<Chapter 55>
#6. Waves of Change (2)
“It felt good putting that arrogant bastard in his place.”
Kamin Patel, a tiger beast-person, let out a hearty laugh. It had been quite entertaining to see Calix, who usually stood up to him readily, stay quiet with his mouth shut tight. Someone who was neither the official head of the family nor the heir but merely a ‘substitute,’ yet tried to match the heads of other families, looked quite ridiculous.
“Take it easy.”
Durasen Botenta, standing beside him, gently patted his back to dissuade him.
“What did I even do? If I were just 10 years younger, I would have smashed that bastard’s legs to pieces!”
Kamin Patel raised his voice, vigorously waving his fists in the air. Seeing him like this, Durasen shook his head with a sigh.
“Maybe you should have sent your successor instead of coming yourself.”
The exchange meetings always naturally led to generational shifts. Padrian was led by Calix, the current family head’s son, and Sarvie appeared with their successor, Johaim. Besides them, several other families, including McNeil, were present with their successors. In contrast, Kamin Patel, despite having already determined his successor, attended this exchange meeting without bringing anyone.
“Absolutely not until he gets married. Does he know how precious my daughter is!”
“…I suppose.”
Durasen obediently agreed with him, nodding his head. It was already well-known that Calix was popular among many beast-people regardless of gender. Moreover, everyone knew that the Sarvie daughter had fallen for him when he was practically a child and had even attempted to kidnap him.
“With that kind of personality, it would probably take hundreds of years before my successor would come here…!”
“Ow.”
Just as he was about to badmouth Calix again with his resounding voice, Kamin Patel stopped in his tracks, feeling something collide with his stomach. Looking down, he discovered a small creature that had fallen after bumping into him.
“Oh my.”
The adorable ears on top of the brown hair twitched and moved. The root of the problem was that he hadn’t noticed the small figure searching for something in front while he was engrossed in conversation with the person next to him. Looking at the fallen one who was struggling to get up with a restless gaze, he said:
“You should have watched where you were going!”
“Hic!”
Startled by the booming voice befitting a tiger beast-person, Melty shrank his body. Noticing the round eyes enlarged and looking up at him, confusion appeared on Kamin Patel’s face.
“Lord Melty. Are you alright?”
Pel, who had been standing back at Melty’s request to follow from a distance, hurriedly approached. After helping Melty up, who was still hiccupping, Pel positioned him behind himself.
“Lord Kamin Patel.”
Opening his mouth in a calm tone, Pel began to speak to send him away with a respectful apology. The collision between Melty, who had been running around with his eyes fixed on the ground searching for something, and Kamin Patel, who hadn’t been watching ahead while conversing with the person next to him, was literally a minor contact incident.
Obediently sticking close behind Pel, who was speaking with a dignified appearance, Melty regretted not heeding the warning that one should watch where they’re going. The person before him was huge, too huge. He had heard Pel’s urgent call before the collision, but he had assumed it was just another repeated warning to be careful.
“Hic!”
Trying to suppress the hiccups that wouldn’t stop, Melty shrank his body even more.
Meanwhile, Kamin Patel, possessing a towering height and build, couldn’t hear a word of what Pel was prattling on about in front of him. His gaze was fixed solely on the smaller figure standing behind the already small one.
Seeing him continue to hiccup with a frightened face made him worry that something might go seriously wrong. From birth, he, as a tiger beast-person, had been larger than other beast-people. His children and grandchildren, who had inherited his blood, were all on the larger side as well. That’s why he had never seen such a small-sized beast-person before, one who was small in height and width.
“Hey, you’re hiccupping a lot!”
“Hic!”
At the resounding voice, Melty shrank again. Durasen, who knew well that Kamin Patel’s outward gruffness was contrary to his inner feelings, clicked his tongue and quietly gave advice.
“If you’d just lower the volume of your voice, that child wouldn’t be so afraid.”
“Ah, what’s so loud about my voice!”
Kamin Patel glared at his long-time friend with an indignant expression. With his face clearly saying ‘I didn’t do anything wrong,’ Durasen chuckled and shook his head. After bellowing out himself, Kamin Patel glanced sideways at Melty.
“Hey, you… ahem. Little one.”
Surprised by the unexpected address, Melty looked up at him while hiccupping. He who had been shouting loudly just moments before had now lowered his voice volume considerably. In this sudden situation, Pel looked back and forth between the two, heightening his vigilance. Noticing that he was being cautious, Kamin Patel frowned and clicked his tongue.
“I don’t intend to harm you, so, you lanky fellow, step aside.”
“…Are you referring to me?”
“Ah, who else would be the lanky one if not you?”
At his temperament, Pel felt somewhat indignant. Although he was a snake beast-person, being referred to as “lanky fellow” was a bit insulting to his pride. However, he had no intention of picking a quarrel with him, who was not only a guest at the exchange meeting but also a beast-person of a family, merely due to his own pride. Pel turned his head back to look at Melty and asked for his opinion.
“Look, what if something goes wrong with all this hiccupping! Little one, just come out here!”
Perhaps frustrated by the stagnant atmosphere, he raised his voice again. However, despite the shouting, the content of his words was not frightening at all. After hesitating a bit, Melty nodded to Pel and cautiously stepped forward.
“You’re really small.”
“…I’m not, hic, small. You’re just, hic, big, mister.”
Despite being significantly smaller than the average for hamster beast-people, Melty insisted that he wasn’t small. Watching Melty claim that he wasn’t small while standing on his tiptoes, Kamin Patel raised both hands.
