Episode 5
“Ahhh! I can’t breathe!”
Garrulus, sluggishly wriggling free from her embrace, shook his head violently from side to side.
“Oh, right. I prepared a gift for Melis!”
“A gift?”
Garrulus extended his clenched fist. Now that Melis noticed, he had been holding his hands tightly for a while. She had assumed it was because he was clutching a leaf, but that wasn’t the case.
‘Did he even pick a flower or something?’
Melis felt Garrulus was unbearably adorable for preparing a gift for her with those tiny, delicate hands.
“What did our Garrulus prepare?”
With a smile of anticipation, Melis tilted her head and extended her hand.
“It’s a little prank.”
“Kyahhh!”
The moment Garrulus opened his hand, a small frog jumped onto Melis’s forehead. The cold touch sent shivers through her whole body, and she screamed, shaking her head wildly.
“Kyahhh! Garrulus!”
“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t know you hated frogs!”
“Ahhh! Just take it off me, please!”
“Ah, don’t move!”
“Ahhhh!”
Though the frog was no longer visible, the sounds continued. Just then, Melis’s foot caught on a stone protrusion. As her body began to tilt backward,
“Eh? What’s going on?”
Vivian appeared from somewhere and grabbed Melis by the collar. The frog, startled, leapt toward Garrulus. Only then did Melis regain her balance, staggering slightly.
“T-Thank you, senpai. It would’ve been better if not by the collar, but, ah, anyway…”
“Why? What happened?”
“Well… where did Garrulus even get that frog…”
As she turned her head absentmindedly, her eyes landed on something. The two leaves Garrulus had placed on her head earlier were lying alone on the floor.
‘Just like a little rabbit, isn’t he?’
At the same time, Garrulus’s words flashed through her mind. Perhaps, she thought, it might actually be possible to live in the Grand Duchy if it were like this. The thought shook her.
At the Severus Grand Duchy of the Aizen Empire, a heavy silence lingered for the second day. Knock. With a short rap, the door to the office opened.
“Your Grace…”
The office’s tense atmosphere was so severe that even the long-time aide felt his lips dry. The one who had made the mansion so cold, Kermanomon von Severus, scanned him with icy eyes.
“What’s the status?”
The Grand Duke’s condition was visibly poor. Having spent two days without sleep traveling the Grand Duchy, he was exhausted and on edge.
“They haven’t found him in the north either. We searched the entire Grand Duchy, but there’s no trace of the young master.”
Delivering such news to Kermanomon was uncomfortable for him.
“Any word from the Mage Tower yet?”
“No. The spell formula we sent is too complex; it will take a week to track it…”
“A week? Are you kidding me? How could that child last a week like that!”
Bang—his powerful fists shook the wooden desk slightly. Kermanomon, about to say something more, pressed a hand to his eyes and bit his lips deeply.
“Send a notice to the royal family and widen the search to the entire Empire. He couldn’t have gone that far.”
“Yes, sir.”
Once the aide left the office, he sank back into his chair with a faint sigh.
It was just yesterday. Garrulus, the only child of the mansion, had been playing hide-and-seek with the servants as usual.
Being mischievous and small, he had previously hidden in unexpected places, sometimes not appearing for an hour or two. The servants hadn’t even realized he was missing for a few hours.
But when nearly three hours passed and he still hadn’t appeared, the servants began to search the mansion thoroughly.
No matter how much they searched, Garrulus was nowhere to be found. Then, someone panicked and brought something from Kermanomon’s study. It was a magical item recently granted to him by the royal family, inscribed with teleportation magic.
The item, once red, had turned gray—meaning someone had used its magic.
“Huh…”
He had thought it wouldn’t be needed and kept it on a shelf, but it seemed Garrulus had discovered it. Despite warnings to stay out of the study due to its dangerous contents, he had touched it anyway.
Because of the nature of the magical item, they couldn’t determine the exact location he teleported to and were blindly searching nearby. Even a full day after issuing the search order, there was still no news.
“It’s my fault… if I had been more careful.”
Running a hand through his hair, he spoke self-reproachfully, paralyzed by guilt and anxiety. Although spring had just begun, it was still cold. More importantly, the Grand Duchy contained rugged mountains, and dangerous beasts sometimes appeared.
The thought that the tiny child might have encountered a beast made his vision blur. He vowed repeatedly that he would do anything to bring Garrulus back.
Melis, holding Garrulus in her arms, descended the stairs cautiously. Beneath the mansion was Vivian’s secret laboratory, unknown to others. The densely packed lab, renovated from a floor, contained all sorts of magical tools and unknown potions.
“Wow…”
Garrulus couldn’t take his eyes off the bubbling potions, fascinated by the things he had never seen before. Vivian, passing by, tapped his crown and said,
“Young master, you’re going to drool.”
“Hmph, but Vivian, I didn’t know you were a magician! I heard there were many human magicians, and it’s true!”
Wiping his sleeve with a swish, Garrulus asked excitedly. Seeing the child’s fascination with magicians, Melis nodded slightly.
Most magic manifested in humans. While some beastmen could use magic, their numbers were far fewer. Healing magic, or white magic, manifested exclusively in humans.
Melis glanced at Vivian with concern, worried about Garrulus’s excessive interest. Yet, contrary to her worry, Vivian calmly asked Garrulus,
“Really? Want to see something even more amazing?”
“Oh, what is it?”
Instead of answering, Vivian stuck out his forked tongue. Its thin form flicked teasingly, drawing Garrulus’s gaze.
“I’m not human.”
“Eh? Vivian, are you a beastman too? I’ve never seen a snake beastman!”
“I’m not a beastman either.”
Garrulus tilted his head, puzzled by the ambiguous answer.
“If you’re neither human nor beastman, what are you?”
“Exactly. What am I?”
Noticing Vivian’s voice had subtly lowered, Melis held Garrulus closer and said,
“Vivian is a hybrid. A snake hybrid.”
“A hybrid? What’s a hybrid?”
Clearly unaware of hybrids, Garrulus looked at Vivian with curious eyes.
“My mother is a snake beastman, my father is human. Those born between a beastman and a human, like me, are called hybrids.”
“Oh! Then you’re both a beastman and a human? That’s so cool!”
“Not really. Actually, it’s the opposite.”
Melis considered his mood despite his deadpan tone. Vivian meant that a hybrid was neither fully human nor fully beastman.
Melis, who had watched him for years, knew well the life he had endured. Hybrids were not welcomed by humans or beastmen.
Though the continent legally prohibited discrimination between humans and beastmen, hybrids were an exception.
“Young master, you mustn’t tell anyone I’m a hybrid. As you can see, I don’t look it outwardly.”
“Why keep it a secret?”
Could she reveal the harsh reality to a child who didn’t even know hybrids existed? Vivian frowned slightly, pondering the same question.
“The truth is, others…”
“Oh! You’re worried others might envy you, right?”
Garrulus’s innocent response drew a faint smile from Vivian.
“Hmm, I suppose so.”
“Understood. I’ll keep your secret!”
Garrulus nodded firmly and hooked his pinky toward Vivian. Smiling, Vivian hooked his pinky with the child’s and muttered,
“You’ve picked up quite an interesting young master.”
He then opened a cabinet and rummaged through it for a long time. The amount was significant, even at a glance, reflecting how long it had been collected.
“It should be around here…”
After a short while, Vivian’s movements froze slightly upon discovering something.
“Found it. Good thing I didn’t throw it away back then.”
