Chapter 152

Chapter 152

When Paul arrived, he saw the candy rabbits with their ears shrunk and the children running around in the grass, searching for the ears that had fallen off.

These orphans would often take the initiative to find Mike and Taya during their free time, offering to help the Animal Pet Shop with whatever they could manage.

Lorant would never let them do any heavy work. It just so happened that the candy rabbits had been shedding their ears all over the place, and Mike and his team were struggling to keep up.

So, these little helpers were called in to assist with the search.

The number of candy rabbits was fixed, so Mike only needed to count the ears collected each day to determine if any were still hidden.

Several days had passed since the first candy rabbit shed its ears, yet some were still well-hidden and hadn't been found.

Fortunately, these ears remained quite hard before processing, with a texture like sandstone, making them durable enough to store. Otherwise, if they were like the meat of exotic beasts, they would have spoiled in this weather.

Paul was quite curious about the pets at the Animal Pet Shop, which had not yet been officially announced, but he knew what was important. He set aside his curiosity and led the young knights straight to Lorant's side.

"Shopkeeper, these children are the ones we've selected to take on the Crystal Ice Flame Dogs," Paul said after greeting Lorant.

Lorant turned and sized up the young knights.

All twenty-five knights chosen by The Knights of the Thorns were Level 4, and they were young, clearly geniuses.

Only such talented individuals could stand out among many knights and earn the right to be the first to own a Crystal Ice Flame Dog.

"Alright, Paul," Lorant nodded. "Let's get started then."

He wasn't particularly concerned about the selection process of The Knights of the Thorns. Ultimately, the Crystal Ice Flame Dogs themselves would have to approve the choice. Even if the selected candidates weren't suitable, it wouldn't be a problem.

The most crucial moment would be when these young knights came of age and were ready to sign the contract.

At that time, it would be like the tide receding, revealing who was swimming naked.

The young knights were incredibly excited. They looked at the Crystal Ice Flame Dogs from a distance, as if they were grooms about to lift the veil of their brides, eager to see who their partner would be.

Although they couldn't take the Crystal Ice Flame Dogs home yet, the Animal Pet Shop would arrange weekly open days, allowing them to visit their future partners.

This already made the knights very content, as it meant they were one step closer to truly owning their Crystal Ice Flame Dogs.

As long as there was hope, humans could endure much.

Lorant led Paul and the others inside, with Mo'er and Mike following behind.

"You can all go in together," Lorant briefly explained how to establish a connection with the Crystal Ice Flame Dogs and the precautions for mutual selection, then allowed the twenty-five knights to enter.

This was the reason he had invited Paul and the others today—to see if the mutual selection process could proceed smoothly with a larger group.

After all, tomorrow he would face a hundred guests. If he had to handle each one individually, it would take a very long time.

Lorant didn't want to go through that much trouble.

"Understood," Paul nodded, turning to the nervous knights. "Follow the shopkeeper's instructions strictly. Don't make any unnecessary movements, got it?"

Paul usually appeared gentle, but when he was serious, he could be quite intimidating.

The young knights straightened their chests and nodded vigorously.

They walked toward the group of Crystal Ice Flame Dogs with a sense of solemnity.

Mo'er followed behind, his face filled with worry, taking a few steps forward before hesitating and stepping back.

One of the small Crystal Ice Flame Dogs, which had been watching Mo'er closely, was among the closest group of puppies.

The knights preparing for mutual selection didn't have much to choose from.

They looked around, finding the puppies all seemed identical. After playing with a few of them using items suggested by Lorant, they took out the sachets Lorant had given them and attached them to their waists.

Lorant had spent a considerable amount of time developing these 'mutual selection sachets' based on the adult Crystal Ice Flame Dogs' contracts and the information in the compendium.

These sachets emitted a unique scent that the Crystal Ice Flame Dogs could recognize, indicating that the person was there to form a contract.

However, since the Crystal Ice Flame Dogs were not yet mature, they couldn't form a contract. Instead, they would quickly notice the person and understand their purpose.

If they felt a connection, the selection would naturally occur.

Lorant had tested the sachet formula countless times, and the final version had been approved by the compendium.

Wearing the sachet was like carrying a bright sign that read 'looking for a partner' in a crowd.

Those who were interested would approach, while those who weren't would stay away.

This simplified the mutual selection process significantly.

The knights themselves were also proactive, moving close to the puppies and trying to get them to smell their scent.

If a puppy smelled the knight and was willing to make eye contact, come closer, and accept their touch and treats, the selection was almost complete.

Puppies who were not interested would run away upon smelling the sachet.

One of the knights hung the sachet and stood still for a moment. He looked around but didn't see any particular Crystal Ice Flame Dog he wanted.

