When someone mentions “fairies,” the first thing that comes to mind are the picture books and anime characters I saw as a child.
Tiny enough to fit in the palm of your hand, mischievous, with delicate, transparent wings—such fairies were charming beings. They were often imagined to live in flower fields or to be inhabitants of dream worlds.
As I grew older, I learned that fairies could also refer to more frightening creatures.
In Celtic mythology and folklore, beings like dwarves and goblins are also considered types of fairies.
I loved reading the Encyclopedia of Fantasy Creatures.
Even as a child, I was fascinated by those fantastical beings. The fairies depicted there, though, were more familiar-looking compared to the grotesque ones.
And now, as fate would have it, I just recently came across a real-life version of a “fairy I’d love to cuddle if I ever met one.”
“The fairy cat—Cait Sith…! It’s so tiny and adorable!”
The Cait Sith, small enough to fit in one hand, was about the size of a three-week-old kitten. Its ears were still rounded at the tips, its tail was thin and short, and its little body trembled slightly.
“I’ve healed its injuries, but it hasn’t woken up yet. Is it lacking blood? Or maybe it’s cold?”
Its body was cool to the touch, trembling faintly.
In a hurry, I rushed back to my tent and gently wrapped it in a blanket.
Using summoning magic to access an online store, I bought a hot water bottle from a 100-yen shop.
“No time to boil water… Heat spell!”
Using life magic, I quickly boiled water, poured it into the hot water bottle, and covered it to avoid burns.
I decided to use a cardboard box from my Item Box as a temporary kitten house, hastily setting up a cozy nest.
The 100-yen shops these days have a pretty decent pet section. I lined the bottom of the box with pet sheets and towels, placed the hot water bottle inside, and carefully laid the baby Cait Sith, still wrapped in the blanket, on top.
“Okay, that’s warm enough. I remember hearing that kittens are sensitive to the cold, so a hot water bottle is essential. Next up is milk. Huh? Do fairies even eat or drink?”
In my panic, my thoughts became jumbled.
I vaguely remembered a storybook where someone fed cookies and milk to a fairy.
“Whatever, let’s give it a shot!”
I used summoning magic to search for convenience store items.
“Aha! Kitten milk!”
Not powdered milk, but liquid kitten milk in a small carton. They didn’t have baby bottles, so I decided to try feeding it with a dropper.
I transferred the milk to a shallow dish and used life magic to warm it to body temperature.
I also recalled hearing that low blood sugar in kittens could be treated by adding a little sugar to their milk.
“Sugar, sugar… Oh, honey! Honey’s healthy, right? Wait, is it safe for cats? Well, it’s not a cat—it’s a fairy!”
Fairies are supposed to love honey!
I mixed a small spoonful of honey into the warmed milk, stirring carefully, then poured all my focus into assessing the safety of the concoction.
“Can I give this honey milk to the Cait Sith? Analyze!”
The pinpoint analysis request was answered brilliantly:
[Analysis Result: Cait Siths love honey milk. It’s perfectly fine to give it to them. Infuse the milk with your magic as you feed it, and the little one should recover in a few days. Take good care of it!—From the Creator God]
“Wait, YOU’RE the one behind this?! But thank you, that helps a lot!”
I wasn’t entirely sure how to infuse magic into the milk, but I carefully lifted the Cait Sith and gently fed it the milk with the dropper.
At first, the milk dribbled weakly from the corners of its mouth, but with persistence, it began to swallow, its throat moving faintly.
It was weak, but I could feel its undeniable will to live.
When its tiny belly was full and round, I wiped its messy mouth with a damp towel and returned it to the box.
The pale color of its nose and ears started to turn a healthy pink, indicating its blood flow was improving.
“Good, it looks like it’ll be okay for now.”
I remembered helping a friend who had rescued a kitten before. What did we do back then? Oh, right—after eating, comes the bathroom!
“Kittens need help to use the bathroom, don’t they? Was it tissue paper? Or a wet towel?”
While I was mulling over this, my smartphone suddenly chimed. It was the notification sound for the Hero Messenger app.
Who’s messaging me now? I checked my phone, and to my surprise, it was from the Creator God.
“Analysis takes too long, so I’ll just message you! Cait Siths don’t need help with toileting after eating sweets. You’re good to go!”
What even is this, an idol or something? No, it’s a fairy.
I wanted to retort, but since the Creator God had been helpful, I decided to send a message of gratitude instead.
“For now, honey milk is sufficient since it’s just a baby. When it grows up, give it delicious food, okay? And yes, human meals are fine!”
If it were an ordinary kitten, that would be outrageous, but this one’s a baby fairy from another world.
Wrapped in a soft blanket, the sleeping fairy kitten was so adorable that I could watch it forever.
“So cute…”
Its fur was a familiar tabby pattern, like many cats in Japan.
To think such a tiny, precious creature was almost killed by a vicious magical beast…
The bloodstains on the ground must have belonged to this little one’s mother. From the amount of blood, perhaps even its siblings fell victim to the beast’s fangs.
“If only I’d found you sooner, maybe your family would still be alive. I’m sorry.”
I gently stroked the kitten’s forehead with my fingertip.
It moved its mouth as if suckling in its sleep, a sight so heart-meltingly adorable.
“Alright, Creator God asked me to take care of you, so I’ll raise you in your parent’s place. So hang in there, okay?”
The kitten let out a soft “peep,” as if acknowledging my words. I chuckled at the perfectly timed response.
“For now, let’s do this…”
I took out my phone and carefully snapped photos and videos of the fairy kitten’s adorable sleeping face from every angle, making sure not to wake it.
Of course, these would be used to brag to my cousins about my new, unbelievably cute companion.
“This isn’t a bad place to settle down for now. I’ll pause my dungeon adventures and stay here to care for the fairy kitten.”
Thankfully, I had plenty of magical beast meat stocked from the dungeon and forest.
Non-meat materials were all converted into points, so I had more than enough resources to last a month of lazing around here.
“Since the rainy season means I can’t enter the forest anyway… Yep, I’m officially on kitten care leave!”
I declared this cheerfully.
While dungeon crawling was fun, this tiny, lovable kitten was a treasure that filled the loneliness of being by myself.
(Even though I didn’t meet a beautiful high elf or elf maiden, encountering this fairy kitten feels like an even greater miracle.)
Cats are inherently adorable creatures, whether they’re grown adults or elderly. But kittens exist in an entirely different dimension of cuteness.
This one, still so young it needed milk to survive, might one day stand upright as a regal feline king.
For now, though, it’s a tiny, fragile being, trembling as it eagerly licks milk from a dropper.
Without realizing that my cousins were already rolling their eyes at me for adopting yet another stray, I silently vowed to protect and nurture this precious, adorable little life with everything I had.
