Translator: Jimi Editor: Ryunakama
Shirushu stayed seated with her legs tucked under her as she waited for me to speak.
「After this, we will make Shirushu undergo Beast transformation. You will first need to get used to being in that state.」
「Uu… will it be alright though…?」
「That is a rope that has been reinforced by magic. Even if Shirushu rampages, it won’t get cut, and suppose that it does get cut, Lydia and I will suppress you.」
「…understood. I will trust Zeph-san…!」
Having made up her mind, Shirushu looked into my eyes and nodded in agreement.
Lydia went behind Shirushu and used the extra rope as a gag for Shirushu to bite on, so that she wouldn’t bite on her tongue.
Meanwhile, Milly and Claude stood a little further away, watching over Shirushu’s situation.
When I approached Shirushu and buried my hand into her chest, she trembled in surprise.
Shirushu’s face was turning scarlet, and her hair was also gradually turning red.
「Okay, here we go.」
Shirushu nodded. To stir up her magic lines, I twisted the hand that was pushed against her chest.
When we were traveling by horse carriage, we had slipped out to try fighting monsters a couple of times, and it would seem that when Shirushu receives attacks from the monsters, she would sometimes undergo Beast transformation.
It is likely that the negative magic, which monsters are composed of, has an effect on Shirushu’s consciousness.
With skillful manipulation of the magic lines, I intend to drive impacts similar to that of monster attacks into Shirushu’s body.
Upon impact, Shirushu’s body sprung up in an arch and her mouth fell wide open, letting out a silent scream.
Oh damn, that might have been too strong.
There shouldn’t be any damage to the body, but it’s somewhat difficult to moderate it.
Shirushu’s hair turned completely red at once, and any signs of rationality were erased from her red eyes.
Beast transformation complete.
Twisting her bound body, Shirushu writhed around trying to undo her restraint.
That violence cannot be compared with other normal Beast men. As expected, purebreds have a harder time suppressing their beastly nature.
The way Shirushu was violently struggling made everyone bewildered.
If she rampaged, basically either Lydia or I would immediately make her faint.
The violent Shirushu who lost her rationality is, well, scary after all.
Shirushu scowled at me silently while I reached my hand close to her cheek, and began stroking it slowly.
Initially, she was shocked and was about to escape, but under my gentle and continuous stroking, she calmed down bit by bit. Gradually, she closed her eyes and, seemingly in a comfortable mood, she let out a rumbling sound from her throat.
「Claude, come over here.」
I waved Claude over, and she hurriedly came to sit beside me.
Shirushu seemed to have noticed Claude’s presence, but she did not particularly show signs of violence and was docile instead.
「Try stroking her.」
「…I mean, are we treating her like an animal?」
「A Beastman I’m acquainted with… wrote a book which noted that it was a way to get used to the nature of a Beast. It’s actually based on proper theory.」
「Something from your past, is it?」
Even though Claude learned about it, she didn’t probe further into the matter, which was a great help.
When I urged Claude to go on, she timidly reached out to touch Shirushu’s throat, then slowly stroked her white chin.
All of a sudden, Shirushu began to sniff Claude’s scent. Claude seemed so surprised that she leaned back, and Shirushu pushed her down with her body.
Shirushu snorted as she buried her face into Claude’s clothes.
「She’s trying to remember Claude’s scent. Let her do as she pleases for a moment.」
「Letting her do as she likes… Wait, ah, please stop…hnn…」
When purebreds undergo breast transformation, instead of rationally differentiating between friend and foe, they rely on their instinct.
Previously when Shirushu attacked me, it was because she had instinctively considered me as an enemy.
By remembering our scents and learning to instinctively identify us as companions, she should not attack us again.
Letting Shirushu remember the scents of the three ladies, and making sure that she does not attack us even under Beast transformation, is the minimum requirement for battles here on out.
Shortly after she finished remembering her scent, Shirushu snuggled up to the cheek of Claude, who fell backward with her limbs outstretched.
Perhaps having resigned to her fate, Claude let out a defeated laugh as she stroked Shirushu’s hair.
Claude’s hair and clothes were in a mess and sticky with drool. Nevertheless, Shirushu’s has instinctively recognized Claude as one of her companions.
I stood up, faced Milly, and waved her over.
「Next is Milly. Come over here.」
「I-I’m doing that too? I…」
As Milly was approaching nervously, I pulled on her hand and brought it over to stroke Shirushu’s throat.
Initially, Milly was also gingerly touching Shirushu, but she gradually got used to it and began stroking her boldly. Shirushu also immediately began to sniff Milly’s scent.
「Kya… Jeez, Shirushu it’s tickling you know~♪」
Milly was playing with Shirushu. Looking at the two girls, Lydia seemed to be deeply envious.
She looked as if she couldn’t help but want to join in.
「Hey, Zeph-chi. Can I go next?」
「Ah~ yeah, after Milly is done.」
I’ve heard that if introductions were done at the same time, the scents would get mixed up.
I let Lydia wait for a while more, and only when Shirushu remembered Milly’s scent, did Lydia gradually come closer.
