The Sage that the Sword Saint is Obsessed With

24 – 8. Heart in a Cookie (1)

1.

Early morning.

The sound of intense determination echoes through the training field, rising up to the sky.

“Ha-aahhh….”

Karin rubbed her sleepy eyes as she entered the training field.

“Captain, good morning!”

Some of the members, wiping away sweat and clutching their throats, saluted Karin.

“Um, yeah. Good morning.”

With tired eyes, Karin accepted their salute with a gentle smile.

I’m so tired from sleeping late yesterday.

There’s a pile of documents to check.

I also need to write a battle report and send it to the Imperial Knights.

It’s such a hassle to submit a report every time we come back from battle.

Isn’t it enough to just win?

I tried to complain, but the response I got was a long explanation about the constantly changing situation on the southern front and the supplies.

“Well, I like the fact that they include expensive liquor among the supplies, but…”

Returning the greetings from the members, Karin went to one side of the training field.

It’s where she usually trains.

There’s no designated spot, but it’s implicitly understood.

Even as a captain, she diligently sharpens her swordsmanship.

How can the vice captain be lazy while the captain does it?

Every morning, Karin practices sparring with her wooden sword with Luen for about an hour.

That’s how the day starts.

Today is no different.

“Hmm? Isn’t she here yet?”

It’s strange.

Luen always comes first, stretching her body before dawn.

Even when she wasn’t feeling well recently, she never missed training.

“Some days are like this.”

Thinking to wait until she arrives, Karin lightly stretches her body, but just then, Raven, who was teaching the younger members how to handle swords in the distance, came running.

“Karin, sis!”

Karin, who was about to raise her wooden sword above her head, lowered it.

“Good morning, Onya.”

Karen warmly greeted Raven.

Though not blood-related, Raven was like a younger sibling to Karen.

They had spent eight years together with Lewen.

During those eight years, Karen not only spent time with Lewen but also with Lewen’s family.

“I’m sorry I won’t be able to train with you today,” Karen relayed, expressing her regret.

“No need to apologize.”

Their morning sparring wasn’t a scheduled activity but rather something they did while training together.

So, there was no reason for Karen to feel sorry just because they couldn’t do it today.

If anything, Karen should feel more sorry for Lewen.

There were quite a few instances where he overslept or couldn’t wake up in the morning due to a night of heavy drinking.

Moreover, Lewen didn’t need to train in the first place since there was no knight on the Southern Front who wielded a sword better than him.

“Is something wrong with the Captain?”

“Well… How should I put it? It’s not that there’s something… or maybe there isn’t…”

“Why? What happened?”

Raven spoke hesitantly, as if something troubled her.

“I think there’s something wrong with my head.”

“What is it?”

“This.”

Raven handed a small pouch to Karen.

Karen opened the pouch to find a cookie shaped like a pebble inside.

The surface was slightly burnt, as if it had been baked for too long.

“He said to give you this and that it’s the best one he made.”

“He made this? Who?”

After a moment of thought, Karen skeptically asked.

“…The Captain made it?”

Raven, who had conducted a taste test last night before going to bed, nodded stiffly.

Karen’s mouth hung open in surprise.

Shocking.

The head of the world personally baked cookies.

Leuen, who looks feminine but is far from being feminine, can only cook soup by putting all the ingredients in a pot and grilling meat over a fire.

But cookies!

Karen looked at the eastern sky.

The sun is stretching.

“Something must have happened.”

They say that when someone suddenly starts doing something they haven’t done before, it’s a sign that someone is going to die.

This is not the time to be in the training field.

Karen rushed towards Leuen as if her soles were on fire.

2.

The place where Leuen lives is a two-story house in the quiet corner of the village.

When the southern front was formed and the headquarters of the Star Knights moved, Leuen said she would live in any available house, but due to the opposition of the members who believed that the head should live in a suitable house for the head, she ended up living in a mansion-like place.

Karen entered the house.

“Head.”

Leuen was in the kitchen.

“Sister, are you okay?”

Leuen was crouched on the kitchen floor.

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Beside her, a small girl was sitting, as if she had been shrunk, patting Leuen’s shoulders.

Her youngest sister, Lana.

“Lana… I am a failure….”

Leuen hugged Lana, who was comforting her, and buried her face in her soft and fluffy belly.

“What’s this….”

Karen blinked her eyes.

She had seen various sides of Leuen recently, but this was a new sight.

What happened?

She looked around.

The kitchen was a mess, covered in flour.

Cookies were piled up like a mountain on large plates.

Half of them were burnt black like charcoal, and the rest were either slightly burnt or had a poor shape.

“Is the Chief here?”

A girl entered the kitchen, greeting Karen as she held her younger sister, Leven, who appeared melancholic.

The third sister, Leia.

Leia, who used to sport a talkative demeanor, had recently cut her hair short, reminiscent of when she first met Leven. When asked why she cut her hair, she explained that it was getting in the way of her studies.

Leia was self-taught in magic, having developed a hobby for reading magic books since she was young. Despite appearing mature from an early age, the influence of secondary s*xual characteristics had not only affected her internally but also externally, giving her a mature appearance.

Long, slender arms and legs. Her height had grown to be similar to Leven’s.

