Kidnapped the Saintess of the Hero Party

6 – Method of Throwing Away (3)

Kyle was a warrior with greyish-white hair.

Due to his barbarian origins, he excelled in guerrilla warfare, but he was obstinate about wearing ostentatious attire made from white fur that was useless in combat.

Just like this excessively furry creature.

After deciding to name the creature Kyle, I wasn’t sure how Shia would react.

─ “It’s not a cute name.”

What if she reacts like that?

‘Well, so be it.’

I was satisfied with Kyle.

“Let’s start running, little one.”

Could swear I caught a glimpse of his fangs.

Did he understand what I had said?

I wasn’t scared of being bitten. I hadn’t heard of the creature biting yet.

With a gracious smile, I saw Kyle shivering.

A real ‘dog’-like creature.

Looking at him reminds me of Kyle and once again, anger seizes me.

I gently dropped little Kyle in the water. Surprisingly, Kyle didn’t try to flail about above the surface. He simply folded his legs and floated around in circles on the water. It seemed he was content without drinking it.

I washed Hauld as he was spinning around.

Rinsing him was certainly a good decision. He had been too dirty to simply pass onto Shia in that state.

His fur was particularly filthy.

“Look at you, where on earth have you been rummaging?”

He was about the size of my head, but his fur was longer than my fingers. I wasn’t sure how long he had been in the wild, but judging by his growth, he seemed about 2 to 3 years old. Perhaps he had never been washed in all this time. Could he be this dirty?

Splash.

Splash.

I dipped him in the water then pulled him out.

A very tiny creature appeared, looking considerably less voluminous. He did not tremble, thanks to the warmth of my hand.

‘He’s so small it’s concerning.’

He was even smaller than the others I had seen.

I had seen quite a few Haulds before the regression. They were well cared-for by the clergy. Their growth stages could be easily identified at a glance.

‘Wonder how big this one will get.’

The maximum growth limit was not known, but it’s said to grow as much as the owner’s sacred power.

The fortunate thing is that as their size grows, their fur does not grow in proportion. If the Hauld’s fur grew as it became larger, Hauld would have become the livestock that provides wool instead of sheep.

A Hauld only grows in size as its muscles develop through its growth.

According to one theory, the giant wolf Baekrang from the myth is an ancestor of this creature.

“They look nothing alike….”

Above all, it’s insignificant.

Baekrang was said to be larger than a house. Rumor has it that he could kill a dragon in a single bite. The idea that this small, petty creature is a descendant of Baekrang is absurd.

I’ve seen those that grow up to my waist, but those are ones that reach that size near the end of their lifespan.

I wonder if this one can grow that big?

It will probably die before it becomes a Baekrang.

“Chuckles.”

I dunked and removed Kyle in the water several times.

It felt quite good to water torture the Kyle of the previous life.

Once again, he turned his face towards me and Kail drew a squirt gun at my face. With an obstinate expression.

“Are you coming back again?”

Kail tilted his head sideways.

This fellow understands sarcasm.

“You look cleaner.”

Let’s check that out.

I puffed out Kail’s hair, but there was no sign of grease. I suppose that would suffice.

I tried to throw him aside to wash my hands, but Kail jumped up and landed on my head instead. I looked up at him, saying,

“You’re plumper than expected.”

The fact that he landed on me didn’t change that, as my hand wouldn’t let go even then. I could manage to serve you rice.

In reality, a superior priest would not need to take a bath.

It was enough to cleanse themselves with it.

However, priests considered wasting their spiritual power in such a manner forbidden.

Spiritual power being the equivalent of energy. A priest sees himself as a regulator of the world and thus conserves his spiritual power like water. It’s an apt metaphor.

I agreed with that viewpoint too.

‘That is indeed true.’

If you waste it, you’ll be short of divine power when you really need it.

Divine power is not infinite. A good analogy is clean water. Once it’s used, it’s replaced by mana, which has a different form. It takes longer to recover divine power than mana. Just like dirty water takes longer to purify than it does to get dirty.

Of course, it’s not like I never use it.

Splash!

I coated my hair with divine power and poured water over it. The divine power-coated water acted as a detergent and flowed down my head. Howald struggled, but I enjoyed tormenting him like that.

“There are times when you have to feed divine power.”

I don’t know how long Kyle will survive, but I poured divine power into him hoping he’d live as long as he could.

“He’s got an incredible sense of smell for the scent of death, so he’ll probably survive even if I throw him away.”

After taking a divine power shower, I feel holy myself. Even if you’re not a devout believer, taking a shower like this in the cool breeze can make you feel religious.

After washing myself, I towel-dried myself.

I put on my clothes and headed to the tent where Shia would be.

Shia was sitting on a tree branch, looking at the sky.

It seemed like she was training. Judging from the white mist swirling around her body, it seemed like she had improved quite a bit.

