“I apologize,” Father said. “Since I’m from the faraway countryside, I’d never seen a panda therianthrope before and got overly excited.”
“Hmmm,” the panda grumbled. “So that’s why you pointed at me?”
It had a high voice. Perhaps it was actually female.
“I’m truly sorry.”
Then Keel oinked at the panda.
“Huh? You’re the one who pointed at me!”
“Oink! Oink oink!”
“I was just enjoying myself, drinking, and then you went ahead and interrupted, with your weird fancy clothes.”
“Oink oink oink oink oink!”
“So you’re wearing those clothes even though you hate ’em? Just take ’em off. It looks pretty wimpy to me.”
Keel was about to stand up but Father held her down. Sakura stood up at the same time and Father had to calm her down as well.
“Stop it! Everyone, calm down!”
Father turned back to the panda. “I just noticed it now. But since you were able to talk with Keel, does that mean you’re able to speak the languages of both Siltvelt and Melromarc?”
“Huh? I am a mercenary, so I can pretty much get by.”
“A mercenary, of course. So you’ve gone around to fight for different countries, right?”
“That’s what a mercenary does, ain’t it? And I’m a mercenary, so that’s the life I’ve lived.”
“Got it,” Father said, nodding. “I just have one question for you then. It seemed like you noticed me pointing at you, so you came over here . . . But can you explain why even before that, you were looking at Keel the whole time?”
Oho? Now that Father mentioned it, she had been staring at Keel for a long while. Did something about Keel annoy her? Or was she staring at Keel longingly, like Kou, who wanted to eat her tail?
“Father,” I said.
“What is it?”
I leaned over and whispered in his ear—my personal opinion of course.
“Oh, definitely,” Father said, nodding. “That’s definitely possible.”
By the way, I had this strange memory of the panda in front of us doing sketch comedy of some sort with Big Sis’s Big Sis, I say.
“Thanks. Let’s see what happens,” Father said to me and turned back to the panda, brimming with confidence.
Flustered, the panda was trying to answer Father’s question. “W-well, you see . . . I hate wimpy-looking things, that’s why!”
“Is that really your answer?” Father asked.
“What are you trying to say!” roared the panda.
Father produced the ribbon that Keel typically wore on the job and tied it into a bow. Then he handed it to the panda.
“It isn’t because it caught your eye, is it? I mean, what he’s wearing, of course.”
“It caught my eye because I hate it!”
“So why did you accept the ribbon I just gave you?”
The panda grunted and shoved the ribbon back to Father.
“You’ve got it wrong! I wasn’t looking at the damn clothes!”
“Motoyasu, can you make some cute clothes to suit our friend here?”
“I certainly can,” I responded.
Sometimes there are filolials who want to wear cute clothes even in their filolial forms, I say. If I know what size to make it, I can make any clothes at all, I say!
“He’s the one who made that outfit,” Father said to the panda. “He’ll make you some if you want. We’ll make you something, so please forgive us.”
“S-stop joking around! I’d never wear those wimpy clothes! They’d look terrible on me!”
Father was smiling brightly. Thinking back on my experiences chasing pigs, I felt like I somehow understood what was happening here. There were some pigs that cultivated a rough-and-tumble image and pretended to hate anything pretty, but deep down they loved girly stuff and actually owned lots of cutesy accessories. I could hear the panda’s real intention with the last sentence that slipped off her tongue—that they wouldn’t look good on her. Which meant the jig was up.
My suspicions had been correct, and Father had managed to rein the panda in perfectly.
“Really? I think they would look just fine on you,” Father said.
“Shut up!” shouted the panda. “Everyone would just laugh at me if I put something like that on!”
Father approached the panda and put a hand on her shoulder. It was like Father was examining her closely.
“Your fur is stiffer than it looks,” Father remarked. “You should wash it with soap or soy to soften it up. Then that outfit will practically suit you.”
“What do you think you’re saying?!”
“I just think a cuter outfit would suit you much better than rock-hard armor,” Father said.
Dumbfounded, the panda took several steps back. I couldn’t read her expression. She just looked flustered.
“I—I—I’m telling you to stop what you’re saying!”
Then a group that appeared to be the panda’s underlings started to chatter. “Are they trying to make the lady do something?”
“They’re trying to make her become a mascot or something. It’s like they’re trying to get her to sell wares in the countryside!”
“Are you trying to make me some sorta toy to show off?” the panda demanded.
“I think you’d become a lot more than just that,” Father said.
The panda turned around as if she had nothing more to say and walked back over to her underlings. Maybe she got sick of the conversation.
Then, with her back turned to Father, the panda tied the ribbon to her head.
“Whoa! What are you doing?” called out one of the panda’s gang.
“I thought it looked nice.”
“No! It looks awful!”
“Really? It seems fine to me.”
I had absolutely no idea what was going on. The ribbon looked okay, I guess.
I supposed they were just playing around. But I noticed that the panda’s underlings, rather than looking angry or surprised, had strange expressions on their faces.
“Isn’t it a little too weird?” one of the underlings whispered.
“It’s just . . . unexpected.”
“Milady’s got a nice face, so it does kinda suit her.”
The panda silenced them with a vicious glare. Her subordinates glanced away uncomfortably.
Breathing a heavy sigh, the panda turned back to Father.
“Look, I’m sorry about that. What are you all doing here anyway?”
“No worries,” Father said. “We were looking for a therianthrope that could teach Keel how to transform. Since you’re a mercenary, would you happen to know someone like that?”
“Transform? You don’t know? Where did you guys even come from?”
“Uh, we came from Melromarc.”
“That’s pretty much the center of anti-demi-human racism, ain’t it? I get it now. That’s why he uses the language of human supremacists.” The panda walked over to Keel. “Watch carefully. I’ll show you how to transform.”