Cub Raising Association

Ya Yi

Gatekeeper?

Hearing Xie Tao’s words, Xia Qi moved her gaze to the rugged man in front of her. After a few seconds of examination, she finally nodded, agreeing to Xie Tao’s proposition.

At a first glance, the middle age man gave a bad impression with his unkempt stumble, long hair and wrinkled clothes, but Xia Qi could see that he had a good physique and he theoretically therefore had the ability to work as a guard at their club.

There was of course the problem of his behavior but seeing as he insisted on repaying, Xia Qi felt that although his behavior of just rushing in without thinking had not been appropriate, his heart should still be good and even quite honest.

Thinking of this, Xia Qi said: “The guards wages will be lower than the caretakers’ and our accountant’s, but it is still 3,000 and our employees are also provided with food and a place to live.”

“If the work is done well and you want to stay after one year, then you will receive a raise.” This was not Xia Qi’s decision, Xie Tao had already given her the terms for each occupation when she was responsible for interviewing and picking people.

The reason that Xia Qi added the last part was that she felt that the person in front of her looked too unemployed. If he was to be dismissed later, his days may become very bitter. So if he did a good job and was willing to work hard afterwards, it would not be impossible for them to continue to provide a job for him even after one year.

Hearing the salary of 3000, the supposed new “gatekeeper”, a general who led armies to crush countless enemies, listened to their words with a stiff face. Zarad then nodded but it took a while before he was able to squeeze out a reply in between his clenched teeth: “...ok.”

Originally, Zarad had been ready. No matter how much money the young man wanted, he would immediately agree without blinking. But he had never imagined that the young man in front of him would not follow the routine!

However, in order to restore his abilities, this requirement was nothing at all. Zarad made sure to repeatedly persuaded himself in his heart.

Wasn’t it just to work one year as a guard at this Cub Raising branch? Guarding the gate was also a legitimate profession and any legitimate profession was worth respecting. Thinking this, Zarad pushed aside all his unnecessary thoughts and calmed down.

“Then let’s sign the contract.” Xia Qi had always been a straightforward person and hearing that he agreed, she immediately went to the office to fetch the contract.

The man did not read through the contract and just signed it directly. When signing he slightly paused but he then used his real name, there were many people with the same name in the universe so Zarad[1] did not worry too much about using it.

“Zarad...?” Xia Qi looked at the name on the contract and could not help but to give the other a look over before sighing.

He had the same name as the general of the Star Alliance, as the great hero who maintained the peace in the universe, but this person really didn’t match the image she had in her mind.

“What’s wrong?” Noticing Xia Qi’s reaction, Xie Tao asked.

“Nothing.” Xia Qi shook her head. “It’s just that the name of our new colleague is exactly the same as a big hero I admire. General Zarad of the Star Alliance, I’m his fan!”

Who in the interstellar did not know that the United Army, commanded by General Zarad, had not only defeated many but had also successfully completed more than a dozen peace treaties. He was simply brilliant.

However, General Zarad himself was still extremely low-key, which made it so that most people only knew his name and had never seen his face. But this did not prevent him from becoming the object of admiration for many of the younger generations.

Hearing her words, Zarad couldn’t help his smile from faltering.

He was good looking, right?! He rarely showed himself to his fans but looking at Xia Qi, she seemed to think “same name but very different,” Zarad felt a little traumatized.

After signing the contract, Xie Tao went up to the other to chat. “I don’t really understand what you meant with ‘spiritual power’ and the thing about using the lullaby to guide it... But it’s okey as long as I do it like I just did?”

Since he signed the contract, it meant that he was serious and that the things he said probably were true, but Xie Tao did not have any concept of the “spiritual power” the other had mentioned.

Xia Qi was also looking at the other person with doubtful eyes holding a bit of curiosity. She was an ordinary person who had not developed any abilities and only had a vague concept of what it was. So although she was a little surprised at what Zarad had just said, she wasn’t as clueless as Xie Tao, and was instead very interested in what he could tell her about abilities.

