Chapter 7
Reunion with Young Colleagues
"Annie, was it?"
The mother and daughter I met today.
Of course, we hadn't even properly introduced ourselves yet.
"I'm sorry, but I'd like to change your name. It might be hard to get used to, but..."
The child, trying not to forget the rules Lucia had set, mulled over her words several times before recalling her own name.
'Dirty Annie! Smelly Annie!'
No matter how she thought about it, it wasn't a good memory.
As if shaking off a series of memories from the orphanage, the child nodded her head quickly before Lucia even finished speaking.
In fact, even if that wasn't the case, the child was determined to listen to whatever Lucia said.
"Alright. Then from now on, your name will be..."
That's when it happened.
Knock knock
"Shh."
Lucia put her finger to her lips, looking at the child.
It seemed to be Berl, who must have found out about her leave of absence. Since he was bound to be annoying, she decided to pretend she wasn't there.
After some footsteps, the presence soon disappeared.
'Has he finally gone?'
As she was about to relax her tense back with the child, the sound of a window opening came from somewhere.
Lucia reflexively placed her hand on her sword.
She remembered that occasionally, assassins were sent from neighboring kingdoms to keep new Sword Masters in check.
Along with rustling sounds from the living room, Lucia drew her sword and pointed it at the neck of the man she discovered.
The man, startled, raised his hands high and shouted.
"Huh?! Commander! It's me! Me!"
She confirmed the face at the tip of her pointed sword.
A man with a fairly tall stature, light sky-blue hair, and droopy eyes.
Judging by how he called her commander, he must be an old colleague, but his unfamiliar young face made her memory hazy.
"What? You're not even lowering your sword? Just because you haven't seen me for 5 years? It's Vernon. Vernon! Vernon Havierre of Concealment!"
"Concealment... Vernon?"
Lucia's memory was revived by Vernon's nickname as he grumbled.
The Black Knights' information specialist, the third ace. Vernon Havierre.
Lucia lowered her sword, certain he was an ally.
"Phew, I almost had to change my pants."
Vernon wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and spoke glibly.
That's when it happened.
Someone else appeared behind Vernon.
"Eh? What's this?"
A fierce female voice.
Someone roughly jumped out of the window Vernon had entered through.
Red hair, small stature, sturdy muscles, and known for her great strength - the Black Knights' second ace, Gillianna Olivia.
"There's really a kid who looks exactly like the boss!"
Gillianna exclaimed, her cat-like eyes wide open, looking at the child who had somehow hidden in a corner of the living room.
And another one.
As if they were connected like a string of sausages, this time a boy with white hair entered and muttered, looking at the child and Lucia with empty eyes.
"...She's small."
This boy was a manufacturing genius coveted by the magic tower.
The Black Knights' first ace. Heath.
The three who suddenly appeared were shamelessly walking around the training dormitory as if it were their own home.
"...You lot. Where on earth are you entering from when there's a door?"
Lucia, irritated at these people who had thoroughly ruined the somewhat relaxed atmosphere with the child.
Yet, she couldn't get too angry at them because they were...
"Pfft. Just as the vice-commander said, your way of speaking really has become like an old person's."
As expected, Vernon, far from reading the room, could barely contain his laughter as he covered his mouth and spoke.
"Ack!! That's true too. Boss, what on earth happened in 5 years? Your speech has aged so much!"
"...Old person."
Vernon like a raccoon, Gillianna like a rough cat, Heath the boy whose thoughts were unfathomable.
That's right.
Although Lucia herself wasn't particularly skilled in etiquette, these people surpassed even her in their lack of manners.
Lucia, carefully observing these fearless individuals, remembered the last time she met them after her retirement.
Even then, she had thought their speech was disrespectful as if senile, but coming back now, they were still the same as ever.
Still, since they weren't saying anything untrue,
'My speech, huh. I guess it is noticeable after all. It's not good, so I should fix it.'
Even though she had returned to her younger self, it wasn't easy for a 90-year-old to suddenly adopt the speech of someone in their 20s.
Moreover, being the insensitive Lucia she was, she hadn't even realized until now that her way of speaking was strange.
That's when,
Suddenly, Gillianna grabbed the child's armpits and lifted her up.
"Whee~! Isn't this fun?! Little boss?"
"...!!"
The child was being tossed about like a piece of paper floating in the air.
Her face had turned pale, almost to the point of fainting, without making a sound.
The child was clearly not enjoying it by anyone's standards.
Lucia quickly snatched the stiff child from Gillianna's hands.
"Huh? Why, boss? Our niece goes crazy for this."
"Tsk tsk. Gillianna... To incur the dislike of the commander's child. Like me, like this."
Vernon winked slyly as he pulled out a candy from his pocket.
But it was useless to offer it to the already stiffened child.
Lucia shook her head at their pathetic display and checked on the condition of the child in her arms.
The child had powerlessly dropped her head onto Lucia's chest.
Startled, she put her ear close and fortunately heard steady breathing.
'...She fell asleep? Suddenly? Is this normal for children this age?'
The physically robust Lucia hadn't noticed, but this 5-year-old had been awake since dawn without eating or sleeping.
No matter how much she was protected by divine power, a child was still a child.
"I'm going to the bedroom for now, you lot better wait here quietly."
Left alone after Lucia's warning that sounded like a threat, they started trembling all over.
"Damn, the boss seems really angry. What should we do...!"
"Oh my, that's why you shouldn't have... Gillianna. I'll pray for your soul."
"...You guys?"
Leaving behind the members who were now panicking with looks of realization on their faces, Lucia went up to the second-floor bedroom.
Laying the child on the bed, she saw that her long black hair was messily covering her face, making her look even more exhausted.
She brushed aside the hair near the child's round forehead to check her temperature.
