Chapter 39
For a while, the ball nearly spiraled out of control.
Luckily, the host of the ball came over in time and stopped the few people who had started the commotion, allowing Brule to struggle his way out while holding the little lamb.
As for that cigar… hehe, no one even knew who had already torn it into several pieces. Anyone who could attend this sort of ball naturally would not care about a single cigar.
When Brule ducked into the car, some people were actually still chasing after him holding bunches of grass. Wiping away sweat, Brule hurriedly drove off. Only after they were completely far away did he finally let out a long breath. Turning to look at the little lamb in the passenger seat, who was still raising a hoof and swiping at the screen to find songs, he lifted an eyebrow and muttered, “You’re really taking it easy… well, forget it. I brought this on myself.”
Sure enough, comparison really was a terrible thing!
He had clearly come to show off his kid, so how had it ended up feeling like he was acting as some celebrity manager?
The little lamb sat very steadily. Fastened in with a seatbelt, he leaned back and listened to the cheerful music in the car, all four hooves swaying along with the bumps of the ride.
Holding the steering wheel, Brule asked, “Did you enjoy the ball?”
Yomi said, “It was fun. There was a lot to eat.” Most of it he still could not eat, of course, but he had gotten quite full on various flowers and plants. Drinking water out of a stemmed glass and all that really gave him the feeling that even being a sheep could be elegant.
Brule asked, “Nobody asked for your contact info?” With how cute you are, that makes no scientific sense.
Yomi blushed. “My account has my personal information. I haven’t changed back into human form yet, so it wouldn’t be convenient to give it out.”
“So that’s how it is!” Brule immediately felt much better.
As they listened to songs together on the road, singing along into the wind, he unexpectedly felt as though he had returned to his youth. Suddenly, he did not want to go straight back just yet. He opened the navigation and took a look. “Little lamb, there’s a zoo nearby. Do you want to go see it?”
The little lamb’s hoof twitched, and he froze.
Why was he suddenly taking him to a zoo?
Brule looked at his darting little eyes and found it hilarious. “You’ve even been to a ranch at Anxius’s place, so what’s the big deal about a zoo? It’s not like your grandpa here is going to put you inside for exhibition.”
…True enough. Sheep were not some rare species anyway. It would be a good chance to see what an interstellar zoo looked like. There were many animals here he still had not seen before. Maybe he might even get to see dancing ants.
Yomi said, “Alright.” Being led by a teacher to skip class really counted as a marvelous life experience in its own way.
Brule used the navigation to head for the nearest zoo. This zoo was not the same one that had contacted Yomi before and invited him to be an animal trainer. It was smaller in scale, but there were many facilities nearby, so lots of people came for the entertainment attractions. Fortunately, today was a workday, so there were not many visitors.
After parking the car, Brule simply bought tickets while holding the little lamb and went straight inside.
There were few people here, so Brule set the lamb down directly, and the big one and the small one walked side by side.
They first went to the beast area. The beasts inside were many times larger than the fierce animals Yomi remembered, and they also looked much more savage. Some species even looked more like mutated animals—for example, some lions had horns, brown bears had three ears, and there were birds that coughed up golden sand… In short, it was all very magical. Yomi found himself dazzled. Since it was inconvenient for him to take photos now, he had Brule help him take a few.
As Brule snapped pictures, however, his attention quickly shifted onto the little lamb himself. He had the lamb stand beneath a tree in the snowbird area. Once the snowbirds flew down and lined up one after another on top of the little lamb, Brule started taking rapid-fire shots. “Yes, yes, yes! Just like that! Looks amazing… This is what photography is supposed to be. What’s the point of just photographing animals? Since we’re here, we’ve got to take pictures together!”
The nearby onlookers, watching him photograph a sheep and birds, all wore the same expression: (?.?||) If this isn’t just photographing animals, then what is?
As an eighteen-year-old boy eager to see a broader world, how could Yomi not like taking commemorative photos? Even if his hooves could not form a V-sign, that did not stop him at all from raising them to pose~
After taking a whole pile of gorgeous little-lamb photos, Brule contentedly picked him up and moved on to the next area, paying no mind whatsoever to the animals behind them, who had grown curious about the little lamb and were pounding at the glass asking for him to come back and keep them company.
Brule: Don’t be sad. There will be visitors to love you in my little lamb’s place.
He really was that shameless!
