“What do you mean, what? I’ve fed you, housed you, clothed you all this time, and now you’re saying what?”
[When exactly did I ever eat, wear clothes, or sleep because of you? Stop talking nonsense!]
“You, you damned thing! Do you have any idea how much I’ve cared for you?”
[Cared for me? How? You do nothing but make me work! I knew it before, but you just keep getting worse. You really don’t have even this much of a conscience, do you? You’re not just unlucky. You’ve got no conscience either!]
“Y-You...! Get out! If you like that girl so much, then go to her!”
Duke of Jayvillan shouted at the top of his lungs, even pointing a finger.
[Really?]
“Get lost, you bastard!”
[Then I’m really going.]
“W-What?”
[Take care~.]
“Hey, hey! W-Wait...! Hey, you little— Jeti!”
At the sight of the divine beast Jeti vanishing from the spot in an instant, Duke of Jayvillan could only stare with his mouth hanging open.
“...Did it really leave?”
“That does appear to be the case.”
“It really left?”
“You did tell it to go, Your Grace.”
“So it actually goes just because I said so?”
“It looked very excited to.”
“Ugh...”
As though his blood pressure were spiking, Duke of Jayvillan grabbed the back of his neck, dropped into his seat, and groaned over and over.
*****
“Luna.”
At long last, the divine beast Luna had escaped being called puppy and was finally being called by name by Rio.
“Paw!”
[.......]
That did not mean she had stopped being treated like a dog, but still, this was something.
“Luna, paw!”
At the sight of little Rio crouched down with his right hand stretched out, a soundless sigh slipped out of Luna.
Tap.
Meeting Rio’s sparkling eyes, shining over and over with expectation, Luna finally lifted one front paw and lightly placed it in the child’s hand.
“Good job, Luna!”
At being petted on the head too, with praise for being such a good girl, another sigh slipped out of Luna.
It was not as though this had only been going on for a day or two. At this point, she had more or less given up.
Do whatever you want...
While the black wolf sat there counting the dust floating in the air to calm herself, Rio started proudly boasting with an excited face.
“Mister, big brother Arsian, did you see that just now? Our Luna is really super smart, right?”
“She is.”
“She did well.”
Watching Rio and Luna like that, Duke of Sepra and Arsian lightly went along with him and let out faint chuckles.
“So Rio has finally become a true son of House Sepra. He lacks for nothing at all.”
At the Duke of Sepra’s quiet murmur, Arsian voiced his agreement with silence.
Wasn’t treating that black divine-beast brat like a mutt exactly what suited this family?
Just who had he taken after to be that clever?
Arsian and the Duke of Sepra both wore pleased expressions at the same time.
“Our Luna, aww, so pretty.”
Rio was only doting on Luna, that was all.
“Luna, the other paw!”
Even after that, Rio’s dog training continued. It was as though he had gone somewhere and watched someone training a dog, because he was absurdly enthusiastic about it.
[This damned little brat!]
At that moment, someone appeared before them.
It was none other than the divine beast Jeti.
Having run away from the House of Jayvillan just moments earlier, Jeti had come looking for Luna so it could gather an ally.
And seeing Luna being treated like a puppy by Rio, Jeti took it as the perfect opportunity and exploded in outrage at the child.
[How dare you treat a divine beast like a dog!]
“Oh? A bird! A big bird! It’s Petro big brother’s bird!”
And in return, it was immediately treated like a bird by Rio.
[A bird? I’m not just some bird! I’m a great divine beast!]
“Birdie, come here.”
[Hey!]
Of course, not a single word of his reached Rio.
Since Jeti had run away while still in a summoned state, others could see him, but unless they were his master, the only person who could actually understand what he was saying was Camilla.
“Birdie, do you want a cookie? It’s tasty. Want one?”
[I don’t eat things like that! And how dare you keep calling me a bird!]
“There are strawberries too.”
[Those are good— Ack! You rotten little brat!]
Jeti, momentarily tempted by a single strawberry before coming to his senses, gave up on getting angry at Rio and flew over to Luna, the black wolf.
[Hey, come on!]
[......?]
[Are you really going to keep living like this, getting looked down on by some brat like that? Let’s get out of here!]
[.......]
Luna threw him a flat look that practically said, What nonsense is this idiot spouting now..., but Jeti paid it no mind.
