The Crazy Killer Whale’s Favourite Penguin

Episode 83: The Ties That Bind (XII)

Anemone returned home and calmly organized her thoughts.

The more she thought about it, the more her doubt turned to certainty.

Suradel and Iprus.

They were as sincere to Adelia as Teacher was.

It didn’t make sense that those Adelia lovers would give up on finding Adelia so easily.

But, if the new killer whale demibeast of the Weil family was really Adelia, then why hadn’t she returned to the Magic Tower?

Was she really kidnapped to begin with?

Once Anemone started to doubt, there were many suspicious points.

Adelia and Lia.

‘Isn’t her name the same as Adelia’s nickname?’

Certainly, her hair belonged to a killer whale.

But she made it clear with her own mouth that she wasn’t a killer whale.

And, if the Adelia she was thinking had become human… her hair that resembled a killer whale’s would be explained.

The Adélie penguin was also black, with a white belly and white feathers around the eyes.

The most suspicious thing was that the day Adelia went missing coincided with the day that a new killer whale had arrived in the Weil family.

‘Can coincidences overlap like this?’

Suddenly, Anemone remembered the bitter eyes that looked at her.

Ah.

So it was.

Adelia, who became a human, couldn’t stand in front of Teacher who hated demibeasts.

Afraid of being hated…

Afraid of being abandoned…

Although there was still no hard evidence to support her reasoning, Anemone regretted her actions earlier.

She got annoyed and blatantly ignored her.

Of course, more than the usual irritation rose because she faced Iprus who left the Magic Tower.

However, as long as Lia was a demibeast, her displeased attitude wouldn’t have changed much even if she had met her separately.

It was an undeniable fact that she hated demibeasts.

But she couldn’t treat Adelia like a normal demibeast. It was a different story for Adelia, who, through determination, became a human being.

Before Adelia was a demibeast, she was Teacher’s family and her own friend.

Wasn’t it only the shell that changed?

…Nevertheless, it was unclear whether her teacher, Reynos, would think so.

The next day.

Anemone, who went to work at the Magic Tower as usual, went to visit Teacher.

He hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since Adelia went missing.

As if to prove it, his face was dry, and deep tiredness appeared in his eyes.

“Teacher.”

While processing the paperwork, Reynos’ gaze quietly reached Anemone.

She asked carefully, swallowing saliva.

“When are you going to start looking for Adelia again?”

A few weeks ago, Reynos stopped searching for Adelia after reading a note sent by someone.

After the search for Adelia stopped, the daily life of those in the Magic Tower continued as usual, but Reynos’ work was different.

He put off the piled up paperwork and investigated the families that had been in conflict with the Magic Tower one by one until not a single speck of dust was left.

As if he was certain that Adelia was with one of them.

Reynos pursed his dry lips. He had been working so silently that his voice was deeply locked.

“If I look for it, do you think I will find it?”

“Well…”

“It’s a strange thing.”

Reynos’ eyes sank deeply.

“How many people on the continent are capable enough to break into the Magic Tower, kidnap Adelia without being noticed by me, and leave a note behind?”

Did Teacher already have doubts?

“If…”

After a while, Anemone brought out what she really wanted to ask.

“If Adelia miraculously became a demibeast and appeared in front of you, how would you feel?”

“…Nothing changes. Adelia is my daughter, and I love her.”

Anemone’s face was filled with relief.

It was a very limited response considering the worst situation was assumed and asked.

As if imaging Adelia as a human, Reynos lowered his heavy eyelids.

“I just want to do something I haven’t been able to do before. Adding Adelia to the family register. And hold her hand.”

All he wanted was really simple things.

“Everyone said it was ridiculous. Many thought I was crazy for treating Adelia like a child.”

Reynos’ love for the penguin was famous.

He loved Adelia so much that for half a year after she was born, he never let her go from his arms.

“They must have been able to spit out those outrageous words because they hadn’t raised Adelia.”

