When Serdin returned to the room, Formo had already thoroughly mangled the cloth book into a mess. Entering the room, Serdin picked up the crumpled cloth pieces one by one, like gathering breadcrumbs dropped by the siblings in a fairy tale. The trail of cloth pieces led all the way to the bed.
While picking up the scattered cloth pieces on the bed, Serdin discovered Formo curled up and sleeping inside the shredded cloth book.
“……Pipi.”
Even when he called the name softly, Formo only smacked his beak and didn’t respond. The adorable long-tailed tit was either in a very deep sleep or sleep-talking, even drooling.
“……Piiit. Piiii……”
Serdin’s lips twitched at the thin crying sound. It was absurd from the start that Formo was sleeping inside a cloth book he’d clearly torn apart with his own beak. Serdin looked at Formo with eyes full of warmth, then shook his head.
Each action Formo did without a second thought was annoyingly cute. Serdin seriously considered whether to keep Formo in his mouth and carry him around, but soon shook his head from side to side. It would be a disaster if he put Formo in his mouth and accidentally swallowed the tiny thing.
Serdin spent a while counting how many sleeping habits Formo had, then reached out and carefully embraced him. Then he tossed the filthy cloth book that Formo’s beak had touched under the bed.
Placing the small, warm Formo on a purple cushion on the bed, Serdin hummed while tidying the bedroom. Collecting the cloth book pieces that Formo’s beak had touched into a small pouch one by one was a bonus. It was a sight that would have made his faithful aide Kert gasp.
Without showing any sign of annoyance, Serdin cleaned up what Formo had messed up, then sat on the edge of the bed to admire the long-tailed tit once more. The sleeping habits he’d counted earlier totaled six. All six sleeping habits were extremely cute. He wanted to wake the sleeping Formo, put him in his mouth, and roll him around vigorously until he was covered in saliva.
Suppressing the impure desire that suddenly surged up, Serdin pulled out a paper from his pocket. It was a blessed paper that had the honor of being firmly stamped with Formo’s footprints. With a smile on his face, Serdin stared for a long time at the footprint smaller than his own pinky fingernail. He had a premonition it would come in handy somewhere.
Then, conscious of Formo tossing and turning, he quietly hid the paper inside his pocket.
“Piii……”
Fortunately, it seemed to be just sleep-talking, as Formo only murmured without waking up. Thanks to that, Serdin was able to leisurely admire Formo’s footprint for a long time.
Most beastmen maintain their identity by alternating between human and animal forms. This was the same for Serdin. Taking advantage of Formo’s sound sleep, Serdin went down to the basement, removed his clothes, and began transforming into his animal form.
His flowing hair transformed into golden fur with large black patterns, and his round human ears changed into those of a jaguar. Soon, a jaguar with a remarkably sleek and large body even within the species appeared in the basement.
The basement of the annex palace was a space that existed for the imperial family, including Serdin. The quiet basement was a perfect place for beasts who often caused trouble due to their instincts overwhelming their reason. Serdin yawned while slowly walking around the spacious basement. He wasn’t particularly fond of transforming into his animal form.
For him, using utensils to cut food was more comfortable than biting the neck of prey and eating raw meat dripping with blood. It was also much cleaner. And that wasn’t all. He preferred sleeping on a large bed to napping in meadows or on trees. In any case, he was definitely an unusual specimen.
Serdin kept his ears perked up the whole time, worried that Formo might wake up while he was in his animal form. Fortunately, only the sound of tossing and turning could be heard, so it didn’t seem like he’d woken up yet. Serdin stared at the cloth doll at his feet with indifferent eyes, then poked it with his front paw.
The doll prepared for the beast wobbled as Serdin touched it, then became still as soon as he withdrew his paw. Serdin pushed the cloth doll aside and sat in place. Serdin had lived a tedious life to begin with, but ever since keeping Formo by his side, the threshold at which he felt boredom had become excessively low.
He’d become indifferent to everything except Formo. He used to enjoy hunting quite a bit, but now even that was boring and bothersome. Nothing interested him.
