Chapter 12


“Yawn~”

I woke up naturally on the bed.

Day two of my possession.

What a reliable body this is! Luke’s body woke up at sunrise, even without an alarm.

This was on a whole different level compared to my lazy previous lifer who would sleep until lunchtime after hitting the sack at dawn.

“Good morning!”

Just as I was savoring the cheerful morning, a voice came from beside the bed.

Luna, who had woken up first, was finished getting ready and waiting for me.

But why was she looking at me with such a weird gaze?

“Got something to say?”

“…It’s nothing.”

What a letdown.

I had gotten quite tired the previous day with all the unforeseen events since it was my first day of possession, which made me hit the hay early.

Yet now, waking up felt as refreshing as if I had slept for 24 hours. What a healthy body I had!

Realizing I was truly possessed hit me once again.

‘Even my pot belly transformed into chocolate abs, and my wasted life is turning into a thrilling life.’

There’s no reason not to be possessed like this!

“Long live possession!”

“…Luke?”

“Oh, I’m hungry. Let’s go eat breakfast.”

“Yes….”

The inn where we stayed last night wasn’t too shabby, but it wasn’t “Wow! This is a five-star luxury inn!” either.

It was just decent enough.

Since I would probably frequent it often, I made sure to remember its location.

Of course, whether I could find it again was uncertain.

Immediately after leaving the inn, I walked back to the restaurant street we visited last night with Luna.

The street was bustling with delicious smells wafting from early morning, and we came back to the same restaurant as yesterday.

The inside of the shop was lively, indicating it might be a popular spot more famous than I thought.

However, there was a sad legend attached to that place.

It was the very spot where the Tomahawk Steak met its demise.

How I wished I could build a small tombstone for it, but it wasn’t my establishment.

Just thinking about it irritated me, and I wanted to hunt down those jerks from yesterday and unleash my aura rush on their faces right now.

Ugh… I must endure. I am a civilized being. I am a civilized being.

I probably wouldn’t have been able to endure without that self-hypnosis.

As I opened the restaurant door, a tiny bell chimed, and I heard the voice of a waitress.

“Welcome…!”

Stuttering mid-sentence, she clearly had a long way to go if she wanted to become an elite server.

As I headed towards an empty table nearby, I noticed the other patrons subtly recoiling.

“What’s with them? Why are they acting like that?”

“Do you really not know…?”

Luna asked, a curious look on her face.

“What did I do?”

Wasn’t it more like they should thank me for stopping those punks from causing a ruckus?

“…”

Look at them, unable to refute my statement. I nearly embarrassed them. I thought I’d done something wrong.

I sat down at a table and called the waitress over.

“Yes, did you call for us?”

“I’d like the breakfast recommendation, please.”

“Understood!”

The waitress dashed off.

Did I misjudge her from yesterday?

“She’s shy like that, and yet she’s here serving. Tsk tsk.”

“…”

“What’s with that glare?”

“It’s nothing.”

At my words, Luna shot me a disapproving look.

She probably couldn’t logically refute my point and was staring at me like that. If she were as smart as I was, she wouldn’t have to worry.

*

The breakfast recommendation consisted of simple bread, cheese, bacon, and eggs.

I wished there was warm miso soup with rice, but the bread wasn’t bad in its own right.

Finishing breakfast, we headed straight to the Adventurer’s Guild.

Yesterday was full of unexpected happenings, and though the income was sweet, it wouldn’t last long, and my hands itched to take down some monsters. So I came to pick up a request.

“Welcome!”

“Hello.”

Today, I greeted Adela, who was at the reception desk.

“You’ve come with someone today… your girlfriend?”

Looking at Luna behind me, Adela said.

Since Luna’s master had that status, it seemed that we became a couple engaging in a master-slave play in Adela’s eyes.

‘Well, we’re not exactly a couple, but we are in a master-slave relationship.’

But should I really explain that?

Too much of a hassle.

“Yep.”

I figured clarifications and explanations are for those who are nervous.

If she needed it, Luna would clear it up herself.

“…”

“What’s wrong? Are you sick?”

“Ah, no…”

I thought her face was just a little red, so I wondered if she had a fever.

If she got sick after eating well, there’s no way I’d forgive her for skipping hunting!

I planned to roll with whatever was happening if she was genuinely sick.

If it were truly bad, she’d just evolve into a shadow and survive.

Anyway, I headed to the bulletin board to look over the requests available for me as an E-Rank.

Metal Slime, Goblin, Wild Boar.

“What’s with all these lousy names?”

