Flynn suddenly had a lot of free time after boarding the ship. He didn’t have any documents sent by His Majesty Bert nor any tasks to accept. Aside from watching His Little Highness, he spent the remainder of his time closely monitoring the galactic network.
Sure enough, the galactic network was discussing the movements of the Grantz.
[Is Grantz about to do something big? They were just celebrating the birth of His Little Highness, now Grantz fleets are heading in the direction of my home. I thought His Majesty Bert had been banished again, but there are seven whole fleets! I surrender, please let me join your side!]
[Hey, wake up. The fleets just left the imperial capital, they’re still in Grantz territory. So stop dreaming, there’s nothing to be nervous about. Grantz rarely rises to any provocations, and it’s not like they’ll go looking for trouble right after an auspicious occasion like His Little Highness’ public debut.
[Is that so? Sigh…]
[…Why are you disappointed now? In any case, it wouldn’t hurt to pay more attention. The surplus of main ships is a bit abnormal. According to Grantz’s usual conduct, there might be multiple princes and princesses on board if we’re lucky.]
Sometimes, Flynn truly wondered if these netizens had eyes in the Grantz palace. Even Flynn, who had thoroughly investigated the palace staff in secret several times, still hasn’t wizened up to how easily gossip spread.
He continued scrolling.
[It’s because they’re taking His Little Highness on vacation, ah. Of course there’ll be more main ships. Just relax. Those who live near their route have even less to worry about. After they’re done cleaning up, those areas won’t have to worry about insects for years to come.]
[Are you serious? Will the Grantz show up? No matter, I’m going to pray one of them passes by where I live first.]
There had to be an inside source. Flynn was more sure of that than ever before.
[How do you guys know these things so clearly?]
He wanted to ask.
This operation was given the highest security clearance. Just who was spilling state secrets?
Flynn got his answer milliseconds after leaving the gossip threads.
Oh, it was His Majesty.
His Majesty Bert had hijacked the official Grantz account to plead: [Sylvia, here’s a video of Xavier with cake stuck to his face. Can you forgive me now?]
The video automatically began to play. His Little Highness was busy munching away on a slice of cake before Bert could be heard calling out, “Xavier.”
Ye Muo looked up, still chewing with his cheeks full of cake. There was frosting all over his face.
[A still unworldly Xavier.]
In the video, His Little Highness was enraptured by the galaxy visible from the observation deck.
The comments were all very serious. For example: [His Little Highness is so cute.] [My hometown is over there. It’s quite beautiful. Please have a good time there.]
Flynn switched windows again. Sure enough, threads about how long His Majesty Bert would be blacklisted this time were already trending. Some were even logically speculating if Bert had kidnapped His Little Highness after being exiled, and the princes and princesses were in hot pursuit, each leading a fleet of their own.
He returned to the other window and turned on the holographic mode of the video he had just saved. It was a bit short. Surely His Majesty would post more, right?
　　……
Bert was picking out their next destination. At first, he had actually wanted to take Ye Muo to kill some insects for fun. Ano and the others had loved the game as children.
Then, after watching the toddler pretending to be Adlet and serving tea to his lion plushie, who he had set down at the table across from him, Bert changed his mind.
He would have Ye Muo watch from the ship first. It was the place with the best view. Before, there had been many countries who were willing to pay exorbitant sums just to watch and learn. Although such requests had been denied, it was enough to illustrate the value of this opportunity.
He thought, watching as Ye Muo absentmindedly swung his feet while gnawing on his bottle, only to hit his toe on the table leg in front of him. The child straightened up, retracted his feet, and tried his best to hold back the tears and pretend he was fine.
Forget it. The doctors did say he would be more fragile than the average Grantz during childhood. There was nothing wrong with an actual vacation. The little country bumpkin would be awed by anything anyway. He would gasp in amazement wherever they went.
As Bert scanned the star charts for inspiration, his comms beeped.
It was Sylvia. She started off with a list of planet coordinates.
[These are all tourist planets that are under development but nearly complete. They haven’t been opened to the public yet, so they’re very safe. This way, the children who went out with you can have a good time as well. They’ve been training hard in the legions.]
Bert immediately replied. [Alright.]
Alas, he was already blacklisted again before the message could be sent.
Bert started pinching the cheek of Ye Muo, who was beside him. “Quick, Muomuo. Act cuter.”
Ye Muo, whose eyes were still glued to the views outside, whimpered a bit before he was let go.
“Good, just like that.”
Ye Muo was a little dazed. “Then does Muomuo still have to act cute?”
Bert gave him a big thumbs up. “You’re fine as you are. Okay, go off and play now.”
Moments later, Flynn was rewarded with a few more videos upon refreshing, which he all saved.
　　……
Meanwhile, Aria played middleman after Sylvia contacted her and sent her all the videos and photos that she had built up since the journey started.
Sylvia sent back a smiling Ye Muo along with a message.
[Not bad, Aria. Have fun out there. The tourist planets you’ll be going to are all under Grantz’s name. Any income generated will go back towards the military, so I would like to post a portion of the photos and videos you take online. Is that alright with you? I think a bit of publicity wouldn’t hurt.]
