The Crazy Killer Whale’s Favourite Penguin

Episode 15: A Glitch in the System (IV)

The head of the Weil family met my eyes, and his pale eyes curved affectionately.

“Hello. My name is Primo. I’ve heard from Bella. You’re a killer whale?”

The tense atmosphere and lighter tone of speech relieved my nervousness a little more than I thought.

I hung my head, not answering the question about being a killer whale.

“Hello, Lord Weil. My name is Lia.”

“Hm?”

After hearing the greeting, the head of the household slowly tilted his head. While I was thinking about what I had done wrong, he smiled again and offered a seat.

“I’m going to be hungry, so please sit down.”

As he said, I sat down on the chair Suradel had pulled out.

The table and chairs were huge too, probably by the standards of the tall Weils here.

However, in comparison to the smaller penguin days, it wasn’t too uncomfortable.

‘What’s really inconvenient is…’

From the moment I entered the dining room, there was only the passionate gaze of the family head.

Trying to ignore that gaze, I thought.

‘I’m afraid the father-and-son are exceedingly similar.’

That gaze was so blatant that Suradel, who was bad himself, stopped him first.

“Father, Lia is embarrassed.”

“Ah. I’m sorry if you’re uncomfortable. It’s been a while since I’ve seen another killer whale demibeast.”

“Well, it’s been more than 30 years since Mother became the last survivor, right?”

“Decades ago, I never would have imagined it would come to the brink of extinction.”

Listening to their conversation, I couldn’t help but ask questions.

“Were there many killer whales in the past, unlike now?”

If there were more, it would have been possible for the dolphins and killer whales to exist in separate families, instead of being tied to the whales as they are now.

Killer whales and dolphins belonged to the cetacean order.

They were few in number and were grouped together into House Weil, but other demibeast races were divided into several families.

The number of wolf families alone exceeded dozens.

Gray wolf family, arctic wolf family, red wolf family, and so on.

Of course, only the leading family of the clan could put a name unique to the race into the family name.

Like Wulf, Weil, Fux, Rabi, Elphan, and such.
(TL/N: wolf, whale, fox, rabbit, elephant.)

To my question, Bella, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, replied.

“Not many, but at least enough to make up a village.”

“But why now…”

Kwajik.

The plate in front of Bella was cut in two by the knife. It was cut straight, as though it had been cut with a sword loaded with an aura.

“It was the work of the damn sharks.”

The fork and knife in her hands were bent like candy.

Perhaps she noticed my eyes shaking aimlessly, she covered her mouth and gave a friendly smile.

“Hoho, it’s not really a secret, but if I bring up old stories now, I’ll just throw my appetite away. If I get a chance later, I’ll tell you.”

I guess it wasn’t an illusion that I felt the spirit of a warrior in her elegance when I first saw Bella.

“But as a killer whale demibeast, I hope you know ahead of time that you have to be careful of shark demibeasts.”

“…Do killer whales have an enemy-like relationship with sharks?”

“Well, they are anxious to kill us unilaterally. It’s not like that for us.”

‘…Eager to kill? Damn it, I’m a penguin demibeast.’

It was at a time when I was internally weeping in sorrow and injustice. Bella asked in a sweet and soothing voice, as if she was talking to a child.

“However, since you have just been humanized, it’s even more dangerous. Unlike the territories of Weil, the center here is relatively safe, but I would still strongly encourage you to bring an escort with you.”

‘I really wasn’t given an escort for nothing.’

I silently nodded, thinking that I was fortunate to have met Sir Hanu, the younger brother of Ipres.

Maybe he had been keeping an eye on me this whole time, for the head of Weil raised the corners of his mouth and offered comfort instead of consolation.

“Don’t worry too much. Did you say you’re Lia? You’re also a killer whale demibeast, so if you learn magic, it won’t be difficult to protect yourself.”

‘That’s… I’m not a killer whale, I’m a penguin.’

I had a hunch there was something about that remark.

‘Again, whales, along with pure-blooded humans, are the only race that can use magic.’

