"Eh?! It really is true!"
"I counted twice! Raptors really have forty-eight teeth on top, but two fewer on the bottom—only forty-six!"
"This raptor looks much bigger than the previous ones, but it has the same number of teeth!"
"How interesting!"
"..."
A lively voice echoed near the raptor pens of the Great Beast Den. The trolls nearby glanced over curiously, but none dared stare for long, because the great king was there.
The one speaking just now was the king's... The trolls did not know how to define her.
She was said to be an intelligent creature from another continent, called a human, and she was rather small. Trolls older than eight were as tall as her, while those older than ten were bigger and stronger.
Perhaps she was the king's pet.
Many trolls thought so. Otherwise, it was hard to explain why the king often took her strolling through Zutona, teasing her like a pet until she burst into laughter, and was even willing to bring her to a dangerous place like the Great Beast Den.
Tonatiuh pried open the trembling raptor's gaping jaws and watched the young mage laugh as she took notes. When he turned his head, he spotted a small troll standing nearby, looking terrified and reverent.
He remembered that this little troll seemed to have a decent talent for taming beasts. This raptor, which he had knocked unconscious and dragged back with the intention of killing it but ultimately had not killed, was being trained by this little troll.
"Its keeper is here."
Tonatiuh said warmly to Modera, who was studying the raptor with curiosity, "You can ask him any questions you have."
"Oh!"
Tonatiuh waved to Gude Sandblood. The little troll approached, looking frightened yet incomparably reverent.
"What's your name? I remember you're