Tamed by a High School Girl (Chapter 2)

The quests in Al Fantasia appeared and vanished according to the situation, but there were also quests that existed permanently.

The herb-gathering quest near the Lucifen Forest was located right in Lucifen Village.

The words "minor compensation" and "slight experience points" made one wonder why bother, yet for beginners like us who had only just started playing, these were truly helpful.

Moreover, since it did not end after one try but could be repeated endlessly, one could accept a small bit of hassle and look forward to explosive growth in the early stages.

That was why I hunted while at the same time scouring the entire forest like tearing it apart in search of recovery herbs.

“Choco, let’s ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠go together!”

Thanks to that, I whined and grumbled as Yeon complained, yet I did not slow my pace at all. The reason was that she had been steadily following me despite saying such things.

There was no concept of stamina, and since it was a game, the body could not tire. Yet even so, it was astonishing.

Nearly an hour without rest, I had been moving while gathering recovery herbs. On top of that, I was hunting too. No matter how one said there was no stamina, it was only natural that one would feel mentally drained. Even I felt a little short of breath.

Actually, I was literally out of breath. After all, when you hit, you feel the pain directly. The fact that fatigue existed was nothing strange. Seeing the rabbits that had been judged as dead turn gray and disappear, I let out heavy breaths.

After repeating the hunt, I had reached level 5. Yeon’s level was one step higher than mine at 6. Thinking about the compensation I would receive after handing over the gathered recovery herbs, both of us would rise one level higher.

Spirit power had not accumulated much. It had barely surpassed 50, hovering on the edge. I had thought I caught a lot, but since they were only low-level monsters, it seemed they did not stack up easily.

Well, it was not easy to grow a tail either. Should I speed things up a little?

“I can’t do it anymore, I won’t do it!”

“Kyaa?”

“It’s too hard!”

While thinking that, I caught my breath when Yeon suddenly collapsed on the ground and started whining. Her wiggling limbs were pitiful, like trying to make an angel in the snow, yet it was understandable.

After all, I was an old-timer, and such long marches were something I had done many times before, so it was nothing to me. But Yeon was a newcomer who had only just begun playing the game.

Moreover, she was a girl, so getting tired of playing like this was only natural.

It was good to take a little rest. Honestly, I was a bit tired too. Like the time I was rank 1, I no longer had the body to hunt for hours.

“Choco—”

From a bit away, she was lying down. A soft voice calling me reached my ears.

I tried to ignore it on purpose, but because the voice kept calling me without stopping until I turned around, I had no choice but to look back at Yeon.

“Come here. I won’t hug you, okay?”

She had already sat up next to me in the same prone position, and was patting my side while saying that.

Should I go? I thought that, but this time I refused to ignore her, because I thought she would call my name in the exact same tone as before.

Well, I should just go ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠once. With a sigh, I approached. In an instant, my vision spun.

“I finally got you!”

With the weak sensation of arms constraining my entire body and Yeon’s voice shouting, it was not hard to figure out what had happened. She had hugged me again without permission.

“If taming had succeeded, you would be my pet, yet the owner hugs you this much? Does that make sense?”

Who is your pet? While grumbling at Yeon’s words, I twisted my body to escape.

Since biting and scratching would not deal any damage to her, that was the best I could do to escape.

“Ouch, just stay still. Who’s eating you?”

“Kyaaa!”

“If you do that, it won’t hurt at all.”

While resisting by shaking the hand that was about to pet my head, as I had said earlier, since it would not deal any damage, I could not stop it in the end.

In the end, Yeon’s hand began to pet me, and I gave up resisting and quietly accepted it. Honestly, I had nearly given up after causing a big fuss by myself.

“Really, I don’t understand why you hate it so much.”

If it were you, you would want to be hugged and petted by a much younger little tail? In my heart, I wanted to shoot back, but since it would only make her let out those “kyaa” cries, I just vented inside.

Damn it, if I could speak, it would have been much better. Whether Yeon knew or not, she quietly hugged me and only petted my head.

I considered struggling once more, but after seeing Yeon’s face with her eyes closed and breathing quietly, I decided to give up.

Yes, after dragging along a clueless one like this for so long, it was only fair for an adult to endure this much.

Moreover, upon reflection, Yeon was nothing less than a savior of life. I had been careless and caught off guard, but if it had not been for her, I would have simply been game-overed by a rabbit.

Of course, whether this was skinship or not, if one thought about the future, it would be better to keep some distance. Yet one could not completely avoid it.

