<Chapter 76>
#8. A Frightening Encounter (8)
“Blessing? Well, it’s… ferti—hmph!”
Realizing what word he was about to utter without thinking, Melty hastily covered his mouth.
“Ferti…?”
“F-fertility! I mean, everyone has something like that! Why are you suddenly asking about such things?”
Fearing he might accidentally speak more, he still kept his hand over his mouth. Calix let out a deep sigh, seeing Melty sending him a gaze full of wariness while covering his mouth. After working hard to break down his defenses all this time, he hadn’t anticipated such a sensitive reaction to a simple question about blessings.
“I can ask, can’t I? Between lovers.”
“Even between lovers, there are things you shouldn’t ask about.”
“You already know what my blessing is, don’t you?”
“Well…”
Melty trailed off at Calix’s counterquestion. Calix’s eyes sparkled as he thought he saw a way to break down Melty’s high defenses.
“You only know because Calix-ssi told me on your own. I wasn’t curious about your blessing at all~”
Calix clicked his tongue at the sight of Melty firmly standing his ground and delivering his message clearly. He thought Melty might easily tell him if coaxed gently, but it seemed his barrier was higher than expected.
“It’s not like it needs to be a secret. The blessing of hamster beast-people is usually… physical enhancement, I think.”
Melty responded to Calix’s probing statement by turning his head to the side. As Melty remained tight-lipped as if staging a silent protest, Calix launched his own investigation. The first thing his hand grasped was Melty’s soft arm.
The flesh was so soft and squishy that muscles were nowhere to be found even if you washed your eyes and looked. Nor did his bones appear thick. Only after thoroughly examining Melty’s hands did Calix recall his feeble fists.
“It doesn’t seem related to strength… Then perhaps speed?”
Even while well aware that Melty’s running was on the slower side, Calix’s hand moved toward his legs. Like someone appraising how developed the leg muscles were, he let out meaningless exclamations: “Hmm! Hmmm!” As Melty twisted his body this way and that to avoid Calix’s touch, a strategy someone had once shared with him came to mind.
“The leg muscles seem ordinary too… Then~”
“Calix-ssi.”
“What? Are you finally thinking about telling me?”
Calix looked up with a bright smile at Melty’s call, only to meet his brown eyes that had turned coldly frigid. Narrowing his eyes, Melty delivered a sharp blow to Calix without hesitation.
“Don’t pull that sleazy crap.”
“……”
Cracks appeared in Calix’s smiling face from Melty’s strike. Leaving him frozen in place, Melty quickly slipped down from under his legs. Melty picked up the cloth pouch that had been carelessly placed near Calix’s side and settled onto the sofa across from him.
“Where on earth did you learn to talk like that?”
‘Sleazy crap,’ really? No matter how he thought about it, it wasn’t a phrase Melty would use. Recalling that the strongest curse that had popped out of Melty’s mouth so far was something like ‘you meanie,’ Calix frowned. If Lila McNeil’s name came up again, he was planning to force that red fox into a premature molting.
“Kamin Patel-ssi taught me. He told me to say that when Calix-ssi does something weird.”
“…Ha. That damned old man.”
“Kamin Patel-ssi is a bit older, but not old enough to be called an old man, is he?”
Having thrown a pile of rocks into a calm river, Melty opened the cloth pouch with his usual innocent face. Melty had been curious about what was inside this pouch since Braiante had handed it to Calix. Calix glanced sideways at Melty, who was acting as if he’d moved just to look at this pouch from the beginning, and let out a long sigh.
He thought they were helpful people, but that group turned out to be completely ill-mannered. Vowing to make sure Melty never hung around with them again, Calix asked another question.
“Fine, alright. I get it. Why are you so reluctant to talk about your blessing?”
“…Last time you said I didn’t have to talk about it if I didn’t want to. Why are you prying so much now?”
“That’s because… things might get a bit dangerous in the future. We need to know what blessing you received to be able to deal with it.”
Calix’s point made sense. Originally, the schedule he had planned with Calix included examining the conditions of drought-affected regions. But if those regions were also experiencing unknown diseases, caution was indeed necessary.
‘But that doesn’t mean I can tell him my blessing is “Fertility”!’
Pulling his legs up onto the sofa and hugging them tightly, Melty looked at Calix with an expression immersed in anguish. Though he trusted the Beast God’s choice and judgment, Melty still couldn’t understand why he had bestowed the blessing of “Fertility” on him, a male. He couldn’t possibly reveal to Calix something he was too embarrassed to mention even to his family.
