TGBAP 15

“Did you grow that much taller?”

“Of course! I’m curious how much you’ll grow next month, too!”

As if he’d just had a good idea, James took Lucian over to the pillar in front of the main gate.

“What are you doing?”

“Measuring your height. Stand still.”

With the small knife he usually carried, James made a tiny scratch on the pillar. Lucian checked his own height marked on the pillar.

“Now, if we write today’s date next to it…….”

Imperial Calendar Year 315, June 27.

Lucian traced the engraved letters James had carved.

“How about we measure your height here every time you meet me?”

“I like it!”

“Good. Then let’s see how much you grow from now on. Whew, I should get going now.”

As James was gathering his things, he went oh! and turned back around.

“Do you need anything else?”

“Anything I need? Um…….”

Nothing in particular came to mind.

“If you end up needing something, tell me next time. I’ll get it for you. Or if it’s really urgent, go down to the village…… ah, can’t you do that?”

“Village?”

James went oh no and looked back at Lucian. Lucian’s eyes were already shining; he’d heard everything James said.

“There’s a village here?”

Wondering what excuse he should make, James widened his eyes at Lucian’s unexpected question.

“……Weren’t you living nearby?”

“Living nearby?”

“Well, you’re an orph— oh.”

Thankfully, maybe he hadn’t heard; Lucian tilted his head. James watched his reaction and softened his words.

“Where’s your hometown?”

“Hometown?”

“Yeah. Where you lived.”

“Not sure…… I don’t know either.”

‘Does he not know where he lived because he was young?’

Thinking that was possible if he was an orphan, James nodded.

“Then do you know the village nearby? Or the capital?”

James explained the names of various villages and the capital earnestly, but Lucian looked like he didn’t know. Thinking Lucian must be from far away, James let out a sigh of relief.

‘They told me not to smuggle the kid out, but they never said he can’t go to the village, right?’

Feeling pity for Lucian, James let the chief attendant’s warning slide and smiled.

“You get paid twenty gold every month. With twenty gold, a family can eat for a month and still have some left over.”

In other words, it was more than enough for a child to use alone.

“From the looks of it, you haven’t spent any money so far, so you must have saved about sixty gold.”

“Wow, James, you’re so fast at math.”

“Ahem! I got into the imperial palace because I’m good with numbers. Ah. N-no, that’s not……!”

James straightened out the conversation before it went off-track.

“I’m saying it’s all money given to you, so you can spend it however you want. Since you won’t have any reason to spend it here, how about you go down to the village and use it?”

“I can go down to the village?”

“Why not. Ah, but when you go down to the village, wear a hat, at least. Um, you stand out in a lot of ways right now.”

For example, that white hair and those golden eyes that make you think of royalty.

‘But even if they dress him up like royalty, how can he keep looking like that?’

For a moment, James felt suspicious of Lucian’s appearance.

“Yeah, thank you for telling me, James.”

“It’s nothing. Just in case—do you know the unit of money?”

When Lucian tilted his head, James pressed his forehead and explained the rough value of money, and even the way to get to the village.

After confirming James had gone far away, Lucian turned around.

“Ria, did you hear?”

[Yeah. For someone who tried to steal at first, he’s pretty kind.]

“What are you talking about?”

[……No, it’s nothing.]

Ria hid the fact that James had tried to steal the money on the first day. He was the only human Lucian was friendly with, so there was no need to tell him something pointless.

“I couldn’t say it earlier because James was here, but do we need anything?”

[Need anything? Hmm…….]

Thinking of this and that, there were quite a few things they needed.

Spices that weren’t among the supplies, parchment and ink to use for studying.

Since most of the things in the mansion were so old, all the small consumables needed to be replaced with new ones.

Since it had come to this, Ria wrote the list of needed items down on paper.

[Do you need anything?]

“Not really.”

[Hmm…… Ah! Your shoes!]

At Ria’s shout, Lucian looked down at his feet. There were a couple sets of clothes included among the supplies that he could wear, but there were no shoes.

Even if there were, they probably wouldn’t fit. Even the supplied clothes were still big on Lucian.

[You said your feet were uncomfortable last time. Isn’t it because your shoes are small?]

“Now that you mention it, I think so…….”

Lucian wiggled his toes. Now that he was aware of it, his toes were oddly curled in.

[You’re growing day by day, so we should buy shoes a size bigger. The clothes you wore on the first day, the sleeves are short now, right?]

“Yes, that’s right.”

[That’s proof you’re growing well. It seems you couldn’t grow properly before because you weren’t eating like this.]

When she patted his head, Lucian’s face went all soft and smiley. Like a puppy, he curved his eyes, then snatched the floating memo.

“Then do I just go buy these now?”

[You’re going to buy them?]

“Ria can’t go outside. I have to go.”

[That’s true, but…….]

The only places he’d ever been in his life were the small palace that might not even have been within the imperial palace, and here. And even here, he hadn’t left the mansion grounds even once for nearly three months—could Lucian really go to the village and come back all on his own?

What if he gets scammed at the village? What if a pickpocket steals his money? No, even before that, his face is pretty, so human traffickers might target him.

As all kinds of ominous imaginings covered her mind, Ria’s face hardened.

[Not yet. It’s too dangerous to send you alone.]

