The Scumbag’s Second Life

6. Nero

Tiredness eventually made Hazrad fall asleep despite the house still smelling of fresh blood.

In the morning, Hazrad cracked his eyes open only to find Azra sprawled across the bed, One leg dangling off the mattress, the other thrown across a pillow, hair wild, mouth slightly open.

But that wasn't what captured his entire soul.

Her bustier had surrendered at night, tits spilling out in full glorious rebellion, rising up and falling down with every soft breath she took.

He stared at them, eyes glittering like a starving wolf.

The areolae surrounding the nipples a deep dusky pink, nipples stiff and plump like forbidden treat meant only for the gods.

Hazra stared, blinked.

Then stared more.

Oh, come on!

Lady, please cover those twin mounds of destruction so I can think properly, please!! he screamed internally, kicking his little legs uselessly.

With a long, suffering sigh, he forced himself to focus on what was actually important.

He remembered receiving a system before reincarnating. And if he recalled the little isekai knowledge he got from living with Leroy correctly—those protagonists always said a magic phrase.

Status Open! he muttered in his mind.

His system obeyed the cliché.

A translucent blue screen shimmered into existence before him.

[Name: Hazrad]

Age: A day old

Race: Half Human / Half Reaper

Attributes:

Strength: 1/100

Intelligence: 5/100

Agility: 0/100

Endurance: 0.003/100

Luck: 7/100

Stats:

Exp: 0

Mana: 5/1000

Spirit Energy: 3/1000

Health: 5/10

Skills:

Summoner (LV1): Can summon and bind magical beings

Appraiser (LV1): Ability to instantly identify and analyze the properties, strengths, weaknesses, and hidden traits of objects, beings, or skills.]

Familiar Panel:

Rita (Goddess) — LOCKED (Insufficient MP or low Level to summon her)

Hazrad stared at the panel. His stats were pathetic—but considering he'd been alive for 24 hours, not half bad. Still, he expected more skills. Maybe even a cheat. But no—Summoner and Appraiser it was.

Not that he minded. He wanted to earn strength with his own hands not get carried by broken cheats.

Well… let's test Appraiser.

A tiny magic circle spun into existence over his right eye, shifting his vision into something straight out of a video game.

He appraised everything—books, walls, Azra's unfortunately massive pile of dirty laundry (she was absolutely not a tidy woman).

Then dizziness washed over him.

[Warning: Host has little mana.]

[Appraiser skill automatically deactivated!]

I… have to get a lot stronger than this…

That was his final thought before he dozed off again.

****

FIVE MONTHS LATER

Thanks to how Azra had slaughtered those assassins five months ago and left no trace of them, the murder attempts on Hazrad's life were currently low.

But that didn't mean there weren't still a few lingering shadows, waiting patiently for the perfect moment to strike.

More importantly, at this point Hazrad's daily life basically consisted of surviving on Cerberus milk.

He could now crawl on his own, drag his tiny body into the doghouse, and latch onto a teat like an absolute champion.

Azra, meanwhile, still walked around the house with her breasts bouncing freely in her bustier-and-panty combo.

Hazrad hated how much he noticed.

Why… why must I grow up beside this woman? She's too dangerous, yet too bouncy. It's fucking distracting!

On the brighter side, the Cerberus calf he grew up together with had become his best friend.

They played every day—Hazrad biting its ears, the pup drooling all over him. It was friendship built on milk and mutual chaos.

He also learned something important: the more he used skills, the more his mana and magical capacity grew.

The only skill he could safely use was Appraiser, but still—progress was progress.

However, today was the day to put his Summoner skill to work.

And that meant finding a familiar that could be easy to summon than Goddess Rita.

Time to tame the Cerberus puppy.

Taming a magic beast was simple—prove superiority in a fight. If he won, a familiar contract could be forged.

**

Finally, on one scorching afternoon, Azra lay fast asleep on the floor, snoring softly in her barely-there clothing.

As distracting as she was and as much as Hazrad would've loved to admire the view all day, the boy had more urgent matters to handle.

With a temperature this fierce, the amount of milk his body demanded was high… and the Cerberus puppy he wanted to tame needed even more.

A perfect weather for his plan.

Grinning devilishly, he crawled toward the kitchen, managed to get his tiny hands on a small cup on the floor, and dragged it along as he made his way into the dog house.

