Hearing the noise from behind, Shilo sneered. He activated his holy power to store all the snacks into the Saintess’s ring. Since these were items meant for her anyway, using her ring was only logical.
Afterward, he left the main cathedral and headed toward the dormitory to find Marcus’s room. Following the path in his memory, he knocked on a door but received no response for a long time.
“Is he out?” Shilo whispered.
“Sir Knight, are you looking for Mr. Marcus?”
Shilo turned toward the voice and found a young woman dressed in a plain linen dress with a coarse cloth apron tied over it. Judging by the church emblem on her shoulder, she was likely the manager of this dormitory or held a similar position.
“Yes, Miss. You are…?”
“Sir, my name is Marianne. I’m the newly arrived manager of this dormitory. Mrs. Vanessa, who recently retired, is my grandmother.”
The girl named Marianne placed her right hand over her heart and spoke with a hint of pride. Shilo nodded; it was just as he had thought.
“Miss Marianne, by what you said just now, do you know of Knight Marcus’s whereabouts?”
“Of course, Sir Knight.”
“Mr. Marcus took his daughter to the training grounds early this morning. If you need him, you can find him there.”
Shilo gave a slight nod of thanks and bid Marianne farewell. Marianne watched Shilo disappear around the corner, muttering something under her breath.
“Still… it’s quite a surprise that an old fellow like Marcus has a daughter.”
“Also, that person just now should be Knight Shilo, right? He’s so young, and he has a good relationship with Marcus. According to the information Grandma gave me, he should be considered a good marriage prospect…”
***
On the other side, Shilo passed the main cathedral and arrived at the training grounds in the rear. The training grounds of the church occupied an area roughly the same size as the dormitory building, but the utilization rate was outrageously low. So much so that he spotted Marcus’s figure as soon as he arrived.
At that moment, Marcus had a long face, leaning back in a chair with two large dark circles under his eyes. His gaze was fixed on a young girl not far away. The girl wore a plain linen top and dark shorts, swinging a wooden sword in the center of the training ground as if no one else were around. Her focused expression caused even Shilo to take a few extra looks.
Marcus noticed Shilo’s arrival, and his pent-up resentment immediately found an outlet.
“You brat, you finally decided to show up! Hurry up and take this child away. I can’t take it anymore!” Marcus clutched his head, complaining in great pain.
Shilo didn’t bother to pay him any mind. He sat down beside him and pointed at the girl still swinging the sword, his expression somewhat confused.
“What’s the deal with her? Is your way of babysitting just letting her practice the sword?”
Marcus rolled his eyes. “Do you think I wanted this? This child woke up that same night and started crying immediately. She’s giving me a massive headache.”
“If I hadn’t accidentally discovered she was interested in swords, this child would still be crying right now. Believe it or not.”
Shilo’s expression turned a bit strange. However, seeing how miserable Marcus looked from the torment, it didn’t seem like he was faking it just to dodge responsibility.
He looked back at the girl and noticed she was swinging the sword with a smile on her face, seemingly finding genuine joy in it. The problem was, would a normal girl her age like such things?
Shilo didn’t understand, but he showed respect. He would have to wait until he returned to ask the Saintess, as she was the one who had saved her.
“Marcus, more importantly, I have business with you. First, there’s this.”
As he spoke, he pulled out a coin pouch. Marcus took it, weighed it in his hand, and opened it. Inside were more than ten gold coins, a large number of silver coins, and a few copper coins.
“Holy crap, so much! Where did a brat like you get this money?”
Shilo pulled Marcus’s hand off his shoulder with a look of disgust and gave him an annoyed glare. “Don’t touch me. I’m not interested in men. As for where the money came from, what business is it of yours?”
This money was what he had saved up little by little. This time, he had almost completely emptied his savings, but Shilo didn’t care much about it. In his view, money was meant to be spent; if it wasn’t used, it was no different from scrap paper. Living on a self-sufficient farm meant he didn’t need that much money anyway.
He decided to pay on the Saintess’s behalf. However, if the quality of teaching turned out to be poor, he would just have to deduct it from the Saintess’s private stash later.
Marcus laughed. The moment he saw the money, his exhaustion vanished. He excitedly stuffed the coin pouch into his bag, causing alarm bells to ring in Shilo’s head.
“Hey, you old bastard. If you dare take that money to find women, I’ll cut that thing off tomorrow to prevent any future trouble.”
“Holy — !”
Marcus was shocked. He jumped up, clutching his crotch and backing away. Seeing his reaction, Shilo’s lips twitched. This bastard really dared to think about it…
He felt a bit of regret. His gaze drifted past Marcus and slowly moved toward his crotch.
‘Should I just go ahead and snip it?’
This look made Marcus feel a chill between his legs. He moved even further away, his expression extremely wary.
Just then, the girl focused on her sword practice noticed the commotion. She lowered her wooden sword and looked at Shilo, her expression suddenly becoming panicked.
In the next moment, she carried the wooden sword and jogged over to Marcus’s side, grabbing the edge of his clothes. Her voice carried a hint of a tremble.
“Mama…”
Marcus’s face darkened, while Shilo raised an eyebrow. He sized Marcus up and down, then spoke hesitantly.
“Marcus, when did you change your gender? How come I didn’t know?”
“You son of a — “
Halfway through, Marcus forced himself to stop his swearing. With a sullen face, he reached out and rubbed the girl’s head with incredibly gentle movements.
“Good Grace… don’t be afraid. This big brother won’t hurt you. Are you tired from practicing the sword? Do you want to take a rest for a bit?”
As he spoke, Marcus picked up the girl named Grace and sat her down on a chair. He rubbed Grace’s little head again, sporting a strange and exaggerated smile. “Be good… rest here for a while. I need to talk to big brother about something first, okay?”
His tone was so gentle it made Shilo shudder. It was hard to imagine such a voice coming from a grown man.
And Marcus, the source of the voice, almost felt sick enough to vomit himself. But for now, he could only endure the discomfort to soothe the girl.
It wasn’t until Grace let down her guard and fell asleep on the chair that Marcus stood up, draped his coat over her, and dragged Shilo further away.
Along the way, Shilo’s gaze was extremely strange, making Marcus fume with rage. Yet, he didn’t dare to curse out loud, fearing he might wake the little ancestor nearby.
Once they were far enough away, he finally dared to raise his volume slightly.
“I’ve really been screwed over by you guys! This child acts more like my ancestor than my own father did. Is it too late for me to regret this?”
A flash of sympathy crossed Shilo’s eyes as he patted Marcus on the shoulder.
“Marcus, honestly, take good care of that child. Otherwise, the consequences might be more serious than you think. Remember this, one of the few pieces of advice I’ll ever give you.”
Marcus gave a perfunctory response. Seeing that Shilo still had no intention of leaving, he asked, “What? You’re not leaving? Are you waiting for me to keep you here for a meal? Since when did you want to get on such good terms with an old fellow like me?”
Shilo shook his head. He gazed at Marcus with deep confusion, his tone exceptionally serious.
“Marcus, why are you stopping me from becoming stronger?”