chapter 3 Fradie

"Oh, Thomas you're back!" Said Robert as he happily welcome the man named Thomas inside.

"WoooW!! , bwatha Thomas what is that?" Jacob point at the boar on Thomas back. His eyes full of awe and excitement.

".... Boar..... " ... Replied Thomas

"Oh my!,what a huge boar. It must have been heavy. Where did you get such a huge boar? " Asked Rose as she help put the boar down.

"....Mountain... Food... " Even though Thomas talk like that no one bat an eye, except for me of course.

What the!? ...Is he unable to form a full sentence?, how pitiful... Even though i was just born I was still able to form a full sentence, it's just that no one is able to understand me.

As if Thomas can feel my stare, he look straight at the basket that i was in.

"...Fish.." It's like Robert can understand everything that Thomas want to know from that single word he started telling the story of how we met "and that's why this little fellow is here, hohoho" Thomas laughed as he touch his beard.

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And just like that two days has passed since i came here. I'm still inside the small basket but at least they put some decorations now, with pretty stones and a small stone cave that Thomas carve for me.

Now that i think about it, Thomas is actually a good person, yep yep, he is the best out of them all but I'd really appreciate it if they could move me to a bigger place, this basket is really getting too small for me.

"I see you've grown bigger, you're now the size of an index finger" Said Robert as he examined my body while touching his beard.

Yes, that's why you should hurry and move me to a bigger place. I complained but too bad they can't understand me.

This past two days I've learned a lot of things. Like the place we are in right now is a small

countryside of Markar.

Roughly 57 people stay in this countryside and out of them at least 30 are hunters who live at the inn, even Robert is a A rank hunter. Maybe it's because we are near a forest where all kinds of monsters stay that hunters come a lot.

Anyway i wonder how other places looks like, I've been staying at the same place for two days now and, it has become a little suffocating.

Just as i was thinking about how to go outside a huge hands suddenly lift me from the basket and put me in a glass tank.

" .. Big.. Swim... More space" It was Thomas, judging from his words he probably meant, this glass tank is big enough for you to swim comfortably. As expected, Thomas understand me the best even though he is a little hard to understand sometimes.

"Oh! Are you moving Gwen?, i guess it is indeed time to move him to a bigger space" Robert came in with a man following behind him.

The man looks like he is in his mid thirties, he have a long scar coming down from his left eyebrow till his cheek. His nose is straight and his eyes sharp, with an appearance like that the scar only made him look more attractive. He looks like the mature type girls go crazy over.

"Say hello to my friend Larry, although he may seem young he is already 40 years old hahaha! " Robert laugh as he slap Larry's back, but Larry seems to be used to it as he swiftly dodged Robert's hand.

"Hello, the name is Larry Hilton, you can just call me Larry" Larry put his right hand on his left chest as he bowed slightly, looking very elegant "And I'm 36 not 40" Larry continued as he send a sharp gaze at Robert who was laughing like an airhead.

".. Thomas.. " Thomas also introduced himself, although it was only one word it's still better than not introducing.

Anyway, I wonder why Robert brought him here.

"Larry will be staying here for a while to research on the new plant type monster discovered near the forest"

I see, so it's because of that monster i heard about two days ago. It seems a monster with a huge and long octopus like vines run amok and destroyed a house ,harming 2 adults and 1 kid.

Luckily the hunters managed to reach there and capture the monster before it was too late or else there will surely be dead and not just injuries.

"A fish? "

Hm? As i heard Larry's voice i look at him and our eyes met.

"Oh! his name is Gwen, we met at the river inside the forest so i took him home, he looks quite unique ain't he, hohoho"

Larry completely ignored Robert and came closer towards me. His face is very close as he inspect my body.

"Gwen, was it? Nice to meet you, my name is Larry Hilton, you can just call me Larry"

I am surprised that he actually introduced himself to me, i mean, to them i must've been just another fish so this is quite surprising.

I bob a little, and Larry seems ...happy?. Once again, i was a bit surprised as i saw the slight smile on Larry's face because he does not look like the type to smile or show his emotion in general.

"I don't think Gwen is a normal fish" He straight his back and look at Robert.

Robert and Thomas who has been ignored this whole time seemed surprised at Larry's words.

"... Not..normal?... " Thomas asked as he look at me.

What? Don't look at me like that, it's not like i know whether I'm normal or not....actually maybe being able to understand what you're saying is pretty unnatural as the other fish doesn't look like they understand anything.

