98. Ego Sword

98. Ego Sword

“Claire?”

“Mmm?!”

“Are you going to wear those clothes?”

A chick is a cute, yellow creature that walks with a waddle, and that description perfectly matched Claire, who was sticking close to me.

Claire, with her soft golden hair trailing out from under the chick hood, was certainly cute… but those were pajamas, not everyday clothes. They weren’t clothes one could just wear out.

It was my guess, but Claire seemed to have forgotten she was wearing pajamas. How should I put it? When you wear something too comfortable, don’t you sometimes forget whether you’re wearing it or not?

I don’t do that much anymore, but in the past, I once approached Freya wearing only my underwear, thinking I was fully dressed. Freya then pushed me onto the bed and kindly helped me with my clothes- no, that’s not important.

I shook my head and looked at Claire. She answered, stammering.

“No, well, I didn’t wear them because I wanted to, it’s just that you said they were cute….”

“Yes, they’re cute. I think they suit you well.”

At my words, Claire blushed and then, as if embarrassed, pulled the hood closer to hide her face. I patted Claire’s head a few times with my tail and then focused on walking forward again.

“Ur?”

“….”

Meanwhile, Ur, held in my arms, remained silent. Except for occasionally twitching when Irina tried to approach, she showed no movement at all.

I hadn’t commanded her to stay still, so why was she acting like this?

“Ur, what’s wrong?”

“….”

“Ur.”

“….”

“U-Ur-“

Even when I called her in a drawn-out voice, like soothing a child, Ur showed no reaction. In fact, she seemed to be turning her head and puffing out her cheeks, as if she were sulking.

Fortunately, I had a card to play in situations like this.

“Ur, ‘Answer me.’ Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Uggh.”

Ur’s body vibrated faintly. As my owned magic sword, Ur couldn’t disobey my commands, so eventually, Ur’s lips were forced open, and she began to speak to me.

“… It was because I was embarrassed.”

“What?”

“….”

“‘Tell me properly.'”

“… It was because I was embarrassed that I said, ‘Ur, despite being a Death Knight of considerable age, buried her face in Master’s embrace and cried profusely like a child,’ hic.”

Ur, whose thoughts were forcibly exposed, trembled with shame and buried her face in my shoulder. After briefly fiddling with the soft white hair covering my shoulder, I continued speaking to Ur.

“You don’t need to be so embarrassed, Ur?”

“How can I not be embarrassed? Ur was originally a cool and great Death Knight, but doing such childish things….”

“But I thought you were more like a child when you were pouting with your cheeks puffed out earlier.”

Crying out of hardship has nothing to do with age. Who in this world would think that an old person’s eyes shouldn’t shed tears?

But puffing out your cheeks and turning your head away in a pout… that’s undeniable.

From a viewer’s perspective, it was truly cute, but it was clearly childish behavior.

Ur trembled as if her core point had been hit.

“U-Ur is not a child…!”

“But Ur is a child.”

I looked at Ur, whom I was holding in my arms. My tail wagged with the reaction of seeing something cute, and Ur’s eyes followed the tail swaying back and forth.

“Ur, look at yourself. Is that the body of an adult?”

A small, slender, and delicate body, white skin, hands, and feet. Even the soft scent and touch unique to children made it clear to anyone who looked that she was far from an adult, or a fearsome Death Knight.

Ur looked at her body with slightly hazy eyes. Ur’s breathing began to become regular, and her small chest rose and fell.

“Tell me the truth, Ur. What do you think your appearance is?”

“… A little girl…….”

“Yes, that’s right. You are a small and cute little girl.”

Strictly speaking, she’s a magic sword, but in her human form, Ur is just a small, cute, white little girl. Not very strong either.

Ur’s eyes turned to me again. Her eyes followed my tail, which swayed slowly and rhythmically, and the slight vibrations from walking made Ur’s eyes slowly close.

Ur’s eyes half-closed. Her once sparkling white eyes lost their light and became hazy, and as saliva began to drip from her mouth, I said to Ur.

“Ur, you are a child.”

“… No….”

“Then what was what you did earlier? Crying your eyes out in my arms, and pouting with your cheeks puffed out, is that what an adult does?”

