Chapter 7- Taggon and ranks
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Today I learned once again that parts are strange creatures. When Chia started with how I was able to take over their bodies both of them freaked out. But after calming them down she started to go into all the ‘plus sides’ of being part of us. Frankly, it was a strange thing to see a grown man start to cry at the thought of not being able to eat or sleep again. Yet once he knew it was still possible, just not needed, he was all smiles. And said smile grew exponentially when he heard he will never get tired or run out of energy. Though it seemed Tanya read his feelings that I was sensing like a book as she started hitting him with an ice glare to match. Tanya, for her part, seemed more excited about things like never sweating or having to use the restroom while out adventuring again. Well if I need to do an emergency cool down you will sweat but I decided to keep that bit to myself. With the addition that I never cared to consider, yet Chia seemed to have noted, of the fact that I made all pores and skin self-cleaning. Why this matters to them I don’t understand, but if they are happy with something so simple who am I to argue. If you have all that debris making contact to your-self, why wouldn’t you assimilate it and put it to use?

So, all that out of the way it was arranged that we will return to town that is apparently called the ‘Royal Guard Third Great Frontier Fortress Town of Taggon’. Is that mouthful really necessary? Does anyone actually call it all that when talking about the town? It seems the answer is no, only in the very formal settings is all that used. Most people just call it Taggon…. then just name it Taggon. Though the fact royal is used means this country is likely a monarchy. Perhaps I should investigate more about the surroundings and politics.

We had made excellent time on the way back since no one could get tired and what few monsters I haven’t taken in this direction could be handled by Kay so there was no need to be cautious. Meanwhile I sent a crow-self ahead, to investigate the town for me.

When we reached the edge of the forest, the tall walls of Taggon, that seemed to be a hexagonal in shape, could be seen. They looked about 5 stories high with 2 watch towers on each face of the wall as well as one on every corner that rose an additional story to be about 6 stories tall. There seemed to be only one main gate with each side having a small sally port, wide enough for 2 horses to walk side by side, between the two watch towers on the wall face. It looked like this town was a serious undertaking. I wonder how long it took them to build. Then again with magic, maybe it wasn’t that hard. The town itself had room and structures to fit ~100,000 people but it seemed that it was only actually inhabited by ~30,000. Making it seem like it was more meant as a staging area for troops should the need arise. There was a small river that cut through the west of the town to the east but much of the water they used seemed to be from wells.

Everything seemed to be going well but we ended up with a problem from an unexpected area. Chia was now hugging Kay with her whole body and refusing to let go. It seems it is considered possible to have pet monsters but those are usually C rank at best and usually raised from a cub by the owner. Obviously, people are going to be skeptical about Chia suddenly having a fully grown rank B Storm Stalker out of nowhere. So, I had suggested to split up and let Kay hunt nearby monsters while Chia, Jeff, and Tanya go into the city. At which point Chia had a meltdown and now treating Kay like a fluffy hug pillow. Hmm what to do? If I had finished my research on shapeshifting maybe I could shrink Kay to cub size, but it is still far from the breakthrough stage. We might be able to make it pass as a Wind Stalker, if we hide the fact it can use lightning, but is still a panther longer as she is tall with enough muscle to look threatening just walking down the road.

By the way, this may be a good time to properly define monster ranks to distract myself from this problem. And I might as well mention adventurer ranks while I'm at it. So, monster ranks go from E<D<C<B<A<S<SS<SSS with E being as strong as a normal wild animal. In fact, E rank ‘monsters’ are often just dangerous animals that got the label of monster by adventurers. D ranks are far stronger than whatever animal they may resemble and may be able to use simple self-reinforcement magic. The Mimic Slimes and Goblins are usually considered D rank though its never a good thing to underestimate a monster by just its rank. C rank is where things start to get complex. A C rank monster can use one element of weak attack magic or use far stronger self-reinforcement. A C rank monster is considered capable of slaughtering an entire weakly defended village without receiving a fatal wound from the fighting. Examples would be young Earth Bears, Wind Stalkers, and Metal Slimes. B rank monsters are able to wield two or more elements of weak attack magic or defense magic. B ranks also include particularly strong monsters that would have been defined as C rank otherwise. A B rank monster could destroy any village or newly built town and walk away without an issue. This is also why they would freak out if we tried to bring a B rank monster inside the walls. Examples of B ranks would be Storm Stalkers, Goblin Kings (this doesn’t include its army), and Minotaurs. A rank monsters are those able to use mid-level attack magic and often can use several different elements at once. A ranks can level towns and do significant damage to a fortress. Luckily for the races most monsters A rank and above are either recluses or tend to stick to their territory. Any who aren’t are hunted to extinction on sight by entire kingdoms. Examples of A ranks include mature Earth Bears, Goblin Queens, Wyverns, and Cyclopes. S rank monsters can all use high-ranking attack magic, and most are as intelligent as any human, a few are even capable of speech. An S rank monster can directly take on any major country’s capital or any fortress it thinks is in its turf. To kill an S rank requires specialists be called from all over the country and possibly its neighbors. Examples include young Dragons, Young Phoenixes, and young Jormungandrs. Anything S rank and above are exceedingly rare and almost never leave their areas. Strangely S ranks and above rarely need to eat and almost never mate. They also seem to frequently hibernate. SS ranks are those who can use forbidden magic or are able to use lower level attack magics indefinitely. SS ranks are considered a calamity and the entire continent will pool its resources to kill any that tend to wander. Any SS rank monster can wipe a country off the map should it feel the desire to. Examples are the mature S rank monsters, Leviathans, Me it seems if I could ever learn the magic from the description, and a coreless slime called the Devourer. Finally, we have SSS ranks. These are ancient, powerful, and usually seemingly immortal beings that, while few and far between, are often served by cults or some such that believe them to be gods. Anything with the SSS designation is always to be appeased and respected . It is believed that one could wipe entire continents if they were ever angered.

