Waking from sleep, Adele frowned at the strange content of the dream. Why had that time suddenly appeared in a dream?

It was just as inexplicable as suddenly regressing after realizing she was a character inside a story.

“What a ridiculous dream.”

Adele reached that conclusion and shook her head vigorously.

What good was dreaming something like that anyway.

It had only served to remind her once again that King Rohide was a worthless fellow and that Queen Layla had her head in the clouds.

What would those love-crazed fools be doing right about now.

If Vincent Rogato was seven years old, the two of them would be around the same age. She recalled that Layla had been two years younger than Vincent.

They were still young, but the king and queen would have long since begun building their bond. The betrothal between Rohide and Layla had been a sacred covenant decided before the two were even born.

Because of that, when a daughter was born to the count’s family, the entire kingdom had been in a festive mood.

Adele had no memory of having personally experienced any of this, yet strangely, the information was there in her head.

It seemed to be that way because it was the backbone that formed the central pillar of the story.

Then was it only natural that Vincent would come to like Layla?

That was something that could only be known once time passed, Vincent came of age, and entered the academy.

“Now that that ridiculous dream is behind me, I’d better head to the training ground.”

Adele rose from her spot. A week had already passed since training had begun. In that time, Vincent had put on a little weight. His posture had improved too, and he seemed to stand taller.

Adele sniffed the air and found that the sorcerer had just finished preparing a meal.

She grabbed her honestly rumbling stomach and headed to the kitchen, where, as expected, the table was covered with delicious food.

Without so much as a word of thanks, Adele sat down and began eating ravenously the moment she was in her chair. She had no particular desire to show courtesy to an enemy’s right-hand man.

Regrettably, Adele could no longer earn money by demolishing walls. No matter how she thought about it, it seemed they had decided it was not right to put a small child to work after all.

With her source of income cut off, she needed a guardian. So eating like this was nothing more than a temporary ceasefire. Adele thought so to herself.

But today was strange. The sorcerer had not gone off to work and was sitting across from Adele, watching her eat. Had the sorcerer been let go as well, perhaps.

Unable to bear the stare any longer, Adele spoke.

“My fist is not merciful.”

“Hm?”

“Especially toward perverts.”

At her added remark, the sorcerer’s eyes went wide, and a moment later he burst out laughing.

Perhaps it was absurd to be threatened by a child of barely six years old. Yet for all that, he seemed to find it quite amusing.

Adele looked at the strange man and shook her head, thinking he really must be a pervert after all. She also felt that there was no way a sane person could understand a madman.

“You really are something else.”

“So are you.”

At Adele’s blunt retort, the man laughed once more and said.

“I’ve never come across a soul like yours in all my life.”

“And just how long have you lived?”

He looked plainly to be in his early twenties, and yet he was saying such old-man things. On top of that, his manner of speaking did not carry any particular sense of age or experience.

“But…… a soul?”

The sorcerer nodded.

“I’m in the middle of researching the world. Observing people, observing nature. There are no limits to what I study.”

The smiling, grinning voice was quite irritating.

“Are you saying I’m one of your research subjects?”

Being told such a thing by someone who genuinely looked like a research subject himself was not a particularly pleasant feeling.

Still, Adele exercised patience and waited for him to continue. The fact that she still had not given him a good scolding made her feel a certain admiration for her own growth in maturity.

“Whether it’s a person, an animal, or a plant. Every living thing has a vessel for its soul. And the size of that vessel is more or less similar across the board.”

“And?”

“But the size of your soul’s vessel is impossible to gauge. It’s more accurate to say it doesn’t appear properly.”

“I am a bit special.”

The one who had turned a kingdom into an empire. That was Adele. Forgetting that she had been annoyed, she twitched the corner of her mouth as she ate, pleased at being told her vessel was large.

The sorcerer rested his chin in his hand and murmured as he watched her.

“It’s also difficult to think of you as a person of this world.”

“I didn’t catch that.”

“Then it’s fine that you didn’t.”

How anticlimactic. Had he been sitting there all this time just to say something about her vessel being large?

She was curious what kind of reaction he would have if he found out that this place was not true reality but a world inside a story.

If he learned the truth of this world, would the sorcerer come to realize that things like souls were all pointless?

In the meantime, Adele finished her meal. Her stomach was full, so it was time to go look after her subordinate.

She had also picked up a suitably wooden rod in front of the house. She intended to give it to Vincent for training. Now that she had put together a physical conditioning routine, it was time to build up calluses on his hands.

As Adele rose from her chair, the sorcerer rose from his at the same time.

Adele gave him a strange look and headed for the door. The sorcerer followed after her in exactly the same way.

Adele’s eyebrow twitched. The moment she stepped outside the door, she put force into her legs and kicked off the ground.

Dashing across the alleyway at high speed, Adele glanced back. The sorcerer was following along using magic.

“Are you a stalker?”

“I thought I’d do some proper observation starting now.”

Adele ran even faster with a thoroughly fed-up expression.

With the speed of the two of them, a sudden gust of wind swept through the alleyway first thing in the morning.

Whatever might be wrong with his head, the sorcerer was undeniably skilled. There had not been many people in her life who could keep up with her speed. If she had to name one, perhaps Vincent at his peak.

Adele smiled, thinking it had been a while since she had run so freely.

The sorcerer’s expression, on the other hand, was peculiar. His face was full of questions about the running ability of a mere six-year-old.

“What on earth is she?”

He said that, then trembled all over and collapsed onto the ground with a thud. He had consumed too much magical energy first thing in the morning. Where he fell, there was a pair of feet.

“Who is this?”

It was Vincent’s feet.

Adele looked at the sorcerer lying on the ground catching his breath, let out a sigh, and said.

“A strange per……”

But then again, he was currently responsible for her lodging and meals. Was calling him a pervert going too far? He had not yet done anything wrong.

Adele immediately corrected herself.

“……Somewhat pervert-ish, not quite a pervert, pervert-like housemate.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Was that not just calling him a pervert? Vincent’s expression soured. He looked as though he was trying to work out exactly what Adele meant.

Seeing that Vincent was not catching on quickly, Adele added.

“You have people at your house who prepare meals and clean for you, don’t you.”

“Oh, servants.”

“Something like that. Probably.”

While the children chatted away, the sorcerer seemed to have recovered his energy and staggered to his feet.

During the war he had used a great deal of magic without running out of magical energy, but it seemed he was still in the middle of training right now. Surely he could not have ended up like that just from running fast.

Vincent also looked at him with disdain and said.

“This servant is completely useless.”

Adele nodded in strong agreement. However, at the words that followed, she shook her head.

“Hey, you there, servant. We’re about to train, so go fetch some water. And bring some snacks for when we get hungry.”

Where exactly had this child gone wrong?

Before practicing finding a healthy mind through physical conditioning, it seemed a lesson in manners was far more urgently needed.

Adele raised her fingers and prodded Vincent’s arms and neck in turn.

“Ow!”

Vincent’s arms naturally moved toward his navel, bringing his hands together in a demure posture. His neck also dipped slightly.

“When asking something of an adult, do it politely.”

“P, politely? To a servant?”

The Kingdom of Pilonia was a country where the class system was ingrained to the very bone. Vincent looked at Adele with an expression that said he could not understand. There was no way to explain to such a child the subtle and complicated relationship between social standing and age.

Adele herself only knew that one should simply be polite to adults.

In the end, she chose to gloss over it again.

“……Because they’re someone your superior employs, so show them courtesy.”

“Superior?”