My name is Ryu.

I don’t have a family name because I’m just a commoner.

I’m turning 16 this year.

Occupation, tamer.

More specifically, I raise the horses and cows kept in the ranch. I also occasionally take a look at pets, so I’m a bit of a vet as well. Well, I’m still just an apprentice though.

It’s not really that I wanted to be a tamer, but it was written on the card I received from the town’s church that I had a skill that was suitable to being a tamer. It didn’t even say exactly that I should be a tamer, but I just went with it because of the skill.

Meanwhile, my two childhood friends ended up as a [Hero Candidate] and a [Sorcerer].

[Hero Candidate], simply said, means that the person has the potential to become a [Hero] in the future depending on their future growth and how many people they save.

And while [Sorcerer] is a fairly common job, it requires one to be smart and have a high amount of magic power from birth. Because of their aptitude as healers and support, they are in constant demand.

Even more, I’ve heard rumors that my childhood friend is just one step away from becoming a [Sage], a high-class occupation.

Out of us three, not just one, but two of us were gifted.

Well, I heard that just as much as they were special, they were poking their heads around in equally dangerous situations. On the other hand, I do my job just as I’m expected to without any dangers.

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With that being said, it’s an undeniable fact that when compared to those two, I seem pitiable.

Every day with no exception, I need to wake up early to feed the animals with grass and water.

While the two hometown heroes come back to rest, as someone responsible for the lives of the animals, I can rarely clear up free time. The number of personnel where I work is quite low, and honestly, other than the pay, the work environment is rather merciless.

There aren’t any girls around my age here.

To be frank with you my job is very unpopular. It’s a bit far away from the town, and because we have to collect the animals’ manure, there are barely any women. Even the ones here are those who came as wives, so really they’re all old women.

It really is a harsh truth to a male teen.

At noon, an old lady who went out shopping said that the two will be coming back to the town soon. She said that I should at least show up when they arrive, but I declined.

I mean, it was such a long time ago when we played together that even the memories have gotten fuzzy, and at this point the worlds that we live in have become too different.

I’m a commoner, and they’re heroes.

It doesn’t matter that we were originally both commoners, because now, our positions have changed too much. That’s why I haven’t talked with them, and I’m sure it’ll stay that way in the future as well.

One day when I was resting, I was inside a forest close by from work. I come here quite often to rest, mindlessly chilling.

Right now as well, I’m here because I just want to empty my head after hearing the news that they’re going to come back soon.

This was the place we used to play at when we were young.

But the time that we would play together was cut short.

One of them couldn’t play anymore because of their swordsmanship training with the knights to become a hero, and the other started going to the church to learn magic, to support the potential hero in the future.

I think both of them had great reasons to stop playing with me, but as a child, I couldn’t help but be saddened by their decisions.

That’s why in their absence, I even played with the hunting dogs of a hunter who would use his [Tamer] skills to play with animals, in the name of taking care of the dogs. I bet that’s where my [Tamer] skills come from, and my lonely job is probably just an extension of my lonely childhood.

While I was reminiscing about the past, I suddenly heard something, like someone was scurrying around.

Wondering what it was, I turned my head to the source of the sound, to see a lone wolf.

It was beautiful. Fur as dark as the night, with eyes like moons lighting up the sky, golden. Its limbs were thin and long, with no unnecessary weight anywhere on the body, but still firm, just the perfect body. There it stood, a dazzlingly beautiful wolf.

It seemed as though it was caught by a hunter’s trap. It was struggling, trying to pull out its hind leg as the metal clank echoed through the trees.

Honestly, wolves are an annoying existence to humans.

In small ranches like the one I work at, losing even one cow would mean an immense loss, and while rare, they can also attack people.

It’s even to the point that there are extermination requests at the guild.

In one word, they’re vermin.

Normally, ignoring the wolf would be best, but I decided to help it.

I couldn’t help but think that it would be a waste for such a stunning wolf to die here as I looked at it.

As I moved, the wolf noticed me and tried to intimidate me. Still, moving forward, I got close to remove the trap.

Right at that moment, it bit my arm with full force, understandably as I could have well been trying to kill it.

But dang! Its fangs hurt so much! I’ve been bitten by dogs and cats before, but it’s never been this painful. You’re really trying to bite my arm off, aren’t you!

Withstanding the pain, I took off the trap and immediately stepped back.

Probably still bothered by the trap, the wolf kept the injured leg up to not apply pressure to it, as it stared daggers right at me.

Seeing this, I threw the contents of a potion at it.

After the potion splashed onto it, it went right back to threatening me, but as it realised that the wound on the hindleg was healed, it looked at me with curious eyes, looking like it was wondering what had just happened.

“Go on, hurry up and leave.”

I started heading back to the ranch after I said that. Usually, you should never turn your back on wild animals, but I doubted I would get attacked at least this time.

After walking a few steps, I heard the rustling sound I heard before, and turning my head around, the wolf appeared to have left back deeper into the woods.