Leaving the two who were fighting over the father role aside, Cari was smiling happily at the thought of having a new family and that smile was incredibly cute.
"You can call me Grandpa if you want, you know?"
"Um… Cari wants Qiong Xing to be Mama."
"...…."
Even Cari wanted Qiong Xing to take the mother role.
But Qiong Xing was a man, his mind was that of an old man and his body was sixteen years old.
He honestly did not feel like he could become a mother.
"Mama is no good?"
"It's not that it's no good."
It wasn't about whether he could or couldn't.
He simply had to do it.
Whether he was a man, whether his mind was that of a 70 years old man, whether he had ever raised a child before, none of that mattered.
He had taken Cari in as family. Roles were just details.
He hugged Cari tightly and said. "From today on, I am Cari's Mama."
"Yeah!"
"I'm the dad!"
"No, I'm the dad!"
They say that the closer people are, the more they fight.
Qiong Xing couldn't help thinking that maybe the two of them should just become a married couple instead.
How long were these two planning to keep arguing?
He didn't need them to get along perfectly, but at least he wanted them to fight quietly.
Being stuck between the two of them while they shouted was unbearably loud.
"Oh, that's right. Let's introduce Cari to one more peo… no, one more creature in the family."
Leaving the noisy two behind, Qiong Xing took Cari and headed to the bedroom.
On top of the soft bed was the egg he had placed there as soon as they arrived at the inn.
He had put it there carefully so it wouldn't break and it didn't seem to have changed at all.
He knelt down and gently picked it up, then showed it to Cari.
"This is Leander's sibling. When I first came to this world, their parent asked me to take care of it. It's not a beastman, but an actual snake. Cari, as the big brother, will you love and take care of this child together with me?"
"Cari… big brother?"
"Yes."
"Yeah! Cari will be big brother!"
Cari answered cheerfully and gently stroked the egg as if it were something precious.
Being abandoned by one's family, by one's own mother, how painful must that be?
If he were already an adult, it might still be bearable, but at this age, when he should still be clinging to his mother, how much sadness must he have felt?
Even though it was only a short time of twelve years, Qiong Xing had properly received love from his parents.
But Cari's time had been much shorter.
Still, from now on, he had them.
Their races were different and their lifespans were different too.
No one knew how much time they had and Qiong Xing would probably have the shortest life of all.
Even so, he decided that he would love them with everything he had.
"If there is such a kind big brother, then this child won't feel lonely either."
"I'm here too, you know. I'm the dad."
"I'm the dad. You're just this egg's sibling, idiot."
They were still going on about that?
With things being this noisy, Cari probably wouldn't even have time to feel lonely.
"So… what was it again? Um… right, that mate thing."
He seemed to remember it, but not completely.
Qiong Xing let Cari hold the egg, then picked Cari up as well and returned to the sofa.
"Was it about whether to become mates or not? What happens if I refuse?"
He understood that beastmen cherished their chosen partners, but from Qiong Xing's point of view, he couldn't help wondering whether that partner really had to be him.
He felt a bit sorry toward Elias for thinking that.
"...Nothing happens. If it's an ordinary mate, nothing happens. But if it's a destined mate, then it's different. In the worst case, they go mad and die."
That sounded less like an explanation and more like a threat.
If he refused, would Elias die?
That was terrifying. Far too terrifying.
Since coming to this world, why did he keep ending up holding other people's lives in his hands?
Those two didn't set this up on purpose, did they?
His thoughts spiraled into doubt and he found himself suspecting the two who had sent him here in the first place.
"So that means there's no right to refuse, isn't there? Even if you don't like it, you have to accept it?"
"It would be best if the other person accepted it, but of course, they can refuse. They can just ignore the other party. Unlike beastmen, humans don't have a strong instinct to seek out one partner. They might feel attracted in some way, but for humans, it's hard to decide something like that based on just that."
Because they were beastmen, their sense of smell was sharp, and they could tell their mate by scent.
Because they were beastmen, their instincts drove them to seek only one person.
"...…."
Wasn't that heavy?
Weren't the people of this world all kind of heavy?
Was this normal here?
"Can't we just stay like this, without becoming mates?"
He had never once thought of Elias as a slave.
Was it really not enough to live together simply as family?
"…It might not be impossible, but I can't do it. I wouldn't be able to endure it."
"Endure it? Endure what?"
"Heat."
"...…Cari, you've had a long and tiring day, haven't you? Let's take a bath and then go to sleep."
That was close. Very close.
This was not something an still-young Cari should be hearing.
"Bath?"
Cari didn't seem to know what a bath was, so he was guided there, but everything he saw was unfamiliar and confusing to him.
Slaves apparently only wiped their bodies with cloths soaked in water.