Chapter 113: The Tamer’s Guild

Qiu Nuoya felt as though he had just heard something rather disturbing. Viktor was one thing, but what exactly had Warren just said about Igor?

"You might not have noticed, Nuoya, but Viktor hasn’t called me by my name even once in the three years since we met." Warren said it with a resigned sigh, leaving Qiu Nuoya even more stunned.

Qiu Nuoya already knew that Viktor had feelings for him. Viktor had made those feelings obvious through both his words and his actions.

But was it really that serious? And Igor had also suddenly changed his attitude?

Seriously?

"Viktor has a wife, doesn’t he? There’s no way he’d be interested in me."

"Are you seriously that oblivious!? He was openly flirting with you today!"

"Huh? When?" Qiu Nuoya went over everything he could remember from after Viktor and Igor returned, but he could not think of anything at all. He was completely bewildered.

"At dinner! He told you to marry him! How did you not notice!?"

"Oh..." Now that Warren mentioned it, that had indeed happened. But surely Igor had only been joking around, right?

"But I think Igor still loves his wife, even though they’re separated."

"That might be true, but at the very least, he definitely likes you. In fact, he straight up declared that he was joining the competition."

"!?"

"I also said that you’re still a kid and he has no intention of trying anything with you right now. Viktor said the same thing. But he also warned me not to think that being closer to your age would give me an advantage. Honestly, that was terrifying..."

When did they even have this conversation? Qiu Nuoya could not believe it. What were the three of them talking about behind his back!?

"So, anyway, I’ve said what I wanted to say! Whoever you choose, we won’t complain. But I don’t think it’s fair for you to completely rule me out from the beginning. So from now on, at least consider me as one of your options, okay? Good night!" With that, Warren stood up and left the room.

Warren rose from his chair with sudden determination. After saying everything he had wanted to say, he left the room.

Qiu Nuoya could only stare blankly at his retreating back.

Um... who said what, and why?

Warren’s sudden bombshell had left Qiu Nuoya overwhelmed. There was simply far too much information to process all at once. He buried his face in his hands, wondering what he was supposed to do now.

He had specifically told the gods that he did not like the idea of getting a cheat ability that would turn his life into a harem situation and yet, somehow, he had ended up in a different kind of harem situation anyway!

Hey, what about his own wishes! What about his choices!?

The potential love interests were all men, while the supposed heroine was an old man like him.

Isn’t this taking things a little too far!?

"Ahhhhhhh... I’m just going to sleep. That’s what I’ll do." Qiu Nuoya quickly decided to escape from reality. He threw himself onto his bed, pulled the blankets over himself, and went to sleep.

The next morning, Qiu Nuoya’s mind was still in complete turmoil.

Even so, he prepared breakfast as usual and chatted normally with everyone. For a moment, he even wondered whether he had simply dreamed about what happened the previous night. But whenever he looked at Warren, Warren’s cheeks turned red and he immediately looked away and when that happens, Viktor would glared at him.

It was exhausting.

The only person who seemed completely unchanged was Igor. Still, according to Warren, even Igor...

No. He had not heard that directly from Igor, so he was not going to think about it for now.

After finishing a somewhat uncomfortable breakfast, the group headed together toward the Tamer’s Guild, just as they had discussed the previous night.

The Tamer’s Guild was similar to the Adventurer’s Guild, but it was essentially an organization exclusively for tamers.

There were also guilds for various other professions, such as the Mage’s Guild and Merchants’ Guild. People could visit these guilds to obtain information related to their respective professions.

As its name suggested, the Tamer’s Guild was a place where all kinds of information concerning tamed monsters were gathered. Apparently, it also handled the buying and selling of tamed monsters.

Qiu Nuoya and the others were frequent visitors to the Adventurer’s Guild, but this was their first time visiting another guild.

Naturally, Qiu Nuoya felt a little nervous.

As they stepped through the building’s doors, Qiu Nuoya caught a faint animal smell. It reminded him somewhat of the scent inside a pet shop.

True to its name, the Tamer’s Guild was filled with people who had brought various tamed monsters with them. The place was lively with all kinds of cries and noises.

There was an incredible variety of tamed monsters. Some were four legged beasts, while others were birds or reptiles.

There were probably even tamed monsters that would normally be natural enemies of one another, yet all of them seemed remarkably docile. They must have been thoroughly trained by their owners.

Some of the monsters looked enormous and quite ferocious, but even they seemed perfectly content beside their masters, wearing expressions that made them look surprisingly happy.

"There are certainly all kinds of tamed monsters, aren’t there?"

"Of course. Compatibility is important between a tamer and their tamed monster. Some tamers might be well liked by beast type monsters but disliked by smaller monsters. Others might be popular with birds but poorly suited to reptiles."

"I see. So it’s a matter of compatibility." Qiu Nuoya wondered what kind of monsters he would be compatible with.

Mochi had seemed eager to follow him from the very beginning, so perhaps Qiu Nuoya was the type who was liked by small animals.

Although, if someone asked whether Mochi really counted as a small animal, Qiu Nuoya would have to hesitate since Mochi could become ridiculously large at times, after all.