"No need for flattery."
Higashino Makoto lazily waved a hand.
"How far she can go will depend on the trials ahead. The demi-humans won't give her much time."
Rita said nothing and continued pressing with her fingers.
Sunlight slowly shifted across the room, creeping from Higashino Makoto's feet to his knees.
The faint sounds of training drifted in from afar.
It was Neia practicing archery downstairs.
The whooshing of arrows cutting through the air, the thudding of arrowheads striking the bullseye, and the occasional muffled groans from the girl when she exerted herself too hard drifted rhythmically into the second-floor bedroom.
Higashino Makoto turned his head and glanced toward the window.
He could not see Neia from this angle, but he could clearly sense her presence.
That child had been training even more desperately lately. From dawn to dusk, aside from eating and sleeping, she barely stopped at all.
"How is Neia doing?"
Higashino Makoto asked casually.
"She's working very hard," Rita said.
"She has rubbed several blisters onto her arms, but she never said they hurt. When I applied medicine to them, she gritted her teeth without making a sound."
Rita's fingers moved to Higashino Makoto's forehead, slowly pressing along his brow bone.
"Still, Neia is more stubborn than Mr. Pavel. It seems she's competing with herself."
"Competing with herself?"
"Yes." Rita nodded slightly. "She still seems conflicted over what weapon a paladin should use. My lord said that the essence of a paladin was protection, not weapons. But she doesn't seem to have fully accepted that yet."
Higashino Makoto fell silent for a moment. He understood that habits and beliefs formed over a long time were not so easily changed.
"Then let her figure it out herself," he finally said.
"Some things are better understood once on your