Beastmen were chosen beings. Only those given the ‘qualification’ to drink from the spring water containing the Beast God’s blessing could become beastmen. Not every animal that drank the spring water manifested as a beastman. First, one had to drop blood into the spring water to confirm they had the potential to manifest, and only then were they given the qualification to drink the spring water.
And even that required a price. In Serdin’s case, it was tedium. He became a beastman but in exchange felt terrible boredom toward most things that made up the world and surrounded him.
“Your Highness, are you there?”
When Kert’s voice was heard from outside the tightly closed basement door, the jaguar’s brow furrowed sharply.
“It’s not anything else… I found a strange paper in the garden.”
“……”
“It was a paper densely stamped with what looked like Pipi-nim’s footprints.”
Hearing Kert’s words, Serdin reacted at the phrase ‘Pipi-nim’s footprints’ and returned to his human form. He roughly threw on the clothes that had fallen to the floor and flung open the door.
“So I thought I’d come check just in case… Huk!”
As a result, Kert, who was continuing his words, was startled and cleared his throat loudly. Kert glanced at Serdin, then quietly held out the paper.
“This is the paper.”
On the paper Kert held out, just as he’d said, there were many of Formo’s footprints stamped on it. Not just one or two, but what seemed like several dozen footprints made Serdin’s lips soften slightly. Serdin looked at the footprints on the paper with quite an affectionate gaze, then carefully put it inside his pocket.
“Good work.”
It was a brief word of praise without an ounce of soul in it, but it was enough to move Kert, who had been clicking his tongue at Serdin’s stinginess. Kert, who had started receiving recognition for his abilities ever since Formo appeared, teared up.
Whether Kert did that or not, Serdin passed him and headed to the bedroom. Kert, who had been standing in a daze, belatedly came to his senses and followed Serdin.
“Oh, Your Highness!”
“Speak.”
“His Majesty has sent a letter.”
“And so.”
“For now, I’ve placed it properly on your office desk. It would be appropriate if you went to the office now to write a reply.”
“I’m busy.”
Serdin answered indifferently and shrugged his shoulders.
“It’s obviously just nagging to end my vacation early and return. Ignore it.”
“……What? I’m not Your Highness, so how can I ignore……”
“I’m obviously just going to receive something useless like a crown anyway. I have no intention of wearing a crown yet. It’s bothersome.”
“B-but!”
As Kert tried to catch Serdin smoothly entering the bedroom, suddenly a sharp cry was heard from inside.
“Piiiiiik!”
[You insolent human!]
The owner of the cry was Formo, who was furious to the extreme. Woken up by the commotion heard from outside the door, Formo discovered Serdin entering the bedroom and immediately flew up using even his injured wing. Then he rushed at him like a shot.
As a result, his small, sleek body couldn’t control its speed and flew rapidly toward Kert instead of Serdin, crashing into him.
Thud! With a rather cute sound, Formo crashed into Kert’s chest and slid right down.
“……”
“……”
Serdin quickly reached out and caught the falling Formo. And Kert glanced at Serdin, then hurriedly lowered his gaze. Clearly, he hadn’t committed a single crime. He had never even attempted anything he should apologize for. In other words, he was innocent.
But strangely, he felt self-conscious and, though it was unfair, felt like he should at least kneel and beg for his superior’s merciful forgiveness. Of all places, Formo had crashed into his chest. Kert couldn’t calm his trembling pupils and gulped down his dry saliva.
“……Pipi.”
Fortunately, the arrow seemed to be directed at Formo. Right. His superior was indifferent to everything and had a shitty personality, but he was still fair. Kert, who recalled the fact he’d briefly forgotten, quietly felt relieved and observed the situation.
Serdin was asking Formo in a low voice.
“You got the person you were happy to see wrong. Are you happier to see that useless bir… no, Kert, rather than me? Happy enough to cry and jump into his arms saying you missed him? Hm?”
To that question, Kert wanted to answer on Formo’s behalf if he could.
That anyone could see it wasn’t rushing at him out of missing him. He wanted to ask if Serdin hadn’t seen that Formo’s eyes were blazing not with longing but with fury.
