By Zephyria 
Everything is like that. If the mind is troubled, it gets better by troubling the body, and if the body is troubled, one must sleep to get better. After sleeping soundly and waking up, my face was shiny and smooth, and I thought I had been unnecessarily distressed over something trivial.
How long had I been attending the academy to consider Friday a holiday?
Tsk-tsking at my own composed demeanor, I headed to the martial arts training ground as always.
The footprints of the children had covered the traces of the Limitless Steps I had made previously, making them difficult to discern. I infused internal energy into them, stomped them down again to restore their original form, and then circled the training ground. After Breathing and regulating energy and washing up, I knocked on Shayden’s door.
As the two of us sat down at the dining table, cute chirping sounds started up again.
Today, the one chattering beside me was Jenny, the blue-haired girl from the academic department, with whom I had become quite friendly during the Camping Class. Shayden and Jenny talked about the classes they were taking separately, people they knew in common, and rumors they had overheard.
I ate my fill and quietly listened to the stories they shared.
I quite liked that since the number of people at meals increased, I didn’t have to talk during meals unless they spoke to me directly.
Having grown accustomed to wandering alone as a Wandering Knight, I was still awkward about constantly engaging in everyday conversation with others. I found it more comfortable to listen, unless there was something that absolutely had to be said, someone to reprimand, or knowledge to seek.
It was in that same vein that the most frequent word I uttered here was ‘Why?’
In the Central Plains, I was a person of few words. I could speak politely when necessary, but I was particularly known for not saying more than a single word to an enemy. When the opponent begged for their life, I would ask, ‘Why?’ and after hearing their answer, I would decide what to do. No one ever survived after a long, drawn-out, pathetic excuse.
Of course, the people before me now were not enemies, but whenever I encountered something I couldn’t comprehend or a question without a clear reason, ‘Why?’ was the word that naturally came out first. People truly never change.
“Will Young Master Ernhardt be training again today?”
“Why?”
“Why? Because I want to go out with you. Every third Friday of the month, there’s a night market. There’s a lot to see, and the food is quite good. Let’s let Professor Sanson rest today too, okay?”
Jenny gave Shayden, who was backing her up, a thumbs-up.
Before enrolling in the academy, Jenny had stayed in the capital for a year to study for her entrance exams. During that time, she never missed the monthly night market, which she visited to relieve her pent-up feelings.
Hearing her words, I felt a slight temptation. In truth, despite my recent worries, I knew my body was diligently absorbing what I had learned and growing. My limbs were lengthening, and my internal energy was accumulating; these things took time, so there was no use in being impatient.
Seeing my hesitant expression, Jenny pushed her tray further under the table so it wouldn’t hit her chest. Her face, leaning close to me, was already filled with excitement.
“Let’s all go together—me, Marianne, Ivan, Damian, and Shayden! We can look for things to fill our camping bags while we browse. Many people bring homemade preserved foods to the night market! There might be new weapons, and we could see Artifacts made by Wizards from the Magic Tower as a hobby—”
“Hmm.”
“You just said ‘Okay,’ right? Please? Mikael, let’s go play. Please?”
“Well, let’s do that.”
All the things she added as bait were so intriguing that there was no escape.
Jenny clapped her hands, excited about something, and bustled about, saying she was looking forward to it. When she suggested we eat lunch outside after class, I nodded in agreement. She immediately grabbed her tray and sprang up, saying she’d go tell the others quickly, then dashed off.
And so, during the morning’s basic Swordsmanship class, I told Maelo Sanson that I would be going out this afternoon and wouldn’t be training. He patted my shoulder with a hand that felt heavy and quite sharp, saying it was a good idea.
He had repeatedly said that a child should be like a child, and the memory of that night, when Douglas’s words had surprised me anew, left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I had never been taught what it meant to be like a child, so how could I be?
I simply nodded and replied vaguely that I intended to, then badgered Maelo to train in the morning to make up for the afternoon session.
❖ ❖ ❖
Thanks to Shayden, who enthusiastically rummaged through my closet, insisting I couldn’t wear my school uniform for our outing, I retrieved clothes I hadn’t worn in a long time. Taking off the school uniform, which had been somewhat loose, and trying to put on the clothes tailored to fit me perfectly made me sigh involuntarily.
The clothes from the Central Plains had loose hems.
The warriors of Namgung, unless they were exceptionally large or small, wore clothes of the same size. They would wrap the hems around their wrists, waist, and ankles using long ties, knotting them to prevent them from slipping.
