Luka was terribly curious what that fun thing was. And he wanted, desperately, to do it.

“Can I do it with you, too?”

Luka, who had been quietly listening to the two of them, pressed his hands together like in prayer and asked with an earnest expression.

“Of course. We can’t do it without you. Then shall we go pick up your present?”

“Yes!”

Luka sprang to his feet the instant he answered. He couldn’t know what his Nunim’s present would be, but whatever it was, because it was from her, he would treasure it.

“You’ll absolutely love it.”

“Yes! I already love it.”

“You don’t even know what it is.”

“Because you’re giving it to me, I’ll love anything.”

Watching Luka spill pretty words every time he opened his mouth, Estella felt all the fatigue she’d been carrying melt away. For recovery from exhaustion, nothing beat looking at something cute.

I wonder what Ciel’s doing right now?

The moment the word “cute” floated up, Ciel’s face popped into her head; Estella felt both absurd and pleased. It meant there were two adorable beings close to her.

“Then rest. I hope you look a bit more human tomorrow than you do now. Let’s go, Luka.”

Just as Estella took Luka’s hand and moved to stand—

“Hold on a second. I’ve got something to show you, too.”

At Gerard’s words, Luka, as if he’d forgotten for a moment, looked at Estella and nodded hard.

“What I mentioned earlier. The thing the Magus and I made by combining our strength. Of course, I did a bit more of the heavy lifting.”

While Luka quietly advertised his own abilities, Gerard came out from the back of the lab, grunting as he lugged a large box. Estella considered helping when Gerard staggered under a single box, but decided he, too, needed to build some strength and stayed put.

Even just crossing the lab, Gerard had to set the box down twice before he finally lowered it in front of Estella.

“Feast your eyes. Our—Luka’s and my—masterwork. Though obviously I put in more effort!”

At Gerard’s words, Luka was so taken aback he couldn’t even speak. Regardless, Gerard, full of swagger, threw open the lid of the big box in front of Estella.

Inside were three round glass jars filled with dark-red sand, and a length of iron mesh bristling with thorns like a rose stem. At a glance, they seemed like ordinary items, nothing special—but Gerard and Luka wouldn’t show her something trivial.

Estella examined the powder first. Overall it had a dark red cast, but black and brown grains were mixed throughout, and each jar was a slightly different shade.

“Is this… made from obsidian?”

Peering closely at the powder, Estella asked, hopeful.

After Estella defeated Zuhara on the Black Glass Plain, construction was in full swing on a main road linking Wintfall to Dunnwon for smooth obsidian supply. This was a true civil works project, laying stone and digging drainage, to replace the old narrow, rugged cart path.

Not only Wintfall’s residents but also the strapping men of Dunnwon had joined the work. Stonemasons, carpenters, carters— even farmers with time during the slack season—combined efforts to carry stone and tamp earth. Above all, because the marquisate paid generous daily wages, the site felt less like forced labor and more like a festival.

For residents long dragged off by the Empire’s coercive levies to grueling work without pay, fair wages were themselves a great comfort and hope. Thanks to this, House Wintfall’s prestige rose by the day.

All of this proceeded under the marquis’s command. He had stepped in first to lay the groundwork so Estella’s plans could be executed without a hitch.

Before long, once the road from Wintfall to Dunnwon was complete, wagons and carriages could travel far faster and more safely. Not only obsidian supply but exchange and commerce between villages would flourish, and this land would enjoy prosperity incomparable to the past.

Because Estella had recognized, like a ghost, the effort poured into the work, Gerard’s mouth tugged into a satisfied smile, proud and grateful.

“Right. We mixed obsidian with Nevrion mana stone powder, black sand from Dunnwon, and oak sawdust in fixed ratios. We burned many a midnight looking for the best combination. There are three types—so you just have to pick.”

“So what is it? What do you use it for?”

Even as she asked, Estella felt she knew the answer.

“It’s a wall-defense coating powder. Mix it with the right amount of water and apply it to the ramparts, and something amazing happens.”

Gerard, clearly pleased with himself, lifted his chin and closed his eyes as if reminiscing about the past days.

She’d told them to build defensive walls—and they’d made something this spectacular!

Estella was excited already, even before hearing the explanation.

“Explain. Quickly!”

Seeing Estella’s eyes go wide with excitement, Gerard felt very pleased. He dragged it out to savor the feeling a bit longer, but Luka, who had been watching, slipped in and snatched away Gerard’s moment of joy. He, too, wanted Estella’s recognition more than anyone.

“Nunim, there are three kinds of coating. All three contain the same obsidian powder, but the ratios of Nevrion mana stone powder, black sand, and oak sawdust are slightly different. This one, the darkest, is the most stable, so we named it the ‘standard defensive coat.’ Its balance of durability and shock dispersion is the most stable, and it lasts the longest.”

Gerard, who had been biding his time, pounced to take the second explanation.

“And the second is the reinforced type, with more Nevrion powder than the first. The wall hardens like metal. But if you use this, its shock-reflection can be a bit weaker.”

Luka, waiting for an opening, cut in the instant Gerard finished describing the second powder.