Honestly, he felt a connection with every Crystal Ice Flame Dog in the yard. As long as one of them chose him, he would consider himself lucky.

What he feared was that none of the hundred Crystal Ice Flame Dogs would choose him.

He was afraid he might burst into tears right there.

It felt rather embarrassing.

To avoid falling into such a disheartening situation, the young knight bravely chose the closest little one lying on the ground and walked over.

After entering this activity area, his inner panic subsided significantly, especially when he saw that several of his fellow knights quickly stood beside the Crystal Ice Flame Dogs without being rejected; he breathed a huge sigh of relief.

It seemed that these Crystal Ice Flame Dogs were not as picky as he had imagined,

Just as the shop owner said, they were all very friendly and affectionate kids!

However, before he could reach the Crystal Ice Flame Dog, the originally lazy little one suddenly turned its head to look at him.

Those crystal-colored eyes were filled with a strong sense of vigilance.

The knight immediately remembered Lorant’s warning: if you make eye contact with a Crystal Ice Flame Dog, you must wait for it to look away before moving forward.

Maintaining eye contact means the dog allows you to proceed, but if it keeps staring at you, it's best not to move rashly.

If the eye contact lasts too long, consider slowly retreating. When you retreat to a certain distance, if the dog looks away, you can leave.

The knight froze on the spot, not daring to move his gaze from the Crystal Ice Flame Dog.

The Crystal Ice Flame Dog made no extra movements. Upon noticing the attempt to approach, it straightforwardly got up and moved to another shady spot, lying down again and looking ahead.

The young knight sighed in relief but also felt deeply disappointed.

He clearly understood that this meant he was rejected by the Crystal Ice Flame Dog.

It seemed he was disliked.

But now wasn’t the time to sit in a corner and draw circles pretending to be a mushroom. The young knight gritted his teeth and turned to look for other Crystal Ice Flame Dogs.

This one didn’t want to acknowledge him, but perhaps there would be others who would?

He tried to stay optimistic, but his steps were still heavy as he moved forward.

Paul, outside, was always paying close attention to the children he had brought.

Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but frown.

"Lorant, what does it mean if a Crystal Ice Flame Dog rejects someone? Could it have something to do with their compatibility with the dogs?" This was his first time handling such an event, and even the slightest hint of trouble made him alert.

If Lorant gave a definitive answer, Paul was prepared to replace the knight who wasn’t chosen, moving to the next name on the list.

Lorant had also seen what just happened and shook his head with a smile. "Not really, Paul. Being rejected by one Crystal Ice Flame Dog doesn’t mean much."

"These little ones have their own thoughts and preferences. Some don’t like Mike at all and only want to interact with Taya. These are things we can’t control."

"But if many Crystal Ice Flame Dogs reject someone, there might be some strange reasons."

"After all, these little ones have very sharp instincts, but this is our first large-scale selection process, so we’re still figuring things out." He said honestly.

"But if you’re talking about that child, it’s not his fault at all." Lorant looked at Mo'er, who was full of worry, and almost laughed.

He lowered his voice and whispered to Paul, "That child is Mo'er’s Crystal Ice Flame Dog. Although they haven’t officially chosen each other yet, they’ve already formed a bond through long-term interaction. Mo'er just doesn’t know it yet."

Paul glanced at Mo'er, understanding Lorant’s meaning. "So why is that child still inside? Does that mean—?"

Lorant smiled, enjoying the sight of his brother’s worried face. "We’re fooling Mo'er. That kid never tells me anything, so I need to teach him a lesson."

Paul looked at Mo'er, who was completely unaware, with sympathy.

Tsk, falling into the hands of such a mischievous brother is your fate, child.

Fortunately, the young knight wasn’t someone who naturally repelled dogs. On his second attempt, he successfully won the favor of a Crystal Ice Flame Dog.

As Lorant had said, Crystal Ice Flame Dogs weren’t particularly picky. It didn’t take long for all twenty-five knights to come out smiling, each with their own Crystal Ice Flame Dog.

Seeing the twenty-five handsome and spirited young men standing in a row, grinning widely, Lorant’s mood improved significantly.

The group matching of Crystal Ice Flame Dogs was feasible, which greatly pleased Lorant. Tomorrow’s work would be much easier.

Paul left with the knights, satisfied. On the other side, the people from the outpost were already eagerly waiting.

Lorant had deliberately scheduled different times for them and the Knights of the Thorns, but the outpost’s early arrival still caused a brief encounter between the two groups.

Baqi came personally, leading twenty-five knights as excited as those from the Knights of the Thorns.

However, these knights appeared to be considerably older.

Clearly, the talent distribution within the Knight Regiment was uneven.

