The Perils of a Pubescent Protagonist

‘That’s a relief.’

Theodore’s anxiously trembling eyes calmed down.

It was a rather swift change.

Theodore wore a smile as if painted, listening to Sian’s compliments for a while.

“……”

Then, his eyes darted towards the thicket where the girl and woman had disappeared.

The way Theodore looked at that place was strangely cold.

When using Endairon to change the water flow, Theodore knew that a girl was playing by the water.

The woman who appeared to be her mother was gathering herbs in the nearby thicket, and the girl had come with her to help before taking a short break by the water.

It was quite a distance from where Theodore was, and he didn’t think that changing the water flow a little would suddenly raise the water level over there.

No, even if there was a problem, he didn’t want to care.

However, due to blocking the water flow to the village, the water level of another stream rose, and the flow became rapid, sweeping away the girl who was nearby.

Moreover, Sian found out about it.

The kind Sian would naturally not stand still.

No, in the first place, if Sian had blocked the water flow, he would have worried about the girl playing by the water and made her evacuate first.

If he knew that he had acknowledged the girl’s presence and ignored her while blocking the water flow, he would have been disappointed and scolded him.

‘I need to be careful.’

From now on, I need to pay more attention to my surroundings.

So that Sian doesn’t hate me, and so that this feeling, that I don’t care what happens to anyone else as long as it’s not Sian, doesn’t get discovered.

Theodore thought inwardly, innocently blinking his eyes outwardly.

‘Huh…?’

Sian looked at Theodore with a puzzled expression, as he kept glancing towards the thicket.

That was where the girl and her mother had just left.

Could it be… is he worried about that girl from earlier?

Sian pondered seriously for a moment.

I feel sorry for Yurina, the female lead, but Sian had no intention of stopping Theodore if he became interested in another child.

In fact, I didn’t even have the right to do so.

I just wanted to let Theodore do what he wanted.

‘Anyway, Yurina’s first love wasn’t Theodore, right?’

Unlike Theodore, who was trapped in the mountain and oppressed, Yurina wandered around with the merchant group and the continent, living a rather free life.

Being precocious, her first love came early.

She had already experienced various relationships before meeting Theodore.

Of course, she couldn’t have long relationships because she was wandering around.

Anyway, Yurina lived like that before meeting Theodore, so there’s no need for our Theodore to be chaste.

Theodore is now at an age where he would be interested in the opposite s*x, so it was inevitable that he would be worried about that girl from earlier.

Sian nodded in agreement.

“Are you worried about that girl from earlier?”

“Pardon?”

At Sian’s question, Theodore turned his head in surprise.

And he looked at Sian, who was smiling kindly for some reason, with questioning eyes.

“If you’re worried, do you want to go to the village together? Master needs to meet the village chief, and you can see that girl……”

“Why would I do that?”

“Huh?”

“Why would I meet that girl?”

“……?”

Sian blinked at Theodore’s question.

It was because he didn’t expect this kind of reaction.

Sian examined Theodore’s frozen face and realized.

‘Is he embarrassed?’

It’s not quite affection yet, but it’s definitely the stage where he’s interested and worried, but he’s clearly pretending not to be because he’s embarrassed that his master is getting involved.

Sian barely recalled his memories as a human.

At Theodore’s age, he’s very sensitive, so you have to treat him delicately.

Otherwise, he would definitely get hurt.

Especially now.

Sian was convinced of his thoughts and opened his mouth again.

“Aren’t you worried that the girl might have gotten hurt more?”

“No.”

“Uh……”

Sian was taken aback by Theodore’s unusually blunt answer.

As a result, he misspoke for a moment.

Sian ended up blurting out whatever came to mind.

“Uh… and she’s also quite cute……”

“She’s cute?”

“What?”

“Are you saying you think she’s cute?”

“……!”

Theodore, who had come close, asked with a fierce expression.

Sian was so embarrassed that he was speechless.

I said it assuming that Theodore would think so, but I didn’t know how to resolve this strange misunderstanding.

“That’s not it……”

Just as Sian was about to open his mouth again to somehow resolve Theodore’s misunderstanding.

“Dragon Lord!”

“……!”

Turning around, the people of Ador Village, led by the village chief, were rushing towards them.

Sian looked at them with surprised eyes.

I felt the presence of people, but I thought they were people working nearby, not that they were coming to find me.

Sian looked at the village chief with questioning eyes.

“Oh, Dragon Lord. Thank you so much for granting our request.”

“Ah… did you check that the water flow was opened?”

