“What happened?” 

 At Claire’s question, Cedric glanced at Zeno. 

 “It might be a rather long story.” 

 “That’s fine. I want to know what happened.” 

 Claire steeled herself. She especially wanted to hear what had happened since he was with Isabelle. 

 He slowly recalled his memories. 

 With an explosive sound, his consciousness grew hazy from the force crushing his entire body. He seemed to have lost consciousness before even understanding what had happened. 

 “Woof!” (Wake up, you weak human.) 

 He opened his eyes at the soft sensation pressing against his cheek. His breath caught in his throat, making it difficult to even speak. 

 ‘Ugh.’ 

 As he barely opened his eyes, he saw the black paw touching his cheek. He immediately recognized what it was. 

 “……Tch.” 

 He had taught it not to pounce on people so many times. 

 Cedric frowned and pushed away Zeno’s paw. When he turned his head, he saw pure white snow. There seemed to be a cave-like space to the left. 

 “Wooooof.” (We’re trapped! That crazy woman finally did it! Master abandoned me again!) 

 What was it saying? Unable to understand, the loud barking only made his head ring. Cedric reached out and grabbed Zeno’s muzzle. 

 “Please shut up.” 

 He tried to push upward with his elbow. Fortunately, the density didn’t seem too high as the space was widening. 

 “I’ll move us to that space on the side in one go, so focus.” 

 “Kiing, kung!” (You crazy bastard! Again! My muzzle!) 

 Zeno struggled to break free. At that moment, the snow above collapsed with a rumble, narrowing the space. 

 “……” 

 “……” 

 Instantly, both Cedric and Zeno stopped all movement. Only the sound of breathing filled the space. He wracked his brain, trying to assess his situation. 

 ‘Seems we’re trapped in the snow.’ 

 Perhaps the princess was watching all of this. Having lost consciousness after a loud noise, he couldn’t gauge how deeply they were buried. 

 Given the loud bang, they must have heard it at the mansion. Judging by the lack of searching sounds nearby, the knights who had accompanied them were likely buried in the snow as well. 

 Cedric realized he hadn’t died thanks to the wolf’s body heat, damn it. He loosened his grip on Zeno’s muzzle. 

 “Kiiing.” (I thought I was going to suffocate to death.) 

 “Stop whining and focus. I’ll count to three, then roll with me.” 

 “Grrrrrr.” (Again, again doing whatever he wants.) 

 Zeno made a scratching sound at his throat, seemingly displeased. Cedric immediately began counting. 

 “One.” 

 “Kiing.” (Hey, not yet!) 

 “Two.” 

 “Kiiing.” (W-wait a moment!) 

 “Three.” 

 He immediately rolled to the side while grabbing and pulling Zeno’s nape. 

 Drip, drip. 

 The sound of water droplets hitting the ground echoed. Cedric let out a faint groan at the pain in his body as he opened his eyes. 

 ‘Did that guy make it in?’ 

 He had definitely grabbed Zeno’s nape before being completely buried in the snow. It was an instinctive action, worried that the beast might not follow the signal due to its large size. 

 As he felt uneasy not being able to see his surroundings, he heard the splashing of footsteps and a beast’s cry. 

 “Wooooof.” (That’s what happens when you overdo it.) 

 Cedric sat up at the wolf’s cry echoing through the cave. 

 Though it was too dark to see properly, the yellow eyes glowed brightly even in the darkness. 

 ‘Like a beast as expected.’ 

 He tried to hide the throbbing pain as he closed his eyes. Unaware that Cedric was injured, Zeno continued howling. 

 “Wouf, woof!” (I would have moved well on my own with the signal, but you couldn’t trust that.) 

 Zeno kept grumbling. Unable to understand what it was saying, Cedric grew irritated just listening and spoke up. 

 “A beast that doesn’t know gratitude.” 

 “Woof.” (…… Can you understand what I’m saying?) 

 “I don’t know what you’re saying, but shut up. Are wolves usually this talkative?” 

 Whatever was in the cave, the noise wouldn’t do any good. 

 Cedric frowned as he glanced at the pitch-black cave interior. 

 “……” (Damn this human.) 

 Zeno resorted to speaking only in his mind. If he kept talking, the human might grab his muzzle again. 

 The beast grumbled internally about the human being all brawn and no brains. 

 Thanks to Zeno becoming quieter, Cedric could finally rest. With the cave entrance blocked, they needed to conserve energy to dig their way out. 

 “You should rest too. We might have to dig through snow diligently starting tomorrow. Don’t you have any powers as a divine beast?” 

 Cedric suddenly remembered that Zeno was a divine beast. Since the Imperial family kept everything about divine beasts hushed up, he naturally didn’t know much about them, having been in the North. 

 “I do. I do, but since I’m contracted, it’s not easy to use powers as I please.” 

