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"Silly deer, quickly show this sister that thing," Yino said with interest as he stopped in front of the lava sea.

But the nine-colored deer in the iron cage looked confused, as if their joys and sorrows were not on the same frequency.

"Beh?"

"Not that, that's not how you shouted earlier."

"...Meh?"

"Yes, yes, that's it! I was just telling her on the way here that the legendary nine-colored divine deer goes 'Meh Meh,' and she didn't believe me! quickly shout out to her a couple of times."

"——???"

Yino spoke nonsense with a serious face, leaving the nine-colored deer utterly confused.

Since birth, she had been worshipped as a guardian deity in the Snow Village. The local villagers had even built a special shrine for her, and during festivals, the whole village would kowtow and worship her.

This was the first time in her life that someone had used her for amusement!

The nine-colored deer felt horribly insulted.

Just earlier, when there was fighting in the lower dungeon, she had been so worried in her cage, fearing that this brave young hero might die down there. She had been constantly praying for him, blessing him, wishing for him...

As a result, this much-anticipated heroic young man, after rescuing the beauty, decided that his first order of business was to use her, a divine deer, for amusement!

He didn't even rush to rescue the nine-colored deer!

-How infuriating! Doesn't he have any reverence for a divine deer like me at all?-

-And at a time like this, what if that bad guy Wanglan suddenly returned?-

"Meh! Meh Meh Meh!!"

The more anxious she became, the cuter her "Meh Meh Meh" sounded.

If she could take on human form, she would be pointing at Yino and scolding him in the local dialect by now.

"Good girl~ As expected of the silly deer destined to be with me."

Yino praised with satisfaction, even though the nine-colored deer had not intended to imitate a sheep's sound.

Jinyue, who had been following Yino, was also taken aback.

She had only been gone for less than half an hour.

How had Yino already become so close to the legendary nine-colored divine deer?

Jinyue had never seen the prophesied nine-colored divine deer in her life.

She had imagined that the true form of the nine-colored deer would be much more dominant...

But unexpectedly, when Yino talked about her, it was just a silly deer, and it even obeyed Yino's command to imitate a sheep's call!

-But I must admit, she is quite cute-

A white little deer, with soft fluffy fur and nine-colored antlers, giving an impression of an innocent and cute mascot.

[Save! Save me——!]

At some point, Yino and Jinyue heard an angelic girl's voice.

After long torment and waiting, the legendary nine-colored deer had finally been forced to speak human language.

"Wow, not only can you bleat like a sheep, you can even speak human language!" Yino exclaimed in amazement.

Remembering the task at hand, he quickly took out the life core and unlocked the seal.

The mechanism triggered, and the iron cage was pulled back.

Yino drew his sword and with one slash, cut through the iron chains.

"Beh ——!"

The nine-colored deer, who had been imprisoned for so long, finally embraced freedom at this moment.

Her eyes were glowing, and she jumped out of the iron cage with one bound, dashing for the human boy in front of her——

"Happy? You're free now!"

"Meh, Meh Meh——!"

Matching the jubilant atmosphere, Yino crouched down and embraced the little deer that had pounced towards him, gently stroking her neck.

The deer was also very excited, rubbing her cute face against Yino's face.

Although Yino's joke earlier had indeed been a bit too much, he was still the heroic brave one in the deer's heart. Now having a new life, the deer couldn't hide her affection and desire to be pampered by the boy.

However, this joy of freedom didn't even last half a minute. With a "click" of a mechanism, Yino put a collar inscribed with a spell around her neck.

This unexpected action not only stunned the nine-colored deer herself, but also froze the smile on Jinyue's face, who had been standing aside moved by the atmosphere.

"Don't be nervous, hear me out."

"This isn't just any ordinary pet collar. This is a collar with contract functions, real-time positioning, and can be used to protect you from being captured by bad people again. It's a good friend collar!"

-Isn't this just the function of a spirit beast collar...?-

Jinyue stood by, silently watching, unable to hold back her inner thoughts.

But Yino, with a serious face and a kind smile, continued to speak while gently stroking the little deer with his loving hand.

"...Mehh?"

The deer raised her cute face, her innocent eyes wide with surprise, as if she didn't know what a good friend was.

Yino cleared his throat:

"Let me introduce myself again. My name is He Yino, and from now on, I'll be your mas... uh, I mean, good friend. A good friend with a life-and-death bond from this dungeon!"

-Hey! You clearly wanted to say master just now!-

Jinyue held her forehead, feeling that the joyous reunion atmosphere had been completely ruined by Yino.

"Silly deer, seeing how white you are, I'll name you Wangxue (Gazing at Snow)!"

"Wangxue, do you know? We humans have an ancient saying: 'A thousand-mile horse is common, but a good judge of horse is rare.'"

-Wait, isn't this idiom about masters and livestock?!-

"So, Wangxue, you should know that this accepting a mas... uh, making friends is a skill. Only by making friends with a cultured and kind person like me can you get such a poetic and tasteful name like Wangxue!"

-You clearly slipped and almost said 'accepting a master' again!-

Yino's expression remained natural throughout, and as he spoke, it seemed he had planned out the latter half of the nine-colored deer's life.

But not far away, Jinyue was beyond words.

If she had encountered such a swindler when she was young, she would have slapped him right away!

--No matter how pure and inexperienced a spirit beast is, they couldn't possibly believe such nonsense about making friends--

"Meh Meh!!"

-WTF, She actually believed his bullshit?!!!!-

Jinyue had been criticizing with an attitude of watching for amusement, but it wasn't until she saw the nine-colored deer nodding repeatedly like a pecking chick and happily snuggling into Yino's arms that she fully realized the seriousness of the current situation.

The legendary divine deer, the once-in-a-thousand-years guardian deity of Snow Village, the existence related to the direction of the world line in the prophecy... had now actually been fooled into accepting Yino as her master?