Whether it was a cebu whale, a sperm whale or a beluga, all the cetaceans seemed capable of magic.

‘But I, supposedly a killer whale demibeast, can’t use magic? The special characteristics of whales could not be displayed?’

It was tantamount to confessing that this was an impersonation of a killer whale.

I thought with my lips pulled into a stiff smile like a machine.

‘Perhaps I should move up the plan to run away from the Weil residence.’

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

In the late evening.

Hearing that the head of the Weil family called for me separately, I finally put a stop to lingering in bed and got up.

Then, without knowing why, I trudged toward the office, guided by the butler.

Tok tok.

“Lord Weil, I came because you called.”

As soon as I knocked on the door and said so, I heard a voice of permission as if he had been waiting for me.

When I entered the office, Primo, who had his eyes fixed on the paperwork, was in my field of vision.

“Oh, you’re here? Sorry for calling you out like this.”

I felt it when I first met him earlier, but his tone seemed somewhat lighter compared to his charismatic appearance.

A way of speaking that reminded me of Suradel, who lived every day like a play.

He set his papers aside and fixed his gaze on me.

“It’s nothing much, there’s just something I want to check.”

It was cold.

Something didn’t feel right. I tried to hide my distorted expression and carefully asked,

“What…?”

“Hmm.”

He looked at me with a puzzled expression.

At one point, the corners of his mouth curved ominously.

“You, you’re not a killer whale, are you?”

Stunned, I couldn’t even make a sound, and my body hardened like ice.

His smile deepened as if he was enjoying the situation now.

“Looking at your reaction, it seems to be roughly correct. I guess it’s not a lie that it hasn’t been long since you’ve humanized. You’re very bad at managing your facial expression.”

It was a frighteningly accurate guess.

I hurriedly tried to hide my expression, but gave up halfway, realizing that I had been caught anyway.

“How…”

“How did I know? Yes…”

His gaze turned to my hair.

“Yours and Bella’s hair look quite similar, but the arrangement is slightly different.”

“Th-That’s ridiculous.”

Even though I only humanized not long ago, it was an undeniable fact that I had the same hair as Bella.

Weren’t the kidnappers and all the other people of Weil fooled?

He smiled softly and shrugged.

“If you love someone to death, you will know that much right away. The heart reacts first.”

“Heart…”

“It’s a thing of the heart. With a little exaggeration, I can even tell you the number of Bella’s eyelashes.”

“How many does she have?”

At my question, the confident head of Weil slightly turned his eyes away.

“…Actually, I exaggerated a little too much.”

Taking a step back, he looked back at me and smiled leisurely.

“Then, shall I use solid evidence instead of intangible feelings? You said you still don’t know how to go back to being an animal, right?”

“Yes…”

“Then it would be unreasonable to ask you to show your animal appearance. There are drugs that force one to return to its animal form, but those are forbidden drugs.”

After pondering about something for a while, the man slowly reached his hand out to me.

“Come closer, Lia.”

Instead, I warily took a step back.

I didn’t know what he would do to me, who pretended to be a killer whale.

Then, seeing my reaction, he frowned for a moment as if he realized something, and then spoke in a conspicuously determined voice.

“I’m not mean enough to raise my hand or shout at a kid who had memories of being abused.”

‘Ah… oh. If you’ve hit everything else on the mark, why can’t you guess that I wasn’t abused?’

I finally drew a deep breath and approached the towering man.

Certainly, he didn’t look angry at my deception.

“It won’t hurt.”

He gently placed his hand on the crown of my head and started drawing a magic circle in the air. After which, he chanted a magic spell.

Then, a yellow light emanated from the hand placed on my head, and a warm energy flowed into my body.

I didn’t feel sick as he had said, so I silently waited.

“…Uh?”

His expression turned serious for a moment, as if he had discovered something. How long has it been since then?

“Hahaha! Fuhahahaha!”

As he took his hands off my head, he started laughing like a madman.

Did he finally go crazy?

“My God, I never would have imagined something like this!”

Primo looked at me as though I was a mysterious creature, with a genuine amused expression.

“What the hell are you? What is this…!”