My Kid Does Everything

A tiny magical beast clung to my back and wailed.

Kyaaaang!

Looking for Mama!

The sound was still a beast's cry. But the meaning slammed straight into my head.

Magical Beast Language Connection.

Because of that bizarre link, I could understand exactly what the little thing was saying.

The problem was—

"Neck. You're choking me."

"Kiiing! Mama! Mama!"

"I get it, just let go of my neck!"

The white ball of fluff finally loosened its arms from behind me. Those short front paws were a blessing. Any longer and I really would have died.

I gasped for air, bracing a hand on my knee. The room had gone quiet. All that remained was the white magical beast wagging its tail behind my back.

And the letters floating in front of my eyes.

I stared at that sentence for a long time.

"Ha."

A laugh slipped out. Of all the things I expected after getting dumped into another world, a homework assignment to find someone's mom as a contract condition was not on the list.

My life. Really was taking every possible weird turn.

"Kiiing?"

The magical beast behind me poked its head over my shoulder. White fur. Round eyes. Drooping ears. Looking at it again, it was almost painfully cute.

Adorable. And also a dangerous little kid. The kind of kid who could casually shred a person with labyrinth formulas.

"Ki?"

I leaned against the wall and slowly pushed myself upright. My legs were still shaking.

"Get down for now."

"No."

"Why."

"Too high."

"My back isn't exactly a mountain."

"……."

"Fine."

This little thing. Bolder than expected.

I sighed.

"Alright. Let's start with a name."

"Ki?"

A name?

"Yeah. Your name."

"Dunno."

"You don't have one?"

"Don't."

"Really?"

The tiny magical beast nodded from atop my shoulder.

I almost asked what its mother used to call it — then stopped. Its ears drooped.

"Kiiing."

"Mama……."

Ah. Shouldn't have gone there.

I hurriedly changed the subject.

"Then can I give you one?"

The magical beast lifted its head.

"Give me one?"

"Yeah. If you don't like it, we can change it."

"If I have a name, will Mama find me?"

"It'll probably make you easier to find, right?"

Honestly, I had no idea. But in this world, a name wasn't just a label. It was closer to a coordinate for locking onto a specific target — a relationship in itself.

I looked at the white magical beast.

White. Small. Round. Soft. Crybaby. Currently searching for Mama. Also a mid-level labyrinth management beast.

"Whitey."

"Ki."

The reaction was ice cold.

"Hate it?"

"Hate it."

"Yeah. I regretted it the second I said it."

I thought again.

"Mochi."

"Hate it."

"That was fast."

The white magical beast swished its tail on my shoulder.

A name. A name, huh.

"Ru."

It just came out without thinking.

The white magical beast twitched its ears.

"Ru?"

"Yeah. Ru."

I said it again.

"It's short. Easy to call."

"Like it?"

"You're the one who has to like it."

The magical beast seemed to think for a moment. Then it nuzzled against my shoulder.

"Ru! Like it!"

The young white magical beast Ru wagged its tail. Anyway, the name was settled.

"Alright, Ru."

"Ru!"

"Then here's the important question."

I looked around the room with Ru still perched on my shoulder.

"Where did you get separated from your mom?"

Ru blinked.

"Dunno!"

"When did you get separated?"

"Dunno!"

"What does your mom look like?"

"Mama is Mama."

"Ah."

I pressed a hand to my forehead.

No information. Wants to see Mama. Wants to go to Mama. But doesn't know where they got separated. Can't describe what she looks like either.

This. The search difficulty was completely insane.

"You really are a management beast, right?"

Ru cried out proudly from my shoulder.

"Ki! That's right!"

"Then can't you find her with some kind of management authority?"

Ru tilted its head.

"Management?"

"You were throwing labyrinth formulas around earlier. Moving barriers, firing light spears, making the floor heavy."

"Dunno!"

"You don't know?"

"……."

I was speechless.

So. This kid had no idea what it was actually doing. Like a toddler throwing a tantrum and flinging everything in the room. The problem was that "everything in the room" included light spears and crushing-pressure zones.

