Khalid had built up an enormous amount of merit in the meantime. He had become the commander of the vanguard in a large-scale magical-beast suppression force at the border between the Kingdom of Casalia and a western-continent nation.

In truth, he had gone there to find Rubian’s magic stele, but because the place happened to lie right in the middle of a massive magical-beast habitat, he had volunteered for the suppression himself.

The Babilon Empire had sent military support on moral grounds, and before long a temporary suppression alliance with Casalia had been formed.

And not long ago, though it had taken some time, they had finally sent word of victory.

“He... went off to find a magic stele and came back after doing nothing but getting stronger.”

Rubian muttered that, then abruptly lifted her head as if something had just occurred to her.

“Dad, you saw Khalid, right? How... how much taller did he get?”

There was an odd note of competitiveness in her voice.

“Hm.”

Leviathan silently called Khalid to mind. He had gone to that front several times to provide support, after all.

Of course, with the boy possessing the sort of absurd combat strength that made his own contribution unnecessary, Leviathan had only delivered supplies and returned not long after.

Honestly, I don’t really remember his height.

Leviathan’s eyes narrowed.

Their eye level had been... kind of similar?

“Hm, no.”

No matter what, I raised that boy.

The last time he’d seen him, Khalid had still been no more and no less than a brat tearing around the training ground. So...

“About this much?”

He pointed to just below his own neck.

“Huh? Really? That’s not as much as I expected. Is it because he uses his body so much? Oh, poor thing.”

Rubian looked genuinely sympathetic.

Leviathan roughly ruffled her round little head again. The hair floating up all over the place made her look like a dandelion puff, and it was unbearably cute.

“Anyway, when Khalid gets back, I’ll give him leave, so you can go out and play with him too—”

And then, suddenly—

“How is Ruby? Has she been well?”

Those gray-blue eyes asking that question rose up in his memory.

Why... am I suddenly irritated?

The moment he remembered that gaze, calmer and deeper now than in his boyhood, a sense of crisis swept over him.

“Dad? Why’d you stop talking? You were saying I should go out and play with Khalid?”

“No, Ruby. Dad didn’t say anything of the sort.”

Leviathan smiled benevolently.

“You’re lying. You definitely said something. You said when Khalid gets leave...”

“No, I didn’t say that.”

“Huh?”

Oh no. Was Dad already getting forgetful?

Rubian’s expression turned grave.

“Just go out with Rose. All right?”

He said it with stubborn emphasis, but why...

Why does it feel like I’ve already lost this a long time ago?

...did he feel that way?

*****

“Mom! That’s Mom’s carriage!”

I waved both arms wildly in front of the main gate of the ducal estate.

I hadn’t even shouted more than a few times before the carriage rolling slowly in the distance suddenly flew open.

A head of pink hair leaped out before the step could even be lowered, fluttering like a flag.

“Mooom!”

“Rubyyy!”

I took off at once without a second thought.

Mm. Mm.

I know adults aren’t supposed to do this, but...!

You can’t help it when it’s Mom!

Soft arms wrapped all the way /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ around me.

“Why are you so late? I missed you! I wrote a hundred letters while I was waiting!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Something came up on the way!”

“Something?”

“N-no, listen. One of the carriage wheels just popped right off.”

“Gasp.”

“And just then, a bunch of bandits showed up. They happened to have a perfectly nice carriage, so...”

“Yeees... and then?”

“I swapped them.”

Their carriage, our carriage.

Mom gestured lightly with her hand.

Ah... so she robbed the bandits?

“And then I had to hand them over to the village watch nearby, so I got a little delayed! I’m sorry, Rubyyy!”

Mom rubbed her cheek all over my head.

“I-I’m a fully grown adult—”

“I know, I know.”

But really, I couldn’t resist Mom’s arms any longer. They were warm and soft!

“Oh, my, my. You’ve grown all the way up to Mommy’s nose already.”

Mom patted my butt, and I let out a smug little huff.

