Chapter 445: Pizza
Elias shot him a glare, and Joa seemed to realize he had made a mistake, so he forcing a strained smile as he tried to leave the room.
However—
"Papa! Papa, I did it! Rui did it! Rui did it too! Papa!"
At Yue’s loud call, Joa immediately headed outside to see what was happening.
Half worried that something had happened, half wanting Lian’s practice to stop, Elias invited Lian to come along and followed after Joa.
What they saw outside left him speechless.
"Papa, look! Look! Rui did it! Isn’t it cool? Aren’t you surprised?"
"...What?"
"...What?"
Both Elias and Joa froze.
They closed their eyes once, then opened them again, but the reality in front of them did not change.
"Rui, is that a bear?"
"Yeah! Isn’t it amazing? Look, look!"
At Yue’s urging, Lian let go of her hand and Elias walked over too, he was smiling and saying how amazing it was.
...No. What. What is that?
"Is that really Rui?"
"...Seems like it."
Even Joa still looked unconvinced, staring in confusion at the happily laughing children.
Rui was a beastman.
The same kind of beastman as Joa.
And yet, and yet... why was he a bear?!
"Albe, come here for a second."
"H-hai!"
Joa who is now with an extremely frightening expression due to sheer confusion, called over Albe who had been standing nearby with a stiff smile, watching Yue and the others.
Albe had also somehow guessed what was about to be said, so he stayed quiet.
"No, uh, yeah. I get that you’ve got a lot you want to say. Yeah, I was surprised when I heard it too, I thought ’what are you even talking about,’ and honestly I laughed like ’there’s no way something that stupid is real.’ But then I saw it in front of me and I was like, seriously? I even told Qiong Xing, like ’what are you teaching them?’ I did say it, but yeah, he wasn’t gonna listen, right? Because it’s Qiong Xing. It’s because it’s Qiong Xing, so it can’t be helped. Actually, aren’t I amazing for trying to stop him? I think I deserve praise. I even stayed quiet like I was told. I should be praised, right? Hey, praise me!"
Albe grabbed Joa as he made that argument with tears welling in his eyes.
"...You did well."
"...You were great."
Honestly, he had spoken so fast that most of it barely registered, but at least they understood that Albe had tried to protest against Qiong Xing, so they decided to praise him.
It seemed that Mao’s transformation had made Rui and Yue jealous, and they had started practicing to figure out how to do it themselves.
They had tried channeling power like Mao, trying to howl, even practicing walking on all fours.
Honestly, it was questionable whether they could even do it at all, and it was strange that Qiong Xing had not stopped them.
But since they had actually succeeded in turning into a bear, maybe it had not been wrong after all.
...Hm?
"Wait a second. Didn’t you say Yue too?"
"Ah, haha... yeah..."
With Albe’s face twitching again, Joa held his head.
"Yue was the first one to succeed. And then Rui said if that’s the case, he’d learn too, so they could show their dads together and surprise them... that’s what Qiong Xing said."
So it always came back to him.
He really did enjoy dragging everyone around at his own pace.
Their mate was just like that.
"Papa! Papa, am I cool? Rui is amazing? Yue can do it too!"
The next moment, Yue transformed as well and let out a small bear-like growl.
Joa, perhaps already having given up on everything, gave a tired smile and patted both of their heads.
It was surprising that anyone other than Mao could do something like this, but the twins were the ones who made it possible.
"Papa!"
"Hmm?"
"Can Lian do it too? Can Lian become like Papa?"
With sparkling eyes, his daughter hugged him tightly.
The twins were beastmen, so maybe it was possible for them, but for Lian who was born human it was likely impossible.
Still, hearing her say she wanted to be like her papa made Elias happier than anything.
When she was born human, Elias had once felt relieved that she would not suffer like him.
But as her father, hearing her say she wanted to be like him truly made him happy.
"It might be a little difficult for Lian. Besides, I’m really happy that Lian takes after Mama, so I want you to stay just the way you are."
"Is that so..."
She looked a little disappointed, but when he told her she would surely grow up to be a beautiful and kind girl like her mama, she smiled and nodded.
...
"Let’s have pizza for lunch today."
After finishing the laundry and as lunchtime approached, Qiong Xing said that.
Tasha did not know what "pizza" was, but she had no right to question it, nor even the right to ask what it was, so she simply followed quietly behind him.
"Do you two have anything you don’t like to eat?"
"...No. Probably not."
As slaves who were barely given proper meals, there had never been anything particularly inedible among what they were given.
Still, when asked if they had any dislikes, she honestly did not know.
"I’m glad to hear that. Then let’s go with pizza... and some french fries. Tasha, could you cut the potatoes? Kira, please help with the pizza."
"..."
"Y-yes!"
Her younger sister who had joined them earlier answered brightly with visible excitement despite her nervousness.
Tasha froze at the knife that was handed to her with a simple "please."
Even though it was something that could easily kill him if used differently, it had been given to her so casually.
"Could you cut them into pieces about this size? It might be a bit much, but I appreciate your help."