The world was truly marvelous.
Walking out once more, Duanmu Huai couldn't help but sigh with emotion. He had never expected something like this to happen. Although he hadn't found any good loot there, he had successfully subjugated a ghost girl as a familiar—and she was even a ghost from the era of the Human Empire… looked at this way, his luck was actually pretty good, wasn't it?
Hm?
Thinking of this, a sudden flash crossed Duanmu Huai's mind.
If he thought about it carefully, along the way, his luck really did seem quite good. He had smoothly encountered the snow woman (even though he didn't take her), successfully formed a contract with a horse girl with maxed-out charm, and even found the ruins of the Adeptus Mechanicus here—according to that ghost girl, she had originally been on a space station. As for why it appeared in this place, it was probably because something went wrong during the explosion back then, causing part of the space station to be transferred here.
Seen this way…
Duanmu Huai silently opened the system and looked at the pet slot. [TuTu (Luck Bestowal)]
Did this thing really work?
If it really was effective, then wouldn't bringing TuTu and Truly Clever along mean that his luck and charm were both maxed out?
Left Azure Dragon, right White Tiger, Old Ox at the waist, dragon head on the chest—wasn't this basically the rhythm of killing whoever stood in the way, gods or Buddhas alike?
Not only that, even the ghost girl who had signed a contract with Duanmu Huai this time possessed quite a decent special ability: [Psychic Perception].
According to the ghost girl, when she was alive her psychic power hadn't been particularly strong; she was just extremely sensitive to psychic energy. For Duanmu Huai, this was actually a good thing. After all, most fragment worlds required psychic perception to determine their location. Duanmu Huai had tried several times on other planets, but all had failed, precisely because his psychic positioning wasn't accurate enough.
Now that he had a humanoid radar like this, it was naturally a good thing for Duanmu Huai.
Hm… looked at this way, it really was TuTu's contribution?
"Hm?"
Sensing Duanmu Huai's gaze, TuTu curiously turned her head to look at him, then grinned as she scooted up beside him. Duanmu Huai reached out and patted TuTu's head.
"Hehehe…"
Sure enough, triggering quests still required a certain amount of luck.
"Just as I thought!"
Just as Duanmu Huai was preparing to head back, a voice suddenly rang out. He raised his head and looked ahead, only to see a snow woman standing not far away, glaring at him.
"I knew it! Humans are greedy and lustful creatures like this! Sure enough, you subjugated so many monster girls just to satisfy your despicable and ugly desires, didn't you! Ahhh, no wonder I couldn't escape your clutches…! But I will never submit to you! Even if you kill me, I will never bow my head to you!"
"Haaah…"
Hearing the snow woman's righteous speech, Duanmu Huai silently let out a sigh, while Truly Clever curiously looked at the snow woman and then at Duanmu Huai.
"Master, Master, who is this snow woman?"
"An idiot with something wrong in her head. Don't mind her, let's go."
"Wait, why are you leaving?"
Seeing Duanmu Huai ignore her and lead the others away, the snow woman hurriedly spoke up.
"At a time like this, shouldn't you be enraged because I hit the mark with my words and then attack me? No matter how much I struggle, you'd ignore my cries, press me to the ground, tear off my clothes, and then vent your ugly… ahhh, no, I can't! I'm a pure and spotless snow woman—once tainted by that thing, I'll become dirty and turbid! That's your goal, isn't it? You want to defile me, make me fall into being a tool that exists only for you, ignoring my pain and trampling me at will… no, I won't let you succeed…!"
While the snow woman hugged her own body with a look of intoxication on her face, Duanmu Huai had already silently turned around and left with the others.
"Ahaha, that snow woman lady was really interesting."
"Interesting my ass. If she doesn't speak, she still looks human. Once she opens her mouth, everything's exposed."
Faced with Truly Clever's comment, Duanmu Huai silently sighed. Back then, how had he lost his mind and wanted to look for something rare? Now that he thought about it, this really was rare… way too rare. He couldn't control it!
What kind of Spawn of Obsession believer was this? Duanmu Huai even felt like he couldn't help wanting to kill her—no, killing her felt like admitting defeat somehow.
Better to find something normal.
People really shouldn't be greedy.
Duanmu Huai definitely wasn't going to form a contract with this snow woman. If he brought her back, she'd probably turn the entire Inquisition into a complete mess.
For the sake of his own little girls' moral education, it was better to just let her live out her life alone on the snowy mountain.
After that, Duanmu Huai returned to the manor, then came to the teleportation room on the first floor. Strictly speaking, he still needed to subjugate one more familiar on the snowy mountain. But Duanmu Huai had already had enough of that brainless snow woman. Now he just wanted to leave this damned place as soon as possible. Originally, it didn't really matter—after all, it was just the difference between completing the quest and completing it perfectly. Duanmu Huai had originally planned to finish it perfectly, but now he only wanted to get as far away from that snow woman as possible.
