After deciding to view the Fifth Generation's memories for the Kirin countermeasures, I was shown a single memory.
It was a small barn where the Fifth Generation kept animals he'd raised as a hobby. In the back room, the Kirin was there, eating a meal.
While the Fifth Generation was tending to the other animals, the caretaker staff member was trying to stop someone near the entrance.
"You can't go in! Master Frederics has strictly forbidden entry!"
"Move! I need to talk to my old man!"
The one who barged in recklessly was the young Sixth Generation.
Late twenties, perhaps? He looked younger than the man I was used to seeing — and far more rough.
"Old man, what the hell is going on?!"
The Kirin fled toward the back of the room, and the Fifth Generation — Frederics — let out a sigh.
"What do you want? Didn't I tell you not to come in here?"
As the calm, composed Frederics turned around, the Sixth Generation — Feinz — grabbed him by the collar.
There was a difference in height as well, but with Feinz being young and powerful, the smaller Frederics inevitably looked like he'd come out on the losing end.
"Why did you keep the Kirin a secret?! Was it meant as a gift? Or was House Walt going to use it as a horse?! Rumors have been spreading, and inquiries about confirmation have been coming in from other territories —"
At first glance,
Feinz
was one-sidedly
interrogating Frederics
about the Kirin.
He certainly looked like the one in the wrong.
"…Let go. Who do you think you're putting on that attitude for?"
Frederics hurled Feinz aside on the spot and slammed him down onto a stack of hay.
He dusted off his hands, brushed away the dirt, and went back to tending the Kirin.
Hesitantly, the Kirin crept up to Frederics and began eating its feed.
"…Isn't that a bit much?"
"Which one of us are you talking about?"
When the Fifth Generation said that, I looked at the Fifth and Sixth Generations in my memories. I indicated with my gaze that it was both of them, and the Fifth Generation laughed.
"Yeah, they were both pretty awful. Yep, that's about right."
With that, the Fifth Generation started walking, and I followed after him. The surrounding scenery faded to gray, and a different landscape spread out before us.
We were inside a mansion.
A woman in her late thirties or forties stood before a door, looking completely at her wit's end alongside a servant.
"Come out this instant. It's already time to board the carriage."
As the flustered women stood there, the Fifth Generation from the memory — Frederics — strode up and kicked the door open.
"Stop indulging a child's temper tantrums. Now, take her away."
His subordinates entered the room and promptly led a single girl out.
"No! Why do I have to go marry into a place like that?! They're not even enemies! And on top of everything, I was ridiculed — 'upstarts,' they called them!"
While I was still trying to make sense of the situation, the Fifth Generation standing beside me offered an explanation.
"This was before we found the Kirin. Things were rough back then. Actually, my generation was the worst of the lot. Not many good memories to speak of."
The girl who was dragged from the room was around my age. No — she seemed even younger than me.
"Because I'm a concubine's child, you say? Marry into a family that would mock me for that? You're the absolute worst — you should just die!"
The girl glared at Fredericks, but his expression didn't change one bit. The woman who appeared to be the girl's mother looked sorrowful.
*"You bought my mother with money and scattered your children around like they were nothing... You upstart bastard! Thinking that you're my father makes me want to die!"*
The girl's mother slapped her across the face.
Fredericks's expression didn't waver. As he turned to leave, he said only one thing.
*"Hurry. There's no time."*
The girl collapsed in the hallway, and even as she broke into tears, Fredericks didn't so much as glance back.
I watched all of this.
"Isn't this... a bit much, though? Even for a political marriage, it feels like there could've been a better way to handle it?"
Hearing my words, the Fifth Generation simply murmured, "I suppose so."
*"Now you see, don't you? I used my children as heirs, as marriage pawns for my retainers to gain favor with those around them. The affection I poured into a single child probably paled in comparison to what I gave an animal."*
The Fifth Generation began to walk, and the next scene that unfolded was set at night.
There, a small girl with golden short hair was running around in a white dress-like outfit.
She looked like she could be either a boy or a girl, but what was even more striking was Fredericks himself.
In the memory, the Fifth Generation was smiling, playing with the small child.
"Oh, so you were actually kind to little kids, huh?"
