Evening.

A reception for high-officials of the 7th Gildeas Confederation was held at the Parthian Consulate.

This time the host was Gideon, although Iason also attended the party in his capacity as head of the Market Intelligence Department. The social gathering ended relatively smoothly; without forced smiles or attempts to sound each other out.

Afterward, the Blondy's private air car flew Iason back to Eos—not towards his residence, but directly to Orphe's office quarters.

Having sent word of his arrival by video message, Iason stepped forth from the mag elevator to be immediately greeted by a security guard with a most respectful bow.

Each Blondy's office embodied their own character. Every single piece of Orphe's—the so-called elegant noble—décor was chic and extravagant. But Iason hadn't expected Aisha to be here as well—at all.

What in the world is the meaning of this?

Regardless of how Iason felt privately, it didn't show on his face—even if it was outside the scope of his prediction.

Iason was there because Orphe had told him there was an issue regarding Riki. That Orphe would not divulge the contents on the open channel and arrange a meeting in his office meant it was something Orphe did not want to make public. Iason didn't expect Aisha to be involved as well. "Sorry I made you leave as soon as it ended."

Speaking first, Orphe urged Iason to sit on the sofa.

"Could it be trouble with Aisha's pet again?"

It was extremely frequent—or rather, it was the only thing involving Aisha that Iason could think of, given that the feud between Aisha's pet and Riki was legendary. Because of it, Iason, who had no interest in other people's pets, could still easily remember the face and name of Aisha's pet.

To Riki, he was "an amateur who didn't know how to fight, an inferior who only loudly yelped," but regardless of who they were, Riki's policy was to return any act of violence threefold. As a result, the pride of the Academy breed's cream of the crop was trampled to shreds by a slum mongrel, and on top of it all, he had flown in a blind rage. Aisha's pet, by pointlessly picking a fight he couldn't win, had destroyed himself—although it was too lame of an ending to call it so.

Because it was the biggest scandal of Eos to date, it cemented Riki's reputation as a rabid, vicious, uncontrollable slum mongrel in the eyes of other pets, shaking them to the core. Getting involved with Riki led to no good. They had all felt it keenly.

With that, no pet dared directly face Riki in similar violent outbursts. Of course, needless to say, the far-away scathing criticism and ostentatious scorn towards him swirled and swelled in correspondence. Even if you wanted to, you couldn't ignore Riki's presence.

A pulling force that attracted your gaze against your will.

A feral child who impassively kicked the norms of  Eos.

You had to at least despise him as a stain in your vision to preserve your identity. He personified the very heresy threatening the hierarchy that could never be overturned, under no conditions—a menace to pets unlike anything they had ever experienced before. And therefore, they loathed Riki all the more, and couldn't help but criticize and lash out at his every move.

It is a principle of intraspecific competition for male pets to claim and quarrel for territory. Even if they are caged. More than human nature, it is biologic; a genetically imprinted instinct. Proof that even if a pet is devotedly submissive to its master, its instincts are incorrigible. But then, until Iason brought a slum mongrel to Eos, that behavior had been nothing more than the degree of a ripple.

For better or worse, Riki was an exception. He crushed the pets' pedigree, the one thing they could rely on—aside from the arrogance of Tanagura's elite; not because of his slum mongrel status, but by his presence in Eos alone.

"It is not trouble yet," Orphe said.

Then, for Iason, there was nothing wrong whatsoever. It meant that since his return, Riki was fully aware of his place.

"But purposefully overlooking it would be somewhat problematic," Orphe declared equivocally and turned the holoscreen on.

On it appeared a Paradita breed pet's profile with its picture. "Do you recall this one?" Orphe asked.

No question about it—at the coming-out party where it had been introduced, it was a standout. Raoul raved so much about Paradita into Iason's ear that he still vividly remembered it two years later.

"What about this Paradita hybrid?" Iason asked.

"To all appearances, it is quite infatuated with your slum mongrel."

There was no overt ridicule in Orphe's tone; it clearly showed a strong sense of wariness. Just as Iason barely knitted his brow, the holoscreen shifted to footage of the botanical garden.

