The wheels of the wagon started turning again.
“How do you feel about your first job?”
Asked Lobelia while resting her chin on her hands, to which Ina reacted with surprise.
“T-that was his first job!? It just looked like getting in the middle of a fight…”
“Stopping fights is part of guardian knight’s work. You start small and work your way up.”
Qualia touched the wound on his chest, and reflected on the battle.
The wound felt warm.
“Qualia has to consider the limitations of an organic body, and the predictive abilities when fighting against multiple threats.”
“That’s not how you feel, that’s your evaluation.”
“However, detected ‘tasty’ from Mind. Objective was accomplished.”
Qualia’s face was like an iron mask, without even a hint of a smile, but his voice sounded a little bit brighter.
There was a feeling of accomplishment inside him that could not be explained with ones and zeroes.
“Well then, we’ll be reaching my house soon. You’ll be living there until you get settled, so be ready to get off and get ready for us to live together.”
When they got off the wagon, Qualia and Ina looked up at the mansion where the princess lived.
The area itself was not all that different from the mansion of Marquis Sandbox, but the difference was that neither the garden or the grounds in general were decorated with works of art.
It was representative of Lobelia’s stoic personality.
Also, there were no gatekeepers. It was starting to look very much unlike the mansion of a princess.
“What? Are you speechless? Did you expect to be greeted by cute maids or something? Too bad, bear with me.”
Lobelia played innocent, until Ina asked a question with a dumbfounded look on her face.
“You live here… Alone?”
“Oh? I live with my sister. Well, it is too big for us… Is it too big for you to handle as a maid, Ina?”
“No! I’m used to it from my time in the Sandbox mansion!”
“…All right. Anything from you, Qualia?”
The ball was passed to Qualia, who responded with another question, with a blank look on his face.
“Request explanation. What are a master and a slave?”
“That really has nothing to do with this place, does it!?”
“Mind described Qualia and Ina’s relationship as master and slave. Error. Word ‘slave’ not registered.”
“Eh… Getting philosophical, are we?”
They walked down the hall without slowing down, despite Qualia taking the conversion in a completely different direction.
“Slave… Well, it’s basically a derogatory term to describe someone as their master’s property.”
“Error. Ina is not inorganic.”
“A lot of people feel that way. Despite how things are now, there are steps being taken to improve the circumstances surrounding beast people, compared to how things were before. There are systems being put in place for beast people to be able to live, but human hearts haven’t caught up yet.”
“Unable to understand. This is wrong. Ina is not a slave.”
Qualia’s face turned a little stern, though that was not his decision as an artificial intelligence.
Just as when Arrows kicked Ina, a confused anger rooted in his heart inadvertently influenced his facial expression.
“Let me ask you then. What is Ina to you?”
And as Ina watched this conversation unfold, Qualia answered without hesitation. In fact, it took him a tenth of a second to respond.
“The closest thing is family.”
“…!”
Qualia saw Ina’s face turn red, and her cat ears pointing at the ceiling, as well as Lobelia’s not mocking, but instead satisfied smile on her face.
■ ■
At the same time, Mind had his dog hears concealed as he drank in a bar.
Another beast person sat directly behind him, facing the other way.
“I hear you got saved by a human, Mind.”
“I didn’t have a choice. What if I resisted and they found out I’m a beast person of the Azure Skies party?”
“That’s not what I’m worried about. You’re not getting chummy with humans before the ‘Azure Skies resolution’, are you?”
Mind’s gloomy face reflected on the surface of the cheap alcohol he was drinking.
“Maybe I am. Or I guess I should say I saw a little bit of hope. The human that saved me even had a cat girl with him that liked him. Those two felt like they were family to each other.”
“Ah, forget it forget it. That’s just a kitty that was broken body and heart by a human… Soon there won’t be any slaves like that.”
“I know. If our revolution is successful… If we can create our paradise, our freedom won’t be denied.”
After gulping down the rest of his drink, he banged the empty glass on the table.
He felt no flavor from the cheap alcohol as it passed through his throat. He did not even enjoy it.
And the man behind him gave the killing blow, with an admonishing tone.
“Don’t forget, for beast people like us, there’s only paradise or death left. I hope we can take arms together with no hesitation.”
“Yes. What we need isn’t a heart.”
The man behind him was gone, and Mind pictured Qualia and Ina’s faces.
“…Sorry, I want to live.”
He whispered with his dry throat, to the two people to whom he owed a debt of gratitude.
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