After nagging at the search party for quite a while, Formo turned his head sharply to look at Serdin.
“Cheeep, cheeeep! Cheep!”
[Anyway, I have to go. You stay here!]
Formo spoke firmly and fluttered his wings as if saying goodbye.
“……Pipi.”
Serdin’s face hardened at Formo’s gesture that showed not a trace of lingering attachment, and he slowly moved his steps. The place his legs headed toward was the tree where Formo and the long-tailed tits were sitting huddled together. Armo, who had been intently watching Serdin’s movements, spoke with a resounding cry.
[Depart again!]
At that command, the long-tailed tits flew up toward the sky all at once. The long-tailed tits’ wingbeats were desperate. They struggled frantically, not wanting to give the beast even a chance to catch them. If they acted foolishly, the beast would snatch them up.
At the urgent movements, Formo’s body sitting in the basket swayed before soon finding its balance.
[Formo, you can’t fall!]
Armo, who had been watching Formo’s body teetering, said that while diligently flapping her wings. Formo kept his eyes on Serdin’s figure growing more distant and kept his beak tightly shut. The damn jaguar had his eyes wide open while only his lips were twitching.
“……Pipi?”
Serdin’s gaze, as he drew in a breath in disbelief, gradually cooled to an icy chill. He was watching Formo in a posture as if he would charge at any moment. If Formo had taken his eyes off Serdin, he probably would have charged immediately.
However, seeing that Formo didn’t take his eyes off him, he had fierce eyes for a moment before moving the foot he had stepped forward back to its place.
‘E-eek. Why is he looking at me with those eyes?’
Formo was worried that he might reveal his true nature and chase after him at any moment, but fortunately, Serdin didn’t do that. He just stood there idly, staring intently at Formo, whose tail feathers were twitching. The excessively persistent gaze continued until Formo’s figure gradually became distant and looked like a dot.
Formo’s eyes blinked slowly. In truth, he was a bit surprised that Serdin’s reaction was more docile than expected. It seemed different from what he’d seen before.
‘That damn jaguar isn’t acting docile only when I’m watching and then planning to do something sneaky behind my back, is he?’
Formo trembled at that thought. It was horrifying just to imagine.
[Formo, do you see that?]
Armo, who had been flying at the front, asked Formo. The “that” Armo pointed to with her eyes was a barrier that had started to crack. The moment Formo saw the barrier in its incomplete state, he realized why Armo had searched for him desperately, why she had tried to bring him back so urgently.
[The barrier……]
The transparent barrier was something special that only the long-tailed tits of Arancha could see, and there were cracks all over it. Even though there was still distance, Formo’s pupils trembled at how clearly he could see the precarious state that looked like it would collapse at any moment. Though he was a brave white-haired long-tailed tit born with the fate of a Guardian, he couldn’t help but feel scared at a moment like this.
Formo twitched his tiny beak and kept his words brief. Then Armo opened her beak.
[It’s collapsing, but now that you’ve come, Formo, it’ll be okay.]
[But Armo……]
I still don’t know how to use the Guardian’s power, so how can I fix the barrier?
Formo, who swallowed the words that were about to burst out, lowered his gaze.
[That’s right! Now that Formo-nim has come, everything will get better!]
[Of course! If it’s Formo-nim who even spoke meanly to that vicious jaguar, you’ll surely be able to do it!]
At the words Lecho and Peno exchanged, Formo’s eyes sharpened again, but they quickly returned to normal. This was because worry came first.
Formo was born with the fate of a Guardian, but he didn’t know how to manifest that power. He had only vaguely thought that when the time came, the ability would manifest on its own. But when such a situation was right before his eyes, things were different.
Armo, who had sensed what Formo was worried about, spoke in a deliberately light tone.
[It’s okay, Formo. Mother said she would teach you.]
[M-Mother?]
[Yeah. There must be some secret technique passed down through generations, I guess.]
[A secret technique……]
If a secret technique really existed, Formo could do it too. To protect Arancha, he could repair the barrier and furthermore strengthen it to make it even more solid. Formo’s face brightened in an instant.
[Good, Armo! Let’s hurry to Mother!]
Formo, a fine and mature long-tailed tit who knew how to enjoy his heavy responsibility, wiggled his bottom and urged Armo and the search party.
[Gasp, huff…… I, I’ll try to fly a bit faster!]
[Aaah……! E-even faster from here?]
[For…… huff, Formo-nim wants it! Fa, faster!]
Though the search party was exhausted, like the elites they were, they somehow drew out their last remaining stamina and flew through the sky at an even faster speed.
