Chapter 78

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Translator: MadScientist

Chapter: 78

Chapter Title: Chosen

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"Nyaa, nyahaaang!?"

I manipulated the broom while roughly kneading the cat's balls.

Fortunately, since we were airborne, the attacking familiars were all flying types.

But it wasn't easy to stroke them while controlling the broom.

"Hold still...!"

The more I touched its balls, the more it wailed and thrashed about.

But it was working—the rock-hard balls were gradually softening.

In tandem with that, the rampaging beasts started to calm down.

Before long, the situation wrapped up quickly.

"Nyaa, nyahaa... nyang..."

Its balls had gone completely squishy.

The rampaging stray familiars turned docile as if nothing had happened.

Even though we'd gone outside, they didn't leave—they just searched for people.

It really was this guy's doing.

"Whew. All this because of one cat."

The Grandis cat, having caused all this chaos, slumped like liquid.

I kneaded its now-squishy balls in petty revenge.

Squish squish—

"NyahaAAAAH!"

The Grandis cat trembled violently as I manhandled its balls.

But when I let go, it slumped again.

Twitch... twitch...

Drained of strength, it couldn't resist anymore.

Just like Furrylike said, it was an ignorant kitten that had misused its power.

Even this young one could drive all the stray familiars berserk.

I couldn't even imagine how strong a full-grown Grandis would be.

I picked up the limp cat and flew out of the barrier.

"Junior Ian? What the hell did you just...!"

The moment I exited, Harisha greeted me with an uncharacteristically furious expression.

But upon seeing the situation inside the barrier had settled, her face softened.

The Furry Professor and the Stray Familiar Club Vice President—and everyone else—reacted the same way.

"The situation inside is under control. Just like you said, this little guy was the cause."

"How...?"

"I didn't think we needed to kill it. Anyway, I managed to calm it down."

The Furry Professor's mouth flapped open and shut.

Then he plopped down on the ground.

"I'm... trash, Vice President."

"Professor?"

And then the Furry Professor started spouting nonsense.

"It's obvious, but if a child's tantrum caused the familiars to rampage, a proper tamer would think to calm the child instead of killing it. But I immediately thought of killing the kid first."

"P-Professor... but it was a sudden situation. Breaking in there didn't look easy."

"But this cadet did it. And if we'd all just put in a little effort, we might've extracted the kid easily. But I thought, 'Eh, too much hassle—just kill it. One sacrifice and the rest are fine.' I took one child's life for granted."

"Professor...!"

"Sniff... sob... I'm unfit to be a tamer... I..."

The Furry Professor spent a while repenting. The vice president cried along with him.

Anyway, the issue was resolved. Ignoring those two, things proceeded.

"...This is really unexpected, Junior Ian. I never thought you'd dive in there to save one familiar."

Harisha finished organizing and approached me.

Her usual smiling eyes were gone; her face was stiff with genuine surprise.

"Well... my body moved on its own."

"But how did you calm it down?"

"Hm... I just figured petting it would work, so I did, and it did."

"Without any certainty, you jumped in on just a hunch..."

Harisha looked at me in disbelief, then let out a hollow chuckle.

"...Pfft. Now I can't help but take more interest in you."

"Pardon?"

"Nothing. So, what are you going to do with it now?"

"Release it into the wild. As you can see, it wasn't trying to attack humans. It just wanted to escape."

The cat was still limp in my arms.

It hadn't attacked people like a normal beast.

The Stray Familiar Club members and Harisha agreed on releasing it.

And so, escorting the Grandis cat out of Academy City into the wild wrapped up the incident.

Still, saving one life felt rewarding.

The commotion made me sleep late, but a solid cultivation session would shake off the fatigue.

Like that, I spent the rest of the night cultivating to wash away the tiredness.

The next morning.

I finished cultivating as the world stretched awake.

Cadets heading to class chattered outside.

Looks like I'd cultivated longer than expected.

I hurried to get ready and left the dorm.

On the way from the dorm to class.

But midway, I spotted cadets gathered in the middle of the path.

