It was quite a hardship.
Traveling with a child who is thrilled about their first trip is, in reality, never an easy task.
It is definitely different from taking care of children at a daycare.
Diana, for her part, had no intention of being well-behaved today.
If watching one child was this difficult, how tough would it be for a teacher who had to care for dozens of eleven-year-olds? Dayton thought he definitely should not become a teacher.
Well… to be honest, he did make it a bit harder for himself.
As Dayton sighed while covering Diana with a blanket, Yerna, who had been looking at her phone, approached him.
“Thank you for preparing this.”
“No, it’s nothing…”
Dayton scratched his cheek while avoiding Yerna’s gaze.
To be honest, it was not just a simple act of kindness.
They couldn’t be alone together… thanks to Diana, but still, wasn’t this about as good as it could get?
Perhaps others saw them as a family, as the taxi driver had commented that they looked nice together and wondered if Diana was his daughter.
Yerna’s immediately flushed and denying expression was rather cute.
Of course, it did sting a little due to her forceful denial.
Yerna was a woman who brought both pain and healing.
“Oh, it’s getting late. I, I think I’ll head out now. Please take good care of Diana.”
Still, he felt that sharing the same room with her was a bit much for now, so he booked two rooms.
Looking at the beds, he thought it would be too cramped for him and Diana to sleep together, so he decided that Diana would share a bed with Yerna, and he would have his own room.
However, at that moment, Yerna grabbed Dayton’s arm.
“I have something to tell you.”
“……”
In that instant, Dayton’s mind momentarily stopped.
Something to say? What could that possibly be?
What kind of thing would a man returning home have to say while holding onto her arm?
Could it be… no way?
Dayton tried to calm his pounding heart and spoke in a trembling voice.
“Wha-what is it?”
“It’s about Luke.”
“Lu, Luke?”
Ah, right. It was about time he became a ‘real’ guardian, wasn’t it? After all, Luke needed a mom and dad too, didn’t he?
Just then, while Dayton was lost in thought, Yerna opened her mouth again with a serious expression.
“It’s about Dragon Heart and the Proiten family. I think you should know.”
“…Huh?”
…Well, I should have expected that.
I was foolish to get my hopes up.
———
Luck, fate, and the existence of gods…
Deciding to temporarily set aside thoughts that would not yield easy answers, Luke looked away from the ground and suddenly felt admiration for the facility of the greenhouse.
“Oh wow, I see now that this place has truly impressive facilities!”
– It really is impressive!
Luke shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand while Py imitated his exclamations next to him.
The quality of the facilities was certainly excellent.
A greenhouse that was the size of buildings often seen in the city, combined with an environment meticulously crafted for the plants…
Moreover, the arrangement of magic herbs and plants felt like it had been deeply considered.
Not only was the greenhouse superb, but the outdoor scenery was also top notch.
On the well-maintained walking paths, various flowers lined both sides, along with giant leaves floating in a huge pond, flowers climbing the trees, and flowers decorating the walls…
Beautiful flowers bloomed in every place where their eyes and feet landed.
Those beautifully nurtured plants seemed to have received deep care and interest, radiating brilliant vitality and asserting their presence.
If used as materials for magic, they would be top-notch ingredients without compare.
“Really wonderful.”
– Right, wonderful!
“Hmm, I wonder, do plants cultivated in such artificial facilities also seem beautiful to spirits? I’m suddenly curious.”
– Yes, they’re beautiful! Because humans are also a part of nature.
“I see, as long as the manipulation done to the magic itself isn’t artificial, then living beings shouldn’t be too affected by it?”
It seems that as long as no artificial magic is contained within a living organism, indirect manipulation through environmental maintenance isn’t a concern for the spirits.
This new knowledge had grown.
“Hmm.”
What reaction would Renie have had if she were here?
Hmm, would she still be secretly running a flower shop after her death?
If she had devoted enough time to it, perhaps she could have cultivated a much larger garden than this.
With that thought, Luke smiled as he looked around, feeling quite happy.
If the gods were not completely dead or had not vanished, and if Renie were still alive somewhere, he thought he would really like to walk this path with her someday.
——
Meanwhile, Shirud and Mary, watching the scene from a distance, were both pleased and bewildered by Luke’s sudden change.
Just moments ago, Luke had been very gloomy, and now he was moving forward and smiling.
He was even humming a joyful tune from time to time.
Luke’s usual demeanor did not show that kind of dramatic change in emotions, making this quite a different feeling.
“Luke recovers really quickly. What did he do?”
“Um… Nothing much.”
“Hmm, really?”
Seeing Shirud avoiding the question, Mary’s gaze towards him became slightly ambiguous.
Those eyes and that expression.
Shirud was quite familiar with it.
“…I really didn’t do anything.”
“Hmm-.”
Mary continued to look at Shirud with a strange expression.
