“Kids? Why did you come here?”
“You guys… huk, you can’t just go ahead like that…”
The one who appeared following behind was Jerian. He had beads of sweat forming on his forehead from working hard to follow the children who had gone ahead.
“Teacher is too weak.”
“You can’t say such things to your teacher. Ah, Naro-ssi. Good morning.”
“Good morning, teacher.”
Naro greeted Jerian for the time being, not knowing what was going on.
“You must be surprised that we suddenly came, right? I’m sorry. Actually, today we have a picnic scheduled to go to the back mountain with the children, and the kids insisted they wanted to go with Ray-ssi.”
“With Ray?”
“Where’s the tall hyung? Let’s go play with us!”
“The piggyback ride he gave us then was super fun. I want to play together again.”
It seemed Ray had played quite well with the children in front of the library that time. From the looks of it, the children had taken quite a liking to Ray.
“But I’m sorry for coming so suddenly. I know it’s rude, but the children just wouldn’t listen…”
Jerian let out a deep sigh looking at the children full of energy from the morning. Children of this age were possessors of steel stamina who could play for hours without a problem, and they were stubborn and assertive, so even the Academy teacher couldn’t stop their determination to go meet Ray.
“If it’s difficult, please tell me quietly. I’ll try to persuade the children somehow.”
Jerian whispered softly. Naro was still not quite himself from the sudden event that happened from the morning. Just then, the children started looking around inside Naro’s house from outside the door, asking where the tall hyung was.
The moment Naro remembered that Ray was still sleeping in his baby dragon state, he hurriedly stepped forward.
“Ray will probably like it. Instead, can I come along too? The pharmacy is closed today.”
“Ah, of course.”
Jerian showed a relieved smile. If Naro had refused, he would have had to handle all the children’s nagging himself, so it was truly fortunate to avoid such a worst-case scenario.
“Th-then could you wait outside for just a moment? I’ll get ready and come out right away. Kids, you wait for a bit too!”
Leaving behind the children’s words that he should come out quickly, Naro locked the door. If he had been thoughtless and any of the children had entered the house, it would have been a real disaster.
Naro looked at the baby dragon sleeping soundly on the bed and let out a small sigh.
“Ray.”
Naro carefully shook Ray awake. Perhaps still drunk with sleep, the baby dragon wriggled and burrowed into Naro’s embrace.
“Ray, let’s go out today.”
At the single word “go out,” the eyes that had been flickering drowsily snapped open, and Ray lifted his head sharply and perked up his ears. Then in an instant he transformed into a human and wrapped his arms around Naro’s waist in an embrace.
“Go out?”
Just moments ago Naro had been holding the baby dragon, but now he was embraced in Ray’s arms.
“Yeah.”
Naro roughly explained what had just happened. That the village children had come with the Academy teacher.
“That’s okay, right? You like going to the back mountain too, Ray.”
But somehow Ray’s expression was a bit blank.
“Why? You don’t want to?”
“I thought we were going just the two of us. Going out.”
Naro was hesitating, not knowing how to respond again, when Ray got down from the bed.
“But playing with the small humans is quite enjoyable. Let’s go together.”
Having finished preparing to go out like that, Naro and Ray came out of the house. As soon as the children saw Ray, they came running excitedly. Even though four children were rushing at full speed, Ray stood firm without budging. Watching that, Jerian was quietly impressed.
“Ray hyung, are you going to the back mountain with us?”
“Yeah.”
“Ah, Paul! I’m going to ride Ray oppa’s piggyback!”
“Small humans, you’re full of energy from the morning.”
Naro smiled warmly watching Ray surrounded by children. But then Nepi and Paul started arguing about who would ride Ray’s piggyback to the back mountain. The twin siblings tried to stop them but it was beyond their strength.
“Kids, Ray-ssi is personally coming with you because you asked. But is it right to throw tantrums and make it difficult like that?”
When Jerian, who couldn’t watch anymore, stepped in with a slightly lowered voice, Nepi and Paul only glared at each other but quickly became quiet.
“And riding piggyback on the way to the back mountain might be dangerous. How about we go up the mountain later and ask him to give rides one person at a time with set times?”
