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IBP 139
“I-I just... want to live until I’m a thousand!”
I spoke with all my might, but Sister still looked suspicious.
“Is that so? My little Coco.”
Sister held my hand tightly. Then, she stroked it softly, as if tickling me with a feather.
My eyes began to flutter, almost closing again.
“How did our Coco return from the dog star? Sister wants to hear about it.”
“The puppy god helped meee...”
“The puppy god helped you, I see. Then, did the puppy god make this wonderful body for you too?”
“Yup, yup!”
“Then Coco’s body must be a bit different from a human body, right?”
“Uuung... I guess so?”
“You look human on the outside, but are you just like a puppy on the inside?”
“Is that so...? Is that why you don’t like it?”
“Nooo. It’s not that. Sister loves our Coco no matter what she looks like.”
Those words made me feel so happy that I let out a little giggle.
However, Sister had a look in her eyes as if she were thinking deeply about something.
“Sister thinks she might be a bit busy today, Coco.”
“Huh?”
“Let’s have dinner together later.”
The way she brushed back my hair was kinder than usual, but it felt strangely heavy.
* * *
On the way back to the annex, clutching the books Sister had hugged into my arms.
Jjek-jjeki, perched on my shoulder, was chirping away.
“I have good news. You remember Belief, right? He knows you use life force.”
“Uuung... Coco’s teacher.”
“He’s making some kind of mysterious potion to make you stronger.”
“Hup. Teacher is the best!”
And Jjek-jjeki too!
I wonder how he knows things like that; it’s so amazing.
As I entered my room with a pounding heart, Jjek-jjeki muttered gloomily.
“That guy might actually be more trustworthy... that turtle fellow is such a materialist. Is he really a spirit beast?”
And for good reason, the scene inside my room was quite extraordinary.
Beside the Emperor of Mouse, who was eating cheese, the turtle was draped in necklaces all over its body, eyes gleaming with satisfied greed.
Hearing us, the turtle blinked its slow eyes.
“Drink it if you don’t believe me.”
“Even his way of talking is like a total swindler.”
The turtle seemed to have decided to ignore Jjek-jjeki now, as it crawled slowly toward me and spoke.
“Think carefully. Since I arrived, haven’t you stopped turning back into a puppy!”
“Hup...”
...Is that true?
Well, I did turn back into a human pretty quickly!
I tilted my head curiously and looked at the turtle.
The turtle suddenly nodded like a sage.
“To become a divine beast, one must do many good deeds.”
But just then.
The Emperor of Mouse, who had been munching on cheese nonchalantly regardless of my arrival, let his sharp eyes glint and spoke.
“Coco has already done plenty of good deeds. If her life still hasn’t been extended, isn’t that strange?”
“Ahem, ahem! Not those kinds of good deeds! I mean properly epic good deeds!”
“Uuung...? What is ‘epic’?”
The turtle wore a smile—one I’d never seen before, but somehow looked like something a swindler would wear—and said:
“Ah, you’re a child. Right. It means something great. Shall I tell you how I, myself, perform great good deeds?”
I nodded vigorously.
Then, with a wicked smile, the turtle declared:
“Prepare! Immediately!”
“Uuung?”
“Let us go on an adventure—no, a quest for good deeds—right now.”
“Yay! Okay! But where are we going?”
The sage turtle exchanged a glance with Jjek-jjeki and announced:
“The puppy den.”
What was the puppy den again?
I felt like I’d heard about it when I was a wild puppy, but I couldn’t remember. As I scratched my head, Jjek-jjeki sighed deeply and muttered.
“Well, if you’re going to do a good deed, going to the puppy den is the right move. Coco, you obviously know where the puppy den is, right? You’ve been there before.”
“Yup...”
Jjek-jjeki didn’t know that my memories were being deleted one by one.
Because I didn’t want to worry the kind bird, I kept quiet, rolled my eyes, and nodded.
“I know! Coco is smart!”
‘But, I promised to have dinner with Sister.’
Remembering the promise, I hurriedly scribbled a note.
Since someone might see it if I wrote that I was going to become a divine beast.
[Sissy, I might not be able to have dinner with you today.
I’m going to go play with my animal friends for a bit.
It won’t take long.
The knight uncles might come along too!]
I tore the paper and handed the note to the reliable mouse.
“Emperor of Mouse! Please deliver this note to Sister! If you do a good job, you get cheese!”