The Fifth Generation beside me shook his head. Then he said something like "it's almost time," so I looked at the child.
The running child transformed into a Kirin, leaped high into the air, and landed right in front of Fredericks, pressing her forehead against his as if nuzzling affectionately.
She hadn't extended her horns — she looked exactly like a child clinging to a parent.
"...Wait, what?"
Once I took a closer look, I understood. It had been a Kirin in the form of a child the whole time.
"I looked into it myself, and it seems the reason the Kirin became a symbol of prosperity is because of this. Apparently, female Kirin can choose mates from any species. In other words, a prosperous house was one where a Kirin had married into it."
I looked at the Fifth Generation and saw the Kirin clinging affectionately to Fredericks.
The Kirin, in human form, was still a child of about five years old.
"You're telling me a man in his fifties made a move on a five-year-old girl?"
When I said that, the Fifth Generation launched himself up and brought his fist crashing down on my head. It hurt like hell.
"Are you stupid! What kind of person do you take me for, you idiot!"
"But you were talking about marriage and all that, weren't you!"
I clutched my head with tears in my eyes and argued back against the Fifth Generation, and once again the scene shifted. I saw many instances of family members complaining when they saw the Fifth Generation doting on animals.
"You care more about beasts than us, your own children!"
"Father has never once shown me a smile..."
"I'm worth less to you than a dog or a cat! Say something, Dad!"
And yet, I saw memories of the Fifth Generation never once smiling at his own children, doing nothing but work except when he was doting on animals.
That was about five years after the Kirin was injured.
From there, the Fifth Generation and the Kirin began to talk.
"If you'd just shown them in order, it would have been a lot easier."
"...The impression was too strong. I can't help but picture those kids' faces. Just bear with it."
Inside the hut, just as the Fifth Generation had found her—a child of about five years old—he gave her a knee pillow on his lap and stroked her back.
The Kirin child, lying there as if enjoying the sensation, said to Fredericks.
"Fredericks, will you be with me? I'm going to be Fredericks' wife."
Hearing that, Fredericks laughed with amusement.
"So. You want to marry me. But you're still a child. When you've grown up, I might not be against considering it. Your injuries are healing too, May."
"Yeah!"
She had more white hair now, and looked more haggard than before.
"...They really do look like a grandfather and granddaughter, don't they?"
"That's probably why he gave such a half-hearted answer. Well, that's about all she remembers, anyway. Even so, I'm actually dead, and if the Kirin haven't returned to House Walt, she's probably forgotten... Did you think I broke my promise?"
That would fall on the Fifth Generation's shoulders, but there was nothing I could do about it. As things stood, I was still just the man who had angered the Kirin by trying to kiss her.
Fredericks spoke.
"...Then we should leave here already. I can't buy any more time."
At his words, May tilted her head.
And then, the scene shifted to a grassland.
The grass reached up to my waist and the Fifth Generation's. The wind was strong, and the sky was blue.
As that place was shown, Fredericks was leading May—now in the form of a Kirin—out and pointing to the sky.
"Look, aren't those your companions?"
"Yeah! Mommy's there!"
The flock of Kirin soaring through the sky flew around Fredericks and May as if standing guard.
"I see. There had been a lot of rumors lately about Kirin being spotted around here. May, it's been fun up until now."
With that, Fredericks lightly tapped near May's neck.
"Fredericks?"
"May, the royal family has started saying they want to see you. There's a chance they'll take you away as you are. If they capture you, you'll spend the rest of your life locked in a prison cell."
"I want to stay together. I want to be with Fredericks forever."
"I feel the same way. But I don't have much time. Look, my family is waiting for me."
Fredericks wore a subtly complicated expression only when the word "family" left his lips. As May clung to him, a Kirin descended from the sky.
It might have been May's mother—after studying Fredericks for a moment, she retracted her horns and approached May. Fredericks watched the scene in silence.
Once the mother Kirin turned and headed back into the sky, May kept glancing back and forth between her and Fredericks over and over.
"Come on, you need to go now."
"But..."
"I'll be fine. Besides, we'll meet again someday."
"You promise? Let's meet again, okay? By the time we do, I'll be all grown up, so I'll be your bride!"
Fredericks nodded with a smile. May, meanwhile, kept turning back, stopping again and again, trying to return to him.
