When the morning sun rose.
I headed toward the training grounds located in the central area of the fortress.
The fortress, emptied of troops overnight, was now little more than a desolate ruin, with a chilling, ghost-town atmosphere.
“Is no one here?”
Was I the first to arrive at the training grounds? When I glanced around, I saw only abandoned scarecrows, sandbags, and charred remnants of firewood left from the night before.
Whooo—
A brisk autumn wind, still lingering with the chill of dawn, swept past, making shiver a little. Just then, I saw soone in the distance waving at .
“You’re up early! I thought I’d be the first one!”
It was the red-haired imp. The sunlight reflecting off his hair gave it a halo-like sheen, as if he wore an angel’s ring.
His energetic waving carried such vivid life that it was hard to believe he wasn’t of this world anymore—that he was a ghost.
As the imp arrived, one by one, more people began to appear from afar. The next to show up was Elga.
“What, it’s just you, Teo? Did everyone else oversleep or sothing?”
Elga couldn’t see the imp who was standing beside , glancing around. When I subtly raised my palm in the imp’s direction, she quietly asked, “That imp’s here too, huh?”
I gave a slight nod, and right then soone called out from the distance.
“Teo! You’re here early!”
It was Nare.
Behind her, Lady Mirna was doing light stretches, dressed in a practical leather tunic, her breath forming pale puffs in the cold.
“It’s only early October, but the mornings are getting chilly. If we start sweating in this weather, we might catch colds.”
Rustle, rustle.
Mirna and Nare scanned the area, probably to see if anyone besides , Elga, and the imp had arrived.
Soon after, Professor Stella showed up as well.
“What, you’re all here already? After the way we said goodbye last night? Guess everyone was a bit more motivated than they let on? You really are still a bunch of kids.”
Now the only one left was probably Ayra. It was getting close to the promised 9 a.m. hour. I started to get a little anxious, wondering if the imp would get mad if she didn’t arrive on ti.
Maybe I should have stopped by Ayra’s room on the way?
Just as I was thinking it might not be too late to go fetch her, Ayra finally appeared in the training grounds, wearing a pair of light leather pants and a jacket.
It felt strange at first to see her dressed in such plain, commoner-style clothes—it had been a while. But before I could dwell on it, Mirna clapped her hands together.
“Everyone’s gathered before nine. Then, let’s move on to the main point of today’s eting.”
As everyone’s attention turned to Mirna, I took a quick headcount. , Mirna, Nare, Stella, Elga, Ayra, and the imp.
Seven.
An odd number—kind of awkward. Splitting into two teams might get tricky. Not that Elga or Ayra seed to care—they both yawned like ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) it was no big deal.
“So, what are we doing now? I’m excited!”
“Yeah, this should be fun.”
Unlike them, Nare and Professor Stella had their eyes sparkling with curiosity. Then Mirna looked at . Was she asking to explain?
Glance.
I checked the imp’s reaction before addressing the group.
“Well then, today we’ll be spending the day with this imp here. We’ll decide what to do as we go, based on the mont. For starters...”
Just as I was about to continue, the imp shouted out.
“First, we’re playing Jailers and Imps! Since there are seven of us, we can split into teams of three and four!”
Jailers and Imps?
The unfamiliar na left montarily speechless. Then Mirna, listening along with , spoke.
“Sounds like he ans we’re going to play heretic-hunting.”
Heretic-hunting? As I was wondering what that ant, Elga—still yawning from what must’ve been lack of sleep—curved her lips into a smirk.
“If we’re talking about heretic-hunting, isn’t that the cat-and-mouse ga? Cats chasing mice. I used to play it a lot with my cousins as a kid. I was great at catching mice.”
I didn’t get all the details, but it seed like a ga where soone ran away and soone else chased them. Then Stella gave a thoughtful hum.
“Looks like the na of the ga varies by region. When I was still a young elf—not even ten years old—we called it runaway slave tag. You played by catching runaway slaves.”
Nare made a face.
“Runaway slave tag? That sounds like sothing old n from way back in the day would talk about!”
“What? Ahem. Anyway, yeah, catching soone who’s running away is a basic type of physical play that kids can do. Builds teamwork and cleverness.”
Stella, the most knowledgeable and seasoned among us, began explaining the rules, counting them off on her fingers.
It was a simple chase ga where two teams took turns playing tag—one side ran, and the other chased.
If a runner was caught, they’d be locked in “jail” and couldn’t move until another runner ca and rescued them.
Cops and robbers.
I’d played this sort of ga so many tis growing up that I grasped it instantly.
Back when there weren’t many computers and we played outside all the ti—that kind of ga? I’d played it so often I couldn’t even count. Just hearing the explanation brought it all back.
Kids’ gas that rely only on the body really are the sa no matter the world.
Then Nare asked,
“So, if the chasers win by catching everyone, how do the runners win?”
