The Beast and the Mage
Rophen dropped the demonic beast meat onto the floor, pinned it with a forepaw, and tore into it without the slightest hesitation. Crunch. Crack. The savage sound of shattering bone sent everyone nearby shuffling a few steps back.
"Anyway... I ended up bringing it along, but I'm worried there might be trouble in Caladon."
Braham, who had been staring blankly at Rophen, snapped back to attention at Joseph's question. He cleared his throat repeatedly, still clearly embarrassed by what had just happened.
"Ahem. First of all, it isn't unheard of for people to pass through the gates with unusual beasts."
Countless travelers came and went through Caladon every year. Among them were merchants and nobles who kept tamed wolves — not familiars of this caliber, perhaps, but fierce animals nonetheless.
"That said... a familiar like this will be a first. A beast of this size, and the Commercial Guild that runs the city won't be able to look the other way."
Rophen would likely have to remain at Joseph's estate. Even if he had purchased the property with his own money, the mansion sat squarely within city limits — which meant it was still subject to the city's regulations.
"So what should I do?"
"Normally, you'd file a report with the Commercial Guild, then put a collar on it — one issued by the Guild. That's the rule, but..."
"A c-collar...?"
Joseph stammered, genuinely flustered for the first time in a long while.
A collar?
He turned toward Rophen before he even realized it. In that brief span, the beast had already finished off the entire slab of meat. Grease glistened around its mouth as it licked blood and fat from its forepaws.
...Put a collar on that?
One wrong bite and some body part would vanish without a trace. And even if they managed it — would a collar even do anything?
It does listen to me, more or less.
But even that was, honestly, a bit of a gray area at this point. It was more catlike than anything — not exactly overflowing with loyalty toward Joseph.
"Is there any other way?"
Braham answered, his voice a little uncertain.
"Well... the collar is really just so people can tell who the animal belongs to. If you talk it over with them, they might work something out."
The Guild issued collars so that if a beast caused an incident, they could identify who was responsible. In Rophen's case, there was no chance of mistaking it for any other animal — so perhaps they could come to an arrangement.
So I'll have to go talk to them in person.
The Caladon Commercial Guild. He was going to have to deal with them eventually as the business grew. Might as well show his face while he was at it.
"So passing through the city gates itself shouldn't be a problem?"
"That's right. They won't even inspect you, Joseph."
That was true enough. Last time, the guards had recognized Joseph's carriage and waved him through immediately.
With that, Joseph climbed back into the carriage with Rophen. As expected, the guards merely glanced at the carriage and cleared the way at once.
When they arrived at the estate, Givra and Toban were waiting at the entrance. Both of them looked thoroughly tense — Givra had apparently passed along the contents of the letter to Toban as well.
As Joseph stepped down from the carriage, Givra approached with a cup of warm tea, just as he had last time. Then he saw Rophen climbing down behind Joseph, and froze in his tracks. It wasn't just Givra. Toban, the artisans under him, the mercenaries on guard duty — every last one of them went still.
"...It shouldn't be a problem as long as you don't provoke it."
Honestly, Joseph wasn't entirely sure of that himself. Unlike Harbert Forest, the city was packed with people. Fortunately, Rophen swept a glance over the surrounding stares, then padded over to Joseph with complete indifference.
"...Handle the cleanup first. Give a third of the byproducts to the mercenaries as extra pay."
"Y-yes, sir."
Givra, who had never been particularly brave to begin with, was already pale. He gave Rophen a wide berth as he headed for the carriage. Toban and the other artisans exchanged glances, then followed suit.
"Rophen, let's go inside. This is going to be your home for a while."
Grrrum—
Joseph headed into the mansion, and Rophen followed at a leisurely pace.
"Wait... what the hell just happened?"
The moment Joseph and Rophen disappeared inside, the remaining mercenaries on guard duty swarmed the private soldiers. Naturally, the soldiers didn't have a clear picture either. If anything, they were the most bewildered of the lot. If Joseph was going to keep Rophen around, that meant they would be facing that beast every single day.
"...Still pretty cool though, right?"
"You crazy bastard."
"I don't know. It probably won't bite. Joseph said it wouldn't."
After a moment of hesitation, Derik and Jiren muttered it like men who'd already given up. Auk let out a small sigh.
When Joseph entered his room, a pile of bedding bunched in one corner caught his eye. Givra must have thrown it together in a hurry. Without being told, Rophen padded over to the bedding and settled in.
Grrrr.
Then it closed its eyes at once.
...Is it asleep already?
Joseph watched Rophen for a moment, then shook his head. If it was sleeping, better not to disturb it.
"Hah..."
Joseph finally let out a breath that felt like it went all the way to the floor. Things had been a whirlwind ever since Rophen joined them. At last, some of the tension was draining away. He could still hear a commotion downstairs, but Givra would handle it.
"So... what now..."
Joseph sprawled across the bed and started sorting through his thoughts. Opportunities like this had been rare of late.
First off, I made a decent amount of money.
Even after the extra pay for the mercenaries, it was a substantial sum. If he weren't employing so many people, that amount alone would have kept Joseph living comfortably for years. Sales of the ice and fire artifacts seemed to be going smoothly as well. All that remained was to keep expanding the number of artisans.
Once the dungeon expedition is over, even the Church donations won't be a concern.
