The Strange Three Brothers
The bewilderment lasted only a moment. Almost in unison, everyone's thoughts landed on the same name — Jared.
"That bastard dropped one last pile of crap on his way out? He really thought we wouldn't figure out it was him just because he named Nathan?"
The accusation was so blatant that the sheer absurdity of it made them burst out laughing instead of getting angry. A half-wit leaves traces in everything he does.
"I think we underestimated Jared. I never imagined he'd pull something like this again, but this time he's gone completely off the rails."
"He must have lost his mind after getting expelled. Nothing else explains him going this far."
Hiring assassins to try to kill his own classmates — this was not something they could ever just let slide.
"So how do we deal with him?"
Part of them wanted to pay him back in exactly the same coin, but they still had a shred of reason left.
"I think we should tell the adults."
Jared had already crossed every line there was. There was no telling what worse thing he might do next. Logan believed handing the matter over to the grown-ups was the right call.
"Absolutely not!"
"I'm against it too!"
Bayul and Aidan voiced their strong opposition almost simultaneously. If they wanted to keep attending the Academy, letting the matter reach their families was something they had to avoid at all costs.
"Our families already aren't thrilled about us being at the Academy as it is. If they find out about today, they'll definitely push even harder to make us quit. I have no interest in my family's business, I'm telling you."
"Same here — my father might order me to drop out and return to Hamilton. He already found out about what happened at the night market and was furious."
And more than that. His father had personally demanded a duel with Duke Hector at the Crown Prince's birthday party. This time, a mere duel would never be the end of it.
"I get that this would blow up if it reached home. But Bayul, Jared crossed the line. There's no telling how much more dangerous things could get."
"We held him off fine this time, didn't we? We can do it again!"
"Exactly! Sure, I was rattled since it's the first time anything like this has happened, but if we train harder, we'll handle it better."
The truth was, when they'd come face to face with the assassins earlier, his heart had dropped through the floor — it had been that terrifying. But Bayul feared something else even more: leaving the Academy.
If he were forced to leave Carrington now, who knew when he might ever see the precious friends he had only just gained.
Besides, going back to Hamilton like this somehow felt like returning as a failure. Even if he couldn't come home in glory, he wanted to return as a son his father could be proud of.
"Well, doesn't matter to me. Even if that bastard knows about today, nothing much changes for me either way."
"Likewise."
Eli and Quinn stayed neutral. God knows they wanted to pummel Jared senseless right this instant, but whichever way the decision went, nothing in their own lives would change.
"Still, letting the two of you leave the Academy is out of the question."
"Then how about we agree to think this over some more before deciding anything?"
In the end, it was four against one. For all their talk of not minding, Eli and Quinn came and stood at Bayul's and Aidan's sides.
"Fine — then what do we do about those scum?"
Logan had no choice but to go along with his friends' wishes.
But if something like this happened again, he would have his way, without fail. Letting it pass would happen only this once.
"I can handle that part."
These were men who had tried to take their lives. Naturally, they couldn't simply be released. If they weren't going to tell the adults, then they would have to clean up the mess themselves.
"You, Quinn?"
"What are you going to do?"
"There's a way to make sure they don't die — but don't exactly get to live properly, either."
It was a punishment unique to the Mermaid Kingdom, reserved for merfolk who committed crimes. These men had dared to harm a prince of the Mermaid Kingdom himself — they deserved nothing less.
Quinn's eyes gleamed toward the assassins more chillingly than ever before.
Chapter 6 — The Strange Three Brothers
"Young Master! Young Master!"
The carriage carrying Bayul, Eli, and Aidan pulled up in front of the residence. Quinn had headed off to his hideout with his own men to deal with the assassins, while Logan, after having his wounds treated, switched to another carriage in town, saying there was something he wanted to look into personally.
"Why are you only getting back now! Do you have any idea how worried I've been?"
His friends didn't even register in her vision. The moment the carriage door opened, Rita seized Bayul and launched into a full-scale scolding.
"If you were going to be late, you should have at least sent word ahead! My heart nearly beat out of my chest wondering if you'd gotten into trouble again — because of that wretched young master, just like last time!"
"I'm sorry, Rita. Something suddenly came up that we had to stop by……."
He felt a twinge of guilt inside, but Bayul did his best to stay calm as he soothed her.
"Any later and Sir Ian was about to go out searching for you himself! If you do this again, I'm seriously going to get angry!"
Only her voice was booming; Rita's eyes were still brimming with worry. He'd treated her outing as a quick trip — sure that even running late would be fine — and once again he was being reminded of how careless that assumption had been.
"Sir Ian, I'm sorry. I stopped by the Chairman's home with some friends."
"The Chairman's home……?"
Ian's gaze went straight to Eli. It meant he already knew what had happened at the Academy.
Bayul wasn't even surprised anymore. This, too, was simply one of the ways Ian protected him.
"You've heard about Jared, then?"
"Yes. By now the news should have reached Duke Hector by letter as well."
"That was fast."
"It is something he needs to know."
"Young Master, what about your meal? Did you have lunch?"
Rita worried about Bayul's health day and night, through everything. At her question, Bayul turned to look at his friends.
"None of the three of us ate properly. How about you, Rita?"