“In our Borja region, we used to hide cheese. If the mice pulled out the cheese, they won. Of course, I never let them eat it even once.”
Elga puffed her chest out proudly as she said that. That’s when I noticed—her belly looked a little more rounded than I rembered, beneath her comfortable dress.
“Hm...”
Chasing and being chased could be a pretty intense ga.
Depending on how it went, it might even get physical. Normal kids get hurt doing this kind of thing, let alone hot-blooded noble ladies...
So I decided to add a rule.
“If a chaser touches a runner, that counts as a capture. Also, let’s ban all magic and spells. We’ll move with our bodies only, like kids.”
Mirna furrowed her brow.
“Then Lady Leones has too much of an advantage...”
She looked like she was about to say sothing else, then stopped. Probably realizing that while Elga was strong, she was also pregnant, which changed things.
I said,
“Then let’s handicap Professor Stella. Whether she’s chasing or running, she can only hop on one foot.”
“Hm? So you’re trying to balance the teams, huh? Well, when I was young, we used to add all kinds of restrictions for fun. Fine by —I can manage on one foot just fine.”
Stella surprisingly nodded without resistance. Now, my gaze turned to Ayra, who had been silently listening.
“Ayra-nim, do you understand everything so far?”
“It’s the bug-hunting ga. I rember playing it with my older siblings when I was little. I never imagined I’d play it again, but it was a lot of fun.”
So that’s how it was.
I’d always thought these noble ladies had grown up like greenhouse flowers—but it seed they had run around quite a bit in childhood after all.
Mirna said,
“Then let’s divide into teams. Shall we keep it simple and use up-or-down?”
Slide. She held out her palm. Then Elga said,
“Up-or-down? We used to call it front-or-back.”
It looked like they were using the palm-up or palm-down thod to split into teams. Each person chid in with what they were familiar with as we—
“Then it’s , Teo, and Queen Tarantella on one team!”
“Which ans it’s , Professor Stella, and Lady Leones on the other. Tch.”
“What, why’d you click your tongue? I don’t want to be on your team either, Mirna. You look like you’d totally suck at this. Aren’t you the pampered type who grew up in luxury?”
As the back-and-forth started, I looked at the imp.
“Which side do you want to be on?”
To my question, the imp replied,
“I like chasing better than running!”
Then that ans you’ll be on my team.
And thus, our day began.
***
“I caught you again, big sis! Co here, you thief!”
“Calling your big sister a thief—don’t you think that’s a bit much, Nare?”
“Don’t talk back to a guard!”
“......”
Mirna was dragged into jail by Nare, the prison guard.
From afar, Elga—who had been watching—burst in frustration.
“Hey! I just busted you out, and you got caught again!? You’ve got the best mobility of all of us, so you’re supposed to be more careful!”
By the ti the morning chill had faded and the sun was high in the sky, we were all dripping in sweat.
There had been plenty of issues, and we had to stop often to renegotiate the rules, but everyone was more enthusiastic than I expected.
“Phew—”
Mirna sat in jail, catching her breath. She was sweating profusely—sothing that didn’t suit her usual image—so I reached into my belt to hand her a water bottle.
“Teo! You can’t give water to a thief!”
Nare stopped . She’d now fully imrsed herself in the role of guard, apparently believing her sister was an actual thief.
“I’m going to catch them all! Let’s go, In-In!”
━In-In-yaa-ing!
She raised both arms and charged off toward Elga and Stella. Watching her surprisingly energetic form race off, Mirna muttered softly beside .
“Nare’s never gotten to play like this before. Kids usually go to bed at night.”
“Ah, that’s true.”
In the Draco household, Nare was in charge of the evening and nightti hours. And usually, by evening, children would return to their parents and scatter.
For Nare, she must’ve just watched the now-empty playground, left in the dark, as all the others went ho.
“If I could’ve played with Nare back when we were both still little, that would’ve been nice. But now, unless sothing special like this happens, we probably won’t have many chances to laugh and play together again.”
“......”
I looked out at Ayra, walking gracefully in the distance. Nearby, Stella hopped on one foot as Ayra chased her, with Elga stumbling alongside.
━Lady Leones, run!
━Ayra, why are you walking?
━I’m a queen. I can’t run around like a commoner.
What were their childhoods like, I wonder? They must’ve been adorable—so small and cute. Were there any pictures from back then? Probably not. Maybe a few portraits.
As I was thinking that, Elga suddenly shouted.
“Eek! Soone just pinched my butt!”
The imp raised his arms in triumph beside her.
“Yay! I caught the thief! I protected Master’s treasure!”
But as he shouted that, his body looked fainter than before. I couldn’t tell if it was because of the heat haze under the blazing noon sun, or... sothing else.
If evening ca like this, would this joyful ti... all co to an end?
The thought left with a sudden pang of sorrow.
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