Two takes of the aforementioned Paradita and Riki together were shown one after another. In both scenes, the two of them had entirely different outfits, meaning days had elapsed in between.

From the recording, it was reasonable to say they met almost every day. But upon closer inspection, it didn't look exactly like a two-shot of a rendezvous in the garden. Riki's initial expression of pure astonishment blatantly shifted from suspicion, then discomfort, to a "I can't take this anymore." It was more than obvious how Riki felt towards the Paradita.

In a sense, Iason was content. Regardless of what Orphe suspected, he was absolutely certain Riki wasn't interested in the Paradita.

"—And? What is the issue here?"

From all appearances, it looked like the Paradita was following Riki around and bothering him. Isn't that what it came down to?

As expected, even if Iason didn't think there would be such a reckless challenger who could directly speak to Riki, the issue didn't lie with Riki, but only with the speech and conduct of that Paradita.

And with that, Aisha's presence made less and less sense. The Paradita belonged to an Onyx—and had no relation to Aisha's pet.

"Did Riki perhaps strike the Paradita?" Iason asked. Even as a joke, it was highly improbable.

"It would be simpler if he had."

True. If that had been the case, Orphe would've brought the hammer down without a second thought. Orphe's biggest miscalculation had not been that he succumbed to Iason's tricks in returning Riki to Eos through a loophole in Pet law—after all, that was no more than an open secret—but the shocking public disclosure of a sample of the preferential treatment the deviant owner unscrupulously gave his pet.

For the likes of Gideon, it may have been nothing but a source of entertainment. But at this point, it was no use talking about Iason's malicious crime of conscience once he had used it to his advantage to make everybody roar.

"Then what is it?"

"I've been unofficially approached."

—What for?

As if anticipating Iason's reply, Aisha interjected tersely, "The furniture lodged a protest."

The furniture? Iason narrowed his eyes at the unexpected mention.

Aisha continued. "With your pet involved, the matter becomes contentious. In its three previous years here, these incidents have made furniture conscious of their place."

"In both the Stein and Mimea affairs, their furnitures were held responsible for the pets' actions. The Daryl incident was the finishing blow," Orphe added.

Iason didn't even lift an eyebrow when his former furniture's name, still fresh in his memory, was brought up.

"So the furniture is the issue?" "Exactly."

That failed to explain the presence of Aisha. He might be overlord of Tanagura—but his rights over Eos were limited. For Orphe to consult him in matters of Eos, no, of furniture, didn't make sense. Neither did the reverse.

"If that is the case, Aisha, what is your part in this?"

From now on, Iason wanted to make that point clear.

"Apparently, the start of this was the furniture assigned to this Paradita becoming ill due to excessive stress." Rather than intentionally avoiding the main issue, it seemed that, for Aisha, explaining how things reached up to that point was crucial.

"Apparently?"

"In other words, the furniture likely heard from somewhere that its Paradita was associating with your slum mongrel and becoming the subject of the nasty talk of the salon."

It was unlike Aisha to state things so ambiguously. But given that, as a general rule, furniture were subjected to a vow of silence, it probably couldn't be helped.

Once a pet's ring was granted and its debut party came to an end, its security registration in Eos was complete and the need for a pet collar ceased. Coincidentally, furniture were no longer allowed to enter the salon. It made it harder for furniture to monitor the pet, but it was customary to tolerate most things in the salon; in that sense, a furniture's sense of crisis was lessened.

But that all changed once Riki became a pet in Eos. More than pets, furniture were horrified by Riki's application of the slum rule that any damage given shall be returned threefold, because furniture were held responsible for their pet's bad behavior.

What a pet had done and where, whether and what kind of punishment had been administered, or not. These were all made public on the neural network dedicated to pet matters that furniture could access via their exclusive terminals. Until Riki arrived, the site had usually been devoid of information, so it was a kind of routine for furniture to merely skim through it. Once Riki, the "savage," was released into the salon, however, the bulletin board fell into a state of incessant updates.

