The training goes on for hours before Daimier starts getting tired. Though, not from magical exhaustion - apparently intermediate cores have a surprisingly high magic capacity. He simply gets fatigued from the sparring part of the training, and taking hits from Titania. Though she’s holding back, they add up after a while. Mostly her bonking his head, funnily enough.

When Daimier starts breathing heavily, Titania is the one to call it off and wave us back over. Once we’re gathered together, she speaks. “I know you two don’t want to stay for long, so I’ll make this short. Continue practicing like you have today, and you’ll get better. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to visit.” She looks at me, “I know you can get here really quickly if you want to.” When we nod, she seems satisfied. “Now, one last thing before you get ready to leave, though it’s getting late so you may want to stay the night before leaving.”

She gestures for us to follow her and heads to town - and I realize the sky is getting darker.

She leads us to the shopping area, Nixie having left to return to his patrols. As we walk down the street, Titania speaks up, “How do you feel about a collar? I know such a thing can be demeaning, but the one I have in mind has some use beyond declaring you friendly. It has runes that can unleash a saddle! That way, Daimler can go with you easier if you want to go somewhere quickly.” She explains, trying to warm me up to the idea.

Honestly, the thought of a collar doesn’t really bother me. I actually used to wear chokers in my last life, so there’s not much of a difference. But I want to pick the design.

“She doesn’t mind, but she wants to pick a design.” Daimier relays reliably. I nod in agreement.

“Perfectly okay!” Titania says, “You won’t be able to fit in the shop though, so I’ll have the options brought outside for you.”

She stops outside a particular shop, and I stare at the sign for a moment to try and discern what it says. But no, despite the words feeling annoyingly familiar I don’t have the skill for reading English.

‘It says “Beastly Accessories - For All Your Practical and Fashionable Needs.”’ Daimier helpfully informs me.

That’s a long ass name for a store.

‘Most of the stores here have similar names. I think the founder, Daven, was the one who named the original stores. Newer stores have better names.’ He explains to me,

Oh yeah, I remember Titania telling me that guy was notoriously bad at naming things.

Daimier feels amused, and agrees.

“That’s so weird.” Olivaire speaks up, staring at us.

“What?” Daimier asks defensively, crossing his arms.

“You two just kind of stare at each other randomly. You’re talking to each other mentally right?” He asks, looking between us.

I nod while Daimier looks embarrassed. We should probably work on that, I think, and Daimier agrees.

Then, Titania, who had apparently walked into the shop while we weren’t paying attention, walks out with a younger woman carrying a book. “They have a surprisingly large selection,” She starts, addressing me, “Even custom orders if they don’t have it in stock. Hailey here was kind enough to bring a catalog out for you.”

The lady timidly walks up to me, holding up the book with her head bowed. “H-here you are, Great Beast. I hope we have what you’re looking for.”

Amused at her timid attitude, I take the book from her and settle down to flip through it. Olivaire and Daimier, the nosy bastards, scoot closer to look as well.

As I flip through the pictures, I note that Titania was right about the sheer variety they have. A lot of them are order-based, meaning they’re not popular enough to keep in stock but can be made pretty quickly. The ones in stock are basic single-color collars or basic popular designs.

There’s spiky collars, bandanas, beaded collars, wide fabric collars, chain collars… Wooden collars?

I end up overwhelmed pretty quickly. I’m not used to getting so many choices in something!

“What do you like?” Daimier asks suddenly.

I look at him in confusion.

“We can start off simple. What’s your favorite color?” He asks with a half-smile, his emotions revealing his want to help.

Hmmm… I like blue, specifically the blue that’s in between green and blue. Also black.

He nods, before reaching over to flip the pages of the book. He stops suddenly, pointing at one of the designs. “What about this one?” He asks.

It’s a simple collar that’s the exact shade of greenish blue I was thinking of. It has no other designs or add-ons other than the runes for the saddle - which are black.

The runes look cool, but… It looks boring. And itchy, considering the texture and thickness of it. Though I don’t know if that’d matter with the thickness of my feathers and scales.

Daimier nods and continues flipping. As he goes along, pointing out collars, I find something I dislike about them and things I like. He easily adapts, and I can hear his thought process as he keeps in mind what I do and don’t like and skips past any with traits I dislike.

‘I don’t like gold, it looks dull to me.’

‘That pink burns my eyes.’

‘That collar looks really bulky, I feel like it’d limit movement in my neck.’

‘Charms look neat. Very dangly.’

‘A bell? Really?’

‘Silver is kind of cool actually. Very shiny.’

‘That’s neon! That’s worse than pink! I feel like I’ve just been flashbanged.’

