There are certain cases where an ill-mannered child cannot be disciplined with words alone. However, having received beatings from my grandfather when I did wrong things, I'm also not a big fan of using violence as a form of education.
That being said, it is a fact that unruly children need to be educated.
I believe the right thing to do is to deprive them of the things they enjoy the most for a while, so they will regret their actions. At least, that's what worked for me when my grandmother forbade me from riding my bicycle.
With that in mind, I prepared a fitting punishment that Rin will remember for a long time. Although she is omnivorous, she loves meat more than anything and practically eats it at every meal.
After setting up camp and bathing in the river to wash away all the sweat and blood from our bodies, I prepared a bowl of food for everyone and we got ready to have lunch.
At that moment, Rin came to me with her plate, wearing an unsatisfied expression on her face as she raised her plate to me. She was clearly pointing out the lack of meat on her plate.
Unlike everyone else's meal, which was filled with meat, I made Rin follow Usagi's diet, consisting only of bread and fruits.
"You disobeyed me," I said, "so you'll go without meat for the rest of the day."
Probably not expecting me to scold her, she was surprised and remained still.
"You were very reckless, and what you did was very dangerous," I continued.
Recovering from the shock, she held the plate with one hand and flexed her other arm, emphasizing her bicep with a confident look.
"You are strong, but not invincible. Your skills require mana, and if it runs out in the middle of a battle, that would be your end."
Losing her confident look, she looked at me like a puppy being scolded. But ignoring that, I tried to be tough and maintained a stern look as I continued.
"Furthermore, I'm not questioning your strength; I'm scolding you for your disobedience. If things had gone wrong, not only would you have been hurt, but others as well."
No longer looking at me, she lowered her head.
"It's one thing for you to disobey me when it comes to small things, but in crucial moments, it is crucial that you obey me." Saying that, I proceeded, "If you're not going to obey me, there's no need to have you by my side."
Although those were harsh words and not my real intention, I can't be soft-hearted, otherwise, she won't learn.
When I least expected it, Rin dropped her plate on the ground, causing it to break. As I was about to complain, she clung to me while grunting. Her thoughts had become a mess. I was having difficulty understanding what she was trying to convey.
"Calm down, otherwise, I won't understand you," I anxiously said as I placed my hands on her shoulders.
"Huh..." When I tried to push her away, I noticed tears forming at the corners of her eyes.
"Y-You're crying?" I asked, surprised.
Without responding, Rin simply buried her face in my chest while it seemed like she was whimpering.
"...Do goblins cry?"
For a moment, I was completely taken aback. But then I noticed something that I had overlooked. Despite her race indicated in her status window being "Variant Goblin," she no longer resembled a goblin in any way. Whether it was the change in her appearance or even the characteristic goblin sounds she no longer made.
Her evolutionary situation is similar to that of a Hobgoblin. Even though I've never seen one, according to the Glossary, apart from the green skin and pointed ears, they look more like humans than goblins. They can even speak like normal people.
That being said, I can no longer treat Rin as if she's still an insensitive goblin. Right now, all she seems to be is a fragile girl crying because of me.
I think that just as Self-Evolution changed her physical characteristics, her emotions were also affected. This probably made her more sensitive.
As Rin's whimpering continued, I felt increasingly guilty, and with that, the façade I was trying to maintain crumbled.
"Calm down and tell me what's going on," I nervously said.
Despite my words, her sobbing didn't stop, and soon, the gazes of all my tamed monsters were on me.
"It wasn't my intention!" I reflexively said.
With no other choice, I took Rin to the nearest tree and sat with my back against its trunk. With her in my arms, I did my best to make her stop crying and held her close to my chest.
"There, there, it's okay now," I tried to calm her.
As time passed, Rin continued to cry. Since I wasn't wearing my armor, her tears seeped through the fabric of my shirt and reached my chest. In the end, she only stopped crying after falling asleep.
No matter how much I tried, I couldn't understand why she cried like that. This is something I didn't expect from her. But feeling guilty, I let her sleep in my lap as I also drifted off to sleep.
***
When I woke up, I found Rin still in my arms, staring at me with her amber eyes. They were still reddish.
With guilt still weighing on me, I said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry."
