I asked Squirrel-chan, who was still on my shoulder. I didn't plan to stay in the city forever, so it's not certain whether we'll see them again.
But Squirrel-chan nodded with a look of "Of course!" She didn't change her answer the whole time since we left.\nHaaa... I guess I should give up now.
"... speaking of which, can monsters enter the city?"
<It is not a problem as long as they are your contracted monster>
Contracted monster*? How do you do that?
*I took a while thinking of an English equivalent. But you should be able to understand the meaning of this even though there's no contract involved. If you have better alternatives, feel free to suggest it in the chat.
<You only need to grant the monster a name. But, in your case, she will be treated as your kin, not a contracted monster>
... how is that different from a contracted monster?
<There's not much difference, but if I have to pick one, it's that your power can be shared>
What do you mean by shared? ...... does this mean she would be able to use magic?
<Yes>
I understand, that means I should give her a name.
"Nee, squirrel-chan. Is it fine for me to give you a name?"
She nodded her head vigorously to my question as if to say "I've been waiting for that!" I- I see...
Squirrel-chan fur is closer to silver than white. I'm not sure whether I should name her by color.
"...Well, how about Prenna?"
In the end, I came up with a meaningless name. My naming sense is really.....
But when I said that, Squirrel-chan... no, Prenna's body glowed for a moment and soon subsided. Is it complete now?
『Master! Thank you!』
I suddenly heard a cute voice.
"Eh, the voice just now..."
『It's me!』
Prenna smacked herself on the chest. I thought so.
Taking another look, I noticed that her appearance was a little different.\nA golden line had appeared from the corner of her eyes to her tail, the same color as my hair.
"You've gotten cuter"
『Hey! Don't just say that!』
She turned her face away like she was angry. I was just praising her, but... well her face was a little red, so I guess she was just embarrassed.
"You're really cute."
『Master is also cute, you know?』
"Fufu, thank you."
I thought she only said that to be polite, so I passed it off lightly.
『... you definitely don't understand』
"Un? Did you say something?"
『Uun, it's nothing.』
Really? I'm sure I heard something, but... oh well.
"Anyway, did anything change?"
『Change? ...Ah, it seems that I can use magic now.』
"Really? What attribute?"
『Um... light?』
Why did I even ask? From the looks of her, I'd say it's an attribute that suits her very well.
"So you can use it?"
『Un, I think I understand!』
Y- you think?...
『Demons use magic on instinct』
Ah, that's right...
"Anyway, I look forward to working with you."
『Un, it's nice to meet you, master!』
I can't believe it, she's so cute. I couldn't help but rub her on head.
『fuwaa...』
She stretched out her limbs and didn't fall off my shoulder. Isn't this amazing?!
"Speaking of which, how do you prove the identity of a contracted monster? A collar?"
<Yes, I see some in your inventory>
Woah! You've prepared that too. I'll check it out right away.\n...But no matter how I look at it, there are more than 30 of them. Isn't that a lot? I'm not going to make that many contracted monsters, I mean, kin.
Though, was very easy to see what each one looked like.
There were so many colors and designs that I got a bit lost.
"Nee, Prenna. Which one do you like?"
『Muunya ... wah! W- what?』
You were fast asleep, but it's cute though.
"I wanted to ask you which collar you would like... ah, can you see them?"
After all this time, I just realized that she might not have been able to see the items in my inventory.
『I can?』
So she can see. Is it because she's my kin?
<Yes>
I see, then can Prenna take things out from here?
<No, she can not>
She can only see it, but I guess that's okay.
"Which one do you want?"
『Umm... then this!』
What Prenna pointed to was a simple red collar with a blue stone in the middle.
"Are you sure?"
『Yes!』
Prenna said, so I quickly took out the collar and tried it on her.
"You're so cute, it suits you!"
『Ehehe...thanks, master!』
Prenna rubs herself against my cheek, so I rubbed back. It feels so good...
"Is it uncomfortable?"
『It's fine!』
That was good. Since we were talking while walking, it took us quite a while to reach the gate. By then, it was already dark.
"Ah! Marina-chan!"
As soon as the gatekeeper saw me, he came running over. I think his name was... Clive?
"Thank God, I was so worried about you"
"I'm sorry..."
I couldn't help but apologize.\nI also didn't expect him to be so worried just because I was a little late...
"Huh? This one on your shoulder..."
"Oh, I made her my contracted monster."
When I introduced her, Prenna raised one hand and bowed. But it was hard to tell because her arm was so short. In fact, Clive-san didn't seem to notice her actions.
"Ho, it's impressive to have a contracted monster at your age."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, you have to have a certain amount of magic power to contract a monster"
I see, it's not possible to get a contracted monster just like that.
"Well, can we enter?"
"Ah, wait just a minute. Can you touch this?"
He took out the crystal that I saw when I first entered the city, the one that checks if one committed any crimes.\nI touched it without hesitation and it glowed in blue. I'm pretty sure it was the safe color, right?
"Yes, there's no problem. You can go through."
I walked through the gate and entered the city. It's already pretty late, and time doesn't flow in the inventory so I guess I'll just deliver the goods tomorrow.
With that in mind, I decided to head back to the inn.
There were lights on both sides of the road, making my surroundings quite bright. There might even be more people coming and going right now than in the daytime. There were also drunk people with red faces in some areas. It's quite peaceful...
Looking around the city, we finally arrived at [Mistletoe]
*I switched Yadorigi-tei with Mistletoe because Yadorigi means mistletoe, with tei as a suffix]
It was dinner time when we entered, so the dining room downstairs was full of people.
"Ah! Marina-chan!"
I heard a familiar voice and turned my head back to see Lina-san running towards me.
"Oh my God! Do you know how worried I was?!"
"I- I'm sorry"
I'm really sorry, but aren't you and Clive are a little too overprotective?\nWhen I looked behind Lina-san, I saw Gil-san, Bucket-san and Fina-san standing there. Were they really that worried about me?
"I thought someone ran off with you"
"Th only one who was that worried was Lina."
Gil-san gave me an explanation with a weird look. But why?
"Marina can at least protect herself, can't she?"
"Well, that's true."
I see. I could certainly get away from a kidnapper.
"Why don't we get some food?"
"You didn't eat?"
"Lina insisted on waiting"
"I'm sorry"
"You have nothing to apologize for. Come on, Lina, let's go"
I followed suit as Gil-san pulled Lina-san along.
————-\nPrenna is a super intelligent and cute squirrel who Marina has as her family (I changed family to kin)! This novel has the yuri/shoujo-ai tag, so maybe... just maybe...
I'm just not seeing Fina or Lina together with Marina. Nor the heroes.