‘That spotty pattern looks like stars, that’s kind of cool.’

Until, finally, one makes me pause.

It’s… It looks like it’s cloth cut from space. The blacks, the blues, the greens - they all swirl together as if I’m looking at space dust. The runes are silver, and the space around them is dotted with silvery spots that resemble stars. Dangling from the collar is a silver crescent moon charm. I think I’m in love.

Daimier smirks in triumph, immediately taking the book from me and walking into the shop. I stare in confusion at his sudden exit.

Titania laughs at me from her spot leaned against the shop wall. Olivaire mimics his brother’s smirk. I half heartedly glare at both of them.

I curiously watch Daimier’s current memories - technically looking through his eyes - as he talks with Hailey to order the collar I chose. Apparently, using runes it’s very easy to color fabric. Though it would normally take a few days considering the order would be placed on the bottom of the list, Daimier takes advantage of his vast wealth to skip the line and get the collar done tomorrow. I don’t know the local currency, though, so I don’t know how much money he’s throwing (metaphorically) at the poor shocked woman. His plan is to get the collar quickly so we can move out tomorrow.

When he returns, he smiles happily at Titania, “All set. We can leave tomorrow.” He doesn’t direct the statement at me because he knows I was watching him.

Titania nods, “Alright, you two take care. I’m excited to hear about your adventures!” She teases, before walking off. Not one for long goodbyes, apparently.

Daimier waves, before pausing to look at the buildings around us and me. I catch his thought process as he realizes I won’t be able to come with him to his hotel for the night since I couldn’t fit.

‘I’ll be fine, Daimier.’ I send him my memories of hanging around the forest. The view I wake up to in the morning, and how comfortable I feel wrapped around a tree while I sleep. The cushion in the tent is comfortable, too, but the trees feel more natural for me to wrap around.

He smiles - I notice he’s been more expressive today - and I feel his relief. “Alright, meet up here in the morning?”

‘You can probably wake me up if I sleep in,’ I mention, considering he’s a very early riser compared to me. We both still wake in the morning, though.

He nods in agreement and I take off.

When I settle down to sleep in a nice tree, I get a notification.

SIDE QUEST ‘BONDING’ COMPLETED!

|+150 Tokens|

|+3 Skill Points|

--------------

|Bonding|

(Side Quest)

Find someone worthy to bond with.

Rewards: +150 Tokens, +2 Skill Points

Hidden Rewards Unlocked!

Bond With Someone Influential: +1 Skill Point

Failure Penalty: N/A

--------------

Oh, right. I forgot I had a quest for that. And I got an extra skill point because Daimier is a prince? Wasn’t going for that, but I’ll take it.

Thinking on it, I wonder what kind of items are in the item store? I can’t access it until my next life, and considering I’m getting comfortable here that’ll be a while. Plus, there’s a practical reason to stay. This is a Tutorial World, and despite it being easy I still get quests like this. This way, I can better prepare for the next one by accumulating points for skills and such. That’ll be fun to sort through, figure out what I want to buy. Actually, why can’t I just look at the store without buying anything? That way when I’ve got nothing to do, I can peruse and wishlist what I may want for the next world.

This is a reasonable request. I will unlock the Stores for perusal, however you will be unable to buy anything.

Nice! Now I have a way to ward off boredom if needed.

Hmmm… Daimier hasn’t reacted one bit to my thoughts about the UI, despite being awake. I get the feeling that my [System’s Protection] is currently blocking my thoughts to him. Useful.

Well, anyway, I should get some rest for tomorrow.

The next day, I wake up to Daimier’s mental prodding. Being groggy, I attempt to brush him off and go back to sleep.

‘Come on, we have to get your collar!’ He says with more urgency than the topic requires.

Collar?...

Oh, right, yeah. Badass galaxy collar. I’m up.

I sense his amusement before he goes back to getting ready.

I stretch my jaw - which looks kind of like a yawn and is a thing snakes do - before looking at the sky. Huh, it looks later than I thought we’d be getting up, and later than I normally get up. I have a bad habit of not waking up myself if I sleep expecting something else to wake me up.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

‘The store needed some time to open up and start on orders. It’s ten in the morning I think.’

Makes sense. The extra sleep is welcome considering the journey we have ahead of us. The Capitol is about a month away.

I uncoil from the tree I’m resting on before stretching my wings and dropping through the branches. I don’t go too fast, weaving between the trees at a relaxed pace as Daimier leaves the hotel.

‘Wow, you really are fast aren’t you?’ He asks in amazement as he watches the forest fly by through my eyes. He’s especially impressed by my comment about this being a leisurely pace.

