Hen na Ryu to Moto Yuusha Party Zatsuyougakari, Shintairiku de Nonbiri Slow Life.

Chapter 20 – The Child’s Skill

The taming had failed.
No, the magic circle hadn’t even activated. It was as if it had been nullified completely.

This had never happened before. I had even tamed high-ranking dragons.
Not only that, but I had received permission from the Demon Wolf that was to be tamed.
It had even liked the name I was to give it.

It was possible that if the monster was too powerful for me, the contract from the magic circle would not activate.
But, no matter how you looked at it, Demon Wolves were not more powerful than high-ranking monsters.

“I wonder what happened…”

I moved closer to the Demon Wolf and inspected it.

“Kuuun.”

Perhaps it thought that I was angry, as it whimpered softly.
The child also looked worried, and its tail had moved between its legs.

“Don’t worry, I’m not mad.”

I said in a gentle voice. And then I touched the Demon Wolf directly.
Its fur was very soft. But it was quite thin and covered in mud.
However, I was sure its coat would look very nice once cleaned.
Of course, such things didn’t matter to us right now.

I needed to find out why the taming skill had failed.
In order to check for magical traces, I activated the appraisal skill on the Demon Wolf.

“Hmm? …Huh?”

I sensed magic energy.
You could not check living creatures with the appraisal skill.
Well, perhaps that wasn’t the right way to say it.
However, it was true that you could use the skill on dead creatures.
I suppose I had to say living creatures in order to differentiate them from corpses.
In any case, that meant I had to use a different magic if I wanted to study a living creature.

And so when appraising the living Demon Wolf, I should not be able to sense its magic energy.
And yet, I sensed the energy as soon as I used it.
That suggested that someone had cast some kind of magic enchantment on the Demon Wolf.

A magic that interfered with my taming skill. Something powerful enough to nullify it.
How advanced could this magic be?

“No, surely that is not likely…”

While I had failed, there was a big difference between interfering and nullifying.
It would be interfering if it was activated and then failed. It would be nullifying if it couldn’t be activated at all.
A high-ranking sorcerer would probably be able to interfere with my magic.
But not nullify it.
Even the sage who was in our Hero’s party could not do it.

“If it’s not magic, then it must be a skill.”

Even if it was a skill, an ordinary skill would not be able to nullify it.
I just did not think that such a skill… No, there was.
If you wanted to nullify tame, you used tame.
If it had already been tamed before I came along, then it would be impossible to overwrite it.

I patted the Demon Wolf on the head.

“It looks like you won’t be able to become my familiar, Shiro.”
“…Kyuun.”

The Demon Wolf cooed anxiously.
The child still looked worried as well.

“Don’t worry. We can still be friends.”

I patted the child on the head as well. And then the child closed its eyes with a content expression.
Now that it had calmed down, it tilted its head and asked,

“Why.”
“Hmm? Why can’t I tame it?”
“Yes.”
“Indeed. I think it’s because you already tamed it.”
“Ahh?”

The child and Shiro looked confused. They tilted their heads to the side at the same time.
It was very cute.

“While I am the one to name it Shiro, you were the first to call it while touching it.”
“Uuu?”
“Grr?”

Neither of them seemed to understand.
It was to be expected.

Apparently, this child had the taming skill as well.
Skills were gifts that you received at birth.
But sometimes, people don’t even realize that they have them.

“By calling it and touching it, you activated the taming skill.”

Normally, something like this would be unthinkable.
However, the child and Shiro were bound by a deep bond.
And so the wolf had been tamed without any resistance.

“That being said, to do it without chanting at all…”

Perhaps the child was a taming genius.
While I chanted when taming, it wasn’t absolutely necessary.
However, it reduced the amount of magic energy depletion, and strengthened the bond with the familiar, as well as raised the chances of success.

So it was quite amazing that it had been able to tame the wolf by just calling and petting it.
And that was even when you considered their deep bond.

“You… No, it’s not convenient to call you that. Do you have a name?”
“No.”
“I see. Should I think of one for you?”
“Okay.”

Then I would have to give it some serious thought.
After thinking of it for a while, I thought of a good name.

“What about Fio?”

Fio was the name of a tamer who appeared in old folktales.

“Fio! I am Fio!”

“Woof! Woof!”

Fio’s tail wagged happily.
Shiro licked Fio’s face as if in celebration.

I was relieved to see them happy.
Now that Fio and Shiro had their names, I explained it to them again.

“Fio. Apparently, Shiro is your familiar.”
“Familiar…”
“Well, think of it like a friend.”
“Friend!”
“Woof!”
“Fio. Aren’t you tired? Are you sleepy?””

You lose magic energy when taming something.
But Fio wouldn’t understand even if I said this. And so I just asked if she was tired.
When magic energy was taken away, you often started to feel drowsy.

“I’m sleepy!”
“I see. Then you should sleep.”

And so I took Fio and Shiro and headed towards Hippolius’s house.
And then I heard a voice come from the side.

“Did you solve the problem?”
“Very impressive, Victor. You’re good at erasing your presence.”
“That being said, you noticed I was here, didn’t you, Theo?”
“Well, yes.”

Victor had been watching quietly so that he didn’t get in the way of the taming.

“Foo foo.”
“Uuu…”
Fio and Shio growled in a low, cautious posture.

“Don’t worry. Victor is also a friend.”
“…Okay.”
“Woof.”
“While I’m sure you saw everything, I’ll tell you the details tomorrow.”
“Aye. Goodnight.”

And like that, Fio, Shio and I entered Hippolius’s house.