Luke, hearing Yerna’s footsteps, took in the sight that would greet her the moment she opened that door.
The state of the living room, connected to the kitchen, was a bit more serious, not to mention the mess in the bedroom.
Ingredients like milk and eggs decorated the floor, along with shattered pieces of plates.
A knife, reinforced with aura, lay on the floor, scraping against it, and the sofa had burst cushions.
Moreover, without any magic available, the lights were out, leaving everything in darkness.
At this point, one could think that a war had taken place.
“What if Yerna gets mad?”
Pyris, seeing the state of the house, spoke with a trembling voice, as if realizing she was in the wrong too.
Luke felt the same; he couldn’t show Yerna the state of their home.
“This is a disaster… There’s no way to clean up this mess…”
Cleaning could only disinfect fine dust or pathogens and help remove stains, at best.
Of course, if a high-circle mage poured their magic, it would be a different story, but he was far from a high-circle mage and didn’t possess that immense amount of leftover magic either.
If he could open a spatial passage to Arinseia, he might be able to harness the magic flowing from the World Tree, ‘Gleipnir,’ but he lacked the magic needed to open that spatial passage in his current state of depletion.
In that case, he had no choice but to assume the worst.
What if he thought he had gone out and returned to find the house in this disarray? How would he react?
Luke racked his brain and pondered on Yerna’s likely response.
“…Hmm.”
No matter how positively he considered it, it didn’t seem like it would end with her giving him a light scolding.
While that kind of reprimand would be sufficiently embarrassing, in the worst-case scenario, it could be the moment Yerna’s affection for him waned.
Luke knew all too well just how much effort was needed to rebuild trust once it was broken.
After all, he had already lost her trust once due to an ‘unauthorized outing.’
In his view, it was only natural for someone who had lost trust to be expelled from the family.
There was no blood relation, nor had he reached adulthood yet.
Even considering the time they had spent together, it was merely a little over a year—a brief encounter.
“Perhaps, we might be sent to a ‘facility’…”
“A… facility?”
Moreover, hadn’t he always acted in ways that would disappoint her?
If she completely lost patience with him this time and sent him to a facility, there would be nothing he could do about it.
Luke briefly recalled his past experiences at the ‘orphanage.’
A poor environment, tasteless meals, communal living.
He could endure that much. However, what was most dreadful for Luke was…
The absence of time for magic research and personal space.
“Not the facility!”
He could tolerate everything else, but if he couldn’t conduct research, nothing could be more terrible.
If that were to happen, it would be cleaner to ignore all modern societal systems and flee into the forest.
But if that happened, his plans to ‘graduate from the academy and go through the necessary processes to obtain the rights to class magic’ would forever become impossible.
He might end up living a life marked by dishonesty and illegal actions, diminishing his own worth.
For a mage who valued his worth above all, that would be a horrifying conclusion.
“That must not happen!”
“Don’t let it happen…!”
Pyris followed Luke’s words, grabbing her cheeks.
She, too, wanted to avoid getting scolded by Yerna.
As the footsteps grew closer, Luke and Pyris exchanged worried glances.
In each other’s eyes reflected a likeness of their own anxious faces.
Their skin had drained of color, turning pale from confusion and tension.
“What do we do, sister?”
“…Wait, I have an idea.”
—
“Phew, I’m exhausted.”
Yerna sighed, seeming tired.
It wasn’t that it was hard due to too many reinforcements, but leading and coordinating them was no easy task.
Yerna felt more at ease and comfortable going directly to the field rather than directing others.
However, there was no need to show such weakness in front of the children.
When Yerna reached the door, she squared her shoulders, standing tall and confident.
Could this perhaps be maternal instinct? she thought to herself.
Just as she reached out her hand to the door, it suddenly swung open.
“Y- Yerna Onee-chan! You’re here already!”
It was Luke.
With his hair tied back and wearing an apron, it appeared he had been cooking.
How cute and admirable he always is.
“Oh, you’re welcoming me today? That’s unusual. By the way, were you cooking?”