She had not known that a person can use spiritual energy to seal and unseal another person’s ability. But at least she knew the very basic, that in order to do it one would need to posses spiritual energy in the first place. She doubtfully glanced at Xie Tao.

The youth had such powerful spiritual strength but still said that he did not know what it was?? Zarad was stunned and looked over to observe Xia Qi, who stood next to him, but her face only expressed the appearance of ordinary doubts, nothing more. Zarad finally realized that he had a problem.

They really didn’t know anything about spiritual energy and abilities, in fact it seemed that they didn’t even have basic knowledge of it, especially the human youth in front of him. It was as if the other person was sitting on a huge treasure without knowing it.

“Spiritual energy is the foundation of abilities. When you hummed the lullaby just now, you unconsciously used it.” At this level of spiritual strength, Zarad even initially wondered if the black haired youth in front of him really was human, but even if he was another race, that amount of spiritual energy would never be normal.

Even in the mermaid race, where individuals normally had higher spiritual energy than in other races, no one seemed to have such a scary amount of spiritual energy.

Hearing this, Xie Tao was about to open his mouth but stopped himself as Zarad’s words made him think of two things.

It was true that every time he had hummed the lullaby, the cubs lying on their beds would close their eyes and fall asleep. Xie Tao had felt that the lullaby really was too powerful, but according to what the other said, perhaps the real reason that they fell asleep was not because of the lullaby, but because of the spiritual energy being unconsciously guided through it.

Then there was that masochistic circulation device that had magically been repaired by him hitting it. At that time, he had felt a strange feeling of tiredness for no reason. Now that he though about it, it would make sense if it was caused by the consumption of his spiritual energy...

He had an ability in this world.

It felt a bit unreal but having already met a deity and traveled to another world, Xie Tao quickly accepted it and sunk into thought. He tried to find the common points from the both times he had unconsciously used his power, however what he concluded was actually very close to the philosophy of idealism.[2]

First of all, he had to be concentrated, but he also needed to have a strong idea of ​​what he wanted. Xie Tao felt that he might even be able to create things from thought, but thinking about the deep mental fatigue that he had felt when he fixed the circulation device. Xie Tao understood that what he could do had great limitations and could only be used for some small things.

“Mm, I think I understand.” Seeing that Zarad was waiting for his reply, Xie Tao nodded and said this. If his idea was correct, then he should be able to restore the other’s ability even without the lullaby.

It was one thing to sing lullabies for the cubs, but to do it for an adult... If not necessary, Xie Tao wanted to avoid the singing.

Before putting the new employee to work, Xie Tao had him clean up his image and gave him two sets of work clothes.

After shaving and slightly fixing his sloppy brown hair by combing it and tying it together at the neck, the man still looked rough but he gave an entirely different feeling from before and Xie Tao nodded in satisfaction.

But Zarad, that was now wearing the uniform that Xie Tao had given him and was standing by the gate, couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed.

He, a former commander of the Star Alliance United Army, was a guard, a gatekeeper, and it wasn’t even at a famous nursing club! If he had told his past self that he one day would come to this, he was not sure he would have believed it..

Thinking of this, Zarad couldn’t help but remember one of his old acquaintances. He had recently heard that he was now a major general[3] in the Star Alliance and also a mentor who taught basic battle to the cubs in a famous nursing club ranked 10th in the interstellar rank. His monthly salary at that place was several hundred of thousands.

In comparison...

Zarad thought of his salary of 3000 per month, and got even more embarrassed.

However, as a soldier, even if the work was beneath him, Zarad would not slack off and take it seriously. Since he had accepted the job, he will be loyal and work hard.

Meanwhile, he had also planned to look into which people benefited from harming him and try to find the culprit. He had worked for the Star Alliance for so many years, he had nothing else. But it also meant that he had many connections and would easily be able to get information on the matter.

After a few days, the newly hatched Knox cub was finally able to move out of the warm hatching room and meet the other cubs. But since Xie Tao was still a little uneasy about the cold, he cut a piece of his own clothes and made it into a small cloak that could be attached to the neck of the cub. It was first then that he felt reassured enough to pick up the cub and take it out of the room.

“Meow.” When the young man had squatted down to give him the small cloak, the Knox cub had squinted his eyes in satisfaction and called out to him.

The fair slender fingers had swayed in the vicinity as he attached it, and the cub’s pupils unconsciously tightened as they followed their moments. He suddenly wanted to feel his scent again so he stood up on his back paws and caught a finger with his mouth and paws. The Knox cub did not bite hard at all, he didn’t want to harm the youth, he just wanted him to keep still so he could sniff him. But the Knox race was far superior to humans and even though he only bit lightly, his baby teeth was still sharp enough to penetrate a human’s thin skin.

Seeing this as well as feeling a light sting, Xie Tao kept his hand still. He wasn’t scared or angry at the cub, after all, even if its teeth were sharp they were still small and they hadn’t penetrated that deeply. It was no big deal. Even if they had done more damage, Xie Tao would still not blame the cub. He had seen how its eyes had followed his fingers and thought that the cub must have been playful and tried to catch him by instinct. He therefore now patiently kept still so that the cub would calm down and let go by itself.

As soon as the cub had bitten down, he had felt that something was wrong and hurriedly let go. Noticing the bright red blood coming from the puncture marks, the cub looked up at the youth with his ears flat against his head. “Mahw..”

The corner of Xie Tao’s lip hocked up and he stroked the cub’s back with his other hand before making the final adjustments to the cloak.

However he suddenly felt a soft sensation on his finger.

The cub was licking the small wounds and feeling satisfied he looked up at the youth and then stroke his head against his hand in an apology.

He never wanted to hurt him.

Feeling touched, Xie Tao picked him up and called out to him in a soft voice: “Ya Yi”

This name was not given to the cub by any of the members in their club, the egg had already been given this name long before it came to their club.

But it wasn’t a name that the Star Alliance or any caretaker in the other clubs had assigned it either. Because, when the investigative force found the egg in the ruins of the Knox capital, there had been a necklace laying closely next to the egg, and on the necklace were two words engraved, Ya Yi.

The caretakers had already fed the cubs so now was time for them to get something to eat as well. Everyone would prepare lunch and eat together so Zarad left his post and walked into the building where they took care of the cubs. It was then that he saw a small white cub with a cloak tided around its neck and his eyes immediately widened.

A Knox cub -? !

Zarad knew that this race, which could be regarded to have committed genocide, left one egg with weak vitality. He also knew that the Star Alliance sent the egg to a nursing club, but he remembered it being sent to a commendable nursing club ranked third. How come it was here now?

That this egg even hatched was even more incredible... The life reaction of this egg had been very weak, Zarad knew that almost no one had thought that it would be able to hatch.

“Mah.” Being called by the youth with such gentle voice, the Knox cub’s ears lifted and he quickly responded with lighter voice.

Zarad watched the young man not far from him, as he carefully held the Knox cub in his arms. He still seemed worried that the cub would be cold and used his body temperature to warm the other. Seeing their interaction, Zarad’s eye couldn’t help but twitch.

This person knew exactly what kind of race the Knox was, but still treated this Knox cub as a normal cub... Zarad didn’t know why, but he had a premonition that something would happen sooner or later.

_______________

Translator’s note:

Thank you for being so patient this past week. As a reward I have two pictures for you of Zarad:

According to the novel he is middle age but who knows, his race might age well. ^_−☆

[1] – His name is actually Zhā lâ dé, which contains both his first name and last name, but since it looks like it sounds like “salad” (it doesn’t in Chinese), I chose to use google translate’s version -> Zarad

[2] – Philosophy of Idealism is the theory that ideas or thoughts make up fundamental reality.

[3] – Major General is two ranks below General.