I was still hesitating about whether to take this Loli with us when she struggled and slowly pushed herself up on her own. It looked like our approaching her—me and Aefina together—made her feel threatened, so she forced herself to move despite her injuries.

“Yah…! Ah!”

Once she got up, the little thing faced us and let out a low growl that sounded like some kind of wild beast, but with this obvious childish pitch to it. It was… honestly kind of funny.

Her little face was filthy, smeared with blood and dust, but it still couldn’t hide how pretty she was. If we cleaned her up, dressed her a bit, then snapped a picture and posted it online, there’d definitely be tons of people shamelessly screaming “Father-in-law!” all over the comments… When she grows up, she’ll totally be on the same level of cuteness as Aefina. Yeah, I’m definitely taking her home.

Then I suddenly noticed that the kid was basically having a wardrobe malfunction right now.

The left side of the upper part of her dress was completely gone. After she stood up, the entire left side of her chest was just… out there, like she was doing some half-covered cosplay. But since she hadn’t started developing yet, and there were wounds there too, there really wasn’t any “fanservice” feel to it at all.

Judging from her expression, she didn’t seem to realize she was exposed. …Should I tell her or not…

While I was getting distracted by weird thoughts, Aefina looked like she couldn’t care less. Anyway, neither of us moved. Seeing that we weren’t doing anything, the little one gave up on threatening us with her childish growls, but her big violet eyes still stared fixedly at us.

Watching her stand there, bracing herself to face off against us—it looked hard for her, but she could still keep steady. Her injuries probably weren’t as fatal as they looked. She should be mostly fine… right?

“Um… hi?”

Once I decided to take her back, the first step was building some trust. In other words, communication.

“……”

The moment I spoke, her body tensed up again. Her expression went straight to “wounded puppy.”

“…You don’t understand me? Aefina, can you try talking to her?”

I turned to Aefina for help. Maybe she could communicate with the kid.

So Aefina stepped a bit closer and tried several different languages to talk to her. The little one still didn’t respond… well, not exactly “no response.”

When Aefina moved a bit closer, her body shrank back. It must’ve tugged at one of her wounds—her whole body suddenly jolted, and a mist of tears welled up in those violet eyes. She looked like she was about to cry any second, and her body started trembling slightly.

“Um… don’t be scared. We’re not here to hurt you.”

As I spoke, I slowly raised my hands like someone with a gun to their head, then gradually squatted down. It’s a classic move you use on nervous animals, but desperate times… This gesture should at least count as friendly, right? Maybe it’d help her relax a bit?

Nice idea, but that’s all it was—a nice idea.

The instant I crouched down, the little one suddenly threw her hands up. Her body stretched out into a big “T” shape, and then she spoke.

“Let the seven death-knells toll for me!”

It sounded exactly like the name of some ultimate skill… What are you, the Apocalypse Daddy’s daughter?

She was speaking in a language I’d never heard before, but somehow I understood it again. Looks like this weird language mastery of mine only kicks in after I hear a language once?

Her line was pretty badass, and as soon as she finished saying it, the air around her began to twist and distort. A faint red glow slowly rose up—the same glow that almost burned my retinas just now. The atmosphere grew heavy and oppressive, and I unconsciously slowed my breathing.

The moment she raised her hand, Aefina instantly stepped in front of me, her expression turning serious. No matter how you looked at it, this was totally a “charging up my ultimate” pose.

And then… that was it.

The red light flared for a split second and vanished without a trace. The air around us went back to normal. Then the little one suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood and collapsed forward.

“Holy—”

I rushed in and caught the little Loli before she smashed face-first into the floor. So that “I’m totally fine” act from earlier really was her just toughing it out. With injuries this bad, there’s no way I could let her take a fall like that.

“Huh?”

That’s when I noticed it. On both sides of her head, hidden under her hair, were two tiny black horns—short and curved, like the devil horns you see in some fantasy series.

“Grrr…”

To my surprise, the kid hadn’t passed out. She kept letting out low, warning growls, glaring up at me with a stare that couldn’t be more hostile. The moment our eyes met, a bad feeling suddenly rose in my chest.

She opened her mouth, showing off a full set of small sharp teeth.

These weren’t normal human teeth that looked harmless at a glance. They were sharp, triangular shark teeth that made you feel pain just by looking at them. They didn’t hurt her cuteness at all—if anything, they gave her this weirdly adorable feral charm. But in that moment, I had zero appreciation for any of that. She’d opened her mouth with every intention of biting me.

“Ho—ly shit!!”

As I’d feared, the second her mouth opened, she lunged in with lightning speed and clamped down on my arm. Those sharp teeth tore through my skin like it was nothing. It felt like she was about to rip that chunk of flesh right off.

You know those scenes in anime where the protagonist is trying to tame some animal? They walk over nice and slow, the animal gets scared and bites them, and the MC just smiles and says, “It’s okay.” I never thought much about it watching it on screen.

Now that I’ve personally experienced it, I just want to say: total. Bullshit.

You try letting this kid take a bite out of you. See if it doesn’t hurt you to death.

The pain stabbing up my arm nuked my ability to think. All I had left in me was the mental capacity to go, “Shit, shit, shit, it hurts, I’m gonna die, aaaahhh!” on loop. I wanted to fling her off, but I was scared I’d jostle her wounds if I moved too hard. So all I could do was scream in different ways to distract myself from the pain.

“…No, no, no—Aefina, calm down. Don’t attack her.”

Right when I was gritting my teeth through the agony, I suddenly felt a killing intent beside me so thick it was almost physical. Of course it was coming from Aefina. I hurried to stop her. If she actually made a move, this kid wouldn’t stand even a fraction of a chance.

