Clavor approached, walking slowly, his knees popping faintly with each step. He was wiping the blood from his forearm with a piece of cloth he had taken from his pocket, his movents unhurried and calm.
"Yes," he replied, his voice deep and instructive, like a teacher giving a lesson.
"The horn concentrates mana. It’s its greatest form of attack. When it glows like you saw, it can fire a concentrated beam of energy."
He paused, looking at the broken horn.
"Capable of piercing steel armor. A well-placed strike from it can kill several beasts in an instant. I’ve seen it happen."
Lukas beca even more excited.
His eyes shone brighter than ever, not with his usual calm, analytical gleam, but with a pure, childlike, genuine excitent. His lips curled into a smile he couldn’t suppress no matter how hard he tried.
"That’s incredible..."
"A creature that uses mana. That fires energy beams. That’s so dangerous and so beautiful at the sa ti."
’I want a beast like this in my zoo.’
The thought appeared in his mind without warning.
Zoo.
His dream. His obsession.
The reason he had studied so hard in his previous life. The reason he wakes up early every day now. The reason he endured the boredom and helplessness of his first months.
’I want to be friends with it.’
He imagined it.
He imagined an absurdly large habitat, surrounded by towering trees, with a lake of crystal-clear water and rocks ward by the sun.
He imagined the One-Horned Tiger walking peacefully, without fear, without hunger, without the need to fight for survival.
He imagined feeding it, observing it, learning from it.
Studying how it lived.
How it hunted. How it used mana. How it reproduced. How it interacted with others of its species.
Its behavior. It’s intelligence. Its role in this world’s ecosystem.
’I would do anything to make that happen.’
Aurora and Judite erged from the carriage shortly afterward.
Aurora ran to Clavor, her face pale with worry, her skirts lifted to avoid tripping. Her hands flew over her husband’s body, touching every wound, every scratch, every stain of blood.
"Clavor! Are you alright? Let see those injuries!" Her voice was high-pitched, sharp, almost hysterical.
"The arm is bleeding a lot. We need to clean that. And your shirt is torn. And your face..."
"Just scratches and a superficial cut," Clavor replied with a tired smile, showing her his forearm for inspection.
"Nothing that won’t heal in a few days. Don’t worry, wife."
Aurora sighed in frustration but couldn’t stop a small smile from appearing. She began cleaning his wounds with the cloth Clavor had been using, her movents skilled and careful.
Judite stared at the dead tiger with wide eyes, half fear, half fascination. Her mouth hung slightly open, and her fingers played with the hem of her dress, twisting the fabric.
"It’s... huge," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Bigger than Father’s horse."
"It is," Lukas agreed, still crouched beside the beast’s head, his eyes glued to every detail.
"It’s enormous."
After allowing Aurora to tend to his injuries, Clavor stood up and approached the tiger’s corpse.
He examined it with practical eyes, evaluating its weight, the condition of its hide, and the quality of the broken horn.
Then, without apparent effort, or rather, with an effort Lukas could see in the tension of his muscles and the grinding of his teeth, he lifted the beast’s heavy body.
The corpse must have weighed several hundred kilograms.
Even so, Clavor raised it from the ground as though it were a sack of grain, the muscles in his arms swelling beneath his skin.
He carried it to the carriage and, with the coachman’s help, hoisted it onto the roof.
The vehicle creaked beneath the added weight, its wooden suspension groaning in protest.
Clavor secured the body with thick ropes, tying firm knots and testing each one before finally being satisfied.
The corpse lay stretched across the roof, its legs hanging over the sides, its head turned backward, its purple tongue dangling between its fangs.
Lukas watched everything attentively.
"Why are we taking it with us, Father?" he asked curiously.
Clavor smiled, wiping his hands on the fabric of his trousers. The tiger’s blood had already begun drying on his fingers, sticky and dark.
"Magical beasts sell for a very good price in the city," he explained, pointing toward the corpse with his chin.
"The hide, the horn, the bones, the at... everything has value. The hide can be turned into durable armor. The horn can be used in potions or as a material for magical weapons. The bones are ground up and used in dicine."
He paused, his eyes traveling across the beast’s body.
"So hunters survive entirely from this. Hunting dangerous beasts and selling the bodies. It’s risky work, but profitable. This tiger here... should be worth a good number of silver coins."
Lukas nodded, understanding.
’So there’s a market for magical animal parts.’
He felt a twinge of discomfort.
On Earth, he had always been against hunting endangered animals, against the trade of hides and ivory.
But this wasn’t his world.
Here, beasts were dangerous.
They attacked humans.
They killed travelers.
They couldn’t be protected in the sa way.
Besides, he was being sowhat hypocritical for wanting to ’confine’ animals in a zoo.
He knew that.
But it was his dream, and he would care for every single one of them as though they were family.
The journey continued.
The carriage creaked and groaned beneath the extra weight, the wooden wheels turning through the packed dirt with more effort than before.
The horses, still panting from the fright, pulled the vehicle at a slower pace, their ears still alert.
The corpse of the One-Horned Tiger was strapped to the roof.
The scent of fresh blood lingered in the air, a tallic, sweet odor that mixed with the fragrance of the flowers inside the carriage and the sll of damp earth.
It was a strange, unsettling scent.
But Lukas didn’t mind.
He stared out the window, his heart still racing.
’This world is truly full of wonders.’
’And I’ve barely begun to explore it.’
Through the window, he could see the road stretching ahead, winding between fields and groves.
And beyond the fields.
Beyond the groves.
Beyond the tree-covered hills...
The City of the Great Rock was drawing near.
A white-and-gray blot against the distant mountains.
Towers rose on the horizon, reflecting the light of the setting sun.
High stone walls surrounded the city, and enormous gates stood open to welco travelers.
Lukas smiled.
’We’re arriving.’
’Finally.’
Tilbo, inside his pocket, moved again, but this ti it wasn’t agitation.
It was rely a small adjustnt, as though she were settling down to sleep.
Lukas placed a hand over the pocket, feeling the warmth of the ant’s body through the fabric.
’We’ll be there soon, my friend,’ he whispered.
The carriage continued along its path, creaking and swaying, carrying with it a family, the corpse of a magical beast, and a ten-month-old boy who already dread of a zoo filled with magical beasts.
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