“Ah, so this is Luke.”
“What a pretty child… Poor thing…”
Surrounded by three female Forest Keepers, excluding Yerna, Luke, who had his cheeks pinched and his head patted, thought the current situation was quite torturous.
Just a moment ago, he had been helping Dayton clean Yerna’s lodging.
And now, being treated like a toy at the rest station.
This was how things had come to be.
Yerna had asked her companions to help with the ‘punishment’ given to Dayton, thinking that kind-hearted Luke might assist.
Thus, they had led Luke, who was in the middle of cleaning with Dayton, to the rest station under the pretext of candy and books.
“Wow, his cheeks are so squishy!”
“His ears are super soft…”
But with his reading severely interrupted, Luke couldn’t feel good at all.
While a man might normally appreciate being treated like a child, the situation held no appeal for Luke whatsoever.
He had dignity built upon a century of life and memories.
Being so openly treated like a child only filled Luke with profound shame and self-loathing.
Though he appeared like a child on the outside, was he not an old man long past his prime on the inside?
At least, he had no interest in being surrounded by younger individuals (by Luke’s standards) and enjoying such childish treatment.
“Please, stop that.”
He brushed away the woman pinching his cheeks and pulled away the hand that was patting his head.
He wasn’t sure what the woman in front was doing with her ‘mobile phone,’ but it didn’t seem to be harmful, so he ignored it.
“Why do you make me feel so embarrassed? Do you see me as nothing but a plaything?”
He spoke as solemnly and seriously as he could, but with his appearance being that of such a small child, no real gravity could emanate from him.
“Ha ha, he really talks amusingly.”
“Listen to the way he speaks, he’s really quite mature.”
“He’s cute, too.”
That was the only response he received, reminiscent of how one would react to a child.
“Of course, it turns out like this…”
Luke, aware of the situation, let out a deep sigh and rubbed his forehead.
No matter what anyone says, a person can’t see someone’s insides at a glance.
Therefore, he didn’t expect such a reaction based solely on appearance, but it was truly disappointing.
‘There’s no way to change my appearance right now…’
Perhaps one day, when he could stack circles to use Polymorph, but for now, it seemed far out of reach.
Moreover, Polymorph was a high-level magic that required at least seven circles in the heart.
Of course, Luke believed that it was only natural for him to engrave seven, or even ten, circles in his heart, yet even creating a single circle had its hurdles.
So, seven circles were still a distant story.
Since Polymorph was practically impossible, Luke concluded that getting out of this uncomfortable position was the best course of action, and he began to rise.
“Huh? Luke, where are you going?”
“If you’re going to treat me as your plaything, wouldn’t it be more productive to return and help Dayton with cleaning the room?”
“That Dayton guy doesn’t really need help, but our Luke seems too kind.”
“Yeah, yeah. Luke, let’s just play with your big sisters~”
“…Huh.”
Luke was shocked once again.
Even though he understood this with his mind, hearing a grown woman speak in a cutesy tone typical of children directed at him was on a different level.
It had been the same way with Miriam before, but it felt incredibly embarrassing and creepy to hear such a voice directed at him.
Moreover, she had a straight bob haircut and a strong, sturdy body like a warrior woman.
Although there was nothing particularly outstanding about her looks, her cuteness was unbearable for Luke.
Thus, against his will, his expression became stiff and his eyebrows knitted together, forming a crease between them, which he didn’t even notice.
“Pfft, Kirke, he looks like he’s really bothered by you.”
Upon seeing Luke’s expression, the silver-haired woman who had been pinching his cheeks, named Kirke, teased her as she pretended to be angry.
“What? And you, Sorbi?”
“I’m cute, aren’t I?”
While her proclaiming herself cute was, to be honest, a true statement subjectively, it seemed to have provoked her, and she was ready to charge at any moment.
Watching that scene, Luke shook his head and tried to move, but the woman fiddling with her mobile phone called out to her.
