kscans

Chapter 33 - Tamer and Summoner

Hayato let the Tamer-like NPC have the Lucky Rabbit.

The Lucky Rabbit was a rare version of the Forest Rabbit. Defeating it could yield a rare item. That said, a rare monster from a place where beginners go would not drop anything of significant value even if it did drop a rare item. There was no problem in giving it up.

The Tamer woman thanked Hayato and his group, then immediately began the taming process.

This game had a system of monster attack claim rights, where only the character who first took hostile action against a monster could attack it. Of course, taming was also a hostile action.

Claim rights were held on a party basis, so Hayato and his group, who were not in a party with the Tamer, could no longer attack the Lucky Rabbit.

However, there was a rescue system, so if the player holding the claim rights requested aid, anyone could attack that monster. It seemed to have only benefits, but since requesting aid had the demerit of lowering the quality of the items obtained, it was rarely done unless absolutely necessary.

Since his gathering was finished, he could have left immediately, but it was Hayato’s first time seeing someone tame a monster, so he decided to watch from a distance.

(If you master the Tamer skills, you can ride some monsters, which I’m envious of.)

Tamer skills often consisted of Taming, Animal Knowledge, Monster Knowledge, Riding, and Veterinary Medicine. It was also necessary to feed the tamed monster, so a certain level of Cooking Skill was needed to make pet food. Furthermore, since you are attacked by the monster during taming, you also needed skills to be able to fight to some extent.

The Tamer before him was also being attacked by the Lucky Rabbit while taming it. Of course, the Tamer did not attack back. There would be no point in defeating it. No matter how many attacks she took, she had no choice but to continue using her Taming Skill without retaliating.

"Come on an adventure with me! Gufu! I’m not done yet!"

The NPC was acting as if she felt pain, even though there should not be a sense of it. She seems to be going through a lot, he thought with sympathy.

After watching her for a few minutes, the Tamer’s situation started to look bad.

Her HP was gradually decreasing. It seemed she was solving the cooldown problem by drinking different types of potions alternately to recover her HP, but at this rate, there was a high possibility she would be defeated.

Rare monsters are stronger than normal monsters. That is precisely why one would want to make them a pet, but there was no point if you were defeated without being able to tame it.

"Ash, what should we do in a situation like this? That person looks like she’s about to be defeated."

"If she requested aid, we could help, but since she probably doesn’t want to defeat it, there’s nothing we can do."

"But she’s been glancing over here for a while. Don’t you think she wants us to do something?"

"Can you trade items in the middle of combat? Shall we give her potions and food to help her recover her HP?"

"Is it necessary to go that far? Well, since it’s Hayato, I guess you would."

"I’m not sure what kind of evaluation that is, but I think it would be fine to help her out. I’ll go try it."

Just as Hayato was about to approach the Tamer, Ash stopped him.

"Wait. If you get caught in an area-of-effect attack, someone like you would be defeated in one hit, Hayato. I’ll go give it to her."

Some monster attacks could hit multiple characters at once. These attacks would involve surrounding characters regardless of whether they held claim rights to the monster or not.

"Oh, I see. But isn’t it strange that the monster can attack us when we can’t attack it?"

"It’s the fault of whoever gets caught in the area. Alright, Ren, I’m leaving the guarding to you."

Ren nodded at Ash’s words. After confirming this, Ash approached the Tamer. He then handed her several of the dishes and potions Hayato had made.

The Tamer woman looked this way and bowed her head vigorously, but since she was still being attacked, he urged her to hurry up and tame it, saying that thanks were unnecessary.

Thanks to Hayato’s food and potions, the situation improved considerably. Taming was still not successful, but she had a considerable amount of HP to spare.

"Taming takes a lot of patience, doesn’t it."

"I think that’s because it’s a rare monster. I’ve heard that it usually succeeds after a few tries."

"Is that how it is? It’s hard enough just to encounter a rare monster."

As Hayato was talking with Ren, the Lucky Rabbit began to glow. It then stopped attacking the Tamer and started hopping around her, squeaking ‘kyui kyui.’

"I, I, I, I did it!"

The Tamer woman was also jumping up and down with joy, just like the Lucky Rabbit. After celebrating for a bit, she placed the Lucky Rabbit on her shoulder and approached Hayato’s group.

"Thank you so much! I would have lost if things had stayed as they were, so providing the food and potions was a real lifesaver!"

"I’m glad you achieved your goal."

"Yes, it’s all thanks to you. Between letting me have the Lucky Rabbit and this, you’ve helped me so much... Oh, right, if you’d like, please take this. It’s not worth much, but I have a lot of it!"

The Tamer woman said this and handed him a bag. Upon checking the contents, he could see that it contained a large amount of Scattering Grass and Light-Absorbing Grass.

"It’s grass I picked while wandering the forest looking for the Lucky Rabbit! It seems to be in demand lately, so I think you can sell it for a decent price!"

He already had a large amount, but having more would not be a problem, so Hayato gratefully accepted it.

"Thank you."

"This is nowhere near enough to repay you, though! Well then, let’s meet again somewhere! If you need anything, please come to the Tamer Guild! See you!"

With that, the Tamer woman ran off, holding the rabbit.

And the three of them were left behind.

"Well, she was a rather hasty girl. She left without even giving her name."

"She must have been that happy, don't you think? That rabbit was cute. I think I’d want a more ominous-looking pet... Oh, maybe it would be better to summon a familiar as a Summoner rather than a Tamer."

"Well, I understand the feeling of being happy, so I guess it's fine. Considering the food and potions I gave her, what I got in return makes it about even, so it's not a loss. Now then, let's head back too. I have to make that sunscreen."

Hayato took out a Ring of Teleportation and teleported back to the base.

