The one who was most shocked was not Bale, but Tie.

“W-w-w-what is that?!”

At the sudden burst of bloodshed, Tie jumped in place.

And in that very moment, something appeared right before her eyes.

A small, coal-black little body.

Coldly gleaming scarlet eyes.

“K-Kkamani?!”

This tiny creature in front of her was without a doubt Kkamani!

[So I told you to get up faster, and you woke me up just for that? To show me this?]

But Kkamani, whom she had not seen for so long, grumbled irritably first of all.

[You can’t even deal with a little rebellion, and you’re planning to lead a mercenary squad...]

Tie forgot to breathe from shock and could only stare at him.

And she was not the only one.

Everyone in the tavern stared at Kkamani with wide eyes.

At that moment, Bale’s voice sounded.

“Hey... kid, you.”

Bale was still standing there, frozen in place, with blood still dripping from his hand.

“Just now... did you order your summoned creature to attack me?”

Tie’s eyes grew huge.

“T-Tie d-didn’t do anything like that!”

She honestly did not even know that Kkamani had woken up!

“Bale, that’s enough.”

For some reason, Uncle Basto hurried over to Bale.

He pressed a cloth to the injured hand and said,

“You heard it from Nordix. Tie only awakened her power recently, she has trouble controlling it. Judging by this, the wound is shallow. Don’t do something you’ll regret later.”

“But still!”

“You’ll lose.”

Bale fell silent.

Kkamani, standing next to Tie, twisted his mouth into a crooked smile, as if he had been waiting for exactly that.

Seeing this, Tie grabbed him without thinking.

Kkamani looked at her as if asking what was wrong, but Tie, after glancing at Bale’s bloodied hand, said sternly,

“Kkamani, youuuu... with Tie, to the room of truth.”

And she immediately ran up to the second floor.

In the room where they were left alone.

Tie groaned softly and pressed her forehead.

In her head surfaced the incident with Hyona from the Quail Class, who once injured a friend.

“Teacher! Hyona pushed me, I scraped my knee! Waaah!”

In Jongno-gu, at Hanbit Kindergarten, where Tie went, there was a very, very important rule.

“You must never hurt a friend!”

If it happened by accident, you could get just one “sad” sticker and leave the room of truth.

But if it was on purpose?

Then it was different.

“Kkamani, you... how could you make Brother Bale bleed?”

Tie was extremely serious, and Kkamani looked bored.

He sprawled out on the floor, limbs spread, and only watched Tie with his eyes.

“Who allowed you to sit like that when Tie is talking?”

[I’ll sit how I want.]

“......!”

A huge shock ran through Tie’s head.

‘U-usually, if the teacher scolds you, you’re supposed to say it’s your fault...?’

The punishment was terribly scary.

A child who deliberately hurt a friend had to sit in the room of truth for a full ten minutes.

You sat on the reflection chair, repented, and then the teacher came and gave you two “sad” stickers.

When everyone else got “good job” stickers, and you alone got “sad” ones...

Tie gathered her courage.

And, imitating the teacher, she looked seriously at Kkamani.

“Under no circumstances can you hurt people!”

[You bit him yourself.]

Tie’s cheeks flared up.

‘O-oh. Right.’

When Bale was being nasty, she herself did not notice how she bit his arm.

“But I d-didn’t bite him hard... right?”

Kkamani only snorted.

Tie’s face drooped a little.

Silence hung in the room.

[But you’re still good.]

At that moment, Kkamani spoke.

Tie looked at him in astonishment.

[Good. For biting him, and for everything else. Honestly, I didn’t expect you to get this far on your own. I thought that without me, you wouldn’t be able to do anything.]

Tie timidly asked again.

“......Really?”

Kkamani looked at her with his scarlet eyes.

[Yes. I wasn’t there, and you made it to the gate by yourself. Honestly, I’m surprised. I thought that alone, you wouldn’t be able to do anything.]

