Chapter 23 : We Turned Six

Practicing magic while cultivating tomato fields in the vacant lot.

Playing with Delica and the other Moonlight Wolf Team members while patrolling the town.

Helping Celine who occasionally used the bathhouse when returning home.

Taking magic lessons from Nicola-sensei at night.

That was how I spent my days until I turned 6.

6-year-old children could attend Sunday School at church.

At Sunday School, the children would be learning to read and write, read aloud the Bible, and sing hymns.

It might also have the purpose of spreading religion to the children.

And today was the first day to attend Sunday School.

After breakfast, I left the house with Nicola.

「Do your best to study~ Mom always wishes you both good luck!」Mom

Mom and Dad went out of the inn to see us off.

Uncles and aunties in the neighborhood looked at us with a warm smile.

It was a little embarrassing.

On the way, we stopped by Delica’s house first. We promised we would go to church together.

As soon as Delica’s mother saw us, she called Delica, and then Delica and Yuuri immediately came out of the house.

「Mornin’ guys! Let’s go! Follow me!」Delica

Delica looked very excited.

Maybe because her underlings while in the church would increase by two people (us).

The boss character didn’t change even though she turned 10.

And as usual, Yuuri was quiet.

After walking for a while, we arrived at the church where Lang was once scolded by a sister because he skipped his duty to take care of his little brothers.

When we entered the building, there were several long chairs lined up in front of the altar. This is the chapel.

Delica opened the door on the right side of the chapel.

There were about 40 children inside a large room.

This church was located in the south of the town, but the children from the east who wanted to attend Sunday School were also gathered here.

There were quite a few children I’ve never seen before.

Looking at the room, a seemingly active boy approached and talked to Delica. He looked at the same age as Delica.

「Yo, Delica! Are these two behind your new recruits?」Jack

「Yeah… Jack, what do you want?」Delica

「Hah! I’m here to see your team’s new recruits, and I thought I would try to invite them to my gang, but… Hmph. He looks so weak」Jack

「As if I will let my precious team members enter your full-of-rascals gang!」Delica

Somehow, I understood that this Jack kid was the leader of the team that was opposite to Delica’s Moonlight Wolf Team.

Also, he said I looked weak, but I thought my body was the body of an average 6-year-old child though.

Well, it’s no use fighting, maybe I’ll say hello for now.

「Hello. I’m Mark. This is my little sister, Nicola」Mark

As I said that, Nicola who was hiding behind me, finally came out.

「Hah! Even though you’re just a mere underling of Delica, you know how to… be…… polite….」Jack

Jack looked at Nicola and blushed.

『Pu! It seems another fish has been baited by my beauty』Nicola

Said Nicola using telepathy.

Well, I’m not surprised.

It was true that she was beautiful. Only on the outer appearance though.

After that, she hid behind me again.

It seemed that she wanted to pretend as a timid girl.

Oi, stop it, you’ll make it even worse, you know?

「Hmph! Well then, adiosー……………………. Opening!」Jack

Jack tried to lift Nicola’s skirt up, but Nicola immediately deflected his hand.

「Oi, Jack! How dare you do that to my team member!」Delica

「Hah! See ya, loserー」Jack

Delica yelled at Jack, but Jack ignored her and ran away.

Well, he was just a boy about the age when he wanted to prank the girl he liked.

Obviously, doing that would reduce the girl’s affection though.

「Nicola, are you okay? That jerk is always pranking girls like this! If he does something bad to you, tell me immediately, okay!?」Delica

「Un. Thank you, Boss onee-chan」Nicola

『Khh! Damn it! Pretending to be cute was a mistake!』Nicola

Nicola seemed to have noticed her mistake.

However, I thought it would be difficult to change her character now.

After that, Delica told us that Jack was a violent and helpless kid. She told us while looking angry.

After a while, a young sister who was in charge of the school, came.

We immediately got to our seats.

Today was the first day of welcoming new children, so we had to introduce ourselves one by one.

As I thought, Jack was a kid from eastern district.

After self-introduction was done, we were divided according to age before the lesson started.

The sister gave tasks according to age, starting from the youngest group.

Our group was the youngest, so the sister came over here first.

She gave us building blocks made of wood. There were letters written on the blocks.

I see, so these blocks were made for children to learn letters.

「Hello, Nicola-chan~ Nicola-chan’s name is written with this letter, this, and this. “Ni” “Co” “La”. it may be difficult at first, but let’s remember it little by little」Sister

「Un!」Nicola

Hearing Nicola’s reply, a young sister smiled.

Suddenly, Nicola leaned toward me, and a stick of chalk had just passed the spot where Nicola’s head was a second ago.

What? Did she just dodge that chalk?

「Cih! I miss!」Jack

「Jack-san! You shouldn’t do that to a girl! Apologize to Nicola-chan!」Sister

「’Kay~ Sorry~」Jack

Jack apologized while grinning.

The heck is that attitude?

「Oi, Jack! If you touch Nicola, I’ll be your opponent!」Delica

Delica, who was sitting a few meters away, declared a war on Jack.

「Hah! As if I wanna deal with an orc-girl!」Jack

「Orc-girl you say!?」Delica

The classroom was getting noisy.

And Nicola wasー

「I wanna go home…..」Nicola

While still leaning against me, she muttered as if she was tired with all of this.

She was usually being spoiled, so this might just make her stressed.

After that, the class continued, and Jack kept pranking Nicola, but Nicola dodged them all.

Nicola, who usually looked amiable, was making an expressionless face.

And finally, after all the children sang a hymn together, the Sunday School was over.

「Nicola-chan, be careful on your way home and until next week~」Sister

The sister waved at Nicola, and Nicola waved back at her.

And when we got outside the church, Jack approached us, as if he waited for us.

「Oi, Nicola!」Jack

Accompanied by his henchmen, Jack stopped us.

「You have splendidly endured my trials today. Looks like you’re worthy to become one of us. I’ll let you join my group, “Dark Skull of the Night Gang”!」Jack

After Nicola successfully dodged all of his attack, now he wanted to get Nicola’s attention by inviting her to his team, huh.

And this brat’s naming sense was so bad.

「I hate bullies like you!」Nicola

Said Nicola while hiding behind me.

「W, What!? In our group, an adventurer onii-chan teaches us swords, you know? And sometimes he took us to hunt outside! Our group is much better than Delica’s lame group!」Jack

I was glad Delica went home early because she and Yuuri had to help with their parent’s work today.

If she was here, it would be a quarrel again.

「Oi, you! You’re her brother, right? Tell your sister to join us! Oh, right, I’ll let you join too!」Jack

「Nah, I’ll pass. Also, I won’t let my little sister join a group of rascals. So, are you done? I’m busy, you know?」Mark

It was true that I was busy.

After turning 6, Nicola and I helped the inn a little.

I helped Dad cook while Nicola helped Mom do the waitressing.

「Shut up! How about we duel with Nicola at stake!」Jack

I didn’t understand how it became a duel?

Well, the way children think didn’t make any sense sometimes.

When I was thinking about how to refuse, Nicola, who had been hiding behind me, came out and saidー

「Bring it on! My brother won’t lose to the likes of you!」Nicola

「W, Wait!」Mark

『He’s so annoying! So onii-chan, please beat him until he becomes quiet!』Nicola

Oi, oi….. A fight? Against a child? Are you kidding me!?