Genetic Engineer in a Tamer's World

Renard quickly came close and hugged Kale and added, ”My friend, I can’t believe it’s already been a few years since we met in your village... Wait, what was your village’s name again? I forgot...”

”Anyway, you really changed so much...wow”

Renard was acting as if he had just met a long-lost friend after so many years. But the more Renard acted in such a friendly manner, the more Kale felt unsettled.

Kale sighed as he thought back to when he first met this guy.

It was a few years ago. Kale was hunting wild beasts on the outer edges of Dagan. Due to his harmony with nature, he could command the animals to his bidding before he had been cursed.

Renard, who was passing by his village in a fancy carriage at that time, spotted this anomaly: how all the animals were flocking around a village boy for some strange reason.

Renard drew close and introduced himself to Kale as a merchant-family heir from the capital.

At that time, Kale only thought of Renard as a spoiled brat from a rich family who had just seen someone who could talk to animals. So, the rich kid was fascinated by the trick.

In the end, Kale ripped off a lot of money from the rich kid so that Renard could stay with him a few days and watch him command the animals and hunt Beasts.

But when Renard was leaving after a few days spent alongside him in the wild, Kale had smaller animals keep an eye on the departing carriage of Renard.

Through some birds, he accidentally heard Renard’s true identity mentioned by the butler-like figure who always remained beside the rich kid.

Only then did he realize that it was Renard who was playing him all this while.

”Unfortunately, I can’t say that it’s nice to meet you,” said Kale.

And Renard chuckled, not minding the words, but suddenly he sensed something, ”Your presence feels strange; is there something wrong with you? You don’t give off the presence of a Tamer.”

Only then did the rich kid notice the robe Kale was wearing.

The Cursed Tamer sighed and removed the headband covering his putrid curse mark.

Renard’s expression turned incomparably grave as he looked at the cursed Soul Sigil; he said in disbelief, ”IMPOSSIBLE.... how can this be, you? You had the Legendary Natural Soul Harmony talent.”

”HOW COULD THE CHURCH FUCKERS....” There was a dark look on Renard’s eyes; he seemed genuinely enraged.

Renard was truly fuming; his family was already on very bad terms with the Dragon Church, and now those wretched fanatics had taken down one of his greatest future assets. Kale was akin to a future golden goose for Renard.

He clenched his fist under the table so hard that his knuckles had turned white.

Kale then explained, ”Due to this Curse, I am unable to tame any Beasts. So, to find a solution to this. I joined the Association and became Lazek Oberon’s disciple. Now, I’m an Apprentice Fleshcrafter.”

Just like everyone else, Renard was completely flabbergasted. ”You’re kidding me, right? You clearly awakened as a Tamer; how could you even...”

But before Renard could steer the conversation in another direction, the Cursed Tamer stated his case in an honest tone, ”I need your help...”

Renard remained silent for a long while and asked tentatively, ”What help do you need?”

Kale revealed with a deep inhale, ”Within one or two days maximum, I need to be within the Tigerwood Forest.”

Renard was stunned into silence by that request. He sighed, ”Do you even realize what you’re asking?”

Kale did not say anything while Renard explained, ”You would have to use teleportation gates to reach near the border of Stonehelm, and from there you would have to be escorted through mercenaries. Into the Outer Zone. Not to mention, permission from Greenroot Tamer’s guild is needed to go there.”

”Which takes weeks, even for the various powerful forces,” he scowled, ”So, what makes you think I can make that happen...?”

Kale looked at Renard’s eyes deeply and said, ”Because I know who you are, Renard....”

He paused for a moment, finally dropping the bombshell, ”Or should I say Your Highness, Renard Sol Ignis, Prince of the Mighty Ignis Empire.”

The instant Kale said those words, a chill seemed to permeate the dark inn; the animated expression on Renard’s face disappeared, replaced by a cold look.

