MPBAGS Chapter 64

"A name?"

You want me to give him a name? Me?

I had barely managed to get out of the carriage after enduring the silence, and now Jelly was the problem.

I was going to treat his wounds first, but he said there was something more urgent than that - Jelly wanted me to give his friend a name. But he already has a perfectly good name, Melech, so why?

"I'd like to have a name like Jelly's."

What cute taste he has. The fun of calling Jelly by that name is because he extremely hates it, but now Jelly's friend is asking me to come up with one, which somehow made me not want to do it.

But then again, if I don't give him a name, that would be discrimination, right? He already has his own name anyway, so let's just think of it as giving him a nickname.

What should I call him?

At first, I thought Pudding was just a cat, and I named Jelly that way partly out of spite and partly because I was charmed by the soft pink jelly. This one seems like a proper adult man, but... if he likes names like Jelly's...

This won't do. The only dessert name I can think of right now is meringue. Meringue and Melech. The pronunciation is similar too, so let's just go with this.

"Meringue."

I'm absolutely not trying to be sarcastic. Jelly's friend... no, Melech... no, Meringue seemed to like this sort of thing, so I wondered if I should have thought about it a bit more. But dessert names are all pretty much the same anyway.

"But why are you asking me to give you a name when you already have the name Melech?"

"Actually, I'm not Melech."

Then what are you?

"I'm just borrowing this body..."

Borrowing it? Wait. Are you also a possessor?

Since Melech knows the title and also knows Evangeline, he must know the entire original work, right?

I'll have to ask Melech about everything I'm curious about.

"Can you tell me what you know about the Rohanson estate?"

"Huh? Yes... First of all, the building is quite elegant. The garden is spacious and looks good for walking, the surroundings are quiet, and the staff maintain their silence, so it seems like a nice place to live."

Wait.

It feels like we're talking past each other somehow. I asked him to explain about the original work, but why is he suddenly going on about his impressions of the estate? An eerie feeling swept over me.

Something's suspicious. Should I test him?

"You said you died and came back to life. So where did you originally live?"

"Ah. Didn't I mention it? I'm from the same Ainoa Orphanage as Merai."

What?

I asked indirectly and got an answer that exceeded my imagination.

"Merai, as in that director?"

"Yes. That's right."

Why is he from the same world setting?

Something felt fishy. No matter how common possession is in the romance fantasy genre, usually there's only one possessor per work. Of course, sometimes there are two. Either someone possessed into a possession story, or originally antagonistic people possessed together to film a revenge drama.

And I made a huge mistake. People who read novels think of book possession first when they hear "possession," but if you think about it logically... ghost possession is more famous, isn't it?

Melech must be a ghost.

I suddenly wanted to run away. I can handle thriller genres well, but I'm particularly weak when it comes to horror movies with ghosts.

"What about the original body's owner?"

"Ah. Jelly said he seemed to have died."

"Does Jelly know that you possessed him?"

"Yes. Jelly says I'm better than the original Melech."

Melech nodded. At least that's a relief. I was worrying about how to tell a friend that his friend was possessed by a ghost. But if he can say something like that, they probably weren't that close to begin with. Maybe they just knew each other's names because they were fellow beastmen.

And Melech briefly told me his story.

So basically, he starved to death unjustly because of the director and Merai, and after 20 years, when Merai was about to commit another wrong, he possessed an empty, ownerless body to stop her evil deeds.

My nose tingled. What, he's a good ghost! So he got stabbed instead while trying to protect the children? My fear seemed to subside a little.

And at the same time, I felt complicated.

I thought I had met my fellow possessor. I unnecessarily revealed that I was a possessor. Since Daisy, Kanna, Pudding, Gabriel, and now Melech all know, it's not a secret anymore. At this rate of development, even the estate staff will all know by next week.

"I'm sorry. Because I'm in this kind of body..."

Seeing me look dejected, Melech became discouraged too. But it's not really Melech's fault.

"It's okay. I said I'm in a similar situation."

I'm actually in the same situation as Melech, when you think about it. Fine. I've managed well so far even without knowing the original work. And I have big data on my side, so it's okay!

"Is that all you had to say?"

Melech nodded.

Then I need to treat him now. I picked up the holy water bottle and hesitated. Melech is a ghost, right? Is it okay to sprinkle this on him? Won't he get exorcised?

Ah. That's why he told me first before getting treated.

I put the holy water bottle back down. Then I'll have to call a doctor. Even if it won't be as clean as using holy water, since his body is a beastman, it might heal quickly.

But is he wearing that blindfold because his eyes are injured too?

'Could it be, could it be...'

Could it be that his eyes rolled back because he was possessed by a ghost?

At this plausible speculation, I averted my gaze from the blindfold and opened the door.

"Can we come in now?"

Jelly and Pudding, who had been coiled up in front of the door, each found their spots and jumped onto the sofa and bed respectively. Pudding performed his kneading ritual on the bed. Aww, how cute, my baby.

"Did you give him a name? What did you say?"

"Meringue."

"Pfft, puhaha, Meringue? Meringue, you said? That Melech bastard's body with the name Meringue?"

