“I don’t know yet.”
“…Pardon?”
“I need to get my father’s permission first.”
The Young Lady’s father.
= Duke Calypse Krost.
“……”
Guide’s already-pale face went completely ashen as the gears in his head began turning much faster.
Oh dear. He’s going to cry again.
“Heh—heheh. S—shall we go in for the interview then?”
I pretended not to notice Guide already trembling on the verge of tears and snatched up his hand without hesitation.
Better to get this over with quickly, before the waterworks started again.
And so, a short while later.
“What is it this time.”
Calypse had been deep in his work as usual, and the scene that suddenly unfolded before him made him narrow his eyes.
“Father. This golden seedling has brought a future luminary of tremendous promise.”
You’re planning to cause trouble again.
That child always used strange, theatrical phrasing whenever she was about to do something.
Swish, swish—
On top of that, she was rubbing her hands together like a fly, and her expression was anything but innocent.
Calypse regarded his giggling, sly-faced daughter for a long moment before speaking.
“One moment.”
“Yes?”
“Take a breath.”
He needed to mentally prepare himself. He exhaled slowly and gave a careful nod.
He found himself suddenly longing for Lucas, who was surely still dutifully attending his heir lessons at this very moment.
“…All right. Bring in this luminary of yours.”
“Yes sir!”
The door swung wide open. Behind Aisha, the boy who appeared shuffled forward nervously and stood before Calypse.
“H—h—h—hello. Your Grace.”
He was roughly the same height as Aisha.
Matted brown hair. A face drained of all color. Eyes that wobbled as though they might spill over at any moment.
For a luminary of tremendous promise, he looks rather…
Calypse was doing his best to conceal his bewilderment—he had been about to respond to the boy’s greeting—
…Bibi?
—when his body went still.
The boy was not the only one who had entered the study. There was a Creature too. Specifically, a Perry—one widely known among the knights as a vicious and troublesome beast.
A Perry that, by all rights, should have been cut down on sight—was currently draped over the boy’s shoulder like a piece of laundry, gazing at him with round, guileless eyes.
Whatever this is, she really has brought something extraordinary with her.
Calypse let out a short, helpless laugh and fixed his gaze on the Creature as he turned to Aisha.
“Explain.”
Had he not already developed a certain tolerance for Aisha’s antics, he would have cut that Creature in two by now.
Be patient.
As a responsible father, he resolved to give his daughter’s eccentricities a little more benefit of the doubt.
“Yes sir!”
Aisha, who had been watching with a hint of tension, perked up the moment he asked. She gave a vigorous nod.
“Guide. Could you show the Duke what you showed me earlier?”
“Y—yes.”
The boy called Guide nodded at her request.
Then he glanced up nervously at Calypse—
“Hi—hiiik!”
—and startled so badly he burst into tears on the spot.
“Young Lady, I—”
“Guide. Fighting!”
Regardless, Aisha pumped her fist in encouragement.
Drawing on that small act of support, the boy sniffled mightily and set Bibi down on the floor.
“……”
Up to this point, Calypse had been holding his tongue, feeling somewhat responsible for having reduced the boy to tears. He said nothing.
Still, even if Guide had frightened himself half to death, he had to actually demonstrate why he had brought the Creature here in the first place.
If he failed to show anything at all, Calypse would have the servants called, press some chocolate or bread into the child’s hands, send him on his way, and then sit Aisha down for a very firm talk about bringing in strangers off the street.
But.
“S—sniff. Bi—Bibi… s—sit.”
Even as he wept, the boy pushed through to the end of the command.
Plop—
The Creature sat.
“G—good girl… Bi—Bibi… hic… Bibi. N—now j—jump…”
And when the boy raised his clenched fist into the air, the Perry jumped.
This was a Creature? Not a dog?
In all of Calypse’s years facing Creatures as the guardian of the Northern lands, he had never once seen a Creature obey a human command. He had heard rumors of a black-market circus where Creatures were put on display—but even there, they were not trained. They were simply restrained, stripped of the ability to move freely.
Creatures were not beings one could communicate with.
