Thus, they blocked the door to temporarily prevent the dead from entering and decided to experiment with several candidates—written as candidates but read as sacrifices.

The first candidate, Thanatos.

[Cerberus. Do you know the game rock-paper-scissors?]

Thanatos suggested a simple game of rock-paper-scissors, then spread his palm against Cerberus’s paw.

[Paper.]

“……”

[I won. You can’t throw scissors.]

Well, he had no intention of conversing from the start.

The second candidate was Sisyphus, who was just dragged along as an experimental subject by Thanatos.

“No, how can a prisoner like me in front of such a monster, aack—!”

Cerberus bit and tossed away the prisoner as if it was absurd.

[Good, it easily dispatches rat-like humans.]

Thanatos looked at Sisyphus, who had become a star in the sky, with satisfaction. He rubbed under his nose.

[As expected, puppies are strong.]

“……”

Persephone’s expression, hiding behind the rock together, turned cold.

Just as Persephone was about to tell Thanatos to stop talking nonsense without even doing anything after committing such a fatal wordplay.

“……Thanatos, are you sick?”

The third candidate, Hydra, approached Thanatos.

“A puppy is a puppy, what are you saying?”

[……No, I mean—]

“Forget it, if you’ve failed, go do your work.”

Wow, as expected of a water snake! Since she can’t hear well, she can just ignore lame jokes!

Hydra, who had suddenly become Persephone’s savior, pushed aside the uncle who was disheartened that his joke didn’t land, then climbed over the rock and approached Cerberus.

Persephone clasped her hands as if praying towards Hydra.

‘Could Hydra possibly have a secret method to properly communicate with Cerberus?’

Come to think of it, Hydra and Cerberus are siblings.

Even though Hydra had been reborn in human form, she might still have some connection as a sister.

Expectation gleamed in Persephone’s eyes as she clung to the rock like a barnacle.

“Cerberus.”

Yes, that’s right, persuade Cerberus well with such a sweet voice…!

‘Huh?’

But isn’t the voice a bit deep?

Wondering what was going on, she turned her eyes towards where Hydra was, but there was only Hydra looking at Cerberus with worried eyes.

She didn’t seem to be speaking to him.

Then, close to Cerberus was…

“Did you miss me?”

It was Hades.

Shock spread across Persephone’s face.

It seems Hydra had brought Hades, who had gone to repair the wall, but no, that’s not the important thing right now…

‘Did I hear that correctly?’

Not “Did you miss me?” or “Have you missed me?”, but…

‘Did you, miss, me…?’

Hades’ usual way of speaking is extremely stiff.

His unexpectedly clumsy yet young master-like personality was surprising, but that didn’t change his cold impression.

“Yes, it’s been a while. Cerberus, I’m glad to see you too.”

But to show such a weak side to an animal.

It was shocking, but…

‘It’s not bad, actually?’

While unexpected, it made her heart tingle.

‘After all, being kind to animals is the best.’

Persephone rubbed her solar plexus and smiled warmly.

The sound of a kiss was heard at that moment.

Persephone’s eyes widened as if they would pop out.

“Yes, it’s okay. It’s all okay. Our cute Cerberus.”

Hades had buried his face in Cerberus’s long snout and kissed him.

The surprised Persephone recalled her own past.

‘I used to shower our farm dogs with kisses too…’

It seemed the relationship between the Underworld king and his guard dog was even closer than expected.

So much so that she wanted to join in and make strange noises like “mwah” while clinging to them, just as she did with the farm dogs.

And Persephone decided to put that thought into action.

“Lord Hades.”

Persephone came out from behind the rock and approached Hades.

“Can I join in too?”

“……”

“Lord Hades?”

Persephone, who had moved closer to him, twisted her eyes.

‘He’s frozen?’

Not even breathing could be heard from the lord of the underworld who was staring straight ahead. It was enough to make her anxious that his heart might have stopped as well.

It was when she, feeling something strange, moved even closer to him.

“Cerberus is a creature that holds my memories intact.”

“Pardon?”

“I mean, I had a friend who used to visit the underworld occasionally, and we raised Cerberus together, so I treat him this intimately.”

Persephone, scratching her ear, chuckled.

“So what?”

“……It means, don’t misunderstand. I’m not a scoundrel who presses my lips to just anyone.”

Hades scrambled to explain as if making excuses. A smile appeared on Persephone’s lips.

“Are you perhaps embarrassed?”