"Yes, it looks like Gwen is a spirit animal"

'Spirit animal?'....I've heard that before from the story that the twin read about "The princess and Mr. Spirit". Those animals that have a magical power and can turn into both human and animal are called 'spirit animal'.

The beast man are also half spirit animal, but they are only half because they can't transform into their animal form.

To think I'm a spirit animal is quite a good thing, if i manage to turn into a human maybe I'll be able to eat the delicious looking thing that the humans love to eat, and maybe do a little exploring.

"Spirit animal? You mean Gwen is able to transform into a human?" It seems that Robert is just as surprised as i am and so is Thomas

"Gwanpa!!" The door suddenly open with a bang and Jacob walked in, the twins following behind him looking panicked.

"What's the matter? Why do you all look like that? Where is Rose?" Robert immediately started asking questions as he noticed that something is wrong.

"Big sister Rose" Said lily as she catch her breath "is being harassed by those Hunters from before"continued Jake.

The twins have a habit of completing each other's sentences, i always find it interesting whenever they do that.

" WHAT!!?" shout Robert "Those bastards why can't they just give up" It seems those hunters they talked about have harassed Rose before. Even Thomas seems angry as he clenched his fist.

Well i guess I'm also a little angry. Rose had treated me great too, she make sure to take me outside every day to see the sun although we never go farther than ten steps away from the house.

Thomas suddenly got up and walked out the door, Robert following behind him like an angry bull.

As i watched the two men walked out, it seems Larry noticed my desire to follow them as he offered "Should i bring you to them?" I immediately gave a bob.

Larry smiled as he wave his hand, Just like what happened when i first met Robert, i was surrounded by bubble and fly out of the tank. We follow closely behind the other two.

"LET ME GO!" As we heard Rose scream we ran even faster. When we reach the scene, Thomas immediately ran up to them and punch the man who was grabbing Rose arm.

"BOSS!!" Screamed one of the man, another man came right in front as he held up the guy on the floor, " You! Who do you think you are to punch me" Said the man angrily.

"Don't you know I'm the cousin of the 'Granger guild' guild leader?" Shout the man, "Just you wait, when my cousin find out about this you're a dead meat" Thomas take a step forward planning to punch them once more but the two minions hurriedly drag their boss as they stumbled away.

It seems the only thing they are good at is using other people's name to be arrogant.

"Grandpa! , brother!" Cried Rose as she ran towards them. Her beautiful face covered in tears as she hugged Robert, crying in his arms.

"There there, everything is ok now, grandpa and brother are here to help you" Robert consoled Rose softly stroking her head.

It seems that Thomas is also very upset by what happened just now.

Seeing that there was no longer any drama to watch, the crowd that only had the energy to laugh and said stop started to disperse.

If there is anything that i learned from this, it is that human loves drama as long as it does not involve them.

I was a little disgusted by that fact so i decided to stop thinking about it.

As we walked back home, i found out that those people have been harassing not just Rose but everybody else too from the family. It seems that when Robert was still active as a hunter he gained lots of love and admiration but also hate and jealousy.

When Robert was in his prime he stole the heart of a woman who turns out to be the first love of the boss of those thug- *ahem* hunters whose name is Fradie, and the hatred still exist to this days.

𝘚𝘪𝘨𝘩 i really don't understand humans, why can't he just let it go after all this years and realise that she was just not for him. Although it seems like the woman already found another man and have a family, but Fradie seems to believe it's all Robert's fault.

" 𝘚𝘪𝘨𝘩 it seems Fradie just won't let it go, i am sorry this is all because i was too handsome, if only i was average looking like Fradie, this wouldn't have happened"

*meanwhile Fradie* 𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘻𝘦 ," Is someone talking about me?"

"Anyway, i don't think things will be good for you if Fradie really did complain to Granger's guild leader" Robert suddenly became serious as he heard Larry's words.

"You're right, but is there anything we can even do now?" Thomas look down at the ground his hair covering his face, ".. Sorry.. "

It seems he regret punching Fradie out of impulse, but Robert immediately interrupted "Don't be, because even if you hadn't done that i will still punch him".

We eventually reach the house and Jacob and the twin immediately ran out and hug Rose who immediately hug them back.

It seems they were very scared by what happened. I look out the window as i wondered since I'm a spirit animal, will I be able to turn into a human too? And what is this feeling of longing i have as i watch the others hugging.

It feels like something very precious to me has been stolen or lost..