A New Divine Beast

Simurg-san didn’t like the idea, but at the moment there was no other option.

So I persuaded him by saying, “Since they’ll live apart from you, please allow it,” and we decided to invite this new Divine Beast.

According to Nadja, even with Simurg-san’s abnormal speed of magical travel, it would still take about three days for them to arrive.

I thought that meant we’d have time to prepare… but—

“Gahaha! What a fine Sanctuary! The mana overflowing here feels damn good!”

The very next day after Simurg-san gave his reluctant approval, the new Divine Beast arrived at Tree Village.

And, to my shock… he came with a family.

“Dad, I’m hungry!”

“Can I eat this?”

“Of course ya can! In a Sanctuary, fruit grows on its own, and since this here’s Simurg’s Sanctuary, you can bet anything we do’ll be forgiven!”

Their appearance was… a giant guinea pig.

But huge. And somehow… walking on two legs.

A massive guinea pig the size of a child, laughing loudly as it spoke human words.

It was such a surreal sight.

Beside him stood a female guinea pig, also walking on two legs (probably his wife?), while nearly ten ordinary four-legged guinea pigs scurried around their feet.

They squeaked like normal animals, and if not for the speech, you’d mistake them for regular guinea pigs.

“Are you truly Divine Beasts?”

“Indeed! I am Wheel, the Divine Rat, and this here’s my wife, Catherine!”

“I’m Catherine, pleased to meet you.”

So, a Divine Rat, huh.

I knew there were many kinds of Divine Beasts, but I’d never heard of this one.

She bowed politely, so I returned the gesture with a deep bow.

When I looked up again, the children were already trying to climb a tree.

They slipped and tumbled down, failing spectacularly.

“Ugh, I can’t climb a tree at all!”

“Dad! How do we do it!?”

“Alright, I’ll show ya how it’s done!”

Wheel-san started climbing an apple tree.

He gripped bumps with his hands, stepped on footholds, and climbed just like a human.

But really… that only worked because he walked upright. For his four-legged children, it didn’t help at all.

“Wow, Dad, you’re amazing!”

“So cool!”

Their eyes sparkled like jewels, so it didn’t matter—fathers were always cool in their children’s eyes.

Listening carefully, I realized some of them were daughters—the higher-pitched voices gave it away.

“Uooooohhh! To celebrate climbing, I’ll eat this weird fruit! …Deliciousss!! You lot eat some too!”

Wheel-san nibbled off a branch of apples with his big front teeth, dropping them down.

“Waaahhh!”

The children ran happily toward the apples.

“Ouch!”

“Yikes!”

“That hurt, I say!”

Even as apples bonked their heads, they happily munched away.

There was even one who spoke in a refined, lady-like tone.

Amused, I also took out an apple from my Harvest Bag and started eating.

“My apologies, my husband must be troubling you…”

“Not at all, please don’t worry. Oh, here—have one of these too.”

I offered an apple to Catherine-san as well.

“Oh my!”

She exclaimed, surprised, but then accepted and began eating.

And so, while sharing apples with upright-walking guinea pigs, I watched Wheel-san and his children run cheerfully around.

“It’s been so long since I could run on solid ground like this!”

Apparently, running on all fours was easier, and Wheel-san happily sprinted about, chasing his children as they squealed and laughed.

Thus, the new Divine Beast—the Divine Rat Wheel—and his wife Catherine, along with their many children, had joined Tree Village—