Monsters Wag Their Tails Only at Me

We flew without rest.

My stomach churned from the dragons’ merciless speed, but after wasting two entire days because I’d collapsed unconscious, I couldn’t exactly complain about feeling weak.

At least Milo had been knocked unconscious. Whatever the intention behind it, it conveniently prevented motion sickness for beginner fliers.

Just as Morpha had planned, we reached the rebels’ base before sunset.

***

"Theo! Welcome back! You worked hard!"

"Lord Ceryl, you’re back?"

The rebels waiting near the entrance welcomed us warmly.

Only a few days had passed since I’d left this place, yet arriving here somehow felt like returning to a hometown I’d missed terribly.

Come to think of it, ever since I’d fallen into this world, I’d never truly settled anywhere. I’d stayed at the magical creature management facility at first, but it had never been a place where I could rest my heart.

"Ughhh, home at last!"

When I threw both hands into the air and shouted, Margon burst into hearty laughter beside me.

"Strange, isn’t it? The place we were just at was originally your home, Lord Ceryl."

"You can call that place a home? It was a tiger’s den."

"A tiger’s den?"

I lightly ignored the awkward question.

Morpha headed straight toward the Drunkard’s tent with Milo and Days.

Finding the connection between the two of them and figuring out how to sever it would be left entirely to the mage.

As I looked around the base, I grabbed one of the rebels I vaguely recognized and asked,

"Excuse me, hasn’t Kallen returned yet?"

"Ah, the little orange-haired miss? Still no news."

The middle-aged woman used the sort of nickname that would probably earn her a furious outburst from a teenage girl if Kallen heard it herself. Still, there was genuine affection in her tone, so I didn’t bother correcting her.

I brushed my hair back in the cool night wind and stared into the dark forest.

Of the three groups that had gone searching for spirits, Kallen’s party was taking the longest.

Nothing happened in the forest, right?

The habitual worry I always felt toward Kallen crept back in again.

Gnawing anxiously at my fingertips, I called out a name I hadn’t used in a while toward my sleeve.

"Rami, Rami? Are you in there? Come to Daddy."

I called for Rami in the gentlest voice I could manage. Before, the little thing used to pop out immediately, but no matter how many times I called now, there was no response.

Did Rami never hide in these clothes before? Or was it not the sleeve?

I tried calling into my pocket. Then I fluttered the front of my shirt while calling again.

Right as my imagination started spiraling toward the worst possibilities, an adorable sound burst from my sleeve.

"Hiyung!"

The tiny cry pierced straight into my ears, and I broke into a huge grin. I spread my palm beneath the sleeve and clicked my tongue affectionately.

"There you are, my baby. Have you been doing well?"

"Hiyung!"

But instead of climbing onto my hand, Rami sharply turned its tiny head away. Its entire body radiated sulking resentment.

Reduced to desperately appeasing a palm-sized lizard, I whispered,

"I’m sorry, Rami. I’ve neglected you lately, haven’t I?"

"Hiyung, hiyung!"

"Come on, what are you talking about? Of course my baby’s cuter than a dragon."

Naturally chatting with Rami, I glanced sideways toward Varen.

After confirming he hadn’t noticed yet, I quietly moved beneath the shadow of a tree.

Apparently feeling a little better now, Rami finally climbed onto my palm and swayed its thin tail.

"Rami, what about Kallen? She’s safe, right?"

"Hiyung, hiyung!"

"That’s a relief. You still haven’t found the river spirit?"

"Hiyuuung... hiyung!"

"Thought so. Even if it’s a place you’ve been before, humans still can’t see it."

As expected, unless the owner personally guided you there, a spirit’s domain remained invisible to human eyes.

Hearing that Kallen was safe was a relief, but it still meant the plan had hit a snag.

Maybe Varen and I would have to go ourselves. It was far enough away that the trip would probably take several days, but we couldn’t exactly leave Kallen’s group wandering through the forest forever.

"Hiyuuuuung!"

"Hm? You think Kallen can handle it?"

The shadow lizard let out something almost like a dragon’s roar and nodded vigorously at my words. Its obsidian-like eyes sparkled proudly as it lifted its head high.

"Well, I trust Kallen too, but..."

"Hiyung, hiyuuung!"

"I know, I know. Kallen’s brave and tough."

"Hiyuuung!"

"My baby, did you get really close to Kallen while I wasn’t around?"

Rami proudly bragged that Kallen had caught tons of fresh crickets for it.

I’m pretty sure I caught way more than that. Still, I swallowed the childish complaint.

Instead, I puffed my lips out dramatically.

Rami suddenly scrambled up and smacked my lips with its tiny little paw.

"Ow, owowow. Baby, Daddy was wrong."

"Hiyung, hiyung!"

"Come on. Obviously you’re Daddy’s number one baby."

