It had to be said—subduing this Yuki-onna was, for Duanmu Huai, both easy and troublesome.
It was easy because he hadn't even lifted a hand—she had gone completely limp on her own, showing not the slightest intention of resisting.
It was troublesome because… although the Yuki-onna had gone limp, her heart still resisted becoming Duanmu Huai's familiar.
And this resistance manifested as—
"Damn it, failed again."
Watching the rope slip down off the Yuki-onna's body, Duanmu Huai couldn't help but curse out loud. Hearing his shout, the Yuki-onna immediately shrank back in fright.
Because capturing Bunny-Bunny earlier had gone so smoothly, Duanmu Huai hadn't really understood what would happen if a girl monster resisted internally. Now, he finally understood why monster tamers needed to use binding ropes when capturing monsters. Even though Duanmu Huai had tied the Yuki-onna up nice and tight, the moment he finished the final knot, the rope simply slid right off her body—as if he hadn't tied up a person at all, but something like a porcelain vase.
Duanmu Huai had also considered whether it was just her internal resistance, thinking that knocking her unconscious might solve the problem. But even after he knocked her out and then tied her up, the result was exactly the same…
Clearly, although the Yuki-onna looked like she was crying pitifully on the surface, acting cowardly as hell, she absolutely refused to become Duanmu Huai's familiar.
"What a pain…"
Duanmu Huai scratched his head and looked at the Yuki-onna. At this moment, she was lying on the ground crying, her clothes in disarray. Her kimono was completely messed up, even exposing her shoulder…
Of course, this wasn't because Duanmu Huai had done anything to her—it was just the result of a few mishaps during the binding process.
"Let me see what the book says… it doesn't say anything! Damn it!"
Duanmu Huai flipped through the illustrated manual once again, then directly tossed it aside. The book only explained how to capture monsters and what failure looked like—but it didn't explain how to remedy things after a failed capture.
That's not right, is it?
Even if you can't stuff a Pokémon into a Poké Ball, you can still force it in with a Master Ball. Are monster girls really this hard to deal with?
Of course, that was just game mechanics. Whether Pokémon in reality would really be that easy to capture… Duanmu Huai had no idea.
Because forming contracts with Bunny-Bunny and the maid had gone so smoothly, Duanmu Huai had developed the illusion that capturing monster girls wasn't a big deal at all. Now, it seemed that wasn't the case in the slightest…
No wonder there were so few female monster tamers in this world.
"Sigh…"
After glancing at the Yuki-onna again, Duanmu Huai let out a helpless sigh and stood up.
Forget it. This one clearly couldn't be subdued.
She agreed a thousand times with her mouth, but in her heart it was "this lady refuses." A melon forced off the vine isn't sweet anyway. At least now Duanmu Huai understood that not every monster girl was as brainless as Bunny-Bunny…
"Forget it. Let's go."
Having confirmed that this Yuki-onna was unwilling to follow him, Duanmu Huai didn't want to waste any more time on her. After all, this was just a mission. Going after rares was merely a personal preference. If he could get one, great. If not, just grab any random one to hand in and be done with it.
"Eh?"
Seeing Duanmu Huai turn around and leave, the Yuki-onna froze.
"Wait, where are you going?"
"We're leaving. Sorry for disturbing you for so long. Since you're unwilling, let's just leave it at that."
Duanmu Huai waved his hand and headed down the mountain. Seeing this, the Yuki-onna stood up in shock.
"Wait, that's it? Aren't you going to pin me to the ground, ignore my struggles and cries, brutally ravage my body and mind, and finally exhaust me both mentally and physically until I choose to submit to you?"
"...…"
What kind of masochist is this?
Hearing her question, Duanmu Huai's eye twitched.
"You want to be treated like that?"
"O–Of course not!"
The Yuki-onna jumped in fright, retreating several steps as she shook her head vigorously.
"I am a Yuki-onna! I will never submit to humans… b–but that's exactly why humans will treat me violently. They'll capture me, force me to submit. My pure, immaculate body will be brutally violated and toyed with by humans. No matter how much I cry or beg, they won't let me go. Yes… I'll be treated like an animal! Ahhh— I, a Yuki-onna, becoming a human slave, being ordered around at their whim…"
As she spoke, the Yuki-onna hugged herself tightly, trembling, her voice growing increasingly emotional. She raised her head toward the sky, her entire body shaking.
