Is It Wrong to Try to Tame Monsters in a Dungeon? (Written seriously)

(This chapter was uploaded on Saturday 23/November/2024 8:00 PM, timezone GMT+3)

(Line Break)

('1), ('2), ('3), etc. means that there is some explaining for the thing in the chapter's footnotes.

"..." small moment of silence.

"Talking"

[Different Language Dialogue (Different from the language of the PoV)] (What language it is: Accent if necessary)

"He-" Someone was interrupted.

'Inner Monologue'

{Skills' names, chanting, spell keys and spells' names}

(PoV)

(Flashback, including the text)

Don't shy from commenting on typos and/or inconsistencies. That and/or suggesting a modification to certain things that didn't make sense to you.

I hope you enjoy reading this chapter.

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(Friday, 16/10/1058, early morning) 

(3rd person PoV) 

"Before we go out, I want you to tell me something" Shira said, turning her head, her eyes unwaveringly boring into Henryk's own. 

"I'm all ears" Henryk said as he, still holding her braid, tied it with a of thread of the same color as her hair. 

"Did you mean it?" Shira looked into Henryk's eyes, expectantly waiting for him to confirm it. 

'Such round eyes, filled with hope... She isn't referring to what I meant when I pointed out that she became more beautiful, is she?' Henryk thought. In the meantime, Shira's high hopes were gradually falling while she waited for a reply. 

"I did mean it. The you in front of me right now has a bigger chance of charming me, as her face looks more mature compared to the you from yesterday" He said while cupping her right cheek with his left hand. He smiled at her affectionately. 

"Can you say it again?" Shira's cheeks gained a new shading of pink as she leaned into the hand. She put a hand of Henryk's to keep it on her face as she closed her eyes, savoring the moment. 

"I said that you look more mature and beautiful today" Henryk stopped for a second, letting his thoughts wander for a bit. "I'm actually starting to feel something here" He pointed at his heart. "A romantic attraction to a woman closer to my age than I saw before" Henryk said as he tugged his left hand, telling Shira to leave it. She didn't do that until- *thud* -a loud thud was heard from outside their room. 

"Should I escort you, my lady?" Henryk stretched his right hand for her to grab onto. 

"Thanks, Henry!" Shira said as she helped herself up with Henryk's hand. He then lent her his left arm while his left hand made sure her hands didn't accidently let go. 

Henryk and Shira stepped out to witness the sight of Fey conversing with a certain amazoness. They saw Fey goofily, playfully talking with one of the Loki familia executives, Tiona Hiryute. 

'Why am I forced to become the acquaintance of women I don't want to be close with? For her of all people to become Fey's first friend inside the familia' Henryk thought, feeling drawn back, not wanting to associate with any amazoness in general, even if said amazoness was Fey's friend. 'But, welcoming Fey's friends is my responsibility as her father figure. I need her to feel free to make friends without the fear of me rejecting them for one minor flaw or the other. That'll also make her tell me about whoever becomes her friends, making me a bit less stressed about who she associates with' He relented to his own reasoning. 

"Fey, mind introducing your new friend here?" He gave Tiona a knowing look, telling her that he already knew. She stood there with a salute, comically enough. 

"Fey's new friend's Tiona!" Henryk was not surprised at all. He did expect Fey to be on first name basis with everyone she talks to. 

'Fey, do you really need to call her with her first name?' Henryk used their mental link to ask Fey. 

'Yeah~!' "Piee~!" Fey replied both mentally and verbally without realising it. (AN: You thought there wouldn't be any more pies, didn't you?) 

"Sir! Tiona Hiryute! Sir!" Tiona saluted him as she earnestly said that. From the glitter in her eyes, Henryk knew that she was joking about this militaristic act. Henryk played along for now. 

"You lack discipline! Recruit Hiryute!" Henryk said sternly, leaning heavily into Tiona's act and startling her with how seriously he took it. He then followed it with a tired sigh. 'I miss him, but another person making the same kind of some of his sick jokes is gonna be troublesome' 

"Anyway, my name's Henryk Williams" He said casually, dropping off all the seriousness. 

"And mine is Shira Williams. This bear's wife!" Shira introduced herself with some energy. 

"I ain't no bear. And just for the record, the last time I met one, I was forced to take its life to keep mine" Henryk retorted. 'Though I still died' 

"Then that proves that you are more bear than a real bear is!" Shira looked up and smirked at him. 

Henryk looked at her, unamused. He then flicked her forehead. "Naughty kitten" He said. 

