"97…"
Beads of sweat fell to the ground
"98…"
Heavy breathing echoed through the room
"100…!"
And above it all—
"…! Cheater"
Thud of slaps
"Ack! Luna, you could go easy on your big brother"
Lev collapsed onto the floor, his body covered in sweat, while Luna sat on his back.
"She's right, Lev. If you want to train, make sure you count properly."
"Et tu, Old Man?"
Sitting on the wooden floorboards of the porch, Igor, Lev and Luna's father, was calmly reading his newspaper.
"Hahaha, you should be happy. You're already in great shape! You're going to be an excellent knight."
Luna jumped off Lev's back, he then stood up and wiped his face with a towel the girl had brought him.
"...What?"
However, as soon as his father's words reached his ears, the boy looked at him with a confused expression.
"...Huh? Isn't that why you train so hard?"
In response, the man also looked at his son with an even more confused expression.
The two stared at each other in silence for a few seconds.
"THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DOING THIS, YOU IDIOT?!"
"GET OFF ME, OLD MAN!"
Igor even jumped on top of Lev and tried to put him in an armbar, but— crack!
"Ah" / "Huh?"
The sound of something being dislocated echoed loudly.
"… i'll go get mom."
And, before what was about to happen, Luna ran off with her hands covering her ears.
"MYBACK!"
"STOP SCREAMING, OLD MAN!"
Soon Luna returned with Igraine, the matriarch of the Cinderbane family.
"You… IDIOTS!"
A day at the Cinderbane house without a slap being handed out to both father and son is not a normal day.
"What a drag…"
After his mother had lectured him and his father, Lev had gone out to run some errands around town.
"Huh? Oh! Good morning, Lev! Would you like some fish today?"
"Not today! Thanks, Uncle!"
On his way to the main street, the boy greeted the fishermen along the way.
"little Lev~"
A voice interrupted him, and when he turned to see who had called him
"Good morning, Mrs. Maria."
"Good morning, young man."
An old lady, barely half his height, greeted him with a smile and gestured for him to come closer.
As soon as he did, she gave the boy a firm pinch on the cheek and handed him a bag.
"Here, take this to your mom, okay? These are some cookies I made with my granddaughter."
"Sure, I'll give them to her."
Waving goodbye to the old lady, he went on his way.
"FISH! EXOTIC FISH FROM BLEUHAVEN!"
The main street of the Coastal Duchy of Bleuhaven, a place where various vendors set up stalls and trade in the open air.
"IMPORTED FABRICS FROM THE ROSSA PENINSULA!"
Because of its connection to the open sea, it wasn't uncommon for people from all over to come here to shop.
"Let's see… vegetables, fruits, meat, batteries—"
"L-E-V!"
"WOW!"
While the young man was distracted checking his shopping list, a figure jumped on his back with all his might.
"How are you, man? You didn't text yesterday; we were really worried about you!"
"cof cof… I'm fine, Alphonse. I'd be even better if you got off my back."
"Whoops, sorry about that."
The red-haired boy climbed off Lev's back; as he stood up, Alphonse pulled his phone out of his pocket and started typing on it.
"I'm calling the crew over here."
"... For what?"
The boy stared at his friend with a sour, already exhausted expression.
"... Spontaneous outing?"
To which he only responded with a simple tee-hee, sticking his tongue out.
"... Sighs… okay, but you guys are going to help me with the errands, got it?"
"No problem!"
The two walked over to the fountain in the middle of the street and sat on the concrete benches while they waited for the rest of their friends.
"So, what happened yesterday, Lev?"
Alphonse pulled a pack of gum out of his pocket, popped a piece into his mouth, and handed the pack to Lev.
"Nothing, it was my day to gather firewood, that's all."
Lev took a piece of gum and popped it into his mouth.
"Oh, I get it, I get it."
Alphonse and Lev, just like the rest of their friends, are childhood friends— kids who've always been as close as magnets.
"I was worried you'd gone into a trance during your training again, haha."
Alphonse, in particular, was the son of the fisherman Lev had greeted earlier.
"But hey, did you hear?"
"About what?"