As she was calmer now, I could clearly understand her thoughts. What made her so sad that she cried was me saying that if she didn't obey me, there's no need to have her by my side.
Apparently, she understood that as me saying that I intended to get rid of her.
Well, the intention of the threat was just for educational purposes, empty words. I never expected it to hit her so hard.
"I know I may have seemed a bit cruel. But those were just words. I was only acting tough to make you obey me. I never expected you to take it so seriously and become emotional," I explained.
After my words, Rin brought up something she discovered when talking to Kurama. It was an event that left the poor fox saddened. He told her about the time I abandoned him. But even after my abandonment, he continued to follow me faithfully, trying to regain his position until he finally succeeded.
To this day, he still doesn't understand why I abandoned him. During many moments in his period of abandonment, he thought he would become Rin's food, as she always looked at him with hungry eyes.
Because of this, after becoming my tamed monster again, he has been striving to follow my orders to the letter. At times, he has even instructed Rin and Usagi to do the same.
"Well, now I understand why he's so obedient, but it also makes me feel bad to hear that..." I murmured as guilt consumed me.
The truth is, the time I abandoned Kurama was when I had the opportunity to capture Rin. Since I only had space for one tamed monster at the time, I chose what seemed to be the most viable option.
Obviously, my tamed monsters don't know that I have a limit on how many monsters I can tame. Still, I think I need to apologize to Kurama later.
Although I'm curious about how my tamed monsters can communicate with each other, I'll save that for another time.
"That was a different situation, it won't happen again. And I won't get rid of you," I assured her, looking directly into her eyes.
"Believe me," I said. "Although you drive me crazy sometimes, I wouldn't be capable of doing such a thing. You are very important to me, and I only said that because you're impulsive, and it puts you in danger."
Resting my forehead against hers, I continued, "Although I appreciate all my companions, you are special. You are precious to me, so I don't want to see you getting hurt. Due to our connection, you should also be able to feel my feelings, right?"
She nodded slightly.
"In that case, you must know exactly how I feel. Do you think I would really have the courage to push you away from me?"
She shook her head and continued to look into my eyes. Due to our proximity, I could feel her breath on my lips. As my heart raced, I swallowed my saliva while restraining my instincts.
I don't exactly know how I feel about Rin. Many things have happened, and it has left me very confused. Sometimes I feel like I like her, but at the same time, I also think it may be because I have no contact with other people. Or maybe it's just gratitude for her sacrificing herself for me.
But since I have no one like me to talk to, Rin, who has the closest appearance to a human, ended up filling that space. I've never fallen in love with anyone, so I can't say for sure if what I feel is truly love or just a sense of loneliness.
Unlike me, who was lost in thoughts, Rin seemed to not care about anything as she pressed her lips against mine.
Her lips were soft and tender.
As I enjoyed the sensation, soon her tongue found its way between my lips.
Even though I felt like I should reject it, I couldn't bring myself to do so and simply accepted her advances.
Not only that, I placed my hand on the back of her neck and returned her kiss.
After a few seconds, she parted her lips from mine and hugged me as she sought comfort against my chest. Normally, she would try to attack me to get much more than just a kiss, but it seems she's exercising self-control.
Wrapping her in my arms, I held her tightly against me as I felt her warmth. Although it was just a short kiss, it felt good...
With my nose near her head, I caught the scent of the soap I made for her hair.
Strangely, my heart was pounding, racing a mile a minute.
I truly don't understand my own feelings, but I believe I've fallen for her. From the way I feel, I think it's a path of no return...
Sighing, I leaned my head against the tree, and at that moment, I also noticed the presence of all my tamed monsters.
Swallowing hard, I nervously asked, "D-Did you all see everything?"
Without even trying to hide it, they all nodded in unison.
"There's something called basic courtesy!" I said, feeling my face burning with embarrassment. "You could have at least pretended you didn't see anything!"
Not knowing what to do and with my face burning with shame, I picked Rin up in my arms and started running desperately through the forest, without a defined direction. After a while of running, I felt hunger creeping in and decided to stop to rest and eat something.
I took out the food from my inventory, and feeling guilty about what had happened, I let Rin eat as much meat as she wanted.
With the events of today, I think when I have children, I won't be able to be a strict father. I just hope they'll be good kids because the way things are going, I can already imagine that I'll be the most doting father in the world.