"Good morning, Miss Rose."
Her maid Liena came to wake Rose up. It's a dark morning and the sun hasn't even come out yet. In this village, children below Level 0 run in the morning before sunrise. Of course, there are morning exercises for levels 1 to 4, but it is almost always young children who run first thing in the morning. Rose chooses to go early because if she goes after breakfast, she'll run into other students at other levels. Rose was told there is a risk of injury if she run with larger children. The running distance is one lap around the mansion, and the higher the level, the greater the distance. Most people above Level 5 will have a job, so there is no obligation to run. Therefore, Rose is below level 0 and is naturally obliged to run every morning.
"Good morning, Liena."
"Here's a warm towel. I'll make some tea now."
Liena gave Rose a warm towel. She wiped her face and drank the offered tea. Liena quickly prepares Rose's exercise clothes. She was so busy yesterday that she barely got her clothes ready in time, so she is using the exercise uniform she bought in Dwipa. She purchased the exercise uniform from the same store she used to prepare for the Battle of Ooramorg. She bought two pairs, just in different colors. However, the scene from that night came back to her mind. It was a terrifying sight.
"Shall I help you get dressed?"
"No, I can do it myself."
Rose dressed, put on her shoes, and had another cup of tea. Liena braided Rose's long hair into a neat bun.
"Thank you, Liena."
"No, no. Shall we go then?"
"Yes."
Rose and Liena leave the room and go through the courtyard to the side garden. They met Yanagi who was already in the side garden.
"Good morning, Brother."
"Good morning, Rose. I see you're running in the morning."
"Yeah. What about you?"
"Today I'm helping the teacher."
"Then, I’m looking forward to finding out where you are."
"Yeah. But you seem like you'll be done running soon."
"Yeah, maybe."
"Then after we finish running, let's have breakfast together and see off Prince Jatayu. After that, we'll go to Keyaki and Yuri, so let's get ready early."
"Yeah. I'll go."
Rose went to where the other children were gathered. She greeted her teacher and was reunited with Lina from the lizard tribe and Elio from the wildcat tribe for the first time after a while. He remembered Rose and was happy to see those two again. Elio said he will take a level appraisal on the next double full moons. Apparently, there is a level appraisal on the night of double full moons. But Rose doesn't know what kind of appraisal it is. By the way, there are two moons, so when Rose asked which month the full moon was, Elio just answered that it was the night when both moons were perfectly full.
All the children had gathered, and the teacher instructed them to run. Rose finished the run more smoothly and quickly than she expected. It was shorter than the distance to go to the village at the foot of Mt. Ecoria to buy milk. And Rose didn't even know where Yanagi was.
"Rose, you've gotten really fast!"
Lina from the lizard tribe sat near Rose, who was waiting near the pond and complimented her.
"Yeah, I was surprised too. I always ran with my teacher, so I probably matched his speed without realizing it."
"That's right."
"But it's still more fun to run with kids your age."
"I agree."
Since everyone had reached the goal, today's morning run was over and everyone was dismissed. By the way, Sumire fell yesterday, so Rose was told that Sumire won't be running today. The doctor told her not to run until the swelling in her leg had healed.
Even though she is her older sister, Sumire is only two years old and a normal child. She was only a few days older than Rose. But she has never met her yet. I'll go see her next time, Rose thinks.
She returned to her room, bathing, and then got ready for the morning. She decides to wear something more fashionable since she will see Jatayu off today. She had bought a lot of clothes in Dwipa, so she decided to wear the beautiful one. It was a loose dress-like jacket made of silk fabric and a pair of pants of the same color. It had a cute floral pattern embroidered on it, and she really liked it. Liena helped finish Rose's hair and put on a beautiful ornament.
Yanagi is already waiting in front of the cafeteria for breakfast. He had a bag in his hand, and when Rose asked him about it, he answered he also wanted to do some shopping. The two entered the dining room, took their plates, sat in an empty spot, and meekly waited for their father and Jatayu. Various dishes were brought out one after another from the kitchen. As always, it's a hearty morning snack. And that embarrassing sound came from Rose's stomach.
"Ah, excuse me."
Rose apologized with her red face. She was kind of embarrassed.
"Hahaha, are you hungry? Let's hold out for a little longer."
"Yeah."
Yanagi patted Rose's head. And when he saw that brooch on Rose's chest, he laughed.
"It's the brooch Keyaki gave you, huh?"
"Yeah. Because we'll see Brother Keyaki, I'll show him this."
"That's right. He'll be happy too."
"Yeah"