A few days after meeting the Tamer woman, Hayato was in his room mass-producing what he thought would be needed for the Clan War. In between, he spent his days making coffins.

(I have to think about the next match, but since it’s a random match this time, I won’t know the opponent until a week before. There's the option of specifying an opponent by betting our base, but in the current situation, only lower-ranked clans would probably apply, so it’s meaningless.)

As Hayato was thinking this, a rainbow-colored light overflowed from his hands.

(It’s finally here. Is there some kind of desire sensor for this stuff? I can’t make it when I want to, but I can when I’m just doing it casually.)

A coffin appeared in Hayato’s room. It was unmistakably a five-star, highest quality item. He had not particularly wanted it, but after struggling so much to make it, he felt a slight attachment to it. Hayato touched the coffin for a moment, then left the room to summon Mist.

And outside his room, he ran into Esha.

"Are you perhaps free now? Some suspicious people have come to shop, so I’d like you to handle them."

"They’re customers, so don’t call them suspicious people."

"I think you’ll understand my feelings when you see them. They said they want to meet the shopkeeper, so I have them waiting, but what should we do?"

"Of course I’ll meet them. Could it be a custom order request?"

When Hayato was with Kokuryu, he had taken on item creation requests from customers at this base. Since the Clan Wars started, he had taken on fewer, but he still did so occasionally.

Hayato had been away from the base for a time, but he figured someone had heard that his inventory had recently been restocked and had come to see him.

When Hayato arrived at the shop area on the first floor of the base, there were five people wearing black hooded robes. All of them had their hoods pulled down low, and their faces were not visible. Only their mouths could be seen slightly.

(Their names are unknown but blue. So they’re Players, not NPCs. Still, they’re dressed suspiciously.)

As Hayato thought this, Esha next to him had a smug look on her face for some reason. Thinking that his thoughts about them being suspicious had shown on his face, he hurriedly put on a calm expression. He then spoke to the robed people.

"Welcome. I’m Hayato, the shopkeeper. How may I help you?"

As Hayato said this, one of the five people stepped forward.

"Sorry to bother you when you’re busy. It seems this shop handles a large amount of sunscreen, is that correct?"

"Huh? Uh, yes, well. I made a little too much, so I’ve put it up for sale, but what about it?"

The amount he had gathered and received had become quite substantial, so he had put the excess sunscreen he made up for sale in the shop. Since there was no particular demand for it at the moment, he had put it up for sale quite cheaply.

There was a search function for items sold in shops at bases, and by specifying the conditions, you could find out which shops were selling them. It was also possible to teleport there, so Hayato figured that was how they had come here.

"I believe you need Scattering Grass and Light-Absorbing Grass to make sunscreen. We would like to buy the Scattering Grass and Light-Absorbing Grass, not the sunscreen. Is that possible? We are prepared to pay double the market price."

"May I ask why?"

"Please consider that a trade secret."

Hayato thought.

(Could it be that these people are involved in the disappearance of Scattering Grass and Light-Absorbing Grass from the market? But I don’t know how they’re using it. Can it be used for something other than sunscreen? At least, I don’t think it’s used in any production skills.)

Hayato had a complete grasp of the materials for things that could be made with production skills. At least with production skills, Scattering Grass and Light-Absorbing Grass had no use other than for sunscreen. There was a possibility that they had obtained a new recipe or something, just like him, but if that were the case, thinking about it would not lead to an answer. First, he tried to remember if there were any uses outside of production.

(Could it be magic? I think I heard that some magic requires a catalyst.)

It depended on the type of magic, but basically, you could use magic if you had a spellbook. As long as you had that spellbook in your item bag, you could use magic as long as you had MP.

But besides that, some magic required something called a catalyst to be activated. As far as Hayato knew, that was summoning magic. He had heard that it was essential, especially when performing demon-type summons.

And the appearance of the people here. They looked like demon summoners. Players who used summoning magic were called Summoners. There had been a debate in the past, but in this game, it had been settled as ‘Samanā.’

He did not know what kind of demon they were summoning, but he concluded that it probably required Scattering Grass and Light-Absorbing Grass.

Even if it was in-game currency, he wanted the money. If he sold it all, it would be a considerable price. But if it was going to be used in a Clan War, he would be in trouble if they became his enemies. The possibility was low, but he decided not to sell.

"Um, I’m sorry. Actually, it was taking up storage space, so I turned it all into sunscreen."

"Is that so. That is unfortunate. If you happen to obtain more, please sell it at a high price. We will come to buy it."

"Yes, I’ll be sure to do that then."

They all bowed their heads slightly and left the shop.

Hayato and Esha were left in the shop.

"This might be rude to say, but they were quite polite, contrary to their appearance."

"I don’t think this is the time to be saying people who summon demons are polite, though?"

"So you came to that conclusion too, Esha? I was thinking the same thing. The only thing that uses Scattering Grass and Light-Absorbing Grass is demon summoning magic, right?"

"Huh? No, I looked at their profiles, and the clan they belong to is named ‘Demon Summoning Research Association.’ And their titles were all along those lines too. If they weren’t summoning demons, it would be fraud, wouldn’t it? It’s on a level where you could sue them with the Clan Management Committee."

You could check the profiles that Players and NPCs set up. Of course, you could not check their stats or skills, but you could see information about the clan they belonged to and their titles. Hayato had checked their names, but he had not checked their profiles.

"I wish I had known that information first. I went through all that thinking to arrive at that conclusion."

"Don’t mind it. That kind of thinking will be useful someday. Though I can’t guarantee it."

"You say ‘don’t mind it,’ but aren’t you rubbing it in?"

Hayato felt a little down, then remembered the reason he had come out of his room in the first place and went to call Mist.