The Spirit King and Cicerius (1)
“Kuh, kuh!” (Setsu)
“Alright, alright, here we go!” (Yuki)
I was playing with Setsu, tossing a ball for her to chase. Rir brought her along with him when he came over to visit.
She chased the ball with her short limbs full of energy, and when she got the ball in her mouth, she came back to me.Her tail wagging in the air was adorable.
“Kuh!” (Setsu)
“Okay, okay, one more time.” (Yuki)
“Kuu~…Kuu!” (Setsu)
Setsu rushed at once again to the ball I tossed for her.
And while playing with Setsu, Rir cried out in a slightly apologetic manner.
“Kuu.” (Rir)“Haha, I’m glad to hear that she’s doing well. This girl will be a tomboy in the future. I can just picture you being pushed around by your daughter.” (Yuki)
“…Kuu.” (Rir)
Rir, perhaps having thought that himself, expressed a wry smile with an exhausted expression on his face.
Regarding Setsu, although she was Rir’s child, she did not seem to be a Dungeon Monster. I confirmed this by checking her title column.
However, it seemed that she had partially inherited Rir’s dungeon-related abilities, for I could vaguely understand her intentions without her showing it in any way.
Perhaps because her intellect was not fully developed yet, her awareness was rather vague, but I could sense feelings such as [happy], [wanting to play more], [sleepy], and so on.
It made me happy to know that she was pleased to see me.
Well, that said, I was able to have a conversation even with Rir’s Wife, who had nothing to do with the dungeon.
Fenrir’s intelligence was as high as a human’s, so I could communicate with her.
But you know, monsters grow up really fast.
Setsu was not even a month old yet, but it must have been easy for Rir and his wife to raise her because of her strong will.
She seemed to recognize us as a part of her family, or rather, as a part of their flock. She also seemed to regard Riou and Sakuya as her friends as well.
Riou and Sakuya also looked at Setsu when she came over. Even when the two were in the middle of crying, they immediately stopped crying when Setsu approached them. It was an interesting sight to see for everyone.
“You also have a strong wife at your place, so I guess it’s mostly both of us who would do the raising of the children.” (Yuki)
“…Kuu?” (Rir)
“That’s… as I have said, I am in a similar situation. My wives are more solid than me, and they would always hold me down when I try to screw around.” (Yuki)
“Kuh, kuh.” (Rir)
“Hahaha, It’s our duty to make them worry occasionally.” (Yuki)
“Kuuh?” (Setsu)
“Oh, Setsu, well, it’s simply some adult things, you know.” (Yuki)
I patted her head as she looked up at me, and that’s when it happened.
I felt the presence of an overpowered, not-so-hidden entity.
At the same time, the dungeon map opened on its own.
For a moment, both Rir and I were prepared to assume that it was an enemy… However, this presence seemed to be of someone I was familiar with.
“Kuu!?” (Rir)
“No, wait, this…” (Yuki)
Rir almost instantly switched into combat mode, but I stopped him, checked the details on the map, and–.
“–As I expected. The Spirit King… and Old Lady Cicerius.” (Yuki)
