Under the scorching sun. There stood Skir O'Neil, the second son of the high and mighty O'Neil Duchy.

"Haa... haa..."

-Thwack! Thwack!

A skillful hand pulling out weeds. A mighty(?) arm striking down a hoe!

"Hey~ young master of the duchy~"

Behind him, Pola, sitting on a rock under the shade of a tree, was sucking on an ice cream.

It was a strange and bizarre picture, but this was the punishment Skir had received for raiding the warehouse. Its name was weed pulling.

Pola was also included in that punishment, but Skir, as the young master of the O'Neil Duchy with an overflowing conscience, was letting her rest.

"W-why are you calling me! Haa... haa..."

"Kyahaha! Just~ wondering how it's going~"

It was annoying. Pola's gaze as she looked at him, who was sweating profusely, was somehow irritating.

But what could he do? It was his own doing, so it was right for the innocent Pola to rest. It was right, but...!

"D-don't call me! I still have a lot of weeds to pull!!!"

It was too difficult to remove the annoyance from his tone.

"Okay. Good luck~ Ah, so refreshing~"

Pola, who was now properly stretched out on the rock, stretched her arms.

In fact, she was enjoying this immensely. To think that the ever-boastful Skir was pulling weeds, something only commoners did!

Where else could one find such a precious sight!

"Heek... hek... from now on... I will!"

-Thwack!

"To the servants!"

-Thwack!

"Be! kinder!"

-Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Hadin Barad, the potion professor, was an elf, and those nature-friendly beings did not know how to lie. And what such an elf hated most was a human who lied as easily as breathing.

Skir knew that fact well. That's why, in his meeting with Hadin, Skir had confessed everything honestly.

He had appealed as much as he could about why he had done such a thing and how foolish he knew it was.

Then Hadin, who seemed to be pleased with Skir's answer, had given him the enormous punishment of weed pulling, along with the promise not to inform his family.

And for a whole week at that!

"Huk... huk..."

The beads of sweat falling with his panting breath. It was no exaggeration to say that Skir was going through the toughest time of his life.

"What's so... great about... a failure..."

People would say 'like a weed' when they saw a person with a tenacious life or someone who did not wither no matter what they did.

Skir was now feeling what that meant with his whole body.

He had never cared about the servants working in the scorching sun, but the image he had seen once flashed through his mind like a panorama, and he even felt respect for them.

The neat duchy, which was managed without a single weed, was not just made.

He now knew that it was the traces of people who had managed it with care, one by one.

"Have you eaten?"

Pola's gaze, who was lying on the rock and watching the rustling leaves while melting her ice cream, turned to the direction where the voice was heard.

"Huh? Rookie?"

Pola, who squinted her eyes at the sunlight shining through the leaves, sat up.

"Yes. Why are you playing?"

"Ah~ Kir said I'm innocent, so I should rest! Huh? What's this?"

Pola, who smiled brightly, reached for the bag in Lucas's hand.

-Thwack!

But Lucas quickly pulled the bag away and blocked Pola's hand.

"There is no food for those who play. Go and work, Pola."

"Eh!? I'm really innocent!"

Pola jumped up and down as if she was being treated unfairly by Lucas's actions.

"Hmph. Not stopping a friend's deviation is also a sin. You were there, so you're an accomplice. That's why Professor Hadin punished all of you."

But Lucas just shook his head firmly at her reaction and did not give her the bag in his hand.

"I'm not! I tried to stop him!"

"Skir! Come and eat a sandwich. And don't give a single bite to the lazy cow-like Pola who doesn't work."

Lucas, who waved his hand as if he didn't need to listen to her words, shouted to him, and Skir, who had his head buried in the ground, finally raised his head.

"Huk... huk... Lucas?"

"You're having a hard time. It's very nice to see you accepting the punishment for your own sins sweetly. So you come and eat a sandwich."

"Sand...wich?"

Skir struggled to his feet at the word 'sandwich'.

"T-thanks. But why is Pola...?"

"Right! Kir! Say something to him!!! Tell him to give me a sandwich too!"

"Hmph. Those who don't work don't need to eat. So don't give him a single bite."

To think they were bickering over a sandwich. But Lucas found it very enjoyable to see the children's reactions.

Every time these small things touched his skin, Lucas felt like he was living as a real human.

"Give me some too!"

"Hmm... you want to eat, you mean?"

Pola, who puffed out her cheeks. Lucas looked at Pola and pretended to be in deep thought.

"Yeah! Yeah!"

Then Pola nodded her head vigorously.

"You mean that?"

"Yeah! Yeah!"

"Okay. But. There's one condition."

"A condition? Tsk... a condition for a sandwich?"

"Ha, a sandwich? This sandwich is by no means an ordinary sandwich. Now, what does it say on the bag?"

Lucas showed the writing on the bag.

"T-this is! The sandwich you have to wait in line for two hours to eat... the tightly packed sandwich...?"

"That's right. It was very hard to get."

It was a lie. The sandwich was actually one of the lunch menu items, and he had just grabbed a nearby bag because he had nowhere to put it.

"W-what's the condition?"

"Help Skir. No, it's not even helping. You're just doing what you're supposed to do."

"B-but..."

"If you don't want to, then don't."

Pola seemed to hesitate for a moment, but as Lucas quickly put the bag away, she quickly reached out her hand and answered.