“I’m sorry, Luke. Are you feeling a bit overwhelmed? Please understand, it’s because you’re just so cute.”
“Please refrain from using the word ‘cute.’ It gives me chills every time I hear it.”
“Oh! Sorry! I know you don’t like that. Forgive me.”
The brown-haired woman with braided hair and glasses, appearing apologetic, made a pleading expression, and Luke felt obliged to accept it.
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“Phew, thank you so much, Luke.”
She let out a sigh of relief as she thought to herself.
‘Huh, I heard this from Yerna.’
She had already received a detailed explanation from Yerna.
After all, she had taken over Yerna’s shift that day.
She was among the first to learn about Luke in detail.
‘No matter how much he has lost his memory, he might have some trauma from his past memories…’
Being naturally intelligent and considerate, she came up with a quick thought.
It wouldn’t be abnormal for the word ‘cute’ to be expressed as a source of discomfort to someone so adorably cute.
Well, while it’s possible to simply dislike something if it’s something heard too often, there was no need for him to make an expression like he really hated it.
Perhaps the word ‘cute’ had acted as a sort of trauma for Luke.
In fact, she had heard that even people who had met some sexual assault victims would often develop an extreme aversion to compliments about their appearance, such as calling them ‘cute’ or ‘sexy.’
It could be such a case.
As the awkward silence lingered for a few seconds, Luke began to think that maybe it would be better to get up and head back to Yerna’s lodging.
Just then, her self-introduction blocked his path.
“Ah, I almost forgot to introduce myself. I’m Daphne. You can just call me Sister Daphne. The one on the left is Kirke, and on the right is Sorbi.”
“Oh, right! We completely didn’t introduce ourselves.”
“Is that so? I got so flustered when I saw Luke…”
Stuck in the sudden atmosphere of self-introduction, Luke sat back down in his chair, placing the book back on his lap.
“Right then. So, Daphne, Kirke, and Sorbi. To reiterate, I am Luke Irush.”
Introducing himself, Luke continued as he opened the book.
“And I don’t like having my reading interrupted, so please stop any unnecessary physical contact.”
Hearing this, Daphne slightly smiled and nodded as she held the other two women back.
“Got it, Luke. Kirke, Sorbi, stay away. He doesn’t like it. You two stay here.”
Pulling them back with one arm might have required strength, but having used a body enhancement spell earlier, it had already been cast on her.
‘Finally, it’s getting a bit quieter.’
Well, it really didn’t matter.
As long as he could read in peace.
——
The two, who were being dragged away too lightly, made expressions akin to livestock being led to slaughter, and begged.
“This is so unfair. Daphne, you’re not letting me squish those soft cheeks!”
“Seriously, Sister Daphne, you have no idea how soft his ears are!”
Once they were at a suitable distance, Daphne, hearing their whining, pointed at Luke and said they should learn from him.
“Shut up, you two aren’t children! You can just tolerate that! Look at him! How is Luke more mature than you two?”
“But… but…”
Luke, who had already opened his book and was reading with impressive focus, was deeply immersed in the information within the text.
Seeing him, the two women, Kirke and Sorbi, exchanged glances.
“It seems like books must be really good.”
“Or maybe we’re just a bother.”
While the latter might be closer to the truth.
Of course, they were aware of their actions in bothering Luke.
At that time, they had completely succumbed to their impulses without thinking about it.
“Let’s stop bothering Luke now. We’ve played with him enough, haven’t we?”
Daphne, seeing right through their psychology, reprimanded them.
“Alright… But Sister Daphne, weren’t you taking pictures with your mobile phone from earlier?”
Surprised, Daphne flinched and scratched her cheek with a laugh.
In fact, Luke had no idea she was in the middle of ‘taking pictures’ with her mobile phone.
To begin with, Luke didn’t even know what a ‘picture’ was.
“…Well, he is cute after all…”
“This big sister loves that stuff too.”
“…”
Sorbi squinted her eyes and poked Daphne in the side, causing her to bow her head, and then, as if recalling something, said.
