Tesetan tore out the fence—and the next day,

Tie cheerfully headed toward the neighboring house.

Now that the fence was gone, all she had to do was jump, and she could go straight to Papa.

But just as she was about to reach the front door, she suddenly stopped.

"Ah...! Could you go a little easier?"

"You skipped siege training for just a couple of days and your arms are already weak, Victor. You’ve gotten soft."

The familiar voices were coming not from inside the house, but from the backyard.

Tie changed direction and headed there.

And there she saw Papa and his subordinate Victor—they were training without armor.

"Squad Leader?"

Ribia, who had been sitting on the steps by the back door, noticed Tie first and ran over to her.

"Oh, what’s this? You came to watch?"

Tie nodded and stared curiously at Papa and Victor.

She had seen the other squad members train before, but Papa—this was her first time.

"Come on, let’s watch together. Ah! By the way, I tried cooking."

Ribia grabbed Tie’s hand.

Tie followed her to the steps.

And there she saw a strange piece of meat dripping with blood.

"Ah, u-um... what is that......?"

Ribia smiled broadly.

"I cooked meat!"

Tie cautiously looked at her, then back at the meat.

"It doesn’t look cooked......."

"Huh?! Really?!"

Ribia jumped up and started turning the plate around.

Blood immediately ran along the edges.

"You’re right, it’s undercooked! Wait!"

Without giving Tie a chance to respond, she rushed ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) inside with the meat.

At that moment, Victor collapsed to the ground.

"I can’t anymore."

Tesetan stuck his training sword into the ground and clicked his tongue.

Panting, Victor spoke to Allerik, who was standing by the wall:

"Aren’t you training, Allerik?"

Tesetan and Allerik looked at Victor at the same time.

Victor nodded toward Tie.

"Looks like a perfect sparring partner just showed up."

Allerik’s lips parted.

He nodded, intrigued.

"You’re right. Squad Leader, how about I—"

"Have you lost your mind?"

In that instant, Tesetan stepped sharply in front of Tie.

He fixed Victor and Allerik with an angry glare.

"What sparring. Do you think your squad leader is a training dummy?"

Victor blinked.

He frowned in thought.

Back in Tregava, Tesetan had helped him train with the sword...

So that meant he had willingly been a dummy himself?

Allerik seemed to reach the same conclusion and looked puzzled.

But Tesetan ignored them and continued sharply:

"Enough talking. Go inside, Allerik. Practice your language spells instead."

Then he turned his gaze to Victor.

"Victor Redwood. Another thousand thrusts today."

"......Squad Leader—I mean, Commander! You can’t do this!"

Meanwhile, behind Tesetan, Tie’s lips parted.

The corners of her mouth trembled—and her face lit up with a radiant smile.

'Papa really has gotten kinder!'

Papa didn’t let them spar with her.

He clearly protected her honor as squad leader!

Tie was so happy she stared at Papa with shining eyes.

And then she suddenly noticed something nearby.

"Waaah. There’s a tree here!"

Tesetan, Victor, and Allerik turned around.

Tie ran up to the tree, looked at Papa—

"Hyap!"

—and slammed her back against the trunk.

"......what are you doing?"

Allerik frowned.

"Hah, ha-ha-ha!"

Victor burst out laughing.

Tie kept bumping her back against the tree, looking at Papa with desperate hope.

'Remember! Papa, please let all your memories come back......!'

Back when they were in Korea,

Tie and Papa sometimes climbed Mount Inwangsan together.

And there was a game—

"Wow, that feels refreshing!"

There were exercise machines along the trail, and they would bet on how many grandpas would bump their backs against trees.

'Mmm, today Tie bets on three! The grandpa in green will come with friends too!'

'Really? Then Papa bets on two. One of them will definitely “drive a car.”'

“Driving a car” meant turning the big wheel on the exercise machine.

While bumping her back against the tree, Tie started turning her arms like an imaginary steering wheel.

And she secretly glanced at Papa.

'......what if?'

What if it works?

Papa was looking at her with a strange expression.

Excited, Tie started hitting the tree even harder.

Her back already hurt, sweat formed, but she didn’t stop.

Papa looked like he was remembering something!

But—

'......already acting like a shaman at four years old, huh.'

Tesetan only sighed inwardly.

These back-slamming motions.

'It’s exactly that. From my dream.'

After the duel, most of the dream had faded.

But he clearly remembered the strange people slamming their backs against trees.

'It was too bizarre to forget.'

And now the King of the Dead was doing the exact same thing right in front of him?

Shaking his head, Tesetan walked over to Tie.

He spoke seriously to the child, who was looking at him with shining eyes:

"No matter how skilled you are in necromancy."

"......."

"You can’t go around stealing other people’s dreams and copying them like this."

He looked like he wanted to say more, but turned and went inside.

Tie remained standing by the tree, mouth slightly open.

Victor approached her with interest.

"Squad Leader. What was that?"

Tie slowly tore her gaze away from the closed door.

And answered gloomily:

"Just... exercise......"

"Exercise?"

"Yeah...... it makes your back feel better."

Victor looked at the tree, then at Tie—and then—

thud!

He slammed his back against it.

Leaves rained down, sticking to Tie’s head, nose, and lips.

"Oh. Squad Leader, are you okay?"

Tie spat out leaves.

And, puffing her cheeks, trudged back to the Agavert headquarters.

A yellow leaf remained stuck on top of her head.

"Ah, that feels good!"

A few days later.

In Agavert’s yard, beneath a huge willow tree, a line of squad members had formed.

"Alright, I did twenty—my turn!"

"Move aside!"

Tie, resting her cheek on her hand, watched them gloomily.

She had done it so Papa would remember.

But instead, the squad members themselves had gotten hooked.

Tie recalled all her efforts over the past few days.

'Th-that’s strange~? Tie suddenly wants twisted donuts and old fried chicken!'

She deliberately talked about food from Korea in front of Papa,

'A, B, C, D! E! F! G!'

She sang the alphabet song she learned in kindergarten.

And not just that!

She sang “Fashionable Tomato,” “Hang in There, Papa,” even hummed “Baby Shark”......!

'Brat, what’s “old chicken”? What even is that? Don’t you want normal chicken? Huh? Ha-ha-ha!'

'Eek... Bale oppa, you’re stupid!'

Out of everyone, only Bale reacted to it.

Tired of his teasing, Tie flopped down on the mat.

The sky was beautiful, the grass smelled nice.

Falling leaves looked like soft, colorful snowflakes.

But—

'Lucarion doesn’t come home at all anymore.......'

Tie let out another heavy sigh.

And then—

"Huh?"

A familiar face appeared in her field of view against the sky.

The surroundings suddenly grew quiet.

Tie blinked, then broke into a wide smile.

Looking down at her gently—

"Lady Leader?!"

The head of the Frost Association and the princess of this country.

Just like Tie, someone who hides her power—

Ardiana.