If she corrupted Olgis, that would be troublesome.
"Is this really okay, Master?"
Standing beside Duanmu Huai, the maid looked at him uneasily.
"If you haven't completely lifted the seal, you won't be able to teleport back to the original place…"
"It doesn't matter. Getting a little farther away from that snow woman is better than nothing. And I've already successfully signed contracts with several familiars—this should count as passing, right?"
As he spoke, Duanmu Huai reached out and pressed his hand against the crystal ball in front of him. Of course, he was somewhat worried, but he wasn't overly concerned. The reason was simple: with TuTu's [Luck Bestowal], if his guess was correct, then even a random teleport shouldn't send him too far off from his target location. Perfect—this was also a good opportunity to test his luck.
After all, random teleportation was all about luck.
"In the name of the monster tamer—activate!"
As Duanmu Huai's voice fell, the next moment a beam of light suddenly appeared on the floor. With a flash of dazzling radiance, Duanmu Huai and the others vanished into the air.
"Whoosh!"
In the next moment, when Duanmu Huai opened his eyes, he found himself in a forest. However, to his surprise, aside from Olgis, there were no signs of the other familiars he had subjugated.
"Hm? What's going on? TuTu? Maid? Karen? Where are you?"
"We're right here, Master!"
Hearing TuTu's usual cheerful voice, Duanmu Huai lowered his head. Only then did he notice that, at some point, a ring had appeared on the index finger of his left hand, the gemstone on it emitting a faint green glow.
"This is?"
"The Soul Ring obtained after a monster tamer forms contracts with monster girls. As long as Master possesses this ring, you can summon us anytime and anywhere."
"So that's how it is…"
After hearing the maid's explanation, Duanmu Huai finally understood. He then carefully examined the ring, and soon the system provided a prompt.
[Special Quest "Commanding Monsters" Completed]
[Quest Evaluation: Barely Passable]
[Quest Reward: Soul Contract Ring (Non-transferable)]
[Owned Pets: TuTu, Maid, Ghost Girl, Horse Girl (4/5)]
"This is much more convenient than Poké Balls."
After asking the maid further, Duanmu Huai learned that the world he had previously been in was actually inside this ring. However, it was currently limited to the areas he had unlocked: plains, forest, underground, and the manor. In fact, this ring was the monster tamer's greatest inheritance. It was just that this wouldn't be known until the seal was truly lifted.
At present, only the snowy mountain inside the ring was still sealed.
Let it stay sealed… some things were better never seen again in one's lifetime.
So then, where was this place?
Duanmu Huai looked around, but all he could see was forest after forest…
Crash!!
Just as Duanmu Huai was surveying his surroundings, the bushes beside him suddenly shook violently. Then a figure burst out. Duanmu Huai reacted quickly and grabbed the person. Startled at being caught, the other party hastily raised her hands.
"Flame of—eh? Why are you here?"
The person who appeared before Duanmu Huai was none other than Moso Shizuka, who had previously gone with him to the magical kingdom of Seth.
"That's my question. What happened to you? You look so miserable. Where's Kanami?"
Duanmu Huai sized up Moso Shizuka and asked curiously. She was just about to answer when hurried footsteps suddenly sounded. Hearing them, Moso Shizuka's expression changed drastically. At the same time, Duanmu Huai saw dozens of men wielding weapons rush out, surrounding the two of them completely.
"It's a long story, but Kanami was captured by them. As for me… as you can see, I'm being hunted by these people right now."
"Oh ho?"
Hearing this, the corners of Duanmu Huai's mouth lifted slightly. He then reached behind his back and drew his powered greatsword.
"Looks like I really need to thank TuTu."
Just as Duanmu Huai said, his guess seemed to be correct. It was clearly because TuTu's [Luck Bestowal] had increased his luck that he was randomly teleported here. Otherwise, if Duanmu Huai had returned to the royal capital and failed to find Moso Shizuka and Kentou Kanami, he wouldn't even know that something had happened to them—after all, they weren't Soul Cards. If they ran into trouble, there'd be no way for them to even send a notification.
From this, it was clear that TuTu's [Luck Bestowal] was the real deal.
"Hm? What are you talking about?"
"Nothing. After I deal with these guys, I'll explain everything to you properly."
After saying that, Duanmu Huai coldly stared at the group before him.
"I don't know who you are, but unfortunately… it looks like your luck is absolutely terrible!"
With Duanmu Huai's roar, the next moment he suddenly raised his greatsword and swung it down fiercely at the enemies before him!
(The chapter ends)