As I finished crying I felt some small amount of weight lifting off of me. It had been for forty minutes and several townsfolk had passed me as I did it but I didn't care. I cried until I couldn't anymore, and my stomach grumbled. I sat there, emotionally and physically drained until Bagheera the Ossicarn flopped into my lap and Baloo the Cerbearus nudged my side.

"Let me tell you the favorite story of my kids and me," I said to my partner monsters and sat there for a time regaining my strength by telling the beginnings of that story which was so special to me, to two monsters I was not even sure could understand me.

When it was done I felt better; at least for the moment. Better enough to get up and begin to walk through the town again with what free time I still had.

There were still more monsters I had seen out there in town on my first day which I could use 'analyze' on. More than that, if this was to be my home for the foreseeable future I needed to start getting to know it.

That was how we found ourselves at one of Strongbridge’s three pubs, though I could only guess its name and its existence as a pub because it prominently displayed a well-painted picture of a shaky and possibly drunk tauracean, that and the picnic tables outside of it. Connected to it, there was a multi-story building I presumed was an inn - maybe a part of the same establishment actually; and in a compact two-story brick building nearby was a bakery. I knew it was a bakery because it had a steaming bread loaf on the sign hanging from its window.

The bakery and the larger building with the shaky tauracean picture upon it were all the same eggy white color of a watery white wash, and both buildings had matching coral orange colored tiles.

“Hey! What’s this place called?” I asked after sitting at a table and being approached by a friendly blonde woman dressed in a comfortable shorts-sleeved dress with a pristine white apron over it.

“Well hello to you too, mister! I’m Megan, and it’s nice to see you, and as for us? We’re the Tipsy Tauracean of course. Do your parents know you’re out eating at the local public house? Did they send you to order something ahead of time or to take home?”

I blinked and looked at her in silence for a moment. With a look at my right hand and a gentle pat on the hard and well-worn wood of the table with my other, I took in the obvious again. I had been brought to this world in what effectively amounted to my eight-year-old body. People wouldn’t take me seriously as an adult.

I paused and thought of my response with hesitation before the intoxicating smell of the freshly baked bread from the nearby bakery made my stomach growl. The mere sound and the hesitant, and saddened look on my face, caused the woman to frown before reaching out and giving me a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

“Eh, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter. I’ll make sure you get something to quiet down that cursin’ belly!”

Then she flashed me a reassuring smile and headed back into the larger building, the Tipsy Tauracean, and I was alone aside from Baloo the Cerbearus and Bagheera the Ossicarn. As I sat there with the pair of monsters, I let out a sigh. I was not one to use pitiful looks to get my way, I was older than that. I was supposed to be the one falling for that, and for a second I saw the trembling lip and hands upon the stomach of Bridget and Alec when the two youngest were trying to pull a con on me to get a treat they had been told no one before. I saw their trembling lip turn into a mischievous smirk as well.

I didn’t let myself dwell on it because that would just cause more emotions I wasn’t capable of controlling right now. Instead, I simply enjoyed the salty breeze of the town along with the chorus of the calls from both birds and flying monsters alike above me and the smell of baking bread nearby. As I did, Baloo the Cerbearus tried to lay across my lap on the bench. Bagheera the Ossicarn meanwhile circled the bench, cocking its head as if hunting for something which I could not see.

Soon, Megan returned with a piping bowl of a thick brown broth stew with meat, and vegetables in it. Some were familiar and some were not, as she placed a bowl in front of me and two smaller bowls for Baloo and Bagheera.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

I smiled gently at it, though found myself confused. “Lord Darville said that monsters don’t need to eat food,” I said, mostly to myself.

Before Megan gave another one of her wide and rather dazzling smiles, “And you don’t need music to survive either but you sure like hearing it, don’t you?”

I hadn’t thought about it that way, but if it was so, I’d keep eating with my monsters while I could. I even went for the spoon she set out before she shook her head, “No no no, wait. I’ve got Kenneth in the bakery bringing some bread rolls too; it’s about time for him to deliver the bread for the dinner rush.”

I didn’t know who that was, and the stew was piping but I waited.

Soon, a pair of teenage boys of seventeen or so years tilted their heads outside of the bakery. One of the two was hoisting a big basket of what I presumed to be bread, and the other had a broom towards the ground but held with a grip that broadcasted he intended to use it for something other than sweeping. There were whispers between the boys in some secret council, they were too far away to hear.

When their conversation was over, the one carrying the basket of bread - I presumed Kenneth - began to trot forward at a rapid pace, hoisting the basket as if he were carrying a heavy load of laundry as opposed to bread. The other teenage boy walked behind, keeping no more than two paces between them.

It made me wonder why they were acting so strange, up until I heard an ear-splitting screech above us. I found Bagheera jumping around excitedly and saw Kenneth and his escort rushing forward towards the Inn.

Then there was a bird call almost like a click instead of a chirp, and the youth with the broom switched its grip in his hands. It went from broom to straw and wood halberd. As his compatriot rushed forward with the bread he closed the gap and began looking around - soon the click-chirps were joined by quacks.

Then I saw one of the strange Pelican-Pterodacytl monsters swoop down on its leathery wings, its lower jaw quivering. Behind it was a flock of ducks.

“Gods and Reliquaries, Gerald! We told you, the bread is not for you!” shouted the broom halberder as he juked around to try to stop the monster’s approach.

Gerald was a monster species name? Before I could think to analyze it things changed quickly.

Kenneth kept up his run and would have made it too if it was not for one of the ducks landing right in the path of his left foot. He went into a forward roll and out came a wash of breads and rolls from the basket. The ducks were on the breads like a tide and the wobbling giant of a pterodactyl-like bird attempted to join in.

Kenneth’s guard rushed forward with his broom, swinging and slashing at the monster to try to keep it from snatching up the whole basket. As he did it, Megan, Kenneth, and the guard all shouted, “No, Gerald! Bad!”

I took the moment to think ‘Analyze’ while looking at the monster.

“Pelikverns are great flying monsters that are found throughout most of Hekatondrona and used as scouts, messengers, and in some cases flying taxis. Pelikvern as a species is known to love bread and other baked goods, even trying whole gullets full of freshly caught fish for them at times. They are also known to be able to fire poison from glands in their wingtips, so beware! This pelikvern is male. All pelikverns are water and wind-primarily aligned monsters. This pelikvern has a secondary nature alignment. Its tertiary alignment is artifice. Pelikverns are an evolved form of [redacted].”

So Gerald was its name, and it was just being a robber bandit of a bird. With a shout, I hopped to my feet and pointed, “Bagheera! Baloo! Let’s help them out!”

Which reminded me that I didn’t know any actual moves of my monster partners yet. Even so, they charged and swiped at the ducks and the Pelikvern, driving them back.

It was then that the system popped up a prompt window.

"You have gained one skill point in Analysis. Your skill rating is now seven."

Which reminded me, I could analyze my monsters for more information! Before I could though it was over, Gerald the Pelikvern let out a guffaw at the bakers before throwing its wings out wide and charging the basket. It took the whole thing in its mouth and charged into a runway-less take-off.

Then it was flying away.

“Sorry, I should have helped faster. Maybe I could’ve stopped the bread bandits!” I retorted to the frustrated bakers and waitress.

Megan let out a sigh and shook her head, “No, no, it’s fine. We’ll resolve it later. We know where Gerald’s owner lives.”

So tamed monsters being used for crimes was more than the stock of manga and anime.