Lydia approached with a coaxing voice. That’s suspicious, no matter how you see it.
As Lydia was about to touch Shirushu, her ears pricked up and her eyes opened wide.
Shirushu started to growl, threatening Lydia.
Lydia was surprised and she pulled her hand back, which is the right thing to do.
If she continued to provoke Shirushu in her state of a rampage, it could get very troublesome.
「Don’t sound so miserable… Try using this.」
While saying that, I handed Shirushu’s favorite food over to her – meat on the bone.
「Oh oh! I see~♪」
「Wha-, isn’t that completely treating her like an animal!」
Claude retorted, but it just can’t be helped.
When I removed Shirushu’s gag from behind, she began to lick my face.
Oi, that’s the wrong place, you know.
I turned Shirushu’s face in Lydia’s direction and, perhaps interested in the meat which Lydia presented, Shirushu’s face inched closer to the meat.
Then, she began chewing on the meat on the bone, while Lydia was holding onto it.
「Ohh~! She’s eating!」
「Don’t pat her yet though. You have to wait for her to finish eating, or she will misunderstand that you’re going after her feed, and try to bite you instead.」
While watching Shirushu stuff her cheeks with meat, Lydia was itching to touch her.
The meal ended just when Lydia was about to lose her patience from waiting, and she hugged Shirushu around her neck.
Shirushu seemed to see her as a slight disturbance, but it would appear that she has accepted Lydia who gave her food.
Using a piece of meat on the bone, Lydia had somehow managed to get permission to hug Shirushu.
She then continued to play with Shirushu as she liked.
With this, the instances of Shirushu attacking us in the Beast state would be close to none.
At least, only for us though.
That being said, it’s still unstable, and if Shirushu were in a state of extreme stimulation, the chances of her attacking us is not zero.
If it becomes possible to completely control her, she should turn out to be a source of strength during battles, so we ought to continue her special training.
Around an hour later when Shirushu regained her senses, she did not seem to have any memories of the earlier events, and she interacted with Milly and the rest normally. However, she was creeped out by Lydia’s bizarre acts of affection.
While I was looking at the situation, Milly whispered to me.
「Hey Zeph, is it fine if you don’t do what we did earlier?」
「Zeph had already gone through it you know, when the two of them were alone.」
「…Oh I see.」
While saying that, Milly pinched me hard on the buttocks.
Oi you, that hurts you know?
Even if Shirushu’s taming… or rather, her special training to suppress her beastly nature were continued from here on, there will still be chances of her attacking other adventurers or completely unrelated, ordinary people. Perhaps it is better to let her curse be sealed as soon as possible.
Well, the high priests who can use curse-sealing magic are absent at the moment, so we can’t do anything about it I guess.
When we get back, I’ll ask for help to contact them. The priests of the church each have received rings with crystal fragments, surely they can be contacted by telepathy.
Anyway, with this, it is finally possible to get some decent hunting done.
「Now, it’s finally time to subjugate the Rock Dragon!」
Milly stood before us, pointing in the wrong direction.
That’s the direction of Izu Port City you know.
「…Milly, follow us without getting lost alright?」
I led Claude, while Milly brought along Lydia and Shirushu, and we teleported towards the Cresta vast cavern.
Any monsters met along the way were basically ignored.
Even by teleportation, the distance takes the whole day to cover, so we needed to take several breaks as expected.
Usually, my magic is first to run out, instead of Milly’s. When that happens, we would take a quick break under the shade of some rocks.
During one of the breaks, Shirushu’s nose twitched.
「Monsters are here. Two Rock Wolves and one Land Liger.」
Shirushu said as she stood up, and everyone followed.
In any case, Shirushu’s ears and nose sure are convenient huh.
Lydia also has good eyesight and instinct, but Shirushu’s ability to seek monsters is far better.
Shirushu usually has on her priest hat, but when she takes off her hat and gets into seeker mode, she can sense monsters by sound and smell, from a distance away.
Far from being caught off guard, on the contrary, it is more likely that we can ambush the enemy.
As Zeph was also about to stand up, Lydia stopped him.
「Zeph-chi and Milly-chan should take a break. You have to let your magic recover right~」
「Lydia-san and I would be sufficient for this, alright.」
「Me, me too, tentatively…」
Shirushu had read a few of the scrolls which Milly owns.
Shirushu’s magic potential was not low, while she was likely to go into a rampage if close combat was done poorly, therefore when choosing her attack method, we arrived at the conclusion that using long-distance magic was a good option.
Being able to use only elementary magic for now, Shirushu did not contribute significantly to our fighting power yet, but having her is still better than nothing.
「Got it! But if it gets dangerous, we’ll join in too okay.」
…but in the end, we did not get our turn.
The two Rock Wolves were instantly killed by Lydia, then together with Claude who had put up a good fight, the Land Liger was surrounded and defeated by the three ladies.
Incidentally, Shirushu also fired off barely-sufficient Blue Shots and other magic, but well, the extent of its power is as one could guess.
「Everyone, thank you for your hard work~♪」
「Thanks to you girls we’re mostly recovered now.」
Having recovered our magic, we continued on our teleportation journey.