episode_0116

It goes without saying that young girls and boys in these games are usually drawn as pretty.

Yes. It’s the same with boys. In fact, there aren’t many ways to draw a ‘boy’ well. No matter how well you draw him, he’s just a boy to adults. Even if an elementary school student says, ‘I’ll protect you!’, it just looks cute.

… … Yes. Elementary school student.

If I think about it again, I’m 15 years old now. That’s the age I got when I subtracted the age of the soul inside this body and added the age I was when this body was created to the period of time I’ve lived in this world.

In Korea, this would be the equivalent of a third year middle school student. Of course, on the outside, they don’t look much different from high school students. I don’t know if the modeling in the game worked here or what.

If you think about it, it’s crazy to dress these kids in bunny outfits…

I often forget that the characters are dressed as bunny girls and have different developmental stages than on Earth, but all the characters here are just babies by the standards of the first game.

If we hadn’t covered our faces with masks, everyone in the casino would have known at a glance that we were kids.

Before that, someone might have figured out that Alice was the princess first.

And of course, the child in front of me, who looked a few years younger than me, looked very clearly like an upper elementary school student or early middle school student. Although the concept of middle school wasn’t yet properly established in this world.

The fact that she has green hair, the fact that she’s wearing something that looks like a child’s butler cosplay, and the fact that she has a really cute and innocent face, it seemed like it wouldn’t have been strange if she had appeared as a regular character in the original work… … but it was a face I’d never seen in the original work.

Of course. If I hadn’t rescued her, she probably would have been sold too. If her face hadn’t been half and half in the first place, she wouldn’t have been in that orphanage.

And then the child looked up at me with emerald eyes and a slightly surprised expression.

I’m not as good at reading facial expressions as Alice is, so I can’t tell if it was purely her surprise at seeing my face, or her surprise at recognizing that I was ‘Sylvia Black’.

“These are the precious people who will be staying here for several days.”

The butler looked at the child and said so.

“Oh, yes.”

The butler’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as he heard the child’s voice returning. It seemed that he was not pleased with the fact that he had been absentminded for a moment.

However, it seems that he is not the kind of person who would be so indiscreet as to scold a child in front of us. No, he did not seem like someone who would scold someone with a loud voice in the first place. Even in front of the butler, this little butler-to-be was not intimidated at all. If he had been treated as if he was being abused, he would not have been able to stand so proudly.

The child gently placed one hand on his heart, held his back with the other hand, and slightly bent toward us. The series of movements continued so smoothly that we could clearly see how well the child had been educated.

“My name is Daniel and I am receiving butler training. Please take good care of me for the next few days.”

Of course, there’s almost no chance that he’ll be guiding us around directly… … Ah.

Daniel.

When I heard the name, memories buried deep inside my mind slowly came back to me. There was a girl with vivid green hair. She was a very quiet and gentle girl. I would say she had a similar vibe to Claire. Although she was younger.

We were all children. Claire and I were only five years old, and there were some children younger than that. They were all children that the old woman from the orphanage had bought from somewhere.

And the ‘goods’ that one has and later resells at a high price.

Daniel, did you follow me well?

Well, I don’t know. At that time, my attention was mostly focused on Claire. I was nice to the other kids, sharing my food with them and telling them awkward old stories, but that was all. There were a lot of kids who followed me. It wasn’t dozens, but I was alone to take care of each and every one of them.

But if I think about it, there wasn’t anyone in my memory who particularly annoyed me or anything, so I guess he was a kid who listened to me well.

“Daniel!”

Claire stopped and looked at her mother as if she had not seen her in a long time.

The Baroness looked at Claire with a slightly stern expression.

I saw Claire too.

Claire had her hands raised slightly, perhaps as if she was trying to run to Daniel and hug him tightly.

But in this world, it would be difficult for a fifteen-year-old woman to do that.

Early marriages in the mid to late teens were not common even in this world. However, that does not mean that children who entered the academy were always treated as children.

In this world, the line between ‘adults’ and ‘children’ is so blurred that the story of a 17-year-old youth who lied about his age and joined the military spread like a heroic tale, and at the same time, whenever teenagers tried to do various things, ‘real adults’ over the age of 20 would show up and tell them that children shouldn’t do such things.

Because the Human Rights Charter and other such things had not been created yet. I don’t know if one will be created in the future.

“Oh, long time no see?”

Claire hurriedly opened her hand and waved it vigorously as if she had been planning to do so from the beginning.

“Haha… … .”

Daniel smiled as if he was troubled by Claire’s appearance, then bowed his head slightly and said.

“It’s been a while, Miss Claire.”

“… … .”

And when Claire heard that, she immediately made a displeased expression.

There was no sign of a romantic relationship between the two. In fact, it was difficult to even think of one. One of them looked young and at the same time very mature, while the other still seemed more like a child.

Rather than that—

I slowly raised my gaze and scanned the room.

It was a very neat and tidy place. It wasn’t empty because there was nothing there, but it was comfortable because there were various items and they were all placed neatly here and there.

There were two bunk beds in the room. It seemed like it was originally intended for multiple people.

“The rest of the children have all gone off to do other things. So for now, only Daniel is staying here.”

The butler saw my gaze and answered before I could ask. The lady nodded gently as if agreeing.

Maybe Claire also stayed with Daniel in a place like this. Of course, they would have had different rooms for each gender. Still, before Grace was adopted, they would have been like sisters.

Did she hug him so casually? Considering Claire’s personality, it seemed like that might have been the case.

My gaze, which had been moving around in the air, slowly descended again and fixed itself on Daniel’s face.

And then I looked at the face carefully.

Where is the injury? Does it look unhappy or sad? I don’t know why I’m looking for such things, but somehow I felt like I had to do it.

And, no trace was found.

After realizing that fact, I opened my mouth, satisfied with myself.

“How are you?”

I don’t know if it’s rude to ask a question like this without properly introducing myself.

But Daniel spoke as if he had heard my introduction.

“Yes, I am doing well without any shortcomings.”

“Is that so?”

I chose what to say next. How should I say it?

“I heard that there are other people from the same orphanage… ”

“Everyone is under Grace’s protection. Now, each of them is trying to find ways to repay the favor.”

“Is that so?”

I understood that everyone was doing well.

“… … .”

I almost asked him if he remembered my face, but I swallowed it back.

I think you know without me asking.

At first, I thought they were just surprised that a guest like me had suddenly come to visit. All the servants in the mansion would already know that the two princesses were visiting the mansion.

But… … the expression of understanding on that face seemed a little different from that kind.

“It’s late today, but,”

I opened my mouth slowly and continued speaking cautiously.

“If you have free time tomorrow.”

I hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was right to say something like that after bringing it up to that point.

“Can you introduce me to your friends?”

In the end, I asked like that.

For a very short time, silence fell over the room. It wasn’t a particularly tense silence.

“I’d be happy to do that.”

Daniel bowed his head and said that to me.