Translated by Jyzciel

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Chronos had lingered in the same spot for a while, but eventually, he gathered his courage and went to visit Rinsakura.

I had just finished cleaning up after breakfast. I took a moment to catch my breath and relax on the veranda. I was lost in my thoughts when Chronos approached.

"Hey," he greeted me, his ears flattened and a hint of embarrassment on his face as he sat down.

"Chronos-san." I responded, a bit surprised by his visit.

"Have you been doing well?" he asked, though he couldn't quite bring himself to meet my gaze directly.

"Well, yeah." I replied, a bit puzzled by his hesitance.

There was a moment of silence as Chronos seemed to struggle to find the right words. Wanting to ease the tension, I decided to bring up something from the other day.

"Oh, and thank you for the lovely glass the other day."

Finally, Chronos looked into my eyes, a genuine and joyful smile spreading across his face. "Did you like it?"

"Yes, very much." Feeling my heart flutter at the sincerity in his expression.

The subtle tension between the two of us had just started to ease when suddenly, from deep within the backyard, we heard a series of frantic barking from Kinako and Kuro-mame. And not just that, something was wrong, and it sounded serious.

"Huh?"

"What's going on?" Maybe a large, menacing magical beast had appeared? I quickly headed in the direction of the commotion with Chronos in tow.

Without wasting a second, Chronos and I rushed toward the source of the commotion in the backyard. What we stumbled upon was a scene that far exceeded our expectations.

"What is this?"

"Are you kidding me? Why all of a sudden?"

Though everything had seemed perfectly fine this morning, I couldn't fathom what had caused this bizarre situation. The carnivorous demonic plant, with a large, single stalk and an imposing presence in the center, had fully bloomed. As Noam had explained to me, this was a male demonic plant.

What made it even stranger was that, for some inexplicable reason, Kuro-mame and Kinako had become the target, and they were now locked in a fierce battle.

Watching this abnormal scene, I couldn't help but feel a bit distant. It was quite different from what I had expected. When I heard "Flower," I had imagined something more, well, flower-like. But this was beyond anything I could have anticipated.

Imagine a basketball-sized blue spherical head with a fluorescent pink and black striped pattern on top. And it sported one enormous horn.

On the front, or perhaps it should be called the face, there was a single enormous eye. Surprisingly, it had quite bushy eyelashes.

Beneath that eye, there was a massive mouth that could easily be mistaken for something that could tear apart. Inside, sharp teeth were packed both above and below.

In a way, it was similar to the head of a well-known RPG Cyclops, but without the body. It was no longer a flower!

**T/N: mike wazowski perhaps?**

Suddenly, the demonic plant emitted a loud, intimidating growl. Kuro-mame barked fiercely, and the demonic plant spat out a liquid substance from its mouth.

Kuro-mame swiftly dodged, and the liquid struck a tree behind, causing it to dissolve.

"Wh-what just happened? This is terrifying!" I was now in a state of panic.

"That was one of the attacks of the Demonic Plant, a highly concentrated acid liquid." Chronos explained with a grave expression.

"I'd heard about it from Carl and Noam, but this one is quite a mischievous specimen. It's the first time I've seen one spit out such a highly concentrated liquid."

What the heck?!

The situation had taken a dangerous turn, and I couldn't help but wonder how we could deal with this ferocious plant creature.

"And this one has just recently bloomed. Normally, it would still be in its infancy. Yet, it possesses this level of combat strength."

Oh, come on! Grandpa, what were you thinking? Can you even control this creature?

Oh no... I just noticed that Kuro-mame's tail tip looks a bit bald. Did it get hit by that acid? I won't forgive this! What I should do with this creature?

At that moment, the Demonic Plant noticed the presence of Chronos and me. It examined me from head to toe in a rather unsettling manner.

Oh my, it's staring at me like I'm a piece of meat.

Then, for some reason, it let out a sly smile, almost mocking laughter.

"Huh!?" It was getting on my nerves. I felt like it was underestimating us.

Next, it turned its gaze toward Chronos.

"..."

Perhaps it instinctively recognized him as a more formidable opponent, so it bowed its head.

"Before I come back, I'll make sure there's no impact around, so please go ahead and return first."

"Fine." Feeling somewhat unconvinced, I decided to return home to take care of the Kuro-mame.

Chronos watched until Rinsakura and the dogs were completely out of sight. Then, he grabbed the neck of the Demonic Pkant and said ominously,

"Do something to Rinsakura and the dogs, even if it's just a little. I won't show any mercy. If you don't, I'll turn every last bit of you to ashes."

In the face of Chronos's overwhelming pressure, the Gobble Bloom Plant nodded obediently. In any world, survival of the fittest would always exist.

"Ah, welcome back. How did it go?" I inquired as I served coffee and doughnuts.

"It seems there's no impact on the surrounding plants. You can relax." He casually replied while taking a bite of his doughnut.

"Do we need to provide that with food?"

Chronos never stopped eating his doughnut but appeared lost in thought.

"What do they feed them at the castle?"

"Indeed, in general, magical plants are like prey. But here, the barrier is in place, so weak intermediate magical beasts can't get in."

"I'm not entirely sure, but I've heard that the assigned sorcerer prepares a feed with a blend of weak magical energy-infused."

As the Demon Lord had mentioned, magical energy was necessary. In that case, I thought it might be a good idea to give them a fragment of that magical beast once a week to observe their reactions.

"How about giving this for now?" Chronos suggested, holding up a doughnut with a warm smile.

The result...

It devoured the doughnut quite seriously. It seemed to really like the doughnut, and in the end, it even begged for more.

Where did that initial attitude go? Aren't you giving in a bit too quickly?

"You should remember that only Rinsakura can create such delicious food. Keep that in mind." Chronos said, earnestly teaching the Gobble Bloom Flower.

How can he talk and command flowers? Does that plant even understand?

However, that Gobble Bloom Flower nodded seriously.

And as he looked at my face, Chronos grinned.

Scary!! His smile was too frightening! I unconsciously took a step back.

"Good for you, Rinsakura. This little one has completely recognized you as an ally." he said.

"Also, calling it Gobble Bloom Flower is quite a mouthful, so let's just start calling it Snappy from now on." I think it meant to crunch in some language.

"It seems to like the name, and since Rinsakura named it, you should see this." Chronos said, prompting me to look at Snappy's horn, which had something like a padlock with a crest on it.

"This is proof that it's a food-devouring demonic plant with a master. It's a sign that it's not a wild one."

"Why would something like that be necessary?"

"It's because strong primitive demonic plants are valuable items. In the past, they used to be stolen and overharvested quite a bit because people didn't understand their nature."

Upon hearing those words, Snappy seemed to puff up its chest as if saying, 'I'm a valuable plant.'

Seeing this, Chronos and I exchanged smiles.

"It looks like we've acquired quite a special one."

"You can think of it as adding another watchdog to the family."

For some reason, in this otherworldly place, it seemed like my family had grown by one.

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