In an instant, the panda turned into a pig. Father widened his eyes in surprise. Had he been expecting something different?
“You are cute after all! Those clothes would definitely look great on you!” he exclaimed.
The ex-panda-now-pig oinked and slapped Father in the face but only hurt her own hand. Of course, it was pointless to try and hit the Shield Hero.
Unfortunately, the moment the panda transformed, I lost all ability to understand what she was saying.
“No one would laugh at you! I’m being serious!”
“Oink oink!”
The pig slapped Father again, to little effect, and transformed back into a panda.
“You need to think carefully about what you say!” the panda said. “I’m never going to wear clothes like that!”
The panda grabbed Father’s shoulder and attempted to lift him up, but now that Father had powered up, he didn’t move an inch. Keel oinked and squealed in protest.
“Shut up! This guy won’t stop screwing around!”
“Milady’s right! Get ’em!” cried one of her underlings.
“You all better scram! Or else I’ll have no choice but to punish all of you!”
“No chance,” said Sakura, quickly coming closer to protect Father.
“It’s okay, Sakura,” said Father. “You too, Motoyasu, just watch and listen.”
“Oh, you’re asking for it now, ain’t you?”
The panda now tried to tackle Father with what appeared to be a bear hug, but even that didn’t move him an inch.
“What the hell?! This guy’s hard as a rock!”
“Satisfied yet? Is it my turn now?” Father asked. He pulled out a cloth and wrapped it around the panda’s neck like a little scarf. And then he wrapped another one around the panda’s head.
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
The panda took a step back and yanked off the scarf.
“How many times do I need to tell you to stop messing with me?”
“I’m not messing with you,” Father insisted. “Men’s clothes just don’t look great on you.”
“That’s not the point, damn it!”
“Am I wrong? I just think you’re cute . . . In a sort of imposing way, of course, but cute. You could really do well switching back and forth between your demi-human and therianthrope form.”
Father had an honest smile on his face. The panda looked taken aback and sighed.
“I’ve had enough. Just stop trying to make me wear those wimpy clothes.” Meanwhile, the panda slipped the cloth that Father had wrapped around her neck into her pocket.
Father had won a battle with words alone, I say! Impressive as ever.
The panda then transformed into her pig form and started teaching Keel. She put her hand on Keel’s head and chanted some sort of spell. After finishing, as if Keel had known deep down all along how to do it, she transformed into a puppy.
“I did it! I finally did it!” she cried.
“That’s amazing, Keel!” Father exclaimed.
“How do I look? Do I look cool?”
“More cute than cool, to be honest.”
“Still? No way. I want to be cool like her!” Keel glanced at the panda, who was watching Keel with a peculiar expression on her face.
In my personal opinion, I agree with Father that Keel was on the cute side of the cute-cool spectrum.
Of course, the cutest of them all was none other than my beloved Filo-tan, I say!
“Hey, hey,” Keel asked the panda. “How do I become cool like you? Teach me how!”
“Well, to become like me, first you gotta ditch that frilly skirt . . .” The panda glanced at Keel’s maid outfit she had torn off after becoming a dog. “Wear tough armor, and fight a lot! That’s what it takes.”
“Got it! I’m gonna do my best!”
“Motoyasu, do you understand Keel now?” Father asked me.
“I completely understand now, I say. She finally stopped being a pig.”
“From pig to dog, huh? You really are a weird one, Motoyasu.”
“Yes! Finally, I’m a guy!” Keel said. Father frowned.
“Keel, I’m not sure if that makes you a guy to him,” he said.
“Whaaat? Why not?”
The panda interrupted the conversation. “There must be some reason that we met each other here,” she said. “Things have been pretty boring around here lately anyway. How about going monster hunting together?” The panda seemed to have cheered up considerably, I say. Maybe Keel’s compliments had cheered her up.
“Yeah, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to do that until evening,” he said, nodding.
“Great,” the panda said. “Let’s do it!”
So a monster hunt limited to Siltvelt. I remember doing stuff like this back in the games I used to play. I would go monster hunting with a group of friends. This wasn’t much different, I say.
“I have something I need to take care of, so Kou and I will go separately,” I informed Father.
“‘Something’? All right, fine with me. Sakura!”
“Yeah!”
Sakura turned into her filolial form. The panda and her underlings all gasped.
“All right, let’s get going,” Father said. “Until the sun sets, let’s take care of some monsters wherever you think is best.”
“What in the . . .” The panda still looked shocked at Sakura’s transformation.
“Oh yeah, I haven’t asked for your name yet,” Father said. “My name’s Naofumi.”
“Me? I’m Larsazusa, but I’m going by Lars nowadays.”
“Nice to meet you, Lars.”
“Good to meet you too, Naofumi.”
Lars? That meant that Big Sis’s Big Sis did know her after all.
I approached the panda. “Don’t you go by Sasa?” I’m pretty sure that’s what they called her.
The panda gave me an ugly gaze that felt oddly familiar.
“I mean, maybe you could say it that way as well,” Father said.
“Oh? You don’t like Sasa?” I asked.
“Don’t you ever call me that again!” the panda demanded.
Hmm. I supposed that she hated being called that by anyone but people that she was really close with. It was a pretty cutesy nickname.
“Let’s get going,” Father called. With that, Father and the panda, now partners in crime, set out on their monster-hunting mission. Until they left, Keel kept excitedly asking me if I understood her, to which I repeatedly nodded yes.