Luke recognized Tenna and smiled subtly.
It truly was a bizarre connection.
This little kid, who was almost the reason he started exercising, had now become Dayton’s daughter?
What a completely tangled situation.
Tenna seriously pondered whether this was something that could really happen in reality, but since it was already done, such worries were of no use.
In many ways, it was a difficult situation for Tenna.
If that girl told Dayton how they met, he might…
Just as she was sweating nervously, Luke began to approach her slowly.
Tenna was only fidgeting, not knowing what kind of outcomes would occur when this girl stood before her.
Perhaps she would end up revealing her indiscretions to Dayton, who had now become a father.
Tenna squeezed her eyes shut, preparing for the impending bombshell.
However, what happened was quite unexpected.
“I’m sorry.”
Instead, Luke bowed his head and apologized.
“I’m glad your leg appears to have healed from the injury I caused back then. I’ve always thought I had treated you too harshly.”
“Uh…?”
Luke sincerely expressed his remorse.
Though he had committed wrongdoing, it was undeniable that his past self had excessively punished without considering the circumstances.
Moreover, he was not an adult yet.
He had grown up as an orphan in a facility, merely a boy easily swayed by the outside world and quickly influenced.
“These young folks these days really develop too well…”
In the past, during the era of the Demon Realm’s encroachment when everyone struggled to survive, physical growth was not as pronounced.
Due to food shortages, many suffered from malnutrition, and during their growth periods, lack of nutrition prevented them from growing tall and strong.
Sure, in the past, children were generally considered adults from the age of ten, but that was largely due to the special magical significance attached to the number ’10,’ which represented ‘perfection.’
Thus, it didn’t mean they were entirely regarded as adults in a formal sense.
Even in the past, it was considered that one wasn’t a complete adult until they turned twenty.
That didn’t mean there was any legal difference in terms of punishment, but still, everyone possessed a degree of flexibility.
If children accidentally hurt a friend while playing, a trial was not held, nor were punishments imposed.
Of course, stealing money from peers was certainly not a good deed.
But punishing a still-young boy like that was undoubtedly excessive.
Before using force, it was necessary to take enough time to discuss the matter.
Luke was supposed to be the adult mediating the disputes between children.
“Boy, will you forgive my mistakes?”
“…?”
‘Boy? Is he talking about me?’
Completely unaware of what was happening, Tenna nodded her head.
—-
The late-arriving Dayton appeared with a surprised look of wonder and asked, “What? When did you two meet?”
“Well, it wasn’t exactly a great first encounter, though.”
“Is that so? How was it?”
“…….”
Tenna kept her mouth shut, not wanting to add anything to that statement.
No matter how desperate for money he was, it was wrong to have stolen it.
Observing Tenna’s expression, Luke shrugged and replied, “Well, we made some mistakes with each other. It wasn’t a big deal.”
“Hmm… What do you mean? Did you get into trouble again?”
As Dayton squinted at Luke, Luke cheekily smiled in response.
“There was just some minor trouble.”
“Tenna, what happened? What did Luke do wrong?”
Dayton, feeling that he couldn’t get a straight answer from Luke, turned to Tenna, who waved her hands dismissively.
“It’s nothing, really bro. There was no big deal.”
“Well… if you say so then that’s fine.”
Not seeing a need to probe any further since Tenna was so adamant, Dayton scratched behind his ear.
What he had initially intended to ask was not that.
“But what was that screaming about earlier?”
“Oh, earlier, I was lifting a bench, and my strength just gave out for a moment.”
“Your strength gave out? Were you overdoing it? You didn’t get hurt, did you?”
Dayton asked with surprise, and Tenna laughed and shook her head.
“No, I didn’t get hurt. Well… that kid helped me.”
“Luke helped you?”
Dayton looked at her suspiciously.
Tenna felt it was as if Dayton’s expression was saying, “Don’t kid me; how could that scrawny kid help you?” and began to ramble anxiously.
