A minute later, Pittman, feeling that he truly could not bear to watch any longer, patted Byron on the arm. "That's enough crying. We still have work to do."
"When did I cry?" Byron glared at the little old man before him. "I was just overwhelmed for a moment and couldn't help feeling emotional!"
"Fine, fine, pretend I didn't see anything," Pittman muttered, casually handing Byron a handkerchief. "Hurry up and wipe your face. Don't let your soldiers see you like this when you go outside."
"You've never raised a child. You wouldn't understand..."
Pittman rolled his eyes. "Who says I haven't? Didn't I raise Amber? She was nearly ten before she learned to talk, and I didn't react nearly as dramatically as you did."
Ordinarily, Byron considered himself inferior to no one in eloquence. Even if Pittman was famous for his thick skin, Byron was confident he could argue the little old man into silence. But at this moment, he clearly had no mood to bicker. The gray-haired knight merely gazed with slightly reddened eyes at Pea, who was smiling at him. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes creased layer upon layer. "Wonderful... wonderful... Does anything feel uncomfortable?"
"At first... a little... numb..." Pea said with some effort. But her voice soon grew smoother. Though it was merely synthesized by the vocal device, it seemed to gain more and more lively emotion. "But now... it's much better..."
"That's good, that's good," Byron said repeatedly. Then he had Pea turn around and looked at the metal Nerve Strands lying quietly against the back of his adopted daughter's neck. "Does this feel heavy? Will it become uncomfortable if you wear it for too long?"
"It does have some weight to it," Pittman said. "After all, the Weight-Reducing Rune requires