"How does that work? According to what logic?" Henryk folded his arms as he asked, dragging Shira's arms with him. She was being escorted by him since she could still clumsily stumble and fall down on their way to the mess hall. 

Someone sighed to the side, watching this unfold. When Henryk looked in that direction, he diverted his eyes immediately and pretended checking his clothes. There stood Tione Hiryute, pinching the bridge of her nose. 

"Tiona, Loki said that we should hurry and bring them with us. You shouldn't have started wasting time playing with this eagle now" Tione scolded her younger twin. She then turned towards Henryk and Shira. "My name is Tione Hiryute. I apologize if my sister bothered you" 

"Forget it. She seems to have entertained my daughter while we were getting ready" Henryk said. "Could you please lead the way?" 

"Then! Then! Can we go first?!" Tiona said cheerfully, bubbling with so much excitement that she would have exploded if we were viewing a certain cultural product. (AN: Anime... I don't know how I concluded that 'certain cultural product' was an okay description of that 😶) 

"Fey'll go~" Fey did not wait for Henryk's say in the matter. 

"ONLY FEED HER RAW MEAT!!!" Henryk shouted with the hopes that Tiona's ears were attentive to sounds in her surroundings at all times, including his. 

Fey promptly picked up Tiona and had her ride on Fey's back as Fey rushed towards the mess hall with Tiona's energetic instructions. Tiona screamed her previously bottled excitement out for everyone to hear, or see. Although the speed was underwhelming for a level 5 like Tiona, the novelty of riding on the back of an unusual animal and making the animal her friend satisfied some of her fantasies. 

"Should we go?" Tione did not bother commenting on her sister's antics. 

While on their way, Shira complained that the extended bit of the soles of her feet hurt. And so, Henryk seated her over one of his shoulders. He secured her by wrapping his arm around her legs. 

'Her legs need some exercising later. She lacks enough muscle in them' He thought as he felt how thin her legs felt, considering their current structure. 

(The Twilight Manor's mess hall) 

A deafening silence descended as Fey crashed through the double doors of the mess hall, forcing them open. With the occupants' eyes falling on our blissfully ignorant eagle, Fey, unprompted, lowered her stance so Tiona could step down gently. 

"Fey arrived~!" Fey did what Henryk taught her to be 'big bird' with her head held high. 

"Tiona arrived~!" Tiona mimicked Fey with her arms thrown into the air and a carefree smile splitting her face. 

Now, normally, an intruder who messed around, bashing one of the familia's doors open and entering so deep within the manor, would find out. But, once they saw Tiona, a familia executive, playing with this monster-like eagle, their apprehension mostly turned into confusion. They wondered how a bird could talk like that, while understanding what it says. 

It was then that the people present the day prior remembered something. They remembered how Fey swooped in last minute to nail a win for Henryk, and how she was talking afterwards. Rumors about Henryk and his group being accepted were spread around the tables until he and Shira showed up with Tione. 

Seeing the stares gather on them, Shira felt pressured by the attention she received by sitting on Henryk's shoulder like she did, sticking out by being so high. 

"Henry, put me down" She requested with a dusting of pink on her freckled cheeks. 

"Your feet'd hurt again" Henryk said as he looked up to face her. 

"That is much better compared to the gazes I am getting right now" Shira's voice grew smaller. 

"Alright" Henryk said as he knelt down and helped her step down very slowly. Going down at normal speeds would twist her new feet the wrong way. 

"Should we continue, then?" Henryk offered Shira his arm to hold back onto. She accepted and started walking with some curious stares gravitating to her hands and feet. 

"Come with me to the main table" Tione said while decidedly ignoring the questioning gazes of most of the familia members. 

"Ignore them" Henryk said to Shira after noticing the stress the bewildered stares put on her. 

They followed Tione to the main table, where Tione sat down in a chair by Finn's side, making him sigh while hopelessly holding his head in both hands. 

"Henryk, as promised, the wolves were brought in for the meal. They're very obedient for being wild wolves" Loki pointed at a corner where the wolves were sunbathing while waiting for Henryk to arrive to eat together, not starting before him. 

(Henryk's PoV) 

"Before we start eating! Let's introduce our new family members!" Loki said as she got on the table. It rubbed me the wrong way seeing her put her feet where food is. 

"The big, fluffy ball of feathers! Fey!" Loki started with Fey instead of either me or Shira. But, to be honest, I don't feel anything's wrong with that. My cute daughter should get the spotlight when she could enjoy it. 

"Fey's here~!" Fey exclaimed as some food escaped her beak. "Ah~!" She panicked as she wanted to clean up her mess. 

