Chapter 225: Chappie’s Future Employment?

“Now hol’ up a minute…”

“This can’t be right, sir…”

Both of us covered our faces.

Pochi seems to be trying on her own way to process the situation, just like me.

“What’s our Tūs’ hair color…?”

“It’s… black, I think. But more ‘explosive,’ sir.”

“What’s our Tūs’ eye color…?”

“It’s… also black, I think. But more distorted, sir.”

“What’s our Tūs’ catchphrase?”

“It’s ‘pain in the ass,’ sir.”

“And what about his body size? He should be too big to enter this regular Familiar waiting room, right?”

“T-that’s true! That must have been a different person, sir!”

Despite saying that, Pochi’s face showed flashes of impatience, implying that she actually believed otherwise.

Maybe because of that emotional state, Pochi then went and got injured in her fourth round.

Just a little scratch, though.

Her opponent was a Wimp Hydra, a Dragon-archetype monster with a level close to 150. Still, I’d never thought Pochi would even take a hit, what with her still being higher-leveled.

I would understand if it was a high-leveled Hydra monster, but it was a lower-leveled Familiar. She must have been really unfocused.

Regardless, now Pochi has her spot in the main event.

“Owowowow… I need healing, Master!”

“High Cure.”

“Where’s the Adjust, sir?!”

“What the hell?! High Cure is already way more than enough! Hell, just the custom-edited Cure would’ve done the job just fine! I only used High Cure because I knew you’d be demanding more!”

“It’s not enough, sir! C’mon, Master? Adjust, please?”

It’s quite rare for Pochi to be THIS unreasonable.

This dog may look like she’s fine, but I can tell that she’s on edge right now.

Considering all the desperate and exaggerated acting she just did and after all the other rounds before, she was probably doing all she could to hide her nervousness and get some peace of mind.

More spectators were already here for the fourth set of rounds, after all – and not everyone can immediately handle being the center of a large crowd’s attention. That’s what I assume is making Pochi act so… high-maintenance, even more so than usual.

“Rise, High Cure Adjust.”

“Ohh! Thank you, sir! You’ve gotten quite a bit faster, haven’t you?”

“What, you mean my drawing speed?”

“Exactly! Now you can cast your high-end restoration spells with just one short chant, yes?”

“Well, I’ve started to feel like I’m an actual Holy Warrior, you see. So now I feel that I can do things better without being so meticulous, and stuff.”

“You ‘feel’…” 

Pochi said as she put her paw on my nose. 

“So you haven’t actually gotten better, sir?”

“Yeah, yeah. Maybe it’s more correct to say that I’ve gotten a little better at staying calm.”

“I knew it… Oh, by the way, why the nasal voice, sir?!”

“Because some random Familiar around here was pushing my nose down, I guess?!”

“Ah, right, right! Now, Chappie must be waiting for us upstairs, sir! Let’s go to him now!”

Ugh, with Pochi like this, will she be able to fight normally?

I mean, tomorrow’s the day of not only the semi-finals, and also the final round! Maybe she’s just not suited for that kind of big-stage event.

Not that there’s any avoiding that, what with it being a part of the Familiar Chalice. I’ll just have to support her in any way necessary.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“We’ve been waiting for you, young Poer, young Shiro.”

“Hmph, be grateful that we’ve come all the way here!”

“Welcome back, Instructor!”

“Good to see you’re doing well, Sir Poer.”

Once I opened the door to my inn room, I saw a set of familiar faces, whom I had not seen in quite a while, though it never even felt that long.

“Lady June! Master Bright and Lady Ferris, too? …Oh, apologies, I didn’t see you there, Master Polco!”

“Ngh…?!”

“Hahahaha, I jest, I jest!”

“Instructor… Even as a joke, I think your choice of positives and negatives was quite deliberate…”

“Haha… ha ha ha… not to worry, young Bright. You see, young Poer here… well, he DOES have my permission to say such things…”

Sounds like he’s suffering just to explain that, so I’ll stop here. Even June is forcing out a chuckle, too.

Ferris seems to be understanding of the situation… which is unexpected, but I’d assume that Polco has talked about it with her beforehand.

“Seeing that the main event is tomorrow, I never expected everyone to be here so quickly, milady.”

“Hehehe… It’s because my little brother here insisted that we did, you see. That’s despite him knowing that it’s not appropriate to say it straight to Sir Polco…”

“Hahaha! The same happened to me and Ferris, actually. She never was interested in the Familiar Chalice before, but then one day she started grumbling to herself – ‘is it time yet, is it time yet?’ – now THAT has been quite amusing to see!”

“”Wha-“”

“-Sister!”

“-Papa!”

Ohh, so Ferris does actually call Polco with ‘Papa’ in-person.

Now this is refreshing – the lass does have a cute side to her. She’s usually not much different from a raging bull.

“Hehehe… you still look cute when you’re angry, Bright.”

“Hahahahaha!”

“I’m so happy to see that everyone is doing well!”

Pochi seems to be in a good mood after being greeted with an unexpected surprise.

