GDTEA Chapter 115

Sparring

Having handed off the attendants to the general store merchant, Ren entered an empty room and was able to have a safe conversation with Tein.

Even so, with a just-in-case mindset, he thoroughly checked Tein’s physical condition. Fortunately, aside from a slightly rounded belly from a hearty meal, there were no injuries.

Above all, the smile still without a single shadow of gloom put Ren at ease.

“……You want to stay here?”

The problem was that Tein was hesitant to leave together.

Tein nodded. It was a firm decision, with no hesitation or concern for others’ reactions.

“The baby angel is very ill.”

“…….”

Ren felt Eryl’s grip pulling on the animal ears attached to the doll costume as she climbed up his back using it as a foothold, and let out a sigh.

From the moment he first saw her upon entering, she hadn’t particularly looked sick to him.

But there was no way the little doctor would say he’d stay alone in an unfamiliar mansion without reason.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“She has nightmares every time she sleeps, and her sleeptalking is severe at night.”

“……Is that an illness?”

“She walks around while sleeptalking.”

It wasn’t an ordinary sleeping habit, but it wasn’t a symptom that struck him as particularly serious.

More than that, he was bothered by the title Tein used to refer to Eryl.

Baby angel?

Ren felt Eryl’s forceful grip pulling not just on the animal ears but now on his actual ears too, and made a disinterested expression.

An angel, after all, was supposed to make one feel as though their soul was being purified just by looking at them.

Ren naturally thought of Sha. As he recalled her clear smile that warmed his heart and made him want to smile just by looking at her, the corner of his mouth twitched.

“Ren, you’re thinking about something else.”

Tein’s sharp look made Ren feel awkward, and he pressed his lips tightly together.

“I need to earn my keep here. I can’t leave the baby angel alone.”

“Sha will worry.”

Sha wanted Tein not to get deeply entangled with nobles.

There was no way the clever child didn’t know that.

Sure enough, Tein’s expression became sullen.

“But the baby angel is sad.”

Tein’s stubbornness was unexpected, and Ren too scratched his head with a troubled expression.

“We can’t just keep staying here indefinitely.”

He was worried about Sha, who had been left outside alone, and since he had already used the names of the Krofl Mercenary Group and even the Tower Master, if things went wrong, he could be dragged away on fraud charges.

As Ren fell into silent contemplation, Eryl slid all the way down his back and stepped off.

“Tein, let’s do something else! Hide-and-seek isn’t fun!”

Perhaps because he was a bear, there was no reaction, which made it no fun at all.

Eryl quickly lost interest and tugged on Tein’s hand, whining, and Tein glanced at Ren.

In the end, Ren let out a sigh and uncrossed his arms.

“For now, I’ll also stay here today.”

“Great!”

As Tein brightened up, Ren gestured with his eyes toward Eryl.

“I should see it for myself so I can give Sha an accurate account of the symptoms. But if I become convinced that staying here won’t produce any particular solution, we leave tomorrow night, together.”

“Understood!”

Tein answered energetically.

Having succeeded in persuading him, Tein smiled brightly and looked at Eryl.

“Baby angel. Now we play doctor.”

“Hmm? What’s that?”

“The baby angel and I are patients. The bear here is the doctor.”

Eryl glanced at Ren and then stuck out her lower lip.

“Eryl doesn’t want to be a doctor……. Eryl doesn’t like medicine either.”

Eryl, who had been taking medicine and getting examined multiple times a day, hid behind Tein’s back.

Flustered by Eryl’s strong refusal, Tein’s eyes darted around. Not knowing what to say to persuade her, Tein looked up at Ren and sent him a pleading glance.

Under the gaze of two round-eyed children, Ren had no choice but to open his mouth.

“Do you know the fairy tale ‘The Deer Princess’?”

“Princess?”

As expected, the word ‘princess’ got a reaction from Eryl.

Fortunately, Ren had know-how built from playing with the children of Sedipia Village.

Ren cleared his throat and put on a shameless expression.

“It’s a very famous fairy tale — I guess you haven’t heard of it.”

“Yeah, yeah! Eryl doesn’t know it.”

“I’ve never heard of it either!”

