“Bring a mage from the detached palace.”
Behind the detached palace was a small building that wasn’t easily noticeable. The mage was using it as a research lab and living a relatively peaceful life. However, because he lived so quietly, his presence had become extremely faint, and everyone except the servant who brought him meals had been forgetting about him.
Sara was the same. She was quite surprised that Serdin, of all people, remembered the existence of the mage she herself had been forgetting.
“The mage……”
“Just tell the mage to set up a barrier.”
Sara nodded at his words and asked as if confirming.
“So to summarize, you’re saying we need spring water to confirm aptitude and a mage for a temporary barrier?”
“Right.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Then I’ll depart immediately. As for the adjutant……”
“Forget it.”
Serdin replied like that and waved his hand dismissively. Sara smiled faintly at the familiar gesture, bowed her head slightly, and moved toward the detached palace. Serdin watched Sara’s retreating figure, then turned around and headed for the tree where Formo was.
Arriving at the tree, Serdin stood there for a while gazing at Formo sleeping peacefully inside. Despite causing trouble at every opportunity, he was sleeping soundly with a peace that was almost resentful. With warm eyes, Serdin looked at the long-tailed tit who was scatterbrained and stubborn, and unknowingly wore a loose smile on his lips.
Meanwhile, Kert had been unable to sleep properly for several days. And today was no different. Mornings in Arancha were new every day. There were so many things he wanted to research that he didn’t want to sleep, and sometimes he regretted the stamina he’d lost as the price of becoming a beastman.
Yawning as he got up, the first thing Kert did was rush to Serdin’s quarters. Serdin’s quarters were a large tent pitched next to the tree where Formo lived, and Kert came in front of it every day to call for his superior.
“Your Highness, it’s Kert.”
When Kert spoke quietly and no answer came from inside, he raised his voice.
“Your Highness! Are you still sleeping?”
This time too, no sound came from inside. He couldn’t even sense anyone’s presence. As expected, he must be sleeping soundly like a proper feline who naturally lounges around until late. That was certainly a praiseworthy jaguar-like appearance, but since Serdin tended to lounge excessively, it would be better to restrain such sleep.
“Your Highness. The sun hasn’t completely risen yet, but it will soon be time for Pipi-nim to wake up……”
“Shut up, Kert.”
“Yes. I’ll shut u…… Huh, huh? Wait, you were awake?”
The place Serdin’s voice came from was quite unexpectedly behind Kert. When a voice came from behind unexpectedly, Kert, startled, hurriedly turned around. Serdin, roughly dressed in whatever clothing, was looking down at Kert with a face full of fatigue.
“Good heavens! For Your Highness to be awake at this hour…… It’s truly like a dream. Has Your Highness finally decided to look down with your clear and bright wisdom upon this Kert’s heart that is full of dark clouds?”
“You’re loud.”
Serdin narrowed his brow, barked shortly, and moved on. Kert followed behind him.
“Come to think of it, I don’t see Sara.”
Kert looked around and tilted his head. However, no answer came from Serdin.
“Pipi, when did you wake up?”
Standing in front of Formo’s tree, Serdin looked inside and asked quietly. The long-tailed tit who had been sleeping soundly in bed until just before was rolling his dazed eyes around.
“You have to eat, Pipi.”
Serdin took out a chestnut shell and put grain inside it. At the skilled hands that filled the small chestnut shell with grain properly, Kert shook his head. He was quite displeased that his superior, who was supposedly a predator and crown prince, was more accustomed to taking care of a long-tailed tit’s meals than hunting or paperwork.
“Kert.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Our Pipi isn’t eating because of you.”
“……Pardon?”
Kert’s eyes widened at Serdin’s absurd statement. What had he done to make Formo not eat? It was pure nonsense. He looked at Formo with an absurd gaze. Formo was sitting on the bed with a half-asleep face, nodding off. He didn’t even seem to know that Kert was present there.
He just seemed not fully awake yet, so where on earth did it look like he wasn’t eating because of him? Kert felt wronged.
“Your Highness, Pipi-nim is just not fully awake yet. It’s not because of me……”
“Get lost.”
“……Yes.”
When Serdin didn’t even make eye contact and waved his hand dismissively, Kert moved his lips slightly then obediently turned around. He probably just made up an excuse to chase him away. Since it was always like this, it wasn’t particularly new or shocking. Kert shrugged his shoulders and headed toward Arancha’s royal palace, which he’d been examining yesterday.
After confirming that Kert had left far away, Serdin poked Formo’s cheek with his index finger as he sat perched on the bed, nodding off.
“……Be, beep!”
[……Wha, what!]
Formo, who had been deeply asleep, was startled by the sudden touch and looked around.
“Pipi, let’s eat.”
He easily found Serdin speaking with a shallow smile. Right. Who else but that wicked jaguar would wake him from his sweet sleep? Formo let out a deep sigh at the unfortunate situation he was in, got off the bed, and waddled toward the chestnut shell.
Then he plopped down in front of it and began eating the grain one by one. His small beak moved busily. Serdin watched the sight with a satisfied gaze, then gently closed his eyes.
