Woof Woof? (1)
Woof Woof? (1)
On the second day of the Birth Festival, Ellia's family came to visit.
"Well now... I'd heard about it from Ellia, but I nearly didn't recognize you."
[Haha, my hair color has changed a bit]
Those were the first words out of Ellia's father, Brian Srade, when he saw me.
"It isn't just your hair. Your whole appearance seems different. Ah, in a good way, of course! You were lovely enough back then, but now you look like you've stepped right out of a storybook."
[Awkward]
[Thank you for the compliment...]
Beside him, Ellia's mother, Aila Srade, clasped her hands together and added to the flattery with a cheerful, good-natured smile.
I smiled awkwardly and fiddled with the ends of my hair.
The first and last time I'd met Ellia's family was during the first-semester tournament.
Since then, if all they'd gotten was verbal updates about me, it made perfect sense that my hair turning white—as if I'd molted—would strike them as strange.
"Whoa..."
"Eyes?"
"......"
The kids staring at my hair right now with sparkling, curious eyes proved that point well enough.
They'd clustered around my legs like baby chicks, and it was unbearably cute. Two of them were all sparkles, and the third seemed indifferent—yet a trace of curiosity glimmered through.
"It's so white...! Like the snow in the yard!"
"Wow! It's softer than Mom's hair!"
The moment I plopped down onto the sofa, the kids settled in beside me in a neat little row, fiddling with my hair. The way they stared with mouths open in wonder was thoroughly awkward.
"Honestly, you kids... don't make things difficult. Come over here."
[No, it's fine. I'm happy spending time with Ellia's younger siblings anyway]
When Aila looked troubled and tried to rein the children in, I waved it off. Fortunately, they weren't pulling on my hair or anything, so there was nothing for me to be troubled about either.
"So, Ellia, why are you sulking?"
"What am I sulking about?"
"Look at how prickly your tone got at the end there. You aren't even trying to hide it, are you? Dropping hints left and right, advertising that you want someone to coax you out of your mood? Honestly, ever since you were tiny, this underhanded..."
"Ah! I never did that!"
Across from me, Ellia sat sniping back with uncharacteristic prickliness, bickering with Aila.
Come to think of it, hadn't I heard before that Ellia was so energetic as a kid that she caused all sorts of trouble? I'd been told she was also the one who toppled a thousand-year-old tree back in her hometown.
The gentle, nurturing demeanor I was so used to from her made this side of Ellia feel awkward and unfamiliar.
While I was soaking in that odd impression, Ellia, who'd been grumbling at Aila, suddenly turned her gaze this way.
"Hmph."
"Oh-ho?"
She fixed me with a sulky look for a moment, then pointedly turned her eyes away.
...Listening to Aila, it was obvious Ellia was openly broadcasting her displeasure.
'Huh?'
I was shrinking into my shoulders over whatever I'd done wrong when I suddenly felt a gaze boring into my face from below.
The child who'd lost her spot on either side of me... Adela was staring up at me from beneath the sofa, blinking.
'Umm...'
Something about that stare was a lot of pressure. It was the kind of look that seemed to say, "So where's my seat?" and it made my shoulders flinch for no good reason.
Adela contemplated for a moment with an indifferent expression, then abruptly stretched both arms out toward me.
On reflex, I slipped my hands under her arms, lifted her up, and settled her in my lap.
"Oh my?"
[Ah]
One beat later, Aila's exclamation snapped me back to my senses.
Seo-yul always stretches both arms out when she wants to be picked up, and I always lift her into my arms. It had become something close to a habit.
- Rustle
Adela, perfectly unbothered, adjusted herself into a comfortable position in my arms.
I was still blinking in flustered surprise when Aila, seated on the sofa across from us, covered her mouth in astonishment.
"Adela isn't the type to ask to be held first, you know?"
[Is... that so?]
"Yes... even with me, that's rare..."
Aila stared at Adela, cradled in my arms, with a mildly shocked expression. At the gaze—which practically carried a hint of betrayal—Adela turned her head sharply away.
Crack! The shock on Aila's face spread even wider.
"...Raising two daughters, and it all comes to nothing."
[Umm...]
.
.
.
More or less for that reason, Ellia and I—who happened to have no particular plans on the second day—ended up looking after Adela for a little while. However youthful and energetic Brian and Aila were, watching over three kids at a crowded festival couldn't have been easy.
"Hmm... what should we do to pass the time~?"
Ellia murmured to herself as she examined the hologram map.
The map was updating in real time with ongoing events and the schedules and locations of ones about to start.
'......'
I studied the hologram map alongside Ellia and wore a troubled expression.
It wasn't that the earlier performance had been unsatisfying. On the contrary, the dance—almost acrobatics woven with magic—was undeniably a spectacle. I just perceived it as information, which made parts of it underwhelming for me, but Ellia and Adela had found it genuinely interesting and enjoyed watching.
But still...
[Ellia, how about putting the child in the middle?]
"Huh?"
Ellia, still looking at the hologram map, tilted her head at my question.
[In case Adela falls or something...]
I tested the waters as I gave Ellia's hand a gentle shake.
Right now, Ellia was holding my hand in one hand and Adela's in the other. It looked for all the world like she was gripping two kids' hands to keep them from wandering off in different directions. That had struck me as slightly odd, slightly off.
'Don't you normally put the kid in the middle...?'
No, really. I was pretty sure that when two adults and one child walk together, the kid goes in the center.
Of course, I'd put up a separate defensive spell, so there was no actual risk—and Ellia knew that too—but... appearances still mattered, didn't they?
"Hmm?"
At my suggestion, Ellia tilted her head. The gesture read as "I don't understand what you're trying to say."