“The third specializes in shock reflection—the reflective type. Of the three, it contains the most black sand. It absorbs impact and sends it back as a powerful wave. But it’s less durable, so it has the shortest lifespan.”

At the alternating, competitive explanations from the two, Estella was left gaping. She’d known the two were always glued together and plotting something, but to think they’d made something this impressive.

And that wasn’t the end of the surprises.

“That wire mesh was the little one’s idea.”

“What kind of wire mesh?”

“A wire mesh made of Nevrion steel infused with Flame Stone.”

Wearing a proud smile, Luka carefully lifted from the box a coil of mesh tightly wound like a vine. At a glance it looked ordinary, but as it slipped from his fingers, a weighty metallic sheen flashed.

Luka tied one end of the mesh firmly to a table leg and hauled on the other. A metal vine shot out across the middle of the sitting room, blocking it like a curtain. It was just high enough that Luka could hop over it if he wanted.

“Watch closely what your frighteningly smart little brother made.”

Leaning against one wall, Gerard watched with avid interest.

When the time came to show his creation before his Nunim, Luka was suddenly nervous; he inhaled and exhaled deeply. He’d run it countless times, but he couldn’t help worrying about failure.

“I’m starting!”

Luka spoke to Estella in a tense voice, then took a small flint from his pocket. Looking closely, one side had been backed with Plareon.

Before Estella could even worry, “Isn’t that dangerous?”, Luka struck—tak!—and sparked a flame. Instantly, at the tip of a finger-length stick, tiny fireworks-like sparks burst up. It looked small, but its power was fierce enough to burn down a whole house.

Fssssssss!

As blue and red light mixed and flared ceaselessly, Luka, gripping the blazing stick, carefully approached the coil of mesh.

He lightly touched the flaming stick to one side of the mesh.

Crackle-crackle-crackle!

In a flash, the entire mesh flickered, spitting tiny sparks like a string of fairy lights, then fell still. To the eye, it looked no different from before.

But a moment later, when Luka crumpled a piece of paper into a ball and tossed it at the mesh—

Tachak! Pababak!

The paper ball ignited the instant it touched and whooshed up in flames in a heartbeat.

“This is the flame barbed wire I made.”

As Luka announced proudly, Estella—mouth hanging open—felt her pupils tremble in confusion.

In a world without electricity, he’d made this? And he was only ten?

“Luka! You’re an incredible genius! Do you know what you’ve just made?”

“As I said earlier, flame barbed—”

Before Luka could finish, Estella swept him into a hug. Then she sprang to her feet and, unable to contain her joy, began to spin in circles. She couldn’t lift him high to the sky like before, but it was still more than enough to whirl him around while holding him tight.

“Nunim, I’m too big for thaaaat— kyaaaaaaa~!”

Speaking quite seriously a moment before, Luka now shrieked happily in Estella’s arms.

He liked growing taller every day, but it made him very sad that there wouldn’t be many more days for his Nunim to do this for him.

After spinning round and round in giddy delight, Luka was set down only when Estella got too dizzy to keep turning.

Watching the siblings laugh themselves breathless, Gerard’s face, too, had filled with a bright smile before he knew it. As if he’d never belatedly noticed his own heart and hurt for it, as if he’d never once harbored any other feeling.

When Estella returned to the room with Luka, she remembered the small request she’d made of Claire before leaving for the capital to save Ciel. She had asked her to make a big teddy bear Luka could hug at night. Even for the ever-mature Luka, she wanted to give him a precious memory of childhood.

“Will the young master really like a doll?”

Luka lived with his nose in books and was more adult than anyone. To Ria, he seemed the type who’d prefer receiving a book to a doll.

“No one dislikes a teddy bear. Not even adults.”

Estella spoke with conviction, but Ria—who’d not owned a single doll once in her life—couldn’t fully understand her words.

Not until today, when she saw Luka, eyes wide, cradling a bear as tall as himself that he’d just received from Estella.

“What… is this, Nunim?”

Luka, too, had never been given a doll by anyone. He thought dolls were for girls, or for babies.

But once he was hugging a big bear that took both arms to hold, an indescribable satisfaction washed over him. Soft and snug, warm and squishy—he just wanted to keep holding it.

“A teddy bear. Hug it when you sleep.”

“But… I’m ten.”

“So what? You can hug a teddy bear when you’re ten—or even twenty. Especially a big one like this.”

“Then do you sleep hugging a bear, too, Nunim?”

“Of course. Want to see mine?”

Luka nodded quickly. If his wonderful Nunim slept hugging a bear, then he could very well sleep hugging his. A moment later, when he saw on Estella’s bed a teddy bear the same shape and size as the one in his arms, a beaming smile spread across his face.

Seeing it, Estella pinched his soft cheek lightly and said,

“I even gave mine a name.”

“A name? But a doll isn’t a living thing.”

“But the moment you give it a name, it becomes something very precious and special.”

“May I name mine?”

“Of course.”

“What’s your teddy bear’s name, Nunim?”

Expectation filled Luka’s face as he asked.

“Teddy.”

“…Pardon?”

“When it comes to names, easy to call is best.”

Estella winked a smile at Luka, who was staring at her with a blank face.

Chapter 178

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