I passed on the Goblin since I took one down yesterday, and I thought about trying something else, but does E-Rank only feature monsters with such pathetic names?

And what was Wild Boar? It’s just the English word for wild pig.

“Tsk.”

As I was contemplating whether I should just settle for the strongest-looking Wild Boar, something caught my eye on the edge of my vision—one particular request form.

“Oh! This one looks good?”

War Wolf.

The simple name seems to originate from a combination of “War” and “Wolf,” but it’s likely stronger than the Wild Boar or Slime.

‘Great! You’re the one I choose!’

Holding the request form for War Wolf, I approached the reception desk and handed it to Adela.

“I’ll go with this.”

“Ah… that one has been rumored to have stronger specimens recently among adventurers, so we set it aside, making it unavailable for now…”

Adela, who had spoken up to that point, looked at me suspiciously.

“You’re not going to tell me not to, are you…?”

“Of course not.”

Who do I think I am? I’m the manliest man of manly men.

Unless it’s weak enough to be demoted, there’s no way I’m backing down from something labeled strong.

Running away is something only cowards do.

“Ha… I don’t get what you’re saying, but I’ll take that as a yes and inform you about it.”

“Oh, you’ll even share information?”

“Normally, we do.”

“You didn’t tell me anything about the Goblin.”

“That time, you just left without a word before I could explain.”

Did I really?

“Come on, let’s not dwell on the past.”

“Ha… The War Wolf is a beast-type monster. You can think of it simply as a wolf. It’s larger and fiercer than regular wolves, but its intelligence isn’t high. Its main forms of attack involve swift movement using its claws and teeth, so just beware of those.”

Hmm. I guess the attacks of monsters are simple since I’m still E-Rank.

It only has teeth and claws, yet it solely relies on those for attacks.

In novels, there are monsters that use magic later, but it seems I might not see any of that for now.

“Oh, by the way. I heard tracking them can be tough; do you have any tips?”

The goblin, a low-ranking monster people generally find easy to deal with.

It took ages to find the goblin’s traces.

Wandering around cluelessly is too inefficient.

“I was just about to mention that too. Areas where the War Wolf exists require keen observation of the ground and trees. The War Wolf marks its territory using urine. If you see wet ground or wet trees, that’s the War Wolf’s domain, so look around there.”

Seriously? Is that all?

With a monster like that, I’d expect something more impressive!

“Ugh… got it.”

“Be careful out there!”

After gathering all the information from Adela, I stepped out of the Adventurer’s Guild with Luna.

“Luke? Isn’t the path that way?”

“Hold on; first, I need to do some shopping. How are you gonna fight in that getup?”

Luna was still wearing the clothes from when I rescued her yesterday.

She wore a pretty dress, but how could she possibly think to go hunting like that?

‘What is she, a combat maid?’

I wouldn’t stop her if she enjoyed getting hit once in a while in a fight like a pervert.

But regardless, I had to buy tools for the hunt, whether it was for Luna or not.

“Alright, let’s head to the market.”

I turned back and started walking again.

“Luke… the market is that way.”

Cough.

I turned around again.

Following Luna’s guidance, we arrived at the market right after, heading toward the blacksmith I visited yesterday.

“Uncle.”

As I called out to the uncle with a jingle, he stepped out again from the inner room.

“Back again, huh? What’s with these academy students, needing so much stuff lately?”

“I’m not an academy student.”

“Then what’s with those clothes?”

“They’re just something I wear.”

Because of these clothes, people kept associating me with the academy. I guess I’d have to change soon since it was getting annoying.

“Please help her with gear instead of me, Uncle.”

Only then did the uncle seem to notice Luna behind me and showed interest.

“This isn’t exactly a place for a date with a girlfriend.”

“Where else would be a better date spot than a blacksmith?”

What kind of world was this? A world where both men and women hunt down monsters without care.

If I bought a superb sword here and proposed, even the main heroine would be charmed!

“You seem like you’re not in your right mind, kid…”

Look at this uncle’s attitude toward customers.

If I’m not in my right mind, then nobody in this world is sane.

“Hey, Luna. Go pick something with the uncle quickly.”

“What about you, Luke?”

“I’m gonna go buy a few necessary items.”

“…Huh? Aren’t you buying them here?”

“What are you talking about? What’s there to buy for monster hunting here?”

“Isn’t it more like the opposite…?”

If the one who was supposed to hunt together is this ignorant, what can I say?

There truly are no bad dogs. Today, I’ll need to teach her an easy way to capture a pup.

“Anyway, I’ll be getting the materials I need, so you prepare your gear.”

“…Okay.”

And with that, I exited the blacksmith.