Calix studied Melty’s deeply troubled face intently, then brushed back his hair and asked:
“…You said you were so sick as a child that you could barely go outside? Then could your blessing possibly be related to ‘health’?”
Health-related blessings were among the common types. For Calix, who had no intention whatsoever of putting Melty in danger, it would be good if Melty possessed a health-related blessing.
“I’m not entirely sure… but I don’t think it has anything to do with health.”
After pondering the relationship between fertility and health, Melty firmly shook his head. Reading much from his disgruntled gaze, Calix let out a low sigh.
“Okay, I understand. If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s enough.”
Calix, not wanting to force something he so clearly disliked, raised both hands slightly in a gesture of surrender. Realizing his intention not to pry further about the blessing, Melty slowly lowered his legs from the sofa.
“…What are we going to do now?”
“Hmm. First, we need to receive the data that guy will send. And we also need to organize the herbs…”
Calix pressed his temple firmly as he continued his explanation. He could hear the sound of his carefully planned leisurely trip shattering to pieces. He missed the warmth of his now empty arms, which had gone cold as soon as he recovered from the shock of the word “sleazy crap.”
“By organizing herbs, do you mean these?”
The cloth pouch in Melty’s hand swayed slightly from side to side. Looking at it, Calix smirked and continued:
“Besides that, we need more data organization. That’s precisely why that guy came here in person.”
“What do you mean?”
“The fact that Padrian cultivates many types and quantities of herbs means that related research has also been done in depth. Even I don’t have all the herb types and effects memorized.”
It was clear that examining the herbs Braiante had placed in the cloth pouch would help understand the condition and timing of the herbs currently being managed here. Based on that, they would need to reorganize similar types that grow during the same period. While certain herbs definitely have optimal times for medicinal use, there could be slight variations depending on temperature or weather, so they needed to consider alternatives as well.
“I see…”
Melty, who nodded his head obediently, looked at the grasses, roots, and fruits inside the cloth pouch. From Melty’s perspective, not having memorized the types of herbs, it appeared to be nothing more than a collection of mountain miscellany.
“And not all types of herbs we cultivate are distributed. Depending on the effectiveness or condition of the herbs, some types are only consumed within Padrian. He’s probably aiming for that too.”
“Is there a special reason why some aren’t sent outside?”
“Well, those that are difficult to handle or have high potential for misuse are naturally dangerous.”
Melty nodded in understanding at Calix’s explanation. Looking at Melty calmly accepting his words, Calix sighed and continued:
“I was hoping to have some leisure time, but that’s gone now.”
“I can do it! I’m confident in classification too! If there’s a book with organized herb types, I can do even better!”
A faint smile formed at the corners of Calix’s mouth as he watched Melty energetically insisting he could handle the task. Though he didn’t dislike Melty’s spirited attitude, it wasn’t exactly welcome either. Rising to claim the seat beside Melty, Calix poked his cheek with a finger.
“There’s no point in only me having free time.”
“But you said you wanted leisure time?”
A question mark appeared on Melty’s face at his contradictory statements. Calix gently curved his eyes at the sight of Melty precariously walking a tightrope while stubbornly standing firm. Doing his best to seduce Melty, Calix put on his well-received smile and said in a languid voice:
“What would I do with free time alone while leaving my lover behind?”
Melty narrowed his eyes at Calix’s sparkling smile that tickled the inside of his chest. Hesitating at the question thrown at him, Melty crossed his arms to cover his upper body and leaned back.
“We’re still temporary, you know! What are you planning to do with that free time?”
Calix wiped away the smile he had carefully crafted as he observed the tension in Melty’s round eyes. He sighed involuntarily at Melty’s behavior, which clearly showed he had learned something strange somewhere again. He felt like grinding his teeth even in his sleep when thinking about those who taught weird things to this innocent kid. Calix rested his arm on the back of the sofa and propped his chin as he spoke:
“I didn’t realize it, but it seems you’ve learned quite a lot while I was away? Who taught you what this time?”
If he had known this would happen, he wouldn’t have left Melty among them during the exchange meeting, no matter how busy he was. He had been reassured seeing them get along well, but now Calix forced a smile as he thought of those who kept blindsiding him with their sudden influences.
After a moment of hesitation at his question, Melty lowered his arms, seeing Calix’s motionless demeanor.
“Angel-ssi. He said when Calix-ssi behaves differently than usual, that’s when it’s most dangerous, so I should do this.”
“……”
Melty obediently recited what he had learned, even while checking Calix’s reaction. Calix pressed his forehead with his hand at the unexpected appearance of this individual.
Truly, there wasn’t a single person in the world he could trust.