“Oh, but because of you two, I don’t have any good pictures! They’re all weird expressions.”
Kirke, looking at the mobile phone screen where Daphne scrolled through the pictures, pointed at the one where Luke’s cheeks were being stretched.
“But isn’t this one cute?”
“The expression is one of dislike. This isn’t cute.”
“Sister Daphne has always had a unique definition of cuteness since way back…”
“….”
Daphne was at a loss for words.
“Then just take one now. Over there.”
“You need to look this way to take the picture.”
“You can just call him, right?”
“Didn’t I just tell you not to bother him?”
“We can just bother him once more since we already did it once!”
“Huh? Hey, Sorbi! Wait a minute!”
Saying that, Sorbi dashed towards Luke without giving anyone a chance to stop her.
“Luke, let’s take just one picture together, and then we won’t bother you anymore!”
Though she felt irritated that her reading was interrupted again, Luke’s intrigue was piqued by the new word in her speech, and he decided to put his book down for a moment.
“What do you mean? Picture? What does ‘take one’ even mean? How do you take a picture?”
Luke was perplexed by the concept of ‘pictures’ and the verb ‘to take.’
What was a picture, and what did it mean to take one?
If it’s ‘to take one,’ did it mean something would be produced by stabbing it with an axe, knife, or fork? Or perhaps, was it some object that you would stamp down like a seal?
The scrunched up way Luke thought seemed like he was already posing for the photo to Sorbi, but unfortunately, there was no chance to capture that moment.
As soon as she took out her mobile phone, Luke’s attention was entirely seized by it.
Helplessly, Sorbi raised her fingers to make a V sign towards Luke.
“It’s simple. Here, want to try holding your fingers like this?”
“Like this?”
As Luke mimicked Sorbi’s action to create a V shape with his hand, she snapped a photo with a smile.
“I got it. Thank you! Do you want to see it?”
“See it? What will you show me? Is there something special about it?”
“Look at this, how is it?”
What Sorbi showed on her mobile phone contained a scene that would leave Luke in shock.
There was an exact replica of himself from just moments ago, captured perfectly.
There indeed had been magic like this in the past.
However, the casting time was quite long, and only a user of at least 4 circles could capture reality, making it prohibitively expensive.
Moreover, once such a reality was captured, it would vanish like a mirage if left untouched for too long.
Thus, in the end, the magic merely served to freeze a fleeting moment, making it easy for a painter to transfer it to a canvas.
But this ‘picture’ now was capturing such a moment with this much precision and stability.
Luke finally understood why it was referred to as ‘taking’ it.
Wasn’t it just like stamping reality with a seal?
Luke exclaimed in an excited voice.
“That’s amazing! How do you transfer this picture out from the mobile phone? I want one of these pictures!”
Sorbi was taken back by his response.
“W-would you want it that badly? Well, of course, I can send it to you! Oh, Luke, do you have a mobile phone?”
Luke shook his head.
“I don’t have one. But Yerna probably has one. Is it possible to transfer it over there?”
“Sure, then I’ll transfer it there. Anyway, thanks, Luke!”
“Not at all, I should be the one thanking you.”
‘That artifact has such a hidden function…’
At first, he thought it was merely a communication tool, but the more he looked at it, the more it seemed like an amazing magical tool.
Hidden functions kept bubbling up like an onion being peeled.
Thus, it was natural for Luke to feel a desire to have one.
However, asking Yerna for something that would surely be extremely expensive without any compensation would be quite embarrassing.
It was also true that sometimes playing with Yerna’s things didn’t completely satisfy his curiosity.
His impulse to satisfy that curiosity through precise disassembly was stirring within him…
But of course, he couldn’t just take apart someone else’s belongings at will.
For now, he forcibly pushed down that curiosity and set it aside.
On the other hand, Sorbi simply thought of Luke’s reaction.
‘I must be really great at taking pictures!’