“……No—”

“Well, if Cerberus is your pet, it’s understandable. I used to cling to our dogs at home too. Like this, ‘Mwah—!'”

“……”

Persephone cupped the cheeks of Cerberus’s rightmost head with both hands. She looked at Hades’ ear and pulled up her lips even more.

Really, acting like that over something so trivial.

Suddenly thinking that it was funny and somehow cute, like the cheek flesh of the guard dog she was touching, for just a fleeting moment.

Woof—!

Cerberus howled as if displeased.

It seemed angry that she was touching it instead of its caretaker, Hades, petting it.

The startled Persephone was about to take Hades’ hand, which was still stiffly frozen, and place it on Cerberus’s head when.

“……Wait, Cerberus.”

One of Cerberus’s heads turned towards Hades, who had come to his senses, and opened its mouth wide.

“I had something to tell you—”

And swallowed Hades whole.

“……”

“……”

Hydra and Persephone froze.

They looked at Cerberus, who was licking its lips, once, and then at each other once.

……The king of the underworld had been replaced by Cerberus.

* * *

“You’re saying Cerberus is causing trouble?”

“That’s right. Do you perhaps have any good ideas?”

Hades, who had barely managed to wipe off all of Cerberus’s saliva, asked Asclepius.

After much trouble, they had extracted Hades from Cerberus’s mouth and come to Asclepius’s room to seek advice from the most knowledgeable person in the palace.

Asclepius looked Hades and Persephone up and down as if he had seen all sorts of strange people.

“I’m a doctor for humans and gods, not a veterinarian, you know.”

“We know, but there must be something only a doctor can do, right?”

Persephone said with a smile, showing her palm. A deep sigh of patience escaped Asclepius’s lips.

“……Very well. I’ve come to you grasping at straws. I want to ask if there’s any way to communicate with Cerberus.”

Hades handed Asclepius a document summarizing the information they had gathered so far.

Asclepius took the document and lowered his gaze over it. He rubbed his chin with a serious face.

“……It’s caused quite a commotion. Unlike a guard dog.”

“Indeed. It used to be a well-mannered creature that knew restraint, but suddenly changed like this.”

Hades showed a hoe and shovel that had been abandoned somewhere on the wall.

“Do you see this? The teeth marks on the handles of Persephone’s hoe and shovel.”

“Yes, I see. Are they from the guard dog?”

“Yes. Here, from the relatively even teeth alignment compared to ordinary dogs to the particularly sharp canines… They’re all Cerberus’s.”

Asclepius’s gaze hardened, showing a cautious look. He opened a drawer of herbs and picked up tweezers from the desk.

“Actually, if we think rationally, we should diagnose it as rabies, a disease that spreads from raccoon dogs……”

“What?”

“I’m joking. And—”

He dropped a few herbs into a nearby glass bowl and raised one eyebrow.

“Rather than that, it seems you want a fundamental solution, so I’ll prepare a medicine that temporarily grants intelligence.”

“What’s that?”

Asclepius looked at Persephone and replied.

“Cerberus is a monster. It’s clever, but in the end, it hasn’t reached the level of divine intelligence.”

“……”

“Usually, to be able to speak… like the water snake standing at the threshold waiting for you and Lord Hades, it would need to be reborn as an entirely new being, but I don’t have that much power.”

“So you’re going to make it understand and express human speech more properly for a short time?”

“Yes, exactly.”

Asclepius brought a mortar and began grinding the herbs.

He lowered his eyes as if to say don’t worry, looking around at the restless Hades and Persephone.

“It’s a temporary measure, but as it’s a special step, it should be effective. I guarantee it.”

* * *

Persephone fed the three heads of Cerberus meat mixed with the medicine.

And as a result.

“Strong and powerful morning!”

“……”

“If you ask me, I am Cerberus.”

……Instead of Cerberus’s howls, strange words that seemed to come from an odd translator came out.

Hades and Persephone looked at Asclepius.

“Didn’t you guarantee it?”

“Ahem, well, that is……”

“……”

“Perhaps there were limitations because it was made in a hurry……”

Asclepius cleared his throat as if embarrassed.

‘Well, it’s a miracle that we can even communicate like this.’

Hades, who was somewhat optimistic about the current situation, spoke to Cerberus first.

“……Yes, good morning, Cerberus. Did you sleep well last night?”

“Good. Human. Death.”

“……Are you saying you like me?”

“Blood feast. Entrails. Flesh. Yum yum.”

“……”

“War! Absolute war! Destruction! Only destruction!”

……Wait, is this actually being translated correctly?