50: Flattery

The cat’s, Ran’s, wound healed in 3 days. During that time, Ran spent most of its day sleeping and concentrating on healing its wounds.

[Ran, what are you going to do now?]

[What I’ll do…?]

Ran, who finally got out of the basket, stretched out, looked at Kuuga, then blankly tilted its head. It didn’t seem to know what to do.

[It’s possible to live in the castle.]

[…you mean, being kept by humans? It’s convenient not to have to worry about food, but…]

[Do you want to be free?]

[…yes, that’s easier.]

Ran having a free-spirited life might be the most appropriate. Even when it met danger, that feeling didn’t seem to change.

For some reason, Kuuga had expected Ran to say that, so he just nodded.

[Come and play sometimes. And be my conversation partner.]

[Conversation?]

[I still can’t go out freely. I want to hear about the things outside.]

[Yup. Okay.]

By the way, they were having this conversation in the office. For a while now, Edallion had been watching the white cat, Ran, and the big beast, Kuuga, sitting down and having a conversation with a hand pressed to his mouth.

Kuuga, who had glimpsed Edallion’s state, felt complicated and curled up on the spot. When his tail moved and slapped the floor, Ran started chasing it with its eyes.

[Come to think of it, you’ve been living within the castle walls these days.]

[Yeah, that’s right.]

When he playfully swung his tail left and right, Ran’s face also swayed left and right. Its eyes had locked on the tail and wouldn’t let go.

[Do you know the old tower? It’s a tower that’s built so you can’t see it from inside the castle…]

Kuuga had given up on asking Lewis, but the tower he’d seen from the courtyard seemed to be stuck in the corner of his mind. Since Lewis showed such a reaction, he would naturally be interested. He was thinking of investigating it, but he couldn’t get close to the tower in front of Lewis, and he couldn’t even ask Gadillas if he could go or not.

Ran was free from human entrapment and was free to walk outside. There’s a possibility that it didn’t know, but he thought he should still ask.

[…ahh…I know. The tower that somehow can’t be approached.]

Finally, Ran, who couldn’t stand it, raised its front legs to catch the tail. Kuuga then made the tail escape while Ran chased after it.

[You can’t approach?]

[That’s right. When I try to get close to it, my body suddenly turned to the other side. It’s strange.]

Gadillas was looking at Edallion, who was in a complicated posture after seeing the interaction between Kuuga and Ran at the corner of his eyes. Gadillas heaved a deep sigh and resumed his duties after understanding that Ran was struggling to catch Kuuga’s tail.

Uros and Lewis were somehow directing gently smiling faces towards the two.

[...I wonder if there’s magic involved.]

Speaking of which, he remembered the green lights floating on the small path from the courtyard to that tower. He wondered if that’s some sort of magic.

But that’s like saying that there’s magic there. Whether that’s due to self-confidence or the effect of the magic itself, he couldn’t judge it so far.

However, if that’s the case, he wouldn’t be able to have Ran investigate. Kuuga ended the topic while wondering if he could find another way.

[Are you going outside the walls?]

[Yup.]

[Then tell me stories about the outside.]

[Got it.]

While answering, Ran stared at Kuuga’s tail with a glint in its eyes. Its instinct seemed to be stimulated.

[Ahh, also… I’m sure you know there’s another human who applied the medicine for you.]

[Yup. The human who’s dancing strangely over there.]

[He’s called Edallion. If something goes wrong and I wasn’t there, trust him. Because of his love for animals, he wouldn’t mistreat you.]

[Is that so?]

[Go and flatter him. He would be thrilled.]

As soon as he said so, Kuuga humanized. Even though he’s far away, Uros quickly approached with a gown when he realized that Kuuga was shining. He’s really an amazing guy.

After putting on the gown, Kuuga approached Edallion with Ran.

“Edallion, Ran wants to thank you.”

“You mean Ran-chan? Thank you so much~! …t-then, can I hold it…”

[Isn’t it just flattery? I’m good at it.]

Kuuga put Ran on the hand that was held out, and Edallion gently held it in his arms. Ran looked up at Edallion, then called out, “nyaa.” It’s as if its really thanking him.

By the way, Ran couldn’t understand Kuuga’s words after he humanized. It just followed his words of flattering the man from before.

For a while, Kuuga decided to entrust Ran to Edallion before going behind Gadillas and placing his hands on both shoulders. When he approached Gadillas’ ears, the man looked up.

“Ah, if I do this, Edallion will help Ran even when I’m not there.”

“…so it’s not a thank you… you did it on purpose…”

How brutal… Gadillas looked slightly far away. In the end, his sight landed on Edallion’s ecstatic face.

“I wonder if I should also flatter Gadi.”

“Ah~ yes, yes.”

Kuuga rubbed against his cheek while saying that teasingly. Recently, Gadillas seemed to have gotten used to patting his head even without him hinting about it. It’s great that he got used to it.

“Kuuga-sama, please don’t tempt His Majesty. He’s working right now.”

“Five minutes, we only have five minutes left.”

Since he humanized himself, he would like to enjoy being petted as a humanoid. Uros felt complicated as he shifted his gaze from Kuuga, who was rubbing against Gadillas, to Gadillas, who selfishly said that.

“…Your Majesty.”

“…do you think you can resist it?”

“…only five minutes.”