Chapter 15

“Haha… your little pet doesn’t seem to find me very pleasant…” Arturo laughed with some discomfort as he looked at my Drupi with a weak smile,

—But it's actually a magical beast with a pure core, huh? The princess is very lucky. I've never seen a magical beast develop a pure core in captivity. That makes your idea even more promising in my eyes.

"Really?" I laughed mischievously. "Although I think it's because my Drupi is special, I can't say her upbringing had nothing to do with it."

I picked up the naughty boy in my hands and kissed him on the nose.

Drupi is the love of my life in this life, haha.

“Her fur is really beautiful, it reminds me a bit of the moon.”

My dear Tutor, you don't know how many times I've heard that... And I totally agree!

Who has the beauty of the same moon that lights up the dark nights in their body?

¡Drupi!

Who is blessed by the Goddess of the Night to possess the best beauty of all?

¡Drupi!

Who is the horned rabbit who captivates all the horned rabbits with his presence?

¡Drupi!

Although they have to step on my corpse first!

Is that how Dad felt? I think I understand a little now!

Ah, I have to continue the conversation!

“Right? Drupi has the best fur of all the horned rabbits in the world! An alpha male of incomparable beauty!” With a proud smile, as if I were the one being praised, I hugged Drupi and boasted to my tutor. In response, Arthur just laughed.

-You really love your bunny, princess.

“Yes, it is the light of my heart”

It's not a joke

"What abilities do you have? I know that horned rabbits have abilities related to earth and air, but the type of abilities depends a lot on their core..."

"His ability is gravity manipulation," I replied as if it were nothing.

“Oh, gravity… What!?”

"Arthur shouted, surprising me. He didn't have to be so upset, did he?"

"What's going on?"

“What’s going on!? It’s gravity manipulation! How come you’re acting like it’s a common ability you see every day? Isn’t it real? Are you serious? A horned rabbit capable of manipulating gravity... that’s... that’s... It’s impossible! Especially since I’m sure that power is trying to manipulate space!”

Arturo vehemently denied the idea that a horned rabbit had the ability to manipulate gravity.

Well, normally you'd be right. However, Drupi is special... He's the most powerful horned rabbit in the world!

Invincible, brave, cold!

Those things describe it perfectly. No argument there. Hmm.

“Is that so? Although Drupi has demonstrated her skill more than once by beating up palace guards… albeit only for a short period of time given the energy required to use the power of gravity.”

"Yes?" Arturo nodded weakly, his glasses strangely fogged up as he put on a dubious expression.

"Yes. Once, he simply manipulated the gravity around a group of guards, pressing them with greater gravity toward the area and causing severe damage to their bodies. Fortunately, a priestess was there, or they would have died..."

“…” Arturo broke out in a cold sweat when he saw that I was serious.

“…Are there…are there other stories like that?”

"GOOD…"

Drupi once blew up a tree that had somehow frightened him with a compressed gravity ball that acts like a grenade. It was a disaster that drove the head gardener crazy because it also blew up several pieces of earth.

I was also struck by the scene of the tree and the earth flying and then “returning to their place” and compressing upon themselves… And yes, I remember that thing about the soul fragments.

You wouldn't want something like that to happen to a living being. At least I don't want to know!

In another, Drupi used his ability to jump to the top of the palace and stayed there for a while as if it were the most normal thing in the world. We considered sending a magician after him, but in the end, he fell on his own, landed in my arms, and quickly fell asleep.

It was good... although my parents weren't happy.

Drupi also created a gravity barrier that prevented me from getting close to him because I became too clingy for his liking a few days ago... That made me sad.

Drupi even manipulated space gravity into a warp to move at high speeds, which would be a technique mimicking Warp Drive or something (I didn't say it like that, of course...), which was honestly impressive... even though it only lasted 5 seconds.

But at that moment, he almost reached a mountain. It was a pain to get him back home safely, I can assure you.

Y Drupi…

“Th-that’s enough!”

“Oh…but Jairo-sama, there were more stories to tell…”

I slumped my shoulders in disappointment. Arturo looked at me as if I were crazy.

That hurts.

Am I not crazy? Everything I say is true!

Perhaps noticing my dissatisfaction, Arturo adjusted his misplaced glasses and spoke with a wry smile: “Well… can you demonstrate one of those abilities to me? Forgive me, but everything you just told me is too incredible to be true…” “I want to see it with my own eyes.”

“Oh, yeah…!” I nodded happily, understanding.

