CH 31

Calming my surprise, I slowly looked down at him.

Hmm. I didn’t know he would bow his head to me in our first meeting.

“Why don’t you be nice to Iprus instead of asking me?”

It was true that I was trying to get information from him, but I was going to buy it with money.

I didn’t want to sell out the Iprus who worked hard for me. I would rather go around and sell my own feet.

Jack licked his lips, appearing as innocent as possible.

“But, as you can see, Iprus doesn’t even want to talk to me.”

I passed him and sat down on the prepared chair as if I was the owner of the room.

Then, curious, I slowly tilted my head and asked,

“Why are you hiding so many things about yourself when you know Iprus wants to know?”

“That’s because the information guild…”

“No. There are other reasons.”

“…….”

‘Even if you are the master of the information guild, shouldn’t you tell the person you are going to marry?’

Besides…

Did he lie to Iprus that he was a tiger demibeast and got caught?

“Iprus knows your name, face, age, and even that you’re the head of an information guild, so does it make sense that she doesn’t know what kind of demibeast you are?”

“That’s…”

He lowered his head and muttered as if resigned.

“Iprus will be disappointed if he knows what kind of demibeast I am. That’s why I couldn’t tell her.”

Iprus got into a relationship with various kinds of demibeasts, as long as they agreed.

It would be harder to find an open-minded demibeast like her.

It seemed to me that he was just scared.

“You’ve never shown it properly, so why do you think that?”

“But I have nothing in common with Iprus’ ideal type.”

Did Iprus ever have an ideal type?

I didn’t see much in common with the people she met.

“What did she say about her ideal type?”

“That… Wild, threatening eyes that she doesn’t know what he’s thinking. Also, hard hands that are strong against the cold.”

I couldn’t believe my ears when Jack described Iprus’ ideal type.

‘Isn’t that…’

An Adélie penguin…?

Iprus must have thought of me at the time and answered randomly.

Jack, who didn’t know the truth, grabbed his head and parted his lips with a painful face.

“All of her ideal type conditions are far from me.”

“…Have you ever thought about what you look like when you’re an animal?”

He murmured in a more melancholy voice.

“It doesn’t even matter. It’s almost the opposite of everything.”

So basically, it was an animal that had gentle eyes, soft hands, and was weak against the cold.

“While running the information guild, I have never thought that I was unlucky to be born as that demibeast. But now…”

Those words suddenly reminded me of a Korean proverb.

‘Birds hear the words of the day, mice hear the words of the night.’

It met the conditions mentioned earlier, and it was also an animal that got along very well with Jack, who had to gather information.

“Are you a mouse demibeast?”

His eyes widened as if questioning how.

“…Yes. To be precise, I’m a field mouse demibeast.”

“No way, it’s so small that it sleeps like a fairy in a flower bud…?”

He closed his eyes tightly.

“Yes.”

Beyond despondency, absurdity crept in. I didn’t know why he was digging the tunnel alone.

“End of trouble. Tell Iprus what kind of demibeast you are right now.”

“Yes… what?”

Confused, Jack just stared at me with shaky eyes. Feeling that he was pathetic for not knowing, so I glared at him with deathly eyes.

“Iprus is crazy about cute things.”

“Well, then why the penguin…”

‘Are you saying that I don’t look cute?’

I felt a little bad, but it wasn’t exactly wrong, so I decided to just let it go this time.

“Iprus didn’t like Adélie penguins from the beginning. She just fell for its charms after living together for a long time.”

I nodded like it was a natural reason, like it had no choice but to be.

“No, that’s nonsense. When I was with her, she hated small animals!”

“What is that…”

It sounded like a dog barking.

“When Iprus met a small animal like a chick, let alone pet it, she didn’t even give a glance as though it’s gross!”

Aha.

Now everything made sense.

Iprus was often misunderstood because of her excessive reaction.

“If she didn’t stroke it, it’s just in case she touches it too hard and it bursts… No, she’s afraid it’ll get hurt. And the reason she turned her head was because she’s too excited with the overwhelming cuteness.”

