What did this wretched jaguar just say? Did I hear that correctly? Formo looked at Serdin with bewildered eyes. To a greenhorn beastman who struggles even with the task of dressing himself alone—what?
‘Wh-what will you give me?’
He couldn’t believe such words came out even after seeing his own hands trembling while trying to hold a spoon. If he had been in his animal form, no, if he could freely transform into his animal form, he would have pecked those annoying lips repeatedly. Formo turned his gaze away from Serdin, who only selected annoying words and actions.
“You won’t give it to me, Pipi?”
Why are you asking something so obvious again? Formo responded by nodding his head slightly instead of answering. Then Serdin let slip words about how he had been looking forward to it and how very disappointed he was. Formo glared at him while chewing his bread at the predictably absurd words that followed.
Even in the midst of this, the bread was delicious. When he dipped it slightly in the cream soup, it melted several times more smoothly, making the corners of his mouth, which had been trying hard to maintain a straight line, keep twitching. Formo had no choice but to let his mouth soften as he picked up the spoon again. Then he eagerly ate the soup. Of course, since he was still clumsy at using his hands, it was laughable to call it “eating” when his lips had to go out to meet the bowl halfway.
Serdin watched Formo’s awkward meal, and upon discovering him dripping soup all over his mouth, stealthily grabbed a napkin. He immediately reached out and wiped Formo’s mouth where the soup had gotten on it.
When the startled Formo opened his eyes wide, Serdin asked with a smile.
“Pipi, shall I feed you?”
“Wh-what?”
Formo stammered back a question. When did he ask to be fed, and now he’s saying he’ll feed him? The gratitude he had felt toward Serdin for wiping the soup he had messily spilled disappeared in an instant.
“I’m fine.”
Formo said with a serious expression and began eating the soup again as if nothing had happened. Serdin, who had been watching with amused eyes, witnessed Formo drop his spoon after misjudging his strength, and gently wiped Formo’s soup-covered hand.
“What do you think now, Pipi?”
“……”
He was already embarrassed from dropping the spoon right after refusing, and now that Serdin proposed again as if he’d been waiting for it, he wanted to find a mouse hole somewhere and disappear into it. Though whether the owner of the mouse hole would accept him was another problem.
After many twists and turns, Formo finished his meal with Serdin’s help and came outside with him. The rear garden, which he came to in his humanized state, looked completely different from when he was in his animal form. The trees, the grass, and even the sky. The impression was completely different from when he was a long-tailed tit.
At that time, because his body was small, everything around him looked large, and he had thought that a rear garden of this size would be good enough to build a nest and live in. However, the rear garden he faced now in his humanized form didn’t feel large enough to build a nest and live in, nor did it look particularly comfortable.
It must be because he had become somewhat accustomed to being in a humanized state.
Formo closed his eyes and twitched his nose as he sniffed. He could smell the fresh scent of nature. His chest tickled as he felt somehow moved by the smell he was taking in while in his humanized state.
“Pipi, what are you going to do today?”
“Exercise.”
“Exercise?”
Serdin, who had been planning to enjoy a leisurely walk with Formo, raised his eyebrows and asked back at the unexpected words. Then he soon remembered it was because of Arancha’s barrier and nodded his head.
“Exercise hard, Pipi. I’ll watch from here.”
Serdin sat down with his legs crossed under the gazebo in the rear garden. Since the plan for a leisurely walk had gone down the drain, he intended to watch what kind of exercise Formo would do, and whether he might fall or get hurt while exercising. Formo glanced at Serdin, who had settled in the gazebo, and began exercising creakily.
Formo’s movements were so awkward and clumsy that it was absurd to even call it exercise. Then, when his eyes met with Serdin who was watching him, he would startle and shudder his shoulders. If Serdin even showed a smile when their eyes met, he would open his eyes wide and hesitate in place.
Even when he was a small long-tailed tit, Formo’s emotional expressions had been clear, and nothing had changed after he humanized. He couldn’t hide being surprised or angry at all. Serdin followed Formo’s movements with satisfied eyes.
Formo was moving around here and there in the rear garden without setting any particular destination. It didn’t seem like an activity that could actually build stamina, which was the purpose of exercise, but Serdin decided not to say anything. If he carelessly added words and Formo sulked, that would be a disaster.
How much time had passed like that—the utterly exhausted Formo came staggering toward the gazebo. Then he collapsed and sprawled out sitting across from Serdin. He seemed tired from tormenting his body, which wouldn’t move as he wished, by struggling with it this way and that.
“Pipi, you don’t have to be in such a hurry.”
“……But.”
Formo was about to continue speaking with a sullen face when Serdin, who noticed his intention, cut him off.
“Arancha is safe. You saw it too, Pipi. How well the newly made barrier conceals Arancha.”