 Suddenly, a human voice was heard. Having recovered his strength, Zeno had transformed into human form. 

 Zeno approached Cedric and grabbed his arm. 

 “Ugh.” 

 Startled by the groan that escaped his lips involuntarily, he looked at Zeno with an expression he couldn’t hide. 

 “Stay still. Looks like I need to heal you. How am I supposed to dig all this by myself?” 

 “So you’re healing me because you don’t want to dig alone.” 

 “Obviously. Why else would I heal you? You think I have power to spare?” 

 Though Zeno grumbled, he still infused his power to heal Cedric. 

 “Divine beast power is quite good.” 

 He carefully rotated his now-healed arm and found no problems moving it. 

 “This is also because I can use enhanced power due to my contract with Claire.” 

 “……Can Claire feel it when you use your power?” 

 “Well, something like that.” 

 Since Zeno had just used his power to heal him, it served as a survival notice of sorts. 

 The problem was that Claire would have realized he was injured because of it. 

 If there was a path leading through the cave, they might be able to escape faster. 

 “You seemed to have gone inside earlier, is there another path?” 

 “There is one path, but the energy doesn’t feel very good.” 

 “Looks like you came back without going all the way because you were scared.” 

 “……That’s not it, I came back because I was worried I might leave you behind if I found a way out.” 

 Such an ungrateful beast. 

 Every word out of its mouth shows disloyalty. 

 “Disloyal? Look here. My master is Claire, not you.” 

 “That’s been bothering me. No matter what kind of beast you are, don’t casually call my wife by name.” 

 “She might be your wife, but she’s my master. She allowed it, so what’s it to you?” 

 Cedric’s eyes narrowed. Just as he was thinking the beast form was better, he saw Zeno’s eyes and stopped his train of thought. 

 “Don’t read my thoughts as you please.” 

 “……What a sharp human.” 

 Cedric looked at Zeno before standing up. He took out the magic stone he had kept inside, which hummed and emitted light. 

 “What! You had something like that and didn’t take it out?” 

 “What use would it have been in the snow, it’s blinding enough just looking at the pure white snow.” 

 As a wolf divine beast, Zeno could see everything in the darkness unlike humans, so he didn’t need the magic stone. 

 “You probably didn’t go inside not because you didn’t have a magic stone, but because you were scared.” 

 “S-scared?! How dare you! A divine beast knows no fear. I’m a brave wolf divine beast!” 

 Seeing him burst out like that, you must have been scared. I thought beasts didn’t feel fear, but maybe being only half-beast means you can be scared? 

 Cedric smirked, remembering those sharp fangs that had bitten his hand. 

 “What! Human, why are you smiling?” 

 Zeno raised his voice, seemingly offended by his smile. Cedric listened quietly to the voice echoing deep into the cave before nodding at Zeno to lead the way inside. 

 “Let’s say I believe you, so lead the way.” 

 “……” 

 Seeing the look that questioned why he should lead, Cedric sighed. 

 “Didn’t you say you went inside earlier? You know the way, so guide.” 

 “Fine, but stay close.” 

 He nodded. Just like Claire said, he really is a wolf pup. 

 “……No, I’m not.” 

 Zeno spoke as if protesting. Cedric nodded indifferently and pushed his back, telling him to move forward. 

 Cedric suddenly felt a chill. 

 “I just felt an incredible energy.” 

 “……It seems there’s something unsettling deep inside the cave.” 

 Zeno nodded in agreement. The cave seemed endless, with no end in sight. 

 No matter how far they went, they couldn’t see light and only felt like they were going deeper. However, they had come too far to turn back now, so they had no choice but to keep moving forward. 

 “Can’t tell how far this path goes. At this rate, it might take days.” 

 Cedric stopped briefly. Nothing particular was visible in the cave. But the energy continued flowing, making it too early to give up. He thought there must be an exit where the energy ended. 

 “Turn back into a wolf.” 

 “……Looking at your eyes makes me not want to transform.” 

 “There’s no need to struggle like this when there’s a faster way.” 

 Zeno looked at Cedric with reluctance. However, as he said, walking like this seemed endless. 

 “Grrrrrr.” (Don’t even think about riding on my back.) 

 Though he could easily run while carrying an adult, he didn’t want to carry Cedric. 

 Zeno’s prediction was right. Regardless of what Zeno said or whether he bared his fangs to bite, Cedric lightly mounted his back. 

 “Now we can move faster. Run, before Claire worries.” 

 “……Grrrrrr.” (Does he even understand what I’m saying!) 

 Cedric maintained a relaxed attitude while mounted on Zeno’s back. It was Zeno who would struggle if he tried to resist carrying him. 

 Realizing this, Zeno had no choice but to start running forward. 

 He didn’t forget to curse Cedric internally.