TBV 16

Chapter 16

Diagnosis

Calix hesitantly placed me onto Taryan’s palm.

I stayed on high alert, ready to spring up and clamp my tiny body over the old woman’s mouth if anything went wrong.

“Hmmmm…”

Taryan examined me with great interest.

She weighed me slightly by lifting her hand up and down a few times, then gently ran her wrinkled fingers through my soft fur.

“How do you feed it?”

“A piece of dry bread with every meal.”

“I see, I see.”

Taryan chuckled softly and nodded.

Her hand continued its inspection from head to tail, even flipping up my small ears and prying my mouth open.

I obediently complied with all of it, while sending her desperate telepathic pleas with my most pitiful eyes.

‘Please. If you somehow know who I am, just pretend you don’t. Just say I’m a slightly smart rat, okay? Please?’

I was the one who saved this world, after all. Honestly, that’s the least she could do.

Of course… I also accelerated the apocalypse countdown by making Calix go berserk, and I did release him after finally capturing him…

…Hmm.

Now that I think about it, there’s no way a normal person would listen to that request.

While I was quietly confronting reality, it happened.

“Ahhh. As I thought…!”

Taryan let out a trembling exclamation.

Calix, who had been doubtful all along, straightened his posture and focused.

“As you thought? Do you see something?”

At his cautious question, Taryan nodded very seriously.

“This isn’t an ordinary rat. This is…”

Damn it. I’m doomed.

‘Is the only option a body slam?’

I focused all my strength into my legs, ready to leap at the perfect moment—

But then Taryan dragged out her words and finished firmly in a hoarse voice:

“A pig-rat!”

“….”

“…chii?”

I froze completely in the position I was lying in.

And for a moment, I questioned my hearing.

Pig-rat?

Not former saintess, not possessor… but pig-rat?

I was so stunned I couldn’t even decide whether to laugh or get angry.

While I was struggling to process reality, the old woman’s sharp voice kept stabbing my ears without pause.

“I’ve never seen such a fat rat in my entire life! Look at this belly—it’s about to burst! And those flabby hips too!”

Belly?! Hips?!

As I stood there in shock, she delivered her final verdict.

“Severe obesity!”

“….”

Not just overweight—but severely obese.

A diagnosis harsher than anything I had ever heard in my human life left me completely dizzy.

…Sob. This is humiliating.

I felt like I wanted to crawl into a rat hole and never come out.

Quietly swallowing my tears, I curled myself into a ball.

Partly to make myself smaller… and partly to escape that piercing stare.

But Taryan didn’t let up.

“Tch tch. Of course it’s like this—you feed it bread as big as its body every meal.”

“…Bread is the problem?”

Calix asked, and Taryan immediately nodded.

“Of course! If it eats three times its body weight every day, how could it not get fat?”

“….”

That felt unfair.

I just ate whatever I was given.

How was I supposed to know proper rat nutrition?

‘Besides, I’ve been this body shape ever since I possessed it…’

While I grumbled internally, Taryan continued lecturing about obesity.

“You know this too, right? Obesity is the root of all disease. Diabetes, heart disease—risk increases dramatically. At this rate, this oversized rat won’t live long.”

“….”

Calix’s expression darkened noticeably.

With a meaningful smile, Taryan opened a drawer behind her.

She placed a worn medicine bottle in front of Calix.

“But don’t worry. If you drink my slimming elixir, anyone can lose half their body weight within a month. You’ll regain your health—for just a small amount of silver—”

Calix didn’t even listen to the end.

He immediately reached out—

But instead of grabbing the medicine bottle, he grabbed me.

“Chii…?”

I looked up in surprise, only to see his usual expressionless face.

“Seems I’ve wasted my time.”

He stood up and placed me back inside his hood.

Leaving the fortune-telling healer without hesitation, I peeked out of the hood and looked back.

For a moment, our eyes met.

The white-haired old woman gave a mysterious smile and waved lightly at me.

…Did she actually understand something and just choose to act like she didn’t?

Meanwhile

Calix comforted me in a low voice as we walked back to the inn.

“I’m sorry, rat. You had to hear unnecessary things. Pig-rat, obesity, heart disease… just forget them.”

Using his soothing voice as background noise, I fell into deep thought.

‘If Taryan really is a skilled fortune-teller… this might be a huge opportunity.’

A chance to resolve all my questions.

What the status gauge meant. Whether there was a way to become human again.

Whether purifying the curse of destruction inside Calix could really defy the world’s fate.

…And whether this poor prince might also find happiness in such a world.

‘Maybe I could even find out why this world suddenly started heading toward destruction.’

While I was lost in thought, we arrived back at the inn.

“Ah, welcome!”

The innkeeper hurried over with a bright expression as soon as he saw Calix.

“The dried rations you requested are ready. However, there is quite a lot, so it’s heavy—”

He trailed off, then smiled awkwardly.

“Would you perhaps need a horse or porter to carry your luggage?”

He seemed eager to sell him something extra.

But Calix rejected the offer with a single word infused with mana.

【Storage】

The spell finished, and a spatial rift opened its mouth, swallowing the massive bundle of supplies.

“Ah… ahh… so you’re a mage…”

The innkeeper quickly backed off, embarrassed.

Calix nodded slightly at him and walked up the stairs to the second-floor room without another word.

Meanwhile, I made a decision inside his hood.

Tonight, while he was asleep, I would secretly go find Taryan.

The inn and the apothecary were quite far apart, so the binding mark might trigger a penalty…

‘But I can handle that much.’

I clenched my tiny fists in determination.

That Night

Dinner was brought to the room as the day ended.

As always, Calix gave me a piece of bread and began his own meal.

But unlike usual, I couldn’t quickly finish it.

My mind was too busy.

‘First I need to wait until Calix is deeply asleep… but what if something goes wrong while I’m gone? And will Taryan even be awake late at night? Old women usually sleep early, right?’

Lost in thought, I nibbled at my bread absentmindedly.

Then Calix suddenly stopped eating and looked at me with strangely sad eyes.

“Don’t mind what she said about pig-rats.”

“Chii, chii?!”

I dropped my bread and glared at him, flailing my tiny paws.

“Chii! Chiiii! Chiiit chii chii!!” (Be honest! You were shaken earlier, weren’t you?! You said it was fine but you definitely cared about the ‘obesity’ part!!)

But he couldn’t understand me and only stared at the fallen bread with a stunned expression.

“You threw away your bread…”

He looked at me with pity.

“You must be deeply hurt by the word pig-rat.”

What?!

“But it’s okay. You’re not a pig-rat. You’re just a slightly large and chubby rat.”

Even though he was probably trying to comfort me, my blood pressure spiked instantly.

“Chii?! Chiiiii?!”

(You idiot, you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?!)

He kept repeating “pig-rat” and “chubby rat”—he clearly was the one who couldn’t let it go!

I shot him a murderous glare and wildly gestured with my paws.

“Chii! Chii chii chii!” (Hmph! I’m not eating this!)