“Pipi.”
Serdin called Formo in a quite affectionate voice. During the time this small living creature wasn’t by his side, he had spent time that was tedious, boring, and ultimately even anxious. Therefore, he had been looking forward to the passionate reaction Formo would show upon reunion, his skittish wing flutters, and his cries that seemed like scolding.
However, the unconscious Formo gave no answer whatsoever. If Formo were taking a nap as usual, he would show his irritation at Serdin’s call with grumpy sleep talk or at least acknowledge him, but there wasn’t even that.
Finding this strange, Serdin examined Formo’s condition with a hardened face. When he watched quietly, his breathing wasn’t very good and his complexion was poor. Not only that, he was narrowing his brow as if in pain and trembling finely.
“……Pipi.”
Serdin’s voice dropped sharply. Without taking his eyes off Formo, he called Sara.
“Sara.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Sara, who sensed the serious atmosphere, answered Serdin’s call quietly and came to his side. Then, perceptively, she stuck her head inside the tree that Serdin had roughly torn open and examined Formo’s condition. She looked at Formo closely with serious eyes.
“It seems like he passed out from exhaustion, and whether he overexerted himself, his wing condition is very poor. It’s difficult to fully grasp Pipi-nim’s condition just by looking with the naked eye, but in the unlikely event that the condition is serious, we may need to apply a splint so he can’t use his wing.”
“Why has Pipi, who was fine, ended up in this state? I’m sure I sent him off nicely without touching a single hair.”
Serdin muttered in a low voice and gave his attention to Armo held in his hand. This bird who had personally taken Formo would know the circumstances. However, Armo kept her beak tightly shut and turned away from Serdin.
Serdin, who let out a small hollow laugh, suddenly applied force to the hand holding Armo.
“Cheep……eep!”
Armo, who made a thin voice as if her breath would be cut off at any moment, struggled.
“Y-Your Highness!”
Kert turned pale and tried to stop Serdin.
“Pl-please calm down. Though it’s natural to be furious, first we must help Pipi-nim regain his energy. It’s not too late to deal with these long-tailed tits after that.”
Even at the thoughtful words, Serdin didn’t release the force in his hand. When Armo trembled and panted as if she would pass out at any moment, this time Sara stepped forward.
“Your Highness, to check Pipi-nim’s condition more clearly, we need to take him out of the tree. Can you take him out?”
At Sara’s question, Serdin, who nodded lightly, handed over Armo, who had been on the verge of passing out, to Kert’s hands. Kert looked down at Armo, who was panting heavily, with pitying eyes before setting her down on the ground.
The gazes of the long-tailed tits on the branches watching such a Kert were sharp. Kert felt truly wronged. He had only committed the crime of saving the long-tailed tits whose breath had almost been cut off by Serdin. No, could this even be considered a crime?
Kert, who had come to fully receive the resentment of the long-tailed tits, let out deep sighs and lowered his eyes. Ah, he seemed to know his crime. His crime was that unlike Serdin, he looked easy to deal with.
“……Pipi, does it hurt a lot?”
Meanwhile, Serdin, who had handed Armo over to Kert without lingering attachment, lifted Formo with careful hands. Kert was completely exasperated at the sight of him carefully extracting Formo with a cautious face.
Finally, the small body came out of the tree. Serdin stroked Formo’s head with completely different hands from when he had strangled Armo. When he stroked the round head, peace of mind came separately from worrying about Formo’s condition.
This small, innocent bird had returned to his hands. That fact alone was gradually improving Serdin’s mood.
While Serdin found peace of mind by placing Formo on his palm, Sara examined his condition. She slightly lifted his wing and gently pressed where the wing bones existed. Sara, who had been examining the wing in a much worse state than before for quite a while, soon let out a sigh of relief.
“Fortunately, the wing condition isn’t as serious as I thought. However, it seems damaged because he overexerted himself a bit. At this level, we don’t need to apply a splint. It would be good to watch while resting for a few days, Your Highness.”
At Sara’s words, Serdin nodded and looked down at Formo.
“Let’s go back, Pipi.”
Serdin spoke as if whispering to the unconscious Formo and turned his body. At that moment, a resounding cry was heard from behind.
“Cheep! Cheeeeep!”
[No! You can’t take my son!]
