“There is a Mother Whale at the end of the visible distance ahead!”
A sailor peering through a telescope shouted. The veterinarian and others caring for the pink Baby Whale turned to look beyond.
Among the clouds, a pink Sky Whale was swimming, its massive body scattering the clouds like white paint on a blue canvas as it swam by.
Same species.
Clearly a parent.
Pastel was trembling.
“Ahhh.”
“Mother Whale.”
“In the sky, whale whale.”
“Hormone Friend.”
“Did the sky whale just scream?!”
“This is a total sky is falling situation!”
“Boom!”
“Ahhh!”
But despite the chaos in his heart, he took charge as the general coordinator, trying to stay as calm as possible.
“Everyone, calm down! Just follow the plan! Cease navigation! Wait at your positions! Professor, where’s the whale reconnaissance ship?”
“Over there!”
A faculty airship, camouflaged in white and blue, was observing the Sky Whale from a safe distance.
“It’s farther than usual. The Mother Whale must be in a bad mood.”
Eugh, bad news.
“But it should be fine! It’s within expected parameters!”
Even though this was the legal airspace of Sky Island, it was quite far from inhabited areas.
There was little chance of the typically gentle Sky Whale flying all the way to Sky Island just to vent its anger on innocent people after ignoring its Baby Whale.
Pastel lay on the deck, alternating his gaze between the Baby Whale mindlessly munching on roasted shrimp and the angry Mother Whale smashing through clouds.
Neither seemed to react.
Since the Baby Whale had been trapped in the metal container, both parent and child had been able to communicate long before. Even the Demon Lord and the related faculty professors acknowledged this fact. They’d even investigated the magic circle in the container to verify it.
The Mother Whale wasn’t unable to rescue its child; it simply chose not to.
If the Baby Whale were truly in danger, things would be different, but Sky Whales are animals with innate survival skills, so they’d survive even if they were a bit starved or had cracked skin.
Still, it’s perplexing that there was no reaction despite being so close.
Is their family relationship really this cold?
Just like how my family sold everything after Dad disappeared!
Pastel approached the Baby Whale lying there.
“How are you?”
The veterinarian rubbed the whale’s pink skin in amazement.
“Looking good! I’ve never taken care of a Sky Whale, just refer to case studies, but I didn’t expect this level of recovery. Eating a few gems really does wonders.”
After rescuing it and flying directly here, the Baby Whale had become fit and unharmed.
“Surely, the Sky Whale is impressive. I’ve heard that even in its relatively small juvenile state, it can grow into a massive adult just by consuming ambient magic. But wow, who would’ve thought it would recuperate so quickly after eating a gem.”
“Heh.”
The Baby Whale stuck out its pink tongue to point at the roasted shrimp. An upperclassman who had followed as a worker fed it an entire basket of shrimp.
Chomp chomp.
It definitely looked super fine.
“I’m so glad you’re better!”
Feeling slightly relieved, Pastel held another basket of roasted shrimp in his hand.
The Baby Whale rolled its eyes and quickly glanced over. Then it started to flap its mouth, eager to eat.
Chomp chomp chomping.
Pastel peeled the skin off the roasted shrimp and sprinkled some gem powder on it. He took a big bite.
Nom.
The tender flesh filled his mouth. It wasn’t salty at all, but its subtle umami flavor was exquisite.
“Hormone Friend.”
It’s delicious!
The Baby Whale’s eyes widened. It stopped chomping and stared at Pastel intensely.
It looked like a cat was shocked to see its owner eating cat food.
Pastel’s eyes grew wide in surprise. He quickly finished his shrimp and swallowed.
“Whale friend, what’s wrong? Do you have something to tell me? Maybe about your family issues? Like how you ended up this way with your parents.”
On saying this, it sounded like a rather rude question, so he quickly shook his head.
“I’m not really curious!”
At that moment, the Baby Whale stayed silent. Perhaps it was still stunned by the sight of a human snatching shrimp.
Chomp chomp.
Hey.
You glutton!
“Why are you even trying to talk to a whale? Whales don’t know human words.”
But wait! I could communicate just fine with the Baby Birds I met earlier while hovering over the Sky Whale!
“If you really want to communicate, ask a simple yes or no question. Every individual is different, but depending on the situation, it can understand human intent.”
Hah.
Is the Demon Lord some kind of genius?!
Let’s start with an easy question.
“Whale friend! I’m going to ask you a question, so you just need to answer! Just flapping your wing fin or something would work!”
He pointed at the Baby Whale’s pink wing fin.
“If you understand, flap flap!”
The Baby Whale glanced over.
Silence.
Uh-oh.
Doesn’t it know what flap flap means?
“Spread your arms like this.”
Pastel demonstrated the flapping motion with his arms.
“Flap flap flap.”
The Baby Whale stared silently at the pink girl enthusiastically flapping her arms.
It watched him in silence, then extended its tongue.
Aha, tongue communication?
Is that easier for whales?
Its tongue was pointing at the shrimp basket.
Basically, demanding more food!
Waaaah!
Ignored, Pastel’s expression turned gloomy.
You bad whale!
You’re such a naughty whale!
I believed you were my friend!
Hmph.
He muttered gloomily.
“At this rate, we might as well take it straight to the Mother Whale instead of the aerial treatment from the existing plan…”
Those nearby were startled. They had been confused by the Marchioness’s eccentric behavior, but now were snapping back to reality.
“Y-yes! That sounds good.”
“Let’s send it back right away. Even though it looks very cozy here, it would surely prefer being below the Mother Whale.”
The Baby Whale flinched.