"Fine."

I drew a deep breath.

"Then let's start by checking the paths."

At that moment, the inner wall of the room rumbled.

Kugung.

Kugugung.

Three lines of golden light appeared across the white stone wall. Left. Center. Right. Three doors. Opening all at once.

I stared blankly at the three paths.

"……Of course a labyrinth would throw multiple-choice at me."

Ru poked its head over my shoulder.

"Which way?"

"That's what I want to know."

A beastly smell drifted from the left. The center path was strangely silent. A wind blew from the right — cold, laced with the scent of metal.

I hesitated for a moment. Conventionally, the center one was suspicious. The right looked blatantly dangerous. So.

"Let's go left first."

Ru wagged its tail.

"Left!"

"It might be dangerous."

"Is Mama there?"

"No idea."

"Go find Mama!"

"Yeah, yeah."

I stepped into the left barrier.

The passage was narrow. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The walls were damp, and beast fur was scattered across the floor. Ru shrank against my shoulder.

"Don't like it."

"Why?"

"Lots."

"Lots of what?"

Bad smell.

The words had barely finished when eyes lit up in the darkness. One. Two. Ten. Twenty. Too many yellow eyes to count.

I stopped breathing.

"Ah."

Dozens of them.

I reflexively groped the floor. Stone chips. Nothing. To use a throwing strike like before, I needed a projectile medium. But the passage floor had almost no broken stone fragments at all.

We were screwed.

"Ru."

"Ru?"

"Can you maybe—"

I didn't even finish the sentence.

The lead Fang Wolves lunged as one.

Kieeeeek!

The narrow passage filled with fangs and claws. I raised my hand, ready to throw out even a basic Guard formula.

But Ru moved first.

From my shoulder, Ru lifted a tiny front paw and tapped the empty air.

Tuk.

In that instant, the patterns on the passage floor all lit up at once.

"Huh?"

The walls of the left passage moved. No — they folded. Walls and ceiling slammed inward ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in a single instant.

Kugugugung!

The space the magical beasts had been leaping through suddenly went flat.

Kieeeeeeek!

Screams erupted. Dozens of Fang Wolves were crushed between wall and floor in a single heartbeat.

And in that state, Ru tapped its front paw again.

The compressed end of the passage opened. The magical beasts shot out like black lumps of refuse.

Kwaaaang!

A heavy impact rumbled from somewhere far away.

And then — silence.

"……."

I froze with my hand still raised.

What. Just. Happened.

Ru swished its tail on my shoulder.

"They were in the way!"

"Huh?"

"I have to find Mama fast, and they were blocking the road!"

"So?"

"I cleaned them up."

"……Cleaned them up?"

"Yep."

I slowly looked down the passage. The path that had held dozens of Fang Wolves was spotless. Almost no blood. No remains. Genuinely cleaned. Like someone had run a vacuum over it.

"Wow."

Just moments ago I'd been hunting for stone chips and tearing up my own palms to fight. And Ru? One tap of a front paw. Done.

"This is way too easy, isn't it?"

A laugh came out on its own. Completely free. Ridiculously good.

"Ru."

"Ru?"

"We might actually make a pretty good team."

Ru nuzzled its face against my neck.

"Like Master!"

"Aww, you little cutie!"

I walked down the empty passage. The First Barrier ended quickly. At the far end was a small room. Nothing in it. Only text carved into the wall floated up.

Ru's ears drooped.

"No Mama."

"Nope."

I softened my voice without meaning to.

"Let's check somewhere else."

Ru nodded.

Somewhere else.

We returned to the circular chamber. Two paths left. Center. Right.

This time I looked at the center.

"Let's do the second one."

Ru sniffed the air from my shoulder.

"Hard smell."

"Hard smell?"

"Yep."

"Iron."

"Iron?"

I frowned. It was exactly as the little thing said. The smell of iron drifted from inside the center barrier. Old armor. Rusted swords. Blood dried into metal. That kind of smell.

I slowly entered the center path.

