บท 21: No Monsters Allowed Inside the House!

After having hunted the ten Horned Rabbits, the night had already fallen in Terra and Frank decided to quickly walk back alongside Ruby towards Gwendolyn's house, preparing himself for a convincing lie that could let him keep Ruby while living in Gwendolyn's house.

And as he made his way back, Gwendolyn had just finished writing a letter and using a small magic artifact to send it flying through the wind towards a destination unknown.

"That should be it… I never expected that I would have to call my old friend again for something like this, I was planning on calling her for Annabelle's teachings, but I guess this will end up hastening my plans for her. Well, she can always be taught by her alongside Frank…" thought Gwendolyn as she referred to a mysterious woman who she called her 'old friend'.

"Mommy, did you send that letter to auntie? She is an amazing witch! Will she teach me magic?" asked Annabelle at Gwendolyn's side, as the little fox girl waved her fluffy tail while washing the dishes for her mother, who she would usually do willingly to help her out in the house.

"Yes, my dear, it is very important for you to listen to her very well when she finally arrives, okay? She will teach you and Frank all about magic to an extent, and will even bring Grimoires for you to learn your first spell… She does not have the best of tempers, and she is doing this mostly because she owes me her life back on the battlefield… So, you better behave well" said Gwendolyn.

"So I am going to learn magic then?! Nice! Yes, mommy! I will be the best witch! I will make you proud! I will join the Magus Academy in the capital!" said Annabelle with a smile, as Gwendolyn sighed with a smile and patted her daughter's hair.

"Alright, you better do, for your father… Okay?" asked Gwendolyn.

"For daddy… I will!" said Annabelle with a confident smile while nodding.

"She will be getting here in a couple of days… I give it a week or so, she lives in the capital after all so it's a big trip towards here" said Gwendolyn.

"I see! We have to prepare and leave the house very clean!" said Annabelle.

"Indeed… Ah, it's already night and the boy hasn't come back yet… Do not tell me that he lost himself in the woods? I'll have to go look for him…" muttered Gwendolyn as she walked out of the house, being greeted by Cathyl who had finished her work in the crops of the front yard.

"Phew, missy that was pretty good work! I never thought that attending the crops would be such a big work" said Cathyl while resting a large hoe and a shovel on her left shoulder.

"Good work for today, Cathyl, will you bring your kids here?" asked Gwendolyn.

"I will go spend the night with them where we are staying, and I'll bring them tomorrow morning, missy," said Cathyl.

"I see, very well then…" said Gwendolyn as she walked towards the road, inspecting the surroundings to see if Frank was coming here or not.

"The boy hasn't come back yet… How hard is it to catch a Horned Rabbit? You even granted him your Magic Spear, miss…" muttered Cathyl, a bit disappointed in Frank's performance.

"I know… Well, I think I'll have to go look for him, could you stay with Annabelle for a bit more?" asked Gwendolyn.

"Sure, take your time missy, I am going to rest for a bit on the couch, oof, my legs are killing me" muttered Cathyl as she walked inside the house and greeted Annabelle, sitting on the couch.

Gwendolyn was about to go look for Frank until suddenly, through the shadow of the night, the figure of a young teenager, seemingly between seventeen or eighteen appeared within the road…

"Frank! Why did you take so long to kill a single rabbit? I knew that you were quite the novice, but wasn't this too much- WHAT IS THAT?! FRANK, GET AWAY FROM THAT!" roared Gwendolyn as she noticed the shadow of a reptile-like monster walking right behind Frank, the creature had shiny red scales and bright orange eyes that even shined in the middle of the night!

"Ah! W-Wait, miss Gwendolyn, she is a friend! She's my pet!" said Frank as he jumped towards Ruby and protected her from Gwendolyn's upcoming flame arrow attack that was about to be fired by her within the second that she shouted to Frank to move away from the monster.

"F-Friend?! That is a giant lizard! How can you be a friend with that thing- Is it not doing anything to you?" asked Gwendolyn, dissipating her spell and walking towards Frank to realize that the lizard he was protecting didn't attack him.

