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Chapter 11
Since Laila had given me permission, I had advanced to a higher class, but I couldn’t enter it right away.
As it happened, that class had gone outside for an activity.
So I decided to return home early today, and that was how I ended up coming to see Pierre.
‘But does this guy always stay by the fountain no matter when I come?’
Even as I wondered about it, I excitedly chattered away about how impressive I had been at the educational institution today.
This shameless father of mine didn’t stop making me dive underwater or run laps in the middle of my story.
“What exactly is there to be excited about? In the end, if you can’t wield the power of water, you’ll be weeded out there.”
“Wow… Master, what a poetic way of putting it.”
“Poetic?”
“Not an insult! You know? Poetic. Like poetry.”
I spoke while diligently repeating squats.
“And I’m not that hopeless, you know? Look. Have you ever seen a three-year-old with this much stamina, Master? I’ll probably be able to break rocks soon.”
“How peculiar.”
Pierre slightly furrowed his brow.
He looked like he was observing something strange.
“You cannot create water, yet your physical abilities continue to improve.”
He had a point.
I was also puzzled by that.
With every passing day, I could feel my body getting stronger, but creating water—the most basic ability—was still incredibly difficult.
Why was that?
“Don’t worry, Master. I’m not going to go around getting beaten up.”
“Perhaps.”
“Hm?”
Pierre seemed to mutter something, but I couldn’t hear it.
He stood up.
“Follow me.”
“Huh? Where?”
“There is something I need you to do.”
Something he needed me to do?
I tilted my head.
This was the first time we were going to do something other than training whenever we met.
‘Gasp! Is this a sign? A dramatic father-daughter bonding moment?’
My fourth life after reincarnating into a childcare novel!
Could I finally get to witness the family members falling for the classic “Daddy” act…?!
That was what I thought.
But what I encountered was nowhere near what I expected.
“Um, Master… what is this?”
Spread out before me was the sight of a completely trashed room.
‘Wait, I never thought I’d actually be allowed inside here…’
When Pierre told me to follow him, I had assumed we were going to some impressive training ground.
I thought perhaps he was finally going to start giving his disciple some more serious training.
But the place we arrived at was, surprisingly, the building where Pierre lived.
Most of the buildings in the western part of the territory were rather shabby, but the building where Pierre lived alone gleamed as though it were brand-new.
‘It looked like the only intact house in the middle of a collapsing ruin.’
Well, even though he lived quietly, the person residing here was someone as powerful as the head of the Orca family.
‘Grandmother always made sure those who possessed strength were properly rewarded in this family.’
She probably thought even this wasn’t enough and wanted Pierre to return to the main estate because he found his current place too small.
But there was no chance of that happening.
Orcas were generally stubborn.
There were plenty of them who would rather die than admit something was wrong, and Grandmother and Dad were no different.
Anyway, getting to enter the building where my father lived was nice and all…
‘But why am I seeing this?’
That’s right.
Pierre hadn’t merely brought me into his residence.
He had taken me to the best room.
And naturally, the best room was his bedroom.
Amazingly, this bedroom was…
An absolute disaster.
It was so messy that I wondered how anyone could possibly live like this.
‘……I’m pretty sure one of his subordinates told me in my previous life that Pierre liked things clean?’
I stared around the room with an incredulous expression before looking at Pierre.
“Master, is this a pigsty?”
“How unpleasant. Comparing it to a land animal.”
Oh.
Dad, are you a land-animal hater too?
For some reason, I suddenly felt a strange sense of kinship.
I obediently apologized.
“Sorry, sorry. I was just so shocked that it slipped out… Anyway, what’s with this mess? The cleaner fish might mistake it for garbage and eat everything.”
Despite my brutally honest assessment, Pierre didn’t get angry.
Instead, he simply said:
“The place you will clean.”
“Ah, cleaning… What? What did you say?”
“I said it’s the place you will clean.”
What was this father of mine saying?
He wanted me to clean this filthy room?
I looked at all the things scattered around the room before raising my head again.
‘Now that I look closely… his bed is perfectly clean.’
Indeed.
