This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

"—Oof!"

"Aaaah!"

Morning in the fortress began not with birdsong or sunlight—but with Kain getting stepped on.

He jolted awake with a strangled wheeze, pain bursting across his ribs as a small heel dug directly into his side.

The child he'd rescued yesterday stumbled backward in fright, eyes wide, lip trembling. Kain rolled onto his back, clutching his ribs.

"Ow—ow—okay—okay—time out—!"

The boy let out a tiny hiccuping sob, scrambled backward, tripped on the blanket, and curled up on Kain's bed with tears filling his eyes, shoulders shaking.

The commotion jarred Serena awake. She sat up slowly, silver hair falling over her shoulder in soft waves, a faint crease between her brows as she blinked blearily.

"What… happened?"

Kain raised a hand from the floor like a wounded soldier reaching for help.

"He stepped on me…" he croaked.

Serena blinked.

Then blinked again.

Then her gaze drifted toward the child sniffling in a bundle of sheets on Kain's bed—

And then down to Kain lying on the cold stone floor several feet away from his bed.

"Oh. Right. That. Stop pretending to be pitiful, we both know a step from an ordinary kid wouldn't hurt you. Don't think this little act will change anything."

The tears at the corners of Kain's eyes seemed to instantly sucked back in, as his painful grimace dropped.

'Dammit! Why does she need to be so smart?

Indeed, he'd been faking it. Why, you ask?

He'd slept on the floor.

All night.

Because Serena had given him a flat, absolutely merciless "No" the moment he joked—although he was somewhat serious—about them sharing a bed.

He'd barely finished the sentence before she rejected the idea with the swiftness of a drawn blade.

And since he couldn't take another room without raising suspicion, nor sleep in the hallway… the floor it was.

And the floor it would likely continue to be for as long as this kid—who he still didn't know the name of—was staying here.

He'd hoped feigning pain would soften Serena, and open her heart to his suggestion of just sharing the same bed…but clearly he'd thought to simply.

Serena slid out of bed and knelt beside the boy. The movement was gentle, instinctively careful—her battlefield-tempered composure softening at the sight of a crying child. She brushed a hand through his tangled hair.

He sniffled but leaned into her touch like a frightened animal seeking warmth.

Serena exhaled softly, then turned to Kain.

"So," she murmured, "what exactly are your plans for him?"

Kain's expression twisted.

"Honestly? I have no idea."

He pulled himself off the floor effortlessly, as if his earlier moans and groans of pain were an illusion.

"Last night, after the fighting outside ended, I activated the Threads again… and everything was back to that same uniform grey."

Serena frowned. "So the demigod's presence really does disrupt your ability to read fate. Then the boy…?"

Kain sighed, running a hand down his face.

"He doesn't remember anything. When I asked him about the thing he said was 'calling' yesterday… he just looked confused. No memory."

He glanced at the boy.

The child was now wiping his face with Kain's blanket.

Serena followed his gaze and let out a slow breath.

"Well… until you figure it out, he stays with us."

Kain blinked. "With us? You mean—"

"Unless you want to leave a mentally fragile, starving, possibly bullied child alone in a war fortress?"

Kain shut his mouth.

Right.

Before they could continue, the fortress horns bellowed outside the window—the shift-change signal.

Kain groaned. "I need to get to the walls."

Serena nodded. "Go. I'll watch him."

Kain rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"…Thanks."

For a brief moment—just a fraction of a second—Serena's expression warmed.

"Be safe."

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Kain hurried up the stone steps to the battlements expecting to be ripped into for abandoning post yesterday.

Instead—

"Kain Newman! Excellent instincts last night!"

"Good job sensing the breach, Master Newman!"

"You saved dozens in the civilian district!"

Kain froze mid-step.

Then realized.

Serena.

She'd covered for him flawlessly. Likely conjuring up a story about him sensing a breach in the walls elsewhere.

And the mid-grade Abyssal he'd taken down while carrying the child yesterday must have only reinforced whatever story she invented.

He received only a mild scolding for "not reporting his intentions"—

followed by praise for supposedly sensing danger from so far away.

Kain smiled.

He accepted the praise for his 'heroic actions' shamelessly. Whatever his true intentions were for leaving his post yesterday shouldn't matter when the end result was the same, right?

He reached the top of the wall—

And his smile died.

"What the hell…"

Beyond the fortress, the world had become a grave.

A scarlet haze clung to the air, staining the horizon like dried blood. The valley rippling out toward the demigods' former battlefield wasn't just damaged—

It was deformed.

Land twisted.

Snow melted into rust-tinted powder.

The sky shimmered with faint red cracks, like the air itself still remembered the domain clash.

It looked like the aftermath of an apocalypse.

However, the tide of Abyssals still surged through the apocalyptic scene

Still charged the walls.

But today…

They were weaker.

Much weaker.

They staggered like drunkards.

Limbs sagging.

Spines bent.