Reynos’ eyes, which were no longer covered by his eyelids, were filled with indescribable emotions.

“How can I not love a creature that only looks at me with clear eyes?”

Anemone stared at such a Reynos.

She had grasped Teacher’s sincerity. That was enough.

Now, there was enough time left to share what she had worked on for a day with him.

Anemone proposed to Reynos with the most serious face.

“Teacher. On Lady Adelia’s birthday, which is coming soon, let’s have a banquet.”

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

I got ready to go out with the help of Iprus.

Today, I was thinking of visiting Anemone.

Since the day I first met Anemone, I have been visiting her every single day.

But no matter how much I talked to her, she just stared at me strangely and didn’t respond.

She looked as if she had something to say, but eventually turned her back and went her own way.

Ha.

“Mone’s aversion to demibeasts is worse than I thought. The attempt to get sympathy must have failed, Rus.”

Iprus touched my clothes and grinned.

“Don’t worry. When the plague comes, Nikita will make a cure. That’s why you worked hard to find her.”

“I should hope so.”

At that time, Suradel came in through the slightly open door.

“Lia.”

His expression when he called my name was a little different than usual.

Widening my eyes, I asked,

“Su, what’s wrong with your face? Did something happen?”

Suradel shook what appeared to be a letter in his hand.

“I got an invitation, but I thought Lia should know too.”

“What kind of invitation is it?”

He came up to me and silently handed me the invitation.

With a curious mind, I opened the invitation in a hurry, and there was something hard to believe.

“…The Magic Tower is holding a birthday banquet for me?”

“They have found Lady Adelia? What the hell does it mean?”

As Iprus and I looked at Suradel in shock, he explained, trouble evident on his face.

“Look here, it’s a banquet to celebrate finding Adelia and commemorating her birthday.”

In fact, every year on my birthday, a banquet was held at the Magic Tower.

It was a small party, with the participants being only the people working at the Magic Tower. Except for Suradel and Iprus, everyone was pure-blooded.

However, looking at the invitation this time, it seemed that a number of demibeasts from each family were also invited this time.

“A birthday banquet without the main party. What is this…”

Besides, who will sincerely congratulate a penguin on her birthday?

It would be good enough if I am not pointed at in agitation.

Iprus’ eyes were narrowed like he couldn’t believe the situation.

“Who took a normal penguin and claimed it was Lady Adelia?”

“Couldn’t Dad tell the difference between me and the other penguins?”

“…He’s in a state where it’s difficult to make normal judgments. I don’t know if he wanted to believe that the lady had returned, even though he knew it wasn’t.”

Suradel glanced at me and asked.

“Are you going, Lia?”

“Before you ask if I’m going, can I even go?”

“That’s an invitation to Lia. There’s another one for my parents and I.”

When I looked at the letter again, my name was actually written in the recipient’s name.

It was full of strange things.

Like how they found Adelia while I was widening my eyes like this in Weil mansion.

And the fact that my father, who hated demibeasts, invited other demibeasts to the Magic Tower for a banquet.

But even more so…

“…I should go.”

Seeing me like that, Suradel naturally went behind me and started tying my hair.

“Lia, would you like to go cool off with me today? I’ll get you a present for your birthday.”

“Great!”

It wasn’t me who gave that clear answer.

“Rus, we have somewhere to go.”

“But like Sir Suradel said, it’s important to go somewhere to chill out sometimes.”

“…Is that so.”

Actually, after hearing that my birthday banquet was going to be held at the Mage Tower, my mood suddenly plummeted.

I tried to pretend I was okay, but the cold attitude of Anemone I see every day was a little too much for me.

I felt like I saw in advance how she would react when she found out who I was.

Iprus, a cow demibeast, must have felt it better than anyone else.

She must have concluded something needed to be done to change my mood.

Suradel, and Iprus…

‘I know you’re trying to make me feel better, so how could I say no?’

I laughed loudly.

“Okay. I’m going to relax today.”