Chapter 1

I am Ryu.

I’m a commoner, so I don’t have a last name.

I turned sixteen this year.

My profession: Tamer.

Specifically, my job involved raising the horses and dairy cows we kept out at the ranch.

Even so, I occasionally examined pets, so I was a bit of a veterinarian too—though I was still just an apprentice.

This professional aptitude—or “skill”—was something written on the card I received at the town church; it wasn’t necessarily something I chose for myself. Originally it was just a skill I had, and I only picked this job because the skill was a good fit.

In fact, my two childhood friends were a “Hero Candidate” and a “Mage.”

To put it simply, a “Hero Candidate” meant someone with the potential to become a Hero. Whether they actually became a “Hero” or not depended on their future growth and how many people they saved.

As for the “Mage,” while it was a common profession, you had to be smart and possess a high amount of innate magical power. Mages were suited for healing and rear support, making them constantly prized.

I’d even heard people saying that my other childhood friend was now just one step away from becoming the high-level class known as a “Sage.”

In short, there were two extraordinary people among us.

Well, because of that, those two seemed to be constantly sticking their noses into dangerous business, while I was getting my work done steadily without any such risks.

Still, it was a fact that I felt pathetic when I compared myself to them.

It was a typical morning, and as always, the day started early. I had to make sure the horses and cows were fed their grass. And watered, too.

Even when the two heroes were returning home, I couldn’t find much free time because I was responsible for the lives of the animals. The staff was small, and aside from the decent pay, the place was basically a sweatshop.

There weren’t any girls around my age.

To be blunt, it was a very unpopular profession. We were a bit far from town, and since our job involved collecting horse and cow waste to use as fertilizer, women were basically non-existent. Even if there were women, they were all people who had moved here after marriage; honestly, there were only middle-aged ladies.

For a sensitive teenage boy, it was a tragic story.

At noon, one of the ladies who had gone out for supplies mentioned it. Apparently, the two of them were returning to town. She suggested I should go show my face to them at a time like that, but I refused.

After all, the memories of us playing together had already become so hazy it felt like a lifetime ago, and the worlds we lived in were already too different.

I was a commoner, and they were heroes.

Even if we started as the same commoners, our positions and everything else were too far apart now. That was why I would never cross paths with them again, and surely there would be nothing between us in the future.

During a break one day, I was inside the nearby forest. I often came here during my breaks just to space out.

Even now, having heard the talk about the two of them returning, I was just spacing out to clear my head.

The three of us childhood friends used to play here in the past.

But the time the three of us spent playing together was very short.

One of them couldn’t play anymore after they started swinging a sword in the Knights’ Order to become a Hero, and the other couldn’t play anymore after they started studying magic at the church to support the one trying to become a Hero.

I thought both had respectable reasons. But, because I still had the mindset of a child, the feeling of loneliness was simply greater.

That was why I used my “Tamer” skill to make playmates out of dogs and cats; sometimes I even played with hunting dogs under the pretense of taking care of them for the hunters. I suppose picking this unpopular profession was just an extension of that.

Just then, I heard a rustling sound.

Wondering what it was, I headed toward the noise and found a single wolf.

It was a beautiful wolf. It had fur as black as night and golden eyes like moonlight; its limbs were long and slender, and its body appeared to have no excess fat at all, yet it didn’t look malnourished either. Such a beautiful wolf was just standing there.

Apparently, it had been caught in a hunter’s trap. Clang, clang. It struggled, trying to yank its back leg free.

To be blunt, wolves were a nuisance to us humans.

At a small ranch like ours, losing even a single cow would mean a massive financial loss, and though it was rare, they did attack people.

In fact, the Guild even issued requests to exterminate wolves.

In short, they were what you’d call “harmful pests.”

Normally, I would have just turned a blind eye, but I decided to help this wolf.

I did it because, looking at the creature, I felt it would be a waste. It was just too beautiful to let it die here. My actions were driven by that feeling alone.

As I moved, the wolf noticed me and growled in intimidation. Ignoring it, I stepped closer and tried to undo the trap.

Then, it bit down on my arm with everything it had. I figured that was only natural; if you met a stranger who appeared suddenly and might kill you, that’s just how you’d react.

Still, these fangs hurt like hell! I’d been bitten by dogs and cats before, but never anything this painful! This thing was seriously trying to tear my arm off!

Even so, I endured the pain and pulled the trap open, backing away immediately once it was free.

Perhaps due to the damage from the trap, it stayed there, staring intently at me while fretting over its back leg.

So, I pulled out a potion and splashed it over the wound.

The wolf started growling again the moment the liquid hit, but once it realized the wound on its leg was healing, it looked at me with a bewildered expression.

“Go on, hurry up and run away.”

After saying that, I started heading back to the ranch. Usually, you aren’t supposed to turn your back on a wild beast, but I figured I wouldn’t be attacked this time.

After walking a short distance, I heard a rustling sound and looked back, but the wolf seemed to have already gone off somewhere.