Chapter 17: The puppy and the audacity

Cranberry and Zombie were waiting for their turn to be appraised.

Just as with the battles, the queue went from the lowest position to the highest, and it was moving along rather fast.

But truth to be told it was mainly because the appraiser didn't have much to write with kids that were level 2, 3, or 5 at most, and with barely any low-level skills.

It was a standard considering that most people preferred to at least check their first quests' rewards before deciding in which direction to go with their training.

Cranberry was slumped on her chair, she stretched her legs and was bumping her loafers together with a bored expression.

Zombie was standing by her side, but his head was constantly darting to the side towards the brown-haired girl, Mary, and her wolf monster.

"Graough...? (Master, master, do you think that she will let me pet the wolf...?)"

The blue boy groaned timidly.

With each passing year, the memories of his past life seemed more and more like a dream, but even so, one particular memory was stirring him up at the moment.

His family dog, a large gentle female Saint Bernard named Lori.

Although Lori and that wolf monster looked very different, they still looked similar enough for Zombie.

Cranberry raised her brow and turned towards the queue.

Mary and her wolf were being apprised right at that time.

"What, do you want to go greet a fellow pet?"

She asked with a cheeky smile.

"Graough! (Master! I'm not a pet!)"

Zombie puffed out his cheeks.

"Ha ha! Now now, good boy, good boy."

Cranberry laughed happily and reached towards the blue boy's head and started patting him.

"Graough! (Hey! Master!)"

Zombie flinched but didn't escape her hand.

"You're such a good boy, you did a good job acting like a dimwit there, should I give you a treat?"

Cranberry was using a baby voice as if she was talking to a dog.

"Graough...! (Master, don't be like that...!)"

Zombie fidgeted.

"System, I request to share stack with Zombie, permanently."

"Graough...! (Oh, so that's what you meant...!)

Zombie groaned after his master's request was approved without an issue and he gained a new skill.

"Oh, and if you really want to, you can go greet that mutt, just don't sniff its but or anything."

Cranberry leaned back in her chair and benevolently shooed Zombie off.

"Graough?! (Really?! I can go?!)"

The blue boy was so excited that he didn't pay attention to the mean comment.

He turned around and...

"Graough...? (Oh? And where did that girl go?)"

Zombie tilted his head and grumbled.

"...?"

Cranberry glanced that way and her eyes widened.

The wolf monster was anxiously paced back and forth, sat for a moment, but then got up and started pacing again.

Mary was nowhere around.

Cranberry looked around and squinted her eyes as if she spotted something.

"Zombie, go and play with that mutt or something until his tamer returns, I'll be right back."

"Graough! (Alright!)"

After receiving permission, Zombie went straight to the wolf monster without looking back.

"You idiot! I told you to hold on to the staff so that you will unlock a special class! Who told you to break it?!"

A light brown-haired thirteen-year-old girl was scolding Mary in an empty hallway away from the eyes of the crowd.

Both girls were wearing similar robes.

"I'm sorry senior...! I was holdings onto the staff too strong and when I received a tamer class, it just broke apart...! Fa-father gave it to me but... gh! Uuu...!"

Mary trembled and started crying again.

"What? Oh, that..."

The older girl frowned and waved her hand dismissively.

"It was just some cheap trash from the store. As if Master Hope would pay attention to a weakling like you! I simply made that up that story so your bird-brain wouldn't lose it or something."

She scoffed at her.

"Uug... uuu... E-eh...?!"

Mary blinked a few times shocked to the core.

"More importantly, that! Give me that!"

The older girl grabbed the purple whip and ripped it from Mary's hands.

"Ah...! That's...!"

Mary reached for the whip but the older girl raised it too high for her to grab.

"That's Cranberry's whip! Why do you even have it?! I told you before to keep away from the Pride family, you moron!"

The older girl scolded her relentlessly.

"Really, I should have known better than to leave a stupid person like you alone even for a second, without my guidance you're nothing!"

"I recognize your voice."

"Oh, you better be re...! AH!"

It took a second for the older girl to realize that it wasn't Mary that had said that.

She turned around and stood face to face with Cranberry.

The annoyed Cranberry, one of the worst Cranberries that she could face.

"Young lady Pride! It's such an honor to meet you!"

The older girl did an instant one-eighty with her behavior and had a servile smile plastered on her face.

Cranberry didn't respond to her greeting and instead glanced at the sniveling Mary.

"I gifted you that whip, why does she have it now? Did you gave it away?"

She asked indifferently, ignoring the older girl.

"Ah! N-no... I didn't..."

Mary shook her head with a pitiful expression.

"Young lady Pride, our Mary is incredibly grateful for lending her this whip, but..."

The girl tried to join in the conversation anyway.

"I didn't lend her anything. It's a gift."

Cranberry had a very useful talent of looking down on people even when she had to raise her head to lock eyes with them.

"I beg to differ. Our Mary is not allowed to receive such expensive gifts. You have to take it back."

The older girl tried to force Cranberry to take the whip off of her hands.

But Cranberry was unable to anyway, she was holding her bloodied baseball bat after all.

"Do whatever you want, but that's not a proper stance if you really want to beg."

Cranberry shrugged her shoulders.

"That's not what I...!"

"Say, are you a commoner?"

The older girl was getting indignant but was interrupted by Cranberry's unexpected question.

"Wha...? Oh, indeed, I might be a commoner but my magic abili-GHUAH...!"

The older girl was responding proudly but was cut off by Cranberry's baseball bat hitting her square in the stomach.

"...!"

Mary flinched and shut her mouth remembering that Cranberry got annoyed because of her crying before.

But the red-haired girl wasn't aiming at her next.

"AAAAAH!"

The older girl screamed as the bat struck her left knee.

Truth to be told Cranberry only wanted to make her kneel, but instead, the older girl straight up fell on her face.

"Now, that's an enthusiasm you need to beg for something. But the answer is still no."

Cranberry stepped on the older girl's head, an unpleasant crack as if nasal cartilage broke resounded in the hallway, and only then she picked up the purple whip that the older girl dropped and offered it back to Mary.

"Here, don't lose it next time."

Cranberry smiled when Mary instinctively grabbed the whip.

"Now. Since her majesty was the one to fund the appraisal, it's actually a bit rude not to be present until everyone is finished, let's head back."

The red-haired girl started walking and beckoned the brown-haired one.

"..."

Mary glanced at her senior twitching on the floor in pain.

"You're right lady Pride!"

She said and stepped over the crawling girl.

"I left my Zombie with your dog. I hope he won't get too excited and bite someone."

Cranberry smirked.

"Oh, there's nothing to worry about, Arion is a gentle boy!"

Mary hurriedly assured her.

"Haa...?"

Cranberry tilted her head, taken aback.

"I wasn't talking about your dog."