Thanks to this, there was plenty of room, enough to even put a silver coin pouch in the hem, so there was no feeling of being constricted.
Sierren’s clothes were different.
Every time a set of clothes was made, the tailor had to measure the circumference of the chest, waist, neck, wrists, ankles, upper arms, forearms, thighs, and calves, wrapping them all around. According to the tailor, who measured the length from my shoulder to my elbow with a tape measure rather than a sword, I would need even more meticulous tailoring when I became an adult for the clothes to look good.
It felt like a distant prospect.
The outfit Shayden picked out for me today was one with relatively wide sleeves.
The thin shirt had no collar and a narrow neckline, but the front line extended long past the Adam’s apple, down to the collarbone, allowing for easy head movement. The wrists were tightly wrapped with stiff fabric, but the shirt itself was loose enough to be tucked into trousers.
Over the loose shirt, I wore a narrow vest, buttoned up, which cinched my waist firmly as if I were wearing fitted armor. While most of the outfit, excluding the shirt, was not brightly colored, the vest was richly adorned with intricate silver embroidery, clearly indicating wealth.
My clothes were a deep blue, like the pre-dawn sky, while Shayden’s outfit resembled the soft hues of a setting sun, a crimson. Shayden, wearing clothes similar in style to mine but with a collar and narrower shirt sleeves, looked unencumbered even with a long coat draped over it.
“Are you sure you don’t need anything else? It’s still a bit before spring.”
“I don’t get cold easily. I’m fine.”
With my internal energy under control, I wasn’t completely impervious to heat and cold, but I didn’t feel the chill in this weather. Rather, layering constricting clothes over constricting clothes felt dreadful.
I attached a long sword, paired with a leather scabbard, to my belt, something I could carry comfortably even while walking. Shayden teased me, asking if I needed a sword even for an outing.
What if I encountered some ruffians on the street and was threatened? After my retort, Shayden eventually strapped a sword to his own waist, but it wasn’t an ordinary sword; he pulled out one with a decorative, ornate sword armor, making me laugh for a long time.
We met the group at the academy entrance, where I had previously encountered a senior doing some kind of work-study program. If only Shayden and I were dressed up like peacocks, it would have been embarrassing, but all six of us, gathered together, were more dressed up than usual.
Especially the girls’ skirts, which reached their ankles, seemed to have so many layers they looked heavier than those from the Central Plains, yet Jenny and Marianne walked as lightly as if they were treading on clouds. Their grace was truly remarkable.
Though I felt tense, worried that something might happen to us who looked like academy students out for a stroll, the stalls, bustling with activity even in the afternoon, were surrounded by boys and girls of our age, walking around with food or toys in their hands.
Seeing hundreds of people, all beautifully dressed, I was again pleased to think that I wasn’t born into a particularly wealthy family in this land. It was reassuring just to see no beggars or children asking for alms on the street.
Putting aside my reservations, I followed my companions, looking around and enjoying browsing the goods. As Jenny had boasted, there were many fascinating items. The stalls of wizards, who seemed to be wearing their large, dusty conical hats deliberately to stand out, caught my eye first.
I looked at a round, yellow, fluffy object with two eyes on the stall and asked curiously.
“What is this?”
“This? It’s a doll. A chick doll. If you press the button here on its side—”
The wizard pressed a protruding part on the side of the ball-shaped object, and it opened and closed its orange beak, which I hadn’t even realized was hidden in its fluff, making cute “Peep, peep” sounds.
I couldn’t help but chuckle. It looked utterly useless, with no wings or feet.
“What, shall I buy it for you?”
“No, thank you. It’s interesting, though.”
After I declined Damian’s offer, the wizard, still smiling, took out other items and demonstrated them one by one by pressing their buttons.
One was a round, gray ball-shaped doll pretending to be an elephant, with two eyes and a long trunk, which spun its trunk around. Another was similarly shaped but had two triangular ears and meowed like a cat.
After lingering at that stall for a long time, playing with the dolls as if paying for the time spent, I took out a silver coin from my pocket and ended up buying a chick doll.
“You surprisingly like cute things, Mikael.”
“Shall I give it to you?”
“No, just keep holding it like that.”
Ahaha, Marianne, who laughed like a flower, clutched Jenny’s hand and bounced with every step, her red and black skirt hems swaying together.
My steps, carried away by the mood, felt strangely dreamlike, and I fiddled with the doll in my arms.
The soft doll felt surprisingly good in my hands.