Chapter 12
“Gasp—so cute. Seriously, too cute.”
With a body smaller than a large dog, chubby little legs, a charming tail, and soft fluffy fur, Yellow’s appearance as a familiar was heart-stoppingly adorable.
Arin picked up the now-smaller Yellow and spun around in a silly little dance. She was certain the word “cute” was invented just for Yellow. When Yellow poked out his pink tongue in greeting, she clutched her chest dramatically.
Thanks to her over-the-top antics, the previously thick and intimate atmosphere between them quietly dissipated into the air.
While they relied on each other in many ways, and a strange atmosphere had indeed formed for a moment, the two were still just business partners. A single kiss wasn’t enough to make them see each other as potential lovers—not with the trials they were facing.
Yellow, nestled in Arin’s arms, stared off into the distance with a face full of “ugh, everything’s annoying.” Being revered by this clumsy girl was fine, but being fawned over? Absolutely not. Annoyed by her sappy expression, Yellow smacked her face repeatedly with his big paw.
[Get that indecent face away from me.]
Arin looked at Deneb, confused by Yellow’s comment. But Deneb’s lips were firmly shut, as if he hadn’t said a word.
[Getting looked down on by a fool… How disgraceful. Kkuang!]
“He doesn’t like it, huh.”
Deneb’s flat remark hit Arin like a punch to the gut. Her face twisted in shock.
“Yellow… talked?!”
“Familiar and summoner can communicate through mental resonance. So yes, that was him.”
“Wait, but how did you know he didn’t like it? You’re not his summoner.”
“Sixty-forty.”
“What?”
“The mana ratio used in the summoning spell.”
By then, Yellow had slipped out of Arin’s arms and was grooming himself comfortably behind Deneb.
“You used 40% of the mana?”
“Other way around.”
Arin’s pupils shook in disbelief.
“What the…?”
“I ended up using a large amount of mana while helping manifest the spell. It’s uncommon, but it happens.”
Since he made it sound like a rare yet plausible outcome, Arin couldn’t argue.
“I mean, that was the only way to make the summoning work, so…”
She hadn’t even recovered from being called indecent by Yellow. Then Deneb held out his hand, and Yellow, as a sign of obedience, rubbed up against it. Arin suffered a second wave of shock watching Yellow treat Deneb so familiarly.
Though she’d never raised a cat-like animal before, Arin could tell this behavior wasn’t normal.
‘Is there some kind of carnivore-to-carnivore kinship I don’t know about? Why do I feel left out?’
Feeling like Yellow had been stolen from her, Arin pouted like a duck. Meanwhile, Yellow puffed himself up with pride, thinking he had firmly kept his ranking over her. In his mind, the hierarchy went: 1) Overlord, 2) Himself, and obviously, the loser human came last. As a noble giant black panther, he vowed never to lose to the clumsy one.
[Hey, fool, bring me jerky.]
Arin reflexively pulled jerky out of thin air and popped it into Yellow’s mouth. Even though it was the first time she’d ever been called that, she responded instinctively. Her eye twitched.
‘Seriously? Did he just call me a fool?!’
From that moment, Arin’s fate as a cat servant was sealed. She resigned herself to her future.
“You’re lucky you’re cute.”
At her sneak attack, Yellow, with jerky still in his mouth, toppled over onto his back. When his soft pink belly was exposed, Arin quickly poked it with her index finger. On her second sneak poke, Yellow bared his claws.
[Poke me one more time and I’ll poke back.]
When Arin playfully wiggled her fingers, Yellow scowled.
[Not just your face—your fingers are indecent too.]
Arin had never imagined talking to Yellow would be this fun. Her cheeks lifted with delight. She looked forward to the days ahead with Yellow and felt the gloom in her heart begin to lift.
* * *
The tangerine-colored sunset engulfed the blue sea. Evening mealtime had arrived. While Arin was still giggling with Yellow, Deneb approached, holding a perfectly grilled piece of meat.
“Eat.”
Arin gulped and carefully accepted the plate.
[Hey, fool, me too?]