“W-Well, I know it sounds unbelievable, but! I was losing strength in my arms, and he dashed over from the entrance and caught it just in time…”
Hearing this, Dayton instinctively turned to Luke with that same suspicious look and muttered, “You used Circle Magic again, didn’t you?”
“…Ugh.”
Finding himself caught off guard, Luke reluctantly nodded.
“Well… a little bit of Strength and Haste. It was an urgent situation…”
“Yerna told you not to use it because it worries her, and yet you did it again… Sigh, whatever. They’ll probably say Circle Magic isn’t that dangerous anyway.”
As if it wasn’t the first time, Dayton rubbed his forehead and sighed.
Although Luke handled it very skillfully, Circle Magic was inherently a very dangerous form of magic, which was why all circles were being gradually eliminated.
Thus, Yerna did not like seeing Luke use Circle Magic.
That meant if Yerna found out he had used magic, there would be trouble.
“…You’re not going to tell Yerna, right?”
“…Sigh, okay. I understand. Since it was for a good cause, I won’t tell her.”
“Phew, thank you!”
“Hey…”
At that moment, Tenna, who had quietly been listening to the strange conversation between the parents and child, raised her hand to interject.
“Yes? What is it?”
“I heard you used Circle Magic earlier…? Is that what I think it is?”
“Ah, yeah. I guess you wouldn’t know.”
Dayton patted Tenna on the shoulder.
“That kid actually has a Circle in his heart. That’s why he secretly uses magic all the time.”
“Huh?”
——-
Having learned about Luke’s Circle and magic, Tenna felt her self-doubt fading away.
If that immense power was magic, then it wasn’t surprising at all.
He likely borrowed the power of magic when he hit her too.
If that were the case, in that moment, this girl was no longer just a girl.
In a world where even a young child could yield adult-level strength and speed by harnessing the power of magic.
That meant if he had borrowed the power of magic, it should be seen as an equivalent force to an adult.
In other words, the fact that she had been “hit by a 10-year-old girl and had her leg broken, and nearly suffocated under the weight that a 10-year-old girl could lift” was no longer true.
Tenna’s expression brightened.
She had never been “useless.”
“Wow, that was close; it could have been a really big deal.”
“Yeah, I seriously thought I was going to die.”
Hearing Tenna’s playful banter, Dayton burst into laughter and patted her back.
“Kid, you won’t die from being knocked down. It’ll hurt like hell, though.”
“Is that so?”
But at that moment, she really thought she was going to die.
Perhaps the shock of almost dropping the barbell was something she had never experienced before, which is why such thoughts came to mind.
When she thought about it that way, she felt a little embarrassed, and her face flushed.
“Well, you can still get hurt, so you said you were preparing for a fighting competition, right?”
“Ah. Yeah, that’s right.”
In fact, Tenna was scheduled to participate in an amateur fighting competition a few months later.
It was a sort of challenge for her.
Not being able to study and having a poor personality, there was really nothing she could do other than fighting.
If she had sustained an absurd injury today, she certainly would have felt unfair and probably wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night.
“Then stop focusing on building muscle, and invest more in endurance. It could be dangerous.”
That was Dayton’s advice.
He had mentioned increasing weight, but that was a routine Tenna had insisted on adding because she wanted to have muscles like his.
Did she want to make her opponent flinch just by looking at her?
Of course, such strength training was helpful, but for someone preparing for a fighting competition at that stage, it was far better to focus on speed and endurance and train primarily with sparring.
“Yes, that’s definitely what I should do now.”
And this time, Tenna didn’t persist.
———-
-Bang! Bang! Bang, Bang!
The sound of punching a sandbag echoed throughout the gym.
It was quite a satisfying sound.
The feeling of the sandbag under her hands was also decent.
All that had happened earlier had settled, and it seemed nothing would disrupt her training now.
Except for one thing.
“…….”
“…….”
That was the gaze of that little kid.
The identity of that child, who was quietly observing her as if watching an interesting performance, was none other than her close brother’s daughter.
Moreover, she was the mischief-maker who had literally smashed her to pieces and set her on the path of exercising in the first place.
When they eventually met on the street, she had intended to show her what she had earned through all this hard work.
