The Town of Shining Stone (5)

It was one day, about three months after I began learning sculpture from Maios-sensei.

"You're the elf who's been with my father lately?"

At the usual time in the afternoon, a young man still young enough to be called a boy stopped me as I headed to Maios-sensei's workshop.

With one hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist, he stared at me with undisguised wariness. His face had a refined air and bore a strong resemblance to Maios-sensei's.

Judging from his words and appearance, he must have been Maios-sensei's third son—the youngest... Kretos, I believe.

Kretos Marmaros.

Born into the House of Count Marmaros, he had chosen not to pursue a ruler's path like his two older brothers, instead wishing to make a name for himself as a warrior.

I had heard that he had thrown himself into martial pursuits because he could not stand seeing the House of Count Marmaros scorned by Siglea's other nobles as lacking in martial spirit.

For that reason, and with the rebelliousness typical of adolescence thrown in, I had heard that he and his father, Maios-sensei, did not get along particularly well.

To Kretos, I must have looked extremely suspicious: a stranger who had appeared out of nowhere, grown close to his father, and was now learning sculpture from him...