"Go! You belong with your family. That's what will make you... happy!"
Fredericks, who never shed tears over anything related to children, was sobbing as he shouted at the Kirin to hurry and go.
I watched all of that unfold.
"I understand that a lot happened, but this is..."
"Maybe she was looking for me. It seems like she was acting alone rather than with a herd. If that's the case, she must have noticed me. Seriously, she actually remembered a promise from decades ago faithfully."
Seeing the Fifth Generation looking a bit bashful, I—
"So, what am I supposed to do about this? She was definitely hostile toward me, you know?"
"...Can't you just talk to her? Don't worry, that child is smart. Smarter than Shannon or Aria!"
I buried my face in my hands.
When I made it back to the round-table conference room, I found the Sixth Generation there and couldn't help but vent my frustrations.
The Fifth Generation was nowhere to be seen—seemed like she had shut herself away in her room.
"I really understand now why the Sixth Generation became a delinquent and ran away from home."
The Sixth Generation scratched his cheek with his fingertip while looking at me with a wry smile.
"Well, I was definitely wild back then. Got beaten up and thrown around more times than I can count. There was a lot going on with Kirin, too. But looking back now, the Fifth Generation's decision might have been the right one after all."
The Sixth Generation sighed and crossed his arms, lost in thought.
And then he told me all sorts of things.
"Lyle, what do you think of the Fifth Generation?"
"...Cold, maybe. Or more of an animal person. Well, as a parent, I have my doubts."
"Yeah. That's what I think too. But still..."
Something still didn't sit right with him. The Sixth Generation seemed to come to a decision and beckoned me over.
"While you're at it, go ahead and look through my memories too."
And so, just like that, I headed to the Sixth Generation's memory room.
The two of us passed through the door into the Sixth Generation's memories, and found ourselves at the Walt estate.
A young Sixth Generation was complaining to what appeared to be his mother and the other women.
"Like hell I'm following that old man! I'm leaving this house! Let someone else inherit the damn thing!"
The teenage Sixth Generation—Feinz—was in the middle of storming out of the house in a rage.
But one of the women stood up and spoke in a flat, even tone.
"You foolish boy! You know nothing, and yet you dare speak to your father like that..."
Feinz, flustered by his mother breaking into tears, fled the room as if running away. And as he stood there, hesitating by the door, he heard voices from inside.
Five women were talking about something.
"Someday, you'll understand."
"He's the one who's hurting the most."
"But at least to Feinz..."
Four women were comforting the mother, who had burst into tears about something. The concubines were consoling her.
(This isn't what I imagined at all.)
I had expected things to be more tense, with them fighting over the matter of the heir. But in reality, they got along well.
Feinz was gritting his teeth, perhaps unable to forgive his mothers for not blaming the Fifth Generation.
His expression truly looked like he hated the Fifth Generation.
"What's wrong, big brother?"
Appearing there was a young girl named Mireia who looked just like Miranda — no, rather, Miranda was the one who resembled her.
She would marry into House Cerclie and become an ancestor of Miranda and Shannon, and she was looking at her scowling brother Feinz with golden eyes.
"I-It's nothing. I just... couldn't forgive the old man, so I went to protest. And then I was the one who got blamed. ...Tch, what am I even saying to you?"
Watching the Sixth Generation speak honestly to his sister, I found myself thinking as I looked at the girl named Mireia.
(She seems way too composed for her age.)
She was different from Miranda in her own way, giving more of an impression similar to Novem. But her little giggling mannerisms looked like Miranda's or Shannon's.
"You're always angry, big brother. But Father always looks so sad."
Hearing his sister say that, Feinz punched the wall.
"Sad?! How could that possibly be! He treats us like objects! You might get treated like a tool too, you know!"
Mireia lowered her eyes, and then said one thing.
"I can't see, so I can't be used as a tool."
At that, even Feinz looked away, cast down.
"I-I'm sorry. But I've already made up my mind. I'm leaving this house."
"Brother?"
"That's right. I'll become an adventurer! Someday I'll be a top-class adventurer and beat that old man to a pulp!"
Looking up at the tall Feinz, Mireia had this to say:
"...I hate who you are right now, Brother."
With that, she turned her back and walked away.