Just like yesterday, Charlotte and her auntie led me down stairs where all the caged creatures were. It seemed like the cages that had the goblins I killed have already been filled back up with different goblins. Charlotte asked if I wanted to go with the goblins again, but I refused considering that they had just arrived. I didn't want to kill them just as they arrived, so instead, we visited other cages.
"Remember, stick to the common ones, okay?" Her auntie is also with us, making sure that we're going to the right ones.
"Got it."
Charlotte then led me around as I began looking around at all sorts of creatures before we start the training. It was then that I saw a small creature that had four legs, but I couldn't help but notice that it was on fire.
"Ah, that's an elemental newt."
"Is it okay?" Despite it being on fire, it shows to reaction to the pain, if anything it looks happy as it's small beady eyes look up at us.
"Yeah, it's fine. They change their element depending on the season. They're quite rare though, so we won't be training with this."
"O-okay." I'm quite glad that I won't be killing this. Even as we pass by it. I couldn't help but look back until it was out of our sight.
We then came across something completely different, as it only had two legs, dragging it's long body across the floor. When it noticed us, is opened it's mouth wide, barring it's teeth at us.
"This is a wyrmling. It's small now, but they actually grow up quite large."
"Looks scared."
"Yeah. They're territorial in nature. It's not as rare as the newt earlier, but we can't use this."
And so, we continue to look around at the many cages, all of which houses small creatures like the newt, but some housed creatures similar in sized to the goblins. Some even having two heads which I thought was quite strange. Usually one would only have one head.
"Alright. We can do it here." At Charlotte's words, I look into the cage to see a creature about the size of a goblin. But instead of walking on two feet, it appears to have four. It's skin was nearly pitch black, almost like a shadow, but when it turned it's head, instead of expecting to see eyes, all I could see was a wide open mouth with numerous dagger-like fangs coating it's mouth. It's eyes were nowhere to be seen.
"It's called a Grue."
"Grue?"
"Auntie sometimes likes to shave off their fur like this one as it can be quite good at protecting you from the cold." At her words, I look over to the next cage to see what looks to be a Grue with it's fur. The black fur covered it's whole body. It was only until it opened it's mouth to me that I could understand where it's head is.
"So, they live in cold places?"
"Exactly. They're quite a pain as they're very vicious. But auntie has no problem with getting them. There's plenty of them out there." Hearing that they're viscous does make me feel better with what Charlotte told me yesterday, with what it means to kill. Thinking that this monster can easily kill an innocent person, makes it a bit less stressful on my end. That said, my nerves are steadily building up, especially when Charlotte starts moving behind me in preparation to take off my mask.
"I know it's painful, but do try and control it. Okay? I'll be right with you." She holds me softly by my shoulders as I continue to look at the hairless Grue. Even though my mask isn't even off, I can practically hear my heart beating out of my chest as it only seems to get worse with every passing second. "Ready?"
"Mm..." I nod at her words, thinking that if I wait any longer it's just going to get more painful. And in the next moment, Charlotte lifts my mask up from my eyes as I'm now directly staring at the Grue in front of me.
"Hnng!" Almost immediately upon making eye contact with the Grue, I feel my blood rushing through my body, causing me to heat up uncontrollably, and before I knew it. Blood splattered everywhere once more, just like yesterday. I tightly shut my eyes while at the same time, Charlotte pulled the mask back over my eyes from behind.
"Shiro? You okay?" Just like yesterday, my body feels like it's on fire, but it's not as bad as yesterday... At least I think it is.
"I'm fine..."
"Hey, you might not have realized it, but you managed to look at it longer than yesterday before it died."
"Huh?"
"Mhmm! You've improved, Shiro." I... Improved?
"But I still killed it..."
"I know, but maybe one day, you can look at things as much as you want. It's small I know, but this is great news, Shiro." Hearing her praise me does make me feel better. Despite the both of us covered in blood, she gives me a warm smile before patting me on the head. And just like that, maybe even faster than yesterday, the pain in my body quickly vanished as Charlotte's warmth soon replaces it.
We continued with the Grues for today, but just like the first attempt, they all died, getting even more blood over us. Charlottes ends up cleaning all the blood that we leave behind, before storing it into phials that she'd later give to her auntie. The whole process makes it feel like I'm just not mindlessly killing, but instead helping out, which does make it easier for me mentally.
"Good work today, Shiro." But soon enough, after a few hours, we stop for the day.