Yerna’s expression while holding her cellphone was dark.
The message floating on her cellphone cast a shadow over her face.
– “Do you have time this Sunday? I have something to talk about. That child should come too.”
There was no need to check the source of the message; it was clearly from Serena. She must have something to say regarding the recent incident.
Although it felt a bit late to address it.
“Haa….”
Thinking about it brought a sigh out of her.
– “Luke.”
As if sensing Yerna’s emotions, Py called to Luke, who was reading a book.
“Oh, Py. What’s the matter?”
– “Yerna.”
When Luke turned his gaze from the book to Yerna, who sat with a troubled expression, Yerna suddenly lifted her cellphone and let out another deep sigh.
Sensing something was off, Luke approached her and asked, “Is there a problem?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. Your expression is not good.”
In truth, she couldn’t hide it. The message was clearly stating it.
Come with Luke.
“Actually… Do you remember that boy and that lady we met at the hospital last time?”
“Shirud and Serena, I remember them.”
An albino half-elf with a circle. Such a special child was impossible to forget.
As Luke nodded, Yerna sighed deeply again and said, “They want to meet me. With you.”
“Of course.”
She had an instinct that they would meet again. No, to be precise, she sensed that they wanted to meet again.
Luke was also welcoming of the reunion.
In fact, he had been somewhat worried about the instability of Shirud’s circle.
Being a 1st circle, it was only natural that it would be unstable.
However, Luke was concerned that Shirud’s personality was not as robust as he had expected.
‘If a mage is that emotional, that child will surely be in danger in the future.’
A poorly etched 1st circle is poison.
Moreover, the 1st circle that he had briefly experienced with Shirud was definitely not properly engraved.
What he felt while directly stabilizing the circle was that the child’s circle was far too unstable given that it was already situated in their heart.
‘While I forcibly stabilized his heart, I must have altered its shape a bit, so the frequency of his seizures must have decreased significantly…’
Checking again directly would certainly put his mind at ease.
After all, they were the first circle mages in this era.
In the first place, a circle cannot be engraved without one’s ardent desire. There are cases where it gets engraved as an accident due to excessive mana sensitivity, but thinking of that situation, Shirud’s circle had far too great a presence.
‘With mana exceeding double that of an average person’s…’
Though not comparable to his own body, it was still impressively high in sensitivity. If it had been 5,000 years ago, it could easily have reached the 8th circle.
Of course, from the 9th circle onwards is a realm beyond that.
However, there was no need to think about that now.
“So, when is the appointment?”
“This Sunday. It’s also a day I can take off, so I’m thinking of going. Is that okay, Luke?”
“Of course. No problem.”
As Luke nodded, a sudden curiosity arose.
“By the way, is Serena a high elf?”
“That’s right, how did you know?”
“The surname Trisphind is only given to high elves. It’s common knowledge.”
“I see…?”
Though Luke spoke as if it was natural, Yerna thought it wasn’t likely that a 10-year-old would know such common knowledge.
Children don’t really pay attention to family names.
“So, does that mean Serena is nobility?”
High elves were a leadership-class bloodline among elves.
Having greater abilities, they naturally achieved higher positions.
The World Tree was always managed by high elves who were exceptionally skilled compared to other elves, and to handle the World Tree meant handling the divine.
To be closest to their god, the World Tree, meant having the authority of royalty or deities in elven society.
Thus, it was only natural for high elves to be noble.
However, that was a story from 5,000 years ago.
“Nobility…? Well… I suppose that could be one way to look at it…?”
The Trisphind family, which held considerable influence in both the political and business worlds, could indeed be referred to as ‘nobility’ in the modern context.
But to Luke, being a noble meant…
‘Then I need to be mindful of etiquette.’
As far as Luke knew, nobles required their own etiquette.
The greeting etiquette of elven nobles was certainly…
Recalling etiquette, Luke suddenly remembered that this knowledge was from 5,000 years ago.
Five thousand years is not a short time.
It wouldn’t be strange if the etiquette had long since changed.
Etiquette was the most critical exploring act that made the first impression among nobles.
This was, of course, applicable to commoners as well.
Commoners who failed to adhere to etiquette were often disregarded and scorned.
The voice of a commoner who couldn’t follow etiquette was practically non-existent.
