# 81. Luna's Wish (2)
Before training.
Warm-up exercises are essential.
Luna complained with one lap left to go.
"Mister...! I-I'm tired...!! U-uaaah...!!"
"Last lap. Hang in there just this once."
"U-uaaah...!!"
Sweat flowing like a waterfall.
No matter how much stamina training Luna had done, running 20 consecutive laps around the yard was exhausting.
However, Luna could never give up, no matter how hard it was.
Because Lee Jun-woo was always with her during her grueling training.
"U-uaah... I'm dying...!"
"You won't die, Luna. To think you can't even handle something this easy. The title of Hero seems wasted on you."
"Y-you...!! So annoying...!!"
Uaaah-!!
Luna screamed and pushed forward.
Three steps remained ahead.
Toward Luna, who staggered to a stop on trembling legs.
Lee Jun-woo called out indifferently.
"Luna, you should be able to do this, shouldn't you? Why are you struggling so much? Are you acting? Really?"
"B-be quiet...!! Even if you don't say anything...! I can do it...!!"
One step.
Two steps.
Luna extended her legs forward through sheer grit.
A smile curved at the corners of Lee Jun-woo's mouth as he watched.
*...As expected, Luna trains better when provoked.*
Pride and competitive spirit.
When those two combined, she showed extremely high efficiency in training.
And because of her desire to be acknowledged.
Luna never easily gave up on training.
Three steps.
"I-I made it! T-twenty laps! Mister! I ran all twenty laps! I did well, right? I'm amazing, right!?"
"...Watch your pronunciation, Luna."
It sounds like a curse word.
Luna tilted her head, not understanding what he meant.
Lee Jun-woo approached Luna, wiping away her sweat.
And he gave her a reward for her success.
"Try a bit harder next time. You weren't bad."
"...Would it kill you to give me a proper compliment! Mister, you're an adult but you're not honest!"
"Adults are usually even less honest."
"...Boomer."
Lee Jun-woo, who had been patting Luna's head.
He made a fist with his outstretched hand and dropped it straight down.
"Ow-!!"
Luna screamed, clutching her head.
"That hurt! You child abuser!"
"I hit you because it's supposed to hurt. Why am I a boomer?"
"When you get angry at being called a boomer! That person is a boomer!"
A thief's feet tingle on their own.
Similarly, a boomer's dentures clack!
At Luna's absurd logic, Lee Jun-woo clutched his head.
"To think this is the Hero who must save the world... It's so childish I'm speechless..."
"What's wrong with me! I'm better than you, a boomer!"
Hiss-
Luna and Lee Jun-woo began arguing about the criteria for being a boomer.
Neither could have a proper conversation because both were being childish.
But during that long time, Luna's exhausted body recovered sufficiently.
*What am I doing... Now isn't the time for this.*
Let's end the small talk here.
Lee Jun-woo, returning to his senses.
He cut off Luna's words and called out.
"Kidnapper! Criminal! Old man!"
"Be quiet, Luna. More importantly, your body seems fine, so let's proceed with training."
"H-huh? You're right! My body feels great!"
Luna's recovery ability was also befitting a Hero.
She picked up her wooden sword and faced Lee Jun-woo.
It was time for the sword training she'd been waiting for.
"Hehe, it's finally time to show you my swordsmanship! Mister, I'll attack first!"
"No, there's no need. We won't spar today."
"Eh...? Why...? I was so looking forward to it..."
Dejected-
Luna hung her head as if disappointed.
But that only lasted a moment.
"Instead of sparring today, I'll personally defend against your swordsmanship and tell you what the problems are."
"Yay, I'm excited!"
Hearing Lee Jun-woo's voice, Luna regained her happiness.
*I can try so many things...!*
Luna could refine her swordsmanship alone, but there were limits to doing it by herself.
But now.
Lee Jun-woo had declared he would receive all her attacks.
For Luna, who was obsessed with getting stronger, this was wonderful news.
Luna gripped her wooden sword tightly and rushed toward Lee Jun-woo.
"Today! I'll show you everything about my swordsmanship! Prepare yourself!"
"...Alright, give it a try."
She's still just a chick anyway.
Lee Jun-woo thought this and answered leisurely.
But that was a grave miscalculation.
"How about this horizontal slash?"
"It would be difficult to use in actual combat."
"Then something else!"
One hour passed.
"What if I deflect the attack like this!?"
"Not bad."
Two hours passed.
"How about this! It's an attack pattern I came up with!"
"...It's good because it's irregular."
Even after four hours.
Luna had no intention of stopping her attacks.
*Again. This is maddening...*
In the end, once again Lee Jun-woo saw the morning sun rise.
And was able to stop the morning training session.
Training all day long.
Still, you need to eat to keep moving.
Luna seemed to think so too, as she sat in her chair and pounded on the table.
Bang bang-!!
"Food! Give me food! Food! I'm hungry!"
"...I'll give it to you even if you don't fuss. Stay still."
That training monster.
Following Luna's training appetite was too exhausting both physically and mentally.
Thinking this, I placed pork rice bowl in front of Luna.
"Wow! Pork! Rice! Meat!"
Luna's eyes sparkled as she began devouring the rice bowl.
Chomp- chomp-
Hare, sitting next to Luna, turned pale at the sight.
"M-Mister...! Luna must be possessed by a ghost...! We, we need an exorcism...! I'll go get Estia...!"