The early morning breeze was blowing pleasantly.
* * *
Formo came down from the tree with Serdin and headed to the grass field. It was after he had properly taken the stamina-enhancing medicine Sara had given him. There wasn’t anything that could really be called a change, but surely it wouldn’t be ineffective. When Formo, unable to hide his anxious look, shook his tail feathers, Serdin asked.
“Pipi, were you expecting muscles to appear or something?”
“……Be, beep! Beep!”
[……Th-that’s not it! Don’t be sarcastic!]
Formo glared with his eyes and barked sharply, then let out a deep sigh. And the long-tailed tits watching Formo and Serdin from a distance made a commotion.
“Beep, beee-eee-eep……!”
“Bee-eep!”
“Beep? Beep, beep! Bee-eep?”
“Beee-eee-eep?”
[Fo, Formo-nim is on the wicked jaguar’s hand……!]
[He even got angry!]
[Where? Oh my goodness! Won’t he get eaten like that?]
[But what on earth is wrapped around his head?]
Then, if they made eye contact with Formo, they would clamp their beaks shut and pretend they hadn’t said anything. Of course, it was so unnatural that it was impossible not to notice.
Formo glared at them fiercely, then turned his head sharply.
“Pipi, how should you exercise?”
Serdin asked in a gentle voice while stroking Formo’s round head. Formo, who struggled to control his body that wanted to go limp on its own at the delicate and warm touch, deliberately answered resolutely.
“Bee-eep.”
[I should run.]
Unable to interpret what meaning was contained in the cry, Serdin shrugged with an ambiguous expression.
Soon, arriving at the grass field, Serdin set Formo down on the flat ground. Standing on the soft grass, Formo hesitated a little, then immediately scurried around.
His movements were so light that it was enough to cause the absurd worry that he might fly away in a strong wind.
“Your Highness!”
Serdin, who had been quietly watching Formo’s movements, turned his head at Kert’s voice calling for him. Next to Kert stood Sara, who had returned from the detached palace at some point. Although he desperately wanted to keep watching Formo, confirming aptitude was also an important matter.
“Pipi, I’m going to talk with Sara for a bit and come back. Be careful not to fall as you move around. Got it?”
Serdin spoke affectionately as if treating a young child left by the water’s edge, then moved his feet that were reluctant to leave.
“This is spring water for confirming aptitude.”
Sara showed him an oak bowl containing blessed spring water. Unlike his usual relaxed self, Serdin examined the spring water closely, then held out his hand.
“The cloth.”
“Here it is.”
After staring for a moment at the cloth stained with dark red blood drops and the transparent spring water, Serdin soon dropped the cloth into the spring water.
When the cloth stained with Formo’s blood fell into the transparent spring water, the spring water sparkled and emitted light for an instant. Soon the blood drops stained on the cloth were gradually erased, and only a pure white cloth remained.
“……Your Highness, the spring water has absorbed Pipi-nim’s blood.”
The spring water had perfectly absorbed Formo’s blood. The fact that the spring water absorbed the blood meant he had the aptitude of a beastman.
If Formo hadn’t had the aptitude to become a beastman, the spring water and blood would have remained separate without mixing.
“That’s fortunate.”
The corners of Serdin’s mouth twitched as he confirmed with his own eyes that Formo could become a beastman. He’d been secretly worried about what to do if Formo didn’t have the aptitude, but this was a result that washed away those worries cleanly. Serdin gazed at the sparkling spring water with a smile.
It was the first time he liked the light emitted by spring water that had absorbed blood. He hadn’t even welcomed that light when he himself became a beastman.
Meanwhile, Formo strutted around here and there on the grass field. Moving using only his legs without using his wings was quite inconvenient. At this rate, it felt like he might even forget how to fly.
Still, he suppressed his anxiety and regret with the thought that he could fly to his heart’s content after his wing fully healed. Taking a small deep breath, Formo set the rock placed at the edge of the grass field as his goal. Then, after shaking his tail feathers a couple times, he quickly ran toward the rock.
Running at a fairly fast speed, Formo’s body suddenly lost its balance and tilted.
‘……Wh, whoa!’
He’d misstepped. Formo couldn’t even let out a small cry from his beak and toppled forward with a thud. It was when Formo, who had buried his head in a sharp protruding stone with a thunk sound, lay face down without even thinking of moving.
“Pipi?”
Serdin, who had been glancing at Formo all along even while handling the important business of confirming Formo’s aptitude with his subordinates, ran over in one bound and lifted him up.
“Pipi, are you oka……”
Serdin forgot to ask Formo if he was okay and stared at him blankly.
“……Pipi.”
“Be, bee-eep…… Beep……”
Surprised, Formo couldn’t hold back the sorrow welling up and poured it out in cries. Forgetting that he was a full-grown adult long-tailed tit, he burst into tears. Tears slightly larger than millet grains rolled down his soft cheeks, dripping steadily. He cried so pitifully that even Kert, who had run over following Serdin, felt a corner of his heart ache sourly.
