Yoru's Evolution

After defeating the wyvern, the townspeople began showering me with attention and praise, which was fine at first, but after a few days it got a bit too overwhelming for me.

People would just stop whatever they were doing to approach me and give me stuff as a thanks for saving the town. Again, it was fine at first, but when it was hundreds of people, it was just too much.

So, while people in town calmed down, I decided to stay at my house in the forest. Now that the town had tons of adventurers that came to venture into the forest, I had to hide the entrance to my tree house with the giant roots using nature magic.

'Not a single adventurer has managed to make it here yet, but it's probably just a matter of time…' I thought.

It was kind of annoying to move the roots around every time I wanted to leave or enter my home, but there was no other choice, and eventually, I got used to it.

One morning, Yoru and I went out hunting while Vespera visited her cave to tend to her webs.

As we walked, we took care of a few different monsters that got in our way while exploring. Truthfully, we killed a whole lot more than our usual amount. I supposed that the wyvern had altered some of the monsters in the area, so we stayed out hunting until the evening, when I teleported us back to the house.

Later that same evening, I was getting the outside bathtub ready for us to take a dip after a long day of hunting when I noticed that Yoru was acting strange.

He crawled into a ball and started growling, but it wasn't an angry growl. It was different from any sound he had ever made.

"Hey Yoru, are you okay!?" I yelled nervously as I ran over to him.

"Wait, careful!" said Vespera, who was helping me fill the tub.

"You shouldn't touch him when that's happening to him."

"When what is happening!?" I asked again with a preoccupied tone.

"Look, inspect him!"

I inspected Yoru in the middle of his struggle, and got this:

<Evolving… >

"Huh? Evolving!?"

"Looks like Yoru has gotten much stronger ever since he became your familiar…" Vespera explained, saying that all beasts were capable of evolving when they got stronger, and beasts that formed familiar contracts were much more likely to evolve since their masters shared their strength with them.

"So, when I get stronger, he does too?"

"That's right, that goes for me too!" said Vespera.

Just as I was going to inspect Vespera to see if I noticed any changes, we got interrupted by the voice of a young guy.

["Master!"]

"Huh? Who said that?" The guy's voice seemed to be inside my head.

["Master! It's me, right here!"] said the mysterious voice again, ringing in my head.

When I looked around, I noticed that Yoru wasn't struggling anymore. In fact, he looked a little bigger, and the blue markings on his body were glowing.

"Yoru?" I asked.

["Yes! It's me!"] said Yoru inside my head.

"Wh-WHAAAAT!?"

"Y-Yoru? How are you talking to me!?"

["It was the evolution! Looks like I've gained new skills!"]

I was so shocked that I almost couldn't bring myself to inspect Yoru, but I did it anyway.

<Moonwolf

Name: Yoru

Familiar Contract: Ichiro

Age: 2

Skills: Shadow Weaving, Telepathy, Moon Buff

MP: 10,000>

"Woah, he really did get two new skills… and his MP is double what it was when he was a puppy!"

"Yoru, you are awesome!" I exclaimed as I started petting him.

He wagged his tail from side to side, then explained his new skills to me:

"Telepathy" was the skill that he was using to communicate with me. So, he couldn't speak out loud, but he was able to send his thoughts to anyone he wanted.

'You could scare the shit out of someone with that power…' I thought.

"Moon Buff" was apparently a skill that all moonwolves would learn eventually as they grew up. In this world, there were two moons in the sky, a big one and a small one.

Anytime that the big moon was a full moon, Yoru would be able to use this skill which could supposedly make him ten times stronger than usual.

It all looked great, but honestly, I was still shocked I could talk to him. When I looked at Vespera, she seemed to be pretty calm compared to me.

"How are you not as surprised as me?"

"Eh?" said Vespera with a raised eyebrow. "I've always been able to talk to him. I can use telepathy too, you know?"

"Wh-What!? I didn't know that!"

[Look!] I could hear Vespera's voice in my head now.

[I can use it too. All Legendary Beasts can, but why would I do that if I can speak?]

'Ah, makes sense… Yoru can't speak, so relying on telepathy would be more natural to him…'

"Wow, you really are amazing too, Vespera," I said with genuine admiration for both of my familiars.

Vespera giggled. "Right!?"

I took that moment to inspect her, too, since it had been some time, and they both clearly got stronger in the past two years.

<Queen Demon Spider

Name: Vespera

Familiar Contract: Ichiro

Age: 654

Skills: All poisons control, Master Weaver, Minion Creation, Martial Arts

MP: 37,000

Titles: Legendary Beast>

'Hmm, seems like her growth is slower than Yoru's, but that probably has to do with the fact that she is already a Legendary Beast… Although, when the hell did she learn martial arts?' I thought.

"Umm, Vespera? I see your MP grew a little, but when did you learn that new skill?"

Vespera gave me a blushed smile, which was quite rare for her. "I… Learned it from you…"

"Huh? From me? How? When?"

"W-Well…" Vespera continued, and she explained to me what she had been doing in her free time for the past two years.

Apparently, she had seen my martial arts skill while I was fighting some monsters, and she really liked the idea of being able to fight without having to use her spider legs.

Before, any time that a fight got physical, Vespera would pull out her long spider legs and defeat their opponents with them. But now, she was able to stay in her human form unless the monster she was fighting was powerful enough to defend against it.

She had spent the last two years copying my moves and practicing them in secret whenever I was sleeping.

"That's… Actually impressive…"

That same evening, while we were taking a bath, I asked Yoru how he got to the forest since moonwolves were not meant to live around this area.

Seemed like Vespera had asked him the same question a few years ago. But his answer was the same.

["I'm not sure…"]

What he did know was that before arriving at the forest, his parents were fighting a monster called "Salamandra," and when the three of them began escaping the monster, they suddenly found themselves in this completely different forest.

It was a day later that the goblins found the wounded wolves and trapped them, ending their life.

'If I had been faster and more experienced, I would have been able to save Yoru's parents…'

"I'm sorry, Yoru…"

[Master! You must not burden yourself with their death. If it wasn't for you, I would have perished along with them a long time ago. Even if we don't know the reason, I have believed all this time that I was sent to this forest to meet you!]

It felt nice to have Yoru console me with actual words this time.

'We did eliminate all the goblins in the forest… But that monster, 'Salamandra'... Hmmm…'