The location of the event wasn't the Capital but another city in the Archlesia Empire, a city where Monster Races are so popular that it stands equal with the Capital, and where a number of famous races have been held.
Well, this time though, I didn't come to see a Monster Race, but a monster connection event. The event is held at a facility that is usually used as a Monster Race field, and the venue is large enough for large monsters to race.
[It's pretty crowded.]
[It's a fairly famous event. Some of the people who want to keep monsters as pets come to this event and actually try out touching the monsters. I'm really looking forward to it!]
[Ahaha, Sieg-san does love animals after all.]
[Yes! The Six Kings Festival was great, but I'm looking forward to this event because the main attraction is the monsters that are popular as pets. I'm also looking forward to seeing Funny Rabbits.]
[When you say Funny Rabbits, you're talking about that Rabbit-type monster that runs seriously only when hunting prey?]
The monster that Sieg-san happily mentioned sounded familiar. Back in the Monster Race I went with Alice, there was a rabbit-shaped monster that I bet on, that monster which turned serious only once every 100 years like Fate-san.
Come to think of it, when I brought Bell home, I think Sieg-san had mentioned something about "wanting to keep something like a Funny Rabbit as a pet".
[Funny Rabbits are quite popular monsters. The fact that they look like large rabbits is a factor, but they tend to be laid-back and quiet, making them good monsters to keep indoors.]
[Fumu fumu.]
Now that she mentioned it, Funny Rabbits does look almost like a rabbit except for its horn, with about a meter in size. It has a laid-back personality which makes them uneager to run seriously when not hunting for prey, and from the way Sieg-san talks, it's probably friendly as well.
Considering all that, it certainly wouldn't be surprising that they're so popular.
[Are there any other monsters typically kept as pets?]
[There are many different kinds, but the most popular are small-sized ones that can be kept indoors, and large-sized ones that can be ridden. Horse-type monsters can be raised and ridden just like normal horses, but they are stronger and faster than normal horses, so they are especially popular with knights and adventurers.]
[Seems like that aspect would be useful for Monster Races. Does that mean Bell is also considered a large-sized monster?]
[Bell-chan is considered as one. Behemoths are technically counted as large-sized monsters, but in terms of size, they can exceed 100m, so they could also be considered as colossal-sized monsters...]
After receiving various explanations from Sieg-san, we got in line and purchased admission tickets to enter the Monster Race track. Inside the racetrack with a considerable size, there were temporary fences and buildings here and there, and even at a quick glance, I could see quite a few different types of monsters.
From the looks of it, they seem to be sorted by type. As for how you enjoy the place, if you want to just look at them like in the zoo, you can just buy the admission ticket, but if you want close contact with the monsters, you would need to purchase a special ticket for each respective area. If anyone freely touched them, it would be stressful for the monsters, so the number of people who could touch them was limited.
In that case, there seems to be a limit on the number of monster contact tickets, so it's necessary to go to the monsters you want to be in contact with as soon as possible.
[Fwaahhh, this is indeed a huge event! There are all kinds of monsters and even some rare species that I have never seen before... Kaito-san! Let's take a look around right away, where would you like to start?]
[Ahaha, sounds like fun. Errr, first, let's go to the monsters that Sieg-san wants to see. There's a restriction on monsters we can have contact with after all... Looking at the pamphlet, it seems that the areas are divided by size....]
[H- How troubling... The small-sized ones are too precious, and the large-sized ones too….. but let's go to the area for medium-sized species, which have more animal-type monsters.]
As I smiled at the considerably excited Sieg-san, we decided to go where Sieg-san wanted to go first.
The place Sieg-san chose was the area for medium-sized species...
[Medium-sized species would be those more than 5m and less than 10m, right?]
[Ahh, no, that is the classification for Dragons. For general monsters, monsters less than 1m are referred to as small-sized, more than 1m but less than 5m are medium-sized, and those more than 5m are called large-sized species. As for the colossal-sized monsters, they are classified the same way as the Dragons, being those over 100m long... but since the Dragons are generally larger in size to begin with, they are classified differently from the other species.]
[Heehhh... So that's how it is.]
I see. Come to think of it, there are monsters that are palm-sized like Slimes, so it might be natural that they would have a different classification method from Dragons.
At least none of the Dragons I've seen in the past were less than 1m in size. Even Lynn, who was still just a child, and Sela, when she had just been born from an egg, are over 1m long.
[Should we start out by looking for the Funny Rabbits Sieg-san mentioned?]
[That sounds great! Funny Rabbits are cute, and they're so fluffy... I'd like to touch their fur. I've never touched one because they are monsters that don't live very often in the vicinity of Symphonia Kingdom.]
When I saw Sieg-san pulling my hand with a happy smile, a smile also naturally formed on my lips as I started to move along with her. Somehow, I have a feeling that we would have a good time today...