When pets came back home, they spilled out to their heart's content their resentment towards the slum mongrel. They spat out in scorn and disgust how crude, vulgar, haughty, utterly undisciplined a piece of trash Riki was. Hearing about it non-stop made furniture extremely worried, anxious that, apart from being the target of punishment, the name of the pet they took care of would suddenly be published on the notice board one day.

Beginning with the unprecedented scandal of Aisha's pet, Stein, going mad and slashing Riki with a knife, followed by the sex affair between Mimea and Riki, and to top it all off, the inconceivably reckless action of Daryl hacking into security and thus allowing Riki to flee out of Eos; such incidents scared furniture to no end. When Riki, the main culprit of these, had gone from Eos, they sighed deeply; with that, their tranquil routine returned at last.

And yet, Riki came back as a mature male, overflowing with pheromones. They couldn't be at peace anymore. Furniture in Eos prayed every day for the next pet to fall into Riki's clutches not to be the one in their care.

With that situation in mind, Aisha spoke, "The Paradita's furniture, thinking that the mongrel's wrath would fall onto itself, was stressed to the point where it could not accomplish its daily tasks."

As if he'd seen it himself. That fact made Iason all the more uncomfortable.

When Iason glanced at the silent Orphe, who undoubtedly understood the situation, Orphe smirked as if to say, "I've also heard about this."

"This furniture belonging to the Onyx informed its floor leader of the actual circumstances and from there secretly asked Tomass for advice."

Remembering that Tomass was Aisha's furniture, Iason finally saw where the thread lay.

"In other words, the furniture asked for advice from someone who has experienced this before?"

Before anything even happened? How ridiculous.

When Stein had acted up, Tomass as his furniture had taken responsibility too. Since punishments were left to a master's own discretion, Iason didn't know what Tomass had suffered. But since Aisha's pet was severely punished

and Tomass was still his furniture, the answer was clear.

Pets thought furniture were just another piece of equipment in their room. Furniture obeyed their every order and pets heard that, if broken, they would be instantly replaced, as their name implied. But masters thought differently. Pets could be immediately replaced at call, but it took some time for competent furniture to grow.

"Tomass is the floor leader of the Topmost Level." "I see—so that's why."

To be floor leader of the Topmost Level was to reign over all furniture in Eos. He did not approach Tomass for advice, merely for prior knowledge, but to refer to him with some kind of agenda.

"That is why you are here?" Iason asked Aisha. "Yes."

For low-rank furniture to refer to a higher-ranked one for advice was not a rare occurrence. But if this call for help had been strictly work-related, Tomass would have given him the necessary advice. However, as expected, Tomass had judged it was too much for a furniture to handle—and addressed the matter to his master. Even Iason couldn't help but sigh.

"What were the contents of the request your furniture Tomass received?"

"How this can all be settled quietly."

"Did this not become public the moment the furniture reported it?"

"If your slum mongrel was not involved, furniture would not have to resort to this method."

Orphe interposed a quite pertinent comment, "What happened when its master found out?"

"He tacitly approved of it more or less," Aisha replied.

"Tacitly approved?"

"Surely you don't think he'd approach you on that pretext?" The undertone in Aisha's voice revealed the true depth of the problem.

Iason furrowed his brow a fraction.

"The Paradita will not listen to his furniture. No matter how vicious and ferocious your creature is said to be, for some reason he seems to have strangely imprinted on it and pays no heed to the furniture's warnings at all," Aisha said, deliberately emphasizing the words "vicious" and "ferocious." He couldn't deny implying something.

"Strangely imprinted?"

"It appears that they were personally acquainted before that thing of yours returned."

"Really—how so?" As though he couldn't overlook that, Iason's gaze hardened. If that was what caused the Paradita to stick to Riki, it was possible it wasn't just on a whim.

"Why not find out for yourself?" Aisha implicitly cut short, not wanting to extend the conversation any further.

"On that note, I have a suggestion," Orphe interjected. "Surely you don't mean—incarcerate Riki until the Paradita calms down?"