“.......”

[Actually, the pathetic one here is me. I only twisted the timeline a little, and because of that I fell into hibernation for so long.]

Tie hurriedly waved her hands.

“No! Kkamani, what you did was so amazing! You said back then that you turned a dimension, right? That’s actually very hard! You...”

[It’s not because I spent a lot of power. I’m just weak.]

Tie fell silent.

Kkamani stared at the ceiling without a word.

Weariness and something complicated were written on his face.

Tie hesitantly reached out her hand to him, but at that moment Kkamani shifted his gaze back to her.

[That’s why it’s better for you to keep going like this.]

“Uh-huh?”

[Hide your identity. And at the same time—mine as well.]

“A-and yours too?”

Kkamani nodded.

[Yes. It looks like everyone thinks I’m just your summoned creature. Let them keep thinking that.]

Tie’s eyes widened, and her heart started beating faster.

“Okay!”

Kkamani was her friend.

And it seemed he had some kind of complicated story.

‘At times like this, Tie has to protect him!’

If everyone thought that Tie was a hidden archmage in a child’s body, and Kkamani was just her summoned spirit, then no one would investigate his true nature, and it would be a little easier for him to live in this world.

Tie shuffled closer to him.

“Kkamani, don’t worry! That you’re a legendary Puppetmon, I’ll definitely keep it sec—”

“Lucarion.”

At that moment, the sun appeared outside the window.

From the bright light, Tie squeezed her eyes shut for a moment.

When she opened them, the black-haired boy she had seen on the first day was sitting in front of her.

Tie’s lips parted.

‘Six years... no, seven.’

On the first day she hadn’t noticed, but now Kkamani looked about the same age as the older kids from the Fawns Class.

Kkamani spoke again.

“My name. Lucarion.”

“......Lucarion.”

Tie involuntarily repeated the name.

And, looking into his eyes...

She remembered Jongno-gu.

That night when the pouring rain seemed to soak straight through her heart.

When she opened the drawer with the things left behind by her father, Tie thought that this must be what it felt like to fall alone into a cold pool.

Her eyes, her heart, all ten fingers—everything went numb, and if there had been a deep hole somewhere, she would have wanted to hide there for a hundred days and not come out.

But then Kkamani appeared, no—Lucarion.

“Lucarion....”

He brought Tie to ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) this world and gave her a chance to meet her father again.

“Lucarioooon!”

Without realizing it, Tie tightly hugged the boy.

“Thank you, Lucarion!”

These were the words of gratitude she could not say on the first day.

Lucarion calmly allowed her to hug him.

When tears rolled down her cheeks, Tie hurriedly pulled back so as not to stain him.

Then she took his hand and giggled.

“Thank you for helping Tie....”

Lucarion looked at her in astonishment.

“You know, tomorrow we’re going to the Capital! They’ll let us in like a real mercenary squad now!”

“......Really?”

“Uh-huh! Dad is a holy knight, so we’ll find him quickly in the Capital!”

Lucarion nodded.

“As soon as we find Dad, Tie will repay your kindness! And if it’s hard for you, you can always climb into my bag and rest! And also, since you’re my summoned creature now, in front of people it’s better to call you just Kkamani, okay?”

“That’s kind of....”

“Kkamani is the best anyway!”

“......Then why did you ask?”

“Kkamani! Let’s go!”

Lucarion reluctantly let himself be dragged along by the hand.

As they passed through the doorway, he once again took the form of a small dragon.

In his field of vision was Tie’s small hand, gripping his front paw.

The ruby eyes darkened calmly.

‘......After all.’

Through their touching skin, he felt something pour into his body.

It was power, filling Astie’s body to the brim.

Still hopelessly insufficient, but...

Looking at Tie’s softly swaying hair, Lucarion’s eyes flashed.

‘After all, it was you.’

Now he could be completely sure.

That day.

The one who woke him up was Astie.