Fortunately, perhaps because she was a Saintess, she seemed physically robust and had no fever.
"...Mmm."
Lucia quickly withdrew her hand at the child's stirring.
As she was about to turn and leave the child who had fallen back asleep,
"Lucia..."
The child who had finally woken up mumbled.
"Yes. Well done. That's my name."
"...My name..."
The child struggled against her heavy eyelids as she murmured.
"Ah."
Lucia recalled someone else before saying the name.
A name she had never seen but longed for all her life. Lavinia Cluere.
"Your name is Nia."
"...Nia, Nia."
The child mumbled the name derived from Lucia's mother's name for a while before falling asleep.
.
.
.
"So, you can't tell us about the husband, but you have a child?"
Vernon said incredulously.
It was the Emperor's idea.
In his opinion, rather than making up an excuse that mentioned herbs more than 7 times, it was better to simply say she couldn't tell them.
Lucia nodded, sitting on the sofa.
Sweat ran down the faces of the Black Knights' aces.
They were serious.
Heath, who had weak stamina, soon collapsed powerlessly to the floor.
As Heath fell, Vernon and Gillianna cried out to Lucia with desperate faces.
"Commander...!"
"Boss!! Please...!!"
The reason they were so desperate.
It was because Lucia had ordered them to maintain a horse stance as punishment for entering rudely through the window until they left.
"Heath. You come here. That's enough for you."
Heath, who had collapsed, opened his eyes at Lucia's order and caught his breath as he sat on the soft sofa, much to the others' annoyance.
"That sly fox!! Commander! Why only Heath...!"
"Yeah!! We're all knights, aren't we?! This is discrimination!"
At their indignant cries, Lucia thought of a good idea.
"He's young. Then how about changing to pose number 2?"
"No thank you!"
"No thank you!"
The unified cry of Vernon and Gillianna for once.
"...Hah."
Amused by their lively appearance that she hadn't seen in a long time, a deflated sound escaped Lucia's lips.
"...Wow. I thought our commander knew nothing about men."
"Right, already having a child. Boss is now a senior in life. Haha."
"What?"
Lucia glared at Vernon and Gillianna who were still joking around despite sweating profusely.
"Ah, the thoughts I had inside just... Ah, haha."
"A-ahem."
The members who had tried to joke around in the loosened atmosphere avoided Lucia's dry eyes and sweated.
"But commander, how did you raise the child so quietly? I don't see any nanny either."
"Yeah? Boss, was the child staying somewhere else before coming here?"
Despite their agonizing physical contortions, their curiosity came first as they started moving around the house again in horse stance.
These shameless people seemed to think they could do anything as long as they maintained the pose.
No matter how much they looked around, the training dormitory had nothing but many weapons hanging on the walls, a businesslike reception room, and just a few drawers.
In other words, as Lucia had thought, this environment was not at all suitable for raising a child.
'...Somewhere else?'
"...Yes. The child's father was raising her until now."
She felt proud that her quick-wittedness in lying seemed to have improved since the herb incident.
"I see. Then you'll need to find a nanny, right? Commander, you're not exactly someone who can raise a child, are you?"
That was something she had already considered thoroughly herself.
However, hearing those words from someone else was unacceptable.
As Lucia's eyes flashed towards Vernon, he quickly corrected his loosened posture.
"A-ahem. No, I mean it would be difficult for you alone..."
"No. For now, I don't need a nanny or a maid. What's so hard about raising one small child like that?"
Lucia's boastful words made even Heath, who was pretending to be dead on the sofa, shake his head.
"...Boss. I've never said this before, but really. I respect you."
It was an unexpected confession from Gillianna. And then...
"But this isn't right. Are you going to kill the child before even sending them to the Academy's affiliated kindergarten!?"
It was the first time I had seen it.
Gillianna's dry face, which was always overflowing with energy and vivacity, had not a trace of laughter.
Looking at where she pointed, there were dishes piled up after just one day without a maid.
Dried-up ingredients that had been left out too long, a bathroom full of dirty water, and stained wooden floors.
Of course, it hadn't been long since she had rescued the child from the dirty warehouse, and it was going to be an excuse to keep the child here in the future, but to be honest, she had no intention of cleaning this up herself.
It was true that given her personality, she wasn't particularly bothered by the dirty environment, so she was planning to leave it to the child for a while.
If it didn't get cleaned up, she wouldn't have to think of another excuse to keep the child here, which would be even better.
But to actually raise a child, this kind of environment is unacceptable.
Cornered by their justified criticism, Lucia was at a loss for words, unable to come up with another excuse.
"Sigh, it can't be helped. Gillianna, how about you take charge of cooking? I'll be responsible for taking care of and educating the child."
"Alright. Heath is in charge of cleaning, right?"
"...Yeah."
They were assigning roles to each other with serious faces, as if planning a military strategy.
Watching this, Lucia said with an expression that said it was ridiculous,
"You're talking nonsense. I won't allow it. Now leave."
In response to her cold reaction, Vernon pulled out his trump card from his pocket, as if he had expected this.
What Vernon handed over was an elegant paper with gold embossing.
[You. You have some very loyal members? My head hurts from all your members coming to me as a group, saying they want to take time off while you're on leave. At this rate, all the skilled knights will be resting and the empire will fall into ruin, so take responsibility.]
The handwriting was rough, visible to anyone. Below it was stamped the Emperor's seal.
In other words, this was the Emperor's personal letter stating that he would send the aces to work at the training dormitory.
How on earth did they manage to get the Emperor, who had been clapping like a seal, to write such a letter himself?
Despite their fox-like intentions being obvious, the members smiled innocently like children who knew nothing, bringing their faces close.
At that sight, something dark and deep in Lucia's chest began to slowly boil over.
