Chapter 27………………..
“Mom is the greatest archmage in the whole world!”
Casting a sideways glance at Lin—who proudly puffed out her belly—Caligo flew closer again and asked,
[So why were you looking for a map? Did you learn map-reading?]
“Map… reading?”
[How to read a map.]
“Oh! Yup. Uncle Theo taught me.”
Shwaa—
Unfolding the map, Lin confidently poked the center.
“This is our home! Hmm… and, and…”
The map, with Pegasus Lord Castle at the very center, showed the surrounding terrain in impressive detail.
Unlike her initial confidence, Lin’s tiny fingers wandered aimlessly around the wide map, unable to settle anywhere.
[Didn’t you say you knew how to read maps?]
“I do! But I can’t find names I don’t recognize…”
[Good grief. Here—what are you looking for?]
Caligo glanced at Lin’s sulky expression and approached the map.
After hearing the location she wanted, he tapped a spot with his soft paw.
[Here.]
“Wow! Caligo, you’re amazing!”
[This impresses you?]
Grumbling about how he’d shown his greatness countless times already and this was what impressed her, Caligo watched as Lin excitedly scribbled more things down.
After poring over the map and even flipping through an extra book she had asked Tinker to fetch, Lin finally let out a big whoo and mimed wiping nonexistent sweat from her forehead.
“All done! Ugh, that was tiring.”
[Why are you patting your back?]
“When you stand up from a desk, you always do this!”
Lin claimed she had seen her uncle’s secretaries—who carried around stacks of paperwork—stand and tap their lower backs saying “ow ow ow” every time.
Caligo snorted loudly through his nose, saying that was what old humans with aching joints did, but Lin proudly handed him the paper she’d been working on.
“Tada!”
[What’s this?]
Heeheehee.
Wiggling with excitement, Lin said,
“A recipe to make us rich!”
✦✦✦
There were still a few days left before auction day.
Having finished all her preparations, Lin headed to the playroom with a spring in her step.
[Going to rest?]
“Nope!”
Throwing open the door, Lin strode across the room and stopped in front of a big box.
“I’m gonna lift weights!”
[…What?]
Ignoring Caligo’s bewildered voice behind her, Lin rummaged diligently through the box.
“It should be… here… no, here… Ah! Found it!”
She tugged it out triumphantly.
[A wooden sword?]
“Yup! I’ve been exercising, so I’m strong now!”
[…]
“So I have to do more strong-person things!”
Lin proudly raised her chubby arm and copied the pose knights used to show off their muscles.
The pose matched her about as well as a helmet on a chicken, and Caligo was speechless. Lin meanwhile strained to lift the wooden sword out of the box.
“Huff! I feel healthier already!”
[That’s just your imagination.]
“Strong people lift weights!”
[That’s wood, though.]
Doing strong-person things…
She learned on Earth that this was called weight training.
Just like the people in gyms with all their strange equipment, knights in the training grounds always picked up heavy weapons and worked out whenever they had a spare moment.
She might not be strong enough to lift real metal weights yet, but she could at least mimic them with the tools she could use.
With that thought, Lin grabbed the wooden sword with both hands.
“Hrngh… huh?”
Wobble.
It was a children’s wooden sword—much smaller and lighter than the real ones—so she thought she could handle it just fine.
But instead of dramatically drawing the sword like she imagined, the weight pressed into her tiny center of gravity…
…pushing her backward.
Thunk!
A large hand caught her from behind.
“Huu—whoaa…”
As Lin let out a startled breath, another soft sigh came from behind.
Still holding Lin steady, the owner of the large hand gently slid the sword out of her grip.
“When you lift something heavy, you need to be careful.”
“Uncle Theo!”
Whether she understood how close she had come to toppling over or not, Lin’s face lit up at the sight of her busy uncle, and she held her arms out happily.
Unable to help himself, Theodore chuckled and lifted her up.
“Uncle, are you done with work?”
“…It’s a short break.”
“Yay! Break time!”
Ignoring his aide’s horrified cry of “Sir, you still have documents left!!” inside his head, Theodore gave a quiet smile. He even gave a name to the mental act of skipping work.
“By the way… you were looking for my wooden sword?”
“Yup! It’s the one you used when you were my age!”
Lin’s eyes sparkled brightly at the image of her uncle when he was little.
Remembering the head maid’s report—‘Young Miss asked where Lord Theodore’s childhood wooden sword was, then ran straight to the playroom!’—Theodore had immediately abandoned his office to stop her before she hurt herself.
“I think this is still too heavy for you.”
“It’s not a children’s sword?”
“Mm. Uncle is a bear beastkin. We make our things heavier than other beastkin.”
Even as a child, Theodore—famously strong even among the powerful bear tribe—had used swords heavier than those of most adult knights.
The “children’s sword” she found looked like wood on the outside, but inside was a metal core.
Hearing this, Lin stared at the sword in her uncle’s hand—light as a pen to him—with a shocked expression.
“It wasn’t wood!”
Unbelievable. She had accidentally tried to do real weight training.
Whiiine.
Lin looked at Theodore’s sword with the same eyes a gamer might have when they encounter a weapon far above their level requirement.
“Hmmm.”
Seeing her disappointment, Theodore looked around—and his eyes stopped on the large tree outside the playroom window.
“Lin, wait here.”
“Uncle Theo?”
Grabbing the window frame, Theodore hopped outside the first-floor playroom and strode toward the tree.
KA-THOOM!
With one light slash, he felled the enormous tree cleanly.
“!”
Lin’s jaw dropped as she witnessed her uncle’s overwhelming strength firsthand.
Crack—
Theodore tore off a thick, straight branch with his bare hands.
A few more swift cuts removed the smaller branches, leaving a smooth piece. He checked several times for rough spots, then returned inside.
“Lin.”
He held out a freshly crafted wooden sword.
“Want to try this one?”
“Wow!!”
Lin took the handmade sword with sparkling eyes.
Unlike the metal-cored sword that had nearly flattened her earlier, this one fit her strength perfectly.
After a few test swings, she turned back to Theodore with an excited, flushed face.
“Uncle Theo, thank you!”
“If you want to use a wooden sword… shall we go to the training grounds? Uncle will teach you.”
“Yaaay! Really?!”
Lin bounced up and down with joy, and Theodore looked down at her with a warm smile.
She reached her hands up to go together, and he naturally lifted her back into his arms.
“Huh?”
When Lin looked up in confusion, she saw Theodore’s strangely happy expression.
Even through the unforgiving eyes of a child, he was ridiculously handsome. Lin reached out without thinking.
“Uncle Theo, you’re handsome.”
“Uncle is handsome?”
“Yeah. You look nice.”
Theodore leaned closer so she could pat his face as much as she wanted, and burst into laughter at her next words.
“I heard in the kitchen that you’re good for the eyes. I think my eyes feel better now!”
Listening to her chatter about the stories she’d heard while wandering around the castle, Theodore smiled the entire time and carried her toward the training grounds.