After gnawing on me for a while, the little one seemed to finally realize I wasn’t going to hurt her. She reluctantly let go. After that, she stuck out her tongue and started licking the bloody, mangled wound on my arm…

Damn it. The wound hurt even more when she licked it. How is this supposed to be any kind of perk, huh?

Just as I was wondering if she was really that into the taste of my blood, her body suddenly went limp like a puppet whose strings had been cut, and she slumped into my arms.

“…zzzZZZ”

Her breathing quickly turned slow and steady. Looked like she’d fallen asleep—or just plain passed out.

“……”

I looked down at my poor arm. A neat row of bloody holes was still steadily dripping. …Am I gonna catch rabies from this?

“Luo Sa, are you alright?”

Aefina frowned, clearly not pleased with the little one. Don’t be like that… she’s just a kid. We can teach her slowly. Her hair color’s even pretty close to yours. Don’t take it so personally.

“I’m fine.”

I might’ve looked like a mess, covered in blood, but most of it was from the kid, smeared all over me when everything went down… The only real damage on me was the bite on my arm. And that really did hurt.

“Are we taking her back?”

Of course she meant the little one. “Back” naturally meant returning to Nia’s place.

“Yeah. Whatever else, we need to bring her back first. She looks like she could die any minute like this…”

As I spoke, I shifted her into a princess carry… Don’t ask why I didn’t throw her over my back. Getting to try a princess carry on such an adorable Loli is perfectly normal human behavior, okay? It’s not like I’ve ever held a girl like this before.

Aefina nodded, changed into her true form, thought for a moment, then changed back. After that, she grabbed my hand and blinked us straight to the area near Nia’s house. She’d originally planned to fly, but since the kid was unconscious and I had to hold her, it really wasn’t convenient for me to sit on her back. So she chose to teleport instead.

Nia had already given us permission before, so when we came back we could enter directly. No need for someone to come out and escort us in or anything.

That said, we had just walked through the gate when we saw Mira waiting for us at the entrance.

【……】

The moment she saw us, Mira froze. A string of ellipses appeared on her paper. Can’t blame her—my current appearance was pretty tragic. I was covered in blood, holding an unconscious Loli in my arms, like I’d just crawled out of a sea of corpses.

To be fair, all the blood was on my front from her soaking into me. My back should still be pretty clean.

【Should I go get Mercy and Mind? They’re both really good at healing.】

Reliable as always, Mira immediately figured out what was most important right now. If it were someone like Nia, who’s elevated unreliability to an art form, she’d probably say something like, “Luo Sa, your daughter’s already this big?”

“Sorry to trouble you. This little one’s pretty badly hurt.”

I nodded.

【Please wait in the main hall first.】

Leaving that line behind, Mira turned and disappeared into the flames.

This was Nia’s home, so she’d known we were back the instant we stepped in. So as soon as we entered the house, we saw Nia and Mo Mo already waiting for us.

Nia spoke first. “Luo Sa, your daughter’s already this big, huh?”

See? What did I just say?

“She’s… a demonkin?”

Mo Mo, who’d seen a lot in her time, focused on something entirely different from the unreliable Slime. “You two were out wandering for this long and only found her? She’s badly hurt… Only a demonkin’s insane vitality could survive injuries like that…”

“You’re really sure she’s not your daughter?”

Nia still didn’t want to let go of a chance to roast me.

“I picked her up, okay…”

I rolled my eyes at Nia and told them the whole story of how me and Aefina found her.

“I refuse to accept this. I’ve lived here for so many years, gone out on so many walks, and I’ve never once picked up a Loli this cute!”

Nia’s resentment was practically overflowing. She looked like she might run out the door any second on a Loli-hunting expedition.

“Maybe Lady Ebia sent you two out specifically to bring her back,” Mo Mo circled around me as she analyzed. “With something that flashy, she’d be easy to spot. That’s probably why Lady Ebia kept it vague.”

“Where is the child?”

Mercy’s voice sounded from down the hall. She was running toward us, one hand lifting a cumbersome long skirt, but even running like that didn’t disturb her elegance in the slightest. Behind her came Mira and Mind; Mira was carrying two small cases.

The moment Mercy saw the little one in my arms, the corner of her eye twitched. But she didn’t say anything. She just reached her hands toward me. I didn’t waste time either and handed the Loli over.

Mercy went straight into a guest room and laid the kid on a soft bed. I was about to follow when Mind lightly stepped in front of me. Her blood-red eyes locked onto mine.

“We’re going to clean her wounds now. We’ll have to take her clothes off. She might still be young, but she’s still a lady. Mr. Luo Sa, it’d be better if you stepped back for a bit.”

“……”

Fair enough. You have a point. I’ll stay out.

“Pff—ahahahaha…”

Nia burst into unrestrained laughter as she walked toward the room, clearly planning to rub it in that I wasn’t allowed to go in.

“Miss Nia, you may come in if you want, but if possible, please try not to disturb Sister Mercy while she’s working,” Mind said calmly.

“Bwahahahahahahaha serves you right.”

This time Nia was the one who got shut down.

“Please keep it quiet.”

Mind shot me a glare for good measure, then turned and slipped into the room, closing the door behind her.

“Luo Sa, your clothes. Go change?”

Aefina blinked at me and spoke up.

“Oh, right, I’ll go—wait a sec!”

“Someone come take care of me too, I’m injured as well!”

I stared at the neat rows of bite marks on my arm and suddenly felt like I’d been completely abandoned.