“What? Why? You said we have to buy new shoes.”

She heard him grumbling, but Lucian’s safety came first.

[This won’t do. Starting today, let’s begin sword training.]

Lucian, who’d been sulking because she wouldn’t let him go to the village, widened his eyes and broke into a grin.

“Waaah! Finally!”

[Let’s go to the village when you can at least protect yourself. No matter how the road to the village isn’t that far, you could run into a pack of wild dogs on the way, and in the village, some strange person might pick a fight with you.]

“Yes! I understand!”

[……Aren’t you disappointed? That I’m not letting you go.]

“I was about to be a little disappointed, but you said you’d teach me swordsmanship. I want to learn swordsmanship first.”

It’s true—Lucian wanted to learn swordsmanship or archery or anything at all.

After they organized the supplies that had come in today, they headed to the training ground.

After making Lucian do some light jogging as a stretch, Ria went down to the armory.

[This should do, right?]

Out of the countless weapons, she picked the sword that Lucian could use, at least.

“That’s what I’m going to use?”

He was already full of anticipation.

[Yeah, you’ll use this starting today. It looks a little big for you, but…… well, it’ll be fine.]

“Wow! I want to swing it right away!”

As Lucian fussed, wanting it quickly, Ria calmly handed him the sword.

[First we start with the basic stance, vertical cut—?]

Ria stopped mid-sentence and looked steadily at Lucian. His face was bright red as he struggled helplessly.

“Hngh! Huh! It’s, it’s heavier than I thought…… ack!”

Holding it up with both hands, he carefully gripped the hilt and lifted the sword. But he couldn’t withstand the weight and pitched forward.

Even after that, he tried all sorts of things to lift the sword somehow, but he couldn’t even lift it properly, much less swing it.

“Hyaaaah!”

[……It’s an adult’s sword, so it must be heavy for you.]

“I-it’s okay! I can do it!”

[Good grief, put it down before you get hurt.]

Ria finally took the sword away from Lucian. Seeing the sword in her hand, Lucian burst into tears in the end.

* * *

“Damn it, where is this place again?”

A man with long, loose red hair snapped irritably.

Every time he took a step, animals that had been resting peacefully either bolted in shock, or trembled and pissed themselves.

It was like the look of animals seeing something that should not exist.

Whether they did or not, the man looked around.

He was lost. In the middle of the forest, at that.

“Tsk…… no matter how I think about it, it’s strange. This is definitely the right way.”

The forest wasn’t going to change. It was simply that the man couldn’t find the path.

“This time I got several books. That guy will be happy too, right?”

The man grinned as he thought of the gifts in his pocket space.

It was a fatal smile that would charm any human, regardless of age or gender.

“Wait for me, ghost! I’m coming!”

Thinking of the ghost living in the huge mansion, the man hopped along excitedly. But only for a moment—soon, he started spinning around again, trying to find the path.

* * *

“Sniffle, Ria’s an idiot.”

Lucian, eyes shimmering with tears, pulled his knees in tight. Today was the second day he fought with Ria.

Rather than a fight where they hit and struck each other, it was only Lucian sulking and avoiding her by himself.

Since last time he’d gone down to the basement and run into big trouble, this time he’d gone into the forest. Of course, only as far as where the mansion was still fully visible.

[……Lucian! Stop it and come back!]

As expected, he could hear Ria calling him from the forest entrance. Lucian, wearing a sullen expression, shouted back toward where the voice was coming from.

“No! I’m not going back until you give me the sword!”

[I told you how many times that you can’t lift it! You’ll get hurt like that!]

“Still, I’m going to lift it!”

Of course, the sword was heavy.

He knew well that he couldn’t lift it properly, but it was just that he’d been looking forward to the sword lesson so much, and it felt unfair for it to end so emptily without him doing anything at all.

Ria, who didn’t even know how he felt and only kept saying no, was just hateful.

[Are you really going to do this!]

Anger entered Ria’s voice. Lucian flinched and peeked out from behind a tree.

Far away, he could see Ria with her hands on her hips.

But why was her hair floating around? It only made her look scarier for no reason.

[I don’t know! Live there forever or don’t!]

Maybe she was truly furious—Ria snapped her head around and headed for the mansion. Startled, Lucian half-stood up and stared at Ria as she grew more distant.

Feeling wronged for no reason, he made a miserable face.

“Waaah! Ria is a stupid idiot!”

Lucian began crying at the top of his lungs, as if the whole world was unfair.

Honestly, Lucian didn’t know why he was this upset.

Somehow, since coming here, it felt like he’d started crying more.

Before, he was always watching other people’s moods, so he’d never cried like this, and he’d been desperate not to show tears.

The young Lucian still hadn’t realized that he’d opened his heart to Ria, and that he expected that much more because of it.

Thanks to Ria, who gave him attention and love for the first time, and accepted all his whining, Lucian was little by little learning various emotions without even noticing.

Of course, he was still far from recognizing his own changes. He just wanted to let out this current sorrow.

“Waaah! Riaaa!”

In the end, to find Ria who would accept him, Lucian moved his feet with a face smeared with tears and snot.

With tears covering his view, he didn’t realize. That he was heading deep into the forest, not toward the mansion.