I Became a Mythical-Tier Tamer Due To A System Error

Chapter 18

They said frequent baths had a bad effect on the skin.

But without realizing it, I ended up doing it every day.

‘On days when I move a lot, I can’t rest until I do it.’

Yeah.

I sweated every single day.

‘There’s the livestock shed work, and other various things as well.’

Sweating meant I had been active.

And I needed to recall and reflect on those activities.

‘Unwinding with a bath is the best.’

I closed each day with a bath, organizing my thoughts too.

Before I knew it, it had become my last daily routine.

I leaned back and looked up at the starry night sky.

‘So only two days left.’

There wasn’t much time left until the sparring with Ren.

‘I’ve done everything I could.’

Since Keirin would be busy for the next two days, I couldn’t visit the Magic Tower anymore.

‘Instead of making buff potions, I nurtured Boogie.’

When Boogie slept for an hour, experience increased by roughly 5%.

Since it hadn’t been long since the detoxification, he would keep sleeping for a while to build up immunity.

By tomorrow night or the morning after, I should be able to check Boogie’s ability.

‘Hopefully it’ll work out.’

I didn’t want to obtain abilities in urgent situations like with Hwayo.

‘This time I’ll be facing Ren. I need to know my ability in advance before fighting.’

I would be facing not a monster, but a person.

It was absolutely necessary to plan my strategy beforehand and enter the sparring prepared.

In a duel decided in an instant, there was no way I could experiment with various things against Ren.

‘So hang in there, Boogie.’

After soaking in the warm water for a long time, all the fatigue drained from my body.

‘I’ve been in here for quite a while. Let’s stop now.’

I stepped out of the tub, put on the comfortable clothes I had prepared, and headed for the storage room.

Chzzik.

When I turned on the lantern, something new was there in the storage.

‘What’s this?’

Snooze… snooze…

Someone was sleeping in the straw piled in the corner of the storage.

How did they even know to come here?

‘I took a bath as soon as I came to the livestock shed, so I had no idea someone was here.’

Just how long had they been there?

‘And how did they bring the lamb?’

It was a student, holding the lamb from the livestock shed.

Her blonde hair tied down in twin tails shone faintly.

Judging from the name tag, she was a fellow first-year.

In fact, even without checking the name tag, I knew who she was.

‘The gentle Lapin.’

She wasn’t a particularly noticeable student, and early on, there was barely any contact with her at all.

Her personality was mild, and even her ability was at the average level of a first-year.

At a glance, she looked like an ordinary character, but her ears were unusual.

Perhaps the lantern light had stung her eyes, as Lapin rubbed them open with a yawn.

“Mmm…?”

She met my gaze, but her expression didn’t change.

“Ah, I’ve been found out.”

It seemed that by “found out,” she wasn’t referring to herself, but her ears.

Lapin’s cat ears perked up on top of her head.

She yawned softly and answered in a gentle voice.

“Keep it a secret.”

“…Sure.”

With that, I sat down on a box in the opposite corner.

‘That conversation ended way too casually, didn’t it?’

For reference, in the world of Yggdrasil, beastmen didn’t exist.

If asked what this beast-girl was, I could answer immediately. She was the only exception—Lapin.

‘Lapin had the setting that on nights with a full moon, ears like that appeared.’

Maybe because I already knew that fact, I didn’t think much of it.

“Mmm.”

Lapin seemed about to go back to sleep, but soon opened her eyes again.

Was she bothered by my indifferent reaction?

She tilted her head, touched her ears, and asked me again.

“This isn’t surprising to you? Other people freak out.”

“Not really.”

“Hmm.”

She seemed taken aback by my answer.

Then she met my eyes again and spoke.

“I didn’t know this was where another classmate lived.”

“It may look shabby, but in a way, it’s like my home.”

“I see. That’s why it felt comfortable.”

Looking down at the lamb sleeping in her arms, Lapin gave a small nod.

I straightened my shoulders and looked at her.

This was my place, after all. I couldn’t just ignore an illegal trespass.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“What?”

“You know you need permission to enter someone else’s house, right?”

“Ah.”

Lapin finally widened her eyes, realizing what she had forgotten.

“Right, that’s true.”

What did she mean, “that’s true”?

It was a ridiculous situation.

But I knew she was originally a 4th-dimensional character. Thanks to that, I stayed calm instead of being flustered.

“Then can I sleep here for a bit?”

“Do as you like. Just make sure to put the lamb back in its place before you leave.”

“Okay…”

Looking drowsy, she slowly closed her eyes.

‘Is she just gentle, or just carefree?’

Though we had an emotionless and casual conversation.

I knew her grim past and future.

‘She dies, after all.’

She would meet her end this very year, in the cold of winter.

‘She might look like an ordinary student like this.’

But Lapin carried a hidden secret.

Her true identity was that of a chimera created by a witch.

‘The witch who wielded black magic made her.’

The witch pretended to be a kind person, but in truth raised Lapin to use her for dirty work.

But Lapin escaped from the witch and entered Yggdrasil, where she now stayed.

It wasn’t because the witch ordered her to do evil that she ran away.

‘She said she ran away because she was suffocated being locked up by the witch.’

I remembered a production team interview that said Lapin’s concept was taken from the old fairy tale .

And even its cruel ending.

‘The witch finds Lapin, controls her, and she becomes a villain.’