"Ceryl, I’m not number one?"

At some point Varen had approached us, and now he cut in with a cold voice.

At the arrival of the giant reptile, Rami immediately fled back into my sleeve.

I shot Varen a glare and carefully hugged Rami protectively.

"Varen, act your size already."

"What does size have to do with ranking? Ceryl, answer properly. Between me and that little runt, who’s number one?"

"...Seriously, what is wrong with you?"

Judging by how flat my sleeve suddenly felt, Rami had probably escaped through the shadows.

I was disappointed our reunion had ended so quickly, but at least I’d gotten the news I wanted.

Still, Varen continued staring at me with a stiff expression.

Does he seriously want to hear that he’s my number one baby? That’s honestly horrifying.

"Ceryl, come to think of it, you can speak with magical creatures now."

"Ah... haha, I’m still getting used to it myself."

I’d expected him to start sulking, but instead Varen said something unexpected.

I answered lightly and headed back toward the base. Beside me, Varen let out a long sigh.

"Damn it. It was already annoying enough."

"What’s annoying?"

"The males flirting with you. Now that you can actually communicate with them, who knows how much worse it’ll—"

"Oh, for fuck’s sake, stop saying creepy things!"

I smacked the back of the hopelessly lovestruck dragon.

A loud thud rang out, and a sharp jolt shot all the way through my fingertips.

It had been so long since I’d last hit Varen that I’d briefly forgotten.

"AGH— ah... fuck, you..."

I’d just punched a boulder with the weak hand of an ordinary human.

Which meant the injury belonged entirely to me.

Varen clicked his tongue and grabbed my hand while shaking his head. He kissed each of my knuckles one by one while looking at me like I was hopeless.

"Tch. Idiot."

"Don’t look at me like that. I forgot too."

Just as Varen’s lips brushed the back of my hand, the area around us suddenly grew noisy.

Before I realized it, tiny magical creatures were swarming around my feet. They were the babies we’d rescued from the circus.

I pulled my hand free from Varen’s grasp and covered my mouth with both hands.

"...Holy shit."

Dear god.

What kind of paradise was this?

My legs gave out and I collapsed onto the ground as tiny balls of fluff climbed all over me.

An overwhelming rush of dopamine sent shivers through my entire body. My heart was pounding so hard it felt ready to explode, so I was definitely still alive, but somehow this felt exactly like heaven.

"Ohooo, you adorable little things! One at a time, talk one at a time!"

"Kyaang, kyaang!"

"Aww, really? That man gave you yummy food?"

"Arrrrr, arrreung...."

"Nothing hurts anymore? That’s good."

The moment I answered them and understood what they were saying, all the magical creatures surrounding me began wagging their tails wildly at once.

The dangerously cute sight made me clutch the left side of my chest and suck in a sharp breath.

Varen immediately dropped down beside me in alarm.

"Ceryl, what’s wrong?"

"My heart... hurts..."

"I see. Looks like you still need rest. Let’s go lie down."

Right then, a puppy with nine tails whined pitifully as it climbed onto my thigh.

It sniffed the back of my hand with its shiny black nose, then licked me with its warm tongue.

"Kkiing... kkng...."

With eyes full of innocent concern, the magical creature asked where I was hurting. If I was hungry, it offered to bring me sausages it had hidden in the forest.

"Gaaahhh, I could die happy now."

"......"

"These little cuties are even cuter now that I can talk to them."

The magical creatures’ violent level of adorableness finally overwhelmed me completely.

The moment I flopped backward onto the grass, warm fluffy babies swarmed over me.

Between the constant sniffing and licking coming from every direction, my mind completely blanked out. Their voices begging me to get up and play sounded like a choir of angels.

I was literally tearing up from happiness when I heard human footsteps approaching.

I lazily lifted my gaze and saw a man standing there holding a rabbit with four ears.

"How fascinating. I’ve never seen magical creatures gather like this before."

"...Wait, please hand the baby over to me."

I shot upright and reached toward him.

The man looked surprised, but obediently handed me the rabbit anyway.

The fluffy little puffball settled into my arms and repeatedly licked one of its front paws.

"Baby, stop licking it. Can Teacher take a look?"

I gently held the paw the rabbit had been licking and examined the underside.

A thick wooden thorn was lodged between the toes hidden beneath its fur.

"Oh no, that must’ve hurt so much. You couldn’t even hop around because of this, huh? Aww, poor thing."

The thorn looked enormous compared to the rabbit’s tiny paw, but it was too thin for me to pull out properly with my fingers.

What do I do? If I don’t remove it immediately, it’ll get infected. Is there anything around here I could use like tweezers?

As I focused completely on the rabbit’s paw, a dumbfounded voice suddenly spoke above my head.

"Y-you really can talk to magical creatures...."

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