Do you want proof of Drupi's divine power? You'll get it!

Although we started slowly... Dad would go crazy if Drupi destroyed another part of the garden, and the gardener even more so.

Poor man. However, I didn't like the way he looked at my pet with that murderous glare.

Standing up from my seat happy to demonstrate the power of my Drupi, I made what I thought was a great pose after placing my horned rabbit on the table, and so, I quickly ordered Drupi with a proud smile as I pointed towards the top of the palace, shouting the name that came to me in the heat of the moment in a childish voice,

—Drupi, use Star Jump to go to the roof!

“….“

“….“

The rabbit looked at me out of the corner of his eye as Arthur adjusted his glasses with a shaky expression. Undeterred by the awkward moment, I brought my disobedient horned rabbit ears to my lips and spoke softly to him with a smile.

“I’ll give you twice as many carrots as usual and have the guards catch more of those juicy bugs you like so much.”

I immediately went into negotiation mode with him as I petted him.

Hearing my seductive words, her eyes flashed with a red light and Drupi quickly stood up, summoning her mana without wasting any time, causing her body to glow faintly and beautifully, and finally, she leaped from the table with determination upwards, 'flying' towards the top of the Doge's Palace in no time.

It was quite amusing to watch Arthur open and close his mouth in disbelief at this display of power from such a small creature. He took his time speaking, possibly analyzing the magic used, and finally exclaimed in amazement:

"It's real... he's manipulating gravity... There's no wind involved... This horned rabbit is repelling the gravity of the world above him to jump to great heights like it's nothing!" "Incredible, absurd, how crazy!"

"Ha ha ha!"

I laughed heartily. I was happy.

How could it not be?

My tutor, a magical genius who can revolutionize the technology of an entire nation, looked like he was about to lose his mind due to the unparalleled skills of my horned rabbit!

I feel very proud!

Drupi is the best, huh?

Don't you think so too? I'm sure you do!

—…Princess… —While I was striking a proud mother pose for some reason, Arthur seemed to want to measure his words before speaking to me— Have you not considered making Drupi your familiar? I see that she is missing the emblem that every tamed beast should have, and I believe it would be beneficial for you, as an aspiring mage, to tame Drupi.

He seemed strangely enthusiastic about the idea... Oh, I remember now.

You've been waiting for it, haven't you? Heroes and Dragons' unique pet system, where players strive to have a certain effect with their tamed beasts, thereby gaining excellent buffs that boost their combat power... as long as they're magical or divine beasts in the first place.

Although in this world it was a little different from the game.

You see, the reason why the tamers of this world love to turn magical beasts into familiars isn't just because they can control them to fight (they don't even control them, really) but through a powerful emotional connection, it's possible for the tamer in question to use the magical beast's abilities for a short period of time!

However, it's very difficult to form that bond between a tamer who seeks profit from a magical beast rather than a sincere relationship. I don't think it's a problem for me, but I feel I don't need it. Especially if I have to put Drupi in danger.

An innocent creature like Drupi on the battlefield? That's not possible!

Well, even if it were my pet, I wouldn't necessarily have to take it to the battlefield... but maybe, I still don't need it?

“…”

I can't use it yet, but I have [Absolute Order], an absolutely complicated skill that can temporarily alter the laws of reality.

Once you control this unique force, it will be very easy to use the power of gravity, right?

Still... it's a little tempting to form a magical bond with my pet... hmm.

-Do you really think I should do it?

"Yes. Since the bond between the princess and Drupi doesn't seem to be bad, perhaps you can use those magical abilities?

Well, that doesn't sound bad...

"What should I do?"

Well, I decided to turn Drupi into a tame beast... My first magical familiar!

The magic used to turn a magical beast into a familiar...

Oh no, wait! No one in this world refers to a tamer's partner like that!

Cough! Anyway!

The magic used to turn a magical beast into a tamed beast, compared to the common spells used by the Hazar Empire, was a very ancient form of magic that is still used to this day for one simple reason: multiple attempts to modernize the practice of magical taming ended in complete failure.

While mimicking what ancient magic could do wasn't actually impossible, and in fact has been easily done over the years, magic that connects two beings on such a deep level that they can use each other's abilities was on another level.

This magic was one of the most powerful magical rituals that modern magicians can only dream of replicating with their current methods...

Well, even though I know that, it really doesn't seem like it these days... Although it's up to you to judge whether you think a grown man drawing things on the ground with shiny stones is the sign of a powerful ritual rather than the act of a madman...