“Yes, yes. And thank you so much for saving Marie and Emily.”

“Ah… I see.”

Sian nodded, feeling flustered.

It seemed like he was talking about the girl and her mother that Theodore had saved earlier.

It seemed like the village chief and his party had met them on their way to check the water flow.

Then both of them must have arrived safely in the village.

Sian let out a sigh of relief.

“Especially this guy wants to thank the Dragon Lord……”

“Vi, Village Chief!”

“……Huh?”

The giant man next to the village chief shouted, his face red.

But that face looked somewhat familiar.

Sian narrowed his eyes.

‘Isn’t that guy… the one who got caught up in the soldier kidnapping?’

About four years ago, he was one of the soldiers from other places who got caught up when I brought the soldiers from Ador Village.

At that time, I forcibly brought about two soldiers so as not to be suspected as much as possible.

The image of him shivering in the hut remained in Sian’s memory.

“You look familiar… you got caught up and came into the mountain before, right?”

“Ah, yes, yep.”

“Now that the incident is quiet, you can leave the mountain if you want……”

“Ah, no!”

“……?”

Sian looked at the man who suddenly shouted with a puzzled expression.

The village chief next to him stepped forward on behalf of the man, whose face had turned red as if he knew he had gone too far.

The village chief poked the man in the side with his elbow.

“Actually, all the guys who came into the village at that time want to continue living here. Especially this guy is courting Emily.”

“Vi, Village Chief. That kind of talk……”

The man, whose body as well as his face had turned red, said in a voice as small as a mosquito.

However, the village chief didn’t seem to care much.

“What about the others?”

“Yes, we also feel like it would be good if they stayed, as we are short on manpower……”

“Hmm……”

Bringing the lord’s soldiers was partly for deception, but it was also a kind of hostage.

Of course, even if a few soldiers disappeared, that wicked lord wouldn’t have batted an eye.

Still, the symbolism of this side holding the lord’s forces was significant.

But the fact that they would abandon their identity as the lord’s soldiers first…

Even to the point of falling in love with a villager and chasing after her…

Sian made a reluctant expression.

Well, even if they went back to that lord, they would only be overworked as before, and if they stayed here, they could live quite peacefully.

Rather, the outside of the mountain would be more desolate and difficult to live in now.

Sian nodded readily.

“Okay, take care of the village matters yourself.”

“Yes, I understand. Dragon Lord!”

“Then take care.”

“Please be careful on your way!”

Sian, who was seen off by the villagers, habitually reached out his hand.

It was to return to the mansion.

I always held Theodore’s hand and returned to the mansion, so reaching out my hand before teleporting had become a habit.

“……”

“……?”

However, Theodore didn’t hold Sian’s hand and only stared at him.

Then, Sian remembered the conversation he had with Theodore earlier.

Theodore was still clearly misunderstanding.

Sian swallowed hard without realizing it.

But soon Theodore reached out his hand and grabbed Sian’s hand.

Sian was relieved and returned to the mansion.

The scenery in front of him changed in an instant.

“……Theodore?”

“……”

However, Theodore didn’t let go of his hand even after arriving at the mansion.

He even hugged Sian’s waist with his other hand and buried his face in his shoulder.

Sian looked at Theodore in surprise.

What’s wrong with him?

Did he really not like the conversation from earlier?

But which part exactly?

While Sian was confused, Theodore raised his head.

“Am I really less cute than her……?”

“……!”

Theodore, looking tearful, looked at Sian pitifully and asked.

Sian looked down at Theodore in surprise.

Why is the conversation going this way?

My confused head became even more twisted.

I was now at a loss because of Theodore, who was firmly mistaken.

Sian stiffened and hesitated before reflexively reaching out his hand.

It was because the thought that I should first comfort the child who seemed about to cry came to mind first.

“Theodore, why are you misunderstanding like that? Master doesn’t think that way.”

“But……”

“It’s that not Master but you thought that child was cute.”

“Me……?”

“Yes.”

When Sian nodded, Theodore seemed to realize that he had misunderstood.

But his expression was still subtly stiff.

“I never thought that.”

“Um…… really?”

“Yes, really.”

“……?”

Did I also misunderstand Theodore’s actions?

Sian tilted his head.

I wanted to ask more, but I couldn’t ask recklessly because Theodore’s sensitive heart might get hurt again.

“Okay, then let’s go home now.”

“Yes, Master.”

“……”

A male lead in puberty is really sensitive.

Sian sighed inwardly.