‘Yeah, it’s pretty awesome isn’t it?’ I brag.

His awe mixes with amusement at my confidence.

We meet up at the front of the shop, Olivaire apparently deciding not to stalk his brother this time. Daimier greets me before walking into the shop to collect the collar.

He returns a moment later with the store clerk, who wants to explain something. This is a new person, a male and definitely not Hailey.

“Greetings, Great Beast,” He bows much more confidently than the other worker, “My name is Tyler. I’m here to explain the workings of the Saddle Collar.”

I nod at him, and he stands straight as Daimier and I give him our full attention.

He holds up my collar, just as pretty as it was in the catalog. “The runes on this collar are custom made to be voice and touch activated. The voice activation is made to have two passwords - one for you and one for your Bonded. These can be set to whatever you want, but once they’re set they can’t be changed. The touch activation works with your magic signature, so others can’t use it.” He explains, directing it to both of us but mainly addressing me. Makes sense, considering I’m the one wearing it.

I wonder why there’s so many methods of activation?

“It was my request,” Daimier answers me, “In case a situation arises where a part of us is indisposed, causing us to be unable to speak or touch to activate the saddle.”

‘Wow, I didn’t know you were so paranoid, Daimier.’ I tease him.

He rolls his eyes, thinking he’s perfectly justified as a Prince to be paranoid. I can’t blame him. Satisfied with my thought, he gestures for Tyler to continue.

“In order to set up the passwords, press your finger to the moon charm and channel your magic into it. Only one of you has to do it, since you share a magical signature. Then, you can speak one phrase, wait for the runes to stop glowing, and speak the second. It’s best to do this outside the village, as to not accidentally include background noise into the password.” He continues, before handing the collar to Daimier when he gestures for it.

“So I can activate the magical signature now, and the verbal password later?” He asks.

“Yes. Though, after you activate the signature any time you channel magic into it, it will activate or deactivate the saddle depending on which state it’s in. So that’ll happen when you go to set the password.” He explains.

Daimier nods, before walking up to me. He holds the collar up to me for approval, smiling softly. I’m entranced by the swirls of color within the black cloth.

I give my mental approval, lowering my body so he can snap it above my shoulders. Despite having plenty of neck to place it, I feel above the shoulders would be the best spot so it doesn’t shift downward and ruffle my feathers.

He gently snaps it around my neck, using the mental link to judge the perfect size for it so it’s not too tight nor loose. When he’s done, I can barely feel it. My scales and feathers are so thick that the material doesn’t even register. He then directs his magic into the moon to register our magic signature, nodding when the runes light up and nothing else happens.

He then grins in excitement, “Want to test it out?”

I nod, curious to see how it works. I glance over as Tyler excuses himself with a bow, returning to the store.

I look back at Daimier as he activates the collar, causing the runes to glow. Suddenly, I feel a weight on my back that’s comfortably light. I move to allow Daimier to see the saddle so I can view it from his eyes.

There’s a saddle in between my shoulder blades and wings where a gap rests. It perfectly matches my collar, covered in silver runes and blue-green patterns with black reigns connecting it to my collar. Usually something like that would be inadvisable as it would choke a regular animal, but my scales are much too strong to be bothered by that and I’d rather not have a mouth piece in it’s stead.

Honestly, I think all this blue clashes with my red feathers. Aesthetically at least. But I can’t find it in myself to care, considering it’s my favorite colors.

Daimier’s attention is drawn to the packs attached to the saddle. There are two on each side, and I assume they can store stuff even while the saddle is in my collar. Useful! Now I can carry stuff!

Daimier then sends me his memory of how the saddle appeared - which I missed. The collar’s runes glow and curl straight off the fabric - shifting into reigns, more fabric, and finally a saddle. The process looks really cool and magical, but happens quickly. I notice from the memory that there’s straps wrapped around my chest and shoulders. I also realize there’s no bit meant to readjust the size of the straps, it’s all one piece of fabric. I assume the magic automatically resizes it to fit me.

The whole thing is comfortably snug, and I feel no pinching or any uncomfortable weights.

I test my maneuverability, finding that the part the saddle sits at is a little more stiff, but not by too much. The whole thing doesn’t shift around at all as I wiggle, though some metal bits cling together when I move.

“I’m glad its comfortable.” Daimier says with satisfaction in his voice.

‘Yeah, with how much you paid for it, it better be.’ I joke.

He grins cheekily at me, ‘Hey, silver is expensive. That’s something you wanted.’

Fair enough. At least I didn’t pick diamonds, those are overrated anyway.

An idea strikes me, causing me to wonder where Olivaire and the princes’ soldier escorts are.