Meanwhile, the dog... no, the wolf sprawled on the sofa was laughing hysterically. Pudding is cute, Meringue is cute too, but that one isn't cute at all.

They weren't just acquaintances - they must have had a really fantastic bad relationship with Melech in life. Since Jelly hates his name, he seemed very pleased that Melech got an even more outrageous name. Watching this made me angry.

"I'll just call you Melech."

"Huh?"

Melech made a face like a child whose toy was taken away. His eyes are covered, so why can I see his expression so well?

"Just like how I'm Evangeline Rohanson, you're just Melech."

"I see..."

Fortunately, young Melech quickly accepted it. Now Jelly was the one who got upset. His tail hit the floor repeatedly, as if he didn't like it. But that doesn't change my decision.

"So have you decided what to feed him?"

Seeing that I had no intention of changing my mind, Jelly backed down and changed the subject.

Oh right. He said he was hungry, right? Since he's a ghost and not the real body owner, he probably doesn't know what to eat to feel full. You can't expect a lion to be satisfied by eating carrots. Since the original Melech was a beastman...

"Can't you eat the same things as you two?"

Jelly and Pudding usually went out separately to eat, aside from what the estate provided. Sometimes they came back with blood on them and got scolded by Kanna, but since they were beastmen, they seemed to hunt directly and eat raw food.

Jelly shook his head.

"He has different dietary habits."

Different dietary habits? Then is he a herbivore?

"What species is he? You're a wolf and Pudding is a cat."

"Ah. Melech is a cow."

A cow? Then he is a herbivore. It would be a bit awkward to eat together. He wouldn't hunt in the first place. He might even come back as prey if he went along.

So under that blindfold are cow-like eyes? I almost asked him to show me his eyes for a moment. But I was afraid that if I saw his rolled-back eyes, it would really appear in my dreams, so I couldn't actually say it.

But a cow? If he's a cow, would he eat fodder? Or since he's a beastman, would it be enough to just give him vegetarian food? The estate doesn't serve much greenery, so that probably wouldn't be enough in quantity.

I'll have to ask them to buy a lot of greens first thing in the morning. If buying them is burdensome, it wouldn't be bad to cultivate a field in one corner of the garden.

The problem is that I can't let him starve until then, so what should I feed him...

I was looking for edible grasses in the garden when my gaze fell on the cherry tree. Those petals hanging there seemed like the most likely thing a cow could eat. Cows eat a lot, and the cherry blossoms also seem to have the most quantity.

"Could you eat that?"

"That tree?"

Melech's eyes widened. It would be quite confusing if someone suddenly told you to try eating some flowers. But there are things like flower pancakes, and I've had cherry blossom tea before, so it should be fine to eat, right?

"Want to try eating it?"

I don't know. Let's figure it out by eating. I've never heard of cows having flower allergies in my life, so it'll probably be fine.

I picked up the glass bottle decorated on the table. When I said before that catching falling cherry blossoms while walking would grant wishes, Kanna collected cherry blossom petals and gave them to me as a gift. Our female lead is so kind-hearted it makes me want to cry.

I shook some cherry blossom petals into my hand and offered them for him to just taste. Melech pondered for a moment, then buried his face in my hand. No, I gave them to you to take, so why are you using my hand as a bowl!

Melech chewed the petals with a munching sound. He looks a bit ambivalent... Doesn't he like it?

"...It's delicious?"

Nice! It seems to suit his taste.

"You think that's delicious?"

Jelly, who had been shocked, said he wanted to try a bite too and put a petal in his mouth.

"It is delicious? Why?"

Even Jelly, who eats meat, gave a positive response. Is this really a delicacy? I was curious too, so I sneakily tried a bite, but it just tasted like weird grass.

Since Kanna had washed them clean, whatever processing she did made them taste even stranger. It was like unripe persimmon, but maybe it only suits the beastmen's taste? Of course, I'm a broad-minded person who respects all tastes and dietary habits in the world, so I didn't deliberately mention that it tasted bad.

"Eat that for the time being."

I don't know. As long as it suits the person's taste, that's what matters. I can't give him what Kanna gave me, so I'll have to ask them to collect some fallen petals.

"Then I'll decide on a room for you, so follow me."

"Huh? Am I not staying here with you?"

I almost got serious at Melech's question. What, an outside man wanting to share a room with an unmarried noble lady? Of course, Jelly and Pudding are outside men too... but Pudding is a kitten and Jelly is usually in wolf form, so it doesn't feel real.

But when Melech transforms into an animal, he becomes a cow, right? Sharing a room with a cow is a bit... This feels like animal discrimination though.

"There's no place to sleep in my room. If you don't want to sleep on the floor, I'll give you a room with proper bedding."

The sofa is Jelly's territory, and the bed is for me and Pudding, so all that's left is the floor carpet. Melech didn't want the floor either, so he obediently nodded and followed me out.

Ah, come to think of it, I should go to the butler first before choosing a room. I need to ask him to call a doctor, tell him about bringing an extra mouth to feed, and about Daisy's reinstatement.

And I need to tell him that Gabriel is coming tomorrow. Ah... I'm afraid to meet Gabriel. I wish tomorrow wouldn't come.