TL/ED – Miso
There is a word called “a hidden awl in a sack”.
It means that an awl in a pocket cannot be hidden.
As expected, Linmel was too sharp an awl to be hidden just because she was an orphan.
“Linmel!!!!!!! Linmel, no, but why did she run away?”
“Linmel!!… I’m not really sure, she was talking with the knight, and the conversation turned toward adoption, so I think she felt burdened…”
The people at the Orphanage had all formed groups and were apparently searching for Linmel in the middle of the night.
Well, I wasn’t even around at night either. That thought crossed my mind a little. But it seemed I was classified as half an adult now.
Which is fair. On the other hand, Linmel was truly a kid, so if she ran into a bad person somewhere…
To throw away the chance to become a knight’s daughter by becoming a murderer, there’s no dumber move than that.
It couldn’t be helped. I let out a small sigh and headed into the forest.
“This won’t work like this. I’ll go search on my own for a bit.”
“…Will you be okay?”
“Yes.”
The Director seemed torn between whether to stop a 10-year-old from going into the forest alone at night, or whether worrying about a wizard was just plain stupid.
To reassure him, I showed him through actions.
-Crack! I became aware of a rotten tree lying nearby, lifted it up, and crushed it.
But I could feel my head getting slightly dizzy. This is my limit. If I synchronize with the Deep Sea any further.
‘I won’t be able to endure even with medicine…’
Something similar to what happened at lunch today would occur again.
Still, my mastery had improved far beyond what it was before.
The price I paid was slightly reduced vision, and the feeling of water gradually wrapping around my arms and legs with each step.
Considering the range of tide sense had increased dozens of times, it was a profitable trade-off.
The Director nodded with a firm expression and gave me a warning.
“Alright, I’ll leave it to you. But don’t do anything too dangerous.”
“Okay.”
I began sweeping through the forest with tide sense, just enough so it wouldn’t attract anything hostile.
At the same time, I realized. With this range, it was overwhelmingly effective for searching.
To the extent that I could count the number of feathers on the bird sleeping on the upper branches of that tall tree. I could sense a rabbit family sleeping inside a burrow nearby…
There was no need to shout Linmel’s name while searching.
She’d clearly heard everyone moving around searching, but hadn’t come out.
She probably just didn’t want to come out. That must be it.
“Still, isn’t going up that high a bit much?”
“…?”
A massive ancient tree about 10 minutes away.
The upper part was hidden by leaves and couldn’t be seen, but my tide sense accurately pinpointed it.
“…”
Linmel seemed to think she hadn’t been discovered, so she stayed silent. Maybe she thought I was just talking to myself.
I tapped the tree lightly and threw out a bluff.
“I can see everything. Your Wooden Sword is sticking out.”
“Huh?! Wooden Sword? I don’t have one of those…”
“Ah, right. Maybe I saw it wrong.”
Too easy.
Linmel clammed up, seemingly speechless.
“…”
“Come down, let’s talk for a bit first.”
“…I don’t want to.”
“Really? Then I’m coming up.”
“…?”
When I made a show of grabbing a branch and preparing to climb, Linmel poked her face out from the leaves in a panic and tried to stop me.
“Ah, no. Jern, you might get hurt climbing up.”
Indeed, unless you were someone like Linmel, a superhuman, it was a tall, smooth tree that was difficult to climb.
“Then how about you come down?”
“Well…”
She trailed off, so I didn’t hesitate to take a step.
With the current pushing my back, there was no worry of falling, and it happened in an instant, so the disaster Linmel imagined didn’t happen.
It was almost like walking. I climbed up in no time, and as I perched on a nearby branch, Linmel covered her mouth in surprise.
“Wh-what what what what what what?! How did you do that?”
“I learned Body Reinforcement Art too, remember?”
“Oh, did you…? Jern, you’re amazing. It took me a whole week just to climb up this tree!”
She lied without even wetting her lips.
I still don’t really understand the difference between Body Reinforcement Art and yoga. I can tell that I’ve gotten way more flexible, but as for whether I can withstand water pressure… hmm.
Well, I’ll have to finish learning it first.
“So, why did you run away from home?”
“…I didn’t run away.”
Linmel puffed out her cheeks and hugged her knees while sitting on the tree branch.
If I sat in that posture, I’d fall right off, but her sense of balance was impressive.
“I was kicked out.”
“Why?”
“They’re telling me to go when I don’t want to go…”
“Then don’t go.”
It was a simple problem. When I said that, Linmel glared at me fiercely.
“How could I? It’s not that simple!”
“Why not? Just say you don’t want to go, and that’s it. Who’s forcing you? Just choose based on what you feel. It’s your life’s decision. Don’t leave it to someone else.”
“It’s not something that can be done so easily.”
“It is. Just go down there now and tell the Director you don’t want to be adopted. Then he’ll do whatever it takes to stop it. You know what kind of person the Director is.”
“That’s not the problem…”
Linmel lowered her head with a gloomy look.