She blinked, then turned her head the other way for a moment.
Adela was quietly holding Ellia's hand and nibbling at a cotton candy clutched in her free one.
Ellia turned back toward me and stared down at me with an odd expression.
"One child? From what I can see, there are two."
Her gaze, looking down at me from above, made my shoulders shrink on instinct. The ceiling light was also perfectly positioned to cast Ellia's shadow over me...
[...Denial]
"What do you mean, denial? If anything, Ha-yul seems more like a little kid, so just hold my hand and stay put."
[Denial... bleeeeh]
- Bleeeeh
With a smug little sniff, Ellia tormented my lips by pressing on them, then took my hand again and resumed walking.
She clearly had no intention of switching positions, so I quietly held her hand in return.
'What am I supposed to do...'
I wandered the streets holding Ellia's hand. At the same time, while my fingers traced her soft hand, I racked my brain for how to soothe her sulking.
Truthfully, I had no bright ideas. I had no experience with this sort of thing, and no plausible plan came to mind.
Thinking about it, she had every right to be sulky. No—sulking seemed like the normal reaction here.
After all, on the very first day of the Birth Festival, Ellia had been the one who'd revealed those kinds of... expectations toward me. And despite remembering that, I'd gotten swept up in the atmosphere and impulsively done... that... with Professor Liana...
[Complicated]
Here and there, I tried little schemes to soothe Ellia's mood, but she only wavered for a moment before going right back to tormenting my lips with that prickly attitude.
I was about to let out a deep sigh when I remembered Adela sitting next to me and swallowed it down. Right now, Adela and I were sitting side by side on a bench, waiting for Ellia, who'd stepped away for a moment.
No matter what, heaving big sighs in front of a kid was a bit much.
[Are you okay?]
While I was still churning through my tangled thoughts, a hologram floated up in front of my face.
Adela, seated beside me, tapped at her smartwatch between nibbles of her snack.
[When my sister gets sulky, she makes sure everyone around her knows it, but she also gets over it on her own. I don't know what she's upset about, but since you're right here next to her soothing her, it'll be over soon]
Tap-tap-tap— her fingers moved nimbly, updating the hologram's contents.
[Ah... is that so?]
I read the text on the hologram and, absurdly enough, felt a small measure of relief. Wasn't Adela Ellia's own little sister? She'd been with her far longer than I had, so her words carried a certain credibility.
At the same time, I made a peculiar expression at the sight of Adela's fingers flying over her smartwatch.
'...Adela was born with a weak constitution, they said.'
Of course, her condition had improved a great deal after various treatments, but she still struggled to produce a voice.
"?"
I lightly placed my hand against Adela's throat. Adela tilted her head but showed no sign of discomfort.
'Originally, the Confession Necklace was something this child could have used...'
The Confession Necklace was originally an heirloom from Ellia's family, left by her grandfather. They'd apparently kept it on hand as emergency funds in case something unforeseen happened, but if things had ever gotten really dire, Adela would have worn it and used it.
But whatever the reason, I showed up, and that made it impossible for Adela to use this necklace. So, up until now, Adela has had to converse with others in that inconvenient way.
Not being able to use your voice makes daily life difficult. I only truly understood that after I'd properly lost my voice once myself.
Beyond the inconvenience, not being able to share voices with the people you share affection with is a truly sad thing.
Even if it isn't a real voice, I carry a small sense of debt over having used the Confession Necklace that was meant to go to Adela.
And on top of that—however much of a benefactor I may be—I also feel deeply grateful to Ellia's family for having promptly pressed this necklace into my hands.
'Hmm...'
I rested my hand gently against Adela's throat and focused my mind.
Sensory detection through mana. And observation mobilized through Authority.
Using both in parallel, I could grasp a person's physical condition with perfect accuracy, no margin of error.
Adela's state was, as I'd been told, a physical problem. In short, it wasn't the kind where a supernatural phenomenon like a curse was obstructing things.
'Homogenization.'
An expansion ability particularly adept at imitating attribute-type and special-type unique abilities.
But just like when I'd imitated a unicorn's horn, once Homogenization was refined enough, it could influence the actual physical body as well.
And if I polished the expansion ability even further from there...
'Hmm...'
For a moment, I worked my brain hard. I ran predictions based on the gathered information. Feasibility, success probability, risk factors...
[Still, if you want to get my sister to stop being mad faster and more reliably, I know a good method]
Then it happened.
Adela, who'd been glancing at my hand resting on her throat, discreetly tapped at her smartwatch.
[A good method?]
Still in the middle of concentrating, I found myself asking back before I realized it.
[Yes, a method my sister likes]
Adela bobbed her head in a nod.
[...Really?]
[Yes, really]
Her face was as indifferent as ever, but her attitude somehow radiated confidence, and it made my ears perk up.
[...This?]
And then I immediately made a troubled expression.
[Yes, she'll definitely love it]
But Adela, for reasons she seemed utterly certain of, pointed at what was hanging for sale on the stall's display, then thumped her chest as if to say, "Just trust me."
[Ummm...]
I looked troubled for a moment, then reconsidered. Whatever the case, I still had to soothe Ellia's mood—a mood caused by my own mistake. Rather than acting on strange ideas of my own, it was surely better to get support from her younger sister and put it into practice...
In the end, steeling myself, I reached out with a trembling, shaky hand.
* * *
[Player Correction System: Affection]
Lee Ha-yul → Ellia Srade
●●●●●●●●○○(86▷87/100)
｢Affection｣ ｢Gratitude｣ ｢Dairy Cow?｣ ｢Chick｣ ｢Gentleness｣ ｢Perceptiveness｣