Fluffy Paradise Volume 6, page 15
The emperor and Louis continued on like that for a short while, proceeding into a highly technical political discussion that, try as I might, I couldn’t follow. But from what I could tell, they’d decided to move forward with the proposal. Louis would be in charge of the project to brand-ify the Linus Empire’s regional specialty products.
Louis turned to me at one point and said, “I’ll be counting on you to teach me all about this!” but I was not confident there would be much I could teach him. Regardless, I promised I would help as much as I was able.
“Now that that’s settled, shall we go see the maidells?”
“Can I pet them?!”
My excitement spiked sharply after hearing that we would finally see the maidells up close.
Louis glanced over at the village chief, using his eyes to inquire whether it was okay for me to touch the maidells.
“Maidells generally have a peaceful temperament, but the males will charge if they feel threatened, so please be careful not to surprise them.”
Well, duh! That’s pretty much the first rule of interacting with animals!
Unfortunately, Shinki, Inaho, Seigo, and Rikusei had to stay behind. It was likely the maidells would be frightened by the sight of monsters.
The emperor instructed Weedy to stay behind as well.
When I asked Inaho to wait for me at a distance close enough to still see me but far enough away that the maidells wouldn’t be spooked, she let out a pathetic cry of “Kyuu!”
Hearing that, Haku and Gratia leapt off of my shoulders, landing on Inaho’s back. It seemed they intended to keep Inaho company so she wouldn’t be lonely.
Then, Seigo and Rikusei tried to entice Inaho to play with them.
Almost before I’d finished registering the loud cry that Haku let out, Nox came dipping out of the sky.
All right, everyone’s assembled!
Although, I’m curious how this motley assortment of creatures of vastly differing sizes and abilities will play together… If their normal antics are any indication, I’m sure it’ll be something ridiculous.
“Paul, could I borrow Spica?” I asked.
“To keep an eye on Haku and the others, you mean?”
Paul had seen straight through me. I was uneasy about how the unknown element of Inaho’s presence would affect the other monsters, so to be safe, I thought it might be best to assign Spica to keep an eye on them.
“That’s right. We aren’t at home, and now Inaho’s here too… I’m a little worried they might get up to something dangerous.”
Not to mention, Weedy’s also here. It wouldn’t be good if they got into another fight already! That would scare the maidells off for sure!
“Very well. Spica, do as Lady Neema asks.”
“Please keep an eye on these guys for me, Spica! Make sure they don’t get too carried away.”
“Okay!”
Spica accepted the assignment with an eager smile, her tails wagging cheerfully behind her.
Then, I turned to Haku and the others, determined to drive my point home. “Don’t make too much noise or wander off, okay? And Inaho, you mustn’t use any magic, got it?”
“Kyuu!” Inaho yipped in response.
The others all agreed with each of their distinctive cries. I hoped that meant they really would behave while I was gone.
“You can play with them too, Spica.”
Ever since our reunion, I hadn’t seen Spica playing with the others even once. Knowing her, I was certain that her skin was practically crawling to run all around the spacious town square.
“Is it really okay?!” Spica’s tails wagged even more energetically.
She has such a straightforward personality!
“Yeah! Have fun!”
But this puts Haku and Gratia at a disadvantage. If all the large, canine-type monsters are running around, they’ll have no choice but to cling to the others’ backs…
Apparently, they’d already hashed this problem out among themselves because Spica immediately picked Haku up and threw it with all her might.
Haku does love being thrown…
Seigo, Rikusei, and Inaho took off, chasing after Haku. As if not wanting to lose to the others, Nox landed on the ground momentarily to let Gratia climb onto his back.
I see, they’re using Haku in place of a ball… I should’ve thought to bring along some toys for them, huh?
Once the monsters were deeply involved in their strange game, Karna chuckled, “When you give them orders, you sound just like Father!”
Whaaat?!
I turned to Paul and asked incredulously, “Do I sound like Father? Really?” to which he responded, “Somewhat.”
Which is it?!
I asked for further clarification, and after a long pause, Paul finally answered, “I believe your tone resembles the tone your father uses when scolding you, Lady Neema.”
Agggh, so we do sound the same? If I had to resemble anybody, I would’ve preferred it to be Mama…
But they say that when girls take after their Father, they’re sure to grow up to be great beauties, so I guess not all’s lost!
I shook myself off and focused on the next order of business: petting fluffies!
Here I come, cuddly cuties!!
🐎🐅🐎
I’M so happy I could die!
The maidells looked just like sheep at first glance, but their “degree of fluffiness” was on a whole other level. Their hair was highly dense just like Princess’s, but the maidells had two different and distinct types of hair: long curly hairs and shorter springy hairs growing between the longer ones, almost padding them out.
The curled hairs created uneven waves and kinks, which made the surface of the maidells’ coats look like they were wearing thick sweaters with a popcorn-like pattern.
The village chief explained that this hair functioned almost like a shield to protect the maidells’ bodies from predators. I supposed it made sense—a predator would have a hard time getting their teeth past all that wool to actually bite into any meat.
