#462 Three-Way Deadlock

Well, now that the wedding bonanza is over, I'd like to share a little story with you.

Have you ever heard of the word “three-way deadlock”?

Let’s assume three things: A, B, and C. A wins over B, B wins over C, and C wins over A.

It’s a cyclic power relationship in that no one can be the ultimate winner.

The most famous example is the frog, the snake, and the slug.

Even the game rock-paper-scissors is considered a three-way deadlock.

It's quite an interesting concept in the sense that, ultimately, everyone loses to someone else.

To tell you the truth, this concept exists on our farm, too.

Let's take a closer look at it today.

***

First, we have Pochi.

He is a wolf monster that lives on our farm.

The official name of his species is Hypercaon, and it is said that a large army would need to be mobilized if it were to wreak havoc.

In addition to Pochi, we have dozens of hypercaons that patrol the farm and exterminate rats and other pests. If they spot a suspicious person, they howl to alert us or use their fangs to deal with them.

They contribute significantly by acting as guard dogs.

And wolves are, in essence, dogs.

They charm everyone on the farm with their fluffy fur and adorable expressions.

Dogs are cute.

Like, really cute.

But that very same Pochi came to me with a downcast face today, faintly whimpering.

“Did he take your bed again?”

The wolf pack has their sleeping area in various places on the farm.

They find it comfortable sunbathing on a bed of hay.

However, a rascal takes their spot from time to time, and it’s none other than a cat.

“Professor... Hey, Professor.”

“Hm? Disturbing a cat’s midday nap is immoral, meow.”

The problem is that you’re taking a nap in someone else's spot, though.

“Why are you using Pochi’s bed? Didn't we give you your very own space?”

We built him a fancy cat tower inside the house.

I was so into building it that it ended up having five stories. But his stubbornness is intolerable; he even outright ignored my painstaking efforts.

“I want to sleep outside when the weather is nice. This is the most comfortable place for me to sleep, meow.”

This cheeky cat...

Alas, he can also be quite the handful opponent to deal with.

After all, this cat is a Lifeless King, one of the World’s Two Greatest Calamities, and one of the strongest of his kind to boot.

That’s why Pochi can’t help but give up his spot.

“Anyway, I feel sorry for Pochi, so could you please sleep somewhere else?”

“No. Cats sleep where they want to sleep, meow.”

“I see...”

Then you leave me no choice but to use my last resort.

"Go! Earth spirits!”

“Meow?!”

At my command, little children appear at once.

These are the earth spirits.

“There’s Master’s shignal!”

“Kitty pwaytime!”

“Kitty cuddle time!”

In the blink of an eye, they surround the cat, seize it by his limbs, and pet him.

They’re so relentless with their pats that they look more like they’re abusing him.

“Be gentler with your pats! Stroke along the direction of my fur! Who pulled my tail just now, meow?!”

These children are intangible spirits by nature, but when they receive Hades’ power and materialize, they take the form of cute little girls.

The love for pets is the same for young and old alike, but children don’t have total control over their strength just yet.

Because of this, cats sometimes run away from them, even though they have nothing but pure love for the animal.

In other words, a cat’s natural enemy is children.

“Ugh! Fine, I’m retreating for now! Saint, don't think you’ve found my weakness, meow!”

Unable to bear the unintentional torture, the Professor runs away from the earth spirits.

"Aaah! Waittt!”

“Let’s pway some more!”

"Let me look at your butt, pwease!”

The earth spirits, in turn, push forward in pursuit of the fleeing cat.

Pochi rushes to the empty spot and curls up happily for a nap.

“Isn’t this great, Pochi?”

“Yesh!”

A dog-loving spirit remained to stroke Pochi’s curled-up back.

Dogs are great.

***

We treated the case with the talking cat quite casually, when in reality, it’s a Lifeless King speaking through a cat. But this plot is a little complicated, so I’d like to revisit this topic.

Bluntly put, the cat itself is not Professor the Lifeless King. He just possesses it.

His actual physical body is an immortalized human like Sensei. However, being the oldest living Lifeless King, his body has deteriorated so much that it is sealed up deep in his dungeon.

Apparently, the Professor can possess all cats in the world by sending a kind of radio wave from his body.

In other words, all the cats in the world are the Professor.

Everything the cats see and hear is known to him.

The cat at the farm is just one of his portals, so even if that cat died, it wouldn’t affect his actual body.

All he has to do is channel his senses through another one.

Also, he can use simple (but still beyond human knowledge) magic through them.

Nonetheless, the cat's own instincts remain intact, so a possessed cat’s composition is probably 50% the Professor and 50% the cat.

Therefore, its feline instincts also make it vulnerable to children.

Now, let's return to today's theme, the three-way deadlock.

As you may already know, the three key pieces that signify this deadlock on our farm are Pochi, the Professor, and the earth spirits.

We’ve seen that Pochi is deprived of his bed by the Professor, and the Professor is overrun by the earth spirits.

However, to complete the loop, we must confirm the power relationship between the earth spirits and Pochi.

Let’s say this happened.

The earth spirits are in charge of cleaning.

They were given enough power to materialize by the earth god to help them and do their best every day at the farm.

I tell them to clean only inside the house, but sometimes they get so motivated that they tend even to the outside despite the many possible dangers.

"Oh, I’ll cwean that one.”

An earth spirit notices several farming tools, some of which are sharp and dangerous, such as a sickle and a blade.

It would be a disaster if she touched them and got cut.

“I’ll get pwaised for cweaning these!”

But the earth spirit fails to foresee danger.

As she was about to run up to the pile of tools...

“Huh?!”

Someone pulls her by the fabric of her shirt.

Pochi appears out of nowhere and pulls the earth spirit away from the dangerous tools.

“What are you doing? Wet me goooo!”

“Good boy, Pochi.”

I was one step behind him.

“I told you not to touch those tools and weapons; they're dangerous.”

“Sowwy...”

The earth spirits are very obedient, so one word is all it takes to get them to listen.

But the credit goes to Pochi.

He’s quick to come to the rescue when the little ones are in danger—a genuinely dependable dog.

“Thankie!”

The spirit pats Pochi’s head, and Pochi licks her cheek in return.

***

And so, this is how the three-way deadlock works on our farm: the Professor bullies Pochi, the earth spirits “torment” the Professor, and Pochi protects the earth spirits.

This busy bunch brings our residents a sense of contentment and energy to their work.

But now, the bustle has ceased because the three are taking a nap.

Oddly enough, Pochi, the Professor, and the earth spirits are huddled up against each other.

The spirits use Pochi’s big body as a fluffy pillow, and the cat keeps itself snug between them.

Things may be quiet now, but the hustle and bustle will probably start again once they wake up.