542 I Need To Name Them

Stepping out of the Dungeon, I found my loot from the earlier boss still waiting there in the snow. The fact that I don't see any other footprints leading out of the cave meant that those three were most probably still inside.

If the hole ended up separating each of them, I doubt any of them would be able to survive, especially with their legs cut off.

I felt a little unsatisfied but whatever, I can still say this was a rather fruitful Dungeon dive with how my summons got upgraded.

Speaking of which, they are all inside my shadow now.

I didn't even need to order them to go inside my shadow either, when I thought about it, they automatically melded into my shadow and disappeared.

Very cool.

I stuffed the bones that I had left here into my Pack of Folding before spreading my wings to fly in the direction of the training camp.

It was already quite dark so I estimated the time to be early evening, which means I should be just in time for dinner.

As the camp came into view, I realised there was a very familiar Inugami maid waiting at the entrance and I instantly knew who it was.

Was she waiting there all this while?

I descended in front of Katsuki and she didn't even look surprised to see me, simply bowing when I appeared before her.

"Welcome back, Mistress."

"Mmm~ I'm back Katsuki~ Did anything happen while I was gone?"

"Not at all Mistress. Although I fear that Head Butler Sebastian has stayed true to his word and our training would resume, so we would not be allowed to accompany you for the next two days."

I thought about it for a moment, "Hmm… In that case, let me join you all as well. There's some things I would like to test out too."

Katsuki straightened herself, "There is no need for Mistress to worry yourself over this though?"

"Oh, I really just have something to test out~ In fact, could you lead me to Mother? I want to ask her something."

"Of course, Mistress. This way please."

Katsuki led the way into the training camp with perfect poise. Just by looking at her, I could not even tell that she had just underwent a whole day of training under Sebastian's instructions.

We soon reached the building that Mother was staying in and Katsuki opened the door for me to enter before stepping aside.

I found Mother seated on a rocking chair while reading a book in front of the fireplace.

Mary was, as usual, standing by her side attentively.

Mother immediately looked up and smiled when she saw me, setting her book aside to stretch out her arms towards me.

"Ara, ara~ There you are my little one~ How was your day today?"

"Umm… It was ok?"

"Ufufufu~ How was the Dungeon?"

I wasn't even surprised that she knew I went there but I wondered just how much did she know what happened while I was there?

"It was… An interesting experience?"

Mother's face suddenly hardened, "Ara? Did something happen, my little one?"

Eh? So she doesn't know what happened? Or is she just pretending not to know to let me tell her what happened myself?

Well, either way I guess I'll still need to talk about it…

"Erm… I went with some Adventurers to explore it as their healer and… Err… I guess they betrayed me?"

I heard something going 'crack' in the air and I looked around to find the source of the noise. It seemed like I had imagined it since nothing seemed out of the ordinary to me.

When I turned back, Mother was also smiling at me though she seemed uncharacteristically silent following my earlier words.

Mother then turned to Mary, "Ara, ara~ Mary? It seemed like my little one met with some trouble~ Whatever shall we do?"

"I shall prepare some sweets, Mistress," Mary bowed her head before leaving the room.

"Ufufufu~ See that you do~ Now, is my little one hurt?"

I was still distracted by the fact that Mary was making sweets that it took me a moment to recover from my stupor.

"E… Eh? Oh! Umm, I'm fine, Mother. The Dungeon seems like an easy one so I could deal with it without any problems. I even managed to beat the Dungeon boss at the end. Oh! That reminds me! I received a weird reward from the Dungeon… Something called a… A… Stone of Monsterfication or something?"

Mother let out a gasp, "Ara, ara? My little one beat a Dungeon all by yourself on your first try? Ufufufu! As expected of my little one! Mama is proud of you!"

I was then hugged and peppered with kisses on my cheek by Mother.

I let Mother pamper me until she was satisfied before I addressed the issue again, "So… Umm… About the stone… Has Mommy heard of it before?"

"Ara? I'm afraid Mama has not heard of something like that. This is interesting~ Where is the stone now?"

I poked my fingers together, "Ah… About that… I accidentally used it…"

Mother tilted her head at me, "Ara? Does that mean that my little one is now a monster?"

She didn't even look concerned about the possibility and simply asked the question like she was simply inquiring about the weather. Like as if it did not matter if I had turned into a monster or not.

I shook my head, "I did not use it on myself, I… Accidentally used it on my Shadow Summon… They got transformed into monsters and it seems like the spell has also been changed for me."

"Ara? How so?"

Instead of explaining, I decided to just summon one of my Shadow Guards to show her instead.

When my summon appeared, she immediately bowed her head upon seeing me.

"Master, what do you need of me?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Katsuki stiffen from the sight of the Shadow Guard but the action was so quick that I thought it might have been a trick of the light.

Mother looked at my summon up and down before reaching her hand out to her.

My Shadow Guard did not even react to her and continued to look at me, clearly waiting for me to give her instructions.

"How interesting~" Mother muttered to herself. "Have all your summons turned into Shadow Guards?"

I nodded and called up two more, the both of them standing beside the first one in the same exact pose with their eyes focused on me.

"Ara, ara~ And my little one can summon more of them?"

"If I use all my mana, I can summon one each time, yes."

"Ufufufu~ If my little one would like to know, these monsters are usually found in high level Dungeons though they would look like a blob of darkness that can transform themselves into the person they are fighting against. I don't believe anyone else has managed to turn them into a summon."

I felt a little concerned by that fact, "Is this a problem?"

"Ara, ara? Why would that be a problem, my little one? This is just proof that my dearest child is the best in the entire World, does it not?"

Of course Mother would say that.

I gestured to them, "But… What if others could tell that I have a Shadow Guard too? Wouldn't that bring a lot of attention to me?"

Mother giggled, "Ufufufu~ Unless the person is on the same level as Mama, they would not be able to tell that this is a Shadow Guard, my little one~"

Mother turned to Katsuki and my Inugami maid seemed to understand what Mother wanted.

"Indeed Mistress, had Madam not mentioned it, I would not have know. I believe there should not be anyone else who would normally be able to realise that they are monsters."

"But… What about someone using the [Analyze] skill?" I asked.

"Ara? I suppose that would indeed reveal them~ But that's simple, all you have to do is give them names~ Then all the person would see is the name you have given them instead of the race of the monster~"

Eh? Really? Is it that simple?

I pointed at the first one I summoned, "Umm… How about you're now named Eins?"

Unexpectedly, the Shadow Guard got onto a knee with her head bowed low, "I respectfully accept this name, Master."

When I checked her stats with [Screened], I realise that under her name, instead of being called "Shadow Guard" it was now "Eins" instead.

Even more curious was that her titles had now been removed and was left empty. Even her race had changed to show "Shadow Summon (Shadow Guard)" instead of just showing that she was a Shadow Guard.

I'm guessing that under the normal [Analyze] skill, the race will not show up?

I then tried to use [Screened] on the other two and I made a face when I saw that their names were still the same as before.

Ah crap… Does that mean I have to name every single one of them now if I wanted them to hide their identity as a Shadow Guard?

Well… I guess I better get started then…