At that, Orphe ostentatiously let out a deep sigh. 

Realizing he didn't guess wrong, Iason went silent. Considering that was the real reason he'd been called to Orphe's office disgusted him. The situation was just blown out of proportion.

He didn't intend to imply the other party was merely a Paradita. From a rank perspective, a slum mongrel was non-standard, inferior goods that couldn't even compare to a serial number.

But the Paradita's owner was an Onyx, whereas Iason was a Blondy—the difference was glaring. In Eos, a master's position and rights were put first and foremost. And yet, here he was. It wasn't a blow to his Blondy pride, but it was still unpleasant. Even if he wouldn't take the trouble to voice them, strange emotions welled up somewhere in him.

"Iason, you wouldn't know because you never send the thing to a single mating party, but that Paradita is extremely popular. Requests to mate with it are endless," Orphe said, attacking Iason's weak point, or as if Iason's discomfort was palpable, he continued, "Reservations extend out three months, and some are still waiting their turn."

Taking advantage of Eos' circumstances to urge a compromise.

"In other words, unlike your mongrel, it is irreplaceable. That's how it is," Aisha drove the point home again.

For both of them to join forces, it couldn't be an exaggeration.

It was a mark of prestige for pets to multiply sexual encounters. It could be said that it was a kind of honor for a master to have an incessant line of partner requests to mating parties. It said much about his discernment in owning such a pet. For the Onyx to tolerate his furniture reporting the matter—that pretty much summed up the depth of the problem mentioned earlier.

Raoul said a male Paradita hybrid was biologically exceedingly rare. Iason calmly considered that it was not mere peculiarity, but logic that it would do so well in Eos. 

In Midas, the Academy breed was the most prestigious, but even with lower-ranked breeds, valuable mutations were highly prized. If the characteristics of the Paradita in question couldn't be passed onto the next generation, or even crossed with pure blood, its value was beyond an Academy breed's.

"Of course, if you send the thing to a mating party, it would be a different story."

Iason was well aware that it was no sarcastic or snide remark. It seemed that the latest coming-out party's performance had had such a great impact that every time he encountered another Blondy, they all told him the same thing. Even if they knew Iason had no intention of doing so.

"Until when?" Iason said. If it got to that point, he had no choice but to give in.

"How about three weeks, for the time being?"

For the time being—these words had an underlying meaning to them, but it was evident bringing up that problem again would be pointless.

"Alright. For what cause?" asked Iason.

It would be difficult for Riki to agree without a reason. If it were any other pet, a mere command would suffice. But there was no such obedience from Riki. If Iason were to voice that was something he appreciated, people would be stunned and would only criticize him for his bad taste.

"Ah, yes." Orphe briefly manipulated the console until an image was projected on the holoscreen.

"How about violation of regulations?"

The image was that of Riki in the garden, deftly dozing while seated on a well-branched tree. Moreover, up on Riki's head, who seemed to be sleeping soundly rather than carelessly snoozing, were perched two Levia songbirds that appeared to have established territory there.

These wild birds were set free in the artificial garden, but were strongly wary and definitely not used to humans.

Iason unknowingly let out a smile. If it weren't for that garden, he would have never seen such an exquisite shot.

"As expected, a mongrel's instincts are no different from a wild beast's," Orphe commented.

"Without a doubt, a feat no other pet could ever replicate," Aisha uttered in subdued shock.

However, three weeks of house arrest for this was certainly quite excessive.

"Unfortunately, your mongrel is very well-behaved these days. This is the best we can do so far," Orphe said, smirking, as if he could see through Iason.

Iason's spacious duplex residence boasted high ceilings. Shaded, open panorama windows provided a spectacular view of Jupiter Tower in the distance.

As usual, Riki left his room at the appointed time and was eating the breakfast Cal had prepared for him.

Iason, in rare form, descended in casual clothing.

"Good morning, master," Cal said, greeting him on the dot with deference.

Iason nodded and sat down at the same table as Riki, deliberately settling in front of him.

