What I was most curious about had to be the golden crown on their side. Something about him didn’t fit in with the rest, like he was entirely unrelated to the wicked god.
Thinking about it wasn’t getting me anywhere, though. We just had to keep at it so our children could go home to the future with smiles on their faces.
“Either way, we’ll make sure to tell you when that time comes. She’s not going to suddenly vanish on you, okay?”
“Indeed. Allis has also matured greatly through her etiquette classes. The future Lady Melle will no doubt be overjoyed when she returns.”
True enough. What parent wouldn’t be happy seeing that their child had grown up while they were away?
The same could be said for future you too, man, so chin up.
Feeling sorry for Ende, who still looked so upset, I decided to speak up.
“Why not make sure that Allis has plenty of stories to tell once she goes back? That’s what we’ve been doing with our kids.”
“R-Right, good idea! I should make more fun memories with her so that she can talk about how much she enjoyed her time here!”
“Though you do have the fact that Leylle is always around Allis to think about...”
“Graaaaaaaaaaaah!” Ende roared, then slumped over the table with a pained expression.
Crap, I didn’t mean to go that far.
“Say, uh...today’s lessons are piano, right? Why don’t we go see how she’s getting on? See how much she’s improved, y’know?”
“Okay!”
Ende shot up from the table again, his face now one of extreme desperation.
Dude, calm down...
It was like he’d gone through a complete personality shift since Allis arrived. I’d heard that people often seem to change after having kids—did that mean I’d changed too? I didn’t feel as if I had, but it was true that before I knew it, I’d started thinking of nothing but them. I wouldn’t shy away from doing anything if it meant making them happy, and I had to assume that Ende was the same.
Leylle tended to remain at home with the Phrase girls on the days that Allis had piano lessons, so he should be able to go see Allis today without incident.
“Let’s go! Right now! C’mon! Touya, teleport us to the castle!”
“Okay, okay! Let go of me first!”
Ende had started yanking on my arm, desperate to get to the castle even one second faster.
No, seriously, calm down! Save your excitement for when we’re actually there!
“What do you want to do, Ney?” I asked.
“Hmm, well, the only reason I’m here is because I was going to buy some cake, but...it’d be a pain if Endymion started causing a ruckus, so I’ll join you.”
“Why not buy a cake for Allis before we go?”
“Perfect idea! Excuse me! We’d like a whole shortcake to go!”
Ende didn’t hesitate to tell a waitress his order the moment I suggested it.
How many times have I gotta tell you to calm down...?
Once we’d received Allis’s beloved shortcake, I teleported us to the castle’s music room. I made sure to teleport us to one of the corners so we didn’t frighten anyone, and then we moved to sit ourselves down in front of the piano where Allis was doing her best to play the piece, even if it was a little stilted.
It turned out the etiquette lessons involved a music performance class. Apparently, a noble lady must be able to play at least one instrument. They weren’t looking for them to be at a professional level; just being able to play some basics was good enough.
Case in point, Yumina, Sue, and Lu could all play their own instruments to some degree. Sakura could sing, but she wasn’t so good at using actual instruments. Hilde was a noble as well—in fact, she was royalty—but Lestia didn’t place much importance on the musical arts, so she gave up on it fairly quickly.
Usually, the instruments they would learn would be ones like the lute, the flute, or the harp, but they decided Allis might as well learn the piano while she was here, since we were the only ones that could make them. It was originally a fake piano that I had made with [Program], but then I gained the assistance of Sousuke and the dwarves to make a real one. Court musicians from around the world still order them from us to this day; no doubt piano music unique to this world would be composed in due time.
The sound of Allis’s piano echoed through the room. Yumina, Sousuke, and Yoshino were giving her guidance. Yumina was there to teach the correct posture for a noble, while Sousuke and Yoshino were purely there to teach her musically. Right now, she was playing a children’s song I had taught them—the one about meeting a bear in the forest.
I’d heard from my piano teacher when I was young that the Japanese lyrics for this were completely different from the original. The Japanese version was much more playful; as a story, it had the weird progression of meeting a bear in the forest, being told to run by said bear, yet the bear chasing after you anyway and then giving you something you dropped.
On the other hand, the original lyrics said that after you met with the bear, it went, “Why don’t you run? I see you ain’t got any gun.” And then you ran, and the bear chased after you, and you managed to survive by climbing up a tree.
To begin with, I had no idea why the bear was the one to tell you to run. My teacher said there were various theories that said originally, it was a little birdie that told you the forest was dangerous so you should run, but that just left me thinking that the Japanese version was too different. Stop beating around the bush and tell the story straight!
The moment Allis managed to play the song to completion, we all gave a round of applause. Allis turned around in surprise.
“Dad? Mom and Your Grace as well. How long have you been standing there?”
“Not for very long,” I told her. “You’ve gotten real good at that.”
“You think? Hehe.”
The girl got all embarrassed after I complimented her.
“Of course she has! My daughter’s a genius, after all!” Ende proudly proclaimed.
“Indeed. I would expect nothing less from our daughter. This is only natural!”
These doting parents, I swear...
“How about taking a break?” I suggested. “Ende bought a cake just for you.”
“Really?! Thanks, dad!”
I could see Ende trying to secretly strike a victory pose. Was that really all it took to make him happy? Just how bad was the communication in his household? It felt like Ende was way more enthusiastic now that Leylle wasn’t present. I didn’t really want to dunk on his happiness, though.
We asked Lapis for some cutlery and tea and settled ourselves down at a table in the corner of the music room before tasting the cake.
Yup, delicious.
I’d been using my brain so much today that something sweet served as the perfect battery.