I looked at Fina, whose face hovered above mine, in doubt.
“You mean you want me to take over your previous contract with them?”
The act of taking over the contracts isn’t that rare. Whenever a tamer dies prematurely, leaving his or her tamed monsters ownerless, the monsters are usually tamed by relatives or close friends of the previous tamer.
Some intelligent monsters usually choose whether they want to be tamed again or not, but most can’t get over their previous owner’s death and return to the wilderness without contracting again.
To Fina’s tamed monsters, it would seem like she suddenly died when their links vanished. They should be panicking right now, trying to search for her whereabouts and confirm her state of well-being or something.
I raised my body with difficulty, sitting on the ground.
“Then we better go now.”
I said this as I looked around. The ten thousand succubi tamers were all looking around and chatting idly, seemingly amazed by how their appearances changed. A few of them despaired after seeing their appearance, while others rejoiced after their “assets” got boosted.
“Goddess Zeta, can I ask you to send them all to the Seimei? Ying Yue, you should go with them and explain everything to Guren. He knows what to do.”
Goddess Zeta just glanced at Will before snapping her fingers. With just that, the ten thousand-plus succubi and Ying Yue vanished without even being able to say a word of goodbye.
Looking back, Zeta and Zeshion also vanished. I doubt they’ll run away and dump all the responsibility on me, so they should’ve moved together to the Seimei.
I looked behind me, where Ember and Fina were still sitting on the ground.
“Ember, do you think you can still manage to teleport us back?”
Although the surroundings are barren, making it easy to spot if a demon or monster is approaching, I can’t keep my calm for some reason. It feels like something will pop out if we stay here any longer.
“I can, Master. Please wait.”
As she said this, she stood up and started focusing on weaving her skill. As she evolved, her spatial manipulation skills improved, making her able to maintain a stable passage for a longer period of time.
“It’s done.”
When she said this, the three of us simultaneously stepped into the portal and left the wasted land behind.
When they arrived, they were inside the previous room where Julia was supposed to be sleeping. However, looking around, there’s no sign of her anywhere. Rather than her, the presence of the bats felt like a thorn to my senses as I detected them all over the town.
“Fang and the others haven’t eliminated all the bats yet?”
I was doubtful at first, but then I recalled that Zeshion said how these bats appeared all over the country, to the point that the military was forced to mobilize. If it was to the point that tamers at the 6th stage and up were needed to act, then the girls that were mostly below the 6th stage should be helpless against it.
Rather, it was great how they managed to push the bats back to the outer periphery of the town.
I don’t know what time it is right now, but sunrise would probably be a few hours away. If we can hold on for that long, then the town’s barrier will revive and push away all the vermin.
“Then there’s no need to panic yet.”
I sighed in relief before turning to Fina.
“Then, can you guide us to where your tamed beasts are?”
“Follow me!”
Fina excitedly pulled on my arm, dragging me around the government office. Fina was living on the basement floor of the office, where the staff was allocated rooms to stay in. Fina pulled me over to one of the rooms and slammed the door open.
Inside, it was chaos.
Furniture and small items were scattered all over the ground as if a storm had just passed. In the middle of the room, the missing Julia and two little monsters were doing a face-off, growling at each other.
“Chief!”
Fina shouted upon seeing her, prompting the three to turn towards her sharply.
“Fina! You’re safe!”
Julia quickly shouted as she ran to her for an embrace… But was too slow.
“*Hiss!*”
“*Shuffle!*”
Two small beasts jumped toward Fina in excitement. Fina opened her arms in anticipation of their warm welcome.
“I’m back, Yorm and Judy!”
“…”
I looked at the scene with a slight doubt. Her tamed beasts were completely outside my expectations. Who would’ve thought that a cute girl like her would choose a snake and a spider as her tamed beasts?
Julia came forward and smacked the two out of the way before embracing Fina.
“I was worried sick, you know? When I woke up, you weren’t anywhere. When I checked your room, these brats attacked me as if I killed their parents!” ．
As she hugged Fina tightly, she was busy blocking the approach of the two beasts with her foot.
“And isn’t this Will, the tamer who fought for our town at the last Newbie tournament? Welcome~”
She muttered with a fake smile. At her words, the two beasts finally noticed my presence and glared at me. For some reason, they were releasing extreme killing intent.
“Chief, and also you two! Don’t be rude to my tamer!”
At Fina’s words, the three simultaneously stiffened. They looked at me, then at Fina, then back at me.
“Y-Your T-T-T-Tamer…? W-What do you…”
Julia was sweating bullets as she stuttered heavily. I just sighed as I went into the room, bathed in the confused stares of the rest.
“Well, she kind of lost touch with her human side and became a full-fledged monster. I had no way of saving her earlier, other than contracting her, so…”
I scratched my head as I explained. I doubt if the two beasts understood my words, but Julia should’ve.
“Ah, also, Julia. You’re currently under a servant contract with me. For more details, visit the Seimei family. They should be briefing the others that were similar in situation to you there.”
I gave her a thumbs-up as I grinned; however, Julia just looked at me with an inexplicable expression, going, “Huh?”