That is why village chiefs of the past had to be so knowledgeable about etiquette.
So, Luke wanted to confirm it.
And conveniently, he had an elf right in front of him.
“Yerna, may I ask you something?”
When Luke called her, Yerna looked down at him with a curious expression.
“What is it?”
Feeling Yerna’s gaze, Luke raised his right hand and placed it on his left shoulder.
As he did, his opposite hand lightly pinched the hem of his left sleeping robe.
Then he gently bent forward, letting the hand resting on his shoulder drop.
The trajectory had to draw an elegant curve like an exponential graph.
At the same time, he needed to lift the hand that had pinched the hem while drawing his foot back.
It was important that the toes were raised as if performing ballet.
‘I remember women’s etiquette being like this…’
Though it felt awkward, he couldn’t adopt men’s etiquette.
Women had their own etiquette; men had theirs.
That was also a matter of courtesy and law.
He agreed with the fact that his ‘body’ was biologically female.
With that, despite the awkwardness and discomfort, adopting women’s etiquette was a way to respect the rules of nobility.
However, women’s etiquette was all he had seen visually.
It was probably inevitable that it would feel awkward, being something he had never performed physically.
As he thought about this and looked up to see Yerna’s expression, Luke froze.
Her expression looked extremely anxious.
“U-Um… How is it…? Did I completely mess it up?”
Luke instinctively sensed that his etiquette had completely failed.
Was it a difference in eras, or was it that women’s etiquette was truly a mess?
Even Py, who was caught in between, was flitting back and forth with a squeaking sound between the two.
“Well…”
Yerna was initially very flustered.
Honestly, she even thought it was cute for the sudden stance.
To put it bluntly, it was a light-hearted thought of what kind of tricks he was trying to perform.
But that thought changed as Luke moved his body.
‘So elegant.’
The movements were way too refined for a 10-year-old.
It felt like there was a level of ‘experience’ that wasn’t at all suited for their age.
It wasn’t something that could just be blindly copied by eye.
It was a polite greeting filled with sincerity.
To pour one’s sincerity into each movement, how much effort must have been put in?
Why did they have to exert such effort?
It didn’t need deep reflection, did it?
There was a grinding sensation in his teeth.
At that moment, Luke worriedly called out her name.
“Yerna?”
“Ah.”
Relaxing her expression.
This child had no sin at all.
Yerna softened her expression and continued speaking.
“It’s nothing. That… it’s nice, but you don’t need such a greeting for Serena. Just a slight bow will do.”
“Ah, I see.”
-…….!
Hearing Py’s whistling sound similar to “hwiw” made Luke sigh with relief.
‘It seems the etiquette of this era has been quite simplified.’
With that thought, Luke felt a little embarrassed about having enacted women’s etiquette with his own body, scratching his cheek with an awkward expression.
– Luke, fool!
“…You really are annoying today.”
———–
“I’m sorry, I’m late, right?”
“Oh, no! I didn’t wait long at all-!”
“It’s nice to meet you, Yerna Risphind.”
“I’m glad to meet you too, Serena Trisphind.”
As Yerna exchanged greetings, Serena approached with a smile, and Luke also lightly bowed his head in greeting.
Then Shirud, the silver-haired, red-eyed elf who was held by her side, pointed a finger at Luke and shouted.
“You…!”
While he was gracious, the other was having such a reaction.
It was disconcerting, but Luke could let go of a child’s pointing gesture in such a situation without minding too much.
“It’s nice to see you again, Shirud.”
Luke smiled lightly.
Shirud was taken aback.
‘Why is this stalker here…?’
He could hardly admit that he had been forcibly touched by a girl.
Honestly, Shirud found Luke uncomfortable and unsettling.
“Uh, Mom. I want to go home.”
Seeing Shirud tremble, Serena assumed it was due to embarrassment and laughed softly.
“Why? Why don’t you try to talk properly? Mom needs to talk with this person, so go play in the kids’ playroom over there.”
Serena pointed to the children’s play area in the corner of the café.
Shirud really didn’t want to go, but thinking that Mom would be busy anyway, he reluctantly replied.
“Okay…”
Well, he could just mess around with his cellphone…
‘I won’t let myself get caught so easily this time.’
After all, being touched by a girl is a bit unsettling, right?
