Short Story: Troubling Tooth

“Ugh, it never ends…” I sighed quietly as I looked at the seemingly infinite piles of papers on my desk.

There were an awful lot of official things to handle in Brunhild. And there would’ve been even more if it weren’t for Kousaka and Yumina. Their help was invaluable. Yet I still had a mountain of stuff in front of me, and if I stopped for even a day, then it would just mean even more piled-up work…

The actual work was simple enough, but since it was mostly just approving or denying proposals, it wasn’t something I could hand off to someone else. Though, compared to other countries, which had noble affairs and other troublesome matters to attend to, it was all relatively stress-free.

Hmm… Maybe life would be easier if I created some noble families, though… I could hand off some land and let them handle the day-to-day dealings… Ack, wait… I can’t get lost in thoughts. Gotta work, gotta work…

Right as I put my head back down to work, the door smashed open and Linne charged into my office.

“Linne! Don’t barge in like that!”

“Shh!”

Linne put her finger up to her mouth as if to silence me, even though she was the cause of the ruckus to begin with. She then ran right past me and hid in a nearby wardrobe. I tried to call out to her, but she shushed me again and fell silent… Was she playing hide-and-seek or something? As if to answer my question, a knock came at the door.

“Come in.”

“Sorry to interrupt, Touya… Have you seen Linne?”

The person at the door was none other than Linze, Linne’s mother… Pieces of the puzzle began to fit together in my mind, and I realized our daughter must have been on the run.

“Uhhh… No, I haven’t seen her, why? What do you have there?”

I couldn’t help but remark on the pliers Linze held in her hands. It was the kind of thing I’d have expected Quun to be carrying around, not her.

“Oh, Linne says she has a wobbly tooth, so I’ve decided to pull it out,” Linze said then smiled gently, betraying no trace of malicious intent. She earnestly meant what she’d said.

“Can’t you just tie a string around it and yank it out?”

“I tried that, but it didn’t work…so this is the best way to deal with it.” Linze let out a small sigh as she spoke, clicking the pliers.

It was probably just a baby tooth that’d fall out on its own if left alone, but it’d be bad if Linne accidentally swallowed it or something, so it seemed wise to get it yanked out as soon as possible. With that thought in mind, I walked over to the wardrobe and flung it open. Linne stared at me from within, a look of hurt and betrayal painted over her face.

“It’s okay, I’ll take it out. It won’t hurt.”

“…Really?”

I smiled warmly at Linne and sat her on my desk, placing a hand on her shoulder as if to reassure her.

“[Apport].”

“Ah!”

A baby tooth appeared in my hand, just like that.

“Did it hurt?”

“It didn’t… Mom, look! It came out!”

“Wow… We should’ve just asked Touya from the start.”

Linze clicked the pliers in her hands again… Something about her expression seemed almost disappointed. It was honestly terrifying. I chuckled nervously, then handed over the tooth to Linne for her to presumably put under her pillow later on.

With that, the two intruders headed out and I set back to work. Sadly, there was still a whole mountain of it demanding my attention…