"...Jairo-sama, really, why do you make magic circles on the ground in our garden?"

I told my guardian with a trembling expression as I watched him use a metal rod he took out from his dimensional ring to draw a magic circle over the land without a care in the world, while also placing precious gems engraved with runes in specific areas of the magic circle.

We had already walked a few meters from where we were before and suddenly Arturo started doing all this without saying a word, which disconcerted me so much that I froze for a short time.

The design he was making on the ground looked quite complex, with particularly deep lines, and his hands and arms seemed to have pretty decent strength and dexterity if he could make it as easy as drawing on a modern piece of paper.

But that wasn't what I focused on.

I almost wanted to ask him, “Is it okay for you to do something like this in someone else’s house without asking the owner?” but I stopped myself.

-Don't worry, princess. This is easy to fix.

Arturo put a slight, relaxed smile on his face that bothered me quite a bit for some reason.

...I lied, I actually think he looked great with that handsome actor face along with those pretty sapphire eyes that were even brighter than the gems he wore, and I couldn't help but smile naturally too when I admired him.

No... Wait, that's not the problem! What will Dad think about this?

I'm afraid Dad will use that as an excuse not to accept Arthur as my tutor or worse, say 'This bastard comes and teaches my daughter bad delinquent things like ruining gardens, execute him!' or something like that!

"I... well, I don't want to cause the gardeners any trouble with their superior just because of the ritual..." I could only say that as an excuse. How could I explain that I was afraid my father was going to kill him?

On one hand he'd look at me like I was crazy, but on the other hand... He'd run away at the first opportunity and never come back.

Just imagining it made me feel like a woman who lost a potential husband because her father brought a spiked bat to greet him with a cold smile.

...No, scratch that. I didn't think of such a thing!

"Just explain to them that it was an important ritual for you and your pet, princess."

"Even so..."

"Don't worry, it's just a one-time thing. The most important thing now is to formalize the contract between you and Drupi, officially making him your tamed beast."

Arturo gave me a “Calm down, let’s get on with it” look as he finished drawing the second magic circle in the ground so skillfully that they looked almost identical. Then, he took out some kind of jar and opened it, bending down to the ground and releasing its contents through the relatively deep lines he created.

I couldn't contain my curiosity when I saw him leaning over, "What is that?"

“This powder is a substance extracted from a special mineral that will serve to conduct magical energy toward the gems, and it’s called Entaniun,” Arthur replied. “Before you wonder why I had to make those lines in the ground when I could have applied the powder instead, let me point out that that would be bad because the wind would become an obstacle, as it would likely be sent flying. The relatively deep lines I made in the ground will prevent that.”

The magician explained while making sure the powder filled each line without spilling over his fingers.

"Couldn't you... I don't know... come up with a solution to prevent that in the first place?"

"The materials for that are expensive, and I really don't want to spend money on something like that when I only learned this ritual in case I find a particularly special magical beast."

I already knew from the game that Arthur, although not interested in becoming a professional tamer, had learned this magic just in case he encountered an extremely rare magical beast that could significantly increase his combat power, but I didn't expect that even now he would be so stingy in such a strange place.

I mean, he wears very fancy clothes that fit him extremely well and are obviously expensive, but he's not interested in spending too much on magic materials that might be useful later just because he learned something with such a vague intention... If you're going to learn something, you might as well make the most of it!

You never know when you might need it!

It was like many people on Earth were taught various educational subjects so that they would learn things they could use in the future.

Well, it's quite possible that most of them have forgotten the things they weren't interested in or have learned them only halfway, but I'm sure that many have benefited from it in their own way.

Who knows? Knowing how to perform CPR properly or suction out poison, even if you're just a shoe salesman, can save a life...

Wasn't Arthur a genius? Why didn't he think of that?

I wanted to ask, but I decided not to say anything. Instead, I asked something else.

—Couldn't he have done it inside one of the palace grounds if that's the case? There's no wind.

"We couldn't. To perform the taming ritual, you have to do it in relatively close contact with nature, where mana can move without many obstacles... This garden may have a human touch, but it's as close to natural as it gets, and there's no need to worry about artificial structures filled with base metals and marble interfering with the flow of mana."

"Ah!"

With those words I remembered a detail about the magic of this world.

Common metals like iron and copper were minerals that negatively affected the flow of magical energy in the air, along with marble, which could cause a spell cast within a typical noble house to fail. Only specific magical metals, such as Mithril used in advanced arcanotheology, would not cause such problems.

