Rolin stared at the crimson flame hovering before him.
It wasn't moving…
yet it wasn't still either.
It was breathing.
"…"
He stepped back half a pace.
"No… no… no. I don't like this."
Before he could say anything—
The flame twisted around itself, shrinking, stretching, swirling like an angry vortex, then splitting into strands of fire that fused together again.
"Damn it."
Rolin instantly raised his hands in front of his face.
"If this is some kind of hellspawn, I demand a refund on my life! I'm done! I killed one monster already—this is more than enough!"
He unleashed a respectable chain of curses.
Some had nothing to do with the situation, but they felt emotionally necessary.
A few seconds passed.
The heat weakened.
The glow dimmed.
Then—
Something light dropped into his lap.
"…Huh?"
He cautiously opened his eyes.
And looked.
"…"
Silence.
"…?"
"…??"
"…What in the actual hell is this."
It was a puppy.
Or… something that looked like a puppy.
Tiny, covered in black fur, with dark crimson flames bursting out from almost everywhere—like someone had set a stuffed toy on fire from the inside.
The only exceptions were its small head and short legs, which looked disturbingly normal.
The flames flowed from its neck and back upward, as if its fur had completely ignored fire safety regulations.
"You coward!"
The puppy suddenly spoke in a sharp, high voice.
"Open your eyes properly and behold my magnificence!"
Rolin blinked.
Then he looked around.
Then he looked back at the puppy.
"…You're talking."
"Of course I'm talking!"
The puppy puffed out its tiny chest, its flames flaring brighter.
"Were you expecting me to sing?"
Rolin stared at it for a long moment.
Then said slowly,
"…I was expecting to die."
A memory struck him.
That image in the darkness.
The massive wolf.
Those burning eyes.
He looked at the puppy again.
Then at its size.
Then, without meaning to, thought—
'…Pathetic.'
FWOOOSH.
The flames exploded.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING PATHETIC, YOU UGLY HEDGEHOG?!"
Rolin jumped back.
"Damn it! How—how did you read my thoughts?!"
The puppy lifted its small head with exaggerated arrogance.
"Because I'm bound to you, idiot."
"…Bound."
Rolin froze.
"…To me?"
He swallowed.
"How?!"
His gaze dropped instinctively to his chest.
He froze solid.
The tattoo.
The wolf engraved into his skin—same fur, same sideways gaze, the same unsettling feeling that this thing was not decoration.
Slowly, he raised his eyes.
Then he remembered the voice.
The warmth.
"I'll give you what you deserve."
His face went pale.
'No.'
'Don't tell me.'
'Don't tell me this—'
He stared at the puppy suspiciously.
'Is this rude little mutt… what I deserve?!'
FWOOOSH!
The puppy suddenly swelled up.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A RUDE LITTLE MUTT, YOU FRAGILE MEAT SACK?!"
Sparks flew from its mouth.
Rolin immediately backed away.
"Calm down! Calm down! This is a hospital! It barely survives without a fire!"
"Hmph."
The puppy narrowed its eyes.
"Relax… your smell isn't appealing anyway."
"…That wasn't reassuring."
Rolin took a deep breath.
"Listen carefully, whatever you are—"
"I am not whatever."
The puppy said it in a tone that made punching it feel morally correct.
"I am a great entity, the embodiment of inextinguishable flame, a spirit—"
"—A puppy."
Silence fell like a stone.
The flames dimmed.
Then surged violently.
"Say it again."
Rolin smiled—the smile of someone who had decided his life was expendable.
"Pu—"
FWOOOSH!
A lock of his hair caught fire.
"Okay! Okay! Great entity! Eternal flame! No need for arson!"
The puppy turned its head away arrogantly.
"You learn quickly… rarely."
Rolin pressed a hand to his face.
"…I used to think losing my arm was the worst thing in my life."
He looked at it again.
"But no. Now I have a fire partner who reads my thoughts and lives in my chest."
The puppy leaned closer.
"And get used to it, you ugly meat sack."
"…What's your name?"
The puppy stopped.
Actually stopped.
"…You don't have the right."
"That's not an answer."
"…I don't have a name."
Rolin smiled.
"Then… no-name."
FWOOOSH!
"OF COURSE I HAVE A NAME!"
"Go on."
"I am the great king, burner of worlds, punisher of fools, devourer of—"
"—Free time?"
It froze.
"…Long."
"That's your full name?"
"That's my complete title!"
"That's a résumé."
The puppy twitched.
"Great entities don't need names!"
Rolin leaned back.
"Funny… even dogs have names."
The temperature dropped instantly.
"Careful."
"What? You'll roast me?"
"…Not yet."
Rolin pointed at it.
"Until you get a respectable name… you're a puppy."
"…Damn you."
Rolin laughed.
"I'll name you."
The puppy laughed mockingly.
"You think, meat sack, you can give me a name?"
"Then I'll keep calling you puppy."
The puppy exploded in anger.
"Damn it! Say it!"
Rolin grinned mischievously.
"Clumsy."
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
"Next."
"Portable heater?"
"I'LL ERASE YOU!"
"…Failed flame?"
Several minutes passed, filled with insults and threats.
Then—
Rolin stopped.
For some reason, he remembered Likath.
A strange feeling settled in his chest… like a debt.
In the end, he had never truly understood him.
He looked at the puppy with rare seriousness.
"I've got it."
The puppy glared.
"…Say it."
Rolin spoke calmly.
"Likath."
An odd silence followed.
The flames calmed.
The puppy raised what looked like an eyebrow.
"…Likath?"
Rolin nodded.
"Yes."
The puppy stared at him for a long time.
Then—
"…That name doesn't suit a human like you."
Rolin smiled.
"I owe it to its owner."
The puppy snorted.
"…Better than 'puppy.'"
Rolin laughed.
And this time—
Likath laughed too.