Jack’s eyes lit up with hope at the plainly spit out truth.

“Well then, Iprus… Wouldn’t she be disappointed to see my animal form?”

In the first place, Iprus was not a racist. No matter what kind of demibeast he was, she would not have been disappointed.

“Your human form… I don’t know. But she will like your animal appearance. For sure.”

Jack’s animal figure itself might be to her taste, but I don’t know…

It seemed that it would not be easy to reunite smoothly after breaking up and seeing other people.

But that would be a matter for Jack to figure out.

“Now, the thing with Iprus has been roughly resolved, right? Please listen to my request.”

Jack, whose happy imagination circuit was running, barely came to his senses and answered.

“If I know anything, I will tell you everything without cost.”

He seemed to be in a very good mood. The thought that I could save money also made me feel better.

In this case, I need to eat it quickly.

“I’m looking for someone skilled enough to make a cure.”

“Exactly what kind of cure are you talking about?”

“It’s a new disease that has not yet been discovered. I need someone who can successfully create a cure.”

As expected, Jack’s eyebrows narrowed, probably because it was not an easy order.

“It’s difficult. The field is too broad. Besides, I don’t know if it’s a disease that already exists, but it’s an undiscovered disease…”

“I’ll like a person who is reclusive rather than someone who is known to the public. The crazier the better.”

“Surprisingly, there is one demibeast who fits the conditions perfectly…”

“Huh…”

While admiring the high cliché hit rate, I asked,

“What kind of demibeast is he?”

“A raccoon demibeast. In the past, he was famous for his genius alchemy, but…”

“But?”

“One day, that geek put everything down and started researching to find his roots.”

“No problem.”

I didn’t know why he turned his research into a different direction, but the genius skills he had before didn’t go anywhere.

“Ah. He is a demibeast who likes to explain his research to others, so it would be nice to ask him about it and listen quietly.”

“Thanks for the advice. Where is this demibeast’s residence?”

“Central Continent. However, I understand that he has been living in the Weil family estate for several years.”

“Weil family estate…?”

Surprised by the unexpected information, I blinked rapidly.

Actually, there’s not just one species of demibeasts in all the territories of the continent. Several kinds of demibeasts lived together.

It meant that it was possible for a rabbit beast to live in a territory ruled by a lion beast.

‘It’s just that they don’t do it because of the unknown danger and the fear that comes up instinctively.’

Of course…

In cross-species marriages, it’s random which of the parents the second-generation of the two would follow.

But you couldn’t just split up their families because they were of different species.

There were also a small number of species without territories or clans.

However, the situation was a little different in the Weil family estate.

Since it was made up of huge islands, it was difficult to access unless you were a demibeast living in the sea.

In addition, most of them live in the domains of demibeasts whose lifestyles were similar to their own, except when circumstances were not favorable.

By the way…

“Why is the raccoon demibeast there?”

“It’s assumed that he went to study something. May I draw you a map of where he was last seen?”

“Thank you for doing so.”

‘I guess there’s one more reason why I have to go to the Weil family mansion.’

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Click.

When I opened the door, Iprus, who was sitting in a chair, jumped up.

“Have you got an answer that satisfies you, my lady?”

“I think that’s pretty much it.”

“It’s good that you came here.”

She laughed lightly like she was glad, and asked in her characteristic bright voice.

“Then, the next destination must have been decided. Where shall we go?”

“Yes. Let’s hit it at once*. I’m going to go to the Weil family estate and solve everything.”

At that moment, as if ice water had been poured into the room, a cold silence fell.

Surprised by the sudden silence, I looked at Hanu and Iprus.

They were staring at me with shocked faces, their mouths shut.

I looked back at what I had said and was startled by the huge slip of the tongue.

—Let’s hit it at once.

…Ah? Uh? Uh-huh.

Even though it wasn’t even midsummer, cold sweat broke out on my back.

“Uh… That… sorry.”

* It’s better translated as “strike while the iron’s hot” but I modified it to be ‘ruder’ so that it matches with what comes after/next episode better.