Hajime looked at the club in shock, not understanding just what made the system register it as his familiar. He scrolled through the system notification, and came across an explanation.
For methods of servant and familiar acquiring, he had to either let them surrender through loss of resistance, or have them show a sense of gratitude.
However, for servants, he had to manually place the brand on them to finalize the contract. Hajime now understood. He knelt down, allowing the little bundle of black, grey and white fur to prop itself over his right arm. Hajime decided to keep the cub since he didn't know how to erase Servitude Marks of this kind.
Back at the inn,
Hajime speculated, was the system trying to tell him to start cultivating the familiar embryo?
Was he supposed to have these powers?
All these questions ran through his mind as he sat at the edge of the bed, Elisa calmly tucked away under the linen blankets.
Her beautiful expression as she slept, some how relieved Hajime's mind from the tension of contemplation.
Hajime's thoughts were now at ease.
Although he could not shake off the thought of whether it was advisable to put his new found family in danger over the pursuit of truth and revenge.
The following day,
Elisa lay in his arms as the beaming sunlight pierced into their room. Hajime's messy black and pink hair covered a generous portion of his face and showed only his right eye. The soft glow of his crimson eyes hinted at admiration as his beloved opened her eyes and looked back at him. She pulled him closer, seemingly trying to kiss him, only to go for his neck instead. Elisa was blood thirsty and did not hesitate to feed herself from Hajime's mana thick blood supply.
Hajime chose compliance, rubbing her creamy white hair as she red from him.
Afterwards, she pulled back, a small smudge of blood visible on her lip. Her skin turned pale since she became a vampire.
Hajime looked at her and couldn't help but smile lovingly. This caught her off guard, causing her to blushing and pull the blanket over her mouth. Hajime pulled away the blanket, wiping the blood off with his thumb as he pulled her closer for a kiss.
That morning was the start of the Brave Warrior Tournament and Hajime was ready to single handedly, burn through the first round of contestants with ease. He put on The Mourner's Mask, combining it with mana manipulation to warp his facial features. He had done this on the day of the registration to hide his distinct pink streaks. His hair was now all black, his eyes still having the crimson glow.
They had seven days left untill the blessing ceremony, which meant that they had to have the artifact ready by then.
Hajime left the inn with Elisa, both of them clad in their night cloaks and wearing their perception warping gear.
At the battle arena, crowds amassed. There were aristocrats wanting to recruit good soldiers and your run of the mill commoners who just loved to gamble on warriors.
Not being a familiar face in the tournament, Hajime thought of placing a high stakes on himself and reaping much reward. His idea was shot down, when a glaring Elisa shot him a glance. Elisa sat in the stands, quietly cheering Hajime on.
For the first match up, an A ranked adventurer was going up against a mercenary. Hajime stood at the tunnel way of the arena, assessing the two. From one glance, he knew the A ranked adventurer was Dual Wielder. This was a novelty, even among seasoned swordsman. The mercenary on the other hand was a berserker.
His muscles bulged, seemingly trying to tear through the leather apparatus he wore.
The rules of the tournament were not quite clear to Hajime. From what he had heard, the rules are different each time. This year's rules were announced by a lanky commentator in a purple blazer.
The rules were simple, the more you can stand, the further you can go. This meant, if a participant won a match, they would continue until they were defeated. After which, the one who claimed victory would continue until the last man standing.
The rules were shabby, confirming Hajime's suspicions that this was a scouting event, not just some tournament. He decided to gauge the match. When the signal was given, the dual wielding warrior was Ted no time, vanishing from sheer speed as he closed in on the berserker. Rapiers met buldging muscles as the berserker hardened his body with his unique skill, Indomitable. The spectators roared the name of the Dual Wielder, expecting him to over come the obstacle.
Raker! Raker!
The man's name, John Raker, was well known for his exceptional monster hunting talents. What the crowd saw as testing his opponent, Hajime saw it as the fear of loss.
" This guy's not doing well. At this rate, his rapiers were bound to shatter".
Hajime unconsciously voiced his opinion, getting a response from a figure beside him.
" Hmmm, you're right. I've got a feeling the match is already decided... ..."
Hajime ignored the black haired, busty woman beside him and decided to make silence his answer.
On the arena stage, the rapier user closed in towards the berserker. With a dual axis swing, his blades came down with a lightning fast slash. Sparks of flames could be seen as of the blade had struck a boulder. The rapiers broke, and the berserker wasted no time, smashing his head into the arena floor.
The first match was easily decided. The announcer presented an odd name, a new face. A person who had not been seen in the tournament before. His name, Solomon Solo. Hajime took out his Dark Knight's Weapon from his dimension pouch, walking away from the curious woman, who couldn't read his aura at all, as if he wasn't an existing being. On the stage, some recognized him as the participant who had such intense dark magic at the registration stage of the tournament. The aristocrats began to ask their proxies to gather information on Hajime, which was going according to his plans.
If this was new rule of the tournament, he was confident he could finish off the remaining ninety-eight participants within a day. The berserker, having defeated a household name, mocked Hajime's alter ego, Solomon Solo. The announcer had mentioned the berserker's name earlier, which caught Hajime's attention.
He knew the name. " Regurd Aimer ". He's known as the top mercenary of the Horizon Peaks mercenary organization, Roaring Fang. Hajime was happy to use such a figure as a stepping stone, not worrying about holding back, since he wanted to draw attention this time round.
The match began when the signal was given, Hajime standing still as Regurd closed in with lightning speeds. The woman from earlier was curious of just how strong Hajime was, wanting to see what he does.