I looked around as I saw some of the younger members swooning over Fey's cuteness while others were between giggling and laughing. It made me feel hopeful about Fey being accepted here. 

"I'll help" I stood up and tried approaching before staggering back into the chair after Fey struck me with her beak, pushing me back. 

"Fey can clean Fey's mess~!" Fey said while proudly puffing her feathers out, as if she really could. She then wilted as she saw no possible way of doing it beside eating the food that has spilled on the floor. 

'That's my little girl. She wants to act like she's a grown up but doesn't know how to' 

"Papa~... Help Fey~?" Fey fidgeted while asking for my help awkwardly. 

"Papa will~!" I spoke in her tone coupled with a nearly identical voice, even. 

Some of the crowd laughed while some other suppressed it not to spray their appetizers or drinks everywhere. 

"The silver wolves coming from the forest surrounding the village of Preblica!" Loki introduced the next new 'recruits'. 

"Awooo~!" The three puppers howled without Futura. 

"H-Hel-... Hello..." Futura spoke Koine, freezing everyone excluding me. 

'Futura! You sly wolf you!' 

"...EEEEHHHHHHHH?!!" Some chaos ensued for a few moments. 

Futura, that naughty old pupper. She stopped attempting to speak Koine in front of us, it seems. And while we weren't looking, she mastered enough to greet others. 

'I should give her something for her effort' 

"Since when could wolves talk?!" Loki was apparently surprised. It wouldn't shock me, though, if she was tricking me again today. 

"Since today? And wasn't anyone surprised that Fey could talk too?" I said with a shrug. 

"That's not how it works! And birds were designed to be able to imitate human speech to begin with!" Loki voiced her objection but sighed and calmed down on her own. 

"Anyway! The stars of the new group! Henryk and Shira Williams!" Loki said much less dramatically. 

"Henryk here thought he could trick me yesterday! Congratulate him!" Loki shouted with glee, much more dramatically. 

"You're just playing dirty now" I said, my eyes looking at her lazily, as if looking at anything else would've been a better choice. 

"Congratulations on your failed attempt! We hope you try again!" Some of the older-looking people cheered for me. 

'Weird. Why would they be this positive and easygoing about the subject?' 

Amidst the cheers, I heard something interesting. 

"Why is everyone cheering for him?" A member on a nearby table asked another beside him. 

"Oh. Yer a new one, eh? Another one tried it in the past, and 's been gon' for years. The lad m've don' somethin' impressive by now!" The older man hollered, chewing his words, prompting those on other tables tell that story as well. 

"Where is he now? Anyone knows?" I heard one of the newer members ask. 

"That one, that annoying brat, he left, saying he'd be searching for someone" Another answered with a frown. I could tell that this 'brat' made trouble wherever he went. 

"Now, I'm curious. Who was as stupid as I was yesterday? His name?" I turned my question to Loki, who was now getting off the table. 

"Fake name Carillon Cranel, would be 14 years old by now, light-brown hair and lime-green eyes, looks more like a bunny than an actual hume-bunny, quite feminine even though everyone could tell he is a boy-" Loki returned a suspicious look my way. 

"One, I'm not digging information about him. Two, just curious about a kindred spirit that failed the same task" I raised my hands in defeat with my shoulders sagging. 'But isn't that just how Bell looks? Minus the colors of course' 

"And the most interesting piece of information is that he got drunk on apple juice once, and mumbled something about a certain 'Henhen'" Loki dropped the equivalent of a nuclear warhead with an inquisitive look in her closed eyes. 

I felt a primal rage boil within my chest. I knew who he was now. This supposed extra Cranel was none other than Norman. I finally found him. More accurately, a lead that can guide me to him. And it wasn't a pleasant one. 

"DAMNED CHOCOLATE TEAPOT!!" I said as I involuntarily sprung up to my feet, forgetting that Fey's pure ears were wide open. I reflected on this later, and was glad that Tiona was deadpanning while she covered Fey's ears, muffling my words so Fey doesn't recognise them. 

'Give me my feelings back! Asshole! That also explains why Bell was taking extra glances at my hair and eyes whenever everyone else wasn't looking!' 

"Oh? You even had quite the creative nickname for him?" Loki's eyes were slightly open while asking me that, some victory apparent in them. I've been tricked into giving her information about our relationship, even though indirectly. She used my tactic against me blindly and scored her goal. 

'My defeat' 

"Anyway, you need to get registered today, before the recognized members go on an expedition. But for now, sit down and eat" Loki said to us while pointing at a table near the silver wolves. 

"Thank you for arranging that table for us" I gave her a half bow before turning away and leaving them to their meal. 