The so-called prince’s appearance changed right before Kale’s eyes: his hair turned red, and his eyes became light yellow—a radiance spread from his figure, displaying the unmistakable royal grace he carried.

The red hair and yellow eyes were the signature features of the direct royal bloodline.

A visible frown appeared on Kale’s face as his heart grew more wary; in fact, another disturbing realization dawned on him: the prince was not surprised by his words, as he asked the prince, ”You let me find out about your identity on purpose...?”

The prince grinned, but did not say it aloud.

Upon that revelation, Kale began to truly regret the decision of asking this guy for help.

Renard stated, ”I can already hear the gears in your brain turning, sigh, you’re smart, Kale, I will give you that. But sometimes you’re too wary, and you lose sight of the important thing.”

”But you should not be, because at the end of the day, the stronger you become, the more it is helpful to me, since I will then have a powerful ally in my race to take the throne,” he concurred, making the complicated matter into something far simpler for Kale.

The prince thought to himself internally, ’Even if Kale no longer holds his previous value due to being cursed, and it’s almost impossible to get rid of the Curse truly; I still have a gut feeling that Kale is just as special as before.’

Renard said, ”Alright, fine, I will help you, but there are two things I need to know.”

Kale sighed; he already knew where this was going and nudged the prince to continue, who asked, ”First, why specifically do you need to go to the Tigerwood Forest, and what happened in the Ebon Viscountcy? What was it that destroyed the place completely?”

Kale lingered for a moment; no matter how much he didn’t want to talk about it, he still had to reveal some things: ”I have created a special Chimera which can only be hatched in the Swamp Hatchery of the Tigerwood Forest.”

He continued after a pause, his tone grave, ”As for what happened in the viscounty, I only watched from afar, but... it was... a Dragon. At least that is what I saw. Thankfully, I was out of the viscounty central point before the Dragon attacked.

”But I suppose you already knew that, and only wanted to confirm, right?” guessed Kale.

Renard nodded; due to the Dragon Church being first to make a move about this matter, they had gotten their hands on the Dragon’s corpse first, though his imperial family was pressuring the Church to concede some of the Dragon’s body parts.

For now, it did not seem like the Church would accept any concessions in this matter.

Renard stared at Kale; he did not fully believe the words of the Cursed Tamer, but there seemed to be some truth to it, and now that he knew Kale was Lazek Oberon’s disciple, he could somewhat keep track of him.

The prince said lastly, ”Alright, it was nice meeting you, my friend. Come back here after three hours exactly. I will make the necessary arrangements.”

Just as Renard was about to get up, the closed door of the dark inn was suddenly flung open with a bang.

An inconceivably beautiful female figure walked in; she had long, blazing red hair and shining, gem-like yellow eyes; her eyelashes were long; she wore a red dress that emphasized her divine figure, with the shape of a phoenix handwoven into it.

She seemed like a young maiden in her prime beauty, but there was a mischievous smile on her cherry-red lips. Despite there being no wind in the inn, her red hair fluttered akin to dancing flames of a phoenix.

Renard scowled in anger, ”Sister, what the hell do you think you’re doing here?”

But she did not look at her brother; her gaze went straight towards the green-eyed Cursed Tamer, and the moment Kale’s eyes met with the eyes of the princess, it was as if a jolt of lightning traveled through his body; his heart skipped as he stared at her in a daze without even realizing it.

Despite dating so many beautiful women in his previous life due to his status.

Kale could swear that he had never once seen a woman so beautiful. The princess’s supernatural beauty was just too devastating.

The smile on the girl’s face grew wider; seeing Kale’s dumbfounded reaction, she drew closer and introduced herself, ”Hello, I am Princess Aria Sol Ignis... nice to meet you, Kale Ardentis.”

Renard became infuriated, ”You? You were listening to us all this while?”

Kale quickly reigned in his dazed expression and replied respectfully, though he still ended up stammering in his words, ”Uh... well, yes. N-nice to meet you, Princess Aria...”