Chapter 172

“Vice-Captain!”

Coming out through the front entrance, Tie came running breathlessly toward Dad.

Dad, who had been pulling out the few remaining fences, slowly raised his head.

Tie’s gaze turned toward Dad and the dozens of fences strewn out behind her.

With bewildered eyes, Tie looked at Tesetan.

“Th-this. What are you doing?”

Tesetan pressed his lips shut, then answered with a stiff expression.

“Can’t you tell from looking. I’m pulling out the fence.”

“The fence? Why……?”

Tesetan’s brow twitched slightly.

She let out a short sigh and looked at Tie’s right ankle.

Apparently someone had already found it and treated it, because a large piece of gauze was stuck there.

Tesetan forcibly managed his expression and calmed the anger rising in him.

‘……Right. If it was treated, then that’s enough.’

Raising his gaze, he answered stiffly.

“It’s an eyesore.”

Astie’s eyes immediately widened round.

But the child soon timidly nodded.

“Yup.”

Then, for some reason checking Tesetan’s expression, he slowly came closer,

“Nngh…… hup! It’s suuuuper heavy!”

tried lifting one fence, then hurriedly retreated backward.

Tesetan, pressing a hand to her forehead, looked down at Tie.

“Go away. Unless you want to get hurt.”

Tie nodded with an embarrassed expression.

“Okay! Tie was trying to help, but I guess I can’t……”

Tesetan looked at Astie, who retreated by herself and sat on the lawn.

Then, letting out a sigh, he began pulling out the remaining fences.

It was then.

“You bastard, what are you doing?!”

Veil revealed himself behind Astie.

Chewing an apple that was half left, he glared at Tesetan as if incredulous.

“Why are you making a scene pulling out a perfectly fine fence. And this is even ours!”

Tie grabbed Veil’s clothes hem and shook it.

“Don’t do thaaat, Brother Veil. He’s just pulling it out because it’s an eyesore.”

“What?! That makes even less sense! Who pulls out someone else’s fence because it’s an eyesore?! We’re supposed to just leave a thug like this alone? Huh?!”

Tesetan swung the fence he was holding and threw it wheeeng into the empty lot behind him.

The fence, struck against a landscaping stone, made a kang sound and sprawled out on the dirt.

Tesetan’s eyes flashed savagely.

“……Can’t you see your little commander’s ankle?”

Veil froze with a start.

Only then did Veil lower his gaze to Tie.

And after examining the child’s ankle, her eyes grew round.

“What the hell, brat? Since when were you hurt!”

Astie scratched the back of her head while checking Veil’s and Tesetan’s expressions.

“Well, in the morning I got caught in the fence……”

“What?! Then you should have said so!”

“It’s okay! Mister Basto treated it!”

After parting his lips a few times, Veil raised his head.

She stared hard at Tesetan, then lifted Tie into her arms.

“Don’t leave even one. Pull them all out. Got it?”

Tesetan gritted his teeth as he watched Veil turn away.

Over Veil’s shoulder, Astie looked back at him several times.

Then, from a little distance away, the sound of the child asking innocently could be heard.

“But why does Brother Veil have no manners?”

“What?”

“Brother Veil is an executive, and Mister Tesetan is vice-captain. Auntie Livia said if an executive mouths off to the vice-captain, that’s having no manners.”

“Why does that guts-for-hair keep teaching you weird things? Listen well, brat. Every group has a hidden power holder. In words you know, the real power.”

“Gasp! The hidden real power?!”

“Yeah. Agabert’s hidden real power is me. So that means I can say whatever I want to the vice-captain. Because I’m the invisible power holder.”

“……I don’t think so.”

“What are you talking about. If I, the real power, say that’s right, then that’s right.”

The front door slammed shut.

Tesetan glared at the closed door for a while, then turned his body around.

A long time later, he muttered.

“……As if gauze would be enough.”

If he got his ankle caught in a fence and hurt it, shouldn’t it be wrapped thickly with bandages!

At the very least, the entire lower body, no, up above the navel!

“I can’t even do it for him……!”

Tesetan, holding back the boiling inside of him, began pulling out the remaining fences.

Though he was only pulling out fences, his body felt heavy as if he had not slept for days and kept up conquest all that time.