"New knights have arrived in our region! Apparently, there's a growing spike in demonic miasma around here; several hotspots!"
Alphonse spoke excitedly, while Lev just listened, staring up at the sky.
"Man, from what I've heard, they're pretty high up in the overall rankings… I think they're in the top 100!"
"Eh~ that's cool?"
"You're 1000% not giving a damn, are you?"
"Not even a little"
Lev looked at Alphonse with a proud smile and gave him a thumbs-up
"Man, what kind of knight-in-training are you? You should be excited about this."
"But I'm not a knight-in-training, I told you before"
"And I still think that's crazy… you should be! Like, 1000%!"
As the boy began cleaning his ear with his pinky finger, Alphonse stood up abruptly, striking a dramatic pose.
"Think of the fame! The money! The hot girls! And me! As your #1 best friend! I'd share them all with you!"
Lev let out a sigh, but as soon as something caught the corner of his eye, a slight smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Ah!What if you got twins? Then we could even become family— GWAK?!"
A few minutes into his daydream, however, Alphonse was soon roused by a kick to his back that sent him tumbling into the fountain.
"Honestly… it's way too early for your racket, Al!"
The boy couldn't even respond; only air bubbles rose and burst from inside the fountain.
"Hahaha, thanks, Julie, you saved me from utter boredom."
"You should stop him yourself when this happens, you know?"
Lev thanked the green-haired girl in front of him, who in response crossed her arms and let out a heavy sigh.
"You know how it is, interacting with idiots can be contagious, I don't want to risk it ~"
"Said the sword idiot"
And from behind her, a head popped out with a smug smile.
"Oh, calm down, Maxwell. Sword idiot is… huh…"
As he watched the boy step out from behind Julie, Lev brought his hand to his chin while trying to think of a response.
"... I hate how I can't argue with that."
"It's reality, after all~ Anyway, good morning, everyone."
The boy with purple hair let out a yawn as he gave his general greetings to his friends.
At the same time, Alphonse leaped out of the fountain with a splash.
"WAAAH! Phew, that was close… Hey, Julie! Maxwell!"
"Sighs… good morning, boys."
Julie rubbed her forehead lightly amidst another sigh, but soon let a welcoming smile appear on her face.
"Now that the gang's all here… off to the arcade! Follow me, everyone— Ouch!"
Alphonse, who was about to take his first step, suddenly had his shirt collar yanked by Lev.
"Hold on a sec."
"What's up, Lev?"
Maxwell looked on curiously.
"Weren't we going to the arcade?"
"I even brought that coin with the string tied to it so we wouldn't waste money on those ridiculously expensive tokens there."
And Julie seemed confused by the boy's reaction as well.
"... Al? What did you tell them in the message?"
"... That we were going to the arcade to go wild?"
Seeing the two of them react, Julie and Maxwell exchanged glances and then looked at Al with an expression that said, "What did you do?"
A few moments later…
"So, yeah. Today I'm running errands for my parents, and Al decided to tag along and brought you guys along for the ride."
Lev opened a can of soda as he explained the situation.
"I should have guessed there was something missing from Al's message…"
Maxwell opened a bottle of grape juice concentrate.
"Well, I don't mind lending a hand. I don't have any plans for today."
And Julie just drank a bottle of sparkling water.
"Thanks, you guys are the real deal."
"Huh… guys? There's no money left for mine."
While the three exchanged warm words, Alphonse was on his knees on the floor with his wallet in his hands, completely empty.
"Punishment for telling half-truths."
"You've owed me that juice for months."
"I was just really thirsty…"
And the three took a sip of their respective drinks.
"Damn, okay, I deserve it…"
Lev let out a sigh, dropped a coin into the vending machine, and grabbed a soda for Alphonse too.
"This goes toward your debt to me, got it?"
"Leeeev! I'll follow you forever, my buddy!"
Alphonse jumped onto the boy's legs to hug them, while Maxwell and Julie laughed.
The mood of the group was lively as always, however…
"Excuse me! Could I borrow your friend for a moment?!"
A figure with a huge smile appeared before them, pointing directly at Lev.
(guess I won't be finishing these errands today huh…)