Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 141

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 141

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“Familiars are usually modeled after animals and plants that one feels close to or has special memories with. Since you said you’ve never raised a pet, you’ll likely choose a familiar based on a creature you see often and are familiar with.”

Chaser added this brief explanation as he chose the Southern Park of the Capital as our field study location.

Though called a park, it was so vast it was practically no different from a forest, with all sorts of animals and plants making their home there.

Chaser’s guess was that we could find Leo’s familiar there, and it was quite close to the correct answer.

Even in 【Hirome】, the Southern Park was a location with nearly a 90% chance of encountering Leo’s familiar model.

After arriving at the park like that.

“There’s a squirrel over there!”

Whenever he heard rustling sounds, Leo would perk up his ears and busily turn his head, and he spotted a squirrel.

After luring the squirrel with the nuts we’d brought and observing it to his heart’s content, Leo looked back at Chaser with a tense expression.

When Chaser nodded, Leo began gathering mana in both hands with the most serious expression in the world.

“Think of it as molding a squirrel shape with mana, slowly.”

Chaser guided Leo with a rather teacher-like attitude.

Leo stuck out his lips in that duck-like pout that only appeared when he was concentrating, kneading the mana as if playing with clay, then shouted as if letting out a battle cry.

“Squirrel!”

However, the result was disastrous. With a cracking sound, the mana that had gathered in Leo’s hands scattered like grains of sand.

Even so, Leo didn’t get discouraged and immediately looked for his next target.

“Pigeon!”

“Hamster!”

“Sparrow!”

“Cat!”

“Duck!”

Every time Leo discovered an animal he thought was “the one,” he tried to create a familiar, but he had to taste the bitter cup of failure each time.

Only after all the nuts that had filled both pockets were gone did Leo stop observing animals and fidget with his empty hands while muttering sheepishly.

“I really thought it would work this time…”

I wanted to whisper the correct answer to Leo right away, but unfortunately, there was an obstacle between Leo and me.

“What did you think of for your familiar just now?”

At Chaser’s question, Leo glanced at the butterfly-shaped magic stone fluttering gently around him.

“Tori. I thought Tori would become my familiar.”

“The butterfly is my familiar. You need to find your own Tori.”

Unable to bear seeing Leo’s face grow dejected, I quietly took the lead and guided our group deeper into the park.

The animal Leo had chosen as his familiar model was wary of humans, so we needed to go to a more secluded area rather than a path where many people walked.

I tilted my parasol toward Leo and whispered quietly enough that Chaser wouldn’t hear.

“Instead of theory and such, try relying on your intuition.”

“Intuition?”

“Sometimes what you think of unconsciously is the right answer. For example… yes, how about an animal with fluffy fur and a long body?”

As I secretly threw out hints, Leo suddenly stopped in place as if something had occurred to him.

“Maybe…”

Yes, Leo! What just came to your mind! That’s right…!

“Maybe it’s this caterpillar!”

What?

Before I could stop him, Leo picked up a leaf rolling around at his feet and held it in front of my eyes.

“Maybe it’s an insect like you, teacher, not an animal!”

Though Leo spoke cheerfully after finally perking up, my attention was entirely focused on the thing wriggling around on the green leaf.

“Lady Belinda?”

The moment that fluffy-haired, long-bodied, devilishly horrible thing lifted its head to look at me.

“Eek!”

I couldn’t even scream properly and stumbled backward, my foot catching on a stone.

“…!”

“Lady Belinda!”

Just as I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the pain to come.

“My lady.”

Instead of rolling on the dirt ground, something solid like a wall gently supported me.

“I didn’t know you were afraid of bugs. You have a cute side.”

When I cautiously opened my eyes, I saw Chaser smiling like spring sunlight while half-embracing me.

Heat rushed to my face. To show such an unseemly appearance!

I quickly pulled away, straightened my clothes, and cleared my throat.

“Anything with more than four limbs is absolutely out.”

“I’m really lucky I only have four limbs. If I had even one more, I would have been out too.”

Chaser playfully responded to my words and with a light gesture, summoned the parasol that had been thrown far away and placed it in my hand.

