And then, a few more days later, in the early afternoon.

Tie sat by the window of the inn, swinging her legs.

The sunlight warmed her pleasantly, and her mood felt as if she might take flight at any moment.

She was enjoying a sunbath when—

"Hey, shorty!"

Bale’s voice came from behind.

She turned around—Bale was standing there with a plate of cookies in his hand.

"What are you staring at? Here, eat."

Tie’s eyes instantly grew huge.

She hurriedly grabbed one cookie.

The moment she bit into the lightly green-tinted cookie—the innkeeper’s specialty—a sweet aroma filled her mouth.

Tie felt everything inside her turn soft and warm as she crunched the cookie.

Watching her eat, Bale asked,

"King of the Dead. Is it that good?"

Tie flinched.

Her cheeks, puffed full of cookie, turned slightly pink.

"King of the Dead...?"

"Yeah, King of the Dead. There’s a King of the Dead here... pff—ha... who else but you?"

Bale was holding back laughter, and Tie wriggled and burst into giggles.

"Bale oppa, you’re too much. What King of the Dead~"

"..."

"Well, Tie is the leader, and it’s true I’m the strongest necromancer hiding my identity~ but when we’re alone, you can just call me Tie."

The corners of Bale’s lips twitched.

He poked her cheek with his finger.

"Shorty, do you like that name so much—King of the Dead?"

Tie stopped chewing and opened her eyes wide.

Did she like the nickname King of the Dead?

Wasn’t that obvious?

The very strongest characters always had a title.

Like the legendary Puppetmon or Royal Tanifang!

By the way, the character in the game that Hyun U from Quail Class played also had something similar.

To be more precise—

"Tie just put on a skin."

There was no other way to explain it.

"If the normal character is just Tie, then with the skin it’s ‘King of the Dead Astie.’"

Her bottom wiggled on its own in excitement.

Tie ran a finger under her nose and lowered her head, snickering.

She could feel Bale staring at her intently.

"Poor Bale oppa."

He must be jealous of Tie, who put on a skin and became overpowered.

At that moment—

"Astie."

The inn door opened, and Basto and Nordix appeared, each carrying something over one shoulder.

"Uncle Basto!"

"Did you behave well with Bale?"

"Tie, you have crumbs on your lips."

Tie had been about to wait for Nordix to brush the crumbs away, but when she noticed what they were carrying, she began jumping up and down.

"Are those our cloaks? Our cloaks, really?!"

"Yes."

Basto lifted Tie and set her down in front of the large table.

Then he laid several sets of clothing on the table.

The ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) new Agavert squad uniforms, ordered three days ago and now officially completed.

"So cooool..."

Tie whispered involuntarily, as if enchanted.

Black outer garments sewn from sturdy leather and thick fabric.

A cut made for ease of movement, with room to protect against rain and wind.

And most importantly!

"It’s really Tonafang. Uhh—"

Her breath caught with excitement.

Tie carefully touched the character embroidered on the chest of each set.

How much effort had gone into that drawing three days ago.

To be honest, what Tie had drawn was far too terrible, so she explained it to Nordix, and Grandpa redrew it.

It felt like they had used twenty sheets of paper?

At one point she had grown so sleepy it was hard, but it had still been worth it.

"So beautiful..."

Nordix draped the uniform over Tie’s shoulders.

When he fastened the hook beneath her neck, the soft fabric settled smoothly along her shoulders.

"It’s prettier than the kindergarten cape!"

Actually, Tie had wanted to make the uniform yellow like the cape from Hanbit Kindergarten.

But in the forest, yellow clothing was too noticeable to monsters.

In the end, Tie swallowed her tears and chose black.

"And I was right!"

Now she was very proud of that decision.

The uniform was unbelievably cool!

Judging by the curious looks of the others, they thought so too.

"Wow, the fabric’s better than I expected."

"Bale. I told you I know a good tailor."

"But did we really have to add this pink bug?"

"B-bug?"

While Tie stammered, Basto frowned.

"Bale, even if there were reasons, don’t forget that Tie is now our squad leader. There’s nothing strange about the leader making important decisions within the squad."

But Bale still looked dissatisfied.

Of course, he understood Basto’s words.

A lot had happened over the past few days, but even before that—

He vividly remembered the day they suppressed the medium and small Magic Stones with the skeletons.

At that time, Basto, Bale, and Nordix, who had expressed his wish to join, held an urgent meeting.

They needed to find a way to bring Tie into the Capital.

For her safety and to find out who her parents were.

But for that, Tie also had to be listed as a squad member.

"If a four-year-old child becomes a mercenary, she’ll immediately attract attention."

"Agreed. She’s too small. Attention will be unavoidable."

"So what do we do? The shorty awakened a strange ability! If the attention is too strong, strange types might come after her."

There was too much to think about.

And then Tie said:

"What if we say that Tie’s current appearance is a transformation?"

That is, she would pretend she wasn’t actually a child.

"And Tie is really strong! I can call bone friends! Grandpa also said I have enormous power...!"

Soon the three agreed.

"True. At least we’ll change the nature of the attention on the shorty."

Tie must not look like just a little girl among dark-clad men.

Her ability must not appear half-hearted.

If anything—exaggerate it.

"If Tie becomes King of the Dead, no one will be able to ignore her!"

That was the answer.

If you imagined that a necromancer mage was disguising himself as a four-year-old girl...

"Ah... chills. People will definitely keep their distance."

"...Agreed."

"Then it’s decided."

That was how Tie became King of the Dead and was placed in the position of squad leader.

(Although Bale did not want to admit it) in reality, Tie had the highest combat power of the four.

And after that everything fell into place—they truly formed a squad, and Tie became the leader...

"But still, a bug is too much, isn’t it? We could’ve put something cooler. What even is this? The eyes are too big... is it a fly?"

Bale began rubbing at the embroidery furiously, and Tie nearly fainted.

"B-Bale oppa! H-how can you say that!"

But Bale did not waver.

He walked to the counter and, without hesitation, picked up the inkwell.

"I’ll just erase it. If I paint over it with black, it’ll be less noticeable."

"Y-you can’t!"

Tie swiftly climbed onto the table and blocked his way.

She spread her arms wide, and a sacred expression appeared on her face.

"This is an insult to Tonafang! I won’t allow it!"

"What insult. Hey, shorty. A pink bug on my uniform—that’s the insult. So right now, I—!"

At that moment, Tie sank her teeth into Bale’s hand.

Bale’s eyes widened.

"What are you doing?! Are you a dog or something?! Hey, saliva!"

"I’m not a dog! I’m a child! And the word ‘puppy’ is prettier than ‘dog’!"

Bale fell silent.

That of hers—"child"...

He looked at Tie and shrugged.

"Fine. Child or dog, I’ll do it my way."

He abruptly grabbed the uniform from the table.

"Nooo!"

He was just about to smear the embroidery with black ink when—

Ting—

A transparent energy flew in from somewhere and slid across Bale’s hand. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

For an instant it rounded outward and enveloped the entire inn like a bursting soap bubble, then vanished.

Bale blinked.

When he came to himself, the inkwell had flown far away somewhere,

"...Huh?"

And from the tips of his fingers, as if sliced by something sharp, blood began to flow.