At Yerna’s words, Luke glanced awkwardly at his apron and scratched his neck, saying, “Ha, haha. Y-yes. I was cooking, and I heard your footsteps, so I thought I’d come out to greet you…”
“Is that so? Thanks for coming to greet me. By the way, have you been well at home today without going out?”
“Of, of course. I’ve been staying inside and haven’t gone anywhere.”
“Hmm, really?”
Yerna felt a sudden sense of unease from Luke’s words.
It wasn’t just that his voice and tone sounded younger than usual; his ears were drooping as well.
Luke always had a tendency to droop his ears when he had done something wrong or felt sorry.
And right now, his ears were perfectly in that shape.
Yerna glanced at him with a somewhat suspicious look and playfully asked, “Really? But why are your ears drooping like that?”
“M-my ears, what about them?”
“They’re drooping, aren’t they? You always do that when you feel sorry for me.”
“…Well, so what!”
Luke fidgeted with his ears as if he had never realized they were drooping before.
He seemed to have just discovered that his ears drooped.
While that sight was adorable, too.
“Could it be that you wanted to go out without telling me?”
“Th-there’s no way! I swear that’s not true!”
Yerna chuckled lightly and shifted her gaze behind Luke.
“Then, why is all the light in the house turned off?”
“T-that’s!”
Luke responded hastily, “Because, um, Pyris was taking a nap in the living room…”
“Hmm, really? If she’s been asleep this long, that’s kind of unusual.”
However, it wasn’t particularly strange for Pyris to take a long nap, so it was plausible.
Just as she was about to step inside the house, Luke stood in front of her without saying a word.
“…?”
“…”
Did they misalign their timing? As she took another step, so did Luke, blocking her way again.
“Why are you doing this? I want to go in now.”
“Sister… I have a dish I want to make, but I don’t have the ingredients! So I’m really sorry to trouble you, but… could you please get this for me?”
“Uh?”
Yerna reflexively accepted the note Luke handed her.
The note listed the ingredients needed to make an apple pie.
But while she had seen Luke making cookies before, she had never seen him attempt to make an apple pie, so it seemed he had suddenly gotten a whim to try it while staying home today.
However, it appeared he lacked the necessary ingredients.
“Could it be that you wanted to go out because of this, but you couldn’t because I said not to?”
“…Yes, so I was hoping to ask you…”
“If you called before I came, I could have picked it up for you.”
“…”
Luke looked momentarily shocked by those words before quietly averting his gaze, gripping the doorknob tightly.
Yerna thought his expression seemed to say, “Ah, so that method exists.”
Why hadn’t Luke thought of that method?
Perhaps it wasn’t that he was foolish.
While deep in thought, an idea suddenly came to Yerna, and she chuckled as she said, “Ah, I get it. Luke, you wanted to go out with me, didn’t you?”
At her words, Luke looked startled as if caught off guard, releasing the doorknob.
“…Huh? No, um…”
Luke muttered incomprehensibly for a while before eventually nodding.
“It’s, it’s true. But I’m not allowed out…”
“Pff, it’s fine, it’s fine! If that’s the case, you should have said so earlier! You must have been quite bored staying inside all day, huh?”
“…”
Luke’s face turned as red as an apple, as if he didn’t need any more apologies for his actions.
He must have really wanted to get out.
After all, Luke was a child who usually went for a walk at least once a day.
Staying indoors must have been quite frustrating for him.
Well, it seems that he has learned his lesson.
“Then, just a moment; let me go in and change out of your apron and pajamas first…”
However, before Yerna could finish her sentence, Luke dashed out, yelling, “No! I’ll go out just like this!”
“W-What? In those clothes?”
“There’s no problem!”
“Aren’t you embarrassed? Are you really okay with it?”
“I really can go out like this! Sister, let’s go right now!”
“Is that so? Well, if that’s the case…”
Hmm, just how keen was Luke to get outside?
Seeing him even whistle joyfully, it seemed he was truly excited.
As Luke took the lead, Yerna scratched her chin and thought, ‘…I never thought Luke would love going out that much…’
Perhaps, for Luke, being forbidden to go out was too harsh a punishment.
