On a vast grassland, there was a campsite consisting of tens of tents, and at the center stood a sole tall tree. It was the landmark of said grassland.
Within the campsite, there were blokes in light or heavy armors. Most of those in light armor were undergoing cardio or strengthening training, and a mere few of those in heavy armor were doing the same. Apparently, all of them would eventually need to train in the heavy armor at the end of the day.
Those bunch of industrious individuals were the Second Order of the Royal Knights.
On the contrary, in the vicinity of the campsite, there were five people frolicking around. To be precise, they were one small girl with two young boys and young girls each. One of the boys was young only on the surface, however. There were also two blokes on heavy armor watching over them.
Although they were supposed to be playing, one of the girls, Zanphia didn't seem to be in the mood for it. The same could be said for one of the boys, Jogrin, but he just seemed uninterested in everything to begin with.
"Let's race!!"
The one who was overzealous was none other than Suzannia, the youngest of the group. She was holding Zanphia's hand and gave it a little tug to signal to Zanphia that she was going to be up for a race. Nonetheless, Zanphia wasn't too responsive to Suzannia. Instead, she kept stealing glances at Jogrin, ever since he revealed the fact that he was 597 years old.
Speaking of Jogrin... the other girl, Garty, was also staring at him, but since she still didn't know about his actual age yet, it was for a totally different reason. And that reason was obvious. She ignored Suzannia and walked towards Jogrin, her brows furrowed.
"Jogrin..." She called out to him, her voice rather soft.
Jogrin sensed her getting close thanks to "emotional perception," but even without it, he knew why he was called.
"Yes?" Still, he pretended not to know.
"Leaving the fact that you still have your military uniform on aside... what's up with that huge backpack? Is it... the same from last time...?"
"Yeah."
"W-why?"
"There's something important in the bag that I don't want others the get their hands on."
He wasn't lying.
"Oh... Is that so?" Garty only became more flummoxed and dubious.
"Hey!! Stop ignoring me and let's race!!" Suzannia ran over and wrap her arms around Jogrin's. This time she remembered to go for his left arm, fortunately.
"This is why you need to pay attention, Suzannia."
"Hmm?"
"Well, I guess all that information would be too much for you, so I can't blame you. Anyway, I'm incapable of running. I'll just collapse in just three seconds."
"Three seconds? Why?"
"To put it simply, my body is too weak for it."
"But I want to race with you!"
It was normal for children to lack empathy since it needed time to develop as they grew up. That was why children tended to speak insensitively about what was on their mind. Suzannia was no exception to this phenomenon.
"Suzannia, you need to be more considerate toward Jogrin." Zenover came over and tried to frag Suzannia away, but it only resulted in her throwing a tantrum.
"... Well, I'll do the race, and you'll see that I'll actually collapse three seconds after I start running." Jogrin thought it'd be best to demonstrate to her.
The race between Jogrin and Suzannia began shortly, and the result was as he described. With Captain Ryov's help, Jogrin got back up. Of course, Captain Ryov knew to avoid touching his right arm.
Suzannia was sulking, but there was no helping it. Now that she knew Jogrin's running ability, she could only accept it, no matter how unhappy it made her.
Throughout the entire process, Jogrin continued to received glances from Zanphia. When she noticed Jogrin looking back at her, she averted her gaze. It wasn't because she was shy, but rather she was uncertain. That was what Jogrin perceived, as for what she was uncertain of, only she would know.
Playtime with Suzannia continued as she pulled Zanphia along on her whims. As anticipated, getting her mental state to improve would take longer than this. As for Jogrin, he mostly watched the other four while standing next to Captain Ryov and the other Knight.
Time flew by fast, as Naytia brought them lunch made by her. It was a few dozens of sandwiches with different types of ingredients. They were put in boxes according to the ingredients used. There was something else brought here too.
"Whew, you guys sure know how to have fun!" Proxer, who was beside Naytia, came forward with a large mat in his hands. "I was doing some training with the Knights, then Naytia came by while you were playing and told me you'll be having a picnic!"
"A picnic?! Yay!!!" The first to respond was Suzannia, and she seemed to really like this idea.
"Yup! A surprise picnic for everyone! That includes you too, Captain Ryov and... THE KNIGHTS AS WELL!!!" Proxer yelled at the top of his lungs so that the Knights in the campsite, which was some distance away, could hear him.
...
"Thank you for your efforts, Naytia, but please inform me beforehand next time, so that I can lend you a hand."
It turned out that there were more than just one mat brought to here by Proxer. He and many Knights laid them out and it was barely enough for them sit sit on. Among the Knights, the Grand Commander, Kapel, joined picnic, as Naytia was the one who dragged him here.
Everyone chatted giddily as they put the sandwiches in their mouths. The exceptions to that were Zanphia and Jogrin, since the former was still in a bad mood, while the latter didn't need to eat, nor did he feel like chatting.
The two of them were coincidentally seated next to each other. With much agitation, she ingested the sandwich in her hands as she kept glancing at Jogrin. Though he knew that Zanphia wanted to talk to him about something but didn't know how to initiate the conversation, he was starting to get annoyed by the incessant glances.
Hence, he stood up, which caught the attention of many others, but Jogrin didn't pay them any mind, as he gazed at Zanphia.
"Zanphia. Got time to talk?" Without seconds thoughts, he called out to Zanphia and asked.
"Huh...?"
Jogrin felt a glare from Kapel, but he only shrugged in response, and focused his eyes on Zanphia. Next, he also looked at Zenover and Garty, and gestured them to come along with his head. After hesitating and looking at each other for a while, they stood up and walked close to Jogrin.
"Zanphia. This is your chance to speak your mind." Jogrin spoke to her in a flat tone.
Zanphia slowly got up and nodded once meekly. As they were about to start heading for the house, Kapel came and thwarted them.
"Jogrin. What is the meaning of this?"
"You know what I'm doing. You can come along too if you want. Well, I need to be under supervision anyway."
"You had better not go overboard."
"Sure."
With that, the five of them headed for the Maladin household.
"I want to go with them too!"
"Oh? That means I can have Suzannia's sandwiches!!"
"Ah!!! No! Mama you meanie!!" Suzannia grabbed as many sandwiches as she could and turned her back toward Naytia.
"I hope they can help Zanphia with the situation with the girls that Jogrin talked about..."
"They've got Father and Jogrin on board. I'm sure it'll go well... As much as I hate admit it, I feel like Jogrin will be better at this than both of us, and there's nothing much we can do..."
"Funny, I've got the same feeling too. But we can't let them beat us just because they're smarter, right?"
"You're right. We need to help in our own way too."