Chapter 45 – Alone.

“Hey, be careful! I don’t think it likes that…”

“Calm down, it’s just a monster, it probably can’t even feel pain. Now, let me do my job.”

A middle-aged man with a scruffy beard let out a sigh as he tried to yank an insectoid monster from within a cage. The cage was placed on a strange-looking metal table, adorned with various magical symbols pulsating around a magic circle. Despite his efforts, the monster did not resist, or more precisely it could not. Instead, it only emitted peculiar chirping screeches.

Once it was out, its form was revealed to resemble that of an ant. It wasn’t that large at only perhaps the height of a middle-sized dog. As the ant was extracted from the cage, its chirping became more frantic, echoing through the sterile, well-lit room. The walls were lined with shelves holding strange tools, and jars with monster parts. The scruffy man placed the ant on the table, within the confines of the glowing magical circle.

“Hold still,”

He muttered while shouting at the monster. Initially, it seemed the creature would resist, but once the magical inscriptions began glowing red, its strength was suppressed, rendering it immobile and paralyzed. With the creature now disabled, the man reached to the side for a toolbox filled with various implements. From the toolbox, he took out something resembling a monocle with an elongated lens. It had a series of elastic strings attached which allowed him to secure it to his head.

“Well?”

The man was not alone; two others were with him – a young woman and a man, who urged him to hurry up. This annoyed the middle-aged man, who continued to sigh in protest. Soon, he activated the magical lens on his head, allowing him to view the monster’s hidden status screen.

“I have some bad news for you missy, you can’t take this thing back.”

“Why not?”

“I knew it, that thing must be cursed!”

“No it isn’t!”

The middle-aged man shook his head as he adjusted the monocle, allowing it to zoom in on the finer details of the magical status screen hovering above this Ant. The screen displayed various attributes and a blinking red line indicating a bond.

“See this?”

He pointed to the glowing line.

“This monster has a bonding contract. That means it already belongs to someone else, probably a Tamer.”

The young woman who had been anxiously observing the process stepped closer, she could not see the status screen that the man could see with the help of the magical monocle. The only thing she could do was to ask the man, hoping that he was not lying.

“Are you sure? We go this monster from the dungeon, could you be mistaken?”

The man let out another sigh and was quite annoyed with the assumption that he could not do something simple as read a monster’s status.

“I read the report but that doesn’t change the fact that this monster has a bonding contract and also a name.”

“A name?”

The woman was surprised by the revelation. Monsters didn’t usually have names; it was something people tended to give themselves, and Tamers were the same. If this monster had a name, it was likely given to it by its Tamer during the establishment of their contract. This confirmed the man’s claims that this monster belonged to someone and complicated things.

“But it was in the middle of nowhere, are you sure that the Tamer didn’t just abandon it there? Are they even alive?”

The middle-aged man scratched his beard, considering the woman’s question. He adjusted the monocle once more and looked through the monster’s status to find the answers.

“It’s hard to say for sure. The contract is still active, which suggests the Tamer is alive, but it’s possible they could be far away or even unable to return for some reason. It might be possible that they abandoned it but we still have to follow the procedures and post a notice first, you should know the rules.”

She clenched her hands clenched into fists at her sides. She knew the rules well but had hoped for a loophole that might allow her to keep the unusual ant she had found. The rules were in place to protect both Tamers and their bonded monsters, ensuring that no one could claim a bonded creature without due process.

“Fine. How long do we have to wait? And don’t think I won’t write a complaint to the guild master if you dare to sell it off at an auction!”

“Why would I do such a thing?”

This ant was quite unusual and rare. While it was still just an F rank monster, its rarity was something that would entice a lot of researchers and collectors. She had to make sure that this person didn’t pull some tricks.

“I wonder why?”

She rolled her eyes and continued speaking which soon turned to shouting.

“The rules state that the person who discovered the monster first gets to keep it! Do I also have to remind you that you’ll be held accountable if something happens to it? Don’t think that I won’t take you to court and do you know who my master is?”

“I know the rules, lass. Calm down, it’s just a procedure.”

The man was taken aback by the reaction of this young lady, her friend that was with her needed to start holding her back.

“Sorry, she is just a little bit tired… Alanna, calm down already!”

Alanna took a deep breath, trying to reign in her frustration. Her friend’s words were a welcome reminder to keep her emotions in check, especially in a situation like this. This didn’t keep her from angrily shaking him off and landing a kick against his shin.

“You don’t need to remind me Eugene!”

“Ow…”

“Fine, let’s just follow the procedure then. But I’m keeping an eye on you, old man.”

“Sure, that’s fine, just fill out the required paperwork.”

She warned, pointing a finger at the middle-aged man who seemed unperturbed by her threat. With that settled, they began the process of documenting the ant’s discovery and the presence of the bonding contract. It was a tedious task, involving paperwork and numerous signatures, but necessary to ensure that everything was done by the book.

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