Chapter 277

As I mentioned before, in the Soul World, there’s a separate pet function.

You can choose from various types of pets, including some that can fly.

Each pet has different abilities. Smaller pets generally take on supportive roles rather than engaging in direct combat, while larger pets help out in fights.

Of course, those are just general abilities; every individual pet is different, like Neoburi, whom I picked up, or Luna’s Pijon-tu.

But having a pet isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. While they aim for realism, there are definitely some inconvenient factors.

Firstly, the maintenance costs are ridiculously high—just like keeping a real pet!

Even taking care of a regular small dog comes with astronomical expenses and responsibilities.

And if we’re talking about something larger than a large dog? Don’t even get me started on how much time and money that would eat up.

Porori is a spirit creature, so it can manage itself just fine, but with pets, you have to feed them directly.

Plus, you need explicit permission from the Academy, so there are all kinds of hassles.

That’s why, unless there’s a clear advantage, most people don’t bother raising pets.

“Sivar.”

“Yes.”

“Put your hand on your heart and think about it. Can you really take care of an animal?”

I placed my hand on my chest as Rod’s words sank in. All I felt was the racing of my heart.

Feigning innocence, I tilted my head, and Rod shook his head in disapproval, clearly thinking my blank expression was pathetic.

Honestly, I was just pretending not to know. I was desperate to raise this clever Neoburi.

“It’s a handful just dealing with yourself, and now you want to raise an animal… to be honest, it sounds tough for you. You’re not exactly in a position to manage on your own.”

“Me?”

“As I mentioned before, put your hand on your heart and ask your conscience. Or should I just drop your conscience in there for you?”

“……….”

Instead of placing my hand back on my heart, I scratched my head. I had nothing to counter that—it was true.

From Rod’s perspective, I must seem like a complete kid. One who zooms around and causes trouble at every opportunity.

It’s like saying, “Hey, I just found a dog, can I keep it?” to parents who would obviously be worried sick.

“Besides, it’s probably the parents who’ll end up looking after it.”

Most parents are like that. It’s not that they dislike animals.

They just hate the idea of having more responsibilities piling up. They know too well how heavy that responsibility can be.

Once they decide to keep a pet, they shower them with love along with the responsibilities. But there are some people who refuse to love pets for various reasons.

Most of those situations boil down to one thing: when the pet passes away due to accident or age, and they just can’t face that heartbreak.

“I’ll take good care of it. I’m confident! Look!”

“Cow!”

I presented Neoburi, whom I was hugging, to Rod, and just then, Neoburi made an adorable noise.

To the eye, Neoburi looked like a raccoon. At least it was exceptionally cute in appearance.

Plus, it was so clever and gentle that it understood everything I said to it.

“Yeah, a raccoon should be fine. But you’re not living alone, are you? What if Grace refuses?”

“Oh.”

Now that I think about it, I had to consider Grace’s opinion.

I couldn’t just ask Rod and assume everything would be alright. I wasn’t sure if Grace liked animals, but I had a bad feeling she wouldn’t.

She was a noble girl from the Duke’s Family, and it seemed like she’d prefer a pup or a kitten over a raccoon.

“Also, finding food for it could be a pain. You have to think about shedding too. There’s just too much to consider.”

“What if Grace gives her permission?”

“Sure, that’d be fine. However, the real question is whether you can handle that responsibility well.”

He’s really underestimating me. I pouted at his dismissal.

Still, it felt like I was half given permission already. All that was left was to convince Grace.

Rod seemed to get that, shrugging his shoulders. Then he turned his gaze, not at me, but to the side.

“So, what about you…”

“……….”

By now, Rod probably caught sight of Luna and her Pijon-tu, which was about the size of a human baby.

And at the same moment, he looked either frustrated or troubled.

While Neoburi was small enough to manage, the same couldn’t be said for Pijon-tu. Once again, I stress—it’s a baby that’s human-sized.

You can’t keep that in the dorm, and even if you did, it’d be cramped like crazy for Pijon-tu.

“Whatever else, you need to put that back. You can’t keep it.”

“Is it really not possible? I’m confident I can take care of it.”

“How are you planning on handling it? Once it starts flying, that’s a whole new set of problems.”

“Um…”

Luna gaped in silence, as if she had nothing to say. She must not have thought through how to manage it after dragging it along.

The only viable option was to leave it to Rod, but would he even allow that?

“…Director.”

“What is it?”

“Is there anything you need?”

Look at that. She’s already laying the groundwork for something.

Rod didn’t seem angry so much as he found it unbelievable, breaking into a chuckle.

Usually, he’d be angry, but Luna’s transparent intent was just too obvious to get riled up over.

He then looked at the Pijon-tu with a complicated expression. Pijon-tu tilted its head in confusion.

“Before anything else, why did you bring this bird? Do you really think it’ll just fly around once it grows up?”

“Um…”

Nailing her with that question made Luna’s eyes go wide. Rod’s awareness was impressive—he saw right through us.

Or maybe our thoughts were just that simplistic, like an amoeba.

“Sitting on the bird’s back and flying around might not be such a bad idea. Occasionally, people do that.”

“Really?”

“But that’s an extremely rare case. If it were possible, the military would have tried it first.”

Just as Luna was about to say something, Rod quickly threw in an example.

There’s a saying: most inventions are first tested by the military.

From radios to various devices, they all began in the military, with countless fields being first tried there.

If training the Pijon-tu to fly was easy, the military would’ve done it long ago. Yet here we are, still seeing people riding horses.

“I have serious doubts as to whether you could fall into that rare category… I mean, there’s hardly any space for it to fly freely.”

“………”

Luna’s gaze drifted sideways, exactly towards the backyard.

In other words, she was suggesting that it could just be raised in Rod’s backyard.

Rod seemed to catch on quickly to her implication, shifting his gaze there. And then he narrowed his eyes and raised his voice.

“No way! If that’s the case, it means I’m taking care of it, not you. Don’t even think about trying to offload it onto me!”

“…What if I ask Ratatosk?”

“What?”

Rod questioned back, surprised by that unexpected suggestion. I hadn’t thought of it either.

Seizing the opportunity, Luna hurriedly voiced her thoughts.

“What if we ask Ratatosk? It’s too suspicious to head into the forest because of the demons, and we can’t keep passing it to Eli either. Since it’s the same kind of animal, I bet it’d follow along well.”

“Ratatosk? Well…”

“And Pijon-tu is super obedient! It just came out of its nest and followed us without a peep.”

“Hmm…”

Rod hummed thoughtfully. It was true we had noticed Pijon-tu following us perfectly well.

The only issue was the nurturing aspect. If that gets solved, Rod might just agree to it.

“…I think it’s best you take your time to think it over. It’s late today, so come back after class tomorrow. Until then, I’ll take care of it.”

“Thank you!”

“Don’t get too excited. That’s not a yes yet.”

It felt like he had granted me half a yes. I swallowed that thought silently.

Anyway, with that pet issue roughly sorted, all that’s left is to get Grace’s permission.

“Oh, Sivar.”

“Yes?”

“Before you go, make sure you get a rabies shot. You never know.”

“Cow?”

It was like when I brought Porori home. I got the rabies shot just like Rod said.

Then Neoburi started whining and clinging to me. I patted Neoburi’s head affectionately.

Seeing that, it was clear it had already recognized me as its owner. I’m definitely set on raising it.

“…What’s that?”

“Um…”

After returning to the dorm, I ran into Grace.

She looked at Neoburi in my arms with a stunned expression and asked, “A puppy?”

“What puppy! That’s a raccoon!”

The obstacles weren’t over yet.