Serdin waited for Formo’s answer with coldly chilled eyes, and Kert, unable to do this or that, quietly awaited his superior’s judgment. It truly felt like walking on thin ice. Kert swallowed anxiously, racking his brain over how to resolve this situation.
What if he says he’ll chop my head clean off? What if he yells at me to get the hell out! No, actually, receiving an order to get lost might be better.
However, such anguish lasted only briefly. When Formo rubbed his tiny head with his wing and his eyes welled up with tears, Serdin changed his attitude with a sigh.
“Pipi, does it hurt?”
“Piii…”
He had been furious about the cloth book <Baby Sparrow>, but far from retaliating against Serdin, he’d crashed into Kert’s chest and shown such a pitiful state—how could the tears not come? Formo was so miserable that he shed tears about the size of millet grains while grumbling.
“Pii, piik! Piii! Pii! Pit!”
[Wretched, human! You idiot! A human worse than sparrow droppings! Let go of this!]
Though it was quite insulting language, it had no impact on Serdin, who didn’t understand the meaning. In fact, even if he had understood, he probably wouldn’t have cared much. After all, Serdin was the type of person who would wickedly act like he wanted to hear more of Formo’s nasty words.
As the situation settled down considerably, Kert let out a breath of relief and very naturally slipped away from the scene. It had been a heart-stopping moment when he’d nearly become the ‘seahorse’ in one of the sayings he’d heard from the aquatic beastmen: ‘When sharks fight, the seahorse’s back bursts.’
Kert soothed his startled heart and headed to the office to check the letter the Emperor had sent to Serdin.
After confirming that Kert was moving toward the office, Serdin took Formo and entered the bedroom. Formo couldn’t manage his rapidly spinning field of vision and had no choice but to obediently stay cradled in Serdin’s hand.
“Pipi, are you dizzy?”
“Piik…”
Formo answered roughly, unable to even hold his head up. The world before his eyes was spinning this way and that in complete chaos. Moreover, he must have hit his head quite hard because it was still ringing. Formo opened his beak wide and swayed.
“Pipi, you’re drooling.”
At Serdin’s pointed observation, he quickly shut his beak and widened his eyes. But despite such efforts, his vision remained hazy. Serdin carefully touched Formo’s slightly swollen head and let out a sigh.
“Why do you cause so many accidents, Pipi?”
Formo wanted to refute with all his might at those words, but since this particular incident was indeed an accident, he kept his beak tightly shut and stayed silent. He was already thinking that his pride as a guardian had been thoroughly crushed. Even with the problems in his wings, still—for a guardian to be unable to control his speed and slam his head into a human’s chest.
It was humiliating. Last time he’d failed to control his direction and landed in that wretched human’s hand, and this time he couldn’t control his speed and even gave up his head. Formo thought of his past self who’d been so capable and felt bitter.
Sighs kept bursting forth from between Formo’s small beak. After exhaling several sighs pulled up from his core, his still-chaotic skull rang with a *ding*.
“Piiik…”
Having shown embarrassing behavior several times, Formo became cautious and couldn’t openly throw a tantrum, so he fussed quietly.
“Pipi, I’ll give you one last chance. Who were you so happy to see? Was it me or Kert? Hm? Tell me, Pipi.”
Did he want to ask such an absurd question even in a moment like this? Watching Serdin act even more childish than a young long-tailed tit while shaking his head in disbelief, Formo ended up passing out.
“It’s a mild concussion. There’s nothing major to worry about, but… I think it would be good to exercise some caution.”
“What about the wing?”
“The wing is…”
Formo frowned at the faintly audible voices and the touch that lifted his wing, but didn’t open his eyes. His consciousness was quite hazy.
“Fortunately, it hasn’t gotten worse. However, if something like today happens again, as I mentioned before, he may never be able to fly again. Please be especially careful.”
He might never be able to fly again? Are they talking about me? Even in his confused state, Formo flinched, having clearly understood just those words. Serdin glanced at Formo’s fluttering eyelashes and replied.
“That’s if he could settle down enough to listen.”
“If words don’t work, shouldn’t we at least make him wear something like a sandbag?”
When Kert tactlessly added his words without reading the atmosphere, Serdin’s eyes turned fierce.
“Shut up.”
“…Your Highness, I’ve never even heard of a long-tailed tit with a temperament as fierce as Pipi-nim’s. At this rate, my body surely won’t survive. You saw it earlier! It was definitely retaliation for all the nagging up until now. Unless he was taking revenge, why would he give me such a terrifying look and toward fragile me…”
“I said shut up.”
