The Record of Unusual Creature

After saying their farewells to the sirens in Nasaton, Hao Ren and his crew headed back home.

Hao Ren was really worried that something would go wrong at home, as this time around, the ones staying back and looking after the house were the trio of rascals. A dare-devil baby mermaid, a dumb cat with a brain full of fish jerky, and a demon loli, who was habitual dismantler; Hao Ren dared not imagine what would happen when the three of them were together. Thankfully, Y’lisabet did not disappoint. The little demonic runt had dusted off her skills as a commander of Helcrown and managed to put the fish as well as the cat on tabs. Everything at home was a-okay.

Except… all of the electrical items were dismantled and reassembled.

After confirming that everything at home was fine (at least on the surface), the first thing everyone did was to sleep to their heart’s content. They temporarily let loose the tension from the incident on Io, the giants, the brain monsters and a whole bunch of crap. After that, it was back to normal for everyone. They were seasoned veterans by now, and were used to how things work.

Hao Ren actually wanted to take a few more days off, but he could not afford himself such a luxury; he had a boatload of reports to prepare and had to organize another truckload of newly-obtained information, so he was up and about since morning. A year into his job, Hao Ren had adopted the very good habit of recording everything he had encountered down, right to the minute detail; any information he collected had to be included in the report or his work journal. That was the only way to prevent himself from scratching his head later down the line. Now, most of the things he had encountered were “beyond natural”, and this domain was still unknown waters. Even the most basic of knowledge was very difficult to digest, not to mention the misinformation that could follow. If he did not have enough wisdom, or natural ability for the job, he had to compensate for it with good ol’ hardwork.

After getting the reports done, Hao Ren planned to pay Raven 12345 a visit; there were just too many things that he needed to inform her.

Rollie was still curled up like a ball on the sofa as she nudged him on the waist with her head. She let out a series of slow growls to ease her boredom. Her old form would only previously take up one seat at the most, but her current form easily occupied two thirds of the sofa. With Hao Ren in tow, there was pretty much no place left for anyone else. So, Lily had to squat on the seating pillow next to the sofa as she shuffled the channels for Animal Planet. As she went through the motion, she started to mumble, “Mr. Landlord… I just realized something.”

Hao Ren was still doing his report, and he responded without even raising his head. “Yeah?”

“…It seems like I’m the only one paying rent, right?” Lily’s ears twitched as she gave Hao Ren a blank look. “Seems like I’m on the losing end of things?”

As she finished, Y’zaks, who was reading the paper; Vivian, who was cleaning the table; Nangong Wuyue, who was putting some ointment on her tail; and Nangong Sanba, who was teaching Lil Pea to read Letta runes all became quiet as they threw each other an awkward glance. It was finally Hao Ren who broke the silence as he patted the husky on the head. “It took you a year to think this through?”

Lily’s ears dropped. “Am I that slow… Say, Mr. Landlord, am I losing out on something?”

Hao Ren ruffled the husky’s head. “No worries, I’ve already converted your monthly rent into the purchase of ribs. Where did you think those extra 10 kg of ribs you’ve been having each month come from?”

Lily suddenly thought that she was not losing out on anything and promptly forgot about the matter. She gave Hao Ren’s fingers a satisfied lick before continuing to watch TV. Rollie opened her eyes as she nudged Hao Ren’s arm. “Nyaaaa can’t stand her….”

Lil Pea too flapped her tail excitedly. “Cant stand her, can’t stand her!”

“Say.. How is Lil Pea faring in her studies?” Hao Ren looked at Nangong Sanba as he heard Lil Pea’s voice.

“She now recognizes most of the Letta Runes. Her memory is incredible, and her talents are pretty good, I think she can complete everything by the end of this month.” Nangong Sanba was a rather proud of his teaching progeess. In the face of a group of otherworldlings, that was the only part that he could brag about. “Wanna see her holy flame? She can cast it without incantation!”

Hao Ren was instantly intrigued. “Let me have a look!”

Lil Pea realized that this was her time, and happily tapped her tail on the table. She lifted her tiny hands as she rubbed it, a spark later a little white ball of fire appeared. Nangong Sanba motioned for Lil Plea to stay still before pulling out a cigar from his pocket and rolled the tip on the flame. Taking a deep breath, he said. “Still a cigar lit with holy flame taste the best…”

Hao Ren gawked, “… So after a good month, you taught her to be a bloody lighter?”

