New law of Beast Taming

Stella hated to admit it, but she had panicked as soon as she had realized that the dwarf had been missing. She had looked around for the dwarf, hoping to find him soon, but she had no such luck on her side.

But he had not been outside the forest. It had been desperate times that forced Stella to use the location device to try and find the dwarf. And she was lucky that she did so because she would not have realized that the dwarf had run inside the valley once more.

Once she had confirmed the dwarf's location, Stella had no other choice but to go after him. She was tasked with protecting him after all.

So, Stella ran into the valley as well. She quietly moved around to try and find the dwarf once more. She finally reached the clearing and had a clear view of Cardin's back.

But the foolish dwarf had already gotten himself into danger. There was no saving him and Stella started preparing her defense inside her mind. She needed to convince people that this death was not her fault.

That had been the plan all alone, so Stella did not know when her feet carried her in between the dwarf and the incoming attack. Stella looked up with horrified eyes as she was about to be hit by the beast's attack.

"Stella, what are you doing?"

Yoko's voice was a mix of impatient and horrified. Stella hoped that she had an answer to her question, but she unfortunately did not have one for Yoko. All she could feel was that this was the end for her.

'I…did I live a good life? I do not feel as if I achieved anything I wanted to do. All I ever did was act like a prisoner.'

That had been Stella's life when she looked back at things. She had been someone's toy this whole time. If she had not been carrying out government orders, then she would have been looking after other things.

How long had this been going on for? How long had Stella been in this position? When did her position change from an esteemed guard to a lap dog anyone could exploit? Even she did not know it.

'Is this…goodbye?'

Stella asked as she felt the attack seer her body. Her raised arms already had crashed due to the power of the attack. It would make her perish if she did not do something.

"S-S-Stop that attack. We would both die if it hits us."

Professor Cardin shivered and muttered as he collapsed. He needed to run out of the attack's way but the dwarf looked too stunned to move.

"Get out of the way right now. I do not know how long I will be able to hold on."

Stella complained and the dwarf tried to move. But his legs refused to move. Instead of looking worried or scared, Cardin had a fascinated look on his face.

"So, this is fear? Is this what collapsing because of fear looks like? This feeling! It is too intense! H-How magnificent this is."

Professor Cardin sounded fascinated with his current condition. He likely wanted to experience more to see how he would feel later. But all he was doing was adding to Stella's burden.

"You stupid professor, hurry up and…"

Stella choked on her words. A force was stopping her from cursing Professor Cardin out and it felt the same as her compulsion to save him.

When had all this been added to her, Stella did not even know. She just knew that she had been cursed and she did not remember it.

......…

Amand had to admit that her heart skipped a beat when she had watched Stella combat the beast and she had wanted to help.

But up until now, she had been too stunned to do anything more than watch. Once she had gathered her wits, it was time for Amane to start helping.

The beast looked pleased after he attacked Cardin. He did not seem to care if anyone else was being affected by his attack or not.

"Hey, stop your attack."

Amane whispered and she understood the dragon had heard her words. But he still chose to ignore Amane and continued his attack.

The intensity of his attacks was not something a human could withstand. It was a miracle how Stella was able to hold on to it for this long. Her wounds must be severe.

"You leave me with no other choice but to do this."

Amane warned the dragon before she gathered her aura into her fist and brought it down on top of the leviathan's head. The body made of water giggled at the force of Amane's aura and Amane was sure that she could feel a sour look headed her way.

But this time, Amane's warning was finally taken seriously and the attack faded. Stella, who had been using her force to keep the dragon's attack away collapsed forward. She had a fascinated look on her face.

However, it was nothing compared to Cardin. He looked ready to die and profess his love at the same time. He quickly took advantage of not being attacked to crawl toward the leviathan.

"Such a perfect specimen. Yoko Tsurugi, quick. You need to detain it so that we can study such a perfect creature."

The dwarf whispered as he continued to reach out for the leviathan. That was when Amane knew that it was time to make the water-dragon go away.

She signaled for the leviathan to go away and the dragon looked remorseful. It did not want to go back and it gave Amane a pitiful look. But Amane was not moved by that fake expression on the dragon's face.

So, with a final sigh of reluctance, the dragon quickly disappeared beneath the earth's surface and back into its watery depths.

It left the dwarf in a state of awed disappointment. Cardin turned toward Amane and started complaining to her about what she had just done.

"Yoko Tsurugi, why did you allow that dragon to disappear like this? Do you have any idea how much research we could have done if we had a few samples of that thing? Immortality would not have been too much of a stretch."

"If we combined it with the samples of the phoenix blood we found, it would have been even better. Imagine the creature with the dragon's vitality and the phoenix's ability to love forever. It would have been magnificent."

Professor Cardin boasted about the creature that could have been. But Amane was not interested in such an abomination.

She had seen what the failed attempts of an unsuccessful cross-breeding were and she did not want such things to come to this world now.

"I guess it is a good thing that I let the dragon escape. People like you are the reason we must keep such creatures out of the way of normal human beings. You will kill them all if it's for your research."

Amane reminded Cardin and now he had a sour and offended look on his face.

"Hey, I am not killing these creatures. It is for science and the betterment of humans. What are a few lives when compared to a whole race of people."

Professor Cardin sounded so sure of his conclusion. And somewhere deep down, Amane hated to agree with him. Sacrificing a smaller number for a larger one sounded logical.

But the only problem in this situation was - there was no need to sacrifice the smaller number at all. Humans were already thriving and living the best life possible.

"You say you are doing this all for humanity? Then what does that say about you? You are not a human, but a dwarf. You are an entirely different species from us-"

"That is not true. Humans and dwarfs have the same genes, but different expressions of such genes. It would be more scientifically correct to call us 'cousins' rather than different species. And anyway, stop changing the subject."

Professor Cardin warned Amane before he started to look around. But the leviathan was long gone. Amane could not even feel its presence in the vicinity anymore.

"It's gone. Such a perfect specimen and it is gone just like that. Yoko Tsurugi, it is all your fault. If not for you, then we would have captured that dragon. You will have to make it up to me."

Professor Cardin sounded pissed and this was the first time Amane had seen him angry. The dwarf had looked like an easy-going person up until now.

"Hmm, I don't see how any of this is my problem or why I owe you one. As far as I am concerned, I have saved your life by making the dragon go away."

Amane reminded the professor but Cardin looked pissed. He had reached his conclusion and now was not in the mood to listen to anyone else.

Stella finally decided to interfere and glared at Professor Cardin with an annoyed look on her face.

"Professor, you have broken a lot of rules today. I asked you to stay put but you still decided to leave my side. I am afraid that I will have to report all this to the authorities."

Stella warned the professor and he looked even more annoyed now. He stomped his feet and threw a tantrum.

"Hmph, do as you wish. See if I care what you do and do not report. But make no mistake, those greedy fools will take my side when it comes to decision-making."