The table was one beside the window. The light of the morning sun was entering through it and giving us a bit of warmth where it hits. 

"Would my lady allow me?" I scooped a spoonful of a vegetable soup and brought it halfway to Shira's mouth. 

"What?!" Shira shook in place, a little weirded out. 

"Oh, sorry. I saw my parents do it like this some times and wanted to imitate them" I said while reminiscing. 'I wonder if I could really reach that goal; reviving my parents in this world. I wrote it down while I still had some teenage rashness in me. But realistically thinking, I might either fail or warp their minds. A faulty use of the method I will use, if there was any, might also twist and contort their bodies in all the wrong ways. I need to be extra careful going forward' 

As I was thinking that, Shira reluctantly ate the spoonful I presented her. The wolves had plates of raw meat prepared. 

'On the mention of wolves, where's Bete? I don't see him at all' 

"Loki!" A teenager's voice, much like Bell's own, reverberated within the mess hall. I looked there and I saw Bel- 'No, this must be 'Carillon'. His hair's longer than I remember, enough that he gathered it in a ponytail' 

I continued giving Shira bites of food while conversing with her. In the meanwhile, some of my attention was dedicated to observing Norman and his movements. The way he walked seemed very fine, as if he lived in this body since birth. That rules out late transmigration. He could've either transmigrated early in that body's life or reincarnated. Or, by sheer coincidence, he could've been a normal person who had a weird dream about a hen and repeated the word twice. 

... 

'Yeah. Right. Who am I trying to fool here? That's as low a chance as reincarnation being real in my old perspective. Let's observe from the shadows for a bit longer' 

"What is it, Carillon?" Loki asked, somewhat annoyed by how Norman entered with a blood-stained cape. 

"My older twin finally arrived in the city!" Norman marched his way towards the main table and slammed his palms on it, standing next to Loki. 

'He was making fun of poor Bell for far too long. But now, he's Bell's twin. Let's where this goes'

"You're bein' rude to food!" Loki protested against her scared eating time getting interrupted. 

"You stepped on a table full to the brim with food just a minute ago!" I shouted at her with a clear mirth in my voice. Turning her head to me, she decidedly ignored me. Not Norman, though. He raised an eyebrow at me then bent down. From his lips, I could read the following, "Why is that bear here? And why does he resemble him so much?". 

'Again, I ain't no bear. This is the second time someone calls me that today' 

"That's one of our new familia members, Henryk Williams" Hearing my name, his eyes widened so much they almost popped clean off their sockets. 

In response, I calmly put the spoon back down as Norman cringed away nervously. 

I stood up, bent down into position, put on a demonic smile, and then sprinted towards the fucker. "NORMAN!!" 

"Help!" He gave a choked cry for help before sprinting out of the hall, with me hot on his tail. 

"Mister Walking Spoiler?! Where?!" Fey whipped her head every which way, splattering bits and pieces of food onto Tiona and their surroundings. I could hear the commotion of it all, and the wings that flapped in pursuit of us. 

"NO RUINING THE HALLWAYS!!!" Loki shouted, fearful of the repair bills the two of us may incur on the familia, most probably. 

(End of Chapter)

Greet- Wait, let me fix that

...

(End of Chapter)

Greetings, dear readers

Sorry for that thing up there.

So, now that you have read this chapter, do you think that the side-story was necessary to explain Norman's presence here?

I started writing the side-story with the intent of putting it at the start or the middle of this chapter. But, as I wrote, the little PoV/flashback became big enough to cover a chapter on its own. And since Henryk was not concerned with it in the least, I saw no reason to consider it part of the main chapters. I want to hear your thoughts on that. Depending on your feedback, I might just change the titles to make the side-story into chapter 22, pushing all the chapters following it one number down the list.

Another question I have is: Does the side-story even have a meaning? I will keep it there, since I had fun writing it. But I still asked for the sake of it.

My last question is: Get this. There is a bearded man, 203 cm/6"7.92', running at you with a mad glint to his eyes while screaming a name that nobody should know, his expression covered by his thick beard, and you know that this is probably nothing but a game to him. Would that qualify for horror material? Consider that you know that man personally, but that he changed drastically that you barely know him anymore after you lived 14 years away from him with zero contact, and his still has his body and is still young-looking even after a decade and a half (almost) had passed.

Lastly, I want to tell you that by the time it's chapter 25, that would be the last chapter to include the chunky header. From chapter 26, the header will become smaller, holding only to a part of it. I trust that you will have gotten used to the things mentioned in the header by now that you lazily skip it every time.

Be well, ladies and gentlemen.