Some of the beasts that lived in mountains and grasslands had, of course, seen all kinds of sheep before. Yet Yomi’s appearance still drew their attention, because this sheep was just too small. If you called him a baby, the limbs that should have grown already seemed fully grown… White and plump, he looked fresh and tender. One could not help wondering what he might taste like.
The little lamb stood in front of the glass, squinting one eye, his tail pressed against it.
Behind the glass, two lions were frantically licking, trying to lick the little lamb right into their mouths… Then came a click of the camera. Brule ran over laughing. “Good, very good. This composition is absolutely perfect! I feel like this could win a prize in a competition!”
The little lamb opened his previously squinted eye wide and went up on tiptoe to look at the few photos Brule had just taken. After looking, he trotted off on his hooves, leaving behind the two bewildered lions.
Sorry. There are just too many animals in the zoo. Once the time is divided equally, the share allotted to you is only this much.
He was simply that heartless!
For all his calculations, Brule had still miscalculated. When he carried the little lamb over to the dancing-ant section, he failed to notice that many visitors were gradually gathering around them. At first, he thought that was simply because the dancing ants were very popular among visitors… but very soon, he noticed something was off.
Brule had not even entered the dancing-ant area yet. He had only placed the little lamb beneath the sign at the entrance to take a photo, when the surrounding visitors all stopped, began whispering, and also started taking pictures! The cameras seemed to be aimed at them?!
“Oh my god, it’s that little lamb. Earlier it was interacting with the tiger through the glass—so cute…”
“I’ve never seen it before. Is it a new species the zoo just brought in?”
“It looks free-range at first glance. Maybe it’s a mascot the zoo hired to attract visitors.”
“It’s so tiny. I kind of want to raise one.”
“I heard this kind of goat is pretty expensive. One this small is especially rare. You might not even be able to buy one…”
Yomi: “…”
Brule hurriedly picked up the little lamb and carried him inside, whispering, “Let’s keep a low profile. We’ll look at the dancing ants and then leave.”
Yomi nodded.
They successfully got to see the dancing ants, and their timing was perfect. The dancing ants here were currently dancing under the guidance of animal trainers. Their appearance was rather different from what Yomi had imagined. Although they were called ants, they were not enlarged versions of ordinary ants at all. Compared to traditional ants, they looked more like cute cartoon ants. Their body structure was extremely simple: two black round spheres, two antennae on top of their heads, eyes like two large white rings with indistinct pupils that looked almost fake. They only had four legs, with white feet, and could both crawl and stand upright.
…No wonder they were so ornamental. The classic black-and-white color scheme was doing a lot of work.
If a plump animal mascot could dance, then of course it would be popular. The dancing ants were exactly that kind of existence.
The trainers all wore black-and-white mascot suits modeled after the dancing ants. They were like lead dancers—once they moved, the dancing ants would spring up and start dancing energetically too… and if the trainer made a wrong move, the ant would even bump them with its body in dissatisfaction.
The visitors all burst into laughter.
Yomi laughed too. And it was at that very moment that a dancing ant who had just finished its routine caught sight of the little lamb outside the glass window. Its antennae trembled.
The little lamb’s smile seemed even cuter than the tiny dolls in its nest. And this one could move, too.
The dancing ant stared in a daze, then seemed to lose its soul. It did not even want the reward from the trainer anymore. Gracefully dancing, it moved toward the little lamb.
?
Yomi noticed the dancing ant swaying toward him and was extremely confused, though he still remembered to bounce a few times to hint that Brule should take pictures.
Brule said, “I’m already taking them, already taking them.”
In the camera frame, above the back of the little lamb’s head, one could see a dancing ant hurrying toward them while dancing. A few seconds later, it had pressed itself up against the glass. At that moment, the little lamb turned his head to look at Brule, while the dancing ant began patting at the glass from the other side.
Hearing the sound, the little lamb turned back, and the dancing ant immediately stared at him without moving.
Yomi asked Brule curiously, “What’s wrong with that dancing ant?”
Who would have thought that the moment he opened his mouth, the dancing ant would look utterly shocked, as if it were a human who had just seen a tiger rolling around on the ground. In an instant, it jumped up in excitement.
Yomi: “…”
Seeing that the little lamb had gone silent again, the dancing ant quickly stood upright and continued smacking the glass with its feet to draw his attention.
The little lamb scratched under his chin with a hoof. Why did it feel like the dancing ant was treating him as the animal on display?
Well, to be fair, he was indeed an animal right now.