Even Tein chimed in, and together with Eryl, they looked at him with eyes full of curiosity.

Ren was satisfied, and recalling the past Deer Princess roleplay, he slowly began.

“There are young knights called heroes. And there was a princess with beautiful crimson eyes and a scrawny pink-haired prince. Then one day, an incredibly large and powerful Demon King appeared. And that Demon King……”

In the middle of the story, Tein tilted his head at the familiar descriptions of the princess and the Demon King, but Eryl, who had been drawn into the ‘Deer Princess’ fairy tale, kept her eyes sparkling.

Whenever Ren added the Demon King’s interjections in between, the reaction was explosive.

Eryl giggled at the adventures of the young knights, got frightened because of the Demon King, and then stamped her feet thinking about the princess.

“The prince has to save her!”

“That’s right. The prince has to save Teacher — I mean, the princess!”

At Tein’s outburst, Ren’s eyebrow twitched.

Recalling Ashu, who had appeared during the last roleplay, Ren smiled crookedly.

“……Right. The prince appeared before the Demon King to rescue the princess. Because of the prince pointing his sword, trying to take the princess away, the Demon King was in crisis.”

“…….”

The two children clenched their fists and focused intently on the tense narrative flow.

“Then the princess stepped forward. And……. Well, I’ll stop here.”

“Huh? Why, why? Eryl wants to know!”

“That’s right! You have to tell us everything!”

Eryl, who had been fully absorbed, looked up at Ren with shocked eyes as if she’d been betrayed by the sudden stop in the story. Tein was no different.

Ren shamelessly shrugged and stood up from his seat.

“I’ll tell you the rest after you let me examine you.”

“Okay, okay! I’ll get examined!”

Without any hesitation, Eryl immediately jumped to her feet.

Tein, too, forgetting her duties, stood up alongside her with an expectant face.

Whether a young countess’s daughter or a clever young doctor, in the end, they were just innocent children.

“—Miss, are you in here?”

Just then, the head maid who had been looking for Eryl opened the door and came in.

It seemed she had grown worried when Eryl didn’t reappear even after quite some time had passed since the hide-and-seek started.

“Even if you found the young miss, you should have brought her back right away…….”

The head maid’s gaze toward the outsider was sharp.

Before Ren could respond, the two children blocked the head maid’s path.

“I’m going to get examined!”

“What?”

“The good bear must examine us.”

“What in the world is this…….”

Flustered by Eryl’s passionate change in attitude, the head maid stared at Ren.

Ren simply bowed his head and pretended not to notice.

A little later, with the cooperation of the House of Chelonar attendants, the simple examination of Eryl was completed with just Tein and Ren.

To the head maid, who watched with eyes mixed with hope that this time might be different, he gave the children’s nutritional supplements that Sha had made.

Ren also added his own personal opinion.

“If she keeps living shut away in a room like this, her body will grow weak.”

“But…….”

“Shouldn’t she walk in the sunlight herself and breathe fresh air — wouldn’t that help reduce the nightmares?”

The attendants hesitated, as they had kept Eryl practically confined to her room out of awareness of the public’s gaze.

They must have been afraid to show Eryl the wider world since she was already slipping outside every night when it became dark.

Shut her in a room and have her meet only unfamiliar doctors — that’s enough to give anyone a mental illness even if they didn’t have one.

He couldn’t say it as sharply as he wanted, but the meaning was properly conveyed.

The examination over and unable to remain with Tein any longer, Ren left the room and walked down the hallway.

I’d like to get the general store merchant sent out first. Is that possible?

Glancing at the attendant following behind him, Ren rubbed his stiff neck and shoulders.

Having worn an ill-fitting doll costume and dealt with children at a different eye level, his muscles were pulled in all sorts of ways.

I want to move my body a bit first.

He missed the times he had sparred with the Krofl Mercenary Group with a sword in hand.

Ren massaged his arm muscles and fell into thought.

Feels like I’ve lost some muscle.

His build was still large and his muscles still firm, but compared to when he first opened his eyes in the cave, the muscle mass was clearly different.

