Cerberus crawled from my shadow and appeared in front of me. The giant behemoth towered over me like a monster from the prehistoric era.

"What is it, Cerberus?"

It was strange for him to visit me without me being the one to summon him. Cerberus approached me and began licking my hand. This was a sign that he wanted to be petted.

"You always have your priorities straight, don't you?"

"GRR!!"

Cerberus growled and once again nudged my hand with his head, which was the size of a large beach ball. I gave in to his request and began petting behind his ear. His eyes rolled back, and his large tongue flopped out of its mouth.

"So tell me, why did you come all this way to see me?"

"GRR~ GRR~"

"Your pups have been born. How many?"

"GRR~"

68 pups. That was more shadow hounds than I currently have.

"GRR~ GRR~ GRR~"

Apparently, they were born last night. Cerberus wanted me to meet them. He said the pack wouldn't accept them unless I, as their alpha, accepted them first.

The shadow hounds were back in the shadow realm.

All feral rank demons like my shadow hounds were given their own domain to stay until they were called upon by their masters. I never went to my shadow hound's domain, but Khalissi told me it was possible to go there since I was technically the ruler there.

I never had any reason to go there until now.

"GRR! GRR!"

Cerberus growled a bit adamantly. He was stressing how important it was for me to see the pups for myself and accept them as a part of my pack. Since I too wanted these pups to join my legion, then it would be in my best wishes to listen to Cerberus.

I reached out and patted my friend on his head to ease his worry.

"Don't worry. I'll come with you."

Cerberus let out an excited growl and began licking my hand. His rough tongue slithered across my hand, leaving behind his drool and slime. Before I got the chance to scold him for leaving his slobber all over my hand, a mass of dark energy enveloped us, and before I knew it, we were off.

"Lee!"

Just then, I thought I heard Sylvie's voice, but I brushed it off as nothing.

The world around me descended into darkness, but I could still feel Cerberus's presence. I felt as if the world around me was morphing until I finally felt my feet on solid ground. Then the sight of all 50 of my shadow hounds bowing to me came into view.

Their tails were wagging excitedly, and I could see how much of an effort they were putting in not to rush towards me and cover me in their slobber.

Though, that wasn't the only thing there to greet me.

Turns out, I was wrong; it wasn't my imagination. Sylvie had tagged along with us. She was currently sitting on my shoulder with her legs around my neck as she held my hair for balance. I could hear her excited giggles coming from above.

"Sylvie, what are you doing here?"

"Sylvie was outside Lee's room guarding him when she heard Lee was going on an adventure."

"So you decided you would come along?"

"Yep!"

With that settled, I turned my attention back to the shadow hounds. I couldn't take all 50 of them at once, so I instructed them to line up, and I would only be giving one head pat to each. They all still seemed excited and lined up just as I asked.

I guess giving head pats and head scratches was part of the job of being the alpha of a pack of hounds. But I didn't mind. My legion would come whenever I called them without hesitation. They've gotten me out of more trouble than I could count. If this was the reward they wanted, then I didn't mind.

"GR!!" "GRU!!"

Though they were happy to get pats and head scratches, they seemed to be more fascinated by the girl sitting around my neck.

"Lee's doggy dogs~," Sylvie sang as she captivated them with her charm.

"Grrrrr!"

"They're called shadow hounds," I corrected her.

"Doggy hounds!"

Now that I was done greeting the shadow hounds, Cerberus was eager for me to meet the pups. The land in the shadow realm was like a barren wasteland. They seemed to have been given the short end of the stick with this domain.

There was nothing to hunt, no wildlife. The only thing there were the dens that they made their homes. This explained why they were starving before.

The only time they had something to eat was when I let them out to devour monsters or to hunt on their own. I think that was why they were so indebted to me. They saw me as their savior.

Cerberus led me into the den where the pups were staying. I felt as if the pack was in disarray. There were the female shadow hounds who wanted to protect their young, and then you had some of the males who wanted to protect my position as alpha, hence they were wary of the pups.

I could sense the hostility between the two opposing sides. It also felt as if Cerberus was caught in the middle between the two groups. He was the one having to play peacemaker.

But since I was here, both sides would do anything without my express order.

"Doggy dog dog~"

Meanwhile, Sylvie was still perched around my neck, singing happily through the tense atmosphere without a care in the world. Cerberus took us through the twists and turns, bringing us closer to where the pups were.

I could hear cute barks and growls, and it was at that moment that Sylvie sprung into action.

"Puppies."

She jumped from my neck and began running towards where the pups were. I took my time, walking with Cerberus until we finally got to them.

"Puppy?"

When we arrived, I noticed Sylvie had a confused look on her face as she stared at the pups, which prompted me to look at them.

My expression froze the moment I saw the baby hounds that hopefully would one day become a central figure in my pack.

"These are… what are they?"

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