"Then I'll be locked in a filthy, lightless room, used by humans every single day as an outlet for their desires. My body will become dirty and defiled. When I cry and beg them to spare me, they'll only step on my face and call me a worthless wild dog… ahh, to think I'd be treated so cruelly…"
"…Let's go."
Duanmu Huai silently turned around and walked straight down the mountain.
Even if this Yuki-onna begged him now, he wouldn't want her.
She looked almost human when she didn't speak… in a certain sense, this really was rare.
"…And then, I'll finally die in a dungeon like this, becoming a forgotten, rotting, filthy corpse... eh?"
After who knew how long, the Yuki-onna finally seemed to finish living through her imagined life. When she came back to her senses, Duanmu Huai was long gone.
Where… did he go?
The Yuki-onna looked around.
"This must be a human conspiracy! They want me to lower my guard, rekindle my longing for freedom, then push me back into the depths of despair so I'll submit to that man… yes, that must be it! I won't let him succeed!"
Having reached her conclusion, the Yuki-onna clenched her fists and glared down the mountain.
"Don't think you can fool my eyes! Since you want me to lower my guard, I'll go spy on you and see how long you can keep up the act!"
With that, her figure flashed—and in the howling cold wind, she vanished without a trace.
"How did I run into someone like that…"
At the same time, Duanmu Huai complained as he walked down the mountain.
Generally speaking, Yuki-onna were supposed to be icy beauties, weren't they? Well, when that one didn't speak, she did look like an icy beauty. But the moment she opened her mouth, all that was left was a pervert.
"Ahahaha, Bunny-Bunny thinks she was really interesting."
"Occasionally… monsters like that do appear…"
Faced with Duanmu Huai's complaints, Bunny-Bunny didn't care much, while the maid spoke calmly from the side.
"Forget it. Let's come back to the snow mountain another time. Let's go check out the plains below… oh? Looks like they came to us?"
As he spoke, Duanmu Huai looked ahead. When his gaze landed on the grasslands near the foot of the mountain, he suddenly spoke up. Looking closely, he saw a large group of girls running around on the plains. They wore strange outfits, had ears on their heads and tails behind them…
"Ah, those are horse girls."
The maid followed Duanmu Huai's gaze and gave her answer.
"They usually move in groups across the plains. They're considered quite difficult girl monsters to capture."
"Then them it is. Just pick one at random."
After the Yuki-onna incident, Duanmu Huai no longer wanted to chase rares. He just wanted to finish the mission cleanly and be done with it.
With that, Duanmu Huai grabbed Bunny-Bunny and the maid, took Olgis along, and leapt straight off the cliff, falling dozens of meters through the air before landing directly on the grassland.
"Boom!!"
The heavy landing startled the horse girls in the distance. They stopped running and looked over curiously. After seeing Duanmu Huai, they began whispering among themselves, though it was unclear what they were saying.
Duanmu Huai set Bunny-Bunny, the maid, and Olgis down, then walked toward the horse girls. Soon, one who looked like their leader stepped forward.
"What do you want?"
"I am a monster tamer."
Duanmu Huai stared at the horse girl and spoke. He noticed that, unlike Bunny-Bunny and the maid-type monsters, horse girls had more complex traits. Aside from all having ears and tails, their hair colors, appearances, and even sizes varied greatly. But now wasn't the time to think about that.
"I want to form a contract with a horse girl and make her my familiar."
"I see."
After hearing Duanmu Huai's words, the horse girl thought for a moment and nodded.
"You're the successor of that monster tamer, then?"
"More or less."
"I understand."
The horse girl nodded and stepped aside.
"The rules are simple. If you want a horse girl to become your familiar, race against us. If you win, you can sign the contract."
"...…Huh?"
Duanmu Huai froze.
He hadn't expected them to be so straightforward—but the problem was…
This rule was downright deadly.
Because Duanmu Huai's Agility was only 14!
Of course, compared to ordinary humans, his agility was high—but… horse girls were horse girls. Just like Bunny-Bunny had rabbit traits, horse girls obviously had horse traits.
Can an ordinary person outrun a horse?
Obviously not.
And right now, Duanmu Huai didn't have his power armor or jetpack, nor did he have any acceleration-type soul cards on hand!
Race against horse girls?
Can this be won??
So… what now?
Faced with the horse girls' challenge, Duanmu Huai was suddenly at a complete loss…
(End of Chapter)