But now, it was a different story.
She couldn’t very well hit a child who was practically like a niece.
So, wrapped in a subtle sense of pressure while hitting the sandbag, the kid approached her.
“Hey, little one. It’s dangerous; go play somewhere else.”
“I’ve been watching since earlier, but why do you punch like that?”
“……What?”
Why was she asking why she was punching?
Was that something to say to her right now?
Tenna found Luke’s puzzled expression genuinely annoying.
Of course, someone who could enhance their physique with Circle Magic might think training and exercising were foolish endeavors.
Tenna looked around cautiously to check for Dayton and, confirming he wasn’t watching, slightly lowered her head toward Luke and said with a threatening tone.
“Hey, what are you saying to someone who’s exercising right now? You think I’m foolish for training just because I know how to enhance my body with magic? Don’t go around boasting just because you can use Circle Magic. That’s dangerous and illegal, you know?”
Tenna let out a flurry of words she had held back.
But Luke’s expression remained unchanged and still looked puzzled.
“No, what I mean is: why do you punch like that?”
“What do you mean?”
“…As an apology, let me give you a bit of advice.”
Luke mimicked Tenna’s stance and said.
“See?”
“…….”
Tenna was taken aback by that gesture.
For a 10-year-old kid to imitate her and playfully mock her stance looked too precise to be mere child’s play.
But there was no time for surprise.
“Your punching angle is a bit off, right? Thus, it seems like you miss out on power. Your steps are also irregular, disrupting your clean trajectory.”
“What?!”
Tenna’s expression hardened.
Luke’s observations were strikingly similar to the advice she had received from the teacher.
Continuing without stopping, Luke began to offer more advice.
Luke slowly retraced the stance of extending his fist.
“Look, your angle is like this, but the right way for your physique would be to slightly angle it in like this for maximum efficiency. Oh, and when extending your fist, it’s not just about the arm’s reach; you must also understand at what point you can generate the highest speed when you strike. It’s important to calculate that into your target. If you don’t grasp that, your strength won’t apply properly, and you’ll waste a lot of energy.”
Luke demonstrated stepping.
“Your steps are the most important way to adjust distance between you and your opponent. However, at the same time, they also convey your intentions to the opponent. But this can be exploited too. If you have your own precise tempo, you can twist the opponent’s intentions within that and create variations.”
Finally, Luke assumed a stance in front of the sandbag and stated,
“And when you combine all this…”
-Bang!!
With a massive sound, the sandbag burst.
“W-What?!”
Tenna couldn’t help but be taken aback by the sheer power.
How did that happen? Was it that easy to burst like that?
But soon Tenna shook her head, thinking,
“No, there’s no doubt. That was magic.”
“…Ah.”
The overwhelming power that defied calculation astonished Luke as well.
He hadn’t intended to hit that hard.
It seemed that due to recent events like the Circle Increase and awakening of divine powers, his physical capabilities had dramatically ascended.
While he was pondering, Tenna, wearing an expression as if she couldn’t believe it, exclaimed,
“Did you really have to use magic to hit the sandbag?!”
“No, this is…”
Before he could even begin to explain himself, Dayton hurriedly arrived, and upon seeing Luke’s bewildered expression, pointed toward the sandbag that had burst, revealing the sand flowing out.
“What’s this? You used magic, didn’t you?”
“No, I didn’t use any magic. I just pure punched…”
“Don’t lie! Could this have happened with just a punch?”
“A, no, I’m telling the truth.”
Though Luke tried to argue, Yerna shook her head as well.
She found it impossible to believe that such a result could occur without magic.
“Luke, I told you not to use magic unless it’s an emergency! Did you use it here?”
“No, I didn’t…”
“If you’re lying, you’ll get in trouble. Speak the truth.”
Luke felt wronged.
But how could he possibly prove it?
He couldn’t exactly call in a magic investigation team to analyze the magical traces right then and there, could he?
“This is ridiculous.”
Thus, the only option available to Luke was to act like a child.
“Ah, Mom, I really didn’t!”