And the Dranalian palace was naturally made of marble and base metals, as not even a duke's family could be so extravagant as to use such technologically advanced materials as raw materials to build a house.

In the HAD game, that would explain why, in certain areas, the magic the character had mastered became much weaker, or even unable to be used even if they wanted to. And in this world, that scenario may have worsened...

Well, I didn't think that would be a problem with good magical ability. An archmage like Merlin could destroy the entire Dranalian Palace using his gem magic.

The problem is that even I know the taming ritual is very delicate in terms of magical stability, since it involves a connection between souls, and nothing can go wrong in the process. It's not like its users would suffer the destruction of their souls or anything, but it would hurt quite a bit, based on what Arturo told me.

I didn't want to suffer pain from something like that just because of a glitch in the energy flow, much less for Drupi to suffer something like that. The poor guy might have a powerful ability, but his body was that of an ordinary horned rabbit, quite tender and delicate...

"Well, I'm done... Can the princess call Drupi?"

"Oh... right. Drupi, come here!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, cupping my hands over my mouth as if imitating a megaphone, which made Arturo laugh at my childish act. It didn't particularly affect me, as I was waiting with open arms for Drupi to descend while looking up.

Perhaps because I hoped his obedience would guarantee my end of the bargain, the horned rabbit with exceptional hearing quickly swooped down toward me and landed in my arms, while I automatically hugged him. The little guy narrowed his eyes as if this bothered him, but he didn't fight back.

"Now, princess. It seems you're in the Tamer's Magic Circle after putting Drupi in the Taming Magic Circle."

"GOOD!"

I nodded happily with a big smile at my tutor, placing Drupi into the magic circle which was actually smaller than mine, and after standing in the first one, I waited for Arthur's instructions.

By the way, I have to say those names are way too simple... not that I'm complaining that they're not cool or anything...

"Now the princess must draw the mana flowing through the body outwards and circulate it within the Entaniun to slowly charge the gems. It's nothing too complicated; the magic formula is the circle itself, and all she needs to do is wait for the magical energy to flow between both circles, activating and allowing the one-way soul connection to be built as long as the magical beast doesn't fight the Taming. This is just the first step, and it shouldn't be a problem, since it's clear to me, Drupi trusts the princess."

The reason mages who specialize in using magical beasts are called tamers is because they have to make the magical beast not resist the process by gaining trust with them, even if it's not a big deal. Arthur's words made it clear that he had no doubt that Drupi would never resist if it were my magical energy, because it comes from me.

"Once the spiritual connection between the two is formed, the princess must communicate with Drupi using her thoughts to convince him to also flow his own magical energy through the Magic Circle of Taming. Once the emblems identifying them as tamers are formed and the beast is tamed, the ritual ends."

My smile widened at those words as I turned to look at my rabbit fondly. As if she were a tsundere who understood everything we were talking about, Drupi, noticing, looked away from me with what seemed like a closed-eye snort, causing a few giggles to come out of my mouth.

"Ah... the princess shouldn't worry about losing the mana released to the outside either, since it doesn't lose its unique qualities so quickly, and the Entaniun is able to retain those qualities for a long time."

"I understand"

I nodded to Arthur. Without wasting any more time, I focused, trying to draw as much mana from my body into the magic circle as possible.

As I infused it with my magical energy, the magic circle gradually began to glow, the gems contributing the most light. I could feel faint pulses of energy that seemed to ignore the boundaries between space and time as Drupi's magic circle also lit up.

In no time, an intangible connection formed between us, making me feel strangely uncomfortable; perhaps because I was "touching" another creature's soul using my magical energy, or something else.

Either way, I was glad to know that Drupi didn't resist the connection.

Drupi? Can you hear me?

When I sent those thoughts through the connection (I think I did?), I sort of expected a voice of some kind to sound in my head other than the system's... but that didn't happen.

Instead, I felt certain emotions and feelings that were instinctively foreign to me: confusion, curiosity, discomfort, and a slight fear...

Drupi, relax, it's me

I smiled at my horned rabbit as I relayed my thoughts. We might not be able to communicate the way I imagined because he doesn't have his emblem yet, but he should understand.

Wait.

Drupi looked at me and blinked, as if trying to confirm that it was me speaking to her in her head, and I smiled at her.

Yes, it's me, baby.

...Then.

A feeling of annoyance and irritation came from Drupi towards me, which instantly took away my smile.

"You don't like me calling you baby!?"

Arturo looked at me, bewildered by my sudden outburst.