really are something else, aren’t you, miss?”
“That does it for your injuries,” Kanata said. “Now I need to get you cleaned up and fed! Then we can decide if you want to be my companion!”
She scooped up the furball cat, taking advantage of its surprise. It hadn’t been expecting to be healed so quickly either. It was just big enough to hold in both hands, and extraordinarily soft. Kanata felt like all the happiness in the world lay in that softness.
“Oh wooow,” Kanata gasped. “My hands are in heaven.”
Its fur was nicer to the touch than Kanata had ever dared dream, and beneath she could feel the furball cat’s soft, warm body. Kanata was in ecstasy. She wanted the fluff. She wanted to pet it for days on end. She wanted to fall into it. She wanted to lick it. She wanted to breathe it in. But Kanata’s will was iron.
“P-Patience,” she told herself.
Beneath her beatific smile, she was holding in bitter tears. She could see to the fluff after the critter was all better. This furball might end up being with her for life, after all! She didn’t want to take advantage of its vulnerable state. She wanted it to choose to become her companion, in a state of sound body and mind.
That was the way she would reach her fluffy, fluffy paradise. Her patience would be rewarded in fluff a thousand times over.
“He he he,” Kanata laughed. She looked like a saint, but her smile concealed a beastly lust.
“Hey! Hold on! Wait!” The guards called out for her to stop.
“Miss,” said the younger guard, “are you planning on bringing a magic beast home with you? As small as it is, a magic beast is a magic beast. You can’t make pets out of them. They’re not meant to live with humans. Furthermore, that’s not a type of magic beast I’ve ever seen. You should bring it to the Adventurers’ Guild and contact the researchers in the Royal Capital. They’ll know what to do.”
Kanata confidently shook her head. “There’s no need to worry,” she said. “I am a Beast Tamer. Under the king’s laws, a Beast Tamer may bring a magic beast that they control with them into a city, taking full responsibility for its actions.”
“Oh, I see! If you’re a Beast Tamer, then— Wait, hold on! You’re a Beast Tamer?! That’s a loser Profession!”
“What?! Don’t Beast Tamers pay for their power to control magic beasts with a severe penalty to all abilities? But—”
“A severe penalty?” Kanata echoed. “I suppose my body does feel a tiny bit heavy. Or maybe it’s my imagination.”
“Your imagination?” one guard repeated.
“After watching you fight, I find that hard to believe,” said the other.
“But it’s the truth!” Kanata protested. “I did the ceremony properly. Ask the Church, they should have a record.”
“I’m not sure what to say,” the older guard said. “I’ve never heard of anything like this.”
“I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” said the younger. “I’m getting tired of strange things happening.”
The two sat down. They looked exhausted.
“And I’m afraid I must be going.” Kanata held the furball cat in one arm and curtsied properly with the other. “It was a pleasure to meet you, kind sirs. I will leave the rest in your capable hands.” With that, she darted off back in the direction of the city.
“Leave the rest in— Oh!” the older guard had almost forgotten. “The giant birds! It’s good that she took them down, but what exactly does she expect us to do?”
“Drag them back, I guess...” said the younger one. “There’s a bounty out for these two. We can’t just leave them here.”
The two guards sighed deeply as they roused themselves. They felt like they had already done enough work for one day.