Gulp!

The baby bird’s throat twitched with a loud, dramatic gulp.

“......”

“......”

Jurim furrowed his brows, and Mephisto darted his eyes to the side.

Then, as if making some kind of decision, he carefully opened his mouth into a diamond shape.

'Of course it’s empty.'

He’d just swallowed the boss, after all...

Jurim pressed a hand to his forehead, feeling dizzy.

His daughter’s companion had once picked up a dungeon core and eaten it—and now, he was miniaturizing bosses and ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) eating them whole.

These things... even their accidents were massive in scale.

He’d always worried that his little daughter might be in danger, but it seemed like she was gradually becoming the dangerous one.

Just then, Guru peered into Mephisto’s empty mouth and gasped in shock.

“It—it’s empty!”

...Why are you the one surprised?

“Ppi, ppiit!”

Startled by Guru’s reaction, Mephisto gasped too, covered his mouth, and shook his head hard.

Seeing that, Jurim’s dizziness only grew worse.

Apparently, a perfect crime was too hard for a five-year-old to pull off.

Meanwhile, Woojoo gave them a subtle look, signaling Don’t freak out.

Only then did Guru realize she was in the middle of deceiving Jurim, and she started stumbling through her words like she was reading from a textbook.

“Um. It’s obviouwswy empty... Cauwse dewe's nuffin in dewe.”

Jurim had thought she’d gotten better at acting from hanging out with Woojoo, but it seemed all her progress came from blood-sweat-tears-level effort.

“Haa...”

Jurim let out a long sigh.

Guru, clutching Mephisto in her arms, looked up at him with a tense expression and her mouth clamped shut.

Their gazes met—her large, downturned eyes locking with his.

Jurim, who had been about to give her a stern scolding, instead shut his eyes tight, then opened them again. He reached out gently and brushed her hair back with a warm touch.

At that, Guru seemed to relax a little and gave him a wide, silly smile.

He should tell her not to wander into dungeons alone since they’re dangerous...

But actually, wasn’t the opposite true now? With things as they were, telling her not to go because it was dangerous just didn’t hold up anymore.

'Is it because of that SSS-Class thing?'

Monsters submit to power.

And an SSS-Class could probably make an AAA-Class boss kneel in seconds.

'Seriously. She just picks up the wildest things.'

If anything truly harmful ever came close to Guru, he would’ve come down hard with strict discipline. But this and that kept resolving themselves so easily, so well, that opening his mouth only risked sparking rebellious defiance in her.

'Why is this five-year-old so hard to manage?'

Suddenly overwhelmed by emotion, Jurim reached down and pinched Guru’s cheek.

“Uwuu—”

“From now on, stay with that thing at all times.”

“Even in de washwoom?”

“Yeah. Even the bathroom.”

He’d been uneasy about her raising a monster, but if that thing kept her safe, then so be it.

If the two weren’t attached at the hip, he was going to feel way more anxious.

Jurim finally let go of her cheek.

“Answer me.”

“Yeeeesh!”

Guru grinned brightly as she replied. Her face clearly said, Daddy’s totally fooled!

But far from being fooled, Jurim was mentally installing a whole new set of functions onto her imaginary troublemaker watch...

The one actually shocked by their conversation was Woojoo.

“Th-the bathroom?!”

“Yeah.”

“But, mister... Guru’s a girl.”

Woojoo looked genuinely confused, and Jurim smirked knowingly.

He could already guess what the boy was thinking.

“I know. But you still went with her this time, right?”

“Well, that was...”

“So from now on, whenever she goes to the bathroom, you’ll go with her again.”

'Trying to trick me by holding hands with Guru, huh? You little punk.'

Woojoo’s mouth fell open in disbelief, and Jurim chuckled as he ruffled the boy’s hair.

“Anyway, got it. I’ll go get the car—play with Woojoo while I’m gone.”

Guru’s eyes went round as she watched Jurim turn away.

'He didn’t notice!'

Jurim turned back for a second and caught sight of Guru’s wicked little smirk—he straightened his face quickly.

Giggling like mad, Guru waited until Jurim was fully out of view, then stomped her feet in excitement.

“Mephii! We did it! I fink Daddy didn’t notice a thing!”

“Ppipiiit!”

“Yayyyy!”

Guru bumped her tiny fist against Mephisto’s.

They were laughing, cackling, soaking in the triumph of their perfect heist—when suddenly, Guru’s expression froze.

“Ppi?”

“But Mephii... Did you weawwy eat da octopussy bossy...?”

...Nod...

Mephisto hesitated, then slowly nodded once.

He was scared. What if Guru thought he was some kind of barbarian?

He hadn’t meant to eat it. But with On Jurim pressing in on him and his mind all scrambled... he’d swallowed it before he could stop himself.

“Ppiii...”

Mephisto’s eyes wobbled into misty, oblong shapes.

“Mephii, what if you get a tummyache...?”

“Ppi ppi!”

Mephisto frantically shook his head.

That wouldn’t happen. Inside him was the joy he shared with Guru, brimming in his belly, along with the magic absorbed from the boss he gulped down.

Honestly... it hadn’t even tasted bad.

Buurrp.

Mephisto let out a satisfied burp and patted his stomach.

“Ppitppii.”

He spread his wings with joy, twirled his body to show her both sides, and wagged his tail.

“Yay, you okay!”

Just then, he slyly blocked Luxipher from crawling out of Guru’s chest pocket with a gentle stomp and rubbed his cheek against Guru’s, ppi-ppi-ppi’ing with glee.

He did wish he could eat just a little more of that kind of thing... but he held back.

Meanwhile, Woojoo kept glancing over at Veilach.

Jurim’s teasing words about Guru going to the bathroom with Veilach were still stuck in his head.

As Woojoo kept staring, Veilach raised a brow.

“What is it?”

Woojoo mumbled his reply.

“Can you not go to the bathroom by yourself?”

“...What?”

Veilach opened his mouth, wearing a face that said, What the hell is this prey talking about?

“I just don’t think you should be going to the bathroom with Guru.”

Veilach’s face went red with shame as he shouted.

“I’m not going!”

“But mister said you should.”

“I don’t care! I’m never going with her!”

Veilach clenched his fists and even shook his head for emphasis.

“Okay. I believe you.”

With that, Woojoo moved to stand beside Guru, looking satisfied.

Veilach’s fists trembled with fury.

Believe me? Believe WHAT, exactly?! These damn bratty kids...

Master, my ass.

Maybe I should just give up being a follower entirely!