Beni was assigned the third room from the left end on the second floor of the quarters. His heart pounded because he’d never shared a room with anyone in his life. Though it seemed he’d stayed with his mother when young, memories from that time were very hazy.
Tallos knocked a couple of times and opened the door. Tallos had said he was peculiar, but Beni rather looked forward to it. Perhaps they might become good friends.
As the inside of the room was gradually revealed, his roommate’s appearance began to show.
The first things he saw were green hair and a green scaled snake tail swaying below.
Beni’s eyelids that had been grinning trembled before he could only freeze in place.
“What?”
From the mouth of the servant who irritably spat out words, a split thin tongue came out with a hiss and went back in.
The servant… looked exactly like the snake that had threateningly chased Beni last night.
Beni could only stare at the servant who would become his roommate, frozen stiff.
Even if he didn’t exactly resemble that green snake, the scales sprouting on his exposed arms or the sharp fangs protruding below his lips were enough to plunge Beni into instinctive fear.
“This is a new servant, Ren. He’ll be using the same room as you.”
The pupils within the purple eyes of the servant who looked like a snake beastkin called Ren narrowed thinly like icicles.
“…Are you a snake beastkin half-breed?”
Beni’s voice asking Tallos trembled. Beni was just bewildered and fearful of snakes engraved in his cells, but Ren took it in a different meaning.
“Not a beastkin half-breed but a chimera…”
Before Tallos could finish speaking, Ren strode toward Beni. Anger was heavily draped on his face, and even his gait was threatening as if he’d kick him right then.
At Ren’s unexpected movement, Beni unknowingly stepped back. It was a reaction that reflexively burst out as fear preceded his body. However, that very flinching fanned Ren’s momentum even more.
“Whether I’m a beastkin half-breed or not, what does it matter! If you don’t like it, get lost!”
The sharp cry split through the room. Only then did Tallos seem to come to his senses, his complexion turning deathly pale as he hurriedly approached to calm Ren.
However, before that, Beni shook his head. Though his pupils were terrified, his voice was desperately trembling.
“No, it’s not that I don’t like it… I was scared of snakes… I’m sorry…”
He thought harsh curses would return, but an unexpected apology was heard. Then Ren was noticeably flustered.
All the more so because he’d anticipated a reaction mixed with disgust, fear, and contempt as always. Demons always avoided him. Because of his appearance, the sense of alienation his identity gave.
He’d always been an outsider even among servants, living a life where that became natural.
Ren looked at Beni trembling in fear. Though his anger slowly subsided, suppressed emotions still rippled in his eyes.
Even if Beni didn’t detest him, a bitter realization raised its head that in the end, avoiding him was the same as other demons.
“Coward bastard, if you’re that scared, go to another room.”
Ren let out irritated words in a low, rough voice as if spilling them, then turned and entered the room.
He wanted to close the door, but couldn’t do so because head servant Tallos was there. Instead, he carelessly threw himself onto the bed and lay down.
Though it was rude behavior to show in front of the head servant, Tallos didn’t particularly point it out.
He’d anticipated that Ren clashing with other servants wasn’t a day or two thing, but having actually introduced them, he only thought that Ren’s temper was dirtier so he’d have to either fix up the common reception room or prepare a separate room.
Tallos carefully turned his head and lowered his voice even more, worried Ren might hear.
“If you want another room, I can change it for you in a few days. But until then, you’ll unavoidably have to share it.”
Beni looked at Tallos for a moment, then turned his head toward the room. Though Ren had interrupted in the middle, Beni had heard. The words that he was a chimera.
But…
‘What is a chimera?’
Beni blinked while mulling over that word. It was because the knowledge he had was extremely limited.
Did it mean he wasn’t a snake beastkin half-breed? Thinking so, Ren seemed less scary than before.
Moreover, the thought that his reaction just now might have hurt Ren made his heart heavy.
He himself had lived always receiving hateful gazes at the estate for being a beastkin half-breed. For such a person to be surprised and frightened by someone else’s appearance. That must have left a wound on Ren’s heart.
Beni looked at Tallos with eyes that seemed firmly resolved and shook his head. Unconsciously, one foot thudded against the floor.