“I plan to grow even more. I’m still in my growth phase.”

“Mmm, I don’t know. It might be a bit hard to grow more at seventeen.”

“No! According to < The First Step to Becoming a Wonderful Adult >, people can still get taller after twenty—”

“All right, dear.”

“It’s lovely seeing this emotional reunion and all.”

At that moment, a man who had been standing there like a shadow, watching us, cut in.

“But why don’t you finish hugging each other inside? The wind’s cold.”

Oh, right. Dad was here too.

Mom spun me around and tucked me against her, then rested her chin on my shoulder.

“What’s this, handsome sir? I thought you were a pillar. Are you interested in me by any chance?”

Dad merely laughed lightly and shrugged with perfect composure.

“How could I not be?”

“My, my. Look at you, seducing me with your face. I almost married you.”

I giggled in the middle of them.

“I guess I’ll have no choice but to go with you and live with you for a while, then. Right?”

“Yes!”

Domestic peace was wonderful!

Mom and Dad, whatever anyone said, were a married couple who’d been apart for two whole seasons. I was secretly a very dutiful daughter, so I stepped in smartly and pulled their hands together, pressing them firmly into each other.

“Hm. But I want to hold Ruby’s hand too.”

Mom held out her other hand, and I grabbed it at once.

“Oh! Then if I stand next to Mom...”

“What, Ruby? Your mom’s back, and now you’re neglecting Dad?”

“......”

What exactly was I supposed to do about that?

“Ah!”

I caught the remaining free hands of Mom and Dad one in each of mine. Then I smiled with a businesslike expression.

“How about this configuration?”

“I see. Innovative. Clever.”

“...? Is this right?”

Round and round.

The most harmless circle in the world passed through the front gate of the ducal estate.

Mom laughed with a deeply satisfied expression as she watched Dad, embarrassed but still refusing to let go to the very end, then leaned against me.

“But Ruby.”

“Yes?”

“How many confession letters did you get at the Academy this semester?”

Gasp.

I hurriedly looked around. Dad was still trapped inside this circular arrangement, too busy being ashamed of it to notice anything else.

I leaned closer and whispered carefully to Mom.

“Fifteen...”

“My, my.”

Mom’s eyes went wide, round as moons, and without the slightest hesitation she let go of Dad’s hand.

“...What?”

The duke, suddenly bereft of his wife, looked down at his empty hand.

“I’m sleeping with Rubian tonight.”

“...What?”

“There are things like that, dear. Come on, Ruby! I bet we have an awful lot to talk about, don’t we?”

“Yes!”

The two of us linked arms and walked away.

“Ha...”

Behind us came the sound of the duke swallowing an empty breath.

“A wall I can’t overcome...?”

A somehow formidable-looking mother-daughter wall.

All right.

And just like that, he decided on the topic for the next regular gathering.

*****

The Casalia borderlands.

Booooom.

At last, the final magical beast toppled over onto its back.

At the same time, venomous ichor began spilling everywhere.

Just as Liam Zebbert had predicted.

“Oh, shit! Oh, shit!”

Allen flailed wildly, leaping around to avoid the magical-beast ichor.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey! Watch it, watch it! It’ll melt my boots, melt my—! Ah, fuck. That bastard Khalid’s the only one wearing waterproof boots.”

Step. Step.

Watching that broad back walk away in specially treated boots, Allen spat sharply to the side.

A deep, dark cave.

At last the final magical beast had fallen, and the stele they had hidden away so carefully revealed itself.

“...Goddamn it.”

It had taken a long time.

Khalid let out a long breath.

With a light flick of his sword, dark red blood sprayed everywhere. It dotted even his smooth cheekbones, but he didn’t so much as blink.

He had completely shed every trace of youth, now a man with a sharp, cold impression.

A hand with thickened knuckles raked roughly through his blue-black hair, and in the darkness of the cave, his gray-blue eyes—looking like nothing more than black pits—swept the surroundings with a hard, cutting gaze.