Where Would a Pet Not Do Chores

"Ah... another busy day." Rhode returned home and took a quick cold shower.

Fortunately, it was summer, and since he gained magic power, his body felt a bit stronger. Otherwise, he might not have adapted so quickly.

He didn't take a hot shower because there was no solar equipment, and using firewood to heat water was too troublesome.

Rhode had considered getting a set of equipment to heat water using magic, but after asking about the price, he decided to hold off for now and wait until winter when he absolutely couldn't stand it anymore.

After casually giving Warm a bath, Rhode started to miss the washing machines at school that cost only two coins per use.

Washing clothes by hand was truly slow and troublesome, and he didn't have his phone to watch videos while doing laundry.

At most, he could use an old hand-crank gramophone to play music.

At first, he wasn't quite used to it, but as he listened, Rhode suddenly felt he had a lot of class, just like the upper-class figures in Republic of China era movies.

It was just that the tunes recorded on the records were a bit mixed – pop, rock, classical, everything.

Swish, swish, swish...

The washboard leaned against the basin, and Rhode grabbed the wet clothes, rubbing them against it, leaving behind white foam.

He wasn't very skilled with this thing yet, but as he rubbed to the rhythm of the music, he found the sound quite stress-relieving.

Warm stared curiously at the laundry detergent bag for a long time before finally giving in and licking it with its big tongue.

Immediately, its facial features contorted, and it spat out white powder, saying "Pah, pah, pah."

"Are you stupid?" Rhode tapped Warm's head and tossed it towards the sink. "Rinse your mouth yourself."

After hanging the washed clothes on the balcony, Rhode noticed several potted plants placed there.

One looked like a succulent, and two looked like orchids. Because no one had watered them for the past two days, the soil on the surface was dry.

"Looks like I have a few more lives to take care of... probably."

Rhode picked up the nearby spray bottle and filled it with water, giving these poor plants some sweet dew.

The showerhead sprayed streams of water, wetting the leaves and soaking the soil.

Rhode felt as if he could sense them coming back to life, and he said to himself, "From now on, you'll be Tatsuya, you'll be Ren Ming, and you... sigh, in this new world, Dad will have to look after you three."

Warm looked at its owner's expression and felt that he wasn't smiling happily.

"Why the long face?" Rhode put down the spray bottle and picked up Warm. "Go, clean up the floor you just dirtied!"

Warm looked at him in shock. Weren't you going to treat me like a pet? You want me to clean the floor?

"Don't look at me like that. What kind of pet doesn't do chores?" Rhode tossed Warm into the laundry room. "You made the mess, you clean it up."

Warm squatted on the ground, looking at its little paws. How was it supposed to clean?

How Warm was supposed to clean the floor wasn't Rhode's problem. Anyway, the little guy could understand human speech and had high intelligence, so it would figure something out.

Thinking of this, Rhode got angry. Why could Warm, a creature from the Howling Abyss, understand the language here immediately, while he had to learn it from scratch?

Could the language pack gifted by Mr. Hibiki be shared?

Rhode sat down at his bedroom desk indignantly and opened the book he brought back from the guild.

It was a history book. Although he wasn't interested in history, he felt it was necessary to understand it.

And to help him read properly, Levy lent him a pair of glasses.

A Magic Item, the Wind Chant Glasses, could allow someone to read at 32 times the normal speed.

This meant that by concentrating on reading for one minute, it was equivalent to reading for half an hour!

Rhode felt his good fortune had arrived. No matter how much he disliked reading history books, he could manage a few minutes, right?

However, after one minute...

Crack!

The sound of the book's spine hitting the desk startled the drowsy Rhode.

He had misjudged one thing: although the reading time was shortened, the amount of content to be read was still the same.

If you're not interested, you're not interested. People who get sleepy just by looking at history books won't become academic prodigies even with the help of magic items.

Someone like Rhode was suited for Mr. Hibiki to directly infuse knowledge with magic.

Or to listen to a beautiful girl like Levy tell historical stories.

For example, the story of Belbaraso's legendary hunter that was told today, and the story of Rubenkardo the hero, left a deep impression on him.

"Let's do fifty push-ups to wake myself up."

Rhode dropped to the ground and did thirty push-ups in one go, his arms starting to tremble.

'If you want to increase your magic power quickly, besides meditation, you should also exercise your body a bit, otherwise... you'll be at a disadvantage.'

The Guild Master had told Rhode that.

However, Rhode felt that the Guild Master's mention of being at a disadvantage wasn't about fighting outside, but about losing out in brawls within the guild.

Although he didn't like fighting himself, judging by the situation over the past few days, it was hard to guarantee he wouldn't get caught up in it someday.

Thinking about the girls in the guild, each one looking as strong as a mountain with an overpowering aura, he couldn't imagine how heavy Natsu and Gray's punches were.

Rhode gritted his teeth. "To increase my magic power!"

One.

"To avoid getting beaten up!"

Another.

"To be able to fight back when I get beaten up!"

Yet another.

Rhode's reasons for pushing himself were becoming increasingly strange.

Exercising to improve his physique, meditating to increase his magic power, and reading to expand his knowledge were the three most important things for Rhode at this stage.

The biggest difficulty was with reading. Magic-related books were fine, but history and geography books were quite troublesome.

Rhode decided to ask tomorrow if there were any newspapers or magazines here, so he could get a little bit of news.

The next day, the weather was a bit overcast, but it was just that the sun couldn't be seen; it didn't look like it was going to rain.

Rhode chose a cool way to get to work, riding the Canyon Swiftclaw.

As soon as the giant, dark green crab appeared, it attracted the attention of the neighbors. Many people were startled by its strange appearance.

However, as it carried Rhode along with its clacking steps and actively avoided pedestrians, the slight panic disappeared.

"So it's a mount. It looks a bit strange, but it's quite imposing."

"Hey, is that a crab? Why isn't it walking sideways?"

"The one on the crab's back... looks like a Mage from Fairy Tail."

"Is it a newcomer? Looks like another restless fellow."

Someone with sharp eyes saw the blue emblem on Rhode's arm when his short sleeve fluttered in the wind.

Someone riding a monster and speeding through the streets, how novel.

It's Fairy Tail, that's not surprising.

The emblem on Rhode's arm was providing him 'convenience' in a strange way, though he himself was unaware of it.

Rhode held the Swiftclaw's two antennae, one in each hand, feeling like he was driving a heavy motorcycle.

He only heard the sound of the wind before stopping at the guild entrance—less than a kilometer away was still too close.

Rhode tidied his wind-blown hair, thinking thankfully that it was self-driving, otherwise, he might have sent a few people flying.

This 'River Crab' motorcycle didn't feel very safe at full speed.