Having spent three whole months only as a rabbit, that habit seemed to still remain. Now that he was living as his true form again, he’d have to be careful.
“No. I… want to use the same room as him!”
“…A-are you sure?”
Tallos stammered as if surprised, and Beni nodded once more. This time more forcefully, more clearly.
Since Beni wanted it, there was no way Tallos could say no. Unease rippled in one corner of his heart. So he decided to add one request. Though Tallos personally had good feelings toward Beni, if something went wrong with Beni, he’d probably have to take responsibility.
“…I understand for now. If anything happens, tell me.”
“Yes! Thank you for your concern.”
And Beni put down the necessities he’d been given at his spot, then followed Tallos out to receive other training.
Ren, who had been lying in bed counting stains on the wallpaper, surreptitiously glanced toward the door.
〈I… want to use the same room as him!〉
Beni’s voice that had cheerfully shouted seemed to buzz in his ears for some reason.
* * *
For dinner, there was a hodgepodge stew with unknown contents, dry rye bread, and Demon Realm fruit jam. Though the taste and quality were much inferior to Cerberus’s food, Beni was so happy with just this.
Since for lunch he’d simply filled his belly with dried fruit shortly after meeting Tallos, this was Beni’s first proper meal in a long time.
Beni, who received his portion on a plate, looked around the dining hall. Since Tallos was a head servant, he said he didn’t eat in the same dining hall.
Everyone in the dining hall was servants, and some were familiar faces.
Only to Beni, of course. Since they were people whose faces he’d learned while living as a rabbit, he couldn’t acknowledge them first. Though it was regrettable that it was a one-sided familiarity, it couldn’t be helped. Ren sitting alone entered Beni’s view as he searched for an empty seat.
Though it was awkward having only seen him briefly earlier, he was a friend he’d be living with from now on. Tallos had told him they were only two years apart in age.
Worried that Ren might leave, Beni’s heart grew impatient and he approached with quick steps. Thunk—when he set down his bowl across from him, Ren’s brow, who had been eating in a daze, immediately narrowed.
“What?”
The pupils within his purple eyes narrowed thinly and sharply shot at Beni. Seeing those eyes, it seemed the face of the snake that bit him surfaced even more vividly, so Beni swallowed dryly.
“H-hello.”
“…”
“Um, earlier… I’m Beni who’s sharing the room with you…”
“So what.”
Ren still seemed angry about his behavior earlier. Though Beni fidgeted, he ultimately pulled out a chair and sat down.
At such behavior from Beni, the attention of surrounding servants was instantly focused. At gazes that had no intention of hiding their staring, Ren’s mood sank even more.
In the first place, he couldn’t understand why this bastard was approaching when he’d heard he was a chimera.
When Ren examined with wary eyes trying to dig into Beni’s ulterior motives, his two eyes were only transparent as if all his insides were visible.
“I’m really sorry about earlier. I was bi… I was bitten by a snake before… I was so rude…”
Even fidgeting restlessly and apologizing. Ren gave no answer even to Beni’s honest words and glanced to the side.
Among the group of servants sitting nearby, a man with deep blue hair, Pepe, stared at Beni with a hardened face.
In a posture as if he’d stand up any moment, Ren snorted and ignored whatever Beni was babbling about, continuing to tear and eat his bread.
Probably Pepe, that bastard would soon come to entice and take Beni away.
Beni seemed to be one of the few who didn’t show any disgust toward him, but it was obvious without looking that he’d want to hang out with a proper demon rather than himself. Moreover, looking closely, his appearance too… wasn’t one that would suit being with him.
He himself had been avoided even in the slums. There was no need to form attachments.
“Ah! I talked too much while you were eating, I’m sorry…!”
Beni, who had been rambling, stopped talking, and from far away came the sound of a chair being dragged.
‘That annoying bastard.’
Anyway, Beni would avoid being with him on his own, so Pepe who deliberately came to take him away was inevitably annoying.
Before too, there had been a servant who treated Ren nonchalantly like Beni, but in less than three days he stuck next to Pepe and cursed him like that.
It was the moment Ren was swallowing his anger toward Pepe like that.
“I’ll eat well.”
Splat.
Beni suddenly buried his face in the stew bowl.