He didn’t particularly want to build more muscle or shape his body. But when he thought about it, his body and stamina were the only things he had going for him over other men, so he couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed.

“Excuse me — may I go outside?”

Having mulled over his frustration, Ren suddenly felt the urge to swing a sword.

However, the attendant firmly shook their head.

“Not outside the mansion — so, not even there, that garden you can see over there?”

Not giving up, Ren pointed to the garden visible through the hallway window.

The attendant paused for a moment before granting permission.

“A brief stroll is permitted.”

Having been on his way back to the guest room, Ren turned around immediately and stepped outside the mansion.

The sun hadn’t risen, but the weather wasn’t particularly gloomy.

Instead, a cold wind wrapped Ren’s body in a chill.

“…….”

Gazing at the garden tended with winter flowers for Eryl’s sake despite it being winter, Ren stood still for a moment.

Strangely, rather than the garden in front of him, he thought a bleak, barren garden suited winter more.

Why?

It just felt — the barren garden’s scenery felt more familiar.

His expression gone blank, Ren walked through the garden slowly.

Having quiet time alone like this, without Sha, was something he hadn’t experienced in a long while.

“Um, shall I bring you something to wear?”

“It’s all right.”

The winter wind was particularly bitter, but Ren was indifferent.

Perhaps because Sha wasn’t by his side and he felt hollow inside, his emotions kept cutting off abruptly.

This is why I didn’t want to leave Sha’s side.

Whenever he acted alone without Sha, it was hard to shake the feeling of being left behind.

Like a stray youngster abandoned on the roadside, he could only chew over his anxiety.

……Is this also an obsession?

As he was mulling over meaningless idle thoughts, Ren stopped in his tracks at a familiar sound heard from a distance.

“What are they all doing over there?”

The attendant following his gaze looked toward the training grounds where knights had gathered.

“It looks like the knights are doing some light sparring.”

“Sparring…….”

He had sparred with mercenaries before, so he was curious what a knight’s sparring looked like.

Ren headed toward the training grounds before the attendant could say anything.

As he drew closer to the training grounds, the gazes of the gathered Chelonar County knights shifted toward Ren.

“What business does an outsider have here?”

As he reached the entrance of the training grounds, the knights blocked Ren’s path.

It was only natural to be on guard when a large outsider suddenly approached.

The attendant watched with curious eyes as Ren stood face-to-face with the knights without his expression changing in the slightest.

“I heard you were sparring…….”

“So?”

The knight blocking his path furrowed his brow at Ren’s ambiguous tone.

“I see there’s no need to watch after all.”

He muttered it almost to himself and turned away without hesitation.

He had expected something of them since they were the Chelonar County knight order, but there were only knights whose skill didn’t even come close to the bottom of Karun’s feet.

However, another knight who took Ren’s muttering as provocation blocked his path.

With both front and back blocked, Ren turned his body again and faced the knight.

“Are you a mercenary?”

The knight smirked and looked Ren up and down.

“What, does seeing the skill of us Chelonar County knights up close make you feel intimidated?”

“Intimidated?”

This time Ren smirked.

“I guess noble house knights get arrogant when they have that level of skill, hm?”

“What did you say?!”

The incensed knight was just about to draw his sword.

“What’s going on here?”

“Ca — Captain!”

At the commotion coming from the training grounds entrance, the Chelonar County knight order captain, who had been overseeing the sparring, approached.

Even with the captain’s arrival, Ren looked at the knights with an unchanged expression.

The captain, looking at Ren who was calm unlike the huffing knights, rubbed his chin.

“If you’ve come looking for a place to warm up, come in.”

“No, Captain — bringing an outsider in without proper procedure…….”

The attendant tried to stop him with an uncomfortable expression, but the captain even held out a wooden sword.

“Isn’t it better than having friction with an outsider who entered through proper procedures? Take it.”

Ren didn’t refuse and took the wooden sword.

He swung it immediately — the wooden sword was of better quality than the one he had gotten on Bibanten Street — and the captain, seeing Ren’s sword-swinging form, had a look of intrigue cross his face, and nodded toward the knight who had just had the confrontation with Ren.

“Good timing. We were just one person short for a sparring partner.”