“I, I have talent. I thought smart kids like you, Jern, were geniuses, but actually I’m the most outstanding, the knight told me.”
“…Well, it’s true. So what?”
“Do you know Rian unnie?”
The sudden name made me think.
If I remembered right, she was a few years older than us, one of the kids training to be a knight. I remember her being very cheerful and kind.
“Yeah, I know. Didn’t you learn swordsmanship from Rian noona too?”
“Yeah. Rian unnie was serious about it. She practiced alone while everyone else went to bed, ran around, worked so hard… I even promised that someday I’d take the knight cadet exam with her.”
Linmel hugged her knees tighter and muttered.
“Rian unnie was excited when she heard the knight was coming to evaluate our swordsmanship. She wanted to show what she’d learned. But when the knight watched her, he just glanced over it and said she needed to try harder, and that was all he said.”
“Really? That must’ve been hard to hear.”
“No…”
She shook her head.
“Rian unnie said confidently that she understood and would work even harder. It was really cool.”
“She’s got a strong spirit. Sounds like a touching story.”
“But then…”
Linmel buried her face, looking like she was about to cry.
“The knight saw me swing a sword just once, then immediately covered his mouth and said it was the talent of the century. He said if I became his daughter, he’d make sure I joined the Imperial Knights someday…”
“…”
“I didn’t hear much after that. I saw Rian unnie’s face… and it was a face I never want to see again.”
This kind of thing happens in both this world and my previous.
Talent crushing effort and dreams.
“I don’t want to leave. But if I stay, Rian unnie might… I don’t know, maybe she’ll hate me. I don’t want that…”
Linmel looked at me with tear-filled eyes.
“Jern, what should I do?”
“Hmm…”
Linmel getting this serious was a rare thing.
I thought for a moment, but for this kind of problem, no answer is truly the right advice.
I’d probably have to go with a bit of a shock therapy, mixed with some lies.
Scratching my head, I answered.
“First, there’s something I should say.”
“Huh?”
“You’re not that great.”
“…?”
“Your talent’s not all that. I feel like I have to say this because you’re acting like some tragic heroine just because a knight gave you one compliment. Sorry.”
At that, Linmel, who had been staring with her mouth open.
Instantly turned bright red.
“Y-you idiot?? The knight said my talent could get me into the Imperial Knights…”
“Exactly. And I’m telling you, that’s not a big deal.”
“Are you jealous too? How is this not a big deal! That kind of thing has never happened in our Orphanage! You don’t understand!”
“Why, are you mad because I said your talent isn’t a big deal?”
“It’s not that I’m mad…”
“True talent means this kind of thing.”
I grabbed the hand of the whining Linmel.
“Huh?”
Perhaps she hadn’t even imagined it, but Linmel lost her balance and began to fall.
“Kyaa… ah?”
But she never hit the ground.
As if sinking into water, Linmel slowly touched down to the forest floor, and wore a dazed expression as if she couldn’t quite grasp what had just happened.
Only after seeing me come down in a similar way did Linmel open her eyes wide.
“Jern, are you a noble?”
“Probably not.”
Maybe.
Not stopping there, I lifted all the leaves around us using the current.
Thousands of them. As the leaves instantly surrounded her, Linmel looked around in surprise, her eyes sparkling.
“Wow…”
“Linmel. The world is vast. From where I stand, your talent seems really trivial. And even I, someone like that, am just another insignificant wizard in this wide world.”
I spoke calmly, trying to persuade her.
“You seem to think you’ve been given an ability far beyond what you deserve, but in this world, even without me, there are countless people with talent enough to make you seem like nothing. Once you’re adopted and start living as a cadet, you’ll come to realize it. That the talent you have is only enough to bring you to the starting line.”
“…Even if that’s true, Rian unnie-”
“Yeah. Rian couldn’t even stand at the starting line.”
“That’s too unfair…”
“It is the truth.”
I chuckled softly and tapped Linmel on the chest.
“That’s why you have to take responsibility.”
“…?”
“For Rian, who couldn’t even reach the starting line, you, who could, have to run in her place.”
Not everyone can become a knight. That’s a self-evident truth.
So the ones who can must carry the hopes of those who cannot.
I only told one lie: that Linmel’s talent was average.
Linmel will reach the top one day. That’s a certainty.
“If you just become a mediocre knight, Rian will probably be jealous of you to death. But if you become the best knight, she’ll be proud. She’ll cherish the day she led you onto the path of knighthood.”
“…Do you really think so?”
“Yeah. That’s how people live.”
Linmel looked between me and the ground as if deep in thought.
“…”
And from her expression, I could see the gloom slowly fading, replaced by the mischievous smile of a brat about to throw a rock at someone’s head during class. I already knew what she was going to say.
“Jern.”
“Yeah.”
“I want to become a knight.”
“A wise choice.”
Becoming the daughter of a knight.
It’s the sweetest dream an orphan who wets her pillow with tears every night could have.
To refuse that would be an insult to the other orphans.