"It's fine, she's not possessed by a ghost. She's just Luna being a bit more extreme than usual. You don't need to worry. Even if you bring Estia, she can't perform an exorcism anyway, so stay still."
"I-I see..."
Her eating is a bit excessive.
But there's nothing particularly wrong with it.
Today she moved hard enough to eat like that.
I could understand Luna.
"M-Mister, you're eating more than usual too..."
"...There were circumstances."
Hare nodded as if understanding after seeing Luna finish an entire bowl.
She seemed to understand that I'd had a hard time.
Luna, who had already finished eating, shouted.
"Mister! This is delicious! I won't eat more because of afternoon training! But make it again later!"
"Alright, I'll make it for you later."
"Tell me the recipe later too! I'll make it for my siblings!"
Are you planning to torture your siblings with your violent cooking skills?
As far as I remember, Luna's cooking skills were close to the worst.
Though if there's something she's good at...
Preparing vegetables, maybe?
"...Mister. You're insulting me in your head right now, aren't you."
"No."
"Liar! Anyway, tell me the recipe! My siblings love food too!"
Only at times like this is she perceptive.
Hare asked with curiosity at the mention of siblings.
"Luna, you have siblings...?"
"Yeah! I have siblings! Five below me! All boys! I'll introduce you later!"
"...I don't want to."
"Huh?"
"I don't like any men except Mister..."
"I-I see! Got it!"
Awkward-
Luna scratched her head as if nothing had happened.
Then, Luna suddenly asked me a question.
"But Mister! Do you have siblings? Now that I think about it, I don't know anything about you!"
"I-I'm curious about that too...!"
...Why are they suddenly being so intense.
The two of them looking at me with sparkling eyes.
*Saten is holed up in her room... and Estia is probably still sleeping...*
Well, even if I tell these two.
It won't be noisy.
I decided to tell them as a special favor.
"I had one younger sibling."
"A boy? A girl?"
"A girl."
"Ah, I want a younger sister too! Can I meet her later!?"
"...That won't work."
"What? Why not!?"
That's because...
I told the children the truth.
"She's not in this world, so you can't meet her."
"...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."
"I-I'm sorry too, Mister..."
The atmosphere became solemn.
Perhaps because Luna found this atmosphere stifling.
She asked me another question to change the mood.
"Th-then what about your parents!? Are they well!?"
"They're also not in this world."
"Ah, I see... S-sorry!"
"I-I'm sorry too on Luna's behalf...!"
The two of them bowed their heads and apologized to me.
No.
That's not what I meant.
*...How should I handle this?*
The water has spilled and there's no towel.
But I can't lick up the water with my tongue...
I decided to just preserve the accident scene.
Anyway, these two would never meet my family.
"...Well, something like that. Anyone want more food?"
"I'm okay..."
"M-me too..."
Luna and Hare fell into a low-pressure state for a while, thinking they'd made a mistake with me.
That low-pressure state continued until Estia woke up.
I told the truth.
But I felt as if I'd committed a crime.
Afternoon training.
After going through all the evening training.
Just before the clock hand pointed to midnight.
Luna set down her wooden sword in the yard and shouted.
"It's frustrating! Why is a day only 24 hours! I can't understand it!"
She's saying it's frustrating even after all that training?
"To think training is fun. I can't understand that either."
"It's so fun! Mister, if you got that strong, you must have trained a lot! Wasn't it fun!?"
Fun...
Studying magic with Aina was quite fun.
But swordsmanship involved a lot of physical pain.
So it wasn't that fun.
"In the first place, I learned the sword to survive. I never really felt it was fun."
"Aha! A sword for survival! That's kind of cool, Mister! It has a wild feeling!"
I don't know what she means by that.
But seeing Luna laughing...
It's probably a compliment.
Still, training with Luna all day, we were able to learn a lot of information about each other.
How Luna lived as the eldest daughter of her family.
What she spent her time doing in the past.
As we talked while training, information I didn't want to know also entered my head.
"Today I feel like I got closer to you, Mister! You feel the same, right!?"
"No."
"Lying again! You're really not honest!"
Luna said this and plopped down on the yard.
Then she gazed at the night sky with its rising stars.
Even after training hard, her blue eyes were full of vitality.
"It's frustrating. I feel like I got stronger. But I'm still far from you, Mister."
"...You're already doing well enough, so take it slow. It's a problem if you go ahead alone."
"I don't want to! I'm going to get super strong, so I won't take it slow!"
...Stubborn again.
But since she said she'd get stronger on her own, I didn't say anything to Luna.
Choosing the path to become stronger was quite admirable.
While gazing at the night sky like that.
The clock hand reached midnight.
Luna's wish was over.
I helped Luna up from where she sat on the ground.
"Let's go inside now."
"...Um, Mister!"
"What is it?"
Luna got up but stopped walking.
Luna raised her head that had been lowered.
She smiled brightly and called out to me.
"Let's! Train together next time too! And! Even if it's not training! Let's talk together! Today was fun! Thank you for granting my wish!"
Hehe!
Luna smiled like a sunflower and ran away toward her room as if embarrassed.
I was quite amazed that Luna still had the stamina to run like that.
I looked at the yard where I'd trained with Luna all day.
Traces of training remained everywhere.
*Is it because we were together all day...*
Today, quite a bit.
I felt like I'd grown closer to Luna.
Since Aina left.
It was the first time I'd felt this kind of intimacy.