04: Ritual

After that, Cary and observing Green-kun became the main focus of Kuuga’s life.

Cary seemed to have an inferiority complex against Kurone. Kurone was excellent, but he didn’t show it off and treated everyone gently. He’s also popular among the acolytes and had already been regarded as a future priest.

Cary also seemed to admire him. However, Cary leaked every so often that he always failed and was not as good as Kurone.

[No, he’s acting. He has a pretty lousy personality.]

Of course, Cary wouldn’t understand even if Kuuga said that. At such times, Kuuga had no choice but to snuggle up to comfort him.

Meanwhile, Green-kun seemed to routinely swing his sword early in the morning. Kuuga thought that he’s a knight, but his work during the day was filled with documents. Kuuga didn’t know if his training was a hobby, a necessity, or a common sense in this world.

A man whose face was filled with despair, but didn’t shut himself down due to pessimism and could talk with other people generally if necessary. Although the other people talking to him also had terrible personalities. They’re only talking to each other because it’s required, but they have cold eyes that said they didn’t believe in the other person. Those were terrible eyes.

Green’s attitude toward the person who treated him as the boss seemed to be the best, and they talked the most, but that was far from a real trust.

However, the other people didn’t criticize or curse him to his face even if their eyes said so. Green-kun seemed to be aware of their feelings, but Kuuga had the impression that he’s used to it.

Since Kuuga kept ignoring Kurone, he no longer came frequently, so Kuuga would always stare at the fountain pool, and when Cary came, he’d go out through the window.

Just as he was tired of repeating the same thing, the ten days he’d been told by Ada finally ended.

◇　◇　◇　◇

“Please pardon me.”

Early in the morning, Ada appeared after a long absence. He was strangely excited and looking forward to the ritual mentioned before.

“It seems that all the candidates are ready, so we will start the ritual as soon as they arrived. Will that be fine?”

[Even if you ask me if it’s okay… what’s the ritual in the first place?]

“I am proud to be here today.”

[You don’t feel like listening at all.]

When Ada spoke to Kuuga, he seemed to be happy as long as he got some kind of reaction.

When Kuuga gave up on seeking an explanation and laid down on the spot, Ada left, still visibly excited.

It’s about an hour after that when his surroundings became noisy. A large number of footsteps and what sounded like horses came, then he began to hear people’s voices as the footsteps gradually approached this room.

First, many knights came in, and when they saw Kuuga sitting on the altar, they trembled. Kuuga felt depressed at being seen as a massive beast that scared people.

The soldiers tried their best not to make eye contact with Kuuga and spread out to the walls of the room. Then, guided by Ada, many humans in gorgeous clothes came into the room.

Ada said that they needed 10 days to get the “candidates.” If so, were these elaborately dressed humans the “candidates”? Or rather, candidates for what?

There were 10 men and 5 women lined up in a row in front of the altar. Kuuga was surprised to find Green-kun among them.

Kuuga was surprised, and for some reason, Green-kun’s beautiful green eyes were shimmering. It shone so much that he thought it was firing a laser beam.

While Kuuga was staring at Green-kun, Ada came up and bowed to him.

“Divine Beast-sama, we can now begin the ritual.”

[…ritual…]

Was he supposed to do something? Rather than that, he’s more concerned about what’s going on with Green-kun’s eyes.

Perhaps Kuuga’s confused voice was treated as a reply since Ada turned to the 15 humans without explaining anything.

“These people are candidates. Please choose.”

[…choose?]

It seemed to be a ritual to choose someone from among them. What the hell should he choose? His caretaker? No, they would never gather such elaborately dressed people for such a thing.

It should not for a sacrifice… just thinking about it made Kuuga tremble a bit. He’d be troubled if they asked him which one he wanted to eat.

Since he didn’t know, Kuuga decided to move faithfully to his desires. Yes, of course, to check on what’s going on with Green-kun’s eyes.

Kuuga descended from the altar and approached Green-kun in a straight line. That despairing face changed to a surprised expression once the man realized where he’s heading.

It seemed like the other 14 people had noticed where Kuuga was heading, and he could hear some upset voices.

“No way.”

“Gadillas…!?”

“The bloodline of that commoner woman…!”

A lot of things came to his ears, but Kuuga was more absorbed in that strangely glittering eyes. He would like to see more closely what made it so bright.

Was Green-kun wary of a beast approaching him or just surprised? When Kuuga arrived in front of the unmoving Green-kun, what was he thinking? When Kuuga was finally able to see it closer, he brought his face closer to those eyes.

The light emitted by Green-kun jumped into Kuuga’s eyes. The light became too bright that Kuuga had to close his eyes. He wondered if Green-kun also felt something.

“The contract has been fulfilled.”

When his eyes hurt and he growled faintly, Kuuga suddenly heard Ada’s cheerful voice and looked back.

Ada approached him with noisy movements and kneeled on one knee to congratulate Green-kun. Looking at Green-kun, he had a slightly disgusted but also complicated expression. Mysteriously, those sparkling eyes returned to the original green eyes.

“Gadillas Rear Edios-sama, our king, selected by the Divine Beast-sama.”

[King!?]

After hearing some ridiculous words, Kuuga’s body shook. No way… candidates… choose… did they mean choosing the king!

So these candidates were the so-called royal family.

If that’s the case, say it! Explain it! He just chose the one he liked! Are they fine like this!

Kuuga wanted to complain, but his voice couldn’t reach them, so he could only listen.

But, Kuuga wondered if it’s good that Green-kun was elected as king. This man, whose real name was Gadillas, had on a subtle look.

Looking around, about half were regretful. The rest were people who didn’t seem interested, some even feeling relieved that they weren’t selected, and some were dog-lovers. Not everyone wanted to be king.

But even so, was it really okay to choose a king based on an unknown creature?

When he looked at the people who seemed regretful, they couldn’t seem to complain even though they looked so disappointed. This beast’s choice should be invalid! Although they wanted to say that, it’s strange that they didn’t oppose it.

Gadillas didn’t look happy as if Kuuga did something wrong. When Kuuga peeked at him, the other man was expressionless but then put a hand on his head.

“!”

It was the first time Kuuga was touched in this body.

Kuuga had touched himself, but he couldn’t be patted like an average dog. Somewhat happy, Kuuga shook his tail and rubbed himself onto Gadillas’ hand.

Gadillas was a man who didn’t smile much, but he patted Kuuga’s head several times even with that surly look on his face. Kuuga was just relieved that he wasn’t scared.