The male maidells had horns. Or rather, each maidell had one singular horn protruding from the center of its forehead like a unicorn.
If they charge at you, you’ll be skewered on that horn for sure!
I reached out and touched the horn of one of the males—after asking his permission, of course—and I suppose it goes without saying, but it was hard.
But, despite their solid hardness, the horns made a light, clinky sound when the males knocked them together. Unlike the rhinoceroses, the maidells’ horns seemed more like their Earth counterparts’ horns.
The time seemed to pass in the blink of an eye while I was lost in my near-worship of the maidells’ fluffy wool, and before I knew it, the time had come for us to return to Earl Helios’s manor.
We made a quick detour on the way back to the spot a short distance away where my monster friends were waiting. An unbelievable sight met our eyes.
“Haku!”
To my complete and utter astonishment, Weedy was flailing about inside Haku’s body. She seemed to be trying to escape because she was whipping her appendages around wildly, causing Haku’s body to poke out grotesquely each time one of the appendages thrust outward.
That is seriously disturbing to witness!
“Haku, you let Weedy out right this minute!” I demanded.
If we don’t get Weedy out quickly, she might melt!
Haku let out a dissatisfied “Mew!” but obediently spat Weedy out with probably more force than necessary.
“Weedy, are you okay?! You didn’t get melted at all, did you?”
“Cheeeeep…” Weedy’s weak cry only made me more uneasy.
I’m so sorry, Weedy! Please don’t die!
I clutched Weedy to my chest, frozen in panic and unsure what to do next, when the emperor stepped forward and picked me up, still holding Weedy.
“Don’t worry. She just exhausted herself from flailing around too much inside the slime.”
“Really? Weedy’s not going to die?”
“No, she’s not going to die.”
Thank goodness! I didn’t know what events led up to Weedy being inside Haku, but I was glad she didn’t get melted.
“Lady Neema, I’m so sorry,” Spica apologized profusely, her ears pressed flat against her head.
“Can you tell me what happened?” I asked.
I doubt Haku would do something like that for no reason…
“Yes… Inaho approached Weedy, and Weedy got angry and tried to lash out with an appendage, so Haku stopped her.”
I see, so that’s what happened! They really did get into it again!
I got the emperor to put me down, then called out to Inaho.
“Inaho, I know you want to make friends with Weedy, but you can’t do things she doesn’t like!”
Inaho let out a pathetic, wavering little cry in response to my scolding.
I think she’s apologizing, but I’m not the one she should be apologizing to.
“It’s Weedy you should be apologizing to, not me, right?”
After a moment, Inaho reluctantly scuttled over to stand by the emperor’s feet and cried, “Kyuu, kyuu!”
As for Weedy… She turned her face away petulantly, refusing to so much as look at the little kyubi.
“Kyuuuu!”
With a wry grin of what looked like begrudging sympathy in the face of Inaho’s pitiable state, the emperor stepped in to plead her case to Weedy.
“Weedy, this young and immature creature seems to truly regret her actions. In such a case, a strong person would meet repentance with benevolent forgiveness,” he explained in a calming tone, stroking Weedy’s back gently with his hand.
Weedy still seemed grumpy, but eventually, she relented, looking over at Inaho and letting out a brief “Cheep!”
The instant she heard that, Inaho eagerly cried out, “Kyun!” and her tails started wagging energetically.
Looks like she’s really happy that Weedy forgave her, huh? But just because she forgave her still doesn’t mean she likes her…
For now, try not to invade Weedy’s personal space any more than necessary, okay, Inaho? If she’d only give her a little time and space to get used to her, I bet she’d accept her as a friend eventually.
…If not, Inaho’s going to be living in constant danger of being strangled by Weedy’s appendages until she grows up and finally calms down a bit!
“Thanks, Haku. You handled the situation swiftly and decisively, preventing the maidells from being frightened by those two fighting.”
“Mew! Meeew!”
Haku seemed embarrassed about being praised so highly because it began elongating and contracting its body vertically and horizontally, almost like a nervous tick of some kind.
I couldn’t help but giggle at the slime’s strange behavior.
My monster friends sure are cute!
“All right, guys! Time to head back!” I announced, and immediately Haku leapt out of my hands, landing on Spica’s shoulder.
I was still puzzling over that when Gratia climbed up on Inaho’s back, and Nox came over to me.
Did you guys plan this out while I was gone or something?
“Are you tired, Nox?”
Nox rubbed his body affectionately against my cheek, and I reciprocated by fondly stroking his back.
Something tells me it wasn’t the flying so much as the ordeal of trying to keep up with these troublemakers that wiped him out!
I balanced Nox on my arm, figuring it was dangerous on my shoulder, and climbed up on Euche’s back.
A moment later, I noticed that Nox was trembling slightly as if he were afraid of Euche.
“It’s okay, Nox. Euche isn’t scary!”
I continued to stroke Nox’s back reassuringly and told him that he could go ride on Shinki’s shoulder if he was afraid, but Nox seemed to have no intention of going anywhere.