Daimier catches my plan, and is filled with mischievous glee. ‘They are bringing the carriage to the edge of the village. Let’s go.’ I lean down so he can mount the saddle, and we take off to the sound of gleeful ‘whoop’s.

I dive-bomb the royal carriage, emitting a loud roar-hiss with my feathered frill displayed for maximum intimidation. The beasts with the carriage freak out at the sudden noise, alerting the soldiers.

I flare my wings to make a sudden stop above the carriage as the soldiers draw their weapons in fear.

Then, Daimier peeks over my shoulder with a wide grin and proclaims, “We are here bitches!” Just as I taught him. I’m so proud.

The bewildered soldiers drop their guard immediately. “Y-your Majesty!” One shouts in surprise. I’ve clearly succeeded in almost granting them heart attacks.

I land gracefully and Daimier hops off my back, done messing with the guards. He gestures at me, “This is… well, I don’t have a name for her yet but we’re Bonded. You are to address her as you would me.” He says proudly.

I know from Daimier’s memories that the soldiers have been living in their own hotel rooms and doing their own thing since they arrived. So they’re not up to date on the whole bonded situation, and hearing about me is different from seeing me.

Olivaire peeks out of the carriage, “Did I hear my little brother say a naughty word?” He teases with a raised eyebrow.

“She told me to!” Daimier blames, pointing at me.

I nod and give the brother a thumbs up, very much unashamed.

Olivaire snickers, “Well then, nothing I can say against a Great Beast, can I? Get in here brother, so we can go already. We have a long trip ahead of us.”

Daimier automatically goes to follow, before realizing I can’t follow him into the carriage. He pauses and looks at me.

‘I’ll be alright. I’ll probably just zoom around your slow asses out of boredom.’ I reassure him before tapping my collar charm to make the saddle recede.

He nods, amused but understanding. He jogs over to the carriage and climbs in.

When the doors open, I catch sight of a woman I’ve never met before. I assume that’s Olivaire’s wife.

Daimier feels a lot of negative emotions at the mention of the woman, telling me her name is Verosikai. She is indeed Olivaire’s wife.

From the vague memory flashes I get from him, she’s definitely not the pleasant type.

The soldiers get into formation, and off we went. If the pace wasn’t so slow, I’d be excited. Well, I’m still excited, just vaguely bored already.

For the first hour or so as we traveled, I would weave through the trees ahead with great speed. Zipping in and out of the treeline as I went was fun, especially considering I scared a lot of people doing that. I would get ahead a mile or two, then come back. And then go ahead again, on repeat. Soon, though, my stamina was exhausted as my species wasn’t built for long-distance flying. At that point, I settled down and slithered alongside the carriage. Slithering is much slower than flying, but I still managed to keep up with the semi-quick horse beasts.

I did wonder why they weren’t going faster though, staying at a slow gallop rather than a run. Daimier easily answered, telling me Verosikai had put a stop to that on the way to the village - apparently all the bumps made her uncomfortable. Despite there being shock absorption runes on the carriage. Daimier claims there was barely a vibration.

The carriage also had deafening runes since Daimier can’t hear the soldiers chatting amongst themselves. Well, he wouldn’t be able to if he wasn’t bonded with me - using my ears is easy. I gladly let him use my senses since he’s really bored in the carriage.

Funnily enough, the soldiers don’t seem to know about the mental connection.

It was interesting listening to them gossip, believing they’re safe to relax with me around. They talk about all sorts of things, from people in the Capitol I don’t recognize, to sharing their stories about what they did in the village.

“Did you know a little girl from Tamerville disappeared a couple months ago? It was such a big deal ‘cause that shit never happens round there. The beasts always guard the area and can sniff out malicious intent!” The wizard-looking woman with black hair gossips dramatically. “I think her name was Alexa or something.”

Why does that sound familiar?...

Oh. Yeah. I blink as the memory of killing that girl crosses my mind. I think they’re talking about Alexie.

And then I feel Daimier’s curiosity.

‘Uhm… Self-defense?’ I tell him warily.

He barely stops himself from laughing, ‘Against a little girl who looks no more than… thirteen?’ He says, studying the girl from my memory.

Seeing as he’s not angry or anything, I mentally give up. ‘Fine, the girl had some weird monster attracting ability and I didn’t want to risk it working on me.’ Since the whole mission part of that memory is protected under my [System’s Protection] skill, there’s no need to try and hide the half-truth.

He’s understanding, getting the risk that would come from such an ability. ‘I get it. Just remember that you can’t resort to killing all the time or people will get suspicious and come after us.’

Understandable. I’ll just have to be smarter about it when we’re in civilized society. It should be simple to blame deaths on something else as long as I don’t overdo it.