"Okay! I get it! So hurry up and give it to me."

Skir also muttered from behind that he was fine, but he soon shut his mouth, as if he didn't entirely dislike the situation of Pola helping him.

The children took a bite of the sandwich Lucas had brought and began to pour out their admiration.

"Mmm! It's really delicious! There's a reason why people wait in line to eat it!"

Pola, who had stuffed her mouth full of the sandwich, even put on a moved expression.

"I-it's really delicious! I've never eaten such a delicious sandwich in my life!"

Lucas, who was looking at the children, felt like he was going to die of laughter at this situation.

'You fools...! It's the same sandwich you ate yesterday and the day before. You idiots!'

He, who had been a 5,000-year-old Dragon Lord, seemed to have completely mastered the pranks of humans now.

***

The new semester was already heading towards its end. After he had decided to live properly, his life at the academy and the crappy things that happened had become quite comfortable to understand at a human level.

Of course, it was also good that the same peaceful daily life was repeated every day.

Thinking of it as a short and finite life, whatever he did felt different from when he was a dragon.

The process of making friends of the same age in a child's body, watching them grow, and growing up with them was quite nice.

"Rookie! You did really well in this class!"

"Hmph. I did that much too."

"Hey, you just stay still."

A bright atmosphere emanated as they walked down the corridor after the basic magic class ended.

"No, Skir did well too?"

"Ahem, you see? I did well too, you know?"

Skir's face turned red as Lucas, who was now used to speaking familiarly, praised him gently.

"I know too. That Skir is good at it. But he keeps bragging about himself first, so it's annoying to see!"

Skir was always intimidated by Pola's relentless sharp remarks.

"How about we go out for lunch today?"

"Hey, we could get into big trouble if we go out!"

Pola jumped in surprise at Skir's suggestion.

"Hmph, I am of the O'Neil family..."

Lucas quickly stopped Skir, who was about to retort without thinking.

"Right, let's go out and eat. The last class is at four in the afternoon anyway, so we have plenty of time."

"Lucas, why are you like this too? Don't you know the atmosphere outside is still bad?"

"It'll be fine. Don't worry too much."

Pola pouted her lips as Lucas gently persuaded her.

"The escorts will be with us, so don't worry."

"Did we go alone last time?! Ah, I don't know, whatever."

Pola, who had expected to be stopped, also turned her head as if she had given up when Lucas agreed.

"Then let's leave our books and meet here again."

A smile spread across Lucas's lips as he watched their backs.

'Something like this might be okay sometimes.'

***

It was a pretty good restaurant. The omelet was fluffy, and the tomato stew was also excellent.

Lucas and his group, who had finished their enjoyable meal, were heading to a cafe for tea.

"Should we go back to that place we went to last time?"

"Ah, the parfait there was excellent. I'm good with that. What about you, Lucas?"

"I don't really care..."

-Grrr...

Lucas couldn't finish his answer at the strange sound coming from behind.

"A-a monster!!! Run away!!!"

A woman was seen running in a panic, and what was chasing her was...

'A ghoul? What the hell is this situation?!'

Green skin, a pungent stench as if something was rotting. And even skin that seemed to be melting. It was definitely a ghoul.

And it wasn't just one. About a dozen ghouls had appeared in the middle of the city, and right next to the imperial palace at that.

"U-ugh!! Run away!!!"

The square instantly turned into a mess, and the ghouls began to chase people, baring their hideous teeth.

"Kir!!! Rookie!!!"

Skir, who seemed to have frozen in shock at the sight of the ghoul for the first time, stood there without being able to move a single step.

"Young master!! We have to go!!!"

Two escort knights picked up Skir and Pola one by one and began to run.

"...What about me?"

The two escort knights, who only had eyes for their young master and the girl Pola, just picked them up and ran away.

"Damn it... what an annoying situation."

Thanks to the ghoul's slow steps, no one seemed to have been harmed yet, but the fact that an undead ghoul had appeared in the middle of the city was a sign that something was definitely wrong.

Undead monsters like ghouls mostly lived in underground dungeons.

But for them to appear in the city? This was definitely summoned by someone on purpose.

"A necromancer."

A necromancer, classified as the most evil of those who handle black magic.

The one who handles death. It was definitely their doing.

"Hmm... ghouls, I see."

"What? How did you know to come here?"

"Well... I'm always watching over Lucas-nim, you know."

Aman, who had appeared next to him, smiled slyly as he looked at the ghouls.

"Who do you think brought them here?"

"There's a high probability that it's Lakmer. I heard they have a lot of black mages and necromancers."

"Do something about them."

"Yes. Let's watch a little longer. I find their movements interesting. The way they slither around."

Aman's eyes followed their movements, as if he were watching an ornamental fish swimming in a fish tank.

-KABOOM! KABOOM!

"Ah! I was watching them!"

"Just clean it up."

In the end, Lucas, who couldn't stand it anymore, shot fire magic and burned their bodies, and Aman jumped.

"And find out what this crappy situation is."

"Tsk, I'm not your subordinate..."

"The secret warehouse."

Aman, who was pouting his lips at Lucas's command, stood at attention at his one word.

"Yes, sir! Loyalty!"

Then Aman, who playfully brought his fist to his chest and imitated a knight, winked and quickly began to clean up the remains of the ghouls.

'I should never say that the warehouse might have disappeared...'

(End of Chapter)