Maybe he’s feeling lonely because I’ve been spending so much time playing with the holy beasts lately?
I gave Nox a tight hug—but not too tight; I didn’t want to crush him, after all!
“Thanks for everything, Nox. I love you!”
“Screech!”
My antics of love-bombing Nox were determined to be “dangerous,” and I again ended up being secured in place with a lifesaving rope by Weedy…
I’m just going to go with it this time. At least this way, both of my hands will be free to hug Nox!
Oh, crap! I forgot to go grass-sledding! Darn it! It totally slipped my mind… Ha-ha…
It was the perfect location, with plenty of room, a gentle slope, and no large obstacles. What a wasted opportunity! I’m definitely not going to forget next time!
9 - You Can Really Feel How Far We’ve Come!
LIKE the previous day, I was riding on Euche’s back as we headed into the vast forest known as Wildwood. The sight of the massive trees towering over us was more than a little intimidating in its majesty. The trunks were wider across than I could reach with both my arms outstretched, and the forest canopy was so far above that I couldn’t even see where it ended.
I wonder if these trees might be even taller than the tallest trees on Earth, the giant sequoias. I’m curious what the canopy looks like.
Really, really curious! Thankfully, my mount has wings!
“Your Majesty, I have a small request…” I began hesitantly, trying not to get my hopes up.
If he turns me down, I’ll have to ask someone else who can fly… Which leaves only Sol.
“What is it?”
“…I’d like to see these trees from above!”
There, I said it! Paul will probably have something to say about the impropriety of making requests of the emperor, but I can’t take it back now that I’ve said it!
“From above, hm? That’s perfect. There’s something I’d like to show you as well, Lady Nefertima.”
The emperor informed the unit leader of his private guard of our plans while Weedy wrapped me up in an even more secure lifesaving rope than the one she’d created the day before.
“Euche, please ascend slowly and gently into the sky.”
Following the emperor’s order, Euche began flapping his powerful wings.
We slowly rose into the air, passing by the seemingly endless tree trunks until we finally reached the canopy far above and broke through to rise above the forest entirely.
A gorgeous sight spread out above, below, and all around us: the wide-open, strikingly blue sky and the fresh, vivaciously green sea of leaves that almost seemed to reflect the cheerful rays of bright sunshine.
They said it was a massive forest, but I can’t see any end in sight!
We slowly drifted even higher until, finally, I saw something other than trees. Far off in the distance, a mountain range towered over everything, even the forest, and there was also a large river. It looked like a city might be beyond the river, but it was so small that I couldn’t quite make it out.
“Lady Nefertima, look over there.” The emperor pointed to where the trees were even taller and more densely packed than everywhere else.
I thought at first that it was a small mountain, but I was wrong. It almost looked like the trees were covering and protecting something…
“That’s the elemental palace where the elemental kings live,” the emperor explained.
Huh?! Whaaaat?! That’s the elemental palace?! That makes this the most important place in the entire continent of Larshia!
“The elemental palace itself is housed within a massive tree. Wildwood grew up around it to hide and protect the elemental palace.”
“Have you met the elemental kings, Your Majesty?” I asked.
Will had told me that he usually met with the elemental kings once every year or so. But when I asked him what they were like, he’d refused to tell me. He simply replied that I’d find out when I met them. Jerk!
“Yes. Here in the Linus Empire, we have an important ceremony once every two cycles to give offerings to the elemental kings.”
Although he referred to it as a “ceremony,” it was carried out by the emperor on his own. However, it was customary for any other imperial family members who also happened to be bonded with holy beasts to accompany him. That’s why the current emperor had never carried out the ceremony alone, since the retired emperor and retired empress always accompanied him.
“I’m very fortunate,” he said. “Not only do I have my father and mother still living to serve as mentors for me, but it’s likely that my successor will also be determined during my lifetime. In short, during my reign, there are more holy beasts in our country than during the reign of any other emperor in history.”
He has a point. Right now, Sache, Kaideetay, and Euche are all living here in the Linus Empire, and if one of his children bonds with a holy beast, that will make four of them. There might not be a single case in history where so many holy beasts concurrently lived in a single country.
“Not to mention I was fortunate enough to meet a beloved child of the God of Creation. Don’t you think that’s truly incredible?” he asked with a smile.
Based on the pattern up to this point, I think it’s safe to say that God is very fond of the emperor. With all this evidence, I’d be willing to bet on it. But I wonder why God saw fit to gather so many humans in one place that he’s fond of to the extent of bestowing them with a holy beast?
From what I understand, the emperor bonded with Euche more than twenty years ago. Does that mean it has nothing to do with what God told me before I was reincarnated?
Hmm… Hmmmmm… Maybe I’m overthinking it?
“You’re similar to a beloved child, don’t you think, Your Majesty?” I asked.
He grew up surrounded by holy beasts, after all. Maybe he’s even more suited for the “beloved child” title than me!
The emperor laughed out loud as if that was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard. “I think not. It’s said that the God of Creation’s power lives inside of his beloved children. Have you never felt it inside of you, Lady Nefertima?”