It looked startled, but Pastel didn’t bother to ask further because he could guess it was pouting due to the shrimp skin still not being completely peeled.
They executed the plan to return the Baby Whale. The faculty whale reconnaissance ship turned around to pick it up and reassess the Baby Whale’s condition.
“Seriously, no injuries at all!”
“Awesome!”
Pastel wedged the white broom between his legs. The broom had been repaired by an artisan who had been loaded onto the airship beforehand.
Powerful Pastel, so capable.
“It’s flying! It’s flying!”
Broom up~.
The broom lifted off. When the rope tied to it went up, the Baby Whale was pulled along.
It wasn’t tightly bound, just meant to gently pull it. The original plan was for the healed Baby Whale to naturally fly back to its parents, but since it didn’t seem to want to go, they had to force it to move.
The pink Baby Whale clung to the deck, refusing to budge. The rope stretched tight.
A stubborn stance.
Uh-oh.
“What’s the matter? Did you hurt your stomach or something, making flying impossible?”
Did it injure something we couldn’t see?
The Duke’s daughter, Elshire, curiously approached the whale.
“It flew a bit earlier just to eat shrimp. It just seems to prefer this position.”
“Really?”
Pastel tilted his head, cranking up the broom’s power.
Suddenly, the resisting Baby Whale began to move sluggishly. It seemed like it really didn’t want to go, but at least it was moving now.
Pastel took one last look at the sack of gems for emergency broom fuel.
All clear.
He gripped the broom tightly with trembling hands.
With a calm expression, he looked down at the crowd on the deck.
“When I take off, please have the airship circle back to the designated location. Also, be prepared to flee at any moment.”
“Yes!”
He met eyes with the mid-level professor.
“If anything happens, and I end up dying, please take charge. Also, send my regards to Professor Horace.”
“…Yes, Your Grace.”
The professor nodded, a perplexed expression on his face.
Pastel glanced back at the Mother Whale, still smashing through clouds in a rage.
“Here we go!”
He cranked up the broom’s power. The Baby Whale sluggishly followed him as the airship began to circle, with the deck quickly receding into the distance.
The open sky greeted them. The wind rushed, whipping Pastel’s pink hair wildly.
“All clear!”
Aside from the fact that I might just get killed as a result of its rage.
“Wowaaah!”
With no one looking, Pastel dropped the responsible act and let out his cries of distress.
“My life, my life…!”
His body trembled.
If only the whale friend just flew home, I wouldn’t need to risk bringing it back!
But, but forcing the victim to take that risk seems wrong!
The Demon Lord chuckled softly.
“Young Craft, you have every reason to be proud. As you’ve said, you now have money and power, so you could have someone else do this. But you didn’t.”
It was a voice that seemed to lessen recent worries.
Honestly, Pastel didn’t feel at all pleased by the Demon Lord’s words.
“I want to do that right now!”
Someone else, please take over!
“But you didn’t. That’s how it is.”
Ahhh!
Why did I do that?! Why did I do that?!
With a simple finger twitch, several people could have flown in the airship to return the Baby Whale!
Could it be that Pastel really has become a fool?
Could it really be that “Fool Fool Pastel” is now a fact?!
Is that really the case?!
Ahhh!
By now, I’m “Fool Fool Fool Pastel!”
Hopeless!
The broom sped forward.
As he got significantly closer, the Mother Whale, which had been powering through the clouds with its tail fin, stopped its actions. Its gigantic eyes locked onto Pastel, visible even from a distance.
Pastel felt a shiver down his spine.
“Are, are you, the parents of the Whale friend?”
He swallowed hard.
“I guess my voice can’t be heard from this distance~.”
Hahaha…
The Mother Whale moved its massive body. As it approached, the atmosphere was pushed away, creating a strong wind.
Pastel struggled to even keep his eyes open against the fierce headwind.
“Don’t do this! Don’t do this!”
I don’t want to die…!
He clutched the broom tightly, trembling.
Meanwhile, the Demon Lord calmly observed the situation.
“Hmm. It doesn’t seem to be looking at you. Neither the airship nor towards Sky Island.”
The Demon Lord appeared intrigued.
“Oh, I see. Look closely at the whale’s eye. Can you feel the motherly anger rising?”
“I can feel it! I can feel it!”
The Demon Lord’s carefree demeanor didn’t fit the mood of the situation!
Despite that, Pastel peered at the still-distant Mother Whale.
It gave off a menacing aura, but like the Demon Lord said, it didn’t seem to exude any rage directed at Pastel.
Huh?
What’s going on?
“Whale friend! Do you know what’s going on…?”
As Pastel turned around, his mouth dropped open.
The Baby Whale was hurriedly fleeing as if to say, “I saw this coming!” Its fin, which had been flapping lazily, was now enthusiastically flapping, and its tail fin was waving swiftly.
Wait, why are you the one running away?
Suddenly, a thought struck him.
“Could it be that you’re the one who ran away?!”
Was the Baby Whale, previously sluggish, just a teenager avoiding going home?!
Could it be that even after being able to communicate across long distances, the Mother Whale hadn’t rescued it because it was urging it to experience life outside for a bit?!
But the runaway child instead got rescued to enjoy shrimp happily, so it wasn’t angry?!
In an instant, a blinding light enveloped the world. The Mother Whale unleashed a beam aimed deliberately to “miss” Pastel but target the Baby Whale.
Thunderous sounds and powerful winds gushed forth. The backdraft engulfed Pastel. The broom spun wildly in an uncontrolled whirl.
“Waaah!”
In Whale battles, it’s the shrimp that gets blasted!
Save the shrimp!…
