Apart from Kanata herself, the only other Beast Tamer they had met on their journey was old man Molmo. More than being merely a rarity, it seemed like the two of them might be the only Beast Tamers in existence. One reason for this was the debuff—it was severe enough that it might impact a person’s ability to lead an ordinary life. And there were also the teachings of the Holy Church, which had cast the Beast Tamer Profession in a bad light for generations. It was no wonder so few people wanted to take the Profession on. Even people who might want to choose the Profession would be given pause at the prospect of making such a foolish choice at their Selection Ceremony.
It was almost as if someone was trying to intentionally reduce the number of Beast Tamers. The only one who had arrived at that conclusion, however, was Zag’giel, who knew how the gods’ system of harvesting souls operated. He didn’t think it was necessary to share this knowledge, though. Hardly anyone would believe it, and even if he did try to spread the truth, he knew just how despicable the Goddess could be. Who knew what she might do? It didn’t seem out of the question to think that she might erase all life in the world and start over from scratch if it seemed like humanity might learn the truth and lose their faith in her. Gods were supernal beings, and had correspondingly great power. Even a party of great champions from the mortal realm could never defeat a god in their true form.
Zag’giel, however, was not without hope. The more Kanata continued her journey, the more people’s faith in the Goddess seemed to fall. Kanata seemed completely unaware of it herself, but everywhere she went she left salvation in her wake, foiling the Goddess’s plans and robbing her of her much-needed faith. And someday soon, Zag’giel felt, it would mean the end of the gods’ atrocious system. It might even be the next time Kanata and the Goddess came face-to-face...
“We must become stronger...” Zag’giel told himself. “So when that day comes, we will be ready!”
That was the reason he spent most of his time in his furball form—if he could become strong in this feeble body as well, when he returned to his original form he would surely obtain greater power than ever before! It certainly wasn’t because Kanata would hardly look at him in his original form. It wasn’t that at all!
“H-Hm?” said Fenrir. “You seem fired up all of a sudden, Demon King! But I’m not about to lose to you!” He seemed to be getting fired up himself by his rival’s fighting spirit.
On that note, Kanata finished checking in and scooped the two furballs back into her arms.
† † †
Kanata had wanted Fenrir’s main body to stay with them in the inn, but Fenrir himself vetoed the proposition. Even knowing that he was the companion of a Beast Tamer, the other patrons of the inn would no doubt have trouble relaxing with such a ferocious beast in the room. Fenrir’s main body was exceptionally sturdy, and he didn’t at all mind simply finding a tree to sleep under until Kanata returned. If anything, he was more comfortable sleeping outdoors.
“Well, okay...” said Kanata. “If you say so, Fen-fen.”
They discussed it with the innkeeper, who agreed to let the larger Fenrir spend the night with the horses in the stables behind the inn. He curled up, resting his head on his tail, and drifted off to sleep to Kanata petting his head and whispering, “Good boy...good boy...” She returned to the inn with the smaller Fenrir fragment held snug in her arms.
The two Fenrirs shared a single soul. Aside from the difference in form and power, they were in fact the same being. Whichever body Fenrir transferred his consciousness to, the other would stop moving, seeming for all the world as if it were merely asleep. Simple actions equivalent to sleepwalking, like pulling the wagon, were the most the empty vessel could manage. For that matter, it made no difference which of the two bodies ate food. They would both receive sustenance from the meal. All this was possible due to Fenrir’s nature as an incarnate spirit.
“Okay, Fen-fen!” Kanata said. “Make sure you eat up!”
“I’m truly sorry for making you spend so much of our budget on keeping me fed, Lady Kanata...” Fenrir lamented.
“Don’t worry about it!” Kanata rebuffed him. “Let’s both eat lots and lots!”
“L-Lady Kanata!” the Spirit Wolf cried. “What splendid compassion!”
“W-We will eat lots and lots as well!” said Zag’giel.
“Of course!” said Kanata. “You eat up too, Zaggy!”
Kanata liked her fluffballs well fed, after all. She had sat them down to dinner as soon as they received their room number.
As they were eating their meal, Kanata waved over the innkeeper and asked her a question. The innkeeper was confused.
“Fluffy magic beasts?” she repeated. “You don’t see many magic beasts ’round these parts, you know, but...what do you mean by fluffy?” She wasn’t sure what to make of the young girl asking if she had seen any fluffy magic beasts in the area.
“I’ve heard of this!” volunteered a man sitting a table over from Kanata’s party. “That’s that new religion everyone’s been talking about!” he said, lifting his fork for emphasis.
“Oh yes!” said another patron sitting across from the man. “The new religion from the holy land. Fluffism, wasn’t it? It’s got a weird name, I guess, but who would’ve thought we’d see a new religion born right in the headquarters of the Holy Church!”
“From what I’ve heard, the Saint of the Holy Church herself had some kind of religious awakening,” the man said.
