Cerberus Once Again

After the mother and daughter finished their reunion, I gave both Isha and her mother a thorough washing, but since this was Isha’s second time, she offered no resistance, as though she’d already resigned herself to it.

Isha’s mother, on the other hand, was experiencing this for the first time and seemed startled. She instinctively tried to resist, but naturally, she couldn’t escape my grasp, and before long, she quieted down.

The way she resisted—and even the way she gave up—was exactly like Isha, which made their resemblance as mother and daughter rather obvious to me, but… no, this wasn’t good.

If their reactions were the same, then Isha’s mother was probably making the exact same misunderstanding Isha had the first time I washed her.

“You saved me, so now you’re going to have your way with me, heh heh heh,” or something like that?

Yeah, no…

When I cleared up the misunderstanding while drying her, Isha’s mother blushed and looked down, while Isha, for some reason, wore a smug grin.

She probably found it funny that her mother had made that mistake, but Isha had misunderstood me in exactly the same way.

She really wasn’t in a position to laugh at anyone.

…Now then, their bodies were clean, and ordinarily, I would have liked to let them rest.

But when morning came and that priest discovered the empty cell, he would undoubtedly bring his men here to search the hut.

After publicly announcing an execution only for the condemned prisoner to escape, even if the Church itself could endure the embarrassment, the priest’s reputation would be completely ruined.

He would assume she had reunited with her daughter and search this hut and the surrounding area.

Therefore, although I understood that both of them were already at the limits of their stamina, we needed to leave this hut before dawn and relocate somewhere safe.

Isha’s mother nodded in understanding at my explanation, but exhaustion was still clearly written across her face.

I could throw the hut’s belongings into storage… Hmm. No, I might as well store the entire hut.

Storage sorcery—or rather, storage Magic when I used it—really was absurdly powerful.

I could never thank Annie enough for teaching it to me.

If I stored and carried the entire hut, I could take it out again somewhere far away and let Isha and her mother rest properly.

The only question was how far Isha and her mother could walk, but… actually, I should probably just transport them outright.

After placing the whole hut into storage, I warned Isha and her wide-eyed mother not to panic and run away, then held out one hand over the now-empty spot where the hut had stood.

There was a connection between me and her.

So if I called, she would definitely hear me.

I gathered power into my outstretched hand.

“Come forth, guardian of the Underworld, spirit of the bottomless pit, three-headed beast. Your name is—yes, come to me, Bella!”

I called out to her.

Mana surged and swirled, and her form appeared.

A massive body larger than a cow, with three heads.

It had only been a little while, yet she was a familiar sight I had once spent every single day beside.

Bella the Cerberus answered my call and manifested in this world.

Bella leaped at me excitedly, and I firmly caught her enormous body before vigorously petting her all over.

I was so happy—so incredibly happy—that I almost started crying.

Apparently Bella felt the same way, because all three of her heads desperately rubbed against my body.

But although I nearly lost track of time in the joy of our reunion, we couldn’t stay here forever.

“Both of you, this Cerberus is Bella. It’s all right, so don’t be afraid. Bella, these two are my current summoner and her mother. We’ll probably have pursuers coming after us once morning arrives. It’s a long story, but I need you to carry them while we travel.”

Even without a detailed explanation, Bella nodded and lowered herself to the ground so they could climb on easily.

Isha and her mother looked hesitant, but after seeing me beckon them over, they apparently steeled themselves and climbed onto her back.

Good. Now we could leave this place.

With Bella, who was stronger than me, at our side, we could probably overcome most problems.

That did create one new problem, however.

With a glutton like Bella traveling with us, our food supplies would run out before too long.

Even if we supplemented our supplies through hunting, we needed to establish a base as soon as possible.

We also needed to gather information and learn how the Church was responding.

As long as I knew the coordinates, I could travel with gate Magic, so I planned to gradually expand our area of activity outward from the village we’d just left.

But for now, the important thing was simply to get as far away as possible.

“All right, let’s go. You two must be exhausted, so if you think you can sleep, go ahead and sleep on Bella’s back. Once we find somewhere I can set the hut back up, you’ll be able to rest properly.”

I walked through the forest alongside Bella.

Naturally, we traveled in the opposite direction from the village, deeper into the forest.

Judging from how little mana filled this world, there were probably few Magical Beasts here, but there was no telling what might happen deep in an unexplored forest.

Still, with Bella walking beside me, I felt no need for concern whatsoever.

There were probably few beings in this world capable of hurting me, but whether I could protect Isha and her mother was another matter entirely.

Bella, however, was vastly better than me at protecting others.

And, of course, at simply fighting as well.

Isha and her mother had looked uneasy at first, but they truly had reached their physical limits, because before long, they collapsed onto Bella’s back and fell asleep as though their strings had been cut.

Bella’s back was extremely warm, so there was no need to worry about them catching cold.

And Bella skillfully adjusted her posture as she walked to make sure neither of them fell off.

To pass the time on the road, I told Bella everything that had happened so far.

After I’d been talking for a while, I realized Isha’s mother was only pretending to sleep while listening to my story, but that wasn’t really a problem.

Naturally, as one of the people directly involved, she would want to know what had happened.

Even I had to admit that the contract I’d made with Isha was rather eccentric, but Bella gave a small bark in response, as though to say I was exactly the same as always.

We walked for just under ten hours, though Bella and I moved remarkably quickly even while talking.

We managed to cover a distance that would have taken an ordinary human several days.

In fact, anyone with normal instincts would never have ventured this deep into the forest in the first place.

Even someone highly experienced in outdoor survival could easily become lost at this depth.

But once our rest was over, we intended to continue even farther in.

As I took the hut out of storage and set it up in a clearing we’d fortunately found in the forest, a thought occurred to me.

This hut really was a wreck.

I wasn’t asking for anything as impressive as Garmon-san’s stone tower, but I resolved to find the time to build them something much better.

Still, for now, we should simply celebrate the fact that we’d rescued her safely and escaped.

“Devil-sama, thank you very much for saving me. …And although I know this is an impudent request, would you please teach me sorcery as well?”

The one who made that request before me inside the hut, pressing her forehead against the ground, was Isha’s mother.

I couldn’t help frowning at the sight.

It wasn’t that I minded teaching her sorcery.

After all, I was the disciple of the great sorcerer Garmon-san and had inherited his knowledge, so teaching sorcery to others would be easy enough.

“You don’t need to do something like that in front of your daughter. I don’t mind teaching you, but asking me like that gives away the fact that you were pretending to sleep earlier.”

But yes, as a way for a parent to behave in front of her child, it felt a little excessive.

When I smiled and held out my hand, Isha’s mother smiled as well and took it.

“And if you get yourself dirty doing things like that, I’ll wash you all over again.”

Needless to say, her smile immediately froze.

In any case, for the foreseeable future, the four of us—Isha, her mother, Bella, and me—would be living together.

The road ahead looked difficult, but in this world too, just as in the last one, I sincerely hoped we could create happy, joyful memories together.