Not the first thing in the morning that Riki wanted to see. A bad apprehension crawled up his spine.

"—What?"

"Starting today, you are under house arrest for three weeks."

At that, Riki's hand abruptly stopped.

"—For what?" The way he glared directly at Iason's eyes was enough to make the dutifully serving Cal beside him restless.

I do not agree. The look in his eyes spoke louder than words. Riki did so because he had no memory of having made any blunder to deserve house-arrest.

"Cal," Iason said, briefly glancing at him. That's all it took for Cal to stand at attention.

"Y-yes. Today at 07:00, there was a notification from Eos security. Master Riki, for violation of Salon Code 17 Section 5, you are sentenced to house arrest for a period of three weeks."

"I didn't do anything!" Riki spat with anger.

Only a foolish pet would futilely rant about a deed he hadn't done. Knowing the surveillance cameras encompassed the whole salon, it was useless to lie about it. That was why Riki didn't do anything.

That said, he would not self-report unless asked. If he seriously wanted to do something, he'd aim at the security cameras' blind spots. As long as there was no evidence, security would have no reason to complain.

During the punishment in the first month of his return, while walking around on a leash, he made a point to locate them all. It wasn't particularly meaningful, but at least it gave him a sense of purpose in undertaking that public humiliation of sorts.

However, it's outraging to be told you did something you didn't do. It had to be no joking matter, for him to deserve house arrest over it. Since Iason warned him, Riki had been most cautious about not letting any scandal out. He didn't do anything foolish that would be immediately exposed and found out.

"What's even Salon Code 17 Section 5 in the first place?" Riki demanded.

Iason glanced a second time at Cal for him to continue.

"Article 17 governs off-limits areas. Section 5 governs property damage."

Property damage in a restricted area? Pondering over Cal's words, Riki's face became more and more sullen. Because no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't remember anything like that. Did they mistake me for somebody else? No way that'd happen, though.

"What, where and when did they say I broke anything?" Riki said, glaring at Iason, his voice and gaze sharp.

"Outside of designated paths, everything is off-limits in the garden. Never mind climbing and dozing in the branches of a rare tree—right?" Iason asked.

For a moment, Riki was speechless. Next, one of his cheeks twitched slightly.

Iason continued, "I was told for a mongrel's instincts to be no different from a wild beast's was to be expected." 

"That... " Riki voiced involuntarily, only to gloomily fall silent right after. That had been an act of necessity to avoid Miguel, who had persistently followed him around the garden.

Why am I even doing this?

He hadn't even thought about it, because it had been much more effective to get out of Miguel's sight than to repeatedly scold the boy, who remained obstinate even after Riki harshly chased him away.

But sitting there, only a few meters above the ground, had been so comfortable, he couldn't help falling asleep.

Iason said it was a restricted zone, but Riki hadn't seen it indicated anywhere—if it was, it should have been posted. Thinking about that, he pondered for a while.

Huh? Now that I think about it, aren't the fences around all areas red or something? Could it serve as a "keep-off" sign?

Signs for the illiterate pets were all made up of different colors and simple shapes, but after returning from the slums, Riki had inadvertently lost track of such bizarre things. A plain, careless mistake. That's what it came down to. But still—I get three weeks of detention only for that? You're kidding me. Wouldn't it be at best a verbal warning?

Even if Riki returned three times the damage to another pet, it would be no more than a three-day banishment from the salon. In light of this, he couldn't help but feel that there was more to the sudden and unexpected punishment.

Perhaps some kind of pretext to keep me out of the entire salon?

Riki didn't know who could be behind it, but he knew he had raked up so much hatred in Eos that he couldn't guess who he was really dealing with.

Regardless, right now, Riki felt obliged to agree with the situation. Still. It annoyed him to retract his raised fist without dissent.

"Dammit, stop looking for petty shit to pin me with. Fucking stuck-up Orphe," Riki said, pouting with a grimace.

Cal's throat visibly stiffened at Riki's slander. 

Iason didn't bother to raise an eyebrow.