"So cute~ The cat isn't running away."

"But is this just a normal cat? Looks like a beast."

"Come to think of it, there was that stray familiar commotion last night, right? Is this the one?"

Lots of female cadets, and their conversation was odd.

Wondering what was up, I approached—and there was yesterday's Grandis cat, grooming itself surrounded by cadets.

"Why the hell are you here!!"

I blurted it out loud in shock.

Their gazes turned to me.

Embarrassed, I averted my eyes, cleared my throat, and turned away.

A moment later, I glanced back—the cat was weaving through the cadets.

Then it planted itself right by my leg.

"...? What are you doing?"

"Nyaa, nyaa~"

Straight-backed and standing tall beside me.

So proud, anyone would think I was its subordinate.

More importantly, why did it come back?

I released it to return to nature, not cause trouble here.

"Just a moment..."

More pressingly, I was going to be late.

Head to class first, then talk to Professor Ugos.

But this guy kept following me.

"Is that a first-year familiar?"

"Jealous of cat familiars. They're hard to tame."

No, it's not mine. This is an untameable Grandis—ruler species or whatever.

I pushed through the whispering cadets staring at me and the cat, arriving at class.

Fortunately, the professor hadn't arrived yet.

"Hisenna, did you hear about yesterday?"

"Ah, yeah. We were just talking about it... Huh? Is that the cat from yesterday?"

"Yeah. Released it, but for some reason it came back to the academy. And now it's following me everywhere. What's going on?"

Hisenna pondered as I explained.

While she thought, I posted on the gallery.

Just nonsense about being chosen and clueless comments on the reason.

If it were a normal cat, fine—but this is a Grandis.

No reason for it to follow humans. Yet it came back and stuck to me?

I hoped Furrylike would show up with answers, but no sign yet.

Soon Professor Ugos arrived, and I explained.

He told me to go see the Stray Familiar Club advisor.

Since it caused yesterday's incident, who knows when trouble might brew.

More important than class: get it out.

I went to the Furry Professor.

"What? It came back? And it's only following you?"

The Furry Professor's eyes gleamed at the returned cat.

He picked it up, inspecting it this way and that.

He even poked its slightly exposed balls curiously a few times.

"Kyaaak!"

"Whoa!"

The cat slashed at the Furry Professor wildly.

Startled, he dropped it.

The cat hopped down and stood by my leg again.

Even seeing the exposed balls, he didn't seem to recognize it as a young Grandis trait.

Just like Furrylike said, normal tamers don't know.

"Hm... looks like that's the case."

"You know the reason?"

"You've... been chosen!"

Ugh. This uncle doesn't know either.

This is a Grandis. An untameable ruler species.

The clueless Furry Professor rambled on.

"Familiars are sharp. It must've realized you saved it yesterday. Rare for a familiar to choose its master first—raise it well! Haha!"

"What if it causes another incident like yesterday? Isn't that irresponsible?"

"Won't happen. Heard it's newly protected. Yesterday's rampage was probably dependency on its old owner. Despite looks, it's powerful enough for that. But now its dependency's on you—congrats on a strong familiar! Ho ho ho!"

Is this guy really a tamer? Skills are lacking.

Where do you see dependency? It's clearly doing its own thing.

Maybe my standards are gallery average.

Normal tamers might think this way.

"No way you're abandoning such a cute kid, right? Let's do the official adoption..."

As the Furry Professor blabbered,

Gonic's long-awaited comment dropped.

Busy rolling with familiars, late reply again.

No telling when it'd vanish, so I ignored the Furry Professor and quickly replied.

I uploaded a few more shots of it standing rigidly beside me.

Furrylike went quiet, then returned.

Can't know true feelings, but can infer from actions, huh.

Then Furrylike's explanation for why was totally unexpected.

Same level. Acknowledges reliable comrades.

But probably not.

I just petted it—no show of strength.

"...?"

Comment stalled at "Second is."

Ugh, Furry... no, busy with familiars again?

Fortunately, quick return this time.

But the reply was beyond unexpected—straight-up bewildering.