Serdin growled lowly, forcing Kert’s mouth shut. The attending physician Sara also shook his head at Kert, signaling that it would be better to stay quiet.
“Aide-nim, a sandbag for such a tiny long-tailed tit? Is there some reason to flatten the long-tailed tit? I had no idea you were such a heinous person, Aide-nim.”
“…Pardon? N-no. That’s a misunderstanding. I was simply worried about Pipi-nim’s well-being…”
“If you were worried about his well-being, all the more reason you shouldn’t have suggested something as absurd as a sandbag. Long-tailed tits have an average lifespan of only 4 to 5 years, so even spending their whole life doing only happy things wouldn’t be enough, and yet you suggest a sandbag? How truly cruel.”
“…The average lifespan of long-tailed tits is 4 to 5 years?”
Serdin’s pupils wavered slightly. Serdin looked down at Formo with a confused expression. This small and prickly long-tailed tit, even if he lived with all his might and did his absolute best, had a limit of 5 years? Serdin couldn’t believe it.
“Oh, you didn’t know?”
When Sara asked back with wide eyes, Serdin’s face hardened. Serdin barely held back from asking Sara how old Formo seemed to be and ran his hand through his hair. He felt like the moment he learned Formo’s age, he would feel absolutely dreadful.
Sara, reading Serdin’s complexion, added an explanation that was close to a notice.
“Long-tailed tits can only live an average of 4 to 5 years, and compared to us predators, their bodies are also excessively weak. It seems Your Highness is quite fond of Pipi-nim, but if you want to keep him by your side continuously, you’ll have no choice but to either consider beastification or feed him water from the Eternal Spring.”
“…”
“And in my opinion, Pipi-nim’s age is…”
“That’s enough.”
“But.”
“You don’t need to tell me.”
Serdin shook his head, refusing Sara’s answer. How old Formo was didn’t matter. Just as Sara said, whether he used water from the Eternal Spring or obtained precious medicinal herbs that extended lifespan to feed him, he intended to use any method available.
Of course, the best method was beastification. If this small long-tailed tit could manifest as a beastman, he could keep him by his side for a long, long time without having to continuously provide such things.
“Pii…”
Just then, Formo, who had been lying quietly while gathering his hazy consciousness, opened his eyes. Serdin’s face was captured in his transparent pupils. Formo’s beak lifted smugly as he took in Serdin’s rigid expression.
“Piit.”
It was a sound close to ridicule, but Serdin’s thoughts were different.
“Pipi, are you smiling to reassure me even in this situation?”
He seemed a little—no, very much—moved.
* * *
Meanwhile, Armo, who had set out to find Formo, followed the clues and searched here and there throughout the vast forest. Even knowing she was getting closer and closer to the predators’ territory, she didn’t stop flapping her wings. Rather, the predators’ territory was what seemed suspicious to her.
The territory where the long-tailed tits belonging to the search party had sensed killing intent and hurriedly fled in confusion. In that territory stood the villa of Tersium, the empire where feline predators lived. What if her poor younger brother Formo had been kidnapped to their villa? No, he might have collapsed unconscious in that area.
If that’s what had happened, it would make sense that not a single one of Formo’s feathers had been found.
Armo surveyed the forest with sharp eyes. Pure white and small, Formo stood out well anywhere. White-headed long-tailed tits were individuals born with the fate of a guardian, so they weren’t common even in Arancha. Because of that, wherever he went, countless gazes always followed Formo.
White-headed long-tailed tits born with the fate of guardian existed in every generation, but in every generation there was always only one. Occasionally one more white-headed long-tailed tit would be born in the same generation, and in such cases, the power of the first-born individual would disappear and only the later-born individual would become the guardian.
White-headed long-tailed tits were beings that were both noble and simultaneously lonely, carrying a heavy sense of responsibility. Armo felt deeply sorry for her younger brother who had been born with such a fate.
“Piii!”
[Formo!]
Armo flew through the sky and shouted Formo’s name with all her might. But no answer came from Formo. She anxiously rolled her eyes while receiving puzzled looks from other birds resting on branches.
If they couldn’t find Formo within a week, Arancha’s barrier would completely collapse. After worrying while thinking of the kingdom, Armo finally changed direction. The place she headed toward with determined eyes was the predators’ territory where Tersium’s villa was located.
For Armo, this was essentially attempting a gamble with her life as collateral.