Inside, the pup was about to enjoy its lunch from its mother's teats when Hazrad appeared and shoved it aside

Hazrad squeezed the Cerberus mother's teat with all the strength his baby fingers could muster.

After much struggle, he filled the cup halfway with milk before he dragged it out.

The pup watched, confused, then returned to its meal.

But soon, Hazrad came crawling back, faster than before, his toothless gums clenched in rage as he growled at the pup.

He shoved it again. This time, it didn't budge. All three heads were latched on tightly, sucking milk and not about to let go.

He slapped it.

He cried at it.

He threw a tantrum so obnoxious the adult Cerberi twitched in discomfort.

Finally, the pup had enough and headbutted him flat onto his back.

Hazrad sat up again like an immortal cockroach and shoved it once more.

The pup snarled.

Perfect.

Eventually, their wrestling annoyed the mother so much she stood up, yawned, and walked off.

No more milk.

Hazrad crawled away triumphantly, straight to the dining room where he'd left the cup of milk.

He began drinking loudly, slurping with enough enthusiasm to make the pup twitch.

The scent of milk made it salivate uncontrollably.

If it couldn't drink from its mother… then it would steal the cup!

It growled, approaching Hazrad.

Exactly what he wanted.

Right as it neared him, Hazrad scooped milk with his little hand and splashed it on the floor.

The pup's heads dipped toward the scent, but before it could lick it, Hazrad splashed more milk in the opposite direction.

Now one head wanted the first spill. Another wanted the second.

The main head was completely confused.

Hah! These beasts are strong and all… but utterly brainless. Hazrad snickered.

While the pup was frozen in indecision, he climbed onto a small bucket, leapt onto its back, and grabbed the ears of its center head.

In their little baby-duel logic, that was the ultimate sign of defeat—allowing your enemy to get to your weak spot.

The pup slumped in utter humiliation.

Hazrad flashed a gum-filled smile as his system interface blinked open in front of him.

[Ding!]

[Ceberus pup has surrendered defeat to the Host!]

[Create a familiar contract with it and become its master]

[Confirm] [Decline]

He slammed [confirm] without hesitation.

[Give the ceberus puppy a name to complete the contract]

Naming a pup shouldn't have been hard. Hazrad wasn't nearly as bad at naming as Azra was.

Or so he thought.

"…Yeah, I'll call him Bruno."

"Huh? Bruno? I'm not a stupid dog, you know."

Hazrad almost had a heart attack. He spun around, eyes wide, searching for whoever just spoke—but there was no one.

Thankfully, his system chimed in:

[Telepathy communication is now available between the Host and the Familiar.]

His jaw dropped into a perfect "O."

"Whoa…"

Telepathy.

Talking directly into each other's heads.

Way cooler than any smartphone he ever owned.

He cleared his throat and closed his eyes.

"Pup? You hear me?"

"Pup? That's what you've been calling me this whole time?" the Cerberus grumbled.

Hazrad grinned. "So we can communicate now. How cool is that?!"

"A name," the pup demanded. "Give me a proper name already."

"Yeah, yeah, hold on. How about… Scoopy?"

"…What?"

"Tiger?"

"Are you kidding me?"

With a growl, it bucked and tossed him off its back.

"Hey! Come on!" Hazrad protested, rolling onto his feet. "I can't think of a name you'll actually like—wait! What about Nero?"

The Cerberus froze.

"Nero…? What does it mean?"

"Beats me." Hazrad shrugged. "But l think it has something to do with something chaotic and dark. Who cares? Isn't it a cool name though?"

The pup nodded. "I like it. It has a nice ring to it."

[Contract Completed.]

His Appraiser skill activated automatically:

— FAMILIAR STATUS —

Name: Nero

Species: Baby Cerberus (Lesser Hellhound Variant)

Rank: F

Level: 3

HP: 180/180

Strength: 42

Agility: 39

Endurance: 51

Defense: 65

Magic: 28

Intelligence: 2

Charm: 12

Affinity: Shadow / Netherfire

Traits:

• Threefold Ferocity

• Loyal Pup

Skills:

• Shadow Pounce

• Iron Hide

• Hellhound Instinct

Status:

Currently thinking about food.

**

Hazrad's mind was blown.

Nero was ridiculously strong for his age—amazing stats all around… except intelligence, of course.

He could already imagine it.

With skills like these, Nero would be his ace.

His greatest weapon.

The partner he'd use to climb the world and rise above everyone else.

And damn, he couldn't wait to test him out.

TBC