The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

I hadn’t intended to feel a sense of kinship with the gryphon, but in a way, our situations were quite similar.

Of course, if I had to compare, my circumstances were much better. In this world, I had friends, and I had a place I could call home.

No matter what happened, I had somewhere to return to. And it wasn’t a place I had recently found—it was somewhere I had been since childhood.

Well... technically, it wasn’t really a normal childhood. And technically, I wasn’t exactly young when I first arrived here.

But still, if I had to name a few places in the imperial palace that held memories for me, I could.

Before entering the academy, Alice had always been exasperated with me, irritated, and even jealous. But our relationship had never been terrible. I had always been considerate of her in my own way, and Alice had somewhat acknowledged that.

If I ever said that to her face, she would probably react as if I were speaking nonsense, but... in a way, Alice had been spoiled around me.

Even now, she insisted on calling herself my “older sister,” which was just her way of acting spoiled in a different form.

...If I hadn’t had my time-reversing ability, if I hadn’t escaped that day, I wondered what my life would have been like now.

At least the gryphon had some value because of its power—it had been used because of what it could do.

But me? I might not have even been worth that.

I might have just been a disposable tool. Used a few times and then discarded.

Or I might not have even been alive anymore.

Even if I had survived, I would have been utterly alone—no home, no family, no friends. Just an isolated existence.

In that sense, I felt a kinship with the gryphon.

And it was not a kinship I particularly wanted to feel.

“If you’d like... you can consider this place your home.”

The words sounded strange even as I said them.

Would a gryphon even understand the concept of a “home”?

It wasn’t as if it could speak human language.

But what else could I do?

I didn’t understand the gryphon’s language—if it even had one.

And if this gryphon had never lived among its own kind, then maybe it didn’t have a language of its own.

Maybe it understood human speech better than it understood the words of its own species.

...That thought made me feel even worse.

Careful not to let my pity show on my face, I continued speaking.

“However, if this is your home, you can’t just do whatever you please. If we’re living under the same roof, there are rules we have to follow.”

The gryphon stared at me. Its head was still far above my own, and it didn’t seem inclined to lower it.

But for some reason, it didn’t feel like it was looking down on me anymore.

“You can’t just go hunting livestock from nearby farms. If you do that, it will cause trouble for the people who live here.”

The problem wasn’t just the loss of livestock.

Compensating the farmers with money was easy enough, but repairing broken trust was much harder.

Even if they were reimbursed, their animals had still been stolen from them. And the fact that the culprit was none other than the Empire’s symbol would only make things worse.

That was why Alice had always been so careful about managing the gryphon’s food supply.

“And if you consider me... a companion of sorts, then please be polite to my friends as well.”

I looked up at the gryphon, meeting its sharp golden eyes.

“If you can follow those rules, then this place will always be your home.”

I didn’t know how long gryphons lived.

There had been almost no research conducted on them.

For all I knew, they could live over a hundred years.

Some universities had even contacted the palace, asking for permission to study the gryphon.

Since it was my creature, they couldn’t dissect it, but they still wanted to conduct other experiments.

...But if I truly considered it family, then that wasn’t something I could allow.

“......”

The gryphon listened to me in silence.

Then, after a long pause, it slightly lowered its head.

I decided to take that as a sign that it understood.

“Good.”

And just like it had done, I gave a small nod in return.

“The gryphon is supposed to be a proud creature.”

“I suppose its definition of pride differs from ours.”

It was the first day of the academy’s festival.

The last day of the year was tomorrow.

Light snow had fallen the night before, but today, the sky was clear.

I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

If it had been snowing, I wouldn’t have even considered flying today.

It was already going to be freezing in the sky, and if I had to deal with snow on top of that...

No, thank you.

My visibility would be reduced, my clothes would get wet and heavy, and if my gloves soaked through, my hands would go numb, making it impossible to hold onto anything.

But since the sky was clear, I had to follow through.

Dressed in a thick winter coat and a fur-lined aviator cap, I prepared myself.

Jennifer watched me with an amused smirk.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“The student council president really put you in a bind, huh?”

“I was the one who accepted their request, so it’s fine.”

“Is that so?”

Jennifer turned her gaze toward the gryphon.

Back at the palace, it spent more time loafing around than standing.

But now, it stood tall on all four legs, its sharp eyes fixed on the two of us.

Of course, after spending so much time with it, I knew exactly why it was standing.

There was no soft straw bedding here.

We were on the roof of the academy’s main building.

That’s right.

The gryphon simply didn’t want to sit on the cold, hard surface.

It had never «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» explicitly said so, but it only ever sat in places that were warm and comfortable.

Otherwise, it would remain standing.

Honestly... for a supposedly majestic beast, it sure had a lot of picky habits.

But then again, it had been raised by humans.

Even house cats had vastly different behaviors from their wild counterparts.

“...Hmm.”

Jennifer opened her mouth to say something, then hesitated.

After a brief pause, she asked,

“So, what’s this gryphon’s name?”

“...Huh?”

“The word ‘gryphon’ is just its species. Nobody raises a dog and just calls it ‘Dog.’”

“......”

...Huh.

Now that she mentioned it, I had never really thought about that.

It was the only gryphon in the Empire, and I had never needed to call it by name.

But... now that I thought about it, maybe it should have one?

I glanced up at the gryphon.

It, too, was looking down at me with a slightly bewildered expression.

“...I haven’t decided yet.”

“Is that so? Well, it’s not my place to say anything.”

Jennifer shrugged, then turned her attention to the crowd below.

“There are quite a lot of people gathered. It looks like they’re about to begin.” 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

“I think so too.”

From up here, I could see the students lined up in rows.

And beyond them, the distinguished guests’ seats.

The headmaster stepped onto the podium, addressing the assembly.

“Well, I should get ready.”

Jennifer nodded.

“My father is looking forward to this. He said it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see the Empire’s symbol in action.”

She chuckled.

“By the way, the Sword Saint is here too. I’d love to hear what exactly you two talked about. It must be something really difficult to say—seeing as you went through all this just to buy yourself some time.”

“......”

Ignoring her knowing smirk, I turned toward the gryphon.