“For my lady, I’ll set up a barrier so that not a single flying insect can enter this parasol. Ah, except for me, of course.”

It wasn’t just words—a magic circle briefly appeared above the parasol before disappearing.

Soon Leo apologized to me, not knowing what to do.

“I’m, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you disliked bugs.”

“It’s fine. Having no prejudices isn’t wrong.”

Right, how unprejudiced must our Leo be to even consider a caterpillar as a familiar candidate?

And to have the courage to immediately touch that disgusting, horrible, evil thing!

I had only thought of him as young, but when did he grow up so much? I was even proud of him.

Eventually, after reaching Leo’s familiar summoning area, I made an excuse about resting and settled on a nearby bench. Leo went back to observing wild animals.

And before long, I came to realize something.

“Maybe it’s a frog! I have a feeling!”

At least when it came to familiars, Leo’s intuition had a terrible accuracy rate.

“Hmm, or maybe it’s a rabbit?”

No, it’s not…

“Right. It must be a rabbit.”

I secretly sighed as Leo, apparently fixated on the white rabbit, began a staring contest with it.

I had no idea this Quest would be so difficult to clear.

I had brought us to Leo’s familiar summoning area instead of telling him the answer since Chaser might become suspicious, but the target creature wasn’t showing itself easily.

“Everyone else finds their familiar quickly, but our little sprout is wandering around strangely.”

At Chaser’s words as he sat on the bench with me watching Leo, I asked him back.

“It doesn’t usually take this long?”

“Usually everyone knows what they like, at least. But being unable to create a familiar to this extent isn’t ordinary.”

The reason familiar summoning, which others accomplished easily, was particularly difficult for Leo.

He had only recently developed preferences for what he liked and disliked, so that was probably the influence.

While I was making this reasonably logical guess, Chaser casually spoke as if in passing.

“Ah, from now on you don’t need to pay for Leo’s lesson fees with magic stones.”

At those words, I forgot what I was pondering and turned to look at Chaser.

“You don’t need magic stones anymore?”

I don’t know how long he’d been looking at me, but our eyes met immediately.

“Yeah, I got as many as I wanted.”

Got as many as he wanted, he said.

Previously, I had to pay quite a large amount of magic stones as compensation for summoning him to our winter travel destination and treating him harshly.

But after that day, Chaser had requested that commission fees be paid in magic stones, and thanks to that, quite a large amount of magic stones had flowed to him.

It must have been significant enough for the Magic Tower to suspect I was buying up magic stones to aim for a monopoly.

But I hadn’t been curious about why Chaser needed so many magic stones all this time.

“And Leo’s magic lesson next week will have to be postponed by a week. Something came up that absolutely can’t be delayed, and it just happens to overlap with the lesson day.”

Except for this very moment.

Until now, Chaser had prioritized his lessons with Leo above all else.

But just when he had obtained all the necessary magic stones, something more important than Leo’s lessons had come up.

I tightened my grip on the parasol handle and carefully began to speak.

“I heard the Magic Tower has been in turmoil lately.”

Many things had changed since becoming a Marquess, but what had notably improved was the quantity and quality of information reaching my eyes and ears.

When overseeing the family’s business, I couldn’t help but keep an eye on the Royal Capital’s financial flows and the movements of massive organizations like the Temple and Magic Tower.

The news about the Magic Tower that had reached my ears.

“You knew? Next week is Walpurgis Night, you know. Taking a break from Leo’s lessons is actually…”

“I heard the Archmage announced his retirement.”

At my words, Chaser’s expression hardened as he closed his mouth.

I continued speaking without concern.

“If the Archmage retires and returns to the Mage Republic, what will happen to your residence?”

If the Archmage left this country, Chaser would have to move with him as well.

Chaser was still a slave bound to the Archmage, and above all, there was no way the Archmage would set Chaser free.

In the end, nothing had changed since the day we sent Kiss away.

I recalled the words Chaser had spoken to me like a vow that night.

“Master, I will eventually end up killing the Archmage. Even so, can I still be a good teacher to the little sprout?”

Perhaps that day had finally come.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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