Even Yellow’s begging was adorable to her. She handed him a few pieces of meat without hesitation. With his now smaller mouth, Yellow nibbled delicately, chewing like a proper carnivore.
Chomp chomp chomp. The sound of him munching was oddly satisfying.
Enough time had passed since arriving on the island that Arin could feel the air getting chillier. Winter was on its way.
As she shivered slightly, Deneb casually draped a bear pelt over her shoulders. It was such a natural gesture that Arin accepted it without resistance. She had grown scarily used to Deneb’s care.
She didn’t realize this until a few days later—while bathing at the valley stream—when she looked down and saw her own belly.
The plumpness made her freeze.
‘I can’t believe I’m gaining weight even on a deserted island. Hahaha. Maybe I’ve been too inactive?’
Images of Deneb hunting and cooking flashed through her mind. Meanwhile, she had been constantly eating. Guilt bubbled up along with her belly fat.
On the other hand, Deneb found Arin’s pudgy, well-fed figure adorable. The fact that she no longer resisted when he approached made him feel her guard had finally lowered. The way she ate his food so well was a clear sign of trust. Her plump figure felt like proof of his efforts.
But just as he had been unknowingly “taming” her, he suddenly found himself irritated at the sight of her cooking and exercising.
After just one day, her chubby cheeks seemed slimmer, and the sharp line of her jaw made it feel like she was sharpening her edge against him. One eyebrow twitched upward in protest.
That’s when it started—his fierce determination to feed her at all costs.
“Eat.”
“Okay… thanks.”
Deneb’s cooking skills had steadily improved. Clear fish soups, grilled chicken barbecue, and now even…
“Mandarins?”
Even dessert.
Grateful, Arin insisted that she take over dinner at least once. But Deneb was firm in his refusal.
“No.”
“It’s just one meal!”
“I said no. I’ll do it.”
When he acted strangely, Arin racked her brain to recall details from the original novel.
‘Was cooking one of his hobbies?’
After a brief moment of pondering, she latched onto that theory and shrugged off the weird vibe.
His hobby, after all, was dicing humans into cubes.
“Oh… he’s cutting food now because he can’t cut people. Got it.”
It never occurred to Arin that he might just be doing it to impress her. Thus, the gap between them only deepened.
Arin peeled a mandarin and watched Deneb’s fingers draw a teleportation circle. From his fingertips, red blood flowed, forming intricate geometric shapes.
After straightening up, Deneb stared at the five-meter-wide circle, while Arin hovered nearby.
“Something wrong?”
“We need a magic stone to stabilize the circle.”
“A magic stone?”
When Deneb nodded, Arin scratched her chin.
He hadn’t forgotten how she’d once said that with more magic stones, he might be able to upgrade his powers and give her better medicine. Whenever he had time, Deneb scoured the island for stones to gift her.
Thanks to that, Arin’s mana points were nearly back to 1,000. But magic stones weren’t exactly common, and the island had long since been picked clean.
“I’ll have to make a disposable one.”
At his words, Arin’s mouth stretched wide in astonishment.
They were searching for a mine that seemed to be the source of the island’s magic stones.
Finding around 30 stones on such a small island could only mean one thing: a nearby vein. Deneb concluded that the spot must be rich in natural mana—enough to form stones. That was where they planned to craft a disposable magic stone. And if they happened to find an actual stone left behind, even better.
The only information Deneb had gathered from monsters was that the mine was somewhere along the cliffside. With no other choice, Deneb carried Arin and boldly descended the cliff.
“Aaack!”
Her scream stabbed into his ears, and Deneb sighed.
As a great mage and sword expert, cliff-jumping was nothing to him. But Arin was a normal person, and a bungee jump without a rope was pure terror.
She never imagined that his “we’ll jump to get there faster” would mean literally jumping off the cliff.
[We’re gonna die, kkuang!]
Yellow, barely hanging onto Deneb’s shoulder, yowled in protest. His front paws were just barely touching the man’s shoulder, while the rest of his body was floating midair. It looked like he might go flying any second.
“Deneb, you lunatic!”
He simply couldn’t understand why the two of them were making such a fuss.
