Balen the Prodigy
Meanwhile, he offered a deep apology to her in his heart.
Today, too, he visited Gente and smoothly endured the old man's torture.
That routine which had once made his body rebel in protest.
Yet his body had grown accustomed to the cycle anyway.
"Hoo, ha…."
His breaths carried a bitter tang but were steady despite the strain.
His taut muscles still screamed that they could go further.
Unlike the old days when exhaustion had him bent double, he now stood straight, gazing at the sky as he drew in a deep lungful of air.
"Good. My stamina's finally decent now."
Right after, Gente let slip a few words of satisfaction.
Separate from those gratifying remarks, though, the old man's gaze wasn't on him—it was fixed on someone else.
"So, who's that over there?"
"Ah, that kid…."
The figure at the end of his stare was none other than Balen.
True to her earlier declaration, she'd trailed after him all the way to Gente's house, now perched on the fence swinging her legs.
As if to live up to her claim of being good at waiting, she was passing the time with little games like plucking weeds and tying them together.
She was a bit distant from where they stood, so she probably had no idea they were talking about her.
He glanced briefly toward the fence, then turned back to Gente and explained.
"She's a kid I entrusted elsewhere around the same time as Hailey."
"What? There was another one?"
Gente whipped his eyes wide, turning to him as if hearing this for the first time.
Did the old man think he'd only been looking after Hailey?
As if it were some strange notion, he shot the question right back.
"You ever see a merchant peddling just one item?"
"So you didn't just dump your nuisances on me alone?"
Gente recoiled in belated horror at the truth.
Swallowing the fact that he'd burdened at least two others besides Hailey, he casually continued with Balen's story.
"She had a knack for magic, so I left her at a research institute."
"Good grief, the sheer audacity… What's her name?"
"Balen."
"She'd flip if she knew. Tsk."
After a brief rundown on Balen, Gente clicked his tongue in disbelief, suddenly referencing someone out of nowhere.
"She who?"
"Tsk… Hailey! Hailey."
When he finally pressed for who she was, Gente spat out Hailey's name with an exasperated look, his eyes heavy with discomfort.
Why would Hailey flip over Balen?
He cocked his head at the baffling remark….
Gente suddenly let out an "ah" and sighed, parting his lips.
"Wait, Balen?"
"Yes? Yeah."
"The Balen I know? From Sepi's Workshop?"
"Uh… well, I heard she works at the workshop, yeah."
Not only Balen's name but now the workshop too.
What? How did this old man know Balen's name?
And the workshop's name to boot.
Was Balen actually pretty famous, and he'd just been out of the loop?
As he snuck a glance toward the fence with those thoughts, Gente spoke up again.
"Anyway, that's enough for today."
With those curt words, Gente started walking.
Anyone could see his destination: Balen.
His right hand shot out reflexively.
It dared to grab the burly old man's shoulder.
"Hold on, what're you planning?"
"Got questions for her. Let go."
He hurriedly intervened at the purposeful stride, but Gente brushed it off, quickening his pace with a simple "just questions."
Still, with that ferocious face approaching an unguarded Balen at play, she might get a real scare.
"Anyone'd freak if you go at 'em with a bandit mug like—"
"Who're you calling a bandit? Guess I need more training?"
When he likened that rugged face to a bandit's—relatively mildly—the old man's wrinkles deepened.
Oh crap, stepped on a landmine.
Tomorrow's training wouldn't end well.
"Ah! All done?"
Crackle, crackle.
As the sound of heavy footsteps crunching the sandy soil approached, Balen finally tilted her head back from the fence.
She sat gripping the horizontal post like an iron bar, her legs dangling and kicking.
She looked precarious enough to topple any second just watching, but she seemed utterly unfazed.
"Who's the grandpa…?"
"Name's Gente. Got a question or two."
Spotting someone other than him approaching, Balen cocked her head in that same pose.
"A question? What is it?"
When Gente introduced himself first and mentioned questions, she finally slid off the fence, planting her feet on the ground.
When he asked what it was about, Gente cleared his throat a few times with a "hem hem" before getting to the point.
"I heard your name's Balen. Are you by any chance the genius developer they call the prodigy of Sepi's Workshop?"
His thoughts ground to a halt at the bombshell he'd never heard before.
Balen, the genius developer of Sepi's Workshop?
Just a coincidence of names from the same workplace, right?
Hard to believe, he glanced at Balen.
In that instant, a shy smile crept across her lips.
"Eheh… n-not that much…."
Against his expectation of a denial, she bashfully accepted the title of genius.
So.
She wasn't just any ordinary girl either.
Balen, the genius developer of Sepi's Workshop.
Developer of a whopping 153 magic tools.
A recording mirror that replayed the faces of passersby.
A quill pen that moved remotely via magic power.
Even a special magic tool that turned water into ink.
Just slapping her name on it guaranteed sales.
A genius developer no one in the magic tool world could ignore.
