"Run!"
A chorus of panicked shouts erupted, and a group of children scattered like startled birds.
Among them, a boy with messy black hair was clutching his stomach, laughing like he had just conquered a kingdom.
"Ahahaha! Direct hit! Serves you right!"
Seven slowly wiped the melting snow from his eyelashes and then glanced at Iria for obvious reasons. Iria, however, simply shook her head.
But karma, as it turned out, took his side.
"Wha—?!"
Thud!
The laughing boy's foot caught on a patch of snow, landing face-first on the ground.
Iria sighed. Despite shaking her head just a moment ago, her altruistic nature as a healer kicked in.
Step, step.
Iria walked toward the children, particularly to the boy on the ground.
Seven followed behind her, still pushing the heavy cart with both hands.
Truth be told, these children— brats rather, treated Iria like a saint. Every time she visited the village, they trailed behind her like little ducklings.
Today, however, they were stealthy.
It didn't take a genius to figure out why. They were spying on the random guy that was walking beside their saint.
"Ioooori. I told you several times. You never learn, do you?"
Iria knelt in the snow and gently placed her palm over the boy's bleeding knee, as well as his forehead.
"Look at all these scars. A few more and you will look like a constellation map. Sigh. Iori, be more careful next time, got it?"
"Y-Yes, lady Iria."
Iori stammered, his cheeks flushing red.
Cracka.
A soft, warm green light emanated from Iria's palms, knitting the scraped skin back together in seconds.
What Iria didn't realize was that this brat named Iori had spent the last three months intentionally scraping his knees just to get this exact VIP treatment.
The other kids walked toward them, feeling at awe from the glowing of Iria's magic.
Rattle, rattle.
Seven parked the handcart beside and looked down at the brat named Iori, then asked in a sarcastic tone:
"Is the kid going to live?"
"What a thing to say, my fiancé. Iori will be perfectly fine. The wound will close in a minute with my healing."
Upon hearing her words, Iori's head snapped up so fast.
The other kids had the same reaction. Their wide eyes ping-ponged between Iria's beauty and Seven's deadpan look.
Noticing their reaction, Iria blinked and let out an awkward laughter.
"Oops. Were you guys really that surprised? This gentleman beside me is Seb, and you guys already know what he is to me as I have said earlier."
But Iori wasn't having it.
Iori scrambled to his feet, launching himself at Seven and grabbed the collar of his white long sleeve.
For the past year, Iori's entire personality was built on his grand declaration that he would become a knight and stand beside Iria.
Seeing this random and pale stranger steal his entire endgame objective shattered his ego. In short, Iori felt damned in every possible way.
"You bastard! How dare you—"
Seven didn't resist. For some reason, he felt amused.
'Heh. To think that I'm being aggroed by a ten year old NPC.'
Bonk!
"Ack!"
A girl with dark red braids, clearly the oldest of these little brats, hit her knuckles directly into the back of Iori's skull.
"That's enough, Iori. Have some respect for once! Lady Iria wouldn't tolerate this kind of behavior from you."
"T-that hurts, you barbarian—!"
"What?! Say that again, you knucklehead, and I'll bash that head open."
"Tch."
Iori begrudgingly released his hold on the long sleeve's collar and then pointed a dramatic finger at Seven's chest.
"Don't think this is over, mister. I'll become a knight, crush you in a duel, and stand beside lady Iria myself."
Iori shoved past the braided girl, determined to make a cool, dramatic exit.
But.
Thud!
Seven casually slid the tip of his boot an inch to the left, tripping the brat off his balance.
Thus Iori fell face-first into the snow one more time, and no one noticed the details of what happened except for both the suspect and the victim.
Too embarrassed to argue, Iori scrambled up and sprinted down the road.
Iria half-stood to chase him, but the braided girl shook her head.
"Please excuse him, lady Iria. We just wanted to see who this mister was, but Iori had to go and ruin your date."
Iria smoothed the skirt of her dress.
"It is quite alright, Mutya. Seb and I were just about to head home anyway."
Iria then gently patted the girl's head, casting a subtle barrier spell over her to shield against the cold.
Seven watched the moment.
However, he suddenly felt a chill that had nothing to do with the winter air. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
'This feels cliché, the feeling that someone is watching me with ill intent.'
It couldn't be Iori. He was already far ahead, wiping tears from his face with the back of his wrist.
The knights patrolling nearby had no reason to harbor such intent, and Heinrich wouldn't do it either.
Turning around, the door on the old man's house was also closed. To add, there was no nearby merchant on the road.
'Damn it. Where'd it come from?'
"...Seb."
Iria had been calling him repeatedly, but he hadn't heard it.
Or at least.
"Mister…"
Until a tiny tug on his fingers finally snapped him back to reality.
Seven looked down. A little girl was staring up at him, hugging a worn cotton rabbit with a half-torn ear.
"Are you okay, mister? You have spaced out a little. Lady Iria is really good at healing. Do you need her to heal your head?"
Seven crouched down to her eye level.
"Don't worry. Mister Seb just got distracted, and mister has used lots of healing too."
The little girl looked at him innocently.
Seven was now sweating bullets. Thing is, he was notoriously terrible with kids. He had only ever managed to make them cry.
The little girl introduced herself.
"My name is Sophie. I have a big brother like you, but he's always busy training with Papa up there."
Sophie pointed her tiny fingers toward the direction where the manor sat.
"Papa is a knight! Papa also has super big muscles. A-are you a knight too, mister?"
Seven looked at her bright red eyes.
"Y-yeah. I may not have big muscles, but I'm a strong knight."
"Really?!"
Sophie held Seven's hands.
"But Sophie thinks mister is lying."
Sophie puffed her cheeks and tilted her head.
"Eh?"
"Mister doesn't have that hard flaky thing on his palms like my brother and Papa do."
'Ah. Calluses…'
Before he could defend his honor, Iria stepped in.
"Sophie, come over here. It's your turn for the warmth spell."
"Okay!"
Now finished receiving the spell, the rest of the kids lined up to introduce themselves. Iria had instructed them to do so.
"Hello, mister. I'm Mutya. I truly apologize for Iori's rude behavior earlier."
Behind her, a girl that had short green hair and a wooden slingshot hanging from her belt.
"Kara. And mind you, I tried to stop Iori from throwing the snowball."
Beside the two was a chubby boy with round cheeks. His pockets were so full that small stones kept falling out when he moved.
"T-tobin here."
The three bowed politely before running off, dragging Sophie along who waved goodbye using her rabbit's paw.
Iria stretched her arms.
"Let us go home, my lord. It is getting colder, and I am afraid you might get a cold."
"...Aight. Let's go."
Iria had returned to her usual composed self as if the fiancé act had never happened.
Seven pushed the cart again, deep in thought.
Thanks to the children, he had discovered a possible way to survive his fate. He could just use the knights as protection, but becoming a knight cadet, like Sophie's brother, was a solid choice.
He could gain protection from the knights and also be able to strengthen his body at the same time.
"Heh."
A smirk tugged at his mouth.
Step, step.
He quickened his steps.
Fortunately, Heinrich took over the cart from the entrance of the village back to the manor, so Seven didn't struggle uphill, nor did he want to do that under the guise of training.
Pushing it all around the village was enough.
Walking a few paces behind him, Iria quietly watched Seven's expression.
Iria's objective for dragging him out of the manor to the village today was to give him a change of scenery and cheer him up, as the lord seemed down for the past few weeks.
Looking at the faint smirk on his face, Iria knew it was a total success.
"I will always be by your side, my lord."