Now the adventurer’s guild uses similar designation, but the definition is very different. They go E<D<C<B<A<S. The E rank is basically a non-combatant that is like a temp worker for the guild or a simple middleman that sells monster materials to the guild on villages behalf and such. Anyone who can pass the combat exam is given the rank of D, regardless of combat ability. Ranks C-S are directly the amount of trust the guild places in the individual and the proven ability to hunt any monster of that same rank with only one helper that already has said rank. For example, to be a B class adventurer the guild needs to trust your behavior and performance enough and then you can take a quest to hunt any B rank monster with the help of a B rank guild member. The testimony of that B rank member of the hunt is considered what happened and it is determined if you are ready to become B rank from that. A rather half-baked system in my opinion since that means if the guild doesn’t like you for any reason you can’t rank up. Also, it means that in the case of a “his word against mine” issue, the higher ranked adventurer is ruled the correct testimony. Making framing a disliked individual exceedingly easy. Granted they are free to change location, but there is no guarantee there will be any improvement for that individual. It also means that you can have powerful rankers ‘carry you’ and so long as the guild trusts you, you can rank up with little effort or ability. Though there is no rank for them there are also a few people known as ‘demi-gods’ that are those who would fight a SS rank monster if ever needed.

Anyway, I brought that up to say this- the current situation is a C rank and two B rank adventurers want to bring a wild B rank monster inside the town walls. There is no way this will end well. Maybe if they were an A or an S rank, they would be fine but together they amount to the bare minimum to potentially kill it. If you do not care about the collateral damage. I have a feeling Chia didn’t mention this little issue on purpose just to try and force her way. Haa this girl. Well for now let’s shrink him what little I am able to and lighten his total weight as much as possible. Yeah that still looks like a big panther. I managed to shorten him to around 4.5 feet long, 6 if you include the tail, and around 100lbs. Alright Chia for your part in this little scheme you get to play a clueless ditz. I'm not petty. You’re already screwing up my attempts to not standout dang it.

So, we approached the small sally port gate facing the forest. Tanya keeps sending fleeting glances at Chia as she carries Kay in her arms. Since he is so big, she has to hold both arms across his rib cage and the rest of him just dangles down. Kay for his part looks decidedly unpleased but lets himself be dangled from her arms, and holds his back legs up to keep them from dragging, none the less. A soldier calls for them to halt from the wall and another comes out of the gate a bit later. He seemed to be a very professional sort that, even though he kept stealing glances at the duo, he checked their adventurer’s ID before pointing out the black cat in the room.

“Miss Chianne, why are you carrying a panther?”

“I found this cute little Bombay kitty out in the frontier and he was so adorable that I had to keep him!”

The guard seemed to have a headache coming on as he rubbed his forehead. My condolences, I may have to take you over if this fails.

“Miss Chianne, that’s a panther. Not a house cat. It is a wild animal and most likely a monster!”

“No-o, silly, have you ever seen a wild animal or a monster so docile and adorable?”

“…… Miss Chianne, please don’t be unreasonable. There is no way it is safe to bring it inside the city. I admit it does seem tame, but this is highly irregular!”

“Oh, don’t be such a grumpy pants! I know, do you wanna pet him? He has the softest fur! Come on and let us in, so I can finally have a bed to sleep on while I cuddle up with my little Kay!”

“…-what part about that is ‘little’-.” the guard muttered before turning to Tanya and Jeff. “Miss Tanya and Mr. Jeff, can you talk some sense into Chianne? What has gotten into her all of a sudden?”

“I honestly have no idea. We tried to convince her not to bring it as well. No luck, she is joined to her ‘Kay’ like a bird and a mass of Pisonia seeds. Any way you could let this go? We will get her a tamed monster collar to put on him.” Tanya said while slipping him a small silver coin.

The guard hesitated for a while before waving us in. Well, we at least made it in the city. Now we just must bluff the tamed monster association and Kay will be able to walk with his head held high. Or at least higher than it is when she is carrying him.

well my vacations is over so chapter releases will slow down again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZxp302ntIg

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