“Luke! Luke!”
“I was sleeping quite soundly, I will have you know. Why have you disrupted me?” The wolf gave him a sour look, even as his tail happily wagged because he was the first of the monsters that Taichi called upon returning home. Taichi couldn’t suppress the grin that rose to his face, even though he knew better than to say anything and risk angering Luke. “I’ve decided I want to visit the neighboring nation.”
“Neighboring nation? Do you mean Arzelun Kingdom?”
“You know it?” Taichi lowered himself onto his knees and sat on the floor. Luke planted his butt beside Taichi. Cerberus scrambled onto Taichi’s lap, apparently wanting to join this conversation. The Berry Bunnies seemed to sense that this was an important matter, as they crowded around Taichi. Am I in heaven right now or what?
“Why do you want to go there?” Chrollo asked, peering curiously up at him.
Pleased to have been asked, Taichi smiled and announced, “I’d like to tame one of the Forest Cats that live in the forest of Arzelun Kingdom.”
“So that means we’ll have more friends?” Nord asked, face lighting up.
Good. They don’t seem opposed to it. Relieved, he continued, “I was told it would take me a month just to get there if I go by stagecoach.”
“A month? Hmph. Those horses who serve the humans are laughably slow! A proud Fenrir such as myself could reach Arzelun in no time at all!” Luke said, head held high.
“Yeah, you’re amazing, all right,” Taichi agreed. The comments about the horses were unnecessarily rude, but he couldn’t dispute the facts.
“Good, glad you agree!” Luke was pleased to have his ego stroked. “If you absolutely insist, I suppose I would be willing to let you ride me!”
Taichi had planned to use Luke’s pride against him to persuade him into carrying him the whole way, but Luke offered without any prompting. His feigned reluctance wasn’t the most convincing when his tail was spinning like crazy behind him. It was cute, though.
When Luke realized Taichi was grinning and staring at him, he folded his ears back. “What’s with that reaction?”
“Huh?! Nothing! I’m just really happy you volunteered to take me?”
Gullible to a fault, Luke responded bashfully, “Oh...r-really? Well... Hee hee.” His face pulled into what Taichi imagined was supposed to be a smile, indicating how pleased he was.
Disappointed that he hadn’t been called to help, Chrollo piped in, “I wanna go too! You can ride on my back!”
“Hey!” Luke snapped. “This is between me and Taichi.”
“Aww!” All three heads puffed up their cheeks in dismay.
“You lost to me. It’s only right you should obey me,” Luke declared.
“Grrr!”
“You may have a point, but it’s not nice!”
“We don’t wanna stay here alone!”
Survival of the fittest again. Luke had won, which meant he sat at the top of the monster hierarchy at the café— that was his claim, at least. Taichi had stepped in and tamed Cerberus before they could fully decide the victor.
Taichi debated the matter in his head as he studied the Cerberus. As much as I want to take him with me, it’d mean leaving the Berry Bunnies all on their own. He couldn’t imagine that would be a good idea. With Pino, Chrollo, and Nord here, they can act as leaders and keep an eye on the bunnies. He’d prefer for them to stay here for that reason. It would be too much to bring everyone along, especially with an adorable Forest Cat joining them for the trip back home.
“Pino, Chrollo, Nord, I would like you to stay here and keep an eye on the Berry Bunnies. This place’ll be under your care while Luke and I are away.”
“Oh?!”
“Do you mean we’re the only ones...”
“That you can turn to for this?”
Their eyes were all sparkling. They were so excited to be of service to Taichi in some way. Their tail was spinning so fast Taichi half worried it might take off on its own. He reflexively reached down to grab it.
“Hee hee! Fluffy, isn’t it?” Pino snickered.
“It is!” Taichi nodded vigorously. The tail kept wagging as if encouraging him to touch it more, and he couldn’t get enough of its soft plush. Holy crap. I love this! If he died now, he’d be happy to be buried in this fluff.
Luke’s tail slapped Taichi across the face, interrupting that impulse. “Enough of this sickeningly sweet affection! You lack discipline!”
“Uh, right.” Taichi snapped his mouth shut and sat up straighter, legs still tightly curled beneath him.
“As for you three,” Luke said, eyeing the Cerberus, “there’s no need to act so silly about Taichi asking you to watch the place! It’s a very simple order. What dignity do you have if you cannot do it without losing your composure?”
“Eep! We’ll do it!”
“Yeah, you can count on us!”
“We won’t let you down!”
Luke’s pep talk had the Cerberus stiffening their shared spine. The whole routine reminded Taichi of a drill sergeant barking at his troops, but this was a ridiculously cute version, since they were all fluffy monsters.
“Hmph. If you are aware of your duties and the attitude in which you approach them, that will do. Remember, you must protect this place in our absence!”
“Roger that!” the Cerberus’s heads shouted collectively.
Luke had settled the matter without giving room for Taichi’s input. Not that Taichi entirely minded, but the Cerberus wouldn’t be able to prepare food for themselves and the bunnies. Taichi would be gone for a while, so merely leaving a couple days’ worth of food and water out wouldn’t suffice.
I wonder if I could hire someone to work part-time and fill in temporarily. He started considering what hiring such a person would require. Would he pay them by the hour? Or by the day? Considering how long he would be gone, he would need this part-timer to fill in for entire days, so it stood to reason he should pay by the day. Plus, this was the only café of its kind in the world, so he may need to pay more handsomely.
“Should I post about the position in the café? Or should I consult the guild?” He tilted his head back and forth as he weighed the options. Problem is, I’m not too familiar with how things work in this world. Thus, he decided to visit the Commerce Guild.