Then a thought struck him, and he glanced over at Rophen.
...It's a Sacred Beast, right?
The Combat Priest he'd met before had said Rophen was a beast in the process of becoming a Sacred Beast. Looking at its current form, it certainly didn't seem to have become a Demonic Beast.
If it really is a Sacred Beast, how would the Church react?
There was no way to know just yet. In the Valois Territory, maybe. But in Caladon, he didn't know anyone in the Church he could ask. And showing up out of nowhere to announce, "I have a Sacred Beast!" would be strange in its own right.
No — it might actually make things worse.
According to Givra, Caladon's bishop was a thoroughly worldly cleric, the type who chased material wealth. If a Sacred Beast were revealed to someone like that, it could become a genuine danger. It was the same reason he'd been hiding the Holy Relic all this time.
"You're not leaking divinity or anything, are you?"
He muttered it just in case, but Rophen was already asleep and gave no answer.
Well, I'll worry about that later.
Joseph pulled a leather pouch from his coat. Inside was the black stone Rophen had given him. Careful not to let it touch his skin, he held the pouch by the edges and tipped the stone onto the table. After what he'd seen of the shaman in Malešov, he had no courage whatsoever to pick it up with his bare hands.
"So why did you give me this, anyway?"
He glanced back, but Rophen remained asleep, offering no reply.
After a moment of thought, Joseph swept a hand through the air. A small Mana Orb materialized. He hadn't used his staff, so it was a pure mass of mana — no divinity mixed in. He carefully brought it toward the stone. But the Mana Orb merely pushed the stone aside, eliciting no particular reaction.
So even if it's filled with Demonic Energy, it doesn't spread that energy to whatever it touches.
It was probably something similar to a Holy Relic, though he couldn't be sure. A Holy Relic was a mass of divinity, but on its own it was just a gemstone. This, then, might simply be a mass of Demonic Energy.
Still, it has to be useful for something.
It was a gift from Rophen — this one, at least — so it surely had a purpose. He'd had the original Rophen's help too, and even then the Holy Relic had ended up mounted on his staff.
...Wait a second.
The thought struck him, and Joseph looked down at the stone. Then his gaze shifted to his own staff, leaning against the wall.
"Hmm."
Joseph immediately rummaged through his belongings and pulled out the shaman's staff he'd stashed away. He laid the staff on the table, then used a small dish that had been holding a candle to lift the stone and set it on the staff's tip.
"..."
Looking down at it from above, it resembled the staff Joseph used. A long wooden staff with a blue Holy Relic embedded in it. A black wooden staff with a black stone perched on top.
If I do this right, couldn't these combine too?
He didn't have any particular goal in mind. It was just a plausible idea born of idle curiosity. Joseph carefully gripped the black staff, then, ever so slightly, let mana flow into it. The mana climbed the length of the staff, slowly reaching the head, and then touched the black stone resting on top.
Immediately after, a Mana Orb slowly rose from the black staff.
"What the...?"
Joseph's eyes went wide. Something felt deeply wrong about the Mana Orb floating in the air — as if something had been thoroughly mixed into it. When he'd experimented with making a Mana Orb from the black staff before, it hadn't been this severe. He'd even used his original Mana Orb to check for Demonic Energy back then. But this was unmistakably different. It was a nauseating sensation, as if something writhing deep in his chest had been mixed into the orb.
Joseph dispelled the Mana Orb at once, then immediately picked up his original staff. When he formed a Mana Orb the same way, thin wisps of smoke rose around it. The Demonic Energy that had dispersed into the air had vanished in an instant.
Grrum.
At that moment, Rophen — eyes now open — was standing behind Joseph.
"...No. I'm not going to use this."
Joseph answered quietly. Whatever reason Rophen had for giving him the stone, he doubted this was the intended use. He put the stone back in the pouch and stuffed the staff into his belongings. Rophen, apparently losing interest, returned to the bedding.
I feel like I tried to solve a riddle and got a new one instead.
Joseph scratched his head, looking thoroughly exasperated. For now, he'd have to put the matter of that stone on hold.
Knock, knock.
"Joseph! We've finished cleaning up downstairs!"
Givra's voice came through the door.
"Come in."
"Yes, sir."
Givra opened the door as usual, then flinched again at the sight of Rophen sleeping in the corner. He swallowed hard enough for Joseph to hear, then approached with extreme caution.
"Joseph. The mercenaries have been paid. Also, I was thinking of calling a carpenter — would that be all right?"
"A carpenter? What for?"
"Well..."
He trailed off, glancing sideways at Rophen.
"Ah, you want to build it a house?"
"Not a house, exactly... but it'd be better than leaving it like that, wouldn't it?"
Terrified of Rophen as he was, Givra had already accepted it as Joseph's familiar. Just as he'd prepared a home for his master, he intended to make one for Rophen as well.
"I don't know if it'll like that."
"Neither do I, sir."
Joseph nodded with a slight smile, and Givra immediately turned on his heel and hurried out of the room. In his haste, he completely failed to notice that Rophen was watching him.
"You are absolutely not allowed to attack that one."
Joseph said it just in case. Rophen huffed through its nose and turned its head away. The gesture was so thoroughly catlike that Joseph didn't know whether to laugh or sigh.