From the depths of the dimly lit—or rather, faintly illuminated—cave emerged a lizardman, a bipedal Chihuahua, and a birdfolk, all holding hands in harmony.

Their overwhelming cuteness made even the unflappable housewife, Takana Mika, 38 years old, freeze in her tracks and widen her eyes in surprise.

Seizing the opportunity, the lizardman let out short, quiet cries—”Gyah, gyah!”

It wasn’t a threat. Whenever these strange cries were made, mysterious phenomena like fireballs flying at her would occur, so Mika hurriedly raised her rake. Most supernatural occurrences could be dispelled by swinging the rake. But this time, the light emitted by the lizardman enveloped the surroundings, and before she could react, it converged and was absorbed into Mika’s body.

Wondering what had just happened, Mika patted herself down but found nothing unusual.

“What was that…?”

When she looked ahead, the lizardman and the others were still holding hands, now kneeling and gazing up at her. Then, the birdfolk spoke.

“Ogre, we mean you no harm. Please, hear us out.”

……

……

“…A parrot?”

It was a talking bird.

For a parrot, its speech was remarkably clear and easy to understand.

“My name is Dada. Right now, we are in trouble. Please, help us, Ogre.”

“Wait, are you talking to me? ‘Ogre’? Wangya… Ouga… Oh, God!? Don’t tell me you mean ‘ogre’? My name is Mika, though.”

“Mika! You have a name! To be Named is wonderful. Please, help us!”

“Uh… You can talk. That’s amazing, birdie. Wait, help you with what?”

Though she had some doubts about being able to converse with them, the trio didn’t seem hostile, so Mika crouched down and decided to ask them a few things. Apparently, the reason they had emerged holding hands was to signal that they meant no harm.

The birdfolk’s name was Dada. About 30 centimeters tall, upon closer inspection, its form was quite human-like. Its large, beautiful orange wings and golden, spiky hair made it look birdlike from a distance. It wore a short, dress-like garment that matched the color of its wings—but it was male. Dada seemed to be the leader of the three.

The bipedal Chihuahua was named Gatt. For a Chihuahua, it was quite large, standing around 60–70 centimeters tall. Its limbs were furry, and it had a tail, but it wore sturdy leather armor and carried a sword at its waist. On closer inspection, its build was more human-like. Though male, its face was that of an adorable Chihuahua—absolutely adorable. It bears repeating: adorable.

The lizardman was named Zurah, and she was female. The tallest of the three, standing about 1 meter. She wore a dark shirt and skirt, making it hard to tell at first glance, but her body seemed more like a scaled-down human than an upright lizard. Her head, covered in scales instead of hair, and her thick, sturdy tail gave her a reptilian appearance. Her limbs were partially scaled but long, with dexterous fingers resembling a human’s. At her waist hung an ornately decorated wooden stick—apparently, a magic wand.

“Magic… So it really exists.”

The spell cast earlier with the “gyah-gyah” cries was one essential to this world, where multiple races coexisted—it allowed thoughts to be exchanged as words, both received and spoken. The magic’s effect wouldn’t last long, but they mentioned there were magical tools with the same function. Zurah placed a small stone in Mika’s palm. At first glance, it looked ordinary, but as she watched, it melted and absorbed into her skin, leaving behind a tiny black mole.