[Follow me at once! We’re going to Camilla!]
...Camilla?
She had no idea what nonsense Jeti was up to, but the moment he brought up Camilla’s name, Luna showed interest.
[Those humans need to learn too, you know. Just how precious we are. People only realize what’s precious after it’s gone! Come on, follow me!]
With that, Jeti flapped out and disappeared through the air.
Luna stared blankly after him for a moment.
Then she turned her eyes toward the Duke of Sepra, who was tilting his head as though trying to figure out what in the world this situation even was.
“......”
[.......]
Thus the Duke of Sepra and Luna met one another’s eyes.
“...Do whatever you want.”
He had no idea what the exact situation was, but that idiot Jeti was clearly up to some nonsense again.
Whenever that creature caused trouble, it never did so alone. It always dragged Luna into it too.
Just like its master.
Did they fight again?
Having grasped the situation with reasonable accuracy, the Duke of Sepra lightly shook his head. Being that willful was exactly like Jayvillan, that brat.
At any rate, once he gave permission, Luna too vanished from the spot in an instant.
“Huh? Luna, where are you going?”
At the sight of Luna suddenly disappearing, Rio panicked and did not know what to do.
He had wanted to play together more. Where was she going?
“Mister, where did Luna go?”
“Who knows.”
“Leave her be. Dogs always go wandering all over the place anyway.”
Arsian cut himself off mid-word and corrected it at the last second, but Rio still drooped sadly.
“Luna isn’t just any dog... She’s our puppy...”
The Duke of Sepra gently stroked Rio’s head in comfort.
She won’t answer the summons for a while.
Once those creatures disappeared like that, even if you called them, they never came back properly. Even if Luna tried to answer, Jeti would probably block her with all its might.
Honestly, master and divine beast alike... tch.
Thinking of Duke of Jayvillan, who was certain to come whining over with the excuse that his divine beast had disappeared, the Duke of Sepra gave the butler a firm order.
“If Jayvillan shows up, don’t let him in.”
“Understood.”
*****
[Wow, the weather is really nice today, isn’t it? Perfect weather for running away from home.]
[.......]
[Grrr.......]
“So, let me get this straight. You really did run away from home?”
[How many times do I have to say it? I told you, I left after a fight.]
Camilla looked at the three divine beasts gathered snugly around her and pressed hard at her brow as though a headache were coming on.
[Grrr.......]
[Can’t you do something to calm that one down?]
King looked ready to spring over and bite Jeti on the spot.
“Haa...”
Stroking King on the head as he lashed out in every possible way, Camilla kept sighing.
“So Luna ran away from home too? Seriously?”
[.......]
[Of course she did. Do you have any idea how badly this one has it in that house too? How dare they treat divine beasts like us that way!]
“From the look of it, you dragged her out by force.”
[No, I didn’t!]
No, my foot.
Camilla looked at Jeti with utter disbelief as it hurriedly continued talking in Luna’s place, just as Luna was about to shake her head.
“Can divine beasts just leave their masters’ sides like that?”
Running away from home? How did that even make sense? Wasn’t it their duty to come running the moment they were summoned? Was the very idea of running away even allowed?
[I think you’re misunderstanding something. We and humans are not in a master-servant relationship.]
“We’re not?”
She had heard Jeti call Duke of Jayvillan “master” now and then.
Hadn’t the reason the divine beasts followed the heads of the ducal houses been because they served them as their masters?
[The meaning of master the two of you use is different.]
Jeti shook his head hard, as though telling her not to be ridiculous.
[They are merely the beings who serve as the medium and foundation that allow us to exist in this world. In return for that, we grant their requests and share our power with them.]
The being who served as the foundation?
So that was why they called them master?
[Without them, we would have to remain asleep forever. In exchange for letting us see the light of the world, we lend them our strength. This is absolutely not a relationship of obedience!]
Hearing something she had never known before, Camilla looked anew at King, who was nestled deep in her arms.
“Well, fine...”
A master-servant relationship.
That was not something she liked much either.
And fine, running away from home too. If they did not like something, then sure, maybe they could run away from home.
“But listen.”
Running away from home and all that, fine.
“Why is our house the place you picked?”
Why had her house become the gathering spot for runaway divine beasts?
