65: Kuuga’s Baptism

At that moment, shock ran through Kuuga’s body.

[!?]

Kuuga was surprised and tensed up, but soon understood what happened. He was hugged by Gadillas.

Gadillas buried his face on Kuuga’s fur and put a lot of strength in his arms.

“You really came back.”

Rather than wanting Kuuga to hear it, he just muttered in a small voice. Realizing Gadillas’ intention, Kuuga put his chin on Gadillas’ shoulder without resisting.

As expected, him suddenly disappearing caused considerable anxiety. Kuuga was quite surprised, but Gadillas was confused, unlike Kuuga, who immediately understood what had happened.

“Your Majesty, you can talk later, so let’s move first.”

“…you’re right.”

Prompted by Uros, Gadillas left with Kuuga. Both Uros and Edallion, who were nearby, looked at Gadillas with a gentle look on their faces, and both seemed aware of Gadillas’ feelings.

Gadillas’ state after Kuuga’s disappearance would obviously be strange. That said, please stop looking at him with such a smiley face.

When they all headed to the office, a strange man was waiting for Gadillas and the others in front of the door. This man had the same hair color as Edallion and probably in his late 30s.

“Ya, I heard that a messenger came from Jihak, so I came to see him.”

“Al, you’re back?”

“Yup. It seemed almost the same time as the messenger… because it’s that Jihak, I wonder if they did something.”

It was Edallion who responded immediately. He could feel their blood connection as they talked in a relaxed manner. They’re not brothers because he wasn’t among the candidates, but maybe a relative on his mother’s side.

The man called Al glanced at Kuuga and raised his brows.

“Is that the Divine Beast? I’m Al Gross, a diplomat. Pleased to meet you.”

[…]

That line of sight, as if he’s searching for something, was unpleasant, and Kuuga’s expression became grave. He didn’t look like a bad person, but was this his attitude toward a Divine Beast? Kuuga didn’t like the fact that the man was looking at him like that.

“Kuuga, what’s wrong?”

“…if you want to talk, let’s do it indoors. I would like to hear the story from Kuuga-sama.”

Gadillas asked when he noticed Kuuga’s state, but Uros proposed to enter the office first to talk about various things, and they all moved to the office.

Almost as soon as everyone entered the room and the door closed, Kuuga humanized. When he stood up and turned his head to the side, Uros was already offering the gown. Whether it’s the time to get dressed or how quickly he could give it, Uros’ movements had become less wasteful day by day.

When he turned his gaze to Al while wearing the gown, Al looked at him with slight surprise and relief. That searching line of sight had also disappeared.

“It seemed like you’re wondering if I was really the Divine Beast.”

When he told Al that while looking at him with cold eyes, everyone’s surprised eyes went to Al. Al scratched his head while making an apologetic expression.

“Ah-… it looks like your outlook is more Divine Beast-like… I’m sorry.”

“Al, what do you mean?”

Gadillas, who looked uncomfortable and put his hand around Kuuga’s waist for some reason, glared at Al. Did Gadillas think that this man fell in love with him?

“Actually, there are rumors that Ragra’s Divine Beast is a fake… partly because Jihak made a flashy announcement. They inferred that because they thought there’s a reason why information on Ragra’s Divine Beast was not available.”

“The guys at the castle should have seen Kuuga.”

“Ah, yeah… There are rumors that a monster was tamed and a seal was written on the forehead to deceive them.”

“It’s like a Mayuge dog.”

Everyone tilted their head on the spot to the words of Kuuga, who unconsciously retorted. Kuuga merely flicked his ears with no expression.

“…so the messenger’s attitude was like that because he believed the rumors.”

“Well, the people in Jihak are of poor quality.”

“Oh, really?”

When Kuuga leaned forward at the information he didn’t know, Uros and Edallion explained the famous story together.

Jihak was a small country with no rare specialties and no strong military power. That’s why they were careful about their relations with neighboring countries and managed to build amicable relations until a while ago.

It changed about 3 years ago. It seemed like the country of Jihak changed due to a certain incident and a sudden change of generations.

Perhaps dissatisfied with their own country, even those with important positions would open their mouths to complain or speak subservient words. Many people felt uncomfortable just hearing them talk with envy and sarcasm. Furthermore, they seemed to have been in trouble many times because they couldn’t grasp the weaknesses of the other countries.

“…wouldn’t such a country usually be attacked and destroyed by doing those things?”

“That was just about to happen. It seemed like a stupid guy did something to Darris. Darris isn’t that strong either, but I thought that Jihak wouldn’t win…”

“Recently, they’ve been using the name of the Divine Beast, and have been quite selfish. Ragra also had a Divine Beast, but there were rumors, and even I, who didn’t know the truth, had trouble dealing with it…”

“In the first place, Divine Beasts don’t have the power to bully other countries just by being there.”

“””Eh!?”””

He said it casually, but Kuuga was stared at by everyone in surprise. Kuuga immediately scratched his head awkwardly, remembering that the war ended just because there was a Divine Beast.

“…maybe that’s information I shouldn’t have said…?”

“Kuuga, the Divine Beast is said to bring prosperity to a country. Isn’t that absolute?”

“I was told by God that I didn’t have that kind of power… rather, as long as it was the king chosen by the Divine Beast, it would be okay.”

