“Lark, your movements are getting slower!”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

Today’s training with Guldo consisted of a simulated battle using only physical combat without weapons. While Guldo had the advantage in both physique and level of physical combat, due to the significant height difference between us, I was able to slip into Guldo’s embrace easily, and surprisingly, I was able to put up a good fight.

“Hmph!”

The moment Guldo went into a kicking motion, I quickly slipped under his legs and circled around to his back, tripping his non-prosthetic leg. I managed to knock him down with a tackle to his back, which was the rule of the training that the first one to fall would lose. So this time, I won.

Guldo slowly got up and brushed the sand off his knees. “Phew, let’s call it a day for today… Lark, your level of physical combat has improved significantly in just one month.”

“Thank you very much. It’s all thanks to your guidance, Guldo-san. But I still can’t keep up with your serious training, so I have a long way to go.”

Actually, Guldo had been significantly holding back during the training session. I once saw Guldo’s full physical prowess in action, and it was so fast that I couldn’t even see his movements. In today’s training, he probably wasn’t even using one-tenth of his full strength.

As I was thinking about this, Guldo patted my head. “Nevertheless, you’re still quite amazing.”

“I’m not so sure… Oh, by the way, Guldo-san, do you have any plans for today?”

“I suddenly have some free time because my afternoon work got canceled, but why?”

“Yesterday, Ars-san asked me to take you to the castle. If you don’t have any plans, would you like to come with me to the castle?”

“Oh yeah, I remember he asked me that on my way back yesterday.” Guldo soured as I asked him. “I see, Ars talked to Master beforehand, so my work was canceled… Well, I don’t have any other plans, so it’s fine.”

Fia teleported us to the castle, bringing both Guldo and I there. After entering the castle, I headed to Lia’s room for class, while Guldo said he would go to Ars’s place, so we parted ways for the time being. When class was over and I headed to Ars’s office, where both Ars and Guldo were waiting for me. For some reason, I could see Guldo grabbing his head in his hands.

In contrast to Guldo, Ars greeted me warmly, “Lark-kun, has Lia’s class ended already?”

“Yes, I came to request magic training… If your discussion isn’t over yet, should I go to Wallis-kun’s place instead?”

Ars replied, “No, since you’re here, you might as well listen in. It’s about you, Lark-kun.”

‘I wondered what it was since it’s about me.’

When I sat down in a chair, Ars began to speak. “Should I explain from the beginning? I told you before that the spies are guarding Lark-kun, right?”

“You mean the people in those black attires?”

“Yes, those. It’s my responsibility to explain why they’re doing that, but…”

Ars began his explanation, step by step.

‘To summarize, it seems that the nobles in this country are targeting me. The reason is that, despite being an abandoned child, I have become politically valuable due to my close relationships with important people such as Guldo-san, who is the hero of the capital, and top-level magicians like Fia-san, as well as Lala-san. Furthermore, it had become known that I have recently been getting along well with members of the royal family, and there were secret plans among the nobles to kidnap me and make me their adopted child.’

Ars sighed after explaining all this. “We managed to thwart the plan using the spies, but it seems that their activities have become more active again recently. Honestly, I was discouraged to think that there were so many nobles who would target just a child like this. Rumors have even spread that Lark-kun might be the king’s secret child.”

Upon hearing those words, I couldn’t help but chuckle. I expressed my astonishment to Ars, “No, no, that’s impossible. Ars-san and I are completely different.”

” Yeah, I know that. But surprisingly, everyone believes it anyway~. It’s really rude, even though I only have eyes for Emma, I haven’t even dated any other women.”

“Is that so?”

“…Never mind about me. Anyway, I received another letter from Lark’s former family.”

“Really? Um, what was in it?”

I thought that it probably wasn’t good news based on Ars-san’s expression, but I asked anyway.

As expected, Ars-san sadly replied: “They said that their son might not be dead and that they want to meet with Lark, who is in the capital. What do you think?”

I shook my head in response to Ars’s question.

Ars slowly nodded, “They’ve probably heard the rumors and changed their mind. They must have thought to use someone with connections to the royal family. I thought about revoking their title, but…”

“…That’s probably not a good idea.”

“Hahaha, of course, I didn’t actually do it. But I’m thinking of doing something to give them a hard time~~,” Ars said with a smile, but it was eerie that only his eyes didn’t laugh.

I felt a sense of dread, so I quickly changed the subject, “Well, anyway, I understand the rumors and why I’ve been recently assigned a guard. Basically, it means that I’m being targeted by various people.”

“Yeah. So, here’s the main point. I think the problem is that Lark’s identity isn’t guaranteed, which leads to rumors flying around and the nobles attempting to kidnap and adopt you. So, why don’t Lark-kun and Guldo become family?”

“Huh?” I tilted my head in confusion at what Ars meant. “What do you mean by becoming family?”

“In other words, why don’t you become Guldo’s adopted son? If you do, no one will dare to touch you, since Guldo is a hero, after all. Oh, by the way, I told Guldo the same thing earlier. He seems to have been troubled by it for a while, though.”

“……….”

I was speechless at the unexpected turn of events. It’s not like I didn’t want to become a part of Guld’s family. In fact, I would be extremely happy if it happened. Even though we’d only been together for a little over a month, I felt like Guldo was a father figure to me.

Ars asked again, “So, how about it? Guldo, Lark-kun?”

“…… I don’t really mind,” both mine and Guldo’s voices overlapped at the same time.

Hearing those words, Ars nodded with a smile. “Yeah, it seems like both of you are okay.”

Guldo raised his face and asked with a worried expression, “Are you okay with it, Lark? Even if it’s just for the sake of duty, do you really want such a scary man to be your father?”

“If I’m scared of your face, I won’t be able to stay with you for a month! … And besides, Guldo-san, can you really adopt such a strange child like me?”

“Oh, I’ve never thought of Lark as strange. You have a good memory, eager to learn, and I think you’re an excellent child!”

“……”

As we spoke our true feelings to each other, both Guldo and I blushed and looked down.

Ars, who had been watching us from the side, opened his mouth wide, “Yeah, it’s like a parent-child quarrel, it’s great. Well then, Guldo, Lark-kun. There are various procedures to go through to become an adopted child, so it’s better to stay in the castle for a while. It’s troublesome to come to the castle every day together, isn’t it?”

“Um, but I’m staying at an inn—”

“I’ll tell you this time. Your belongings are all stored in the storage skill, so it’s okay not to go back.”

The conversation progressed smoothly.

‘By the way, how did Ars-san know about the existence of ‘Useful Box’? Did he hear about it from the spies?

Next, Ars turned to Guldo. “Guldo, I’ll inform the guild for you. You’ll be alone when you go home anyway, right? Besides, I heard you started training your body recently? Then it’s better to train with the soldiers while you’re here.”

“…… Okay, okay, stop pushing me so hard,” Guldo answered with an annoyed tone to Ars, who was strangely enthusiastic.