Abyssal energy leaking from them like smoke.

Kain watched one that should've been mid-grade collapse flat on its face halfway across the valley, its body crumbling like rotted bark.

Residual domain damage, Kain realized.

The demigod dragon's influence still tainted the battlefield and that mere lingering influence was enough to greatly damage the approaching abyssal.

His heart thudded.

He wanted that strength someday—

But his contracts were far from it.

Not even close to domain formation.

Still…

Progress existed.

Kain looked up as a giant shadow flew over him.

A massive red dragon glided overhead—Vauleth.

His eyes shimmered with excitement as he used the abyssal for target practice and switched breath types rapidly:

Red flame—

Black corrosive acid—

Blue lightning—

Green poison—

White frost—

He fired one after another, crisp and clean, with no delay between transitions.

Kain grinned.

Vauleth's ability to switch between the 5 Coloured Dragon breaths was now effortless.

But the fusion attempts…

The dragon inhaled deeply, trying to merge the white and black breaths—cold and corrosive—into one combined blast.

"RRRrrr…. grhhh… kkk… HHKKK—!!"

KRRK—HACK—HACK—HACK—

He coughed in mid-air so violently he spiraled downward, flailing like a drunk goose before recovering at the last second.

Kain winced.

"…He'll get there."

One day.

Probably.

Maybe.

Kain then turned his gaze to his other contract.

Closer to the wall, Aegis stood firm as a massive obsidian sculpture.

Each time an Abyssal got close to the top of the a tentacle-like extension made of earth would wrap it up so he could drain them of their Abyssal energy. The absorbed energy he shared freely with Chewy.

Aegis' comprehension of the earth element had deepened from the Lotus of Silent Law—

but it still wasn't enough.

Aegis needed to blend earth with abyssal energy for his true domain.

Meanwhile, Chewy, stationed on Aegis' shoulder, puffed up to the size of a large melon as he absorbed residual energy from Aegis' tendrils.

His cheeks bulged.

His belly glowed.

And then—

PWOMPF—!

A burp.

A loud, echoing, thunderous burp—

And a cluster of Abyssals was blown clean off the wall…and almost blew a couple of allies off to.

Nearby soldiers had long since learned to brace themselves whenever they heard a mysterious hiccup come from the large golem's shoulder.

One shouted down the line:

"IT'S COMING AGAIN—HOLD THE DAMN WALL!"

Kain pinched his nose, sighing. He'd really need to lecture the small spore on being conscious of his allies.

He then turned to monitor the progress of his next contract.

Queen worked tirelessly in her medic tent below.

Her Vespid guards carried the wounded like swift-winged couriers, laying them before her. With practiced efficiency as she healed them.

Her time working as a medic, has also greatly improved her healing abilities—particularly the concentration of life energy in her royal jelly

Thick, golden, glowing faintly with healing power.

She could now regrow missing limbs on ordinary people with a drop of the stuff.

Even low-tier tamers and their contracts.

But for higher-level tamers and their contracts?

Her strength still wasn't enough.

But the improvement was staggering.

Finally his attention turned to the contract that was the closest to forming a domain—Bea.

Her mental network—thousands of Abyssals outside, plus her split remnants in the distant Azure Serpent Kingdom—stretched thin, trembling under the strain.

She was everywhere.

Reading minds.

Subtly manipulating movements.

Controlling units like a general commanding an army—only she was controlling the enemy to their deaths.

Kain had a feeling that soon, with just a little push, she'll cross the hurdle and form a fledgling domain—drastically increasing his team's strength.

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While Kain admired his contracts' progress, Serena quietly opened the dorm room door with an extra ration pouch in hand.

Kain's ration.

But it was his fault that he brought a starving child back, so she decided he wouldn't object.

She stepped inside and paused.

The child sat on Kain's bed where she'd left him, staring at the wall, lips moving.

Murmuring.

She approached slowly, cautiously.

"Hey kid… what's wrong?"

The whispers grew clearer as she approached.

"…they're calling…

…they feel them…

…they sense their kin…

…so loud…

…too many thoughts…"

Serena swallowed.

She placed a hand gently on his shoulder—

Before she could calm him—

---------------------------------------

On the battlefield, Vauleth unleashed a large-scale breath combination of red flames and blue lightning.

Aegis tore through a cluster of mid-grade abyssals

Bea finally managed to firmly control over 1000 low and mid-grade abyssals.

And—

---------------------------------------

Serena only saw the boy's head snap upward as she tried to calm him.

Eyes wide—

Mouth open—

He clutched both sides of his skull—

And screamed.

"IT'S TOO LOUD—!!!"

The sound was shrill, jagged with agony.

Then—

His body went limp.

He collapsed sideways onto the mattress.

Serena immediately lunged forward, catching him before he hit the stone floor.

Her heart hammered in her chest as she cradled his unconscious form.

"…Kain," she whispered, voice tight with worry, "what have you brought back?"