Kyle was a different matter, of course—and even Kyle was not entirely human.
“……”
Which was exactly why the boy standing before him was extraordinary.
What on earth did you bring me, Aisha.
“Th—this is all I—I c—can do… I’m s—sorry…!”
The boy interpreted Calypse’s silence as a poor reaction and looked ready to fall apart completely.
‘All he can do?’
No—this was ‘look at everything he can do.’
“…You. Your name is Guide?”
“Y—yes.”
“You can communicate with Bibi the Perry?”
“N—no, not communicate exactly… I just trained her to do it. I can show you more, but Bibi can’t do consecutive commands without treats right now. If I had treats, though, she could do other things too!”
In other words—it was possible.
“All right, Guide. That’s enough for now. Go ahead and rest. The Creature’s name is—”
“Bi—Bibi.”
“Right. Wait with Bi-bi-bi—”
“It’s Bi-bi!”
Calypse sighed.
“Yes. Go wait with Bibi. I’ll call for you when the time comes.”
“Y—yes sir!”
Guide gave a nod, then sent a look toward Aisha that practically screamed: did I do well?
The moment Aisha nodded and gave him a little pat on the back, the anxiety melted off his face and he looked positively glowing.
A servant came in shortly after and escorted the boy out. Aisha stood waving at his retreating figure until he disappeared.
Calypse watched his daughter with something almost like wonder.
Whatever it was she did—she had a truly remarkable gift for making oddities into allies.
“Quite the discovery, isn’t it? Hm? Hm?”
He pulled Aisha into his arms before she could launch into her inevitable chatter.
Her mouth, which had been gathering itself like a baby bird about to chirp, curved into a triangle of surprise.
Calypse narrowed his eyes and asked.
“What exactly are you?”
“…Pardon?”
The sudden question made the child’s red eyes go wide. Calypse studied the daughter in his arms.
“……”
An adopted daughter who turned out to be his own flesh and blood—potentially sent as a spy to use him. A boy she had brought in who turned out to be something like the king of Creatures. And now, a child with a completely unheard-of ability to train those very Creatures.
What were the odds of encountering something like this in a single lifetime?
But what struck him most deeply was this: they were all, without exception, inclined to view Creatures with something other than hostility.
Toward him—the head of House Krost, the very family whose entire existence was built around protecting the North by exterminating Creatures.
“…Ha.”
Calypse found himself realizing something, quietly and all at once.
He didn’t know what she was—but this child tilting her head at him with that quizzical look could never become an ordinary person.
Dragging in one extraordinary person after another like this… whatever she ended up becoming, it would be something enormous.
She was never ordinary to begin with. Which meant a child like this—
“You did well, Aisha.”
—deserved to be praised.
His expression remained as impassive as ever, but he did his best as he reached out and ruffled the top of her head.
“I don’t know yet whether Guide will be a boon or a bane to this household—but it’s better for us to keep watch over someone like him than to let him fall into the wrong hands. Well done.”
“…Father.”
Her eyes lit up.
Those crimson eyes—so identical to his own—looking that genuinely happy.
The corner of his mouth lifted, almost entirely against his will.
“Stay within a safe line when you do things like this in the future. Understood?”
“…Mm… yes!”
A somewhat unreassuring answer—but he set Aisha down all the same.
She went pattering toward the door, then turned and waved with full vigor.
“See you at dinner!”
Precious creature.
He nodded through their farewell and watched her go. Some time passed after that.
Bam—
The firmly closed door burst open, and the quiet air of the study shifted entirely.
It was Knox. His monocle flashing white, he strode in with labored breath and called out to Calypse.
“Your Grace.”
“What.”
“Why wasn’t I summoned?!”
He rounded on Calypse with open indignation.
“A child who commands Creatures?! For a spectacle like that, naturally you should have called me—Knox, the Chairman of MASAMO!”
“Ah. That.”
He had actually been about to call for him. Just not to witness the spectacle.
“I’m holding a meeting about it in one week. We’ll discuss it then—prepare accordingly.”
“Then—then will you bring the boy to that meeting as well?”
