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Chapter 8
Thud-thud-thud.
Knock, knock, knock!
Harold, who had been working in his office, lifted his chin.
Those footsteps showed no trace of caution.
He didn’t even need to ask who it was.
“Come in, Sandio—”
Click!
“…Ennio?”
“Grandfather.”
Harold set down the quill he had been holding.
Unlike the third grandson Sandio, who was always reckless and impatient, Ennio was careful and perceptive.
It was almost strange how different the twin brothers were despite being born on the same day.
“What brings you here?”
If it had been Sandio, Harold would have scolded him and sent him away. But Ennio was different.
He was the kind of child who would never come unless called.
Moreover, ever since his mother passed away in an accident, he had shut himself off even more.
“…I have a request.”
Harold looked mildly intrigued.
The second grandson he knew was not someone who asked others for favors.
If anything, he was the type to scheme until the other party ended up asking him for help instead.
“Speak. What brings you here all of a sudden?”
“Please call a doctor. A skilled one—preferably someone knowledgeable about seal beastmen.”
“A doctor? Why?”
“…someone is very sick.”
“What did you say?”
“The little one… is sick!”
Ennio shouted, his face flushed bright red.
Only now did Harold notice—his eyes were sunken as if he hadn’t slept, and the corners of his eyes were slightly red, as if he had been crying.
Harold stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“I thought you disliked that child.”
“….”
“You were the one who chased it out that day, were you not?”
“H-how do you even know that…!”
Ennio went pale.
“You think I, as the head of this household, wouldn’t know what happens under my roof?”
Though in truth, Harold had only overheard it by chance while passing by.
“I-I mean, about that day…”
He already understood why Ennio had been so emotional.
And he also knew about how Ennio secretly kept going into his mother’s room.
For Harold, who had lived a long life, there was a certain philosophy.
A door that one locks themselves cannot be opened from the outside, no matter how hard one knocks.
If forced open, it only seals tighter and buries itself deeper.
In the end, only the person who locked it can open it.
‘I didn’t expect that moment to come so soon.’
And not only that—it wasn’t even family, but a stranger like that small otter child who became the key.
“That seal pup or whatever it is… even if something happens to it, it wouldn’t matter to you, would it?”
“I… I don’t want it to get hurt.”
“Why not?”
“Because… that little thing must have a family. If it gets sick, they would be sad. And if… if it never wakes up again…”
Pain twisted across Ennio’s face.
Since his mother’s death, he had never shown such an expression.
He had buried his emotions, pretending to be a composed adult.
Even though he was only seven years old.
“That baby seal did help our clan, yes. But that is all. My grandson is you, Ennio. I will follow your decision. So speak honestly.”
“….”
“That child would have already been killed by the White Shark beastmen if not for Kaska. No one would blame us if we expelled it now.”
Harold looked stern, as if he might dismiss the child at any moment.
If it had been the Ennio from a few days ago, he would have agreed.
He would have said it didn’t matter what happened to that creature.
‘But… but…’
The image of those wounded hands kept returning.
Those small, fragile fingers, torn up from breaking coral branches to find the prettiest flower.
That foolish smile when it held out the coral flower wouldn’t leave his mind.
“No answer, hm? Then I’ll take that as a request to expel it—”
“No! That’s not it… please, not yet. Let it stay until it recovers… or until it wants to leave. Please, Grandfather…”
Harold narrowed his eyes.
“Ennio. You are of the Orcadan clan. You know well that nothing comes without a price.”
“….”
A brief silence.
Ennio lifted his head and met Harold’s gaze.
There wasn’t a trace of hesitation in his eyes.
“Yes. I’ll do it. Whatever it is, I’ll pay the price.”
Before the head of the Orca clan stood his grandson—slightly more grown than yesterday.
He had thought him nothing more than a child, but now he looked unexpectedly resolute.
“Very well. Then—”
Meanwhile
The doctor arrived in less than half a day.
He was a chubby elephant seal beastman.
A renowned physician—one of the few in Emerald Coast capable of treating all mammalian beast species.
“Big brother, will PiPi be okay?”
“…It should be.”
The orca brothers waited outside while the doctor examined the patient.
Another visitor soon arrived.
“Ahem.”
“Oh? Grandpa’s here!”
“It’s ‘Grandfather is here,’ not ‘Grandpa came,’ you blockhead.”
“Grandfather! My brother called me a blockhead!!”
“Here we go again. I can’t even let the patient rest with all this noise.”
“Tch.”
At Harold’s reprimand, the brothers reluctantly paused their quarrel.
Soon, the doctor stepped out of the room.
“How is the patient—no, the little one doing?”
“The condition has stabilized significantly.”
“What is the diagnosis?”
“It is a common fever among young children of this season. We administered a decoction of seagrass roots and several herbs. The fever should subside soon.”
“Then it is fully recovered?”
At Harold’s question, Ennio and Sandio tensed up.
The doctor took a breath under the intense gaze of the orca brothers.
It felt like being watched by not just one, but three overprotective guardians.
‘A baby sea otter in the Orca clan of all places…’
It was strange, but not something he could question.
“Ahem… for now it is stable, but whether it will remain so in the future…”
“What do you mean?”
“Normally, infants receive antibodies from their mother’s milk. Without that, their immune system is weak from birth, like this patient.”
“So you mean…”
They had never considered that possibility.
They assumed it had simply been separated from its parents after being chased away by the White Shark clan.
But what if that wasn’t the case?
“…Continue.”
“Even so, by this age they usually begin to build immunity, but this child’s condition is very unstable. It could fall ill again at any time.”
“Hm…”
“To be frank…”
“Enough.”
Harold cut the doctor off sharply.
“There are too many ears here. Come to my office and continue there.”
“Yes, Clan Head!”
Harold walked briskly down the hallway with his cane.
“Grandfather, I’m coming too!”
Sandio rushed forward to block his way.
Even Ennio, who usually would have pulled his brother back, silently agreed.
“You will stay here. Surely you don’t want that little one to wake up alone?”
“Ah… yeah, that would be sad!”
Sandio immediately backed down.
Ennio glanced at his brother, sighed, and stepped aside.
In the Office
“Speak. Is that child’s life in danger?”
As soon as the door closed, Harold spoke.
The doctor had actually been summoned days earlier through a servant at Harold’s request.
Otherwise, he would not have arrived so quickly.
“As you know, Clan Head… it is rare to find beastmen more resilient than the Orca clan. At best, only White Shark beastmen come close.”
“Get to the point. I dislike rambling.”
At the low voice, the elephant seal doctor stiffened instinctively.
