Chapter 496: Our Pets

There were four animals under Yuki's command, except for Rir.

Orochi the serpent, Yata the Giant Crow, Byaku the White Cat, and Seimi the Water Spirit.

As monsters of the dungeon, they were adults from the moment they were born, and had a certain amount of knowledge and power.

This was done to make it possible for them to be used immediately as a fighting force, but since it was not a normal way to grow up, there was no small amount of harm caused by it.

–In the end, they lacked a little common sense.

Wild creatures gained wisdom by surviving in a harsh natural environment.

Humans, on the other hand, learned by interacting with others, being taught by others, making mistakes, and learning from their mistakes in their daily lives.

Of course, the Demon Forest was one of the harshest environments in the world, and as a monster in the dungeon, they learned a certain amount of knowledge through interactions with their friends.

However, due to the short period of time since their birth, there were still many things that they did not know and did not understand, even though their physical and mental age was that of a full-grown adult.

For better or worse, they were pure.

Rir was also a dungeon-born being, but he was extremely wise compared to the others, and because of his nature of wanting to know everything, he acquired knowledge and wisdom enough to act as a superior by observing his surroundings and thinking about what to do in different situations.

Of the four pets other than Rir, Byaku, a white cat acting as the coordinator, was relatively sensible… Still, however, she also lacked the ability to act as a supervisor.

Therefore, the ones who were pushed to the center in guiding them were the monsters of the Demon Forest, who were subordinates to the four pets, and, of course, Rir.

"…Kuu."

Orochi and Byaku turned their heads away, and Rir let out a sigh.

Spread out before them was a battered ground.

This was the result of practicing and researching new techniques.

No, it would have been fine if that was all, but the problem was that they had battered the area not far away from the cave that led to the grassland area, where the door to the entrance of the dungeon was located.

The scene had already become something like a burnt-out field.

The two subordinates, who had been absorbed in researching techniques, suddenly came to their senses, thinking, "Oh, this is a bad idea," and hurriedly called Rir.

They also had some control over the dungeon, but compared to Rir, it was a very simple one, and what they could do was very limited.

Therefore, if there was a problem, Rir was usually the one to clean up the mess.

Incidentally, Yata was not with them today and was flying somewhere else, and Seimi was with them but did not care at all about what was happening.

One of the pets was floating around, looking like she was saying, "I don't know. I don't know," drifting about aimlessly.

Well, Seimi was acting the same as usual, so Rir let that one go and warned the other two, "…What were you two going to do if I was not around to deal with this mess? Why did you not look around before doing this?"

Orochi and Byaku, rather especially Byaku, was the one who was supposed to watch and organize everyone, next to Rir.

Rir's personal army, which was not made up of dungeon monsters, also relied on Byaku, and so Rir sometimes entrusted her with various tasks.

Incidentally, Rir was a bit feared by them.

For monsters, who believed that strength was everything, a being as powerful as Rir was an object of fear, no matter what his personality was.

Despite being feared and respected, Rir still possessed a charisma that attracted monsters to him.

Therefore, Byaku, who was more gentle than Rir and watched over everyone around her, was also feared, but was loved just as much, and had earned a position as a dependable older sister to the legions of monsters under their command.

Orochi also had a serious personality and a strong sense of responsibility, but he was more careless than Byaku and was not as easily depended on as Byaku, simply because of his large size and frightening features. The same applied to Yata.

And Seimi had been recognized by all of them as just Seimi. The army monsters under their command also treated her the same way.

"…Kuu, gah~"

"Shu~~"

"Nyaaa…"

Rir knew very well that the pets were dependable in battle, but they also tend to act a bit like their master, so this time, he took the lead and instructed them, "…for now, we'll use the dungeon's power to fix it, so let's collect the DPs for that", which was then followed by Orochi and Byaku.

The pets and the rest of the army were also involved in a large-scale hunt for monsters as part of their training.

The sudden call to the hunt for monsters was a nuisance to the monster army, but since the hunt was held regularly to ensure the safety of the territory, and since they were basically in absolute obedience to Rir and his friends, they gathered together with an "Oh… again" or "Well, it's OK…" attitude. After gathering, they started to attack the hostile monsters around the area that were not affiliated with them.

The only exception to this was Yata, who was not nearby.

Several hours later, the required amount of DP was accumulated.

Having accumulated the necessary DP, the battered landscape could finally be repaired, dungeon-grown trees and grass were grown, and the landscape was roughly restored to its original state.

"Hey, Rir~!"

It was the voice of their Master.

"Oh, what have you been up to?"

"Kuu, Kuu?" (Rir)

Rir seemed to be asking, "Well, we were just about to finish cleaning up. What's up?"

"Oh, I suddenly felt like eating big seafood, so I'm going to the sea. Let's go to the sea and get some big monsters!"

"…Kuu?"

"I don't know what we'll find! For now, let's just go to the ghost ship dungeon, and then we'll think about it!"

Rir sighed with a wry smile as he followed his Master who was laughing, after suggesting his plan out of the blue.

Rir's anguish continued today as well.