When Baqi saw the twenty-five joyful faces behind Paul, he immediately felt annoyed.

The Animal Pet Shop had given the outpost only twenty-five slots, and after discussions among the ten outposts, they decided to divide the selection into two batches.

As the outpost closest to the Animal Pet Shop, Baqi naturally took the lead.

Regardless of other factors, for an outpost that was usually overlooked by the main Knight Regiment and only mentioned during beast waves, obtaining five or six high-level combatants was quite impressive.

And these combatants were obedient and well-behaved, making them even more valuable. What more could they ask for?

Ever since Little Eight demonstrated its prowess outside the outpost by single-handedly defeating the Black Gold Iron Python, Baqi had been eager for such a pet.

As for the Knights of the Thorns receiving twenty-five slots, Baqi had known about it, but knowing and accepting were two different things. He still felt annoyed.

He scowled at Paul. "These are the ones the Knights of the Thorns selected to receive Crystal Ice Flame Dogs, Paul. Looks like you don’t value pets much!"

"If Lorant hadn’t contacted you first, you probably wouldn’t care about pets at all." Seeing Lorant and the others nearby, he deliberately wanted to provoke Paul.

Paul's position in the Knight Regiment was indeed quite special, but this did not dampen Baqi's current mood to pick a fight, big or small.

The twenty-five young knights of The Knights of the Thorns were all very displeased when they heard this. The anger of being looked down upon made them clench their fists and glare at the station chief in front of them.

Although everyone was part of the Knight Regiment, one was a station and the other was The Knights of the Thorns; they had always kept their waters separate.

Whether he was a station chief or not, these knights from the Knight Regiment didn't care at all!

Paul, however, remained quite calm. He smiled slightly and said, "Baqi, what you're saying is wrong. If we didn't take it seriously, would I come here every day? If I didn't hang around with Store Manager Lorant every day, he wouldn't have given us half of the spots, right?"

By directly bringing up the spots, he immediately left Baqi speechless.

Paul cleverly attributed the ability to obtain more Crystal Ice Flame Dogs to his daily visits to the Animal Pet Shop, but in reality, Lorant's decision was based more on the timing of their reservations.

However, regardless of the facts, Paul's little lie was enough to irritate people.

When Baqi accused others of not taking things seriously, Paul deftly countered that they had secured twenty-five spots because of their seriousness. His implication was clear: you talk about taking things seriously, but we still managed to secure half of the spots by coming here every day.

This hit Baqi right where it hurt. The Third Station was practically next door to the Animal Pet Shop, yet they hadn't thought to send someone there every day.

On the other hand, despite the distance, Paul had managed to do just that, leaving Baqi with no way to save face.

Fortunately, Paul wasn't the type to press his advantage. He chuckled, coughed twice, and led the twenty-five knights out. "Alright, Baqi, let's not talk about this anymore. Come visit our base later, and we can catch up. The young store manager is waiting. You guys should hurry over."

Baqi watched as Paul walked away and snorted coldly, "I'm not going to waste my time arguing with them. Let's go!"

Apart from the Third Station, which had forcibly secured one spot through some 'connections,' the other four spots were allocated by lottery among the remaining stations.

As the person in charge, Baqi had brought twenty-five knights from each station to the Animal Pet Shop for the mutual selection process.

With the experience from earlier, this mutual selection went particularly quickly this time.

Baqi and Lorant stood to the side, and before they could exchange a few words, all the knights had successfully chosen their Crystal Ice Flame Dogs.

"Remember to drop by the station sometime. Our patrol team has been keeping an eye out for the live exotic beasts you requested. Don't worry," Baqi said with a smile, looking at the knights who were beaming with joy, each holding their new Crystal Ice Flame Dog. His mood was greatly improved.

The cooperation between the station and the Animal Pet Shop remained strong, but unfortunately, lower-level exotic beasts like Windblade Foxes and Claw Wolves were highly sought after in the market.

Most of the time, they were captured by enthusiastic adventurers before the patrol teams could even discover them.

Higher-level exotic beasts, such as Swamp Slimes, were even harder to find and extremely difficult to capture.

So far, the station's contributions to the live exotic beast acquisition tasks posted by the Animal Pet Shop had been minimal.

But this did not prevent them from becoming an important node on the Blue Star Trading Platform.

The station joined the platform shortly after its establishment, personally invited by Lancelot.

Their addition significantly expanded the platform's scale, making it appear more authoritative and broadening the scope of available tasks.

Moreover, the station already had the function of acquiring and selling exotic beasts. With the Blue Star platform, they could categorize and quickly find suitable buyers for the exotic beasts they acquired, increasing their profits many times over with just a bit of effort.

Why wouldn't they be happy about that?