“Whether you’re small or big, just stay still. I’ll make your hiccups stop in one breath.”
“Wh-what are you going to do?”
“Lord Kamin Patel.”
Pel, whose vigilance had heightened as much as Melty’s fear, cautioned him. Even Naru, positioned on Melty’s wrist, threatened him with a “shhhh” sound. Letting out a deflated sound, bewildered by the threats from two tiny ones and one lanky one, Kamin Patel raised his voice again.
“Look, I said I won’t harm you!”
“Then please step back two steps.”
“Geez. So fussy.”
Frowning deeply, Kamin Patel obediently stepped back as Pel requested. With a face full of ‘Satisfied?’, Pel quietly nodded. That distance didn’t seem to pose a particular threat to Melty. Clicking his tongue, Kamin Patel raised his hands again.
As his hands came down in a curved motion, Melty’s eyes instinctively shut tight. Then, with a loud “clap” sound, a cool breeze struck Melty’s face.
“How about that? Stopped, right?”
With all of his bangs pushed back and a blank expression, Melty looked up at him. A mere handclap couldn’t possibly produce wind strong enough to be unbearable for a person. Still, perhaps due to his tall stature and build, the intensity of the wind was stronger than that of other people.
“I-it stopped.”
“Hahaha! I knew it would. When my kids were little, I used to stop their crying with the wind from these hands too!”
Melty managed an awkward smile at his voice, which confidently exclaimed while waving his fists in the air. He was certain that the reason his hiccups stopped, and the children’s crying ceased, was due to ‘fear’ rather than the wind from his hands, but he didn’t voice this thought.
Bending down to carefully examine Melty’s face, Kamin Patel belatedly recognized him. Though no one could easily approach him, he had caught many people’s attention upon his entrance into the banquet hall, leaving a clear memory in Kamin Patel’s mind as well.
“Now that I look at you, you’re that small guy who was sticking with that ill-tempered fellow!”
“Ill-tempered fellow…?”
Somehow easily recalling who that might be, Melty pretended not to know and blinked his eyes.
“Ah, why! You know!”
Frowning and waving his hands as he tried to explain who he meant, Kamin Patel thought of an even faster and more precise method. He pointed at Calix, who was running towards them with a hostile expression from a slight distance away.
“Yes! That guy over there.”
“Eh? Huh?”
“What are you doing right now?”
Quickly hiding Melty behind his back, Calix exhaled a rough breath. Pel, who was briefly caught in his sharp gaze, bowed his head deeply to show his loyalty. Calix stared at the much taller man and tensed his eyes.
“Look at this! Huh! Anyone would think I’d actually done something!”
“And didn’t you?”
Calix, clearly showing his displeasure, turned his head at the touch of a hand pulling on his clothes. Melty, keeping a watchful eye on him with his round brown eyes wide open, was moving his lips to ask ‘What’s wrong?’ Frowning once more, Calix examined Melty’s body from head to toe, a step late. After confirming that there were no particular injuries, he took a deep breath and looked at Kamin Patel, who was standing with a disgruntled expression.
“Huh! Look at this!”
“That’s enough.”
Durasen, who had been quietly observing the situation, patted Kamin Patel’s back, signaling his intention to intervene. Stepping forward with Kamin Patel behind him, he continued with a deflated smile at Calix’s ominous gaze.
“You should stop looking like that too. Apart from a brief collision, nothing else happened.”
“Is that so? I clearly saw a hand being raised.”
“Ah! That!”
“He helped stop my hiccups.”
Melty quickly spoke up, realizing why Calix had rushed over like this. At Melty’s words, Calix’s eye corners twitched upward again.
“Hiccups?”
Meeting Calix’s incredulous gaze at the unexpected development, Melty nodded vigorously. He added an explanation that thanks to Kamin Patel, his hiccups had barely stopped. At Melty’s explanation, a puffed-up Kamin Patel placed both hands on his hips and let out a sound like ‘ahem,’ but Calix’s expression was still far from relaxed. With a face contorted as if he had eaten a bitter persimmon, he said incredulously:
“Who stops hiccups like that?”
Melty, who glanced sideways at Calix speaking maliciously, subtly pinched his skin. Noticing the hint to tone it down, Calix sighed and swept back his hair. His heart had sunk, thinking that harm was being done because of the nervy confrontation they’d had in the meeting room.
“Ahem. Now that you know you’ve made a mistake, shouldn’t you apologize?”
“Anyone would think I’d really made a big mistake. In the first place, what did I even do to make the child so startled that he’d hiccup?”
“Wh-what?!”
Kamin Patel frowned at Calix’s sharp question. Neither of them was willing to back down or yield. Watching the situation between the two from behind Calix, Melty’s face gradually showed discontent.
It was true that he had been quite startled after bumping into Kamin Patel. He wasn’t the kind of person with a strong heart who wouldn’t be surprised by a huge person bellowing loudly. But despite his rough expressions, the man was actually a good person judging by his actions and the content of his words.
Even though it was a misunderstanding, Melty knew well that Calix’s actions were for his sake. So the problem was that the two of them were engaged in a battle of nerves in a situation where neither was actually a bad person.
“Excuse me. Mister.”
At the small, fluffy voice like soft fur, the sharp aura that had settled on Kamin Patel’s face subsided. The title ‘Mister,’ which he had never heard from anyone, was unusual, but he didn’t feel like scolding him for it. The brown eyes filled with curiosity captured his face.
“Do you like tea, by any chance?”