Aria saved the Ye Muo sticker before returning a nodding Ye Muo sticker.
She glanced up to see that Ye Muo was already dragging his little blanket over to settle down on the observation deck.
Pangzhua was carefully trying to stop him. The big lion likely didn’t understand what an observation deck was, just that it felt foreign and dangerous. It had been circling around Ye Muo since it was let out and stopping him from drawing too close.
When Ye Muo sidestepped it once more, it anxiously clamped down on his back collar and dragged him over to Norton’s feet. Theodore followed along at a leisurely pace.
Ye Muo seemed to find this fun. He got up again and sat down by Pangzhua with his blanket. “Again. Drag Muomuo.”
Helene immediately volunteered. “I’ll do it!”
Ano, who was a beat slower, lined up. “Then I’ll go next.”
“Are you dumb, Ano? We can work together.”
Ye Muo poked his head out from in between them. “Ano’s smart. Helene’s smart too.”
Aria sighed and started snapping away while praising Ye Muo. “Muomuo’s so smart.”
Helene cleverly set Ye Muo on his blanket and grabbed a corner. Ano tacitly grabbed the other one and they started pulling away.
Pangzhua shook its head before trotting behind them. Although it knew how to carefully watch over cubs, it would immediately shed any responsibility and indulge in a more playful side when there were stronger lions around.
Bert looked away and pulled up the recommended planets before happily deciding on one of them. They would be heading to a snowing wonderland. There were toboggans Pangzhua could pull there.
Meanwhile, Ye Muo was being lifted into the air by the blanket. Only his little head was visible from here. Adrian was even joining in by lifting Pangzhua.
En, his children with their voracious appetites would also suffice.
　　……
Ye Muo started gasping in amazement nonstop since they entered the airborne port. He was plastered to the transparent viewing screen with Theodore by his side. Pangzhua was on his other side. It understood by now that he couldn’t fall from here, but it still stood up warily as they entered the channel, ready to drag him back at a moment’s notice.
Ye Muo gasped as they entered the channel as well as when they were travelling through it. Didn’t he see something similar when they left?
If not for the fact that he couldn’t see anything either, Bert almost began suspecting it was snowing inside here. Little kids really are easily impressed. He should have made fun of the child for this.
Yet Bert remained silent when they finally descended to an altitude where the snow was visible. He watched as Ye Muo quieted down as well. Ye Muo had only the always temperate imperial capital and the laboratory that seemed like a lifetime ago as reference points.
The imperial capital’s climate was adjusted to be perpetually spring most of the time. Only for certain holidays would it be temporarily adjusted to the appropriate season. However, Ye Muo hadn’t been around long enough to reach such an occasion yet.
Snow was something outside of his understanding.
Ye Muo suddenly turned. Stepping over piles of toys, he found the box that had once belonged to Adrian. He dragged it over to the observation deck.
He looked at the colourful sand inside, then the snowflakes falling over the vast snowfields below.
He tried to understand what he saw in terms of things he had seen before.
But he failed.
Ye Muo turned to Norton. “They’re different.”
“En.”
Norton walked over and crouched down to take Ye Muo into his arms. “That’s snow. It’s winter here.”
Ye Muo looked over with half-understanding. He started quietly gasping in wonder again.
　　……
There was already a Grantz palace constructed on the planet. It was smaller than the original in the imperial palace, with a different style of decor. Due to local conditions, the structure was topped by pointed spires. It appeared to have come from a fairy tale under the cover of snow.
The main ship landed directly in the palace dock. Bert dismissed the youngsters of the legion to have their fun. Only Saude and Flynn accompanied the family.
They remained on the main ship, treating it like a tiny mobile home.
Ye Muo kept staring outside until Norton scooped him up. Everyone crowded around him, putting more layers on him.
Of course Adlet had prepared winterwear for Ye Muo.
The little lion winterwear set Ye Muo had picked out at a glance from all the choices was brought over.
Ye Muo was quite active before, then the clothes weighed him down. The warm materials meant it wasn’t too thick, but it was thicker than what he usually wore.
He had grown accustomed to feeling unrestrained. Even shoes were too uncomfortable for him to bear.
He wasn’t happy to be bundled up so tight with a pair of furry little boots to boot while everyone else wore what they usually wore. As such, he refused the hat at the end, even though it had cute little lion ears.
“You’re bullying Muomuo. Muomuo’s head doesn’t need it.”
Bert raised the hat. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
Bert set down the hat. He used psychic power to open a window in the observation deck screen before raising Ye Muo to the opening for a second.
Ye Muo was already clutching at his ears.
“What about now?”
That little head nodded. He let the hat be put on his head before cheering up again and showing everyone his hat. “Look at Muomuo’s ears!”
Pangzhua followed him even closer now. When it got the chance, it sneakily licked Ye Muo’s fuzzy hat.
Author’s Corner
A Muomuo who rebels a little before immediately calming down. He’s exploring the world around him today too.