Sensing my arrival, Shia jumped down from the tree and approached me.

Her gaze was fixed on my arms, not on me.

Shia looked at me with a questioning expression.

“Why are you… holding him?”

She looked like she didn’t like it.

“Huh? Me?”

I immediately dropped Kyle, who I had been holding in my arms, to the ground. He landed softly on the ground like a feather.

Shia looked at me with curious eyes. She seemed a little amused.

“Ahem. So Zion has this side too.”

I waved my hand.

“No way. Not at all. I just got tired of his slow, crawling pace, so I carried him here.”

“Oh. Is that so?”

That could be the case. Uh-huh. Shia nodded.

Then, she approached Howald as if she had no interest in me.

“Oh.”

Hugging something cute is just that. It looked somewhat pleasing.

Maybe I could say it was healing.

But I still didn’t like that the guy was taking up Shia’s arms.

“Hmm. Yes. Are you hungry?”

Seeing Kyle nodding his head over and over again, even though he’s panting, somehow manages to make me angry.

I took Kyle away from Shia again.

“Huh?”

“I’ll feed Kyle. Go clean yourself slowly.”

For some reason, the smile hasn’t disappeared from Shia’s lips since earlier.

“Is his name decided to be Kyle?”

“Yes. He’s a male.”

“Ah, I see. But why Kyle? Does it have a meaning?”

“That’s…”

I couldn’t say he was a hero from a previous life.

If I tell her I named him that to torture him like a dog, she might shield Kyle.

I don’t like that either. The previous-life Shia had died because of Kyle, in any case.

I contemplated whether I should change his name.

After all, he’s not going to live for very long. Rather, I will certainly kill him.

“I saw the name in a book in the past.”

Now, Kyle is a fairly common name. Not for a pet. It’s a name for barbarians. Obviously, there’s no way Shia would know that.

“A book? Is he a novel protagonist?”

“Yes. It’s somewhat of a cute boy’s name. Maybe it won’t suit him too badly?”

In the novel, Kyle was a character destined to die young in an accident.

Looking back now, he had a pretty decent life.

Xia seemed satisfied.

“So it is. If Lucien says so, then so it must be.”

Her eyes scrutinized me with doubt, but soon Xia nodded and left for the river with her backpack.

“Alright then, buddy.”

I grabbed Kyle’s nape with one hand.

“Time to eat, isn’t it?”

#

By the time Xia returned, the meal was ready.

Kyle had remained on my head all the while.

I’m not sure how he stayed up there, but it made sense since he is a creature that can hide itself in its fur by folding its legs.

The menu was simple.

Stew.

Some days it had mushrooms, other days meat, and yet other days vegetables.

For a camper like me, any meal beyond this is a luxury. A powdered soup and a small portion of ingredients from nature are enough to constitute a meal.

Hoult eats anything, so I just serve whatever I have. He is an oddball who doesn’t sleep, so even while we sleep, he roams around alone, picking up and eating here and there.

There’s no need to worry about what Hoult eats. He actually eats better than human beings.

Sometimes, like this.

He even guides me to the direction where delicious food is.

After finishing the meal, Hoult kept wagging his tail in one direction.

“Shi-on, why is Kyle doing that?”

“It’s because he’s a gluttonous pig. Apparently, he’s smelling something delicious.”

“Eh? Really? Shall we go check it out?”

The purpose of our camping.

To learn how to survive in the wilderness.

And to figure out how to hide our identities.

The fact that there are things to do in the wild is a welcoming one for me.

One naturally learns to hide one’s presence when hunting.

“Let’s go.”

Howuld is omnivorous.

He doesn’t discriminate between meat and vegetables, and he has a knack for finding valuable things.

Moreover, one significant reason the priests raise Howulds is for their guidance.

Just by consuming the precious food that Howuld finds, the growth of the priest’s divine power accelerates.

‘Above all, Howuld is terrific at dodging death.’

It is said that Howulds only die when they choose to.

They usually die for the sake of their owner’s survival.

Seeing him join us as soon as he appears and looking eager to go somewhere as if he had been waiting,

‘This guy, he seems to know we’re strong.’

Quite appetizing prey, might be more dangerous than expected.

#

In my previous life, I had only participated in raids after at least five years of being a knight. Despite climbing to the knight commander’s rank in the subsequent ten years, the number of raids I could count on one hand.

After all, my duty was defense.

So, preparing for battle now felt oddly unfamiliar.

‘Of all the things you want to eat, it has to be a Celurost Draco.’

A creature somewhere between a wyvern and a dragon.

A type of flying dragon.

It’s a wonder why it’s even here.

I’ve never seen one in my previous life.

I couldn’t help but stare at the diminutive creature yapping excitedly at the sight of the far-off wyrm with disbelief in my eyes.

‘Has he lost his mind?’