The area around the bed where Pierre presumably slept was strangely immaculate.
The rest of the room, however, was an absolute catastrophe, as though he had deliberately left it that way.
“The power of water originates from a calm state of mind.”
In other words, he was telling me to clean while training my mind.
What kind of nonsense is this man spouting?
‘He still has absolutely no awareness that I’m three years old. Meditation for a three-year-old? Seriously?’
And putting my age aside…
“Don’t lie. You said the power of water is strongest when you want to hit someone.”
“You know quite a lot.”
“Of course. I’m smart. Is that all? The power of water is also connected to an orca’s emotional state.”
“……”
Upon hearing that, Pierre grabbed his chin and slowly tilted his head.
That expression…
Every time he made that face, my training somehow increased.
As I grew wary, Dad’s lips slowly parted.
“You sometimes… speak as though you know that power extremely well. Almost as if you’ve used it before.”
“……”
“Though that would be impossible.”
It is possible.
I was the strongest aquatic creature in my previous life, after all.
Obviously, I couldn’t say that.
So for the first time in a while, I pretended to be innocent and looked away.
The stronger one’s abilities, the sharper their instincts became.
To divert Pierre’s attention, I reached toward one of the objects scattered across the floor.
“So I have to organize all this?”
“Neatly.”
“…Cleanly?”
“Of course.”
“Master, I wasn’t going to say this, but… is there a rule that the person who makes the mess and the person who cleans it have to be different people?”
“That’s right.”
His answer was so shamelessly confident that I quietly lowered my hand.
I knew that look in Dad’s eyes far too well.
One more word, and I’d get a taste of the power of water.
‘There’s absolutely no doubt about it. That orca has completely forgotten that I’m three years old. Absolutely no doubt!’
Grumbling under my breath, I walked over to the nearest object and picked it up.
I was just wondering where I should put it when—
“When organizing, use the power of water.”
“Hmm?”
“You’ve realized yourself that you unconsciously distribute the power of water among your strength, stamina, and agility.”
That was true.
There was no other way to explain how I could leave scratches on rocks or run ten laps without getting tired.
But I still couldn’t create water.
“The objects here include things that you cannot handle with your physical strength alone.”
“That’s true. Master, I really think you’re incredibly messy—”
I abruptly changed my words after feeling the familiar pressure.
“—I mean, I think people can be messy sometimes.”
“If your awakening is close, the only way to induce it is to continuously use your power. Instead of simply running, try this method.”
Pierre explained that moving objects and putting them in their proper places required the use of several different senses.
As I listened to his explanation, a question occurred to me.
“Master, does that necessarily…”
Does that mean you deliberately messed up this room to train me?
I quickly shook my head.
‘No way.’
Because as soon as he finished giving me his instructions, Pierre went to his bed as though he had been waiting for the moment.
He flopped down lazily and stared out the window.
As if he didn’t care what I did.
As if he had absolutely no interest in me.
It was familiar.
Even in the open area by the fountain, Pierre had ordered me to run laps before taking up that same posture.
If you watched him quietly, he looked like someone who had no attachment to anything in this world.
Like he might disappear at any moment.
‘Is everyone who’s sick and frail like that?’
I was living through my fourth life, but I had only ever died from illness once.
And even that had been a sudden case of tetanus, so I couldn’t really understand the feelings of someone like Pierre, who had apparently spent so long being weak and sick.
“Master, where do I throw away the trash?”
“Over there.”
Without looking at me, Pierre pointed somewhere.
After cleaning for a while, I discovered something that didn’t belong in this room.
A pure-white lace handkerchief.
There was cherry-blossom-colored lace around the edges, making it look like it didn’t belong to Pierre.
It stood out among all the other objects.
‘Where am I supposed to put this?’
I tilted my head while holding the handkerchief.
Pierre was a surprisingly decent teacher.
He didn’t like saying unnecessary things during training, and he had no hesitation about ruthlessly increasing the number of laps I had to run.
Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t want to disturb that handsome father of mine, who was either deep in thought or simply spacing out.
But…
“Master, where should I put this?”
