My Demon Pet System

The water of a narrow and agitated stream passed overbearingly under the wooden bridge. Ichiro slowed its pace without a direct command from Yoichi. The Inoshuma sensed the proximity of a town and moved with circumspection as if for a moment it had become a wild demon again. 

Time had flown by for Yoichi: the young tamer had not noticed that, while reading, he had arrived at the gates of the small village of Grimbrook. 

The book that had captured Yoichi's attention was an incredibly useful and informative manual. Studying every word of it by heart, the young tamer had learned that it was not necessary to know the center of gravity of every demon to tame it with the Demon Tooth.

Excluding from the discussion the Ancient Demons, which followed their own rules, the weak points of the more or less similar specimen could be assimilated into some categories. 

For example, demons whose head was very large tended to have the center of gravity, ie the point for the capture, on the rest of the body. Conversely, demons whose bodies were bulky and massive tended to have their center of gravity in the hardest to reach places.

The evolution of Lumya's hundreds of demon species over the years has resulted in the specimens with the most hidden centers of gravity surviving, leaving the more fragile specimens, which had the most exposed weak points, to become extinct.

Simply put, even in the world of Lumya natural selection had prevailed, in which the predominant characters of a species are those that, in the course of its evolution, have allowed that species to proliferate and not become extinct.

'Fundamentals of Demon Taming', contrary to the title, was not a book suitable for a child or anyone who wanted to approach the world of taming. An ordinary person, born without an Oracle and not used to dealing with such concepts, would not understand most of the technicalities contained in the manual.

Although the reading went on smoothly, drawing more and more of Yoichi's curious eyes page after page, the young tamer's attention was now turned to something else.

Yoichi put the book in its place, clutching a hand to Ichiro's mane and tucking his feet into the saddle's metal rings. Although Grimbrook didn't look like it was an important place, he had to give the impression of being an experienced tamer, and traveling on horseback with his legs crossed wasn't a great idea to prove that.

The horse demon walked over the bridge and the village that stood on the east side of the valley took shape under the sunlight. Wooden hovels of cubic shape and all of the same color stood side by side. Each building of that small village seemed to follow the normal shape of the soil, as if the construction of houses and shops had not required the flattening of hills and slopes, remaining in harmony with the natural landscape.

Beyond the wooden bridge, barely wide enough for a small horse-drawn wagon to pass, a wooden arch announced the name of the village with a banner. 

"Welcome to Grimbrook," the inscription hot-stamped on the wood read. It gave that entrance a somewhat sad aspect since the area looked and sounded practically uninhabited.

In its surroundings, indeed, Yoichi could hear almost no one but quiet whispering voices. Without much thought, the young tamer spurred his horse and rode past the wooden archway into the village.

Grimbrook stood between the western edge of Bronzeforest and the beginning of the valley that led, with its expanses of green, to the Southborne Mountains. Although it was close to a place as teeming with life as Brozeforest, the wooden village was hidden by a rocky escarpment that cut through the vegetation of the woods behind.

Yoichi's first thought was to take a look in that direction, to see if he had taken the right path: if he could have cut through the Bronzeforest, he would have saved himself the trip to Boneside Swamp and his journey would have been much more comfortable. 

However, judging by the steep and rocky terrain, there seemed to be no way to get down from the forest to the valley. Only an experienced climber could have succeeded, still risking his life in the process.

Beyond the wooden arch, the fence that marked the limits of the small bridge widened, opening into a small square surrounded by many surrounding wooden buildings. In the center of the square, a modest fountain topped by a wooden statue caught the attention of the blond-haired traveler.

As soon as Ichiro crossed the threshold of the entrance, the background buzz increased in intensity. The chatter came from the corners of the square, and when Yoichi met his eyes with a group of equivocal people, silence suddenly fell.

"Good morning!" the young tamer politely exclaimed, getting off his horse and showing his non-hostility. Looking around carefully, Yoichi found that the village was inhabited and active, though lacking the classic sounds of a city. 

Maybe I'm so used to the chaos of Goldhaven that I've forgotten how quiet country life is, he thought, reflecting on that detail. 

The group of people who had first observed that unfamiliar tamer enter Grimbrook consisted of five women apparently in their fifties, all dressed in classic housewife attire. Handkerchiefs tied over their heads, long dresses of colored cotton, and white aprons soiled with flour, clay, or other things. 

As soon as Yoichi was clearly visible in the center of the square, the women started chatting among themselves again, making covert comments about that young boy who had entered the village riding a demon.

On the left side of the square, however, two men stood still with their backs against the wall. Next to them, a saloon-like door was still swinging back and forth, having welcomed its latest guest. Besides the two men, an older man was sitting in a rocking chair on the other side. 

In his mouth, a long pipe gave off a thin white smoke. His face was covered by a very large hat, not too different from the one worn by poor Hiobe, the man who had been tricked by Ogai.

Without wasting time looking at the landscape, which didn't offer much in the way of scenery, Yoichi realized that this was the ideal place to grab a bite to eat.