Beast Tamer (勇者パーティーを追放されたビーストテイマー、最強種の猫耳少女と出会う)

Hey, Rein.

Mm?

We're letting you go.

Huh?

Beast tamer.

It's a class that's able to form contracts

with a variety of animals. Bonds that enable us

to use their strengths to our advantage.

We aren't really well-suited for combat.

But I made the best of my abilities to support

my comrades during our perilous travels,

and because of that,

my hero's party had great faith in me.

Or, so I thought.

Say what?

Hang on a sec.

This comes as a bit of a surprise, honestly.

Uh. Wait, you guys are messin' with me, right?

We're not "messin'" with you.

Arios. Ah?

Aggath?

Leane?

Mina?

Are you serious?

Why? I deserve to know!

Really?

Isn't it obvious, even to you?

It's because you're a feeble, useless loser.

And you bring absolutely nothing to this group!

You get it? You don't do anything but hold us back!

Just having you in the party is more trouble than it's worth!

Is that true?

I can't believe you haven't noticed.

You never do any damage to our enemies,

and we're constantly having to

lay our lives on the line to rescue you.

The only thing you provide is scouting and loot transport,

by using animals you've tamed.

Doesn't that sound pretty worthless to you?

Sounds worthless to me.

What? Why would they say that?

We've got a Demon King to kill for cryin' out loud!

We don't have time for babysitting!

Oh, quit being dramatic. As worthless as he is,

I thought, maybe the poor wretch could shine

by sharing the same spotlight as me.

Arios! That is so sweet!

Indeed. The only tragedy here

is that he wasted the grace and generosity of our glorious hero.

I'm... so embarrassed.

Is this what my party thought of me the whole time?

No. This can't be--

Rein.

Don't do something that makes us lose even more respect for you.

And make sure to leave your gear at the door.

We're the ones who gathered it all, anyway.

You know,

this means we can finally take on the Lost Woods.

Understood.

This town is big, but it shouldn't take him

this long to round up some supplies.

We've been here for, what, several days? Come on!

It was a mistake to have any expectations of him.

Let us consider this a brief respite.

Great idea!

When you put it that way, maybe our sweet little beast tamer...

In that moment,

it felt like any connection we had as a party

had come to a permanent end.

Hmm.

You have the strength of a frail

and defenseless child.

It appears that you're still lacking both the bearing

and skill required of someone in the hero's party.

You ever gonna be good for anything

besides running errands for us? You're just so worthless.

No need to be harsh.

Rein is trying his absolute best, is he not?

Well, for a beast tamer, at the very least.

I thought they were hard on me

because they were pushing me to grow.

That they had high hopes for what I could one day accomplish.

However...

...it's possible that they never cared about me to begin with.

Ahh... Man.

What am I supposed to do now?

No gear, goal, or money.

I have to start all over with next to nothing to my name.

-- It's Rein! -- Rein!

Huh?

You finish your job with the hero's party?

Uh, actually...

Do the thing again, come on! Show us!

Pretty please! We wanna see!

Come on, come on, come on!

Sure!

For today's show...

There.

It's just a temporary contract.

Go on, say hello!

-- Oh, wow, amazing! -- That's so cool!

Thank you, friend. Well done!

Bye-bye!

See you around!

Ah. Where's it going?

Well, like I told you,

the contract was only a temporary one.

The bond's easy to form,

which means, you can't expect it to last very long.

-- A contract? -- What's a bond?

Maybe that lesson was a little advanced.

You really are awesome, Rein!

When I grow up, I wanna be a beast tamer, too!

-- Me, too! -- And me!

Wait, weren't you the one telling me

you wanted to be a hero some day?

Well, the hero and his party always seem

super annoyed when commoners like us

try to have anything to do with 'em.

Even though they suck up to rich people and nobles.

They're kinda mean, aren't they?

And scary.

I didn't realize people felt that way. Who knew?

That explains a lot of sideways looks I got

when I bought supplies for Arios and the party.

But you've never been like that, Rein!

Mh-hm. Yeah, you always play with us!

You're nice!

It's gonna be even harder to tell 'em I just got fired.

I'm gonna be an adventurer

and travel all over the world!

And make a ton'a money overnight!

A big fortune!

Adventurer?

Like a migratory bird, free to fly wherever I please.

An adventurer.

Wonder if I could make a living off my skills as a beast tamer.

Now that I don't have to worry about

defeating the Demon King,

this might be the perfect job for me!

Uh?

All right!

Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild!

My name's Natalie and I'm the receptionist!

For starters let's go over the basics

of the adventurer's trial.

Uh, before that,

can you tell me a bit more about being an adventurer?

I hate to admit,

I actually know very little about this stuff.

Arios and the others looked down on adventurers,

so we didn't interact with them all that much.

Well, aren't you earnest?

Most applicants don't really put this level of thought into it.

Personally, I think you're on the right track!

Yeah? You really do?

I really do!

Now then, we'll start from the beginning today.

Adventurers, like monsters, are assigned ranks.

S being top tier, down to F.

That's everything!

Was there anything else you'd like to ask aboutt?

Nope. Thank you, though.

I should be good.

If that's the case,

let's move onto your adventurer's trial!

First I need to know your class.

Well, I'm a beast tamer.

Beast tamer?

Um, are you sure you'll be all right by yourself?

It's because you're a feeble, useless loser.

Just don't go out there and do anything reckless.

An adventurer needs to know when a job

is too much for them to handle.

Yes. Of course.

Do you understand why the guild requires a trial

in order to be registered as an adventurer?

If I had to guess, having a bunch of unqualified adventurers

would undermine public trust in the guild.

Is that right?

That's right! Nicely done, beast tamer!

Because if we lose that trust the government gets involved.

But aside from that, to complete the trial,

you need to slay ten goblins and collect 20 medicinal herbs.

As an adventurer,

you'll be expected to take on a variety

of hunting and collecting jobs.

This trial is the bare minimum required

to prove yourself and your abilities to the guild.