Chapter 10
10
Chapter 2. Experienced (5)
As soon as I hurriedly dispelled the Wall of Flames, I could see the little children.
'I can't see them well because they're far away.'
Aside from the blonde kid, they were the first children I'd seen since being reborn into this world. Even then, it had already been two years. I was once again reminded of how much my parents had coddled me.
"Ian! Leon! How did you two get here?!"
"Dad! Leon, he, he's on fire..."
They were boys who looked to be about seven years old. Lloyd quickly approached them.
"Leon, are you alright? Try to stand up."
"I'm, I'm okay..."
"It's okay to say if it hurts."
Lloyd rolled up the sleeve of the child who had fallen to the ground. I couldn't see from where I was, but if he had been hit by that strong flame, the injury wouldn't be small.
'Should I throw some Healing Clay?'
Without realizing it, my hands were fidgeting, and the Healing Clay was forming into a round ball. If I threw it well... it might reach...
I was calling it Clay for convenience, but if I thinned the concentration, I could spread it out like slime. That's what I did when I covered the mansion. But my parents were here now, so I was a bit conscious of them.
My parents, especially Mother, really, really, really hated it when I used my healing ability. Because they thought it was bad for my body...
"Sir Lloyd, is the child badly hurt? Oh dear..."
"He wasn't burned, but he seems to have sprained his leg when he fell from the shock."
"I'm fine!"
As Mother approached and asked, the child sitting on the ground jumped up and shouted loudly. Dad approached them while holding me.
"You don't have to lie and force yourself. Tell the truth. This is our fault."
"It's my fault."
"Your fault is my fault. Sir Lloyd, have you called a Healer?"
"There's no need to do that."
"We should still get him treated, just in case."
"It's just a fall. Leon, Ian. Isn't that right?"
Dad clicked his tongue.
"Sir Lloyd, if you say that, the children won't be able to say anything even if they're in pain. Step aside."
"N, no, it's not! I'm really alright!"
"It doesn't hurt!"
Wow, they're really on their best behavior...
I was in Dad's arms, constantly debating whether or not to use the Healing Clay.
'They must be twins.'
The identical boys standing side by side were really cute. Wow, they're complete angels.
'Is everyone in this world basically good-looking...?'
Looking at Sir Lloyd, I didn't think that was the case. It's not that Sir Lloyd was ugly... In terms of facial features, he was handsome, but he was the kind of handsome that would be on a gym poster rather than in a celebrity photo book.
But he was still handsome, so I decided to conclude that the average level of appearance in this world was very high.
Unlike the burly Sir Lloyd, the two boys with the same reddish-brown hair tied in ponytails looked clean and neat. Their clear blue eyes were cute.
But they must be quite mischievous, as there were small scratch marks on their cheeks, arms, and necks, wherever they were visible.
'If I leave them like that, they'll scar.'
I was thinking that as I watched them, and then I made eye contact with one of the boys.
"Hmph."
Oh.
Did that kid just 'hmph' at me? How rude, to do that the first time he sees someone. What did I do?
The way he turned his head away and pretended not to notice was really...
'So cute...'
I want to tease him.
"Are you sure you don't want to show your leg to a Healer? You might not feel the pain right now because you're shocked, but it might hurt later."
"Thank you for your concern, but falling is a common occurrence during training."
"But this happened because of my mistake."
"No. To be precise, it's these guys."
Sir Lloyd smiled and looked down at his twins. The twins' faces hardened.
"It happened because they snuck in without listening to me."
"We're sorry!"
"We were wrong!"
I could tell how strictly Sir Lloyd was educating them. Well, to control children who looked like troublemakers, you would need to be strict to some extent.
He always showed me a comical side and had a soft impression, but he was different when it came to educating his children.
"That's alright. I knew that your children often came to the Training ground. However, it would be good to correct the habit of going to places where they don't have permission to enter."
"I understand."
Mother said that and glanced at me.
"Usually, they don't do things they're told not to do... I'll be sure to give them a stern warning."
"Forget the warning, let's hear the reason."
"Pardon?"
"You said they usually don't do things they're told not to do. If this was an exception, there must have been a reason."
Dad said.
'These guys must like Dad.'
The way they were looking at him with sparkling eyes as soon as he opened his mouth, they were so transparent.
The more I looked at them, the cuter they were.