* * *
There was no way Serdin’s mood could be good after losing the adorable long-tailed tit called Formo right before his eyes. He instantly transformed from the most bored jaguar in the world to the most unhappy jaguar in the world.
The golden eyes that had gleamed excessively when looking at Formo were now dead, tinged with a murky light.
“……”
“……”
Kert scratched the back of his head while watching Serdin, who had become low-pressure. He was surprised that Serdin, whom he’d naturally expected to return with Formo, had returned empty-handed—no, in a clean state without a single drop of blood on him.
He’d thought he would even resort to hunting if he couldn’t get Formo back, so it was unexpected.
“Um, Your Highness?”
When Kert cautiously began, Serdin’s gaze, which had been sitting at the office desk looking only at the recording orb, turned toward Kert.
“Pardon me, but what about Pipi-nim……?”
“If you know it’s rude, don’t ask.”
“Ah, yep.”
Kert, who hadn’t even broken even, shut his mouth with a “hup” and lowered his gaze. It seemed he’d gotten the timing wrong. But if he didn’t open the conversation like this, that stubborn bastard jaguar’s mouth might not open until Formo returned.
If that happened…… wouldn’t he end up living with his mouth shut for life? After all, a long-tailed tit who left on his own feet wouldn’t return on his own feet.
Kert’s brow twitched as he endured the suffocating silence. Rather than quietly watch Serdin’s mouth close forever, he would choose an honorable death instead.
“Well…… I’m asking because I really don’t understand, but why didn’t you bring Pipi-nim back? With Your Highness’s abilities, it would have been entirely possible.”
At Kert’s question, Serdin’s eyebrows twitched. He moved his eyebrows as if analyzing his own actions to find an answer to his question.
Kert, who had been hoping he was pondering what to answer him, came to reality with a sigh. That bastard is probably pondering whether to strangle me to death or cut my throat to death, so what am I even expecting?
However, unexpectedly, Kert’s expectations became reality.
“……Because Pipi was too cute.”
“Pardon?”
“I couldn’t catch him because I was staring at how cute it was that Pipi kept his beak, which is smaller than a thumbnail, tightly shut while only looking at me.”
“B-but surely there were opportunities after that too?”
“I missed those opportunities too because I kept watching how cute it was when he twitched his tail.”
So in conclusion…….
“You just let your hands go and watched and then lost him? Did you even have any intention of catching him in the first place?”
“Shut up.”
Though Serdin spoke with a displeased frown, that didn’t change the conclusion. Kert, who had thought he’d very regrettably lost Formo, burst out laughing openly.
“Ha! I naturally thought you were low-pressure because you’d lost him very, extremely, tremendously regrettably. But that’s not it?”
“I told you to shut up.”
When Serdin glared fiercely with narrowed eyes, Kert’s facial muscles flinched.
“Find out where that kingdom called Arancha is.”
“But it’s a closed-off place, so even the sparrow beastman we met before said he didn’t know the exact location.”
When Kert trailed off as if asking him to please understand, Serdin crossed his arms and asked back.
“So it’s difficult?”
“N…… No? It should be possible. Probably……”
“I don’t need detailed information. I just need to know the approximate location. I’m going there myself anyway.”
Since Serdin remembered Formo’s scent vividly, if he went looking himself, he would be able to find Arancha within a week. Even if he closed his eyes and just sniffed around, Formo’s savory, fluffy, and adorable scent would resound from all directions. But he wanted to be certain.
Because the clever Formo might have deliberately rubbed his scent here and there.
“……Pardon?”
Kert looked at Serdin with even more surprised eyes than when he’d ordered him to find out Arancha’s location. Serdin, that is, that bastard, was going to personally make the trip?
“Th-that can’t happen!”
Kert shouted as if screaming. Serdin’s face contorted at the sudden noise.
“Why.”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“What’s obvious?”
“Aren’t you going to wipe out Arancha right now? Absolutely not. It’s clear you’ll be hated by Pipi-nim! Is that all? I’m certain I’ll have to stay up all week writing a report to His Majesty about that matter and being reprimanded for why I didn’t stop Your Highness! Absolutely not!”
Serdin, who glanced at Kert passionately making his case with indifferent eyes, got up from his seat and left the office. There was no answer to Kert’s active dissuasion. Even if the Emperor came and opposed it, he would forcibly carry it out no matter what.
“……Damn royals.”
Kert muttered in a voice mixed with slight tears, then hurriedly ran after Serdin.
“Y-Your Highness! It really can’t happen! It can’t!”
It was a very urgent and desperate manner.
Kert… my man… where’s YOUR vacation?