“Eh-…”

It was Edallion who screamed with a face like he didn’t want to hear that. Next to him, Uros had a similar face.

Al seemed interested in another point, and asked Kuuga while slightly panicked.

“W-wait a minute here. Somehow, I thought you said you talked to God…”

“Ahh. I just met with God today.”

“Eehh!?”

Al screamed in a deeply surprised manner at Kuuga, who easily admitted that as if he was just meeting with a friend. Al didn’t know what the others knew about Kuuga.

“Kuuga-sama, can I explain it to Al?”

After seeing Al’s state, Edallion asked if he could trust Al from Kuuga’s perspective. After looking at Al, he nodded, so Edallion happily smiled and began to explain to Al.

“And so, how much was released?”

Gadillas called out while Edallion was explaining.

“Simply put, it’s an increase in humanization time and the release of the magic control seal. Humanization has increased by one hour and it’s possible to do it twice a day.”

“Oohh! It’s increased.”

“It seems like only one type of magic can be used, but I don’t know how to control magical power yet, so that’s about it.”

“What can you use?”

“It’s recovery from abnormal conditions. It’s effective against poison, paralysis, and so on… it also seemed to work on some mental abnormalities.”

As if he did well, his head was stroked and the tail hidden under the gown swayed, shaking the gown. Al, who was watching the situation while receiving an explanation from Edallion, had an indescribable expression.

Kuuga was still very worried about the hands around his waist, but he’s happy to be stroked and praised. While feeling a little complicated, Kuuga enjoyed the feeling of being stroked.

“Ahh, and I gained another ability.”

“Ability?”

Judging that it was faster to show it, Kuuga pulled out one of his hair and blew it away with his breath. A wolf appeared on the spot with a light popping sound like it did last time.

“Eh?”

“…ha?”

“No, aaaaahhhhh, so cuuuuutttteeeee!”

And Edallion broke.

While raising a strange voice and shedding tears, he picked up the wolf at an incredible speed and rubbed his face against its fur.

Since he’s not operating the wolf, it passively received Edallion’s attack. Gadillas, who was surprised and had stiffened at the wolf that suddenly appeared, suddenly returned to his senses when he saw that.

“Hey Kuuga, is that okay…”

“I’m out of touch, so it’s like a doll right now.”

“How does it work?”

“I can move it. It’s the ability to make an alter ego. It doesn’t look scary, so it’s okay to show that to the public, right?”

“T-that’s right… if that’s the case, I think I’ll take it home this time… this is going too far…”

Although Kuuga was consciously resolving his worries, Gadillas was showing an annoyed face. Was it because it’s too cute that he couldn’t accept it? That’s fine.

There’s more to report, but he could tell it to Gadillas at night. After all, he could humanize again.

“About showing Kuuga to the public… would you reconsider it with the premise of using his alter ego? The rest is about magic control. We should call Koran again.”

“By the way, what happened to today’s operation?”

He forgot because there were various things, but today was the planned operation to crush the assassination organization to which Zau belonged.

“They haven’t reported yet. We’ll know the situation tomorrow.”

“Hmm.”

It seemed like he’s not yet used to the time intervals in this world. He’s used to riding cars to move around, and if something happened, he could talk using a mobile phone, so there’s a gap.

“Kuuga-sama, please baptize Al. He didn’t seem to believe it…”

“Wai-, Uros…!”

“…baptise…”

While he was talking to Gadillas, there was suddenly a request from Uros. Baptism might have meant exposing Al’s personality as seen by Kuuga, but he laughed unintentionally at that phrase.

“Well, that’s right, he’s the type who only believes what he sees with his own eyes.”

“!”

Al, who couldn’t believe it even after being explained about Kuuga, seemed to be panicked at being personally dismembered. He stiffened and his shoulders jerked at Kuuga’s words.

“You’re aware that your head is good, however, when you consciously want to make the best use of that ability, you spin around and become idle. I think it would work better if you don’t think too much into it.”

“…”

Al’s mouth twitched. Uros and Gadillas had quivering shoulders as if they’re laughing, and even their facial expressions were twitching.

“You’re not the type who wants power. You are very aware of your work… I mean, you love your work. However, you have the habit of trying to do everything by yourself since you’re so excellent――”

“U-uhm, that should do… I believe it…”

Al’s voice had become quite weak. Kuuga hadn’t said anything particularly terrible, but he didn’t seem to like being calmly analyzed.

Al held his forehead as if he’d been hit hard, but Kuuga knew that he didn’t really care and was just acting to make it look exaggerated. That’s simply in his character.

“F-for the time being, it’s good that I can confirm the truth behind the rumors…”

After muttering that, Al quickly left the office. He seemed to have ran away.

“By the way, are you not letting go?”

Edallion had been playing with the wolf all this time. When he connected his senses with the wolf and pushed Edallion’s nose with his forefoot, Edallion looked astonished for a moment, then suddenly lost control.

“Uwaaaaaahhh, the paws are so soffffftttt!”

“…hey, Kuuga.”

“Sorry, it was counterproductive…”

After that, it was extremely difficult to release Edallion from the wolf.

After all that, Kuuga realized that he should have just erased his alter ego.