While Luke claimed to have no particular feelings for Shirud, based on Shirud’s reaction, it didn’t seem like he felt indifferent at all.
Mary wasn’t ready to miss out on this amusing spectacle.
“……”
Shirud, avoiding Mary’s gaze, thought to himself.
Strictly speaking, he had given Luke a gift, but he didn’t particularly want to discuss that with Mary.
A flower brooch gift—it was just something he recalled to best match Luke’s interests, without any deeper meaning…
Well, if receiving it made Luke feel happy, it was simply a matter of feeling good about his effort being acknowledged. However, it was a rather delicate point to say that Luke’s newfound energy was completely because of receiving that gift.
After all, the brooch he had given Luke was now pinned to his own chest.
——–
Luke looked at the brooch made of Dinecis and thought.
“Dinecis, a plant that chases away insects. Its flower language was ‘I will protect you,’ right?”
It wasn’t strange for a flower that protects the surroundings from insects to have such a flower language.
“Protection…”
Luke smiled bitterly.
It’s unlikely Shirud knew the flower language, but in reality, he was currently living while receiving ‘protection’ and consideration from others, including Yerna.
After all, the very reason for his existence here was thanks to Shirud giving him a lift on his plane.
Originally, he had not needed anyone’s protection.
How had it come to this? One might think that this was a bit pathetic.
But still.
He believed he could protect this child well enough as he was now.
“Shirud, he’s the child I received my first teachings from.”
“Huh?”
Shirud let out a surprised voice.
Luke gently stroked the brooch, rearranging his magic.
An instant enchantment.
It contained advanced enchantment techniques that blended experimental know-how and thoughts he had conceived while observing various modern magic devices.
“Thank you so much for the gift. But…”
Luke infused the last words with breath, fixing the magical properties of the brooch.
Dinecis’s ‘protection’ would no longer just chase away insects.
This brooch could now protect the circle from emotional disturbances as well.
But that was an item that held no use for Luke himself.
“Here, take it.”
“Huh?”
Toward the still-surprised Shirud, Luke smiled slyly as he directly pinned the brooch to Shirud’s chest.
“I am sufficient just with that feeling of yours. So, I hope you’ll treasure this.”
“Uh? Why? Don’t you like the gift?”
“No. But this is something I don’t need.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“……”
Luke just smiled.
Magic is mysterious.
Mystery, in general, loses its meaning when taught directly.
———
Shirud blinked as he finished reflecting on the brooch.
Luke received it, looking slightly bitter, stroked it, sighed, and then put it back on himself.
“Could it be he didn’t really like the gift?”
Well, considering how he reacted when he first received it, he seemed to genuinely like it.
He had mentioned that he recalled some happy memories too.
So, that suggests there might be some other reason…
“I don’t need this.”
What on earth could that mean?
Luke had always liked enigmatic words.
Even in the moments he was teaching him magic, Luke would not refute his statements directly, nor would he provide clear explanations, only leaving him with food for thought.
Was this how Luke always was?
As he was contemplating this, Mary suddenly pointed to Shirud’s chest and exclaimed, now realizing the flower.
“This flower is Dinecis, right? Did you receive it from someone?”
“No, I bought it.”
He had just chosen the cheapest item with contained magic.
“Hmm, I see…? Wait, did you buy it to chase away insects?”
“Ehm…? What do you mean, chase away insects?”
“What? You mean to say you bought Dinecis without knowing what kind of flower it is?”
Mary’s eyes narrowed again in disbelief.
At this point, it was getting tedious, and Shirud grumbled curtly.
“What are you trying to say this time?”
“Hmm, Shirud. You don’t know what Dinecis means? That flower doesn’t live alone.”
“What do you mean?”
“Dinecis is a flower typically used for proposals, you know? Who buys it just for pest control?”
The flower language of Dinecis, ‘I will protect you,’ implies a promise of lifelong protection when gifted to a partner.
Chasing away insects?
For insect control, one could buy a more effective and cheaper potion without resorting to this delicately priced magic flower.
For Mary, who often watched dramas, this was common sense, but Shirud had never heard of it.
Suddenly, Shirud began to realize why Luke had reacted ‘that’ way.
“Thank you so much for the gift. But… I am sufficient just with that feeling of yours. So, I hope you’ll treasure this.”
Luke’s words began to transform in Shirud’s mind.
Soon, the Luke in Shirud’s imagination was saying something different.
“Thank you for the gift, Shirud. I appreciate your feelings, but I cannot accept this. Please hold onto it and give it to another child.”
“……”
Shirud’s face flushed as he hurriedly began searching for Luke.
“Wait! Hey! Luke!! That’s not what I meant!”
“Huh? What do you mean suddenly? That’s not what you meant?”
“Th-that’s…!”
“……”
Mary watched the two continue on from a distance and murmured to herself.
“Are they really not dating?”
Both Luke and Shirud should just admit it and things would be easier.
They’re strange kids.
