Comrade

<< Congratulations, Franz Leopold wants to become your comrade >>

<< Information:

A comrade is a being of another race that voluntarily agrees to follow along with you. Between both parties is a relationship of equality with one party commonly being the leading one, which is agreed on beforehand. And which is the one who has been offered the comradeship and not the one offering to become the comrade.

While a comrade has similarities to pets, there are some stark differences such as being unable to trade them and also the inability to store them inside the pet space. But things such as shared character info, skills that affect pets, and the clearance for dungeons is the same.

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Thankfully the information directly followed the popup screen or Ivan wouldn't have known what its content would have meant. But still, it came as a huge surprise to him. While he wasn't quite sure of the details it seemed like the lizard was named Franz Leopold and because of their constant fighting, it had decided that it would be good for him to follow along with him, which was the reason for it making the decision to become his comrade.

Initially, he had planned to increase his pets to strengthen his combat strength but because he had met Leopold he had given up on it and instead focused on training himself with his help. But now it seemed like lady luck had mercy with him and he would gain a new member for his party. Although it wasn't a pet in some way it should be even better.

As such thoughts flowed through his brain he didn't hesitate to press the accept button. The window hadn't even finished when a male voice rang through his mind.

`Hey, boss.`, it didn't take much to guess that it was Franz's voice. It seemed like, unlike Vlada his intelligence was much higher, and as such he was able to form complete words and language.

`Hey.`, using his mind to respond, Ivan greeted him back before continuing with a question that had plagued him ever since the window had appeared, `How come you decided on becoming my comrade?`

`Because mom said that if I ever meet someone who can help me get stronger I should take that opportunity. And while fighting I learned more than in the last years staying on this plateau.`

`Then why didn't you go further onto the plateau?`, Ivan asked confused. If he wasn't able to learn much here, then why not continue further in?

`Because those guys are way too strong.`, Franz whined. It seemed like he had tried before but the difference in strength had been too much. So much in fact that he had been unable to learn anything from it.

`So you need a slower curve of strength increase?`

`Yes. Unlike humans, we get stronger mostly by fighting and consuming our foes cores and blood essence. But enemies of similar strength don't do as much as stronger ones. And since I'm between two layers of strength present on the plateau I haven't been able to find fitting enemies.`, he continued to explain.

`Well then welcome on the team. And let's get stronger together.`, now that all the immediate questions were out of the way he welcomed Franz officially.

`Great to be on the team.`

`Oh right, can you maybe shrink?`, Ivan asked. It would be unsuitable to have a giant lizard following him around everywhere. And that was the only way to do it since he couldn't keep him in the pet space.

`Sure.`, luckily he was able to do so, and soon he had shrunken into a less than twenty cm long lizard. Together with its size, his weight had decreased as well which was awesome. Now it could sit on Ivans's shoulder and he would be able to easily carry it around.

`Great. Then let's go.`

`Yay, out to great new adventures.`, the lizard seemed way more excited than Ivan.

This time he rode on Vlada for the whole way and as such the travel time wasn't as long as on the way out.

Standing before the villa he once again realized how much he had been missing his family in the last weeks. Although they had chatted regularly over the phone, just as when Lara had been away it wasn't a great replacement to meeting his family in person.

He hadn't informed anyone that he would be returning today so there was nobody to greet him. When he entered the villa he found it empty. It seemed like everyone was out at the moment. Although he felt slightly disappointed it suited him just fine. This way he could take a shower first.

He had to wait until the evening for the members of his family to come back. It seemed like everyone had gone out shopping.

When Jane saw him sitting on the couch after entering the building, she exclaimed in joy and ran towards him, before jumping into his arms.

"Dad, you are back.", her happy voice sounded out.

The greetings of the others weren't as exuberant but they too welcomed him back warmly.

`You got a great family going there, boss.`, the voice of Franz suddenly appeared in his mind again. He had fallen asleep on the back of the couch before and it seemed like the commotion had woken him up.

With it moving, Jane spotted him as well, "Daddy, there is a lizard.", she exclaimed.

"Mmm, that is Franz. He is a new member of the family.", Ivan introduced the lizard before using his mind to tell Franz the names of all the women.

The women looked curiously at the lizard. They could tell that it was a monster and seeing that he hadn't stored it away in his pet space, it seemed like it was something special.

Celine, being the most experienced was the first to make a guess, "Could it be your comrade?"

"Yes.", not surprised that she knew about it he easily confirmed her guess.

While Celine seemed to understand the situation, the others looked at the two of them in confusion.

This prompted Celine to explain, "A comrade is something special since it is quite rare. It can be seen as something similar to a pet but one that is equal to the owner." She basically told them the same information that Ivan had acquired from the system prompt.

She then took a closer look at the lizard and shook her head in confusion. "But there is something weird about it. It looks just like a normal granite lizard and as such shouldn't possess the intelligence to form such a contract."

"Really?", Ivan didn't know anything about it so he was as surprised as the others.

`Do you know anything about it?`, he tried asking Leopold.

`No. I always thought I'm just like anyone else and the character info doesn't show anything either.`, Leopold answered.

The fact that the character info didn't show anything unusual didn't have much meaning since it wouldn't record all information. Especially if the person himself wasn't aware of the information.

"Well not that it matters.", Celine continued, "And if it does it should be positive, so there is no need to worry about it."

Having finished the discussion they turned their attention towards other topics.

"So, tell what happened for you to get a comrade instead of pets like you were planning to do.", Lara asked curiously. Beforehand they had talked about his plans and now seeing how the situation was different she was curious as to what had happened.

Ivan started to tell the story of what happened. Everyone else listened with interest. Although parts of it were boring and Ivan just skipped over it, some things were truly interesting. They were especially interested in the one he had taken along for the ride as well as the little girl. The way he and Leopold had gotten to know each other created a lot of laughter. Imagining him being bounced around through the air was just too hilarious.

When he had finished telling his story it was about time to eat. While making their way over to the dining table, where Madam Tanner had already prepared the food, Lara asked Ivan, "So when do you have to leave with Miss. Klein?"

Ivan shrugged, "I'm not sure but it should be soon. I think she will come and get me when it is time." At least that was what they had decided on.

"So you won't stay long?", there seemed to be a hint of being disappointed in her voice.

Ivan wasn't sure if he had just imagined it but he still answered, "Sadly no. But when I'm back I should have time to spend with our family."

When he finished his words, Lara smiled slightly. At the same time, she turned her head to hide her expression. She wasn't yet prepared to tell him about the decision she had made.