Chapter 207

It was early afternoon on the last day of the week, the sun hanging low enough to cast long shadows but still sharp enough to glint off shop windows and polished stone. The academy district had thinned as students fled toward their home, but the market streets beyond were alive, stitched together by voices, clinking coins, and the scent of warm bread mixed with winter spices.

Kana walked at the front, hands tucked into her coat in the middle of the street towards the central district.

Suri needed a new cloak.

Not just any cloak. Something dungeon-worthy. Something that could bite harder when [Lightning Bolt] was unleashed, something that could make it deal more damage.

Behind her, Boris grunted.

“Am I really needed to escort you?” he asked, voice rumbling like a dissatisfied bear. “I can wait back in front of the academy.”

“Of course you’re needed,” Suri replied without looking back. “Just follow us, will you?”

Rin and Yuri trailed behind, lighter steps, already talking about how to spend the wager they’d won from the annual tournament. Their laughter bounced off the narrow street, bright and careless.

Kana glanced back at Boris for a moment. She felt a twinge of guilt. They had invited the other boys from the copper classroom too. Every single one of them had suddenly remembered urgent plans the moment the word shopping had been spoken just like before.

We should be careful with our words.

Boris stopped abruptly.

“Wait,” he said. “Let me check on this cute little beast.”

Kana halted and turned just in time to see him veer toward a roadside stall.

She exhaled slowly.

The cute little beast was a large lizard, thick-bodied and low to the ground, with scales patterned in sharp contrast and a single unusual white horn protruding from its head. Its tongue flicked in and out, tasting the air with unsettling curiosity.

“He’s not going to buy that, right?” Kana said, hoping thin in her voice.

“Well,” Rin said thoughtfully, peering over, “even without any tamer-type skills, he can still buy pets. The academy allows it as long as it’s proven not dangerous.”

Kana pinched the bridge of her nose.

They lingered there for a few moments, uninterested, when a shadow fell across the group.

A group of boys approached from the side street.

They weren’t academy students. That much was obvious. Their clothes were clean but simple, layered with thick fur jackets against the cold. Commoners. Around their age, perhaps a little older. Their steps slowed as they drew close, confidence rehearsed rather than natural.

“Hey,” one of them said, raising a hand with an easy grin. “Looking to have some fun tonight? We know a great place.”

Yuri groaned softly. “Oh boy. Here we go again.”

Kana sighed.

It started weeks ago. Maybe longer. Somewhere between growth spurts and quiet confidence, their body and faces matured compared to before. Whenever they wore plain clothes, whenever they looked like ordinary girls instead of academy elites, it happened. Invitations from boys. Smiles. Persistence. Every single time, shut down cleanly and completely.

Before anyone could respond, a presence loomed behind them.

“Do you know them?”

Boris’s voice dropped like a stone.

He stood there, towering, holding the lizard awkwardly in both arms like an oversized baby. Up close, the creature looked even stranger, its horn gleaming dully, scales a marbled mix of black and white.

The effect was immediate. The boys shrank. Their shoulders tightened, feet edging backward, bravado leaking out of them in visible waves.

“No,” Suri said, loud and flat.

The boys forced smiles, muttered apologies, and disappeared down the street as if the ground itself had rejected them.

Kana turned to Boris. “That’s why you’re escorting us,” she said. “Random guys our age keep trying to talk to us. Every time. But if you or Adam are around, they don’t even try.”

Boris blinked.

“…You’re saying that’s my role?” he said slowly. “That’s why you invite Adam and me whenever you go out?”

Realization dawned across his face, followed swiftly by wounded pride. “And here I thought it was something—”

“Wait,” Suri cut in sharply. “Did you buy that?”

Boris looked down at the lizard as if he’d forgotten it existed, then nodded. “I’m planning to surprise the kids at the orphanage.”

Kana hesitated. Then she imagined it. The children’s faces. The way their eyes would light up at something strange and wonderful and alive.

She smiled. “They’re going to love it. But… is it dangerous? What kind of beast is it?”

Boris shook his head with absolute confidence. “This little guy called me. Just trust my instinct. He’s harmless.”

“You bought it without knowing what it is?” Yuri asked incredulously.

Boris scratched his cheek. “Do I need to? He’s special, I’m telling you.” He tilted his head, studying the horn. “I should name him… let’s see. The horn… Thorne.”

The black lizard chirped softly, tongue flicking again.

As if in agreement.

……..

They arrived at one of the most renowned stores in the central district, a place spoken of in lowered voices among adventurers and visited openly by nobles with coin to burn. The storefront alone announced its status. Polished stone framed wide glass panels, behind which cloaks hung like captured shadows, each one whispering of power restrained by thread and rune.

Most people couldn’t afford a single clasp from this place.

Inside, the air felt different. Dense. Weighted. Mana lingered like incense, woven into fabric so thoroughly it hummed. Cloaks lined the walls in careful order, each labeled with its creator. Each final product was delicately made by different classes—[Blacksmith]-reinforced mantles with metallic stitching. [Tailor]-crafted cloaks whose folds bent light. [Artisan] works so precise they bordered on obsession. And then the [Mage]-rune type variant, runes etched and embedded, glowing faintly beneath layers of cloth.

They weren’t dungeon items. But they came close.

Kana moved slowly, eyes scanning descriptions, fingers brushing the air just short of touching. Every tag was written in the local language unlike the dungeon items no one seemed to understand beside her.

