After they felt they’d rested enough, Miri decided to escort Anne back to the city of Hemera, where Anne’s guild was supposed to be. Once they return, Miri intended on giving the party who blatantly abandoned Anne a piece of her mind. It didn’t matter whether it’s socially acceptable or not, no respectable RPG party should treat their healer in such a terrible way. However, before they were about to set off, she just realized that she had one problem.

  “Oh, crap. I nearly forgot. We’re probably going to have to walk our way back there,” Miri said, smacking herself on the forehead.

  “Hmm, why is that?” Anne asked.

  “Well, you see, I initially traveled to this dungeon all the way from Hemera using a thorn-tusk boar as a mount. You know how temperamental those things are. You’ll be lucky if they don’t buck you off every couple of minutes while trying to ride them. Trust me, all I had was one trip with my boar and I already feel like I need a visit to a chiropractor. Honestly, if I wasn’t short on money, I would have gotten literally any other animal as a mount. Besides, I don’t think both of us are going to fit on one single boar. It’s not as though I was planning on rescuing someone when I first came here.”

  “Oh, no worries. I’m sure I can tame the boar into becoming more calm and obedient,” Anne said.

  Miri gazed at the blonde cleric with mild disbelief. “Taming a thorn-tusk boar? You’re kidding.”

  “No, I’m serious. I was raised on a farm when I was young so I’m pretty sure I have a good handle on most animals.”

  “Hmm, I don’t know. This boar I have is pretty wild, far different from your typical farm animal.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Oh, I’m sure I can tame this one all the same. Just trust me.”

  Miri was initially skeptical about Anne’s confidence. Claiming to be able to tame a thorn-tusk boar was like claiming to be able to tame a tiger that’s out in the wild. However, the redheaded mage could see genuine sincerity in the cleric’s eyes and so decided to place her trust on her.

  “Alright. If you say so,” Miri relented with a casual shrug before taking out her mount rune and summoned Tusko.

  The thorn-tusk boar materialized himself from a mist of multi-colored particles before the two women, oinking and snorting as though he’s the boss of everyone around him. However, as soon as Anne knelt down and placed her gentle hand on the beast at a spot behind his ears, Tusko seemed to have become…calmer in a sense. More gentle and less aggravated, almost as if his personality had transformed into something else entirely. As Anne continued brushing her hand against his fur, the boar began honking and squealing with affectionate delight.

  “Woah…how the heck did you do that?” Miri asked with startled amazement.

  “Oh, all animals are gentle by heart,” Anne replied, reaching another hand out to rub the creature under his chin, which the boar seemed to enjoy very much. “You just need to have the patience to allow it to flourish, that’s all.”

  “Huh, well, I guess that’s one thing you’re better at than me, at least,” Miri said, crossing her arms. “I usually don’t have much patience for these kinds of things.”

  “Oh, it’s actually not that hard once you get to try it a little. Here,” Anne said as she reached out to take Miri by one of her hands and pulled it next to the boar, placing it at the spot behind the animal’s ears. “This is the region where boars and pigs are usually the most sensitive. Try rubbing it a little and he’s going to warm up to you in no time.”

  Miri was initially hesitant in doing so. However, as soon as she took Anne’s advice and did as told, Tusko seemed to soften a little upon her touch, his aggressive temperament mellowing out little by little as a result. The redhead smiled as she saw how cute the creature actually was when he’s not being a pain in the ass.