* * *

A little while later, inside Tie’s room.

“So, I think Dad is pulling out the fence because Tie got hurt!”

“Kkyuut!”

At the new news Tie delivered, Ppuppu spread her ears wide as if surprised.

Tie placed Ppuppu on her palm and lowered her voice even more.

“And do you know what else? Dad keeps glaring at Tie……!”

“Kkyuu?”

“But he doesn’t say bad things!”

At the sight of Tie smiling brightly, Ppuppu gave an awkward smile.

‘Poor and pitiful Mother……’

To be in a situation where he was happy over the fact that his real father no longer hurled curses at him.

It was when Ppuppu was wiping away tears in his heart.

“But why isn’t Lucarion around lately?”

Ppuppu raised his head.

He pointed out the window with his nose.

“Kkyu, kkyurung……!”

Tie’s eyes grew round.

“Really? Lucariong can go to the imperial palace library too?”

Nodding, Ppuppu sank into thought.

‘Curious lizard, isn’t he.’

Lately Lucarion had been deeply absorbed in searching through all the books within Talochium.

He said he had recently been infiltrating the imperial palace library, and in the last few days he often left at dawn and returned late at night.

Lucarion would always come to see Tie late at night and wake Ppuppu.

[Monster. How was Astie today.]

[……You damned lizard. Must you wake my sweet sleep at such a late hour? If you are that curious, why don’t you attend him yourself?]

[Because unlike you, who has nothing to do, I have mountains to do.]

[Y-you……!]

Though he got angry, in truth Ppuppu felt he vaguely knew why Lucarion kept being away.

[Have you found out anything about the lost memories?]

[……Well. It feels as if there will be results, or maybe there won’t.]

Lucarion was gathering the fragments of vanished memory.

At the same time, she was also looking into the side effects of bringing Astie across dimensions.

[I heard the humans talking. They said Astie’s height doesn’t seem to be growing.]

[……Are you saying Mother’s growth has stopped?]

[Yeah. More exactly, I should say it slowly stopped.]

According to Lucarion, after coming to this world, Tie’s growth rapidly slowed down and then recently stopped completely.

Lucarion expected all of this was a side effect of crossing dimensions and going back through time.

Ppuppu scolded Lucarion as if he were pathetic.

[Foolish thing. Do you not even know the substance of the magic you activated? You should at least have anticipated what would happen in the future when twisting the timeline.]

[……I couldn’t foresee it then either. It was only that Astie wanted it desperately, so I had no choice but to grant it. My memories about myself are hazy too, so would my memories about magic be intact?]

[Why are you trying to recover your memories?]

Ppuppu found Lucarion strange.

In truth, he himself was no different in that his memories were hazy.

But Ppuppu did not particularly want to recover his lost memories.

Because she was sufficiently happy with staying beside Astie now.

However, Lucarion gave an answer that struck at Ppuppu’s weak point.

[Because I have to recover my memories so I can protect Astie more safely.]

Ppuppu, out of spite, spun her nose around and around.

‘Ridiculous thing. Acting so grand when you’re just a tiny lizard brat.’

But soon she discovered Tie staring hard at her and quickly put on a bright, innocent smile.

“……Kkyut!”

At that harmless expression, Tie gave Ppuppu lots of little kisses on the forehead.

“Our Ppuppu, you’re soooo pretty!”

“Kkyuut!”

It was when Ppuppu, with both eyes turned into hearts, was melting away all limp.

Black smoke gathered outside the window, then changed into a human shape inside the room.

Ppuppu’s expression crumpled sharply.

‘They say that in Mother’s hometown, even a lizard will come when you speak of it.’

Lucarion, who had arrived right on time, said,

“I’m here, Tie.”

Throwing Ppuppu onto the bed, Tie hurriedly ran over to Lucarion.

“Blackie!”

Tie threw her arms around Lucarion and bounced up and down several times.

“Where did you go? Tie looked for you a whole lot! I had something I wanted to ask!”

Lucarion laughed softly, then straightened Tie’s messy hair.

“What is it that you want to ask?”

After turning around and checking the door side, Tie lowered her voice.

“You know, about Dad remembering Tie on his own here……”

“……”

“I guess it really, truly can’t happen……?”