I feel a renewed wave of amusement from him. Apparently that’s not what he meant, but he considers it close enough.

We continue entertaining ourselves by listening to the soldier’s gossip and banter. Daimier is annoyed because Verosikai insisted the curtains be shut so she doesn’t get sunburnt. The road is lined with trees and shade. So, not only can Daimier not hear the outside, he also can’t see. The trip back is already more bearable for him because of me.

I think I’m seeing a pattern with this woman.

Eventually, we set up camp for the day. Daimier insists on camping outside instead of the carriage so he can be with me. And get away from Verosikai. He takes a sleeping bag from the carriage before settling in front of where I sit at the campfire. In return, I curl my body around his spot.

The area we had stopped at is actually a large man-made rest stop. It’s just a clearing, but there are multiple other carriages and camps set up here. I notice a lot of the beasts here weren’t very well trained as they try to get as far away from me as possible. Good instincts, though.

As Daimier sits down, I lay my head on my claws next to him. It may seem too soon to have enough trust in each other to lay comfortably near one another, but being able to see the inner thoughts of another person consistently makes it difficult to not feel at ease when we have no ill will for each other.

I watch the soldiers devolve into awkward silence as their Prince sits among them. Apparently they’re less comfortable around a prince than a Great Beast, how amusing.

Huffing at them, I roll onto my back so that I can look at the sky. It’s remarkably clear here, and the sky sports similar colors to my collar. Other than the runes, of course.

Daimier dismisses the awkward soldiers as well, following my actions and lying on his back with his head by mine. He looks at the clear night sky and finds himself unable to feel the same wonder as I do. It’s just the sky, after all. He sees it every night.

I pause for a moment, before deciding now’s the time to tell him. I mess with my [System’s Protection] skill, giving Daimier access to my thoughts about reincarnation.

‘I wasn’t always a Keyuu, you know.’ I tell him, and I don’t stop my mind from drifting to memories of my previous life.

Within moments, Daimier becomes overwhelmed with the sudden information. With how fast my thought processes are now, he catches only glimpses of my memories despite my attempts to slow them down.

‘You… You were human?’ He asks, bewildered. I don’t blame him, this definitely came out of left field to him. He tilts his head to the side to look at me.

I find myself unable to remember my old face. Not that it surprises me, considering how often I avoided mirrors. I don’t know what it was, but whenever I saw myself I felt like a stranger in my own body. So disconnected that I couldn’t bear to look at myself lest I find myself unable to comprehend the fact that what I’m seeing is me.

I feel more comfortable in this body than my previous one.

Daimier catches my thought process and finds himself confused. ‘You don’t want to be human again?’

‘Have you seen what I can do? I can fly wherever I want. No one could stop me. I live for myself, and no one else.’ For once, I add to myself - but of course he catches it anyway.

He stops and considers. He understands my feelings completely. Of course he does, this freedom is why he sought me out in the first place. He wonders if he’d be the same. He wonders about the possibility of reincarnation. An entirely new life with no obligations to his former - a new start.

He realizes just how freeing that would be, no matter the form he would take.

He nods, gaining a deep understanding of how I feel both from the bond and from his own experiences. Then, his mind wanders to my old world - he knows it was a different world from my memories - but also feels hesitant to ask because of how happy I am to leave that behind me.

It doesn’t bother me at all, so I tell him.

I speak of the technological advances in the absence of magic and beasts and runes. The long history of Earth that was unearthed thanks to said technology, how all of the creatures of Earth evolved. I especially tell him about the creative minds humans possessed in the absence of anything magical in reality. How they created stories so different from the world they live in as if they could peer into other worlds.

One thing I delight in telling him is how, despite the light pollution that disrupted our ability to see the stars, humans had ventured further into space than this world had ever considered. Even if humans themselves only ever made it to the moon, and used robots for mars. Still, I had images of galaxies and their beautiful colors ingrained in my mind from how much I looked at and drew them.

He listens with rapt attention until he falls asleep to my stories, and I follow not far behind - covering him with my wing to shelter him from the breeze. I never once speak of my own life in that world so far away, and he never asks.

At some point through the journey, we finally remember to set the voice command on my collar. My stories have definitely stuck with him, as he makes his command ‘Shotgun’ in reference to how people would say that to claim the passenger seat of a car. Plus it’s a word he’s never heard of before, and unlikely to be used in casual conversation. My command is just a weirdly pitched hiss I wouldn’t normally use - I don’t need something memorable as I now have perfect memory.

I continue to tell Daimier stories about my old world every night, and he gains a fascination for the technological advancements I had taken for granted.