That was true. On the day he left Arancha to humanize, he had clearly confirmed the barrier covering Arancha over Serdin’s shoulder. Didn’t even Kert, who had been nearby, exclaim in admiration that it was truly seamless? Yet he kept feeling impatient. It was because he felt that as a guardian, he hadn’t been able to protect the barrier, and furthermore Arancha, on his own.
Formo tried to explain the reason by moving his lips, but then let out a sigh, frustrated with himself for not being able to properly use the common language except for simple words or brief phrases. Once he became a bit more accustomed to speaking the common language, he would say all the things he hadn’t been able to say.
Making such a resolution, Formo clenched his fist tightly.
“Pipi.”
Formo, who had been lost in thought, perked up his ears at Serdin’s call.
“We need to buy the necessary items soon.”
“Necessary items?”
“Yes. Items necessary for Pipi.”
Formo, who hadn’t particularly felt the need for anything while staying at the Detached Palace, just rolled his eyes silently. Was there something he needed? Apart from Serdin talking less nonsense, he neither wanted nor needed anything in particular.
“I suppose clothes would be most necessary?”
“Clothes?”
“Because the Detached Palace doesn’t have many clothes that fit Pipi.”
Finding clothes that fit Formo, who had a physique much smaller than the jaguars at the Detached Palace, was on the level of plucking stars from the sky. Even the clothes Kert had prepared in advance had to be altered by the maids.
Serdin thought he should call a tailor famous in the Empire for being quick and meticulous, and stood up from his seat.
“Do I have to go…… to the Empire?”
When Formo asked haltingly, Serdin turned his head to look at him. His large eyes were trembling faintly. He seemed to be frightened at the thought of going to Tersium, which was full of feline predators. Serdin swallowed his laughter at the sight and answered.
“We can call the tailor to the Detached Palace, Pipi. You don’t need to be so frightened.”
“I-I’m not frightened!”
Formo, who was offended by Serdin catching him off guard, shot back rapidly and stuck out his lips. It was true that he had been worried about what would happen if he was taken to the Empire where natural enemies gathered, but he wasn’t as frightened as Serdin thought. No matter how timid he was, would he tremble with fear just from imagining it?
He was an individual born with the fate of a brave guardian, so he doesn’t feel fear. Formo stood up from his seat and headed toward the Detached Palace building, leaving behind Serdin who was staring at him with strange eyes. Serdin slowly followed behind him.
Formo, who had been walking diligently with his clumsy gait, suddenly whirled around and looked at Serdin.
“Pipi, what’s wrong?”
When Serdin asked slyly, Formo hesitated for a moment, moving his lips. Then he held out his hand and said this.
“……Hold it.”
Serdin pretended not to notice that Formo’s earlobes had heated up slightly and firmly held his hand. Then he walked side by side with Formo.
“Pipi.”
Serdin called Formo in a low voice.
“Mm.”
“If you’re tired, you can climb onto my palm.”
“I-I’m fine, okay?”
Formo retorted in an absurd voice and squinted his eyes. He couldn’t understand Serdin saying such a ridiculous thing about being able to climb onto his palm when he was humanized, though it might be different if he were in his long-tailed tit state. Formo took a step forward with a sigh.
Formo, who had entered the Detached Palace and was climbing the stairs, ran into Kert, who happened to be walking from the opposite direction.
“Oh……! Your Highness, I see you here. Since we’ve met, let’s handle the overdue work…… No, is this person perhaps…… Pipi-nim?”
“……”
“My goodness, is it really Pipi-nim?”
Since successfully humanizing, he hadn’t encountered anyone except Serdin. Formo’s eyes opened wide at the unexpected situation. He unconsciously put strength into his hand that was clasped with Serdin’s. His already pale face turned even whiter.
Serdin, who glanced at the hand Formo was gripping tightly, opened his mouth.
“Kert.”
“Y-yes?”
“Go to the office.”
Saying that, Serdin disappeared with Formo. As Serdin and Formo disappeared from view in an instant, the dumbfounded Kert looked around.
“Your Highness……?”
He called out to Serdin belatedly, but there was no answer. In the end, Kert had no choice but to trudge along, trusting Serdin’s words about meeting in the office.
Serdin, who returned to the bedroom with Formo, sat him in a chair and bent his waist to meet his gaze.
“Pipi, are you okay?”
Formo nodded his head slightly. Since it was an unexpected encounter, Formo had no choice but to be flustered. Though he had seen Kert often when he was a long-tailed tit, encountering him at roughly similar eye level made him look unfamiliar in a new way.
Moreover, since he had spent time only with Serdin for several days, it felt even more awkward.
“Rest, Pipi. I’ll go to the office for a bit.”
Serdin, who straightened his back, gently stroked Formo’s head and left the room. After Serdin left, Formo, who was left alone, sat in the chair fidgeting with his fingers before lying face down on the table.
