The bet.

Even though Ugo's offer sounded harmless, Gregoro didn't like where it was going, "Ugo, come on. He's just a ten years old child, have some shame!"

"Have we met yesterday or something? You're like a family to me!" Ugo pretended to be upset, but his expression quickly transformed into that of a cheeky old fox, "Aren't we just having fun? Let's do it like this – I'll show you my beast collection and Reino will name them all. If he can't – he'll work here for thirty days. We really need some help around here."

"But if he wins? Will you work for me? Hahaha!" Gregoro teased.

He finally understood what the old man offered. For a future beastmaster working for a month with an expert like him was a great blessing. Obviously he did it for the old time sake because of the friendship with Gregoro's father.

"Khem, don't say stupid things!" Ugo snorted, "I'll … hmm."

Obviously the old man hadn't thought everything through, but Reino got an idea and his eyes lit up.

"If we win, you'll give me a spiritbeast!"

"Hahaha! And you called me shameless?" Ugo laughed, "Do you think spiritbeasts are some pebbles you can find on the side of a road? They cost money! And raising them costs money! Ask your father if you don't believe me."

"It's fine. We don't have to bet. In fact, we are in a bit of a hurry and need to get to the academy before the ceremony starts." Gregoro said.

How could he not understand what Reino wanted? Obviously his elder brother getting his first spiritbeast made the little guy long for his own more than ever. But if Gregoro could figure it out, Ugo could as well.

"Listen, Reino. It's for your own good." He explained, "Trying to bond with a spiritbeast too early will just cripple it. While many youths from rich families are practicing on rank two or sometimes even rank three beasts, it's an expensive endeavor and, in fact, unnecessary. If you study hard enough, your first contact with the spiritbeast during the ceremony will be a success, you'll be fine! Just like your bother later today."

"Oh, I didn't intend to do that." Reino immediately understood what Ugo meant, "The ceremony can be done only after the second year in academy. I only wanted to have a beast so I can practice taking care of it, nothing more."

Ugo looked at him for a second in confusion and then started to laugh, "Hahaha! So you basically want a regular dog?"

"Why don't you stake one of the Stella's pups?" Ugo's laughter was abruptly interrupted.

Edith had approached them unnoticed, with a small bundle in her hands. In it one could see a small golden cat with beautiful spots all over it and a strange tiny protrusion on its forehead. Apparently Iglesio left to inform her about the visitors and she brought what they came here for.

"Madam Edith!" Gregoro smiled, "You two move like ghosts. I didn't notice arrival of either of you."

"That's because you lack training." She snorted back ignoring the compliment, "You could've at least let your son learn a thing or two."

"Khem." Gregoro awkwardly coughed, "Reino, this is madam Edith."

"Hello, nice to meet you." Reino did his best to make a polite smile according to his father's earlier instructions.

"Well, aren't you cute." She poked his forehead, "So how about it? We'll stake one of the pups of our blackrock wolf. But if you loose – I want you here for half a year, every day!"

Reino looked at his father, but latter could only shrug his shoulders. His son would win even more if he lost the bet – thus there was no downside.

"Alright! We agree!" The boy said with a wide smile.

"Let's go. I must warn you, we have some really rare species here …" Ugo said while grabbing Reino's hand and leading towards the cages.

"He is a spitting image of your father, you know. Much younger, of course." Edith said with a sigh seeing the two laughing in the distance.

"They seem to get along very well." Gregoro nodded, "It's great since Reino will have to spend much time here. By the way, thank you, for this opportunity."

"Hmpf, we're not doing it for you." Edith snorted and passed the bundle in her hands to Gregoro, "Alright, let's get to the business. I'm sure you know everything you need, but let's get over it one last time …"

She kept instructing Gregoro until Ugo came back with a weird expression on his face.

"What?" Edith asked with a frown.

"Well … he kind of recognized them all …" Ugo scratched his head in an awkward manner.

"Even the ones from the south?" Edith was surprised.

"Especially those! He even pointed out the habitats and best ways to catch them." Ugo said helplessly spreading his hands.

Their plan to help the grandchild of their friend obviously failed.

"Oh, well. It's your win, I guess." Edith smiled and poked Reino's forehead again.

Even though he didn't like it, he patiently kept his smile up remembering his father's warning.

Truth to be said, what Reino managed to do was really impressive. Recognizing the beasts is one thing, but he did it from drawings in his encyclopedia. The both elderly wrecked their heads but couldn't figure out how he did it.

"Alright, a promise is a promise. Come with me." Edith said, "The only thing I'm asking is for you to just take a good care of it. Even though it is only a rank two spiritbeast, it can assist you well if you treat it right."

"Of course." Reino nodded and followed.

On the way to their house he still kept looking around and admiring the many amazing creatures the elderly couple raised. They even had some simpler animals like regular ducks and dogs, although the former were probably used as food for their spiritbeasts.

