I took a closer look at the guy while holding the muzzle up to it.
　The form was a dog, but it was large in size, even larger than a large dog like a St. Bernard.
　It's roughly the size of a pony.

　The fur was so dirty that it was hard to tell for sure, but the multi-divisional area was probably gray or something.
　The face is designed to be crisp and brave or fierce, but with its angular eyebrows and annoying eyes, it looks like a troubled human being.

　Is it really a monster?

Don't kill me. Yeah, I've got something for you.

　The dog said, and rustled out the cloth I'd stripped off. I take a piece of dirty paper out of it.

'I'll give you this if you miss it. It's worth so much to you, human.
Is that a ...... thousand-pillow bill?

　The dog took out a battered, tattered, dirty thousand-piro note here and there.

'Yes!　You picked this up a long time ago?　Humans can eat their food with this, right?
That's right, I could eat ......, but ......
Then you can have it!　And miss me instead.

　I'm in trouble, I'm in trouble.
　In fact, I was in trouble.

　I was surprised that the monster-like dog in front of me could talk, but on top of that, it didn't have any of the aggression that monsters tend to have, and it even begged for its life.
　The way it begged for its life was also troubling. It's a tattered thousand-piro bill that I picked up a long time ago and have been holding on to for years.

　This ...... what the hell is going on here?

　Gyururu.

　The sound was loud enough for everyone around me to hear.
　It was the sound of hunger coming from a dog's belly.

'Ugh. ......'
...... is down.
'Yes, ...... will work!　I won't scavenge the garbage anymore. I'll be out of this town as soon as you miss it!　It's true, believe me!

　A dog that appealed to me even more desperately.
　I lowered my gun.

　I couldn't bring myself to shoot at all.

　　　　　☆

　Me and my dog moved into a back alley.

'Ho, are you sure you want to do this?'

　The dog looked up at me with a look of trepidation.
　There is meat on the ground. I made the dog wait there and bought some raw meat from a nearby store.
　It was a lump of meat I had bought three kilos of, partly because of the size of the dog.
　The price was 10,000 piro. It was 350 piro for a gram, but we got a little extra for the price.

Don't you like meat?　Or maybe you can't eat them raw?
No, it's not!　You can eat anything you want to eat.

　I remembered the Kryptonian leeks I'd seen in town earlier, but I couldn't bring myself to fiddle with them because I felt sorry for the poor dog in front of me.

'Then eat them, don't be shy.
...... Really?
It's true.
Okay, then: ......

　The dog was still afraid and bit into the meat, glancing at me.
　I watched him eat as normal, since I had originally brought it for him to eat.

　The dog ate the entire meat, while keeping an eye on me the whole time.

Thank you, it was delicious.
Did you get enough?　If you want, I'll get you some more.
I'm fine!　I've already eaten a month's worth.
A month's worth?
'Yeah, I usually scavenge Mr. Human's trash, because there's never been so much meat.
I knew you were going through the garbage.
Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Why were you rifling through the garbage on ......?

　Yes, I can see it.
　It may be a monster, a giant dog that can talk, but its essence lies in something much different.
　Dressed in tattered cloths, he quietly scrounges through the garbage to hide from people's eyes, and keeps a single piece of paper money he's found as a keepsake for the rest of his life.
　The word "homeless" popped into my head.

'Who the hell are you anyway?　Are you a monster?
Maybe.
Maybe?
'I don't know, it was a long time ago, but the next thing I know I was in a different city than here.
So it might not be a monster.
'But I think it is. Sometimes they find me, and then the human always says to me, 'There's a Cerberus Haguremonos'. Haglemono is a monster that appears in the city.
Well, not exactly, but yes.

　Apparently, this dog is a monster haggle called Cerberus.
　I'm sure that's the case, because that's how several people found it.

Hagremonos are killed when humans find them, so they've been hiding for a long time. That's why I moved from one town to another. There are a lot of humans in this city and food is easy to find, so I was happy to rummage through the garbage here and there. ......
Is that why you've been getting a lot of Frankenstein lately?
"So I thought about following a human and working in a dungeon, but I heard that hagglers disappear when they enter a dungeon, so I'm afraid to go.
Ah, .......

　That's right.
　If Cerberus is really a haggler, he can't go into a dungeon and earn money.
　You can't get into the most popular and obvious profession in this world, you know.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'll be out of town soon. Don't kill me.

　I was begging for my life again.
　Even if they didn't tell me, I wasn't at all ready to exterminate them anymore.
　I didn't even know what I was, and there was no way I was going to be able to deal with Cerberus, who was forced to live in exile.

'Thank you, human. Thank you for the meal. This is for you, human.

　Cerberus placed the thousand-piro bill that he had shown me earlier in front of me, flipped it off and walked away.
　With a rag in his mouth to hide his true identity, he proceeded toward the back alley.

　Can I let him go like this?　But can you stop him and deal with it?
　What a mess I'm in.

"Wah!
Geez, you're a haggler!

　An adventurer emerged from across the alley.
　A male adventurer carrying an Emily model hammer and pushing a magic cart.
　An adventurer who was returning from a dungeon and was on his way to a buyer's shop from now on, that kind of adventurer.

