At the signal to stop, Beni stood sharply in place, and he took the cigar from his mouth and rubbed it out against the fence post. Only after waving his arm to disperse the smoke did he beckon with his hand.
When Beni approached, there was still an acrid scent that hadn’t completely disappeared.
“Are you tired today?”
“Yeaaah, I get sleepier in winter.”
James’s mouth, yawning with his hands in his pants pockets, was dark with stubble that had grown unlike usual. Coming and going to the farm several times, Beni was learning more and more about James than when he was a rabbit. On days like today when he was smoking a cigar, his condition wasn’t very good.
“Then I’ll just pick a little bit of herbs today!”
“Do that.”
The two exchanged simple small talk and walked to where the herbs were growing. With the scissors James gave him, Beni cut a few. James looked at Beni with half-closed eyes as if tired and said,
“It’s a bit strange.”
Beni stopped his actions and looked up at him.
“What is?”
“That the herbs are growing this fast even in this weather.”
At his words, Beni looked at the herbs. They’d definitely grown much bigger than three days ago. He’d thought maybe they grew well in winter originally.
“The soil seemed to be getting crumbly again, but lately it’s strangely moist and fertile again, you know? I wonder what His Majesty the Demon King is doing. Plus, things I planted are already sprouting even though it’s not time yet.”
James looked around at the sprouts that had already emerged small in his vast field. He’d worked at this farm for several years, but this had never happened even once. Beni also followed James’s gaze and tilted his head. Isn’t it good if they grow quickly?
“Is that bad?”
“Well… there’s something called the laws of nature, and it’s not good if they’re disrupted, right? Hmm…”
He seemed to recall hearing that occasionally among Demon Kings, if mana generation in the body was excessive, the amount of mana emitted to the surroundings also increased, and plants affected by it grew rapidly. James ultimately couldn’t definitively say anything in his ambiguous mood and left saying he’d go take a nap.
Beni, who had picked most of the herbs, moved his steps busily. Lately, the new task Beni had started was finding the Demon King’s rabbit, Ben.
* * *
“There are really no signs of eating…”
Beni had placed shabby but wooden-planked boxes here and there around the castle. Inside, he’d filled them full of dry brush to avoid the cold and put in herbs little by little. It was a reasonably safe trap Beni had devised to catch the rabbit.
These herbs had a scent and taste that rabbits absolutely couldn’t just pass by. Even he in his true form wanted to take a bite right now.
Sniffing, Beni looked around inside the cold box this way and that. If it had a similar appearance to himself, its fur would surely be shedding profusely during this period, making it easy to find clues. The molting would stop soon, so he wanted to find at least traces before this period passed, but it wasn’t easy.
With a deflated heart, Beni stood up from his spot and looked at the setting sun.
It seemed he should stop by the greenhouse one last time and then go have dinner. Beni, who was heading powerlessly toward the greenhouse, suddenly recalled the Cerberus he’d been indebted to when he was a rabbit.
He hadn’t gone to that side even once since becoming a servant.
The creature that hadn’t gotten angry even once despite him stealing its food like that.
Maybe Ben was also getting food next to Cerberus?
Beni knelt in front of the barred pen and peered inside. Inside the bars was a huge doghouse, and inside that was only pitch black, so he couldn’t even distinguish if anyone was there.
Beni, who smacked his lips, realized he didn’t even know Cerberus’s name.
“…Cerberus.”
After pondering, he called out quietly, but no response came back. The inside of the pen was so quiet that for a moment Beni wondered if Cerberus was really in there. But a familiar smell like when he came as a rabbit was wafting, though weakly.
Would it not let anyone near unless they were its owner? But who on earth was this Cerberus’s owner? He’d never once seen Ruan come here, and he’d only said he was raising a rabbit.
Beni, who had tried calling Cerberus a few more times, gave up and stood up. He’d come today just wanting to briefly see its face anyway. He’d thought about giving it something Cerberus might eat if something came out at dinner, but Beni knew very well what Cerberus ate.
Having lived eating such quality foods, it wouldn’t be satisfied with the food that came out at the servants’ dining hall. He planned to ask the Demon King tomorrow at lunch if he could give it some Surface fruit. Because there was no Surface fruit in Cerberus’s diet either.
Though it wasn’t food he’d prepared himself, so it wasn’t a proper repayment.
“Goodbye, I’ll come again tomorrow.”
Beni, who had taken one step, looked around sharply and pressed his face right against the bars and whispered.
“Actually, I’m that rabbit. The one who stole your food…!”
He didn’t know if Cerberus would understand words, but it ate almost on par with demons, so wouldn’t it be intelligent? Thinking that, he felt like maybe he’d spoken unnecessarily again, so Beni hurriedly added,
“But it’s a secret…! I’m sorry for stealing your food all this time… Tomorrow I’ll ask His Majesty the Demon King about Surface… fruit… huh?”
Beni’s eyes slowly widened. Because the cavity-like darkness inside the doghouse squirmed and something pitch black popped out. It was definitely Cerberus’s paw, but its size was… quite small. The Cerberus in Beni’s imagination was a much more gigantic and large monster, so it was rather questionable.
Because he’d seen in Trellou’s textbook he’d stolen a peek at before that they were originally raised for the purpose of taking to battlefields.
One paw, two paws.
The Cerberus that fully revealed its form was.
“Woof!”
Only slightly bigger than his rabbit form. At the sight of murky gray eyes stuck in entirely pitch-black fur, Beni covered his mouth with his hand and murmured.
“Cute…”
What? Were Cerberus originally such cute creatures? Then had he been stealing food from such a small, adorable creature all this time? An even greater sense of guilt rushed over him, and Beni was at a loss for words. Even when growling, it hadn’t seemed like a creature with such a small build.
Various complex emotions mixed in Beni’s gaze looking at Cerberus. Beni knelt down again, but still Cerberus’s eye level was much lower.
The creature glared at Beni fiercely with raised gray eyes, but it wasn’t scary at all.
“I didn’t know you’d be this small…”
“Woof! Woof woof! Woof!”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have stolen your food. But is this fully grown? What if you’re still a baby and I…”
“Woof woof! Grrrowl.”
Still, being a guard dog, Cerberus wrinkled its bridge of nose while even baring its sharp teeth. It was the moment when Beni was drooping his lips, thinking it didn’t want to talk more with him, the food thief.
“Why is the dog barking like this? Oh my?”
At the voice coming from behind, Beni was startled and stood up. Looking back, a demon wearing a white apron was looking at Beni with round eyes. Her gaze went to Beni’s white hair, then looked at his face and made a somewhat surprised expression.
Beni, pondering for a moment at the somehow familiar face, recalled. That she was one of the demons who always came to give Cerberus its food.
But he didn’t act friendly on his own like with James. Beni bowed politely at the waist.
“Hello!”
“Ah, um… hello. What brings you here?”
She put down the bucket she was holding in her hand and approached Beni.
“I’m a servant belonging to Niar Palace and I’m currently managing His Majesty the Demon King’s greenhouse—I’m Beni! I briefly came because I had business toward Acre Farm and stopped by. I’m sorry…!”
“It’s okay. Ah, you’re His Majesty’s greenhouse manager-nim. Don’t worry about it. I’m Yuri, a kitchen servant at Orte Palace.”
So the white apron was a kitchen servant. Beni learned the new information and smiled looking at Yuri. But Yuri’s gaze was directed toward his hair rather than his face.
“I thought the rabbit had come back.”
“Pardon?”
“Ah, you must not know well. His Majesty the Demon King’s rabbit used to come here every day.”
“…Pardon?”