“How has today been, young Shiro?”

“Eh-hem! I have splendidly made it all the way to the semi-final round, sir!”

“Oh-ho, among the best four now, are we? Well done, young Shiro. I would have participated as well, if only I had a Familiar for myself.”

“You don’t have one, sir? I was always under the impression that you had one around…”

This is getting into a controversial topic… will this be all right to go on?

I mean, Pochi is being genuine, but still…

“Such is a demerit of one’s high social standing, young Shiro. It is also a part of my job to hide from enemies I cannot see… if you know what I mean.”

Polco winked at Pochi, and the latter groaned,

“I don’t understand what that means, sir!”

I knew that she would react like that.

To get things straight, he doesn’t have a Familiar because of his social status.

I’ve also thought that he had one before, and that it had died a long time ago, but looks like no such thing happened.

From June and Ferris’ reactions, it doesn’t seem like he’s lying or hiding anything, either. Maybe we were just unnecessarily worried.

“Now, after things are taken care of here, chances are I won’t have to worry about that anymore.”

“Does that mean I can have a Familiar then, Papa?!”

“Sister, I’d like to have one, too!”

Look at them, begging like kids for stuff they want… oh wait, they ARE kids. This makes perfect sense for Ferris, but seeing that Bright doesn’t even give off a hint of childishness anymore, the contrast feels quite uncanny.

June looks to be at a loss here. She’s never had that favorable of an opinion of Familiars in general. Back when we worked full-time for the Fulbright household, she even refused to let Pochi into the main mansion.

She’s holding a conversation with Pochi just fine now, but chances are it’s only because Bright is here as well.

And Polco, well, he’s totally got the face of a doting father. Like he’d let Ferris get away with saying anything, even if she were to demand to keep the Devil King as a pet. If that was actually possible, though, I sure as hell would like to do it as well.

“Hahahaha! What kind of Familiar do you want, Ferris?”

Ohh, now that’s something I’d like to know as well.

Ferris, in response to the question to her, pointed in Pochi’s direction.

“M-ME?! I-I already have my Master here, so you can’t become my Master, milady!”

Now the doggo is crossing her front legs… or is she hiding her… chest? Why?

“I wasn’t about to take someone else’s Familiar for myself, you know…”

Huh, she wasn’t? Could’ve fooled me.

I looked again in the direction of Ferris’ index finger, and saw that she was actually pointing not at Pochi, but above her.

Ah, yes, that’s my son right there, the only one among the audience cheering for his mother figure for the past two days. It’s Chappie that Ferris wants.

“S-so, Ferris, you want ME to be your Familiar?”

“It’ll be helpful to always have you close by – you’re decently strong, and if need be, you could become emergency food…”

She’s only thinking in terms of her own benefits – that’s no good. She has to start with considering Chappie’s feelings as well.

“Hmph, I’m a Violet Phoenix! Of course I’m helpful!”

Good thing he doesn’t actually know what that ‘helpful’ actually meant.

“N-now, I’ll have you stop right there, Ferris.”

The voice that interrupted the conversation was of Bright, the Black Emperor’s ancestor.

“Could you… let me have Chappie instead? As my Familiar?”

Now that was the most unexpected thing out of him so far. Never had I thought that Bright could be so forward with Ferris.

Does this go to show how strongly he wants what he wants? Man, Chappie sure is one popular bird. As his father figure, I feel like shedding a few tears right about now…

“Normally I would do it for you, Bright… but just this once, I cannot.”

Ferris puffed up her chest, standing strong on her decision.

“Surely there’s a way to change your mind…”

Likewise, Bright isn’t about to give up just yet.

Chappie twitched each time any of the two said something, startled by their arbitrary in-negotiation agreements. I do want to see him do that a few more times, but Polco wouldn’t have that; seeing that things were getting out of hand, he clapped his hands loudly to get everyone’s attention.

“Now, you two… keep in mind that Chappie’s decision takes priority over yours. He still is far too young, just like both of you – why don’t you all start with becoming proper adults first, then go on from there?”

“…Yes, Papa.”

“I understand, Master Polco…”

Amazing. Totally deserving of the reputation as the Holy Emperor’s right-hand man.

And then there’s June, starting super intensely at Chappie, as if the latter has stolen her dear little brother from her.

So intensely, in fact, that Chappie is compelled to look away. Poor guy…

“By the way, young Poer…”

“Yes, sir?”

“What is the deal with the pitch-black glasses those two are wearing?”

Those are their Masks of Justice, sir.

After that, and after June calmed down, we spent a little time talking about Pochi’s victories so far. Or at least, a version of the events as told by Pochi herself.

By the time she reached a good stopping point in her long, self-embellished heroic saga, I sent Polco a sign by making eye contact with him.

“Now then, we look forward to seeing some action tomorrow, young Poer, young Shiro.”

“”Yes, sir!””

That night…

“ZZZzzz… Ooh… so scary… so scaryyyyyy… ZZZzzz… Burp…”

Looks like she’s so worried that her stomach is full.

Will we really be all right?