The other dancing ants also noticed this adorably silly little lamb. Very soon, every single dancing ant in the entire section was plastered against the glass behind it, peeking at the little lamb.
The visitors had long since noticed this amusing scene. Some were taking pictures, some were exclaiming in delight, and some were whispering to each other asking whether they could go over and take a photo with the little lamb…
…Sensing that the situation was turning bad, Brule put away the camera and briskly picked up the little lamb and slipped away.
In the age of the internet, anything interesting and novel would be recorded at once.
By the time Yomi and Brule were on their way back to the black market, a trending news item titled “Grandpa Takes Magical Little Lamb to the Zoo” had already made it onto the hot list.
Brule only found out because of a call from Karl. “Mr. Brule, did you go out?”
“We’re on the way back, on the way back!”
“…Did you happen to go to the zoo?”
“Huh? You little brat, are you spying on me?”
Karl was momentarily speechless. Then he sighed and helplessly told him about the trending post, asking whether he needed any help right now.
Brule felt extremely guilty about taking someone else’s little lamb out to show off. “No need. We just went out to relax a little today. First we attended a ball, then we stopped by the zoo for a visit. We’re about to reach the shop.”
Karl was not in a hurry. When he saw the trending post, he had only worried that Brule might not be able to handle it.
After hanging up, he thought it over carefully and promptly reported Yomi’s itinerary for the day to Anxius.
Anxius replied in seconds: The ball surveillance. Send it.
Karl: “…”
A little over ten minutes later, Brule arrived safely at the black market.
He carried the little lamb inside. Karl had already been waiting there and had even packed up the little lamb’s backpack in advance. Although he had seen the zoo photos in the news, when he saw the little lamb in person, dressed in a tailcoat and bow tie, his steps still faltered for a moment.
Brule snorted. “Since he was attending a ball, naturally he had to be dressed up properly… Alright then, take the little lamb home.”
Karl nodded and bent down to pick up the little lamb, carrying him aboard the starship.
On the starship, the little lamb lay on the seat tapping at the computer.
Karl glanced over and saw that the little lamb was asking Brule for the photos.
The pictures had turned out beautifully. Karl’s favorite was the one of the little lamb standing beneath a giant alpaca, raising a hoof at the camera and winking.
Not long after, the little lamb put the photos Brule sent into a folder titled [Travel].
Karl inhaled softly and could not resist wanting to reach over and pat the lamb’s head. But at that moment, the little lamb closed his eyes. Karl assumed the lamb was tired and wanted to rest, so he suppressed the itch in his hand and instead tucked a blanket over him. The instant he straightened back up, those eyes fluttered open again.
Yomi looked up at him, his gaze faintly excited. “Mr. Karl, I think I might be close to graduating.”
“What?”
“The golden circle got bigger again.” Like a struggling student who had suddenly scored one hundred, the little lamb said excitedly, “You have no idea. This time the diameter is about three centimeters! It’s grown a lot… Sure enough, getting out more really is the right thing to do!”
“…” Karl tucked the blanket around him properly. “That’s amazing.”
What did a three-centimeter skill circle actually mean? Karl remembered that among the people on Snar Star who awakened abilities, even the very smallest initial golden circles had diameters of three to four centimeters.
Interstellar flight. VIP lounge.
The man’s golden eyes were fixed on the projected light screen before him.
The gentlemanly little lamb, wearing a bow tie, sat on a genuine leather sofa. Turning his head, he took a sip of water fed to him by a server in a stemmed glass, then went back to eating the decorative flowers and greenery. Once he was full, the little lamb gave his rear a twist and slid off the sofa, strolling into the starlit dance floor.
He did not charge around recklessly. His steps were very careful.
A girl dressed in full formalwear walked toward him and said a few words in a low voice. The little lamb blushed; even the tip of his nose turned red.
Anxius stiffened as he sat upright. His face went slightly pale, and his fist clenched so hard it made cracking sounds, like a bowstring drawn taut to the limit.
…Yomi likes girls?
But a few seconds later, the little lamb on the screen turned and ran away. After some time, he seemed to have completely forgotten the girl who had approached him. Instead, he hopped over and picked up a cigar someone had dropped, holding it in his mouth as he looked up and searched around.
“…”
A nebula drifted past outside the window, somehow shaped like a little lamb.
Anxius looked up. At that very moment, the tension and unease in his heart eased more completely than ever before.