Whether persuaded by those words, Nepi and Paul nodded simultaneously. As if they had never fought, the children’s faces brightened again.
They started walking energetically toward the mountain, saying they should hurry up the mountain.
“Ray-ssi, I’m sorry for deciding on my own to give piggyback rides. I’m already sorry for calling you so suddenly, and I really have no face.”
Naro, Ray, and Jerian slowly moved their steps following behind the children.
“Not really. Since Naro said to go, I don’t mind. Watching the small humans is quite fun too.”
“Hmm, by the way, Ray-ssi has a very unique way of speaking.”
Jerian tilted his head watching him call young children “small humans.”
“Ray is still not good at the Empire’s language.”
Naro now familiarly explained the reason in his place.
“He’s only recently entered the Empire after being in another country for a long time.”
When they all met together in front of the library last time, because Ray had made such a surprising statement so casually, he had been too busy explaining that to tell Jerian about Ray in detail.
“Ah, I see. The Empire’s language is a bit difficult for foreigners to learn.”
“But I learned quickly. Naro even complimented me on learning well.”
When Ray spoke proudly with a triumphant face, Jerian let out a small laugh.
“You two cousins really have deep affection for each other.”
“Yes… well, that’s right.”
Since they weren’t cousins, Naro felt guilty for no reason, but he smiled awkwardly following Jerian’s suggestion without showing it.
Like that, the three people headed to the back mountain with all the children.
Naro’s party entered the edge of the forest. Today they had come for a picnic, but he heard later from Jerian that he had purposely chosen the back mountain within walking distance because he wanted to let the children feel nature up close.
“Teacher, can I pick that fruit?”
“Yeah, that’s edible so shall we each try picking some?”
The children scattered excitedly. Naro somehow ended up taking on the role of monitoring and managing the children together with Jerian. But just watching the children play was nice. Nepi and Paul moved busily as if having a contest to see who could pick more. Ray also got mixed in between the two of them and was called around here and there.
Ruen, the male twin, didn’t seem very interested in picking fruit and was observing insects in a patch of grass on one side. At times like this, he felt that each child had very different tendencies.
Just then, Naro’s eyes caught Rumi hovering in front of a nearby tree, hesitating.
“Rumi, is something wrong?”
“Ah, well…”
The Rumi that Naro knew was quite timid. She had a completely opposite personality from her twin sibling Ruen and Nepi and Paul who were noisily running around over there.
Naro looked at the hesitating Rumi and then looked where the child’s gaze had landed. Around the middle of the tree hung a fruit that looked quite plump.
“You want to pick that?”
Perhaps happy that he had noticed her feelings, Rumi brightened her face and nodded vigorously.
“Hmm, it is quite high… I’ll give you a piggyback ride for now. Want to try picking it?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Naro carefully put Rumi on his shoulders and approached the tree closely.
“How is it? Rumi, can you pick it?”
“J-just a little more…”
But despite Naro’s efforts, the fruit was quite high up so Rumi’s hand couldn’t reach it. In the end, Rumi asked to be put down. Perhaps upset that she couldn’t get what she wanted, the child’s expression had sunk a bit. Seeing that expression, Naro felt stubborn for no reason and wanted to help Rumi pick that fruit herself.
Then the solution was simple. He just needed to bring a tall person.
“Ray.”
Ray, whose arms had been being pulled between Paul and Nepi, ran to him in one bound at Naro’s call.
“Yeah, Naro.”
“Rumi wants to pick that fruit over there. Can you help?”
Ray looked down at Rumi standing next to Naro. Then Rumi, as if frightened, bit her lip tightly and stuck close to Naro’s leg.
“Rumi?”
Rumi glanced at Ray and gripped Naro’s clothes tightly. Only then did Naro realize the child was afraid of Ray. Well, Ray had an unusual build and the atmosphere felt from his appearance was quite cool, so from a child’s perspective there was more than enough reason to be frightened.
“Rumi is very timid. She’s also very shy around strangers.”
Unable to say it was because she was scared of Ray, Naro explained as indirectly as possible. Ray tilted his head and then opened his mouth nonchalantly.