“Deal! I’ll deliver it perfectly!”
The Emperor of Mouse gulped, looking at the note placed atop the cheese.
I stepped outside.
There were knight uncles following me stealthily behind my back, but I decided not to mind.
I know all about it!
Those uncles will follow me wherever I go. If something dangerous happens, they’ll protect me.
But before that...
I slung the puppy-shaped bag Sister gave me over my shoulder and shouted.
“Wait! Stop, Bird-Turtle!”
“It’s a bird and a turtle, what do you mean Bird-Turtle...”
Toward the turtle, who was grumbling while tucked neatly inside the bag, I spoke energetically.
“There is a place we must go!”
* * *
“What is it, Coco?”
“Umm, I came to get a potion!”
Belief’s laboratory was located separately, right in front of the main gate of Duke Ardos’s mansion.
“...I was indeed making a potion for you. How on earth did you find out?”
“Um, um. A friend told me! I’m going on a trip, so please give me three bottles of potion!”
As he packed the extra potions into the bag, Belief gave a small scolding.
“You little rascal. You aren’t planning on using your supernatural ability again, are you?”
“I’m not!”
Belief stroked Coco’s head affectionately and naturally poured the potion into her mouth.
“Wowww! I feel so strong!”
Excited from the potion and the petting, Coco didn’t just hum a tune, but pretended to flex her biceps.
“After I come back from my trip, I’m going to live way longer than five years! I’m going to live a super-duper long time!”
Watching her, he chewed over the conversation he had once had with Coco.
No matter how much a small child tries to scheme, they cannot outwit a perceptive adult.
“But Teacher, you know, do humans usually live up to a hundred years?”
“That’s right. If they live long, they can live over a hundred.”
“Then, are there humans who only live for five years?”
“I wonder. If they only live for five years, they’d die as a baby... they’d be dying early.”
“...Then, is five years short?”
“Of course. It’s incredibly short.”
...Five years.
What on earth was that ‘five years’ she had been obsessed with for so long?
He sighed as he thought.
‘I suppose I won’t know for now.’
Still, since she was heading out to play so energetically, it should be fine.
With the knights following Coco like shadows, he didn’t perceive any problem.
‘She’s taking all the knights with her. There shouldn’t be any issues.’
But a few minutes later, another niece opened the laboratory door and walked in.
“Chloe, what is it?”
“I have something to discuss regarding Coco, who just left.”
He awkwardly hid a small potion labeled <Coco> in his pocket.
He didn’t know what was going on, but he felt the potion should be hidden.
“Ah, one moment. Let me tidy up. My elder brother has been giving me so much work that I’ve been frantically busy.”
Chloe’s gaze turned strange.
“I know you gave that potion to Coco. I also know it’s not something bad. However, I have the right to know what it is.”
Chloe wore a brazen expression, as if she knew everything.
“Actually, I’ve come knowing everything about Coco’s condition.”
Belief hesitated, then sighed and held up the potion.
“...Fine. You are the closest to Coco. And it is about time you knew.”
Chloe’s brow furrowed.
Belief showed her the ingredients used to make the potion. The label listed various bulbs. It seemed to be made for health purposes.
“This doesn’t look like something a child should take.”
“...Where should I even start. So, Chloe, do you know the secret behind Coco’s supernatural ability?”
“Probably.”
In truth, Chloe only knew one thing.
That perhaps there was a problem with Coco’s lifespan.
But she figured if she played along and nodded silently...
“Right. It seems you know up to the point that the child is exerting her supernatural ability by shaving away her own life force.”
...That Belief would deliver the shocking truth she hadn’t known.
“...What did you say?”
Seeing Chloe’s eyes shake violently, Belief closed his eyes tight and then opened them.
“You... didn’t know.”
“So, that means...”
Unable to finish her sentence, Chloe slowly sank to the floor.
Past events flashed through her mind like a panorama.
The day Coco first treated her.
“It’s a bit embarrassing to show my supernatural ability, so you have to keep your eyes tightly closed.”
“Uuung...”
“You have to be asleep. That way, I can do it well!”
The tiny child who had muttered those words while exerting her healing power on her.
When she had finally gone berserk during her duel with Dahlia. The tiny Coco who had become a puppy, her body covered in mud.
Gasping for air as if she couldn't breathe...
Recalling the image of that tiny child, Chloe’s pupils trembled violently.
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