Sir Lloyd asked.
"Ian, Leon. Answer His Excellency's question."
"Well..."
They exchanged glances. And then, as if they had made up their minds, they said.
"We were curious."
"About what? Magic?"
"No. About what Father often talked about."
The other twin naturally continued.
"About Shana."
"He said you were coming out..."
Huh. Me?
"Father said that you have to become knights who serve Shana when you grow up..."
"But we've never seen you."
"Even when we came to the mansion, we couldn't meet Shana."
"He said you were coming out this time, so we came to see you."
"We can't accept having to serve someone we've never even seen."
"Father said we have to become stronger and endure for Shana's sake."
"How can we work hard when we don't even know who you are?"
Everything they said was right.
"What were you going to do if you met me?"
Mother asked the children in a childish and fierce tone, and the twins answered at the same time.
"We were going to judge whether you were worth serving!"
"Y, you guys..."
Sir Lloyd looked quite flustered. He seemed worried that the twins' direct words might have offended me or my parents.
'Aren't they right?'
Mother and Dad wouldn't be the kind of people to be offended by children's words.
'Besides, I'm only three years old.'
What are they going to judge...?
When I thought about it, I wondered how much the twins had been tormented by hearing my name from Sir Lloyd.
"Dad! Dad, let me down, let me down!"
"Shana?"
Dad carefully put me down on the ground. Mother didn't look happy, but she didn't stop him.
They said they came to see me, so I couldn't just stay in his arms.
I got down on the ground and approached the twins.
Squeak, squeak!
"Ah, really..."
I was trying to be serious, but they wouldn't let me.
As I approached the twins, making cheerful squeaking noises with my shoes, I could see the children's stiff faces, who had been answering the adults so well until just now.
Ah, what, why.
Why do they look scared?
'Am I scary?'
When I looked at myself, I thought I was just pretty and cute? I was mildly shocked. Maybe the aesthetic standards in this world were a bit different.
Hiding my disappointment that the face I thought was pretty because it resembled my mother's might actually be scary, I held out my hand to one of them.
"I'm Shana."
"I know."
Sir Lloyd said, "Leon, use honorifics!" What honorifics? I'm just a kid.
This one must be Leon. The one who scoffed at me.
"What's your name?"
"...Leon."
"Okay, Leon. And?"
"Ian."
"So you're Ian."
They were answering obediently, considering they didn't like me. Maybe it was because they were watching the adults, but I wanted to become friends with the children who were about my age, who I could say I was meeting for the first time in this world (let's exclude the newborn period).
They looked about four years older than me, but that was perfect. We could communicate.
I grabbed Leon and Ian's hands at the same time. My right hand was holding Leon's, the one who fell. My left hand was holding Ian's, who also had a lot of injuries. They flinched slightly, surprised, but they didn't pull their hands away. Wow, they're kind.
I smiled brightly and said.
"I don't wanna be served either."
"Wh, what..."
"Don't do what you don't wanna do. Do whatever you want, no matter what that guy says!"
The twins' eyes widened. They couldn't have imagined that I would say I didn't want to first, and they couldn't say anything, just opening and closing their mouths.
Why, what. I can say I don't want to too...
Honestly, what do little kids know about deciding their future? That was Sir Lloyd's fault.
"W, we don't like..."
"Honestly, how can a kid protect me? I don't need anyone to protect me, I'll take care of myself!"
"Our Shana speaks so well... She's only three years old, but look how fluent she is... That's right, Shana. The twins are still far off."
"That's right, Sir Lloyd protects me!"
"Hahaha! That's right!"
Sir, what are you doing...?
"I don't like people who don't like me either. So."
"Do, do you know how promising we are? You'll, you'll regret it!"
"I'll take care of that too."
I applied Healing Clay to the visible wounds. I felt a bit sorry for throwing Clay at people. A faint light flowed, and the scratches disappeared as if they were melting.
"Shana, you're doing it again...!"
"It's okay, it's okay! It's nothing!"
"I told you not to..."
The twins looked very surprised. I looked up at them from below and said.
"So don't get hurt coming to see me for nothing. Do what you wanna do. Leon, Ian."
"Ugh."
"......"
Suddenly, they burst into tears. Oh, I made them cry. I'm not really a kid, I'm actually an adult. A seasoned professional, no less.
'Could it be.'
Am I really scary?
