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Parting with the Free Wind at the Adventurer's Guild, we were on our way home.

「Ah, rain」

It begin to rain, but we didn't get wet at all thanks to Hal repelling the rain with wind. At the edge of my view, I saw a gray thing

Looking carefully at the gray thing, it was moving. I ran over to the back alley without hesitation and lifted the gray puppy up in my arms. The puppy must have been dead tired. Its body was cold as well.

「Kou!」

「Yea!」

Kou warmed up the surroundings according to my instructions, but it still wasn't enough. I developed a teleportation… and dived into a warm bathtub.
I was in a hurry and made a miscalculation. Both Dirk and I were soaked wet. The spirits were flying, so they are fine.

Well, this should be just right for the puppy. It will warm u… n?
I saw a skin color laying against my shoulder.

「Eh?」

I was holding a child with gray animal ears.

「A Beastman able of a complete Beastification, huh. How rare」

Stop it, don't talk so close to my ear!… I stiffened as I turned around.
Dirk has become s.e.xy! Although this all happened because of my miscalculation, his black-haired ears were twitching, shaking off the drops of water… his wet clothes were clinging to his body, making his muscles in plain sight. Hau, a sight for sore eyes.

「Rosarin, that's gross」

Sui (the wicked tongue) said something evil as he perceived something from me.

「First of all, let's get dry」

We got dried out in no time with Kou & Hal using the Dryer Magic (my original).

The bath is covered in mud, so I will have to kneel in front of Martha later.
The child was completely nude. Rather, where did this child come from…

『You will obtain what you desire as you will have an incredible luck』

That reminds me, Ojiisama cast a good fortune magic on me!

「Rosarin?」

「This child, he's my cousin I have been searching for the past three years!! I have finally found him!」

According to the scenario, this child… Jend, would become an adopted child of our House. When Rosalia is ten years old, Jend's relatives would pa.s.s away, and we would take him in. The timing was so bad as well, as it was the time Mother doubted Father for cheating on her. Rosalia bullied Jend because she was under the impression that Jend was Father's illegitimate child, leading to her death when Jend finally retaliated… truly a negative spiral!
Rather, even though I was to meet Jend for the first time three years later, Ojiisama's magic is super incredible! A good fortune that skews the fate!?

However, Jend must have gone through some horrible experience. His body is full of not properly treated wounds, there are even some scars. His body is skin and bones, he should be a year younger than me, but his physique is that of a four-year-old. Alissa's magic is able to purifying toxins and germs, so I had her purify his bad wounds and body while I healed his injuries.

Kukyuuuu…

His stomach grumbled adorably. First, change of clothes and food it is.

Let's ask Martha.

Now then, now then, I explained the happenings in the Elven Forest to my parents, Elder brother, Arc & Martha. I put Jend to sleep until he wakes up.

「Rosarin」

「Yes」

「Who was the one who told me that she wouldn't act carelessly!」

「Uwa~n! I was aware of the odds of victory and we properly defeated it! My friends didn't suffer any injuries either!」

The Umebos.h.i.+ attack of Elder brother who got taller and stronger was super effective. It hurt…

「Fumu, my nephew… Jend, you said was his name? What are you going to do about him?」

「To be honest, it seems that he has been treated quite horribly, so I want to look after him. I will burden all of his expenses. Won't you allow him to stay with us?」

「… Will you run away if I refuse?」

「I will be either live-in employee at Sage's house, or rent a house to live with Dirk」

「That's strangely concrete… Ojousama」

I was serious after all. I'm not worried about my purse.

「I don't mind」

「I also approve」

「Can't be helped」

Like this, it has been decided that Jend will stay at our House.

「I will be returning for today. You seem to have lots to do」

It was already evening, so I was seeing Dirk off. Giving him a goodbye kiss… it was difficult to separate from him, so I have not accompanied him only to the entrance but all the way to the gate. I acted a bit spoiled.

「If I asked for a little bit more, would you refuse?」

「N, no」

His tail entwined around me casually. This is him doing it unconsciously, right? It's my arm today.

「Unya!?」

When I stroked the tail coiled around my arm, he let a cute shriek… a cat?

「Rosarin, you can't touch the tail!」

「No, you have entwined it around my arm, so I just felt like stroking it」

「Go and die, my instiiincts!! Do something about unconsciously acting just because Rosarin is acting so cuteee!!」

The cuteness of my fiancé is stable today as well. When I saw him off and returned to the entrance, I heard a scream. There was the frightened Jend in my room. The maid seemed afraid of Jend too.

「Nice to meet you. I am Rosarin. Your cousin. Call me Oneechan, okay?」

His stomach grumbled again. He quickly s.n.a.t.c.hed the cookie I was coincidentally holding. Repeating that, all of the cookies disappeared so I spoke to Jend again.

「You are still hungry, right? Come here」

A little, shaking hand was placed on top of my outstretched hand.

「Ai」

His voice was more childish than I expected. Jend seemed to have been treated horribly by the adults, so he was afraid of both men and women.
The only exception was Father. Father somewhat resembled Jend's mother because she was his younger sister, so Jend was not afraid of him. Father playing around with children is very rare, so Arc exploded in laughter.

Jend ate a lot. He continued eating even after he looked sick from overeating, so I softly touched him and gently spoke to him.

「Let's eat with Oneechan again tomorrow when you become hungry」

「Ai」

Jend was an obedient child. He started dozing off, so I lulled him to sleep in my arms.
Then, when I was about to fall asleep too a scream? a cry? resounded.

「Aaaaaaaah!!」

「Jend!?」

Jend Beastified. Jend who turned into a beast nothing but cried while shedding tears.

「Stop it, don't hit me, I'm sorry… is what he's saying, Oneechan. So pitiful…」

Kou understood his cries and conveyed them to me.
Slowly approaching, his body shook when I softly touched him. He bit my shoulder. He must be confused. It hurts, but I ought to endure. I could only afford to signal the spirits with my eyes that I'm fine.

「This is Oneechan's home」

Huggin and gently patting him, I prayed that it would transmit to him even a little.

「The scary and painful things, they are already over」

It's fine, there's no need to cry anymore.

「Oneechan will protect you. That's why, everything is all right」

「Ah, ah…」

He dispelled his Beastification and turned into his normal appearances. Ahh, he wetted the bed, huh. Thinking that he will get scolded, he went into a panic.
I asked Alissa to clean him and dry him with the Dryer magic.

Concerned about the wound on my shoulder, he was licking it. It was seriously stinging, so I had it healed. Showing him the skin that became spotless, Jend was wondering how did it suddenly became all right.
The adults came running because of the ruckus, making Jend panic again, so it was difficult making him calm down.
And although there were no scratches or blood left on my body, it still caused a further ruckus. Even though the clean-up should have been a perfect crime (it wasn't). I got scolded.

In the end, I was worried about leaving Jend alone, so Elder brother and I slept with him today and sandwiched him between us.

「Ah…」

Funya, with Jend's soft, cute laugh, the three of us fell asleep together.

— End of Volume 3: Seven years old - Adventurer and Elves —