Who could have expected this giant entity of doom and destruction to be such a glutton?
Well, of course, Teo had anticipated it somewhat. The heap of high-quality fresh meat he had carried over could have allowed a small family to dine like kings for a week. His chauffeur, Phillip, would have cried rivers, had he known about this waste.
But it seemed like Teo had still underestimated the bottomless stomach of a wild beast after all.
Unable to deny his cohabitant's plea, mainly owing to the exceptionally skillful application of its big, black puppy-eyes, Teo was left with no choice but to go hunting spontaneously.
Luckily, it was not a very difficult endeavor. The forest was lush and abundant in all kinds of wildlife, coupled with Goliath's superior perception he managed to pick out the fresh trail of a deer in no time
It did not fare too well against him, and he was able to return to the clearing with fresh game soon.
After the satisfying hors d'oeuvre, his guest was already eagerly waiting for the main course and continued the feast without further ado, gobbling it all down in a surprisingly short amount of time.
While the large Magical Beast was gnawing at the leftover bones, Teo tried to strike up another conversation.
'You got quite the appetite, huh? I guess that's a good sign, though.'
'Feel weak. Need food, get strong.'
'No bone to pick with that, I suppose. My mom always used to tell me much the same thing when I was younger. I wonder how she is doing, lately. I have not visited her since her last birthday,' Teo contemplated while sitting on an old tree stump. It was quite nice to have someone who would just listen to him without throwing back cynical comments, like a certain someone.
'Me like bones! Bones good!'
'Haha, you sure do, buddy. That's not exactly what I meant, but it's fine,' he replied after managing to suppress his laughter.
'By the way, do you have a name? I can't keep calling you "you" and "it" all the time after all.' Teo inquired, unable to hold back his curiosity.
'Me name? What's name?' it asked back with a questioning look.
'Yes, your name. You know... who you are.'
'Me is me!' it responded without giving it much thought. Maybe he had expected too much.
'Alright. If you don't have one then maybe I can come up with a good one for you,' said Teo with a smile, he enjoyed naming things, even if Goliath always made fun of him for it.
'Hmm, let me think. It should fit your personality and give people an idea of who you are... Something simple...' he ruminated for a while and then, all of a sudden, exclaimed:
'I got it! How about "Beast"? Do you like it?'
'Me Beast?' it looked at the boy again and tilted its large head slightly to the side.
'Yes, that's right! From today on, that will be your name!' Teo said cheerfully and patted the large animal on the head.
'Wow! You've really excelled yourself on this one, boy,' Goliath could not help but remark in his melodic voice, slightly souring the moment for Teo.
The boy, however, did not openly show that the comment had bothered him and instead chose to ignore the pesky Golem. Sometimes, silence was the best remedy against bullies. Any reaction would just further reinforce the unwanted behavior.
Next, Teo checked on Beast's wounds and was not surprised to find little change from their previous state. Not even the monstrous vitality of... well, a monster, could improve such critical wounds in a short amount of time. Even with Teo's limited knowledge in medicine, he could only come to the same conclusion as Goliath: It was dubious if it could recover on its own anytime soon.
Yet there was little he could do about it, he was no professional, and he seriously doubted anyone else was willing to at least try. He would just have to take care of him as best he could and hope for the best — he could not bring himself to abandon him anymore, not after taking him in already. It might just have been a whim at the start, but he was beginning to grow fond of Beast already.
***
Days passed, and Teo still took his newfound obligations very seriously. It did utterly ruin his schedule and forced him to limit his training to the bare necessities. Even his granduncle and his teachers were beginning to get upset with his whimsical behavior, thinking that he was straying from his path, but Teo did not care.
The feeling he got while taking care of Beast was very new and exciting for him. He had never really felt 'needed' by anyone so far and was beginning to understand why many people chose to take in a dog or a cat.
Of course, his was a special case, and most people did not talk to their pets either — at least they did not usually get a reply — but it was quite similar nonetheless.
The deep wounds Beast had sustained that day did not heal as fast as he had hoped, though, and his condition did not seem to improve much at all.
Unable to come up with a better solution, Teo spent a lot of his free time in the clinic again, pretending to be interested in the arts of healing.
They probably thought that he had a sudden desire to become a healer after having his own and his friend's life saved by medicine, but Teo was more pragmatic than that.
Whatever the case, they were very willing to share their knowledge and proved to be a big help for Teo, he even managed to acquire some special ointments from a friendly nurse... Hopefully, she would not get into trouble for his lack of a prescription.
He had already learned how to keep clean and adequately bandage a wound and made good use of that knowledge when taking care of Beast, yet the treatment still seemed to be lacking. Plenty of rest and the regular application of unmagical herbs seemed to be just enough to uphold the status quo.
But over the course of several more days, Beast's condition deteriorated further. His wounds refused to close up entirely, and the slow healing continuously sapped his energy dry. Teo started to worry again.
When some of the wounds finally started festering, Teo knew what was wrong. Beast's body must have been busy fighting off a severe infection this whole time, which delayed the healing process immensely. Now that his vitality was declining by the day, it finally showed through. Soon the situation would worsen with ever-increasing speed, and if nothing was done about it, Beast would... Teo would rather not think about it, yet he had to face the issue at hand somehow.