Of course, they asked about dungeon-item cloaks. The clerk’s answer was apologetic and final. Almost nonexistent. That type of dungeon item was too rare and too valuable to be displayed. Sold before ever reaching their store.

Kana scratched her head. They had already circled the store more than once, her footsteps tracing the same path while her thoughts ran faster. She was searching for something with mana efficiency or damage amplification for [Lightning Bolt] but nothing was close to it.

“How about this?” Kana said at last, pointing to a gray cloak hanging stiffly on a brass hook.

It was plain. Almost aggressively so.

The description:

Small additional movement increases when worn.

Can block weak physical attacks.

Suri stared at it, unimpressed. “No way. It looks like the principal cloak!”

Kana opened her mouth to argue when Suri had already moved on. She agreed though. It was uncomfortably similar to the one used by the principal back when they were attacking the [Lich].

“This is perfect.” Suri pulled a different cloak from the rack, fabric sliding free with a soft hiss. Black on the outside, deep purple lining within, the colors shifting subtly as it caught the light. Rune stones were etched along the hem, glowing violet, not loud but confident. The kind of glow that suggested control rather than excess.

Suri draped it over her shoulders.

It fit her instantly, as if it had been waiting.

“Looks good on you,” Rin said, nodding with clear approval.

Kana frowned, eyes already on the description.

Small increase to damage of water-based skills.

Can block weak physical attacks.

“The design is good,” Kana said slowly, “but the effect is not.”

“How about you buy both?” Yuri suggested lightly.

“No need,” Suri replied, chin lifting. “And you cannot force me to wear that.”

Kana stared at her for a long moment. She exhaled and raised both hands in surrender. “I guess… better than nothing.”

Across the store, Boris had claimed a bench like it was a throne. He sat there contentedly, Thorn curled in his arms, feeding the little beast snack after snack. The lizard chirped softly, horn bobbing as it ate.

Kana glanced at them and shook her head.

…..

Before heading to the orphanage, the trio decided to make one last stop. A dungeon raid with the closest one.

Kana didn’t bother with the underground district this time. At the gate, she simply presented the insignia the king had given her. The guards stiffened the instant they saw it, questions dying before they were born. The gates opened without a problem, iron groaning as if resentful of how easily authority bent it.

Night had already settled in by the time they passed beyond the wall.

Rin and Yuri had stayed behind. Parents were worrywart so Kana didn’t invite them this time.

The dungeon lay not far from the city, its entrance a jagged wound in the earth, faint mana leaking from it like breath from parted lips. Low-mid dungeon. A bit too low level for their capabilities but the other dungeons would take much of their time. Additional distance and difficulty? They might not be able to visit the orphanage or even go to the academy on the first day of the week.

Inside, the air was stale and cold, stone corridors carved with the remnants of old worship. Time had stripped meaning from the engravings, leaving only hollow patterns and broken altars. Skeletons rose to greet them, bones scraping against stone, weapons clutched with mindless persistence.

They didn’t slow down.

“Boris, you will get them today,” Kana said.

Boris didn’t reply. He was already moving.

For low level dungeons they decided to have someone solely dedicated to clearing the mobs dungeon monster. Last week, this role belonged to Suri. Now Boris waded forward alone. Skeletons turned toward him as one, drawn by instinct, by threat.

The strange part wasn’t Boris.

It was the lizard.

Thorne sat atop Boris’s head like a crown that had decided it preferred warmth. The little beast didn’t cling. Didn’t wobble. Didn’t flinch when weapons clattered or bones shattered. Its tongue flicked lazily in and out, tasting the dungeon air as if this were a stroll through a market.

Suri on the other hand was yawning non stop. Kana blinked once.

How was it not falling? Was it sticky? Anchored? Or was there something else at work?

Boris charged.

He drew the skeletons into a wide, broken room that resembled an ancient temple, pillars cracked and half-swallowed by the floor. When enough of them clustered, Boris planted his feet and swung.

[Cleave]

The skill detonated through the chamber. Bone fragments scattered like thrown dice, clattering across stone. More than half the mob collapsed instantly.

Kana watched the aftermath, then frowned. Her eyes locked to the lizard—Thorne.

She summoned the text of god screen, eyes scanning instinctively, breath held for just a moment.

Three signatures.

Kana.

Suri.

Boris.

No fourth.

She exhaled slowly, relief unwinding from her shoulders. Thorne wasn’t siphoning experience. 

It was still strange though. The lizard seemed to be enjoying the moment.

They pressed deeper.

The boss room loomed ahead, its presence announced by pressure rather than sound. A skeletal figure rose from the center, crowned and armored, bones thicker and taller than any they had faced so far. Mana pulsed through the cracks of its frame, old and stubborn.

This one wasn’t something Boris could dismiss alone. He might be able to but it was too risky. They moved together.

Suri’s skills cracked through the air, lightning carving sharp paths across bone. Kana’s arrows followed, precise, merciless. Boris held the line, absorbing the brunt of its fury, each strike shaking dust from the ceiling.

The fight was short.

When the skeleton boss finally fell, its crown rolling free across the stone, Kana felt the familiar tug of experience settle into her being. Not enough. Not yet. Though it must be just her imagination.

Thorne chirped softly atop Boris’s head, as if applauding.

Kana stared at the little beast for a moment, then shook her head. Some things, she decided, were better left unexplained.

Post note:

Boris the spearman lizard tamer? 😂
Hope you enjoy the chap! 🙂