After seeing off Baqi and his group, the Animal Pet Shop finally had a moment of peace.

Lorant glanced at Mo'er, who was trying to turn into a 'human (dog) stone' with his Crystal Ice Flame Dog, but ignored him.

Let him stay like that for the night; they could talk tomorrow.

Lorant silently thought that only through true separation could the joy of reunion be truly appreciated.

Indeed, life's lessons are best learned through personal experience!

Yes! He was truly a good older brother considering his younger brother's well-being!

Unaware of his demon brother's thoughts, Mo'er sadly worked with Mike to select the Crystal Ice Flame Dogs that had completed the mutual selection process and mark them.

After the selection, the owners gained the right to name their new companions.

They could choose to buy high-quality metal plaques from the Animal Pet Shop, or use the plain wooden plaque that came with the dog, but either way, they could hang a personalized plaque around their Crystal Ice Flame Dog's neck.

The station and the Knight Regiment naturally wouldn't cover the expensive metal plaques, but as true owners of the Crystal Ice Flame Dogs, the knights didn't mind spending a few gold coins.

All fifty knights today bought their own metal plaques and named their Crystal Ice Flame Dogs.

These names had been prepared for months, and some knights had put more thought into them than they had into naming their children.

Now, facing their future battle companions, all professionals showed unparalleled patience.

In the past two days, with the busyness, Lorant's attitude towards Lancelot had returned to how it was before, and they got along harmoniously. Only he knew that something seemed to have subtly changed without him noticing.

That evening, after tasting the cold dishes prepared for the guests the next day and giving Martha, who looked nervous, a few suggestions, the two of them strolled around the Animal Pet Shop for a long time.

Lancelot wasn't a talkative person. Before meeting Lorant, he was a shrewd nobleman who only did what was in his best interest.

When social situations required it, Lancelot could be a witty and considerate young nobleman.

But fundamentally, he was a quiet person.

Lorant had noticed this.

When they first met, both wore thick masks, and they appeared to chat quite well.

In reality, it was all superficial politeness.

Over time, they became more natural with each other. It wasn't that they had nothing to say; when the mood struck, they could talk non-stop for hours.

But if one of them didn’t want to speak, they could still quietly accompany each other, just like today, without saying much, simply walking together in the backyard for a long time.

“Lance.” Lorant, sitting by the lake, watched the Windbreaker horse quietly lower its head to drink water. Suddenly, he spoke, “I’m a bit nervous.”

“Do you know? Every time there’s something important, I get really nervous.”

“I used to think that doing it more often would help me overcome it, but now I realize that I can never just get over this.”

His voice softened, revealing a hint of vulnerability, “I’m just worried that I’ll do badly and let everyone down.”

Lancelot turned his head to look at the young man who showed a bit of his softer side under the night sky, his heart melting completely.

“If you don’t like it, we won’t do it. We can cancel tomorrow’s open day,” the white-haired knight said directly, his tone uncharacteristically domineering, “Or I can do it. If you don’t like such occasions, I can handle them from now on.”

Lancelot looked into Lorant’s eyes with utmost seriousness.

Lorant suddenly smiled brightly, “Lance, why do you think like that? Usually, in such situations, shouldn’t you comfort me and encourage me? Why would someone suggest giving up?”

He laughed happily, his tone free of any blame, and he looked soft and alluring under the moonlight.

Lancelot couldn’t help but look away, “If you don’t want to do something, you just don’t do it. Encouragement is just forcing someone. I don’t want to force you to do anything, Lorant.”

“I just want you to be happy, not to feel so burdened.”

Lorant’s smile faded as he gazed at the side profile of the white-haired knight, his eyes seeming to hold the entire starry sky.

Ruth had said ‘be happy’ to him, and the baby ghost spider had said it too. Now, Lancelot was saying it.

The first two were people who trusted him completely and loved him.

So... does that mean...

“But even though you say that, I still have to go and do my job tomorrow,” the young man turned his head and smiled at Lancelot’s reaction, “What should I do?”

Lancelot looked up at Lorant, who seemed particularly alluring today, and for a moment, he felt at a loss. The young man’s voice was like a little hook, soft and slightly playful, with a touch of coquettishness at the end.

The domineering attitude from before was instantly broken by Lorant’s almost coquettish tone. Lancelot, almost at a loss, stared back at the young man who was looking at him intently, mechanically repeating, “Wha, what should I do?”

Lorant broke into a big smile.

“Lancelot, give me a hug, okay? That will give me the courage to face tomorrow.”

......

Author's Note:

Lancelot: Dizzy but bubbling with happiness

Mo'er: The world where only I am hurt has appeared.

There might be a small update today if my head doesn’t start spinning again… Love you all.