It was Moti and Potun. Moti and Potun, who had been examining the barrier’s surroundings after sensing a suspicious atmosphere before returning, widened their eyes at the scene that had unfolded while they were away and stepped forward.
Already shocked by the thought of Formo being taken away, they discovered the panting Armo and became very agitated, moving their wings with momentum as if they would rush at Serdin immediately.
“Cheeeeeep!”
[You wicked jaguar!]
At that sharp cry, Serdin narrowed his eyes. The long-tailed tits’ cries were far too noisy. When they gathered together and chattered, it gave him a headache. Serdin, who had pressed firmly on his eyelids with his free thumb and middle finger, clicked his tongue with an annoyed face.
Though they couldn’t compare to Formo, long-tailed tits who seemed a bit bold kept appearing from somewhere and bothering him. This was already the third one. The fellows who normally couldn’t even make eye contact were acting especially tiresome today. Serdin, who had become tired from the excessively loud and noisy cries of the long-tailed tits, was about to react irritably when he hesitated.
When he saw them desperately opposing him for Formo like that and the other long-tailed tits following their will, there was only one conclusion to be drawn.
“Are they the leaders?”
That they were the leaders of this kingdom called Arancha. So when they took Formo away, they had acted as if leading the other long-tailed tits and opposed him with resolute eyes. Serdin concluded that way and looked up at the pair of long-tailed tits flapping their wings in the sky.
The way they narrowed their brows fiercely while showing hostility looked just like Formo. Come to think of it, those two and the long-tailed tit he’d handed over to Kert earlier were very different from the other long-tailed tits who had no guts.
Could they possibly be related by blood to Formo?
Even when such doubt arose, he soon reached the conclusion that it couldn’t be. Well, their personalities seemed similar in being skittish and prickly, but Formo, who was mostly white with only his tail feathers, wings, and back stripe being different colors, looked far too different from them. Serdin, who had no way of knowing that this was a characteristic born only to the Guardian bestowed by the god of long-tailed tits, pondered seriously before shrugging his shoulders.
Whether they were Formo’s family or not didn’t matter to him. Why should he care? Anyway, Serdin only needed to keep Formo by his side. Serdin, who had been about to move his steps as they were, stopped immediately.
“Your Highness?”
When Kert looked at him with puzzled eyes, Serdin raised one corner of his mouth crookedly. Formo could hear and read the common language. And hadn’t the long-tailed tit who had shouted at him earlier also understood his words and nodded? She clearly understood the common language.
“Kert, you said this place is called a kingdom.”
“Ah, yes. It’s a kingdom named Arancha.”
“This place must have its own system too.”
“I suppose…… that would be the case, wouldn’t it? But why are you suddenly asking about that?”
At Kert’s question, Serdin wore a satisfied smile as he put his hand inside his bosom and took out a piece of paper he had carefully brought.
“What’s with the paper?”
Kert tilted his head with a face that didn’t understand Serdin’s intention. Serdin glanced once at the paper he’d kept in his bosom and showed it toward the long-tailed tits.
“Read it.”
On the paper were sentences in the common language and Formo’s footprint stamp. The long-tailed tits who didn’t know the common language murmured about what it meant, while the royals who could read the common language—Moti, Potun, and Armo who had belatedly regained consciousness—read the paper and gaped their beaks.
Unbelievable words were written in the common language.
“……Cheeeeep, cheep……. Cheeeeeep?”
[……Pipi and Serdin Belius, until death…… promised to live together until death?]
Moti read the common language written on the paper in an absurd voice. Then she suddenly asked with puzzled eyes.
“Cheep, cheeeep?”
[Who on earth is Pipi that he’s showing us something like that?]
Armo, who knew all too well whom ‘Pipi’ referred to, trembled her eyelashes and was dazed.
“……Cheep.”
[……It’s Formo.]
At that answer, Potun staggered while grabbing the back of his neck with his wing, and Moti muttered with a dazed face, forgetting even her dignity as queen.
“Cheep, cheeeep……. Cheeeeeep?”
[So, to summarize……. Formo and Serdin Belius promised to live together until death?]
The eyes of the long-tailed tits who heard Moti’s words widened.
“Ch-cheeeeep?”
[Fo-Formo-nim and that atrocious jaguar will spend their whole lives together?]
The long-tailed tits’ beaks also fell wide open.
