Heki, the Villainous Face

To his surprise, Louis ended up being appointed as Kuuga’s escort.

However, things did not proceed with a “let’s start today,” as Louis—clearly fascinated by Kuuga—left the office somewhat reluctantly to complete his transfer paperwork.

Apparently flustered that his top recommendation hadn’t been chosen, Edalion was in no position to poach large numbers from the Red Knights to which he belonged. He rushed off, announcing that he would gather candidates from other knight orders as well.

When he returned, leading a sizable group of knights, Kuuga immediately grasped Edalion’s ploy and thwacked his shin with his tail in reproach.

Edalion, evidently aware of his own tactics, flashed a sheepish grin at Kuuga.

“It’s fine, isn’t it? Now that we’ve proven the Divine Beast’s judgment is so reliable!”

“What are you talking about?”

Gadilas asked suspiciously, not understanding what Edalion was being chided for. Uros, too, eyed Edalion warily, finding it odd that the man who’d first brought just one person was now introducing ten at once.

Edalion, undaunted, flashed a breezy smile and gave a thumbs-up.

“I just brought every top performer I could get my hands on!”

“…Honestly…”

Since even his best judgment hadn’t been enough to pass Kuuga’s standards with Louis, Edalion figured he might as well let Kuuga do all the selecting from the start.

Gadilas pressed a hand to his forehead, already feeling a headache coming on, but Edalion remained cheerfully indifferent.

“…Divine Beast, if it’s not too much trouble, could you take care of this for us?”

Uros, perhaps seeing the efficiency in the plan, immediately switched gears and asked Kuuga for help.

With a resigned sigh, Kuuga nodded and turned his gaze on the row of knights. They stood at attention, tense under Kuuga’s scrutiny, while Gadilas and the others watched quietly. The office fell utterly silent.

Of course, Kuuga could gauge much about a person just by looking at their face—but feelings toward Gadilas, for example, were sometimes only apparent when a person addressed him directly.

He wanted them to introduce themselves, at least. But how to communicate that need?

After pondering, Kuuga tapped his forepaw twice at Uros.

“…? What is it?”

Kuuga looked at the knights, then at Gadilas, repeating the sequence twice. Uros seemed to realize that Kuuga wanted them to do something, stroking his chin in thought.

“Is it that you can’t make a fair judgment as things stand?”

‘Exactly.’

“At Louis’s interview, you didn’t do anything special, though… Is there some difference?”

Kuuga had been able to assess Louis easily, so now Gadilas tried to divine the distinction between these knights and Louis.

“…Louis introduced himself.”

“Ah, I see, so they should introduce themselves?”

‘That’s right. Well done.’

Kuuga wagged his tail happily, feeling glad that the two men grasped his meaning without much trouble. Seeing this, Edalion’s face slackened in a carefree smile.

“All right, let’s have everyone introduce themselves, then.”

Gadilas, too, seemed to be slowly understanding how Kuuga made his judgments.

As the knights stepped forward to introduce themselves, Kuuga watched them closely. As expected, every one of them had the impressive presence befitting a knight.

Becoming a Royal Guard meant a major promotion; each knight’s desire to seize this opportunity was plain to see.

Yet, what preoccupied Kuuga was always their feelings toward Gadilas. Strong or weak, almost all of them harbored some shade of negative sentiment toward the king—much like Louis.

What was it about Gadilas? Kuuga couldn’t fathom why, seeing as Gadilas showed none of the faults that would warrant such looks.

When all had introduced themselves, Uros addressed Kuuga again.

“Divine Beast, could you indicate which knights are suitable for appointment?”

“Before that—does anyone meet your exacting standards?” Gadilas interjected, wanting to clarify before final decisions were made.

Understanding, Kuuga nodded and placed his forepaw on the foot of one knight.

“!”

If he recalled correctly, this one had introduced himself as Heki. With a face so forbidding that he’d probably make a child cry, he looked the toughest of the lot and likely matched the impression in swordsmanship, too. Yet, unexpectedly, he was gentle at heart, though perhaps easily hurt. Toward Gadilas, Kuuga sensed a kind of sympathy.

Gadilas and the others stared at Heki in surprise.

“That one’s acceptable?”

Their faces all but said, “With that face?” True, Heki had the most villainous visage of anyone present, but it seemed a bit cruel to judge him on that alone.

‘Yes. This man is trustworthy to the core.’

When Kuuga nodded repeatedly for emphasis, Edalion let out a low whistle and turned to Heki.

“Amazing, even Louis didn’t make it, but it’s Divine Beast-approved!”

Heki, not quite grasping what was happening, looked lost. He didn’t show much on his face, so to everyone but Kuuga, it seemed as if he was calmly accepting things.

After glancing at Gadilas and Edalion, Heki looked down at Kuuga, who still had his paw resting on Heki’s foot.

Noticing the gaze, Kuuga looked up at Heki, and for a few seconds, their eyes met. Gradually, tears pooled in Heki’s eyes.

“…Th-thank you… I… with a face like this, people are always scared of me…”

‘You’re a gentle soul. Don’t worry; I know.’

While the others stood frozen in surprise at Heki’s hiccupping sobs, Kuuga nuzzled against him in comfort.

“They say you can’t judge a book by its cover…”

“…It seems that’s true…”

Uros and Gadilas, clearly, were genuinely astonished, their voices tinged with disbelief.

“For His Majesty and the Divine Beast… I swear I’ll serve you with all my heart!”

“…A-ah. I’m counting on you.”

Gadilas, only slightly taken aback by Heki’s overwhelming emotion, offered him an encouraging word, and Heki bowed deeply in reply.

“Well then, Divine Beast, could you indicate, according to the usual criteria, which knights can be recommended?”

Shaking off the moment, Uros addressed Kuuga, who responded by placing his paw on the feet of knights who would not betray Gadilas.

Of the ten, six were chosen. As for the four who weren’t, while they didn’t seem currently disposed to harm Gadilas, they struck Kuuga as types easily corrupted by money, so he left them out.

The rejected knights all wore faces of disbelief, but neither Gadilas nor the others made any move to challenge the decision, trusting Kuuga’s judgment based on their past experiences with him.