Chapter 4: Chapter 4
The body turned to dust as the magic stone was dug out of its chest, the green creature that I had battled was dead, not by my own hands but by Atalanta's.
"Child… Inari…" A faint voice echoed in my ears, my body still in numb shock from the death of that creature.
I knew that it was trying to kill me but I had seen it die so close to my body, I had felt the blood splash on my face as it slowly died. The cut was not down precisely, it only cut enough for it to bleed out, the rest of that time I had to wrestle with the body until it finally fell to the ground.
"Inari…"
The voice kept on singing in my ear.
"Inari!"
"Huh" I said dumbly, my hands stopping in the chest of another creature, a pile of stones in my hand.
Taking my hands Atalanta used her own clothes to clean them off before holding them to her heart, allowing me to feel her heartbeat.
The rhythmic banging that I felt helped to calm me down and slowly the exhaustion kicked in, my eyes held up by nothing but shock and adrenaline fell.
The stones in my hand fell to the ground as I fell asleep in Atalanta's bosom.
…
As Inari, my… I don't know charge, son, whatever he was to me, fell asleep. I gathered the stones that he had scraped from the chests of these creatures and carefully held him in my arms.
He bore a cursed appearance just like mine, in fact he looked just like a younger me, just slightly more like a boy than a girl.
When I was brought to this world I was told to protect that boy, to nurture him and allow him to grow.
At first I had been disgusted that some god was using a poor kid for their entertainment but when I layer my eyes upon that child I could not help the motherly feeling that bloomed in my chest.
My only wish was for children to be happy, for them to have a childhood but the child in front of me was exactly what I wanted to prevent.
When the contract had been accepted I was able to feel, to see his past.
What I saw was a broken child, one that had never experienced the joy of running and playing with others, one that had not experienced a mothers love, a fathers love neither of the parents that I had seen visiting the child had ever looked upon him with warmth.
I could not help but want to protect him, even if it was just this one child, I was satisfied with giving him a good childhood.
But this cursed god had given the child a destiny. One of strife and conflict and if I was to nurture the child then I could not allow him to be weak.
I would train him into a great hunter,
One that could overcome the greatest of any challenges.
That was why I had thrown him against that goblin. Inari may not have paid attention but I had, the conversations between the adventurers were easy to eavesdrop on.
The amount of information that they had dropped in their idle talk had allowed me to identify the creature.
I had killed the first couple that had appeared then handed him my bow conveying nothing with my expression.
My eyes slightly opened in surprise, Inari had completely copied my stance, though it was not right for his stature it still allowed him some measure of accuracy.
My eyes narrowed as the arrow was released, it would not pierce the head and I was right in that it hit the shoulder not the head.
Inari went to grab another arrow, in the same manner that I would but found none, panic overcame him as he was left without a weapon.
The roar of the goblin echoed through the chamber as it rushed at Inari who seemed to be looking for the dagger that I had taken from him.
That moment of panic, where Inari had found no dagger was enough to let the goblin lungs on him, the only thing protecting him from death was my bow.
That was when I intervened, the dagger that I had taken from him flying from my grip as it pierced the goblins neck, killing it instantly.
…
Ascending the stairs, I looked around and found the line where magic stones were exchanged for valis and with swift steps I was in front of the line.
"He-!" A hand reached out to grab at my shoulder shouting about something but before it could even approach me the wrist reaching for me was grabbed.
CRACK
The sound of a bone cracking echoed out as I twisted the wrist breaking the bones in his wrist.
I looked back a sneer on my face as I looked down on the man that had tried to touch me.
His eyes were twisted in anger however they were soon averted as he realized the difference in strength.
With a huff he walked away leaving the guild altogether.
Turning my back to the rest of the adventurers lining up I looked directly at the clerk that was hiding behind some bars and threw the bag of stones that Inari had gathered.
The bag was quickly emptied of the stones and counted.
"10,000 valis ma'am" ten 1000 coin valis were given to me, through the wall separating us.
I could hear the whispers around us, however I ignored them in favor of pocketing the coins in the clothes of Inari.
Although I could have pocketed them into my own clothes it was better to give them to Inari. It was a show of how that valis belonged to Inari. Most would assume that I was just being protective of him because of the resemblance between Inari and I, giving them the assumption of a mother and I.
The thousand valis was enough for us to rent a room, if it was only me then I would have no need for a room to sleep but with Inari being in my protection a room would be needed.
…
"Welcome~" A chienthrope greeted me upon entering the pub. With a maids outfit and a menu in hand she led us to a table where I sat down and shook Inari awake.
"Nn…"
Inari groaned a bit, his energy still being burnt out but it was better to have him eat now then to leave him to starve later.
Running his eyes, the ears and tail that were flattened against his head shot up at the smell of food.
"Atalanta?" He questioned the word coming out of a yawn.
"Order anything" I simply stated handing him the menu and pointing out the options.
…
"Can I get your order nya~" The same chienthrope that greeted us at the door said, holding her head down to us.
Holding the menu out, Inari pointed to one of the meals that I had pointed out to him.
The waiter wrote down the order and then looked at me questioningly.
"Nothing for me" I simply state, before I ask another question.
"Does your tavern have rooms for rent?"
She looked at both of us and then back to me before nodding.
"Yeah however it's 5,000 a day if that is alright, it comes with breakfast though dinner needs to be paid for."
I simply nodded picking out five of the 10 valis coins that I had and handed it to her.
"Nya~ I'll be back with your food and room key in a moment."
With that final statement she left, presumably back to the kitchen.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone