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Chapter 18 – Three New Residents?
At first, I thought there were three medium-sized black dogs.
But I was wrong.
One body with three heads.
Cerberus?
It’s small, so maybe it’s a child?
It seems injured, with fresh blood in places.
Two of the heads are limp, but the one in the middle is showing its gums and threatening the white wolves.
Hmm, a child.
This is probably not a good thing, but when I see a child, I want to help it.
I stand between Cerberus and the white wolves.
Then, pointing at the manticore, I say to the white wolves’ leader.
[There’s one over there, so let this one go]
The white wolf seemed to understand what I was trying to say, so he went obediently toward the manticore and bit into its leg.
I crouched down in front of Cerberus and held out my hand, asking, “Are you okay?”
It bit into the middle of the neck.
…
I feel like I saw a scene like this in a movie.
It didn’t really hurt, though.
Maybe because it was weak or still young, it only bit gently.
When I stroked it with my other hand, it let go of its mouth as if it had lost all its strength and collapsed.
…Mom saved me when I was about to be killed as a sacrifice.
So, would it be okay if I saved this child?
I gathered magical power in my left hand, revitalized the child’s body, and increased its healing ability.
It’s healing magic.
The plant growth magic I use is an application of this.
Cerberus’ wounds healed quickly.
However…
After a while, its speed slowed down, and Cerberus’ three necks and their breathing became rough.
Healing magic is magic that increases metabolism and heals wounds.
As a result, the stamina of the person who receives the magic is reduced to a certain extent.
It seems that when a dying person receives this, they may lose all their strength even after the wound has healed.
However, there is a way to deal with it.
I place my right hand on Cerberus’s neck and let magical power flow from there.
It’s a stamina recovery spell.
It heals physical fatigue.
I convert my magical power into Cerberus’s stamina.
I use that to interfere with the healing magic’s metabolism.
The wound quickly closes up, and all that’s left is the bald patch.
But Cerberus still looks like he’s in pain.
Hmm?
I wonder if this kid’s poisoned?
The manticore’s tail is shaped like a scorpion’s, and at the end of it is poisonous.
In fact, when I was about eight years old, I accidentally got stung on my arm by one.
It hurt.
My arm swelled up to about three times its normal size, and I could barely move it.
Mum laughed and said it would be better by the next day, but it didn’t go away for about three days.
It went back to normal on the fourth day, though.
Come to think of it, a week later an elf girl came to visit and started screaming and saying things like “A normal ‘person’ would die instantly!” and gave me some horribly awful-tasting medicine.
…Should I give him some of that herb just to be sure?
I’m sure there was a place where it grows nearby.
I picked up Cerberus on my back and ran, relying on my memory.
There it was!
I pulled out a few leaves and grabbed them with the white Fluffy I created in my right hand, pinching them together.
Then I moved my magical power around inside the white Fluffy, grinding them up.
I place it on top of a white Fluffy (cup-shaped) that I’d made with my left hand and pour the magic water into it.
That’s good.
I take it to Cerberus’s middle neck.
But the middle neck sniffs it and refuses.
It’s medicine!
If you drink it, you’ll feel better!
What? To another neck?
I have no choice, so I turn my attention to the other necks.
He seems unconscious, with his eyes closed.
Well, it doesn’t matter which one I drink, right?
I use the white Fluffy to open the mouth of the right neck and pour in the medicine.
The eyes of the right neck open wide and it starts to thrash around, shaking its head.
The middle head silences it with a cry.
I wonder if the middle neck is the one with the upper hand?
However, no matter how much power I try to get the right head to drink, it refuses.
The head in the middle says this, but it doesn’t seem to listen.
There’s no other way.
Next I give the medicine to the left head in the same way.
Just like the right, it becomes violent when awakened.
Once again, the head in the middle shuts it up.
I guess the head in the middle is the leader after all?
I look down at the medicine inside the white Fluffy.
There’s still a little bit left.
I turn my gaze to Cerberus.
With a satisfied look on its face, the head in the middle croaks as if to tell the left head to drink it quickly.
The eyes of the heads on both sides… are focused on the center.
Well, I have to be fair.
The head in the middle is held down by the two heads on both sides, so I pour the medicine into its mouth.
I didn’t get any fish, but Cerberus was coming to my homeland.
My new friend, Cerberus – as expected, there was a fight.
Once inside, the evil fairy came charging towards me with a fierce look on his face, yelling something I couldn’t quite understand.
In response, Cerberus (center) roared with his eyes glaring, which was quite a hassle.
I was happy for Cerberus to just eat the evil fairy and kill him, but I tried to catch the one who was trying too hard to yell with a white fluffy bug net and present it to Cerberus, only to be stopped by the fairy maids with desperate looks on their faces.
But all of this commotion ended with the appearance of the fairy princess.
The fairy princess flew in from the big tree in a panic, smiling at the barking Cerberus.
Cerberus immediately started to cry “Eeek!” in fear, hid behind my lap, and finally curled up into a small ball.
Next, the Fairy Princess came near the evil fairy, who was screaming and struggling in my bug net, and smiled.
The evil fairy, who had been making such bold statements (I assume), fell silent.
Looking more closely, her body and expression were stiff.
Finally, she came over to me, looked up, and her eyes were moist.
So cute and cunning!
But that’s what makes her good!
She easily released the evil fairy.
Having finished that, the Fairy Princess dismissed the fairies.
Then she grabbed the evil fairy by the scruff of the neck and took him away.
…
I looked down at my feet.
Cerberus’ three heads were entangled around my legs, trembling violently.
I turned my gaze to the Fairy Princess.
Huh…?
Could it be that the Fairy Princess is a strong character?
Perhaps noticing my gaze, the Fairy Princess turned around and smiled.
…No way.
She’s so cute, that can’t be possible.
The Fairy Princess is cute, hardworking, a little cunning, an idol you want to protect.
Yeah, yeah, you’re just way too restless!
—
I decided to bring Cerberus inside the house and give him food and water.
His ribs were sticking out, so he must not have been eating much.
I wondered if he liked raw meat better, but he seemed weak, so I grilled it for him.
I started by feeding the middle neck a small piece.
We wrestled.
We wrestled violently.
The three necks started biting each other, so I quickly stopped them.
It seems that these guys need to be fed all three at the same time.
Using a white Fluffy, I fed all three heads at the same time.
He’s quite a hassle.
Next, I gave him a bath.
Because he was so dirty, instead of using an actual bath, I filled a bathtub with hot water using a white Fluffy outside and put him in it.
Swish.
Swish.
…
…It wasn’t Mr. Cerberus, it was Little Cerberus.
My apologies.
At first, the water would turn black just from soaking, but after washing it several times with soap, his fur became nice and fluffy.
Little Cerberus didn’t like it at first, but didn’t seem too opposed to the finished product.
But does that mean I have to give each of his three heads a name?
Hmm, I’ll think about it.
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