That was the true identity of the girl standing before him.
After learning Balen's secret like that….
As a reward for her patience, he walked toward Sepi's Workshop, calling out to the prodigy girl striding a bit ahead.
"A genius, huh? You've become quite the big shot while I wasn't looking."
"I-it's not that big a deal! Genius, what genius…."
She seemed genuinely embarrassed by the label, snapping irritably even at sincere praise and twirling a lock of her hair while looking away.
"Real geniuses are kids like Hailey!"
"You remember Hailey?"
To dodge the awkward title, she brought up Hailey.
He echoed the clearly heard name.
"Of course! No word if she was dead or alive, then bam—she shows up as a Ruby-rank adventurer! If anyone's a genius or amazing, it's her…!"
To hide her embarrassment or out of pure admiration—who knew.
Anyway, Balen gushed about Hailey.
Though Hailey herself couldn't even remember her name.
"Yeah, yeah, you're plenty amazing too."
With the praise, he placed a hand atop Balen's head.
The gesture emerged almost unconsciously.
His body, without realizing, equated the old her—who'd run up proudly showing him her drawings—with the Balen of now.
"Ah…!"
Balen flinched and pulled away from his touch.
He apologized first to her wide-eyed, blinking gaze.
"Sorry, hand moved on its own."
"N-no! I was just startled for a sec… ahaha."
Balen let out an awkward laugh and took a few steps back.
The briefly warm atmosphere sank away with it.
In the awkward silence, they walked for a while.
Using Balen's steps as his guide, they arrived at a workshop.
A plain, unadorned building with a straightforward sign reading Sepi's Workshop.
"Sepi sis—! I'm here!"
After the petting fiasco, Balen's sealed lips burst open with lively cheer.
"Oh, you're back? And…."
The woman called Sepi welcomed Balen but froze mid-sentence upon spotting him, her gaze turning icy.
Still, after hearing the situation from Balen, she at least didn't seem to find it unfair.
Contrary to expectations of a hectic place buzzing with magic tool obsessives, the workshop felt oddly serene.
He'd imagined constant clinking and tinkering, but only occasional household noises drifted about.
The distance that had grown between him and Balen on the street shrank again as they browsed the various magic tools inside.
"Ah, this one…."
Then a certain magic tool caught his eye.
It was that otherworldly voice recorder he'd seen on the street yesterday.
"Aha! I made that one too! I heard some old guy's voice from it and asked where he'd recorded it."
As he stared at it, Balen eagerly volunteered unasked explanations from beside him.
This one was hers, that one too.
"Then why's it called Sepi's Workshop…?"
By the end, he couldn't fathom why it was named after Sepi.
The question slipped out unwittingly.
"Ah, well…."
"Because I'm just lending my name."
Sepi answered for her, not even glancing his way but irked enough by the question to reply curtly.
"Yeah, I'm too embarrassed to put my name on the workshop…."
"Sigh. And here I do nothing."
Balen scratched her cheek bashfully, while Sepi gazed at her with regret and sighed.
Then—a loud grrrrowl echoed.
As their eyes darted about searching each other….
They pinpointed the source: Balen.
Under the converging stares, the flushed girl clutched her belly lightly.
"Ehehe, wanna grab lunch? You too, mister!"
"…With that guy?"
Balen extended the heartwarming invite, but Sepi pointed at him with undisguised displeasure.
Now that he knew the story, he couldn't even complain inwardly.
All those engagements ruined because of Balen.
She might not hate Balen, but as she'd put it, he was someone she'd gladly tear apart.
"I-I'm fine…."
"Nah, don't hold back! I've got tons of money!"
As he subtly signaled refusal with a glance her way, Balen ignored it and tried dragging him out.
Her hand gripped his wrist, and in that moment, their eyes met Sepi's—her glare turning vicious in an instant.
As if she'd rip his throat out with that expression.
She quickly looked away, but once at the table, it was nothing short of sitting on thorns.
And the trouble didn't end there.
Sepi. That woman took one look at his face and claimed she couldn't hold her liquor without it—proceeding to order round after round….
"Groooaaah…."
After heavy daytime drinking, she was utterly wasted.
The lunch hour had somehow become evening dusk.
And Balen alone couldn't handle the thoroughly sloshed woman.
In the end, he piggybacked the zombie-like, wailing Sepi, stuck handling the aftermath.
A red gaze tinged with guilt flicked his way.
Balen, peeking at him, spoke up.
"Sorry… Sis doesn't drink often."
"It's okay…."
As he accepted the half-hearted apology….
Suddenly, a claw-like hand settled atop his shaggy head.
It then raked mercilessly, like tilling flat earth with a hoe….
"Iiii hiiiate yooou, thiiis craaaazy bastaaard! All 'cause of yoooou!!"
"Gaaah—!"
Even through her slurred, drunken speech, the hatred seeped through.
It was righteous fury—but damn, it hurt.