Surprise
Today we were at the castle.
The reason being, it was about the inventory of horses that Allen and Elena had been given as a birthday present. As expected, we couldn’t accept horses… so we politely replied to their refusal in a letter. But the royal family was not convinced.
The children’s eyes lit up when they were invited to come and see the horses, so I clearly told them they were only going to “play” with them.
“The stables are over there.”
“Are there.”
“Many horses?”
“There’s a lot of them~”
Al-sama was our guide.
(Grrr.)
“”N?””
“Eh!?”
Then, all of a sudden, a gryphon landed in front of us.
“”Whoa~! Were you well?””
(Grr!)
When Allen and Elena greeted the gryphon as a matter of course, the gryphon happily rubbed its head against them.
Well… I can’t tell the which one it is, but it’s one of the gryphons we have met in Creta, right?
“Takumi!”
“Whoah, Cloud-sama!?”
Moreover, the prince of Creta, Cloud-sama was here as well!
Were they perhaps… lying about the horses, and their goal was to get us to meet with Cloud-sama?
Al-sama, you are smiling in a funny way!
“How come you are in Guardia!?”
“I have a delivery for you, Takumi. I came personally to deliver it. Be grateful.”
“A delivery?”
“Yeah. It’s there. Look over there.”
(Krr.)
I looked in the direction indicated by Cloud-sama and saw a slightly smaller gryphon there.
“That child, perhaps!?”
“It’s the gryphon born from the egg the gryphons tried to give you. By the way, the one rubbing against the kids is its parent.”
As I had thought, it was a gryphon born from that egg.
The baby gryphon had grown to about two-thirds the size of its parent.
“It’s gotten big~”
Well, I didn’t see its size when it was born, but considering the size of the egg, it has grown very well.
“How do you do? I’m Takumi.”
(Krrr.)
We made eye contact and greeted each other, and the child gryphon bows his head as if to say hello too.
Then, as it gradually approach me, I held out my hand. Then, the baby gryphon came even closer and rubbed its head against my palm!
“Oh my~ how cute you are~”
“As expected of Takumi. It already likes you.”
As I patted the baby gryphon, Cloud-sama made a face of astonishment.
“Nono, this child is just a friendly one, isn’t it?”
“As if! This fella wouldn’t just let itself be caressed by a stranger!”
“That can’t be~ Even though it’s so amiable?”
Krr, krrr… the child who snuggled up to me was basically purring, so I couldn’t believe it was a hard to please kid.
“Let me tell you, it has not let me touch it even once before!”
“Is that so?—Cloud-sama says he wants to touch you as well, do you dislike it?”
“Takumi, me too! I want to touch it, too!”
“Yes, yes, that person over there is my friend, Al-sama. He wants to pet you too. What do you think?”
(Kuh~… krrr.)
The little gryphon seemed to be a clever child and seemingly understood my words properly.
It looked at me, Cloud-sama, and Al-sama in turn as if it was considering my request, and finally nodded its head in approval.
“Cloud-sama, Al-sama, you may pet it.”
“You truly aren’t normal, Takumi~”
“I think so, too.”
“Didn’t you guys want to pet it?”
“I want to! I will do so gratefully!”
“That’s right, Takumi. Don’t retract your words now.”
Cloud-sama and Al-sama were a little flustered, but when they approach the little gryphon, they did so very carefully and quietly.
“Can I?”
“I would also like to pet you.”
(Krrr.)
The two then asked firmly the little gryphon’s for permission before gently touching it.
“Ohh~ it’s surprisingly fluffy to touch~”
“Indeed!”
(Krrr, krrr~)
Cloud-sama stroked its neck and Al-sama stroked its back, and the little gryphon purred pleasantly.
“Huh? That reminds me, where are the kids?—Allen!? Elena!? Where are you~!?”
“”Oniicha~n!””
“N?”
“”Above, above!””
I was so engrossed in the little gryhpon that I hadn’t noticed that the children who were playing with the parent gryphon had disappeared. I hurriedly called out to them and heard the joyful voices of the children above my head.
“Don’t fall~ˇ”
“”Yeah~””
As expected, I stopped petting the little gryphon, thinking I was getting too carried away.
(Krr.)
“N? What is it?”
(Krrr.)
“You want more?”
(Krr!)
Then, the little gryphon rubbed its body against me, asking me to pet it more.
“Hahaha~ you really are a cutie~”
(Krr~)
“Allen, too~”
“Elena as well~”
The children, who had descended from the sky before I realized, bounced up and down, wanting to join in on the fun.
(Grrr.)
Moreover, the parent gryphon joined in, too.
“Hey! Don’t be so pushy!”
The little gryphon in front, Allen and Elena on the left and right, and the parent gryphon from behind, all pushing their bodies onto me together, causing me to lose my balance and almost fall over.
“Uwah!”
Then, the parent gryphon pulled me down, and I was forced to sit down in a daze.
Then, the parent gryphon sat behind my back, and the children jump into my bosom.
“Geez~”
“”Ehehe~””
(Krrr~)
Allen, Elena, and the little gryphon seemed to have similar expressions.
(Grr, grrrr.)
“N?”
(Grr~)
“N~?”
The parent gryphon complained about something, but as expected, I couldn’t understand the details because I don’t understand the language.
“Umm…?”
“Isn’t it asking about your affinity with its child? It wanted to have its kid become your familiar before, after all.”
(Grr!)
“Ohh, was I correct?”
(Grrr.)
As I was tilting my head in puzzlement, Cloud-sama voiced out his thoughts. And it seemed to be the correct answer.
“To me, it seems you two are pretty compatible.”
“I think so, too.”
“Is that so? I’m glad it likes me, and I don’t dislike the thought, but… are you really sure you want your child to be my familiar?”
(Grrr!)
(Krr!)
When I asked about the matter, the gryphon parent and child both nodded firmly.