The hawk must have taken pity on me; the head it landed on escaped unscathed.
After I gave it some food, it went and built a nest in the Palace Nature Park.
"Oh ho, look at that! An animal has come to enlist. [Boss~, is food ready yet~?]"
The hawk had hopped into the room to beg for food. Melissa was doing her usual dubbing routine, clearly enjoying herself.
Yeah, yeah, here’s your meat.
I called it a hawk, but it was really just a hawk-like bird. Since we were in outer space, I didn’t even know if the Galactic Empire would technically classify it as a member of the bird family.
For now, let's just call it a "big bird."
I looked it up later and found out that eagles are apparently just large hawks, but that rule seemed riddled with exceptions.
I don’t know! "Hawk" is close enough.
"Here you go, meat."
I used tweezers to offer a piece. The bird stared at me. It stared so intensely it felt like it was boring holes through me, without actually touching the meat.
What’s up?
"[Make it smaller,] it says,"
Once I cut it into smaller pieces, the bird happily gulped them down. Afterward, it even rubbed its head against me.
"Oh ho, you’re quite the lady-killer, aren't you? Is it a female?"
"Hands off."
I stopped Melissa as she reached out to pet it. Just then, Ren arrived with some extra meat.
"Are you listening? You must show proper respect to Senior."
She exerted some strange pressure on it. In response, the hawk perched on my shoulder and let out a pathetic, squeaky cry.
Where was that voice even coming from?! It sounded downright miserable.
"Boss~! Big Sis is bullying me~!"
"Yes, yes. You mustn't defy Ren. And Ren, don't bully it either."
"Okay~."
I felt like a kindergarten teacher.
"Hey, Captain. I saw a video of this once. Buddha..."
"I don’t have a punch perm!"
Stop with the Nirvana painting comparisons.
I’d had the same thought for a split second, but I don't have a punch perm! Cut it out!
Next came a squirrel-like creature. Yes, yes, you lot want food too?
I crushed a nut as hard as a walnut with my bare hands and handed over the meat inside. It looked like a walnut, but apparently, it was a relative of the soybean.
Watching me, Melissa burst into a fit of laughter.
"He’s just cracking them with his bare hands! Those are so hard even Chronosians won't eat them! What are you, a gorilla?! Gyahahaha!"
She rolled on the floor, kicking her legs in the air. She was laughing so hard she was actually crying.
Ukee! Me no gorilla!
Then Claire arrived, with a fox—or something fox-like—trotting behind her.
"Meow!"
It was begging Claire for something. Its cry sounded exactly like a cat's.
Claire pulled out some dog jerky.
"Sit."
"Meow♪"
It sat.
This was starting to feel just like the wildlife back at my parents’ house.
"Here."
"Meow♪"
It happily took the jerky.
Finally, my wifey arrived.
"I’m free now!"
Sugar gliders, small birds, rabbits, squirrels... The moment she stepped into the room, she was swarmed by small animals.
"Oh? What’s this? ♪"
Wifey was in high spirits too.
Then, I heard a commotion from the Royal Guard outside. I had a bad feeling about this. I really didn't want to look.
"Wait! Get down! Doggy, get down!"
Kevin sounded frantic.
"Wan! Get off!"
Tatiana was panicking too.
"Everything is quite alright! Yay! Your Majesty! Look, a new friend!"
One-oh-one was riding a Giant Cat.
Not a lion—a cat. Despite being the size of a Light Truck, it let out a sweet "Meow♪"
"O-Oh..."
We all went downstairs. Up close, it was definitely a cat.
One-oh-one looked incredibly satisfied perched atop the massive feline. She slid down its side.
"This is my cat friend!"
"Meow♪"
"O-Oh... what do you want to eat?"
"Meow!"
"Fish, huh? Right."
Melissa cackled again.
"Gyahahahaha! Captain’s just having a normal conversation with a cat!"
Say whatever you want.
The Palace Chef brought over some fish, which the cat munched on happily.
"Well, this is rare. It’s a Giant Cat. They were on the brink of extinction. People thought the Locusts might have finished them off entirely."
The young chef looked delighted as he watched the cat.
"Heh... wait, we have to protect it!"
Come to think of it, some university from the Empire had asked for permission to conduct Chronos Biological Protection Activity.
I took a photo of the cat with everyone. I attached a message—'This is a species on the verge of extinction'—and sent it to all the relevant departments.
I also sent it to the state broadcasters for both the Empire and Chronos.
In less than a minute, the Fairy was scolding me.
"I’m being flooded with protection requests from every direction! What on earth happened?!"
"This cat."
"Oh... how cute... we must protect it."
Cuteness is justice, after all.
Understood.
"Cat, can you bring your friends here?"
"Meow♪"
"It says it'll bring them."
"Leo... listen. Normally, people can’t talk to animals..."
"Claire... don't worry. I've already... given up... on being normal."
Whether I actually accepted it was a different story. I can talk to animals, but I'm perfectly normal!
"It is only natural for the Lord Groom to be abnormal."
Wifey delivered the final blow.
How cruel!
A few days later, a massive colony of cats had gathered at the palace. A fluffy paradise had been created.
Tatiana was busy fluffing them like crazy. You... you were the one telling One-oh-one to stop, but you really just wanted to fluff them yourself, didn't you?
"Meow."
"There's a kitten? Huh? Who...? Ren?"
Ren was keeping her distance. The cat was doing the same. What was with this tension, like neither wanted to step into the other's range...?
"Meow! Meow!"
"Is that one a fierce beast? Not that one, but this one?"
The white cat gently tapped Tatiana’s head as she snuggled against it.
"That’s a kitten. One of mine."
"Meow♪"
"It’s a good cat, so take care of it. —Yeah, I hear you."
"Hehehehe..."
Tatiana had a blissfully stupid look on her face as she nuzzled the white cat.
In the end, we decided to protect all the cats at the palace. They were our cats now.
As time went on and the Sports Festival drew near, a massive wave of zoologists, veterinarians, and animal resource experts arrived from the Empire. I’d been letting in reliable scholars before, but this was on a whole different level.
A massive delegation, including students from across the Empire, had arrived.
"His Majesty Chronos! We have arrived!"
I was greeted by a scholar who was clearly of high-born noble stock. That was a first—having a citizen of the Galactic Empire address me as "His Majesty Chronos."
In fields like zoology, you usually found second sons... actually, if a high-ranking second son was talented, he’d be in the military academy. Maybe a third son or lower. To get this kind of education, he had to be from a Duke-type family, right?
Since he didn’t seem to hate me, he probably wasn't from the Duke Association faction.
"I look forward to your research."
I’d already given up on acting high and mighty. I was just the third son of a Nominal Marquis. I couldn’t change that past, and there was no point trying to hide it. I was just going to be honest about it from now on!
And once you stop caring, you’re invincible!
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
And so, chaos only invited more chaos.
The Sports Festival... would we really be able to pull this off safely?