The next day.

Tie woke up alone at five in the morning.

Then, so as not to wake the squad members, she tiptoed down the stairs.

In the kitchen, she found a fresh apple, bit into it with a crisp crunch, and asked,

"Kkamani. How is your room?"

Lucarion, sitting by the fireplace on the first floor, answered indifferently,

"It’s good."

"Really!"

Yesterday, Tie had asked Marshal to give Lucarion a separate room.

Of course, everyone knew Lucarion was Tie’s summon, but—

"Right now he’s testing the battery necklace that Director Berugon gave him!"

When Lucarion did not use magic, he could not return to his dragon form or to the black stone.

Marshal had readily shown him a room where he could stay.

"Oh my, you should have said so earlier. There are plenty of rooms. Do you need anything? Maybe some toys?"

Naturally, Lucarion refused the toys.

Instead, he gathered an armful of old books found in the basement and went to his room.

They were complicated books, the kind adults read—Lucarion truly was remarkable.

Tie stopped chewing her apple and smiled at him gently.

"Listen, Kkamani, Bale oppa said to you, ‘You’ve gotten fat for a summon!’ but."

She lowered her voice to a whisper.

"Tie thinks you should have the biggest authority! Because the very first companion of Tie is Kkamani."

Lucarion set his book down and looked at her.

At the same time, Pupu, who had been sitting on the floor, sprang up.

With a displeased look, he snorted and bumped his nose against the floor a couple of times.

But Tie patted Pupu on the head and turned back to Lucarion.

"You know, Lucarion, before Tie was poor, but now there is house and money."

"......."

"So Lucarion will always stay with Tie? Because Tie loves Lucarion most in the world!"

Lucarion parted his lips.

"Uh, well..."

And awkwardly touched his ear.

Perhaps because he had been sitting by the fireplace too long.

His ear was hot.

Lucarion directed magic to his fingertips to cool it.

And at that moment—

"Huh?"

Tie, who had been standing beside him, suddenly jumped up.

And then:

"Kitty!"

She flung open the huge door and dashed out of the mansion.

"Hey, monster. Watch carefully." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

[You watch yourself, lizard.]

Lucarion and Pupu sat in front of the mansion entrance.

And watched Tie, who was running around the garden in delight.

She had been running for ten minutes.

"This grass, this also grass, this... flower, this grass..."

Was it truly interesting for her to walk through the garden and call every plant "grass"?

And if she found an unusual little stone, was it even more interesting to tuck it into her pocket?

Astie sometimes did utterly incomprehensible things.

Meanwhile, Tie once again marveled at how the yard was several times larger than the house itself.

"Yard so big!"

She knew a boy from Quail Class who lived in a house with a yard. Hyun Woo.

But even those who lived in apartments at least had a small garden in their residential complex.

"Wait, only Tie didn’t have yard...?"

Gold Yeonrip stood pressed against a narrow alley.

So there had been neither yard nor garden there.

And now Tie was the owner of this enormous yard.

"This is real life update...!"

Just as she looked around with moist eyes,

in the distance she noticed the sturdy fence encircling the entire mansion.

Suddenly she remembered Bale’s words from last night.

"Kid, just in case I’m telling you. If you go somewhere, you can only go in front of the house. Only inside the fence. Got it?"

"Mm-hm!"

Tie had answered brightly.

She was {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} almost five—did she not know?

That she must not go outside without permission, she had learned when she was two.

"And if you go beyond the fence, only with us. In a big city, people are even more dangerous. Got it?"

But hearing that, Tie snorted involuntarily.

A lot of people? No matter how many, there could not be more than in the Jongno district.

Besides, Tie had even gone to the store alone there on errands.

And if she could run errands, that meant Tie was very smart and grown-up.

"Kkamani! Tie look at that fence!"

When she said it in a serious tone, Lucarion rose to his feet.

But Tie had already run to the right edge of the front yard.

"Waa."

When she reached the fence, she opened her mouth wide.

On the other side stood another mansion, about the same size.

"That house next to Tie house...?"

The moment she thought about neighbors, the grandmother from apartment 107 came to mind.

If she had something delicious, she always called Tie.

When Papa was not home, she looked after her and let her watch television as much as she wanted.

In Tie’s imagination, close neighbors were almost like family.

The child’s face lit up.

If she tried, she could squeeze between the bars of the fence and enter the neighboring yard, right?

"Go, bow to belly, and all okay?"

Then say they had recently moved and hoped for good neighborly relations.

There was no pie, but there was an apple in the kitchen...

"Astie. No climbing over."

At that moment—

as if reading her thoughts, Lucarion’s voice sounded.

She turned—Lucarion was already standing beside her, Pupu on his shoulder.

Tie hesitated.

"But greeting neighbors is etiquette...?"

"Who goes to greet neighbors over a fence?"

"Then go outside and through gate?"

"Don’t you remember what your squad members said?"

Tie lowered her eyes.

"Cannot go beyond fenceee..."

"Correct."

Lucarion took her hand.

"Let’s go back. Looks like yours are awake."

Tie reluctantly walked back toward the mansion.

But her eyes kept drifting to the neighboring house, and a sigh slipped from her chest.

Lucarion glanced at her and said,

"That house is vacant anyway."

"Huh?"

He pointed toward the neighboring mansion.

"Look, the second-floor window is open."

"Huh? It is?"

The second-floor window was slightly ajar.

When the wind blew, the old frame knocked—thud, thud—closing and opening again.

"It’s been like that since yesterday. If someone lived there, they wouldn’t leave it like that."

Tie’s mouth parted.

Indeed. The neighbor’s garden differed from theirs.

Thick grass. Even thicker weeds on top of it.

And a stone path covered in moss, as if it had not been used for a long time.

"Let’s go."

Lucarion gently pulled her hand.

Tie had no choice but to follow him.

"Who lives there?"

Why would such a good house be empty?

From curiosity, her head tilted on its own.

After a light breakfast.

"Tie, ready?"

Calling to Tie from the first floor, Basto suddenly opened his eyes wide.

Tie came bouncing down the stairs, tightly holding Marshal’s hand.

"No way..."

Bale, sprawled on the sofa, saw her hairstyle and sprang up.

Two braids had been woven so skillfully they looked like a work of art.

"I... I thought Basto was that good at braiding."

At the very least, Marshal was clearly a master at braids.

But the surprises did not end there.

"K, kid. You even changed clothes... insanely well?"

This morning

Tie looked completely different.

The red long-sleeved shirt was gone, as was the tank top and the dress she had thrown on top.

Instead—

"Auntie Marshal made it!"

A lovely beige dress with light green ruffles.

White fitted knee socks.

Though the shoes were bright pink and slightly out of place...

"Our squad leader said she absolutely wouldn’t otherwise."

There was slight awkwardness in Marshal’s voice, and Bale simply waved his hand.

Tie suddenly laughed and pointed somewhere.

"Then, auntie, Tie now wear uniform!"

Bale stared at her blankly.

"You dressed up so nicely—and now you’re going to cover it with a uniform?"

Tie tilted her head.

"Huh? Tanifang is on uniform, of course."