"She's a good girl… I named her Ruby. I found her in the forest. She was lost and hungry, so I gave her the rabbit I hunted, and in the end, she ended up following me around, she is strangely perceptive and friendly, and even helped me hunt up to ten more horned rabbits! I have them inside my spatial storage, miss Gwendolyn" said Frank, opening his Inventory and suddenly putting the ten corpses of the horned rabbits in a line…

"What? That thing… you hunted ten together?! How…? Could it be? Do you have an innate Taming Spell? But this lizard… You're way too weak and slow to catch ten of these rabbits on your own… so you really were helped by her" muttered Gwendolyn, barely digesting the truth that Frank had revealed to her.

"Grawr!"

Ruby groaned friendly towards Gwendolyn, and as the light of a flame surrounding her illuminated Ruby's appearance, her large orange eyes and cute appearance made Gwendolyn low her guard a bit more.

"I really thought… that it was some kind of baby wyvern… but what is this anyway? Is it a lizard? I have never seen one before… That scale color is so bright, I would remember something like this… You say you found her in the forest?" asked Gwendolyn while inspecting the little Ruby.

Ruby was happy to find a new companion, as she groaned and waved her tail like a puppy would do after finding someone.

"Grawr!"

"Yeah, I found her in the forest. She was actually wounded in the feet with a deep wound, seemingly of something like a dagger or sword… I healed her wound after pouring a lot of mana to the point of feeling fatigued, but I managed to rescue her… She was a bit tired, so I ended up feeding her one rabbit, but as a result, she ended up helping me catch ten more!" said Frank.

"What a fortuitous encounter… and you say that she's docile and friendly?" asked Gwendolyn.

"Yes… the moment I healed her, she licked my forehead, and a strange emblem appeared in her chest, which dissipated after a few seconds…" said Frank, coming out with a small lie, seemingly to set up the belief that he had some innate taming spell.

"So that's it! You tamed her without realizing it! The moment she licked your forehead, she decided to serve you, Frank. Monsters would rarely do such a thing, but this girl here seems highly intelligent, and probably was grateful over you saving her life" said Gwendolyn, concluding that Frank did had some kind of taming spell innate to him.

In the world of Terra, those born with Innate Spells infused into their Mana Cores were rare, but not impossible to exist. Such cases would often happen due to the enormous talent of the individual showing itself by materializing into a spell representing the user's emotions or strengths. Such Innate Spells were different than the ones that Magus learned through Grimoires, practice, or teachings, and held a mystical power connected more with the Magus' soul.

There were a variety of Innate Spells amongst the user who had shown one, and they were always unique in their effects compared to the generic available spells sold inside Grimoires.

Amongst such Innate Spells, Gwendolyn had heard about a few aristocrat kids who had similar taming Innate Spells since birth and attributed this to Frank.

"So, you not only have a storage and a healing innate spell, but you also have a taming one! You are full of surprises, are you not? Alright, let us go back home… Ah, tell your pet to stay outside," said Gwendolyn.

"Yes, ma'am!" said Frank, walking back 'home' alongside Ruby tailing him from behind.

When Frank reached the door, he told Ruby to stay outside for a bit, she seemed a bit saddened, but she obediently sat down outside while resting her head on the ground like a sad puppy would do. This ended up melting the hearts of Cathyl and Annabelle, who had become surprised over the little creature that Frank had just tamed.

"Poor girl! Mommy let it in! She's hungry and it's cold outside!" said Annabelle.

"No! No monsters in my house," said Gwendolyn.

"But mooooom!" cried Annabelle.

"She's really cute lizard… but it would be better for her to stay outside, even if it pains me to say this…" muttered Cathyl.

"Annabelle, calm down, Ruby is a strong girl, she won't get sad for that. And she also seems to be good with fire, so she won't get cold easily" said Frank.

"Is that so…?" asked Annabelle.

"Yeah! Don't worry about her… Hey, why don't we go feed her?" asked Frank.

"Alright, you can take that pot there, go fill it with water in the wheel for her. And you can take one or two rabbits for her too, she seems to eat a lot" said Gwendolyn, as she butchered the other eight horned rabbits, taking out their fur, blood, and other parts one by one with Cathyl's assistance.

Ruby saw the door opening again as she moved her head upwards, finding Frank and Annabelle walking towards her as they gave her a large amount of fresh water and two-horned rabbits for her.

Ruby, who had been enduring her hunger since she came to Terra immediately began to dig into the rabbits while also drinking several liters of water.

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Thank you very much for reading!