The passage was wider than the first. Instead of white stone, black metal plates lined the floor. A hard sound rang out with every step.

Tak. Tak. Tak.

Ru's tail went still against the back of my neck.

"Coming!"

"What is?"

Kung.

A sound from the darkness ahead.

Kung.

Once more. Heavy footsteps. Then a red light flared in the dark. One. Two.

Not a magical beast's eyes. Light burning from inside a helmet.

I swallowed dryly.

A massive suit of armor walked out of the darkness. Black iron plate. Thick shoulders. A shield fused to one arm, a rusted greatsword gripped in the other hand. Nothing inside. Completely hollow. And yet it moved.

"Ah."

This one wasn't getting cleaned up so easily.

I knew it instinctively. This wasn't an opponent you could herd into a corner and compress like the Fang Wolves in the first room. Heavy. Hard. Looked tougher than the labyrinth walls themselves.

The magical beast raised its sword.

"Ru."

"Ru?"

"Can you handle this one too?"

Ru looked at the Armor Beast.

"Hard."

"Yeah, I can see that."

"Hard to break."

Ru seemed to think for a moment. Then it hopped down from my shoulder.

Poljjak.

Landing on the floor, Ru tapped the metal plates with its tiny front paws.

Tong. Tong.

Hearing the sound, the Armor Beast slowly turned its head. The red light fixed on Ru.

I dropped low immediately.

"Hey, careful!"

The Armor Beast brought its greatsword down.

Kwang!

The metal plate tore open. Ru was already gone, darting sideways. This little thing was seriously fast.

The white ball of fluff slipped between the Armor Beast's legs. The Armor Beast tried to turn and follow — but it was slow.

Ru raised a front paw. The metal plate beneath the Armor Beast's feet lit up.

Both of the Armor Beast's feet stuck to the floor.

Kung!

The massive body lurched. Ru tapped its front paw again.

"Release?"

The moment I muttered it, the Armor Beast's knee joints bent the wrong way.

Kigigigigik!

Iron screamed. The Armor Beast toppled forward.

Kung!

The floor shook.

"Whoa."

I stared in a daze. It hadn't broken the thing with force. It had unlocked the joints. Forcibly disconnected the linkages that kept the armor moving. And Ru could touch those.

The Armor Beast tried to get back up from the floor. The red eyes flashed.

"It's reconnecting?"

Ru's ears shot up.

"That's not allowed!"

Ru leapt onto the Armor Beast's back. That tiny body moved with unbelievable lightness — straight to the nape, the gap between helmet and breastplate. Ru's front paw touched the seam.

A single red core rose from inside the Armor Beast's back. Something like a small crystal. Characters floated above it.

"So that's the formula's power source."

Ru looked at me.

"Break it?"

The Armor Beast started moving again. The arm was rising. The sword was shifting. One swing of that thing and both Ru and I were in trouble.

"Wait. Don't break it."

Ru's front paw stopped in front of the core.

"Why?"

"I think just stopping the center character will do it."

I reached toward the toppled Armor Beast's back. Before the arm could fully rise, I touched my fingertip to the red core.

Move.

I overlaid a single character on top of it.

Stop.

A golden stroke pressed down over the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠red character. The movement halted. The Armor Beast's body locked up — and collapsed right there.

Kuuung.

The red light went out.

I pulled my hand back and looked at Ru. Ru was sitting on top of the armor, wagging its tail.

Did good?

"……You are seriously broken OP."

"Broken OP?"

"It's not usually a compliment, but right now it is."

"Compliment!"

Ru bounced happily on top of the armor.

Then the armor's right hand slowly unfurled. The rusted greatsword it had been holding clattered to the floor.

Kang!

I looked that way on reflex.

A sword. A real sword. Rusted, sure, but the shape was intact. The edge was dull and the grip was worn. But by my standards?

It might as well have been a holy sword.

Until now my weapon had been a rock. And now — an actual ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sword!

I approached slowly and picked it up. It was heavy. Way heavier than expected.

"Ugh."

I had to use both hands. But I could lift it.

Text floated up before my eyes.