At least Yeon herself would not want that. If she only resisted, she might end up being hugged forcibly like now.

Even so, being hugged and petted by a younger one than me was no problem. Thinking that, drowsiness gradually began to overwhelm me.

Whether it was because of her steady petting or because I was far more exhausted than I thought, I did not know. I accepted the beginning of closed eyelids without resisting.

Consciousness faded in an instant.

-

Ring—

-

After a short rest, Yeon and I set out to hunt together once more. Thanks to the somewhat higher levels, our stats had risen a lot, allowing us to hunt monsters other than rabbits. However, I could not easily leave the rabbit habitat.

That was because the next monster to appear was the Kaldaramsue.

This creature, also called the novice killer, flew between trees and bushes like a flying squirrel, attacking with sharply sharpened claws. The problem was that, despite its speed, it approached and struck without a sound.

Perhaps because it was modeled after the flying squirrel, its body was small and its health was even lower than the rabbit’s, so it fell down with just one good hit, like a flopping fish. Yet for a newcomer, it was a creature that could not even be seen but dealt terror.

Of course, the solution was simple. Switch to chainmail armor and pick up a shield. As I had said earlier, despite the speed, because of its miserable health, swinging the shield blindly would result in it being hit by its own blind swing and dying.

Even if attacked, as long as it was in chainmail, the sharp claws of the Kaldaramsue would only deal minimal damage. It was the perfect counter.

But even if I knew all this now, it was useless. Because I could not tell Yeon with words.

That was the reason I was considering crossing from the rabbit habitat into the Kaldaramsue habitat. If Yeon went in without knowing anything and without preparation, and died, the loss would be immense.

After all, dying meant a three-hour penalty, so with me having to focus on growth even for a moment, the gap in Yeon’s time would be quite large.

I felt like sending Yeon back to the village and making her buy new equipment. While watching Yeon who had become skilled at handling rabbits, I was troubled. How to send Yeon to the village, and how to get her to buy equipment.

I had gathered a lot of recovery herbs, and there would be plenty of byproducts from catching rabbits. After cleaning them up in the village, the newcomer would gather quite a bit of money. So there was no financial obstacle to buying equipment.

But what to buy and what to prepare for was something I knew nothing about. If we could communicate, I could just go to the village together, but that was impossible.

Frustrated, I scratched the ground with my front paws. If only I could convey information somehow, but no good idea came to mind.

How… Huh? I was scratching the ground without a clue when I suddenly looked at the ground dug by my front paws. Because it was soft and smooth, even if I just gave it a little force while scratching, the nutrient-rich soil was revealed.

Perhaps this could work. I dug the ground like before with my front paws, then shouted toward Yeon who was picking up byproducts from where the rabbit had died.

“Kyaa!”

“Huh? Why?”

Yeon asked in surprise, but I did not answer and jumped in place, drawing her attention. Excited like crazy, Yeon came over with a bewildered face and said.

“What on earth… Eh?”

Then she looked at the ground and stared at me with wide eyes in shock.

“This… You did this, Choco?”

“Kyaa!”

“No way…”

Yeon muttered with disbelief, her eyes wide open. After all, I would have been surprised too if I were in her position.

She was staring at the word “village” written in the ground by the fox. Who would not be surprised?

It was such a simple method that one wondered why I had not thought of it earlier. If words could not be conveyed, then I could send a text. As soon as Yeon recognized it, I immediately began writing the next characters.

“Equipment and Kaldaramsue? What’s that?”

“Kyaa!”

Explaining everything one by one with my fox body would have taken forever, so I only wrote the important things. Then, to indicate that I would not write anymore, I sat down and shouted. Yeon crossed her arms and looked at the letters written on the ground. After thinking for a moment, she slowly opened her mouth.

“So you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠want me to go to the village and get equipment? Kaldaramsue seems like a monster name… right?”

“Kyaa!”

“Hmm…”

With a cry of agreement, Yeon fell silent again and fell into thought. Since I understood the confusion she felt, I waited quietly.

Fortunately, Yeon’s silence did not last long. She un-crossed her arms and slowly opened her mouth.

“Okay. I’ll do as Choco says.”

“…!”

“But I can’t go alone.”

Then she reached out and lifted me up. Of course, given the situation, this time I did not resist and quietly accepted the hug.

Looking into my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠eyes, Yeon said with a still confused face.

“I want to ask what on earth happened, but… it’s probably difficult right now.”

If I could have, I would have done it long ago. Avoiding Yeon’s gaze, I muttered inside.