"Of course I waited for you, Young Master! Come inside, quick — I'll have something ready for you in a flash!"
Rita wasn't the only one who'd been waiting for Bayul. As they entered the residence, Death and his brothers greeted them with vacant, listless faces. Their haggard state, clutching their growling stomachs, was pitiful to behold. Bayul didn't know it, but they had already tried to start eating without him — and had been thoroughly disciplined by Rita for it.
"Who are they? I've never seen those faces before."
Eli, who'd been puffing up at the prospect of Rita's delicious cooking, scrunched his face and came to a stop. Not a single one of them had a pleasant look about him.
He'd felt something off about that Death fellow the other day, but with the three of them clustered together, they somehow grated on him even more. Something unsettling about them, you could say. Their pale, bloodless skin, and the fact that everything from their hair down to their clothes was plastered in pitch black — it was dreary, and frankly, he didn't like any of it one bit.
"Oh, right — you and Rai haven't met them yet, Aidan. They're the new servants. They're also Death's actual younger brothers."
"Younger brothers? Not older?"
Both of them had faces that looked well past thirty, so the question came out of him before he could stop it. At that, Amon answered with a gentle smile.
"We hear that often."
There wasn't the slightest hint of offense in him. If anything, the corners of his closed eyes curved pleasantly behind his glasses.
"Bar is learning to cook, and Amon tends the garden. It seems they skipped lunch waiting for me — it should be fine if they eat with us, right?"
"Of course! I burned through so much energy I'm one step away from starving to death. And obviously there's food for our Ingrid too, right?"
Aidan reached up and stroked the feathers of Ingrid, perched on top of his head. The little owl had been in such a deep sleep that it only came flopping out to rejoin the group long after the whole incident had settled down.
"Huh? That's a shapeshifter beast, isn't it?"
At the sound of Bar's voice, Ingrid — dozing off with its head bobbing in the nest of Aidan's hair — snapped awake.
"…What did you just say?"
Eli, who had been striding toward the dining hall while doing his best to shake off the discomfort, flinched and froze mid-step.
He wasn't the only one. Bayul and Aidan turned to stare at Bar, equally dumbfounded.
"Hmm? What?"
Behind Bar, who responded with perfect innocence, a crushing wave of killing intent erupted. He belatedly realized what he'd said and clapped a hand over his mouth, but there was no taking back words already spoken. Bar's whole body trembled like an aspen leaf.
What was that?
Eli tilted his head.
That was definitely something just now, wasn't it?
A flash of killing intent so strong it had made the hair on his neck stand on end — brief, but real.
…Or was it not?
There was no one here capable of giving off killing intent like that. Sir Ian might have been able to, but he had already gone ahead to the dining hall.
I must have imagined it…….
It had passed in a blink, so he couldn't quite be sure.
"How did you know our Ingrid is a shapeshifter beast?"
Even Aidan, who had spent five years with him, had only learned the truth today. If it hadn't been for Rayegar — a mage, and the Dragon Lord at that — he might have gone his whole life without knowing.
And yet a servant, Bar, had identified it at a glance. Aidan couldn't help wondering how.
"Th-that's…… I, uh……"
Bar racked his brain trying to come up with some kind of excuse, but nothing came readily. One wrong answer here could end his life on the spot — and he hadn't even finished learning the secrets of cooking yet. This was a full-blown emergency.
"Bar?"
As the bleak future painted itself in his mind, beads of cold sweat broke out across Bar's forehead.
"What's the harm in my little brother knowing something you already know?"
That was when Death, unable to watch any longer, stepped in. He let out a deep, unheard sigh, then explained.
"Bar has a Tamer ability. This arm was cut off by accident while he was taming, you see."
"…A Tamer, you say?"
An utterly unexpected word. Not just Aidan but Bayul and Eli as well jumped, eyes going wide.
"Is that really so shocking?"
"I mean, no, but…… being a Tamer doesn't mean you can recognize a shapeshifter beast, does it?"
"Good question. Taming isn't my area, though."
Death passed the question back to Bar.
Gulp.
As the tension mounted, spit pooled dry in his mouth. Bar avoided Death's gaze, dropped his eyes, and stammered.
"A-a Tamer's a Tamer, you know? Everyone's different! I can identify any animal just by seeing it once!"
"Really? How?"
It was a genuinely curious question. Aidan had never actually met anyone with the same ability he had. If there was anything he could learn from the man, he wanted to learn it all.
"Well…… that's kind of hard to explain……"
Under the barrage of Aidan's headlong questions, Bar wavered. He sneaked a glance at Death, then added in a small voice,
"Shapeshifter beasts, you see…… you just kind of get a feel for them the moment you look at one."
"A feel?"
"Yeah — how should I put it? They look really, really tasty?"
"Tasty……? They look tasty?"
"Look at your owl there. Doesn't it make your mouth water? You've never eaten a shapeshifter beast? Those are the delicacy of all delicacies! Practically impossible to get your hands on, that's the only reason!"
How about that? That explanation ought to do, right?
"Wh-what are you saying you eat?"
There wasn't a trace of a joke on his face. Watching Bar lick his lips and lecture them with such earnest passion, the whole group could only stare at him in horror.