As I tilted my head in curiosity, I heard voices coming from the ghosts.

<Wow, it’s intense today too.>

The old beggar, as always, clutched an empty liquor bottle.

<Where I come from, it wasn’t common to see people pushed to such extremes. To do that every day and still be alive, they’re all monsters, real monsters.>

A short-haired girl in a long robe reminiscent of a priest’s attire remarked.

<Crazy fools, maybe they’ll come to their senses if I play a violin with their strained tendons…>

Lastly, a man as skinny as a stick, with dark shadows under his eyes, spoke.

Aside from those three and a few other ghosts, most of them looked like they were turned upside down with swollen pockets.

These seemed to be particularly weak entities, even among ghosts, lacking the strength to maintain a human form.

Then, as I caught sight of the scene through their translucent bodies, I was left speechless.

“Huh.”

“Huh.”

“Ugh.”

In the middle of an outdoor training ground made of ochre sand, there stood a tower of humans, as if a house of cards had been built.

And at the top of the tower, like an arrogant tyrant, sat a person.

That person was none other than Valerian Everdeen.

‘What on earth is that…?’

With his silver-rimmed glasses and gloves off, wearing an unbuttoned white shirt and pants, he looked completely different from the man I had seen in the morning.

Duke Valerian Everdeen, with a face colder than ice, spoke in a voice I had never heard before.

“Mikhail Surton.”

A man standing with his hands behind his back to the Duke’s lower left replied with a flushed face.

“Yes, my lord!”

“Redin Arvolt.”

“Yes, my lord!”

This time, a man standing to the Duke’s lower right responded.

Sitting on the shoulders of these two men, the Duke asked in a stern voice.

“Was yesterday’s training not enough?”

“No, no, it wasn’t!”

“Then how is it that not only the members but even the captain and vice-captain can’t withstand three sword strikes? It’s not a lack of ability, so is it a lack of brains? How many times have I told you not to neglect training just because you’re in seclusion?”

“We’ll correct it, sir!”

The captain and vice-captain, filled with frustration, shouted in agony.

I snapped back to reality at the sound, having been lost in thought, and looked down at the base of the human tower in surprise.

What on earth was that?

“Ugh.”

Right in front of the human tower, a large number of knights lay on the training ground, forming a circle as if playing a tail-chasing game.

Each had their feet resting on the shoulders of the person behind them, with their fingers on the ground.

Their faces were so red they looked almost purple, and they trembled, supporting themselves with just two fingers.

‘Are they even human…?’

Regardless, the Duke’s face remained icy and unyielding despite the groans echoing around him.

“Do you resent me, Captain?”

“Yes, I do!”

The man named Mikhail Surton rolled his eyes and glared at the Duke perched on his shoulder.

At that sincere outburst, the Duke smirked, lifting one corner of his mouth.

“Then I’ll take you on after training. Resume training. On one, we’re ‘we,’ on two, we’re ‘blockheads.’ One.”

“We’re!”

“Two.”

“Blockheads!”

“If you don’t do it right, I’ll add five more. Again, one.”

“We’re!”

I watched in a daze as the numerous knights bent and straightened their arms and knees in sync with Valerian’s commands, and unconsciously, I lost my grip on what I was holding.

Thud.

<Ah, it’s dirty now.>

Since Rick resembled a ball of cotton with no sense of touch, he merely grumbled about the dirt getting on his ribbon after rolling on the ground.

However, I was so absorbed in the scene before me that I didn’t hear him.

At that moment, the man called Redin Arvolt seemed to notice the noise when Rick fell and turned his head to look in our direction.

When our eyes met, his eyes widened and made a strange sound as he straightened his knees.

“Whoa, what’s this kid doing here?”

“Kid?”

The Duke frowned as if questioning the noise and lifted his head.

Immediately, when our eyes met, he flinched in surprise and slightly parted his lips.

“……Terry?”

Hearing that voice, the captain looked up curiously.

“Pardon? Who…… Oh no!”

Crash!

In the next moment, the Duke leaped down from the top of the tower made of knights.

The impact caused the knights, who had been precariously maintaining their positions, to collapse to the ground, each letting out a short groan.

Oh my, they’re falling!

I was so startled by the Duke jumping from such a great height that I covered my eyes with both hands.

However, the expected thud or groan didn’t come. Instead, my feet left the ground.

Wait, hold on. Am I off the ground?

“Huh?”

Startled, I removed my hands from my eyes.

And there he was, the Duke, holding me in his arms, looking at my face with concern.

“Why are you here… More importantly, I don’t have a pen right now.”

The Duke murmured lowly, looking a bit troubled, and furrowed his brow slightly.

I always thought he had a serene face, but when he furrowed his brow like earlier, his expression turned frighteningly stern.

While I was still trying to adjust to the difference, the knights, who were rolling on the ground with somewhat dazed faces, suddenly erupted in a commotion.

“Th-that, that, that!”

“Th-there, there, there……!”

What are they saying?

The knights, with their mouths agape, pointed this way and stammered.

The Duke, turning his body toward the commotion, immediately sharpened his gaze.

“Where do you think you’re pointing? Are you out of your mind?”

“S-sorry, sir!”

At his words, the knights hurriedly clenched their fingers into fists and scrambled to their feet.

Then, with a small sigh, the Duke glanced at me and nodded toward the captain.

“I should probably head inside first, so you finish the rest of the training. I’ll be out tomorrow to check, so don’t slack off.”

“Pardon? Oh, no, yes!”

The captain, who had shown a moment of confusion, quickly changed his attitude and nodded vigorously. His head moved so energetically that his hair was visibly rising and falling in the air.

Leaving those words, the Duke turned as if to return to the mansion.

Oh no. I waved my hands frantically over the Duke’s shoulder.

“Wait a minute! The teddy bear over there……!”

“Hmm?”

He stopped moving immediately and walked over to where I had been standing earlier.

Then, stopping his steps, the Duke placed me on one arm—how is this even possible?—and picked up Rick with the other hand.

I reached out, indicating I wanted Rick back. However, he stared intently at the teddy bear in his hand with a curious expression.

“It feels… strange.”

Startled by his muttering, which was almost like talking to himself, I shivered slightly.

W-what? Can you sense things like this if you’re good with swords?

“Oh.”

Thankfully, or perhaps because of my shivering, the Duke seemed to come to his senses and promptly returned Rick to me.

I hugged Rick tightly, pretending he was just an ordinary teddy bear, and smiled brightly, hoping the Duke wouldn’t notice anything unusual about Rick.

* * *

As soon as the Duke returned to the mansion, he headed straight to his office with me in his arms.

He set me down on the sofa, fetched a pen and paper from his desk, and knelt on one knee in front of me.

Placing the paper on his thigh, he quickly scribbled something down.

“I should have told you not to go near the training grounds because it’s not a pleasant sight. I’m sorry. That was my mistake.”

His first words, written swiftly, were an apology.

‘Huh?’

Why is he apologizing? What does he mean by “not a pleasant sight”?

Tilting my head and blinking in confusion, I soon realized the reason.

‘Oh, because I can’t see the knights?’

Contrary to the Duke’s misunderstanding, I could see the knights clearly, even if they appeared ghostly and slightly translucent.

However, since it might help me get expelled from the Duke’s house, there was no need to correct his misunderstanding. So, I just shook my head while hugging Rick.

The Duke swallowed quietly and asked, “By the way, what were you doing there? It’s a bit far from the mansion.”