The next morning, I woke up to find Zera right next to me and fell off the bed in surprise.

“Ouch…”

“Oh, did I surprise you? I’m sorry~”

Zera gave me a “teehee” laugh and offered me her hand. I grabbed her hand and stood up.

“Please don’t surprise me like that…”

“I just wanted to see your sleeping face, Lark-kun.”

“…Well, I suppose that’s fine.”

Having such a carefree response drained the energy from me.

“You guys are so noisy in the morning~”

Shafal, who had been sleeping on the floor, got up grumpily. Then he looked at both me and Zera alternately and entered my body. Since Zera was outside, he probably planned to sleep again inside. I changed from my pajamas to my usual clothes and left the room.

Zera followed me, and although I was a little unsure, I decided not to say anything. I’ll introduce her to Father and Rin at breakfast. When I got to the living room, Father and Rin were already up and preparing breakfast. After they both said “Good morning” to me, they looked puzzled.

“Lark, do you know that woman?”

“She’s incredibly beautiful~”

“This is Zera-san. She’s in a human form now, but she’s a new familiar I made in the labyrinth.”

When I introduced her like this, my Father widened his eyes.

“So…she’s a high-ranking demon who can take on human form? You didn’t mention this yesterday…”

“I thought I’d talk about it when things had settled down.”

“I see…Zera, was it? Why did you become Lark’s familiar?”

When Father asked Zera, she answered in a refined poise, “Yes, actually, I was dying in the labyrinth, and Lark-kun helped me. I was touched by his kindness and wanted to be with him more, so I made a contract to become his familiar.”

…Zera, you sure are smooth with words. Are all demons like this?

My Father seemed satisfied for the time being.

“So, that’s how it is… Indeed, Lark is a kind boy.”

“Yes, he is truly kind. After all, he even gives food to a demon like me.”

“Whaaat?”

I, Father, and Rin all exclaimed at once. Hold on, wait a minute! It was perfect until a moment ago, why would you suddenly let the cat out of the bag?

“Ah, my bad. This was supposed to be a secret. I’m sorry, Lark-kun.”

Zera giggled the same way she did in my room. However, this time, it won’t be dismissed with just laughter. And besides, she didn’t do it intentionally, right? Is this elusive nature of hers because she’s a demon, or is it just her personality…

“Lark, what’s going on?”

Father asked with a serious expression. When it comes to Father, it’s impossible to deceive him. I decided to tell everything honestly. After finishing the explanation, Father solemnly opened his mouth.

“Lark, you know what kind of beings demons are, right?”

“Yes…”

“And yet, you chose to make it your familiar?”

“Yes…”

“To be precise, I chose to become his familiar. So, please don’t blame Lark-kun.”

Zera came to my rescue from the side, causing Father to hold his head in his hands. On the other hand, Rin seemed to be unaware of the existence of demons and was cordially greeting Zera.

“My name is Rin. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, Rin-chan.”

Both of them are smiling. Seeing them, Father let out a big sigh.

“Lark, are the only ones who know about this me and Rin?”

“Only Shafal and Idel-san as well. But, I haven’t really told Idel-san that Zera-san is a demon.”

“That’s the correct choice. It’s unpredictable what would happen if he found out… Don’t tell this to anyone other than Rin and me, unless they are reliable companions. Especially keep it a secret from the Master or the King, Ars. It’s definitely going to be troublesome.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“However, it’s fine to tell the same party members, Leticia-chan and Asura-kun… rather, you should tell them. Rin-chan already knows, and it’s not good to have secrets between members.”

“You’re right… Thank you, Father.”

Father placed his hand on my head and looked at Zera.

“I hope you take good care of Lark from now on. Lark tends to get himself involved in all sorts of things and is easily dragged into various issues. It’s going to be tough, but as his familiar, please protect him.” 

“Yes, of course. He’s my master after all.”

Zera smiled and shook hands with Father. After that, everyone ate breakfast, and Zera returned inside me. I went to the guild with Rin. Leticia and Asura should be at the guild because we had promised to meet there yesterday. We joined Leticia and the others at the guild, accepted the request to subjugate the Forest Wolf, and headed out of the royal capital to the forest. We finished subjugating it in about an hour and casually headed deeper into the forest.

“Rin, can you sense any people or monsters around here?”

“Yeah, it’s all clear. Are you going to tell the two of them here?”

“Hmm? Is there something you want to tell us?” Asura responded to my exchange with Rin.

“Yeah, a little bit.”

I explained what happened since falling into the dungeon and summoned Zera.

“She’s the demon, Zera-san, that I made my familiar in the lower levels of the dungeon yesterday.”

“Hi, as introduced, I’m the demon Zera-san. Nice to meet you, Leticia-chan and Asura-kun.”

Zera greeted them with slightly high tension.

“Zera-san, could you please behave normally?”

“Oh, Leticia-chan and Asura-kun seemed tense, so I thought this might be better,” Zera said this as she looked at the two of them.

Leticia and Asura sent me a pleading look, so I told Zera to calm down and explained the circumstances of how she became my familiar.

“Well, I didn’t expect even you, Lark-kun, to make a demon your familiar…”

After the explanation, Asura was the first to say this.

“Lark-kun’s cooking is so delicious that it could tame even the most ferocious monsters. I’m sure he could make a demon his familiar.”

When Zera said this with a smile, Asura also responded with a smile, “Ah, I can understand that.”

I didn’t expect them to bond over something like that.

“So, Lark-kun now has two familiars and one summon beast. That’s amazing,” Leticia said this with a hint of envy.

“Don’t you have a summon beast, Leticia-san? It’s a required course in the academy.”

Leticia-san is a graduate of the academy, so she should have a contract with a summon beast. I asked her this thinking it was the case, but…

“I’m not good at magic, so I couldn’t make a contract with a summon beast…”

She told me this. It was an unexpected answer… Then, for some reason, Zera started to cry.

“That must have been tough. If you’re okay with it, Leticia-chan, I could call one of my subordinates for a contract, you know?”

And with that, she made an incredible proposition. Still, Leticia gently declined the offer. I mean, it’s scary to make a contract with a demon’s subordinate. Neither Rin nor Asura attends the academy, so neither of them have contracted familiars.

“Regardless, my strength is increasingly becoming excessive…”

I muttered this to myself. With just the silver dragon Shafal and the demon Zera, they could probably crush a country.

(Well, in reality, during a recent conflict with a nation, Shafal and I nearly crushed it)

While thinking about this, Zera suddenly leaned in close. “Eh? Lark-kun, you’ve battled a country before!?”

Apparently, due to the familiar contract, she could hear my inner voice.

“Well, yes, a bit with the Holy Kingdom.”

“The Holy Kingdom? The Holy Kingdom of Miraretia? The one ruled by that ridiculously selfish goddess? You’ve crossed paths with them?”

“Yes, they once abducted Father. Currently, that goddess is imprisoned in the divine realm’s jail.”

Upon hearing my words, Zera burst out laughing. “Ahahaha! I knew I made the right choice becoming Lark-kun’s familiar. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard such an interesting story.”

She genuinely seemed to be enjoying herself. Seeing her smile, I felt like I understood a little bit why Zera became my familiar.