“Goodness gracious!” the innkeeper exclaimed. “Is that true? The Saint is pretty much the symbol of the Holy Church, isn’t she? You’re telling me Her Holiness abandoned her faith and founded some new religion?!”
“Something huge must have happened to make her upturn her whole value system like that...”
“Fluffism, is it? What on earth does the word fluff mean, do you think?”
“It must have some kind of divine significance!”
The inn patrons were all abuzz, gossiping about the new religion that seemed to have suddenly burst onto the scene. Kanata, however, jumped to her feet, bringing all eyes to herself.
“No, no, no!” she said. “That isn’t what fluff means!” She placed the white and black furballs she had been hand-feeding up on the table. “I’m looking for fluffy magic beasts, like these two!”
“Indeed!” said Zag’giel. “We seek magic beasts with fluff like ours!”
Zag’giel and Fenrir, unfortunately, did not have any better of an idea what Kanata meant by fluff than the adherents of Fluffism, and had taken to using the word as a synonym for ultimate power.
“Although you’d be hard pressed to find anyone as fluffy as me!” Fenrir declared.
The inn patrons gave the white and black furballs who were currently puffing themselves up on the table haughtily a long, dubious look. The pair looked far too weak to claim the title of ‘magic beast,’ but the innkeeper had told everyone that Kanata was a Beast Tamer, and they had no reason to doubt it.
“Those are magic beasts?”
“I’ve never heard of an animal that could talk inside someone’s head. They must be magic beasts...”
It was all the stranger in light of the enormous wolf sleeping in the stables. The people who happened to see Fenrir there were astonished to find that the horses didn’t seem frightened of him at all. He seemed to radiate divinity. One of Kanata’s magic beasts looked outrageously powerful, while the other two looked outrageously weak. Nobody in the inn had ever seen anything like it. In that case, they supposed, the word fluff must mean extraordinarily weak.
“No kidding...” someone said. “I’ve never seen such a fluffy magic beast in my life!”
“Me neither! I never thought I’d see something fluffier than a slime, but here we are!”
“Hah!” laughed Zag’giel. “That is no surprise! We do not suppose that fluff such as ours will be easy to find!”
“It’s only to be expected,” agreed Fenrir. “Few possess fluff worthy of Lady Kanata!”
The two nodded proudly, not realizing at all that the inn patrons thought they were calling themselves the weakest of all magic beasts. Nobody ever seemed to realize that they were using the word fluff to mean entirely different things. One way or another, though, it didn’t sound like anyone knew of any promising fluff.
“Speaking of magic beasts,” said the innkeeper as she brought Kanata another helping of stew, “there was one in the old castle nearby, wasn’t there?”
“That castle’s been around since my grandmother’s grandmother’s day...” another patron chimed in.
“Oh?” Kanata sensed fluff. She turned to listen to the innkeeper’s story with great interest.
“Well,” the innkeeper went on, “I call it a castle, but it’s halfway crumbled to dust. Nobody lives there. I couldn’t tell you when it was built or whose castle it was, but folks in our village keep away from there after dark.”
“Oh ho!” said Kanata, leaning in close. “And why is that, may I ask?”
“Because that’s when it comes out...” the innkeeper whispered dramatically.
“What does?” Kanata asked.
“Nobody lives in that castle...” the innkeeper began, affecting a low, spooky voice. “But after dark, you can see lights, and a young lady roaming the hallways. They say that if she spots you, she’ll suck the soul straight out of your body and make you a ghost like her!”
“Hey!” a patron pitched in. “My grandpa told me that story when I was a kid! He used to go on and on about stuff like that. But in the version I heard, the lady sucks out your blood, not your soul...”
“But if the story’s true, that would make it a ghost, right? Not a magic beast! It’s magic beasts you’re looking for, right, missy?”
“Ghosts and magic beasts aren’t so different, you know! But that was quite a tale from the innkeeper, huh?!”
“I suppose you don’t believe it, then. Wanna head out tonight and see if there’s any truth to it?”
“I-I think I’ll pass...”
The dining hall erupted with boisterous laughter.
“Hmm...” Kanata mused. “I see!”
“What is it, Kanata?” asked Zag’giel. “Did something in that story interest you? The ghost of a young woman does not strike us as the kind of companion you are seeking...”
“I think I’ll go check it out!” Kanata said, taking to her feet with one furball in each arm. “Let’s go, Zaggy, Fen-fen!”
“Let’s go?” Fenrir asked. “To the old castle from the story?”
“The sun has already set,” Zag’giel protested. “Should we not leave it for the morrow?”
The innkeeper had told them that strong magic beasts didn’t appear in this part of the world, but it was still dangerous for a girl to go for a walk alone at night. For any girl other than Kanata, at least. In Kanata’s case, the risk was practically zero.
“We believe it would be wise to sleep and recover your strength before it gets much later...” said Zag’giel.