“Ugh….”

Ur’s eyes vibrated, lost, and a groan escaped her small lips. She was probably reflecting on what she had done.

“Ur, it’s not strange for a child to act spoiled, is it? And Ur acted spoiled.”

“Yes….”

“So Ur is a child. Right?”

Ur’s body vibrated faintly. It seemed the unacceptable truth and the conclusion drawn from my reasoning were clashing. A hesitant groan escaped her small mouth.

“Ngh….”

I stroked Ur’s head. Stroking her head felt good, and feeling good made one’s mind go blank, so Ur groaned again and began to drool as if her consciousness was becoming hazy.

I opened my mouth to Ur.

“Ur, try saying ‘Baby’.”

“Baby….”

“Good job, my baby.”

There’s an old saying that praise makes even whales dance. I don’t know how whales dance, but as I stroked Ur and praised her, Ur opened her hazy eyes and smiled brightly like a child-

“Cough.”

“Ugh?!”

However, that bright smile was interrupted when I tripped over something. I managed to regain my balance with my excellent reflexes, but Ur, unfortunately, fell out of my arms and tumbled onto the ground.

After burying her face in the ground for a moment, Ur regained the light in her eyes and muttered.

“Ha…! W-what were you doing to Ur just now…! I almost lost myself to the evil Master’s grasp…!!! Ur is not a child, but a great-“

“Ur? Try saying ‘Baby’?”

“Baby.”

Ur shouted.

“D-don’t make me do strange things, Master!!”

“It was cute.”

Ur huffed and turned her head. Due to our master-subordinate relationship, she kept following me, but she didn’t seem inclined to talk to me. With a hint of regret, I said one last time.

“Ur, try saying ‘Baby’.”

“Baby.”

Leaving Ur’s scream-like cry behind, we truly set off to find clothes.

——

“Hello, is there anything you’re looking for?”

“Pink blouse and navy skirt and white dress and kindergarten uniform and pink randoseru and no, forget it, just give me everything you have here!”

After wandering around the store for a while, an employee who couldn’t stand it any longer came to help us. While Irina’s eyes sparkled as she listed her demands and Rena next to her looked flustered, Claire and I scanned our surroundings.

“Is this… a hoodie? Claire, want to try it on?”

I held up a light blue garment. It was a loose-fitting, long garment. It had a hood, and the decoration was minimal, making it plain, but it looked quite comfortable.

“Isn’t it too big?”

“I heard somewhere that people sometimes wear intentionally oversized clothes. It looks cute, don’t you think it would suit you well?”

“Hmm… Okay.”

Oversized, I think it’s called. I’m not interested in clothes, so I don’t know, but I remember that kind of fashion existed in my past life. Wearing clothes that are a size bigger than your body.

I followed Claire into the fitting room. It’s common for women to ‘help’ each other when trying on clothes.

“Huh? Why are you coming in-“

“Yap.”

I took off Claire’s clothes.

With the skill of quickly taking off underwear, learned from my sister, Claire was instantly naked, revealing her hidden private parts.

Pink tips between a white canvas

“W-wait! Why are you taking off my underwear?!”

“To put on clothes, you have to take them off…”

“You can wear it over your underwear!”

“Ah.”

Claire shouted, covering her body.

And so, I was kicked out of the fitting room.

A moment later, Claire emerged from the fitting room…

“… No matter how I look at it, this is strange.”

“… I agree.”

It wasn’t oversized, it was just a big garment.

It covered her thighs like a dress, and the sleeves were longer than her arms, dangling and swaying… it was quite something. It was my mistake to estimate based on the outside appearance.

“I’m sorry, maybe it was my mistake.”

“It’s fine.”

I apologized to Claire and headed to where Ur was being dressed. As I half-expected, a commotion was happening there.

A short ivory-haired girl with twin tails, unable to contain her joy, screaming “Kyaaa!”, and a white-haired girl struggling beneath her. The outfit Ur was wearing, thanks to Irina’s hands, was surprisingly-

“Waaah!!!”

A children’s maid outfit.

“Oh.”

Cute.