Considering she was only fifteen now, she was likely to grow even more in the future. Her appearance already attracted attention, with men frequently throwing admiring glances her way.

“Leia, why is the Chief behaving like that?” Karen asked.

Leia shook her head vigorously. “He’s acting like that because the cookies aren’t baking well.”

“Cookies? Why?”

“I think there’s someone he wants to give them to.”

Karen covered her mouth in surprise. In her mind, Evan immediately came to the forefront. Despite his gruff demeanor, if he could uplift Leven’s emotions in various ways and bake cookies for her, he must have some charm.

He was handsome like a nobleman, but that alone wouldn’t make someone fall deeply.

“Sister, don’t give up. They might not look great or taste amazing, but they’re better than the first ones you made!”

The honesty of a child could be brutal.

Lana comforted Leven by patting her back. Leven, with a sigh, embraced Lana like a doll.

“Sister, how long are you going to keep doing this? The Chief is here.”

Unable to bear witnessing the Chief of the Knights behaving like that any longer, Leia, hands on her hips, spoke up.

“…Huh?”

Leuwen, who was fooling around while cuddling his youngest sister, suddenly lifted his head.

Instantly, his face flushed with embarrassment.

He revealed a truly shameful side of himself to his subordinates.

No matter how icy Leuwen may be within the knight order, he is still human, and there are times when he feels restless in his chest, unable to bear the stress.

In those moments, he receives treatment, feeling the warm body temperature of Lana.

Thanks to that, he was able to endure without breaking despite being on the verge of breaking multiple times.

Leuwen slowly separated from Lana’s embrace.

“… You’re back?”

Expressionless.

But his cheeks were flushed.

“Sorry, I had work all night, so I couldn’t attend training.”

Leuwen apologized to Karen.

Even for something trivial, he felt the need to apologize.

Just in case, to prevent any further strain in their relationship.

“No, no. What’s there to be sorry about?”

Karen reached out her hand.

It was awkward to apologize when there was no need for an apology.

He felt the fear of unrequited love.

It’s truly surprising how he can transform someone known as the God of Death or the Messenger of the Frontline into someone delicate and girlish.

“Anyways, something incredible has happened.”

Karen looked at the pile of cookies that were stacked up.

“Are you making them to give as a present to the magician?”

Leuwen’s eyes widened like a startled rabbit, and he bit his lip.

His silence was a confirmation.

“If it’s the magician… the one who came from the Tower of the Wise?!”

Leya, who was standing next to them, sparkled with her eyes.

She had wanted to have a conversation with him at least once.

She had questions that were as long as 800 pages.

If he was indeed the magician designated as the next Sage, then he would undoubtedly be amazing.

However, it wasn’t easy to meet him.

Except for occasional walks, Lea was usually cooped up in the inn.

“Sister, is that your preference?”

“…It’s not like that.”

“I thought a man skilled with a sword would be your preference, Sister.”

“…It’s not like that.”

Leuen glared fiercely at Lea.

With a face resembling a ripe tomato, her words lacked conviction.

Leuen’s decision to bake cookies wasn’t merely for a simple gift.

It was the result of pondering how to offer some form of apology while Evan was here.

Are cookies the answer?

No.

It was about repaying Evan for every past kindness, as much as he had done for her, and for what she couldn’t offer him before.

This time, it was Leuen’s turn to do something for Evan.

She had expressed everything in words.

Now, actions were the only remaining means.

The timeframe: six months.

Until Evan departed for the southern front.

After that, even if she wished to meet, she wouldn’t be able to.

Evan had said he would forget everything after leaving the southern front.

Her face.

Her name.

In short, the agreement was to part ways after this point and never meet again.

Hence, now was the chance to dedicate herself fervently to him while she could still see his face.

If not now, then never.

She had resolved to live like a servant, so she must act like one.

Of course, if Evan rejected her efforts, she would consider other ways.

“Sister, should I help?”

“Do you know how to make cookies?”

“I’ve never tried making them before, but I know the basic process. I read about it in a book. It seemed easy to make if you just follow the instructions.”

Leven was in uncharted territory.

With no knowledge of how to make cookies, he was blindly attempting to create them.

You could probably buy them at a store, but he wanted to give homemade cookies.

…After all, Evan had made them for him before.

He used to borrow the inn kitchen occasionally to make cookies.

They would enjoy the finished cookies together, sipping on milk.

Thinking back to those times, a lonely happiness gently emerged.

“……Sure.”

In the past, he would have tried to do it alone no matter what.

But realizing how foolish that was, he decided to abandon his inclination to always do things alone.

Leven asked for help from Lea.

“…Sis, can you help me a bit?”

Lea nodded her head.

Though not evident on her face, she was secretly pleased.

It was the first time she willingly accepted help.

For the past 8 years, acting as the older sister in place of their deceased parents, she tried to handle everything on her own and hesitated to accept help.

Perhaps, she feared that accepting help would make her appear weak.

It’s okay to be weak.

Sis looks too far ahead.

Nevertheless, it seemed she was starting to look around now.

“Boss, let’s make them together.”

“Yeah! It sounds fun.”

“Lana too! Lana, let’s make them together!”

Family and colleagues—friends gathered to help Leven.

Relying on someone feels so heartwarming.

He briefly wished he had known this feeling a long time ago.

…Perhaps, just for a moment.