Across a wide, empty lawn, a shout—alive with irritation—rippled through the wind-bent grass.

“Stop playing! We said we’d think up a plan together!”

The little girl kept rolling like a carefree tumbleweed, but she tossed back a line.

“Look, aren’t Remi and the others idle too? Why not make them think?”

“Remi and her lot have things to do! Not like you, lazy little girl!”

Meanwhile, inside the house where Remi and Flan were “busy”…

“Sis, sis, look! There’s this toy here—it was huge, like ten years ago. What was it called?”

Flan handed over a toy, about a dozen centimeters long, shaped like a turtle.

Lines on its face turned it into a snarling little beast.

“I think it’s called… Bobo? Yeah. It should be Bobo!”

Flan’s scream sliced the quiet like a silver bell.

“Ah!! As expected of big sis, you remembered the name!

Smart, witty sisters deserve rewards from their little sisters.”

It sounded like nothing—a flimsy excuse dressed up as gratitude, a ribbon on a pebble.

But who cared?

Flan scooted in and stamped a tiny-lipped kiss on Remi’s cheek.

Remi froze, then rebooted into a loop of “gu-he-he~” giggles like a stuck wind-up toy.

That was the “work” Remi and Flan were doing.

Outside, Alicia and Ling had no idea, like birds chirping under heavy clouds.

“Enough! Ling, don’t think your sister’s authority is a ghost!

Today I’m teaching this stubborn little sister a lesson!”

Ling didn’t budge. Even patient Alicia wouldn’t cross cold air just to coax a kid.

Threats were inevitable. Did they work? Not at all.

“Nyeh nyeh~ I won’t~”

Taunt, then run—the gamer’s gospel carved on her bones.

She popped up from the lawn like a flopping fish.

Her little feet darted, scattering dew like silver beads.

Maybe her body was just built frighteningly strong.

Even on grass, Ling felt fleet as wind, soles kissing air.

At full speed, light lagged behind and the world froze like a painted scroll.

Only she moved through the vastness, and it felt delicious.

Ah~ running is pure joy~

“Happy?”

Pull back the scene: Alicia held Ling by the collar.

Too-short legs bicycled in air, a dragonfly trapped in glass.

She couldn’t go anywhere, yet a smile bloomed like a spring flower.

It looked absurd, and oddly bright.

It took half a day’s strength to haul the fool back.

Alicia did gain something—a new ceiling for “idiocy.”

Spend a bit more time, and even that definition would ascend to the unbelievable, like clouds stacking higher.

“Tap…”

“No sleeping!”

Alicia yanked up the little head drooped on the desk, like lifting fog from water.

There wasn’t much for this one to handle.

Alicia had reviewed and signed everything; the kid just had to add her name.

But this kid had the legendary “touch pen, fall asleep” constitution.

For every character, Alicia had to haul her up; Ling lost a few hairs for it.

Knock knock—

A soft rap sounded. Remi entered and handed Alicia a stamp carved with Ling’s name.

Its meaning needed no words, like rain speaking for the cloud.

—First press of the stamp

“Clack!”

—Second press

“Whoosh-ta!”

—Third press

“Balala!”

—Fourth press

“ass♂ we♂ can♂!”

“Ohohoho—this is so fun!”

Ling stared at the stamp, amazed, eyes bright like stars in a pond.

Press it, and a strange sound chirped from within, a bird in a box.

Who knew how it worked?

Remi said a mysterious elder gifted this spell.

Whoever that bored elder was, Ling’s gratitude flowed endless, like a river.

With Ling happy, Alicia sagged onto the sofa in relief.

She finally understood how hard mothers had it—especially with foolish children.

She got her wish: a break.

Odd cries popped beside her—“Ora!” “Dula!” “Muda!” “Ah!!! (world-class vibrato).”

Still, that beat babysitting an eternal idiot.

At last Alicia could live an ordinary li—

“Ah!”

“What now!!!!”

Alicia exploded. Why wouldn’t the world give her one quiet minute?

Was an ordinary life really so hard, like catching wind in a jar?

Ling flinched at the roar.

Perched on her chair, she shrank, then raised a timid hand like a student.

“N-no… it’s just… staring at this stamp, I suddenly had an idea…”

“What idea?”

“For step one, let’s go find the Elvenfolk…”

Alicia’s anger stilled like rain easing.

A relieved smile surfaced—like a mother seeing her useless daughter finally useful.

But—

She slipped behind Ling and laced her hands at Ling’s waist.

She sank into a half squat, arms tightening like a bowstring.

Then she arched back in an impossible bend, carrying the bewildered girl through air.

“And how does that relate to the stamp!!!!!”

Thud!

A full-on suplex—the little head met the floor up close.

It looked painfully intimate, like stone kissing stone.