Lapin would unwillingly become hostile toward the students of Yggdrasil.

Ren and the others would end up subjugating her.

‘She would be controlled by the witch she saw as a mother, used against her will, and killed.’

Even Ren and the others would misunderstand her as a villain disguised as a student.

Until the end, she would shed tears and face a miserable death.

‘When I played through Lapin’s episode in the game, I felt heavy-hearted.’

Whether it was intentional or not, the developers never created a scene to clear up the misunderstanding about Lapin.

Every single character in Yggdrasil would mistake her as an evil woman. That misunderstanding would never be cleared.

‘The fact that Lapin was innocent only appeared briefly at the start of the second playthrough after a reset.’

It was even just a fleeting part.

The day after the entrance ceremony, in the corner of the first-year classroom, there was a small piece of paper as an Easter egg.

「The world outside is full of good things.」

「I want to get along with everyone here.」

It was written in crooked letters.

It looked like a scrap written by a child, but it was something Lapin wrote herself while studying letters.

‘But in the game, they never specified who wrote it.’

In the end, few players even noticed.

Forgotten by both the players and the game.

That was Lapin.

‘I feel kind of sorry.’

Seeing Lapin asleep without a single worry made me think that.

She had not a trace of malice.

That kind of ending felt cruel.

‘…Anyway. I should sleep too.’

Maybe it was because I had just finished bathing.

Sleepiness began to set in.

I needed to sleep enough to be in good condition tomorrow.

‘She said she’d sleep here, so she’ll handle herself.’

I turned off the lantern and lay down on the hammock I had set up outside the storage.

Class had ended, and I was in the middle of working at the livestock shed.

“Hi.”

Lapin came to the livestock shed again.

But it seemed she didn’t have any business with me, as she greeted me and headed elsewhere.

She entered the third pen and looked down at the rabbits.

‘Does she like animals?’

Lapin was a chimera born from the combination of all sorts of creatures.

Maybe she felt a sense of kinship with animals.

‘The rabbits seem to recognize her too.’

They didn’t seem afraid of people.

Before long, rabbits crowded around her.

“Upsy-daisy.”

Lapin picked up a small rabbit, hugged it, and stroked it.

The rabbit closed its eyes and stayed still in her arms.

Other rabbits ran to her too, as if asking to be held.

‘I’ll just leave her be.’

She wasn’t really disturbing anything.

After sitting by the rabbit pen for a while, she went on to do the same with other animals, stroking and playing with them.

‘Strange how the animals seem to follow her well.’

They obediently enjoyed her touch.

Maybe the animals liked her more than they liked me.

“Hm.”

Before I knew it, Lapin had sat near me, blinking her round eyes.

She seemed interested in the livestock shed work.

‘Why would she look at such boring work like that?’

There wasn’t anything to see.

Just cleaning the pens, feeding, and chopping wood—chores like that.

Lapin followed me around, watching for a while before speaking.

“I want to try working too.”

“…You want to?”

Her unexpected request snapped me to attention.

She suddenly wanted to help with the livestock shed work.

‘She’s always been a 4th-dimensional character, but suddenly offering to help work is kind of surprising.’

The heavy work of the livestock shed would be lessened.

That was a great joy.

I pointed at the big bucket.

“Fill that bucket with water and bring it.”

“Got it.”

Lapin immediately did as I said.

‘Yeah, maybe she could even become my assistant like this.’

From now on, maybe I could ease my burden at the livestock shed.

I had that hope briefly, but it quickly vanished.

“This is hard. I don’t want to do it anymore.”

She set the water-filled bucket down in front of me.

‘She’s quitting after just five minutes?’

Still, she did bring me the water.

Though this was both the first and last time.

“…Alright then.”

Hearing my weak reply, Lapin moved away.

“Upsy-daisy.”

Just like yesterday, she grabbed the lamb and plopped down into the straw in the storage.

Baa~.

The lamb, finding her arms comfortable, quickly closed its eyes.

“Yawn.”

You’re going to sleep too?

She stroked the lamb while yawning, then fell asleep herself like it did.

‘That’s actually better.’

I filled the troughs with water and put the bucket back in its place.

With that, the livestock shed work was finished.

I changed into training clothes and headed toward the nearby clearing.

‘I was a bit uneasy thinking Lapin might watch me use my ability, but this works out well.’

I opened the Animal Farm screen and looked at Boogie, sound asleep in the nest.

Absolute Shell ‘Boogie’

Level: 2 / Experience: 99%

Mood: Very good, stress 0%.

Traits: ???

‘Now there’s really not much left.’

Just a few more minutes, and he was right at the brink of level 3.

Since I had finished the livestock shed work, I would have plenty of time to train the new ability and plan my strategy.

Absolute Shell ‘Boogie’ has reached level 3!

ꠘⓣ零뙌?툹z has been acquired.

‘It worked.’

After checking that message, I calmly stretched out my hand toward the air.

‘Card.’

Woosh!

Dust in the air gathered and transformed into a card.

‘Boogie’s card.’

Young Turtle

It had the picture of a small turtle that seemed to represent Boogie.

Taking a deep breath, I focused on the card.

‘Now the only thing left is to check the ability.’

It was the moment I had been waiting for most.

In my heart, I cried out earnestly.

‘Please let it be the ability I want!’

Yes, please.

I snatched the floating card out of the air.

Information began to surface in my mind.