Ch#174
The next day after Tese tan pulled out the fences.
Tie headed energetically next door.
Now without fences, she could hop right over to Dad's house.
But as she dashed toward the front door, Tie soon stopped in her tracks.
"Gasp......! Can't you go easy just a bit."
"How many days of siege did you rest for your arms to already feel heavy, Victor. You're out of your mind."
The familiar voices came not from inside the house, but from the back.
Tie changed course and headed to the rear garden.
There, she found Dad training shirtless with his subordinate Victor.
"Leader?"
Libia, who had been sitting on the back door steps, spotted Tie first and ran over.
"What, came to watch?"
Tie nodded, then looked at Dad and Victor with a curious face.
She'd seen other members train, but this was her first time seeing Dad train.
"Let's go watch together. Ah! More than that, I tried cooking something."
Libia grabbed Tie's hand and pulled her along.
Tie followed Libia to the back door steps.
And there, she discovered a bizarre hunk of meat dripping blood.
"Gasp, wh-what is this......?"
Libia grinned.
"I tried grilling some meat!"
Tie glanced at Libia's eyes once before staring back at the meat.
"Looks like raw meat......"
"Eh?! Really?!"
Libia jumped up and turned the plate with the meat this way and that.
Then bright red blood trickled from both sides of the plate.
"You're right, it's a bit underdone! Wait a sec?"
Without giving her a chance to reply, Libia took the meat and went inside.
At the same time, Victor plopped down on the ground.
"I can't do anymore."
Tese tan stuck his wooden sword into the ground and clicked his tongue.
Victor, panting, said to Aleric leaning against the outer wall.
"Aren't you training, Aleric?"
Tese tan and Aleric's gazes turned to Victor.
Victor nodded toward Tie.
"Looks like a perfect sparring partner just arrived."
Aleric's lips parted.
Indeed, he nodded as if intrigued.
"Now that you mention it. Leader, perhaps with me......"
"Have you lost your mind?"
At that moment, Tese tan abruptly stepped in front of Tie.
Tese tan glared at Victor and Aleric with an angry face.
"Training? What training. Am I your practice dummy?"
Victor's eyes widened round.
He furrowed his brow in thought.
Then what about back in Trebaga days when Tese tan helped with his sword training?
Did that mean he'd volunteered as a dummy himself?
As if sharing the thought, Aleric looked puzzled too.
Regardless, Tese tan continued in a sharp voice.
"Cut the nonsense and go inside, Aleric. Instead of watching others train, practice your spirit language more."
Next, he glared at Victor.
"Victor Redwood. Do a thousand more thrusting drills today."
"......Leader, no, Vice Leader! Where's the fairness in that!"
Meanwhile, behind Tese tan, Tie's lips parted wide.
The child's small mouth corners twitched before a bright smile spread across her face.
'Dad really has gotten nicer!'
Dad had stopped her and Aleric from sparring.
To save face for her as Leader, no doubt!
Too proud, Tie looked up at Dad with sparkling eyes.
Then spotted something in the distance and her eyes lit up.
"Wow. There's a tree here?"
At Tie's voice, Tese tan, Victor, and Aleric all turned their heads.
Tie dashed to the tree, stared intently at Dad, then,
"Hup!"
Banged her back against the trunk.
"......What are you doing?"
Aleric narrowed his brow, and
"Ha, hahaha!"
Victor burst out laughing.
Tie banged her back against the tree trunk repeatedly while looking at Dad with earnest eyes.
'Memory come back! Please let Dad remember everything, please......!'
Back in South Korea.
Tie and Dad would climb Inwang Mountain every few weeks.
They had a frequent game midway up the trail at the mountain gym: betting how many grandpas were banging their backs against trees.
'Hmm, Tie bets three today! Think the green-shirt grandpa will be with his friends again!'
'Yeah? Dad bets two. One'll be on the car driving machine.'
Car driving was the exercise machine where you spun a big steering wheel with both hands.
Tie banged the tree while mimicking spinning a steering wheel with her hands.
While glancing at Dad's expression, she swallowed hard.
'......No way?'
Would this method really work?
For some reason, Dad was looking at her with a strange gaze.
Too tense, Tie started banging her back even harder.
Her back stung and sweat beaded, but she couldn't stop.
Because Dad's expression seemed like he was recalling something!
However.
'......Even at four years old, a shaman, huh.'
Tese tan inwardly swallowed a sigh.
That action of banging her back against a perfectly fine tree.
'That's it. The one from my dream.'
The dream after Gyegeomnal had mostly faded by now.
But he clearly remembered the bizarre people banging against trees.
'It was so weird, stuck in my memory.'
Yet the Necromancer King was doing the exact same thing right before his eyes?
Shaking his head, Tese tan strode over and stood before Tie.
He spoke seriously to the child looking up at him with sparkling eyes.
"No matter how much of a necromancer you are."
"......"
"You can't just peek into others' dreams and mimic them like that."
Then he turned away as if to say more.
Tie leaned against the tree trunk, gaping blankly.
Tese tan went inside, and Victor approached with an intrigued face.
"Leader. What on earth was that?"
Tie finally tore her gaze from the closed door.
And answered sullenly.
"J-just, exercise......"
"Exercise?"
"Y-yeah...... Doing this makes your lower back feel refreshed."
Victor alternated glances between the tree and Tie before banging his own back against it—thud.
Leaves rustled down, sticking to Tie's hair, nose, and lips.
"Oops. Leader, you okay?"
Tie spat out the leaves—pthoo, pthoo.
And trudged back to Agavert's base with pursed lips.
A yellow-tipped leaf still clung to the top of her head.
* * *
"Ugh! Feels so good!"
Several days later.
Under the massive willow tree in Agavert's backyard, members stood in a line.
"Alright, twenty times done, now my turn!"
"Move aside, move it!"
Tie rested her chin sulkily, watching the members desperate to bang their backs against the tree.
She'd done it to stimulate Dad's memories.
But the ones interested in back-banging turned out to be the members.
Tie recalled her many efforts over the past few days.
'W-weird~? Suddenly wanna eat twist bread and old-style fried chicken!'
She'd deliberately mentioned snacks from South Korea in front of Dad,
'A, B, C, D, E, F, G!'
Sung the alphabet song she'd learned at kindergarten for Dad.
And not just that?
She'd hummed 'Stylish Tomato,' 'Dad, Fighting,' and 'Baby Shark' too......!
'Kiddo, what's old-style fried chicken? Why keep wanting it. But no fried chicken these days? Don't want that one, huh? Ha, hahaha!'
'Argh...... Veil bro's a dummy!'
The only one interested in Tie's actions was Veil.
Worn out even by Veil's teasing, Tie sprawled on the mat with limbs spread out.
The sky was pretty, the grass smelled sweet.
Falling leaves from the past few days drifted down like colorful snowflakes.
But.
'Lucarion doesn't come home anymore......'
Tie let out another deep sigh—huu.
Then.
"Huh?"
Against the sky backdrop, a familiar face popped into view.
Now that she noticed, the surroundings had gone quiet.
Tie blinked before grinning brightly.
Looking down at her with softly crinkled eyes was,
"Association President?!"
The Sori Association President and this country's princess.
The power-same-age-as-Tie, Ardiana.