　One of the encounters and one of the heads stopped both.
　It was the adventurer who moved first. The man swung his hammer to the side.
　The hammer struck Cerberus, blowing his pony-sized body right off to the side, sending his head into the wall and his body crumbling to the ground.

'What a wimp. Don't scare me at all.

　The man mumbled and complained, pushing the magic cart as he stuttered away.
　There are so many adventurers who meet Hagremonos and don't defeat them because they don't drop any items. This is because Hagremonos do not drop any items.
　If a dungeon association offers a reward or requests it, I'll do it, but otherwise, if I see one, I often don't defeat it.
　The majority of adventurers in this world are like that, and the man also gave Cerberus a blow for now and then slipped away from the place.

　On the other hand, Cerberus, who was hit by a hammer and rammed into the wall, didn't freak out.
　He's not dead, a monster ...... haglemono would disappear as soon as he died.
　So I decided that it wasn't dead.

　That decision was correct. After a while, Cerberus wavered and stood up.

''Hey, are you okay?''

　I was about to run up to him, and the moment I took a step, I stopped.
　I wasn't thinking at the time, not that I had any warning.

　But I did, and I crossed my arms in front of my face.
　It was a hunch that I did so.

　A gut feeling is an instantaneous total judgment that comes from accumulated life experience.
　That instinct made me take a defensive stance.

　In the next moment, Cerberus charged forward with furious force.
　It blew up my entire body, which I guarded with a cross.

　I scooted directly behind it, and was flung out of the back alley and crashed into a building.

"YEAH!
What's happening?

　Residents of the city scream, tensions rise in passersby.
　A Cerberus jumps out of a back alley, this time opening its mouth to bite me.
　I stick out my hands, catching the rise and fall of the biting mouth firmly in place.
　Sharp fangs dig into my palms for a bit, and it hurts.

"Grrrrrr.

　Cerberus let out a low growl and put more pressure on his jaw.

'It's Cerberus!　There's a demon dog haggle!
Hey, go get some adventurers, or the Dungeon Society.
Wait. That's Lyota Sato.
You're the Lyota family boss.
Rumor has it that he's going to kill the haggard things that adventurers don't like to do?

　I heard all kinds of voices from around me. Some were cheering me up and lifting me up, but out of the corner of my eye, I spotted what looked like a guy going to call for adventurers.

　Oh no, I have to get this over with.
　Normal adventurers would overlook the haggling, but at times like this, the adventurer who was called to the scene was determined to defeat the adventurer to the end.

　I felt sorry for Cerberus, who was forced to live in unhappy exile, and I didn't want to see him get killed.
　We have to do something before the adventurers arrive.

Gullu...

　Cerberus had bloodshot eyes.
　He seemed to have lost his mind, perhaps from slamming his head against the wall.

　-- then!

　He took his hand away from his mouth and jumped back for a moment.
　He draws his gun, loads and holds it ready.
　Cerberus jumps in further, faster!　The speed is about A. It's normal.

　In a furious dive, I remain calm and shoot the gun.
　A marsupial recovery round from the two guns - a sleeping bullet that collided and fused in the air.
　The sleeping bullets hit Cerberus, who dives straight into the air.
　The bloodshot eyes instantly turned white.

　He held Cerberus as he jumped into the air with the momentum he had gained.
　The effect of the sleeping bullets is excellent, and Cerberus, who was grunting with bloodshot eyes earlier, has begun to breathe in his sleep with his nose lantern puffed up in my arms.

'What, you were here?'

　It was Neptune who appeared with a familiar voice.
　The leader of the Neptune family, an adventurer with both ability and fame.
　Behind him, a woman named Ran and Lil came with him. The last time I saw them, Neptune was powered up by their singing voice.

　In other words, I'm serious.
　If it was any slower, this guy Cerberus would have gotten to him.

"If you were here, I wouldn't have had to hurry. How long are you gonna hold onto that, by the way?
'What?　Oh ...... yes, ....... I don't know what to do: ......
It's just easier and more fun to hold me in my arms than it is to hold you in mine.
You're a f*cking faggot!

　Neptune laughed indulgently as he gave a grand plunge.

That's not true. It's just that I really like girls. Hey, Ran, Lil.

　Neptune asks two of his friends to agree.

'But what's really going on?　You're a haggler, so get on with it and take it down. Otherwise, the gallery won't be happy, will they?
...... We're not taking this guy down.
Why?
......
Oh, you can't handle it. So you'll keep it.
Can we keep it?

　I was surprised to hear Neptune say it as a matter of course.

"You're a haggler.
It's just a matter of letting them get used to it. Just because it's a haggler doesn't mean you have to get rid of it. You've worked on a lot of new magic carts, so you should know better.

　It was.
　The calculation function and transfer function on the magic cart, that's using Arsenic rock monsters.
　They never attack, hence the normal use of harmless rocks even if they become haglemono.
　It's dangerous to kill hagremonos because they're rampaging and dangerous.

'If you can admit there's no danger, or more importantly, if you can admit that you can hold it down properly even if it's dangerous,'

　Neptune lifted the corner of his mouth to one side with a grin.

''Who would bother hunting for a haggle of things that don't drop anything?

　It was obvious, but it felt like an eye opener.