Lil Pea excited bounced before Hao Ren before proudly showing him the ball of fire, “Daddy, need a light?”

Lily started coughing as she smelt the cigar fumes and Sanba immediately killed the fire before shrugging. “You know your daughter is just an inch long, with that size what can she by aside from a lighter?”

Lil Pea was still bouncing about with that ball of holy flame in her hand, asking everyone if they needed a lighter. She was literally a walking lighter at the point. At the same time, Vivian saw the clock and realized that it was time for lunch. She picked the little mermaid up as she headed towards the kitchen. “You’d be of use in the kitchen, the kitchen lighter is broken.”

“….”

Hao Ren blinked before turning towards Nangong Sanba with a ‘You did good’ look on his face. “Well, that’s something at least. By the way, didn’t you say that you wanted to make a set of equipment for Lil Pea, something about improving her rate of learning. Had you made it?”

Nangong Sanba gave a satisfied smile. “I don’t need you to remind me that. I’ve made them long ago, a small crossbow and practice sword, and a weapon case. Hehehe, they were pretty fiddly to make. Had to use a magnifying glass to carve the Letta Runes on the weapon, took me a whole night.”

“Oh oh, how is she faring with them?”

“I haven’t got the chance to show her yet.” Nangong Sanba grinned as he rubbed his hands together. “I plan to give us a surprise later.”

Vivian was done with Lil Pea helping her lighting the stove and the little mermaid had bounced her way from the kitchen back to the hall. Hao Ren motioned to the little rascal at the distance. “Come here, Lil Pea. Uncle Sanba has something nice for you!”

Lil Pea perked up immediately as she heard that and happily bounced her way on to the tea table as she tapped her tail. “Sumting nais! Sumting nais!”

Nangong Sanba smiled as he pulled a small intricate box from his coat, his face serious. “Lil Pea, while you are only an inch long, you had a glorious and pure bloodline running in you. You are the world’s one and only demon hunting fish, and you need your own personalized equipment. May these equipment lead you on the path to cleanse all evil, and be your courage, your blade, your armor and your safeguard, you need….”

Before Nangong Sanba could finish, Wuyue had slapped her tail on the back on his h ead. “Brother! You don’t have to act all haughty before us right?”

Nangong Sanba looked defeated as he clutched the back of his head. “I’m not acting! I was being all serious you know! This is a demon hunter’s rites for an initiate getting his first gear. I even simplified the benediction process, Lil Pea is soaked in the water most of the time anyway.”

“Alright alright, just look at you, being all proud for being a teacher to a one inch demon hunter mermaid. Even just saying that embarass me.” Hao Ren pulled the small box before Lil Pea. “Have a look, see if you like it?”

Lil Pea gave Hao Ren a perplexed look, before looking at Nangong Sanba, before giving the intricate box a sniff as she gingerly opened the box.

It was a set of demon hunting equipment in it, specially tailored for Lil Pea’s size. A pen-cap sized little crossbow, a set of five exorcist throwing knifes, and a little wooden sword and runic tome. All of them for training.

Lil Pea was very happy with the gifts and proceeded to eat them.

Alright, that was her plan at least, but as she put the sword in her mouth Hao Ren immediately stopped her, with cold sweat on his head. “Say… I was feeling that something was off… Sanba why did you made them using wood?”

“For training pur…” Nangong Sanba too had realized the problem with the material used. (Well, Lil Pea had a rather odd diet, and without a powerful cognitive ability most people would not realize what she would actually bite and eat) but the demon hunter had no other choice. “A demon hunter’s own powers would enhance their weapons’ strength. A crossbow bolt would hit like a rifle round, so when we train we would use wooden weapons that were anointed with blessed oil. Their magic adaptability is similar to holy silver, but would not enhance the weapon’s strength, that’ll at prevent trainees from hurting themselves…”

At the same time Lil Pea was struggling in Hao Ren’s palm as she squealed. “Food, food… Daddy let me eat….”

Hao Ren looked resignedly at Nangong Sanba, “I think you still have a long way to go with your education plan.”