"This is Stella, our blackrock wolf. She's quite old, but still amazing. Unfortunately this year she gave birth only to male puppies. But you shouldn't care, right? Choose one." Edith said.

"I thought wolves could have up to six pups, sometimes even more. How come she only has two?" Reino asked in surprise.

"She has three. You saw the weird one on your way in." Ugo said.

"That was her pup? I thought that was a regular dog!" Reino exclaimed in surprise, but Ugo almost felt like fainting.

A split second later the two elderly started laughing startling Stella, her pups and the father-son duo as well.

"Hahaha! What a stupid mistake!" Ugo said while tears rolled down his cheeks from laughter.

"Who would've thought we had to show him the 'regular' ones!" Edith added.

Finally Gregoro understood as well. His son was an expert, but only on the rare and 'interesting' spiritbeasts. Looks like he'll have to teach him more about the lover rank beasts since ninety five percent of the animal world consisted of those.

Reino didn't get why the two elderly became so happy suddenly, but he didn't really care. He petted the two little balls of fur and although they seemed fun, he felt like they were lacking something.

"Can I take a look at the third one?" He said.

"Sure, be my guest." Edith shrugged.

It was the weird one, but Reino was not your typical kid either. Maybe they were 'meant to be'.

Reino went back out and squatted near the small black pup who for some reason kept ignoring him and found more interesting to watch the many spiritbeasts in cages.

"Please don't laugh at me again, but doesn't he really behave like a dog?" Reino looked up at the elderly couple and asked.

"That's why we call him 'the weird one'." Edith explained, "While Stella also behaves more or less like a regular dog, it took years for her to learn it, but this little one for some reason was born this way. Although he doesn't like anyone touching him – maybe the rest of his wild nature will sprout later."

"Ok, I'll take this one!" Reino happily said.

"Well…" Edith looked at Gregoro, "Since it is only rank two, you can teach him everything he needs to know. Now, off with you two. You have already wasted too much of our time!"

When the two left, Ugo asked Edith in annoyance, "Why did you give the pup away? Even though it's only rank two, it still costs money."

"Hmpf! I wanted to give the horned leopard for free as well, but that stubborn Gregoro insisted on paying! What? Don't look at me like that! His father saved your life!" Edith barked back.

Ugo blushed at the reminder and looked down in embarrassment. Then whispered while pinching his limp leg, "Yea … twice."

Even though the visit ended abruptly, Gregoro didn't mind – he knew how moody the two elderly were. And Reino didn't mind even less – he happily carried the confused black pup in his hands while listening to father's instructions.

Alex had mixed feelings though.

If at first he prayed he would be an unwanted puppy and the owners would send him back in the cycle of reincarnation, few days ago he crawled out in the yard and to his horror saw a mix between zoo and a circus. Except, every single animal was some kind of a mutant – flaming red large cats in the size of a calf, purple horses, white elephants without snouts and what not.

He quickly realized he was stuck in a foreign world in a dog's body and came to conclusion he had to try and act as a proper dog should from the very early days. He didn't want to repeat the mistake he did in the last life and be perceived as autistic or sick in any way. The perspective to be thrown in one of those cages as a food in case he was useless terrified him to the bones. He could jump off the balcony to die on purpose, but this … this was too horrifying.

While Alex didn't have any pets in his first life, by using common sense he figured he simply had to properly do one thing – guard. Even though it seemed pretentious, this was any dog's basic carrier path and he had to follow it at least until he thought of some other solution.

But he was given away, or sold. And as the first one of the three. Did he work too hard?

Still, if his new master was the kid who was currently happily carrying him, it might be not be the worst case. At least he could be around people more and finally learn the local language – the few people back in the 'circus' talked too rarely.

The more he thought, the more he had to agree it was great to be out. And the world outside was not that scary if he didn't count the strange beasts pulling carriages or on rare occasions – serving as mounts. The fact that most people were burly and dressed in leather armor also didn't bother him. Exactly the opposite – wasn't the dog man's best friend? And if people were so strong, they could protect him properly, right?

And the familiar architecture also increased his confidence – most houses were built similarly to what he saw in the west European old-towns. While only few main streets were covered in cobblestone and most likely the rest during the rain turned into a pools of mud, everything looked tidy and to his great surprise didn't stink at all, even with all the beasts around.

At first Alex was surprised with this discovery, but soon after he noticed many teams of workers who patrolled the city and cleaned up the excrements of the beasts. Standards of the local government were surprisingly high and he noted for himself he shouldn't go around and do his business as he felt to not create unnecessary problems.

While Reino was blissfully carrying him, Alex start to alter his plans. First, he'll have to tame the boy properly and teach him how to follow some basic rules. Meanwhile he'll learn the local language and then go from there.

Main thing was for him to behave appropriately, so the kid didn't get too cocky, but he was also not brought back to circus. If the humans killed him – like with a sword or an axe, it was also fine. 'Starting over' was kind of his thing nowadays anyway.