~ Chapter 24: Sister’s new hobby ~

[Leonidas' point of view]

 My new extracurricular activity was seen as being a tad bit weird by my little sister, and at times as something curious. This was because I didn't spend as much time playing with her as I did before. Of course, I wasn't practicing for several hours a day, just an hour at most.

Cassandra would often glare at me whenever I picked up my sewing kit and went to ask one of the adults in the house to watch over me while I practiced. To be honest, there really wasn't a danger for me in using the sewing kit on my own. My memories from my past life prevented me from actually poking my eyes out with the needles, but I was good kid, so I listened to mother's humble request for adult supervision.

After the first two months of practicing, I realized I was really really bad at sewing and stitching. My hand to eye coordination for this skill was horrible, making me poke my fingers several times even if I wore protection. While it didn't happen all that often, I made sure not to let the adults find out about it. I never made a sound when the needle pricked my skin, and I endured the pain until my ridiculous regeneration did its job of healing me. If not for that, I would have given up on the first week.

There were many times when I wondered if maybe I really had no talent for it, seeing how horrible I was at it. This was until I happened to show the old lady at the tailor shop the fruits of my practice.

“You say you are no good at it, child, but all I see is a brilliant tailor in the making!” she told me while looking at the practice cloth I brought over.

“But... it's horrible.” I retorted as I pointed at my bad stitches.

“It may look that way now, but this is because you haven't practiced enough. Besides, I can tell from the way you sew these pieces of linen that you aren't satisfied with just having it stick together, you want it to have a certain pattern and take on a refined and elegant look. You are aiming for more than just the ability to patch up damaged clothes.” she smiled and then gave me back my practice cloth.

“What do you mean?” I asked furrowing my brow.

“Most of your time was spent sewing, correct?” she asked.

“Yes.” I nodded.

“Even though no one told you, but every good tailor knows that they can't even dream of advancing to making real clothes until they mastered this one skill. Most young apprentices who never touched a sewing needle need at least a year or two to reach this point, but you did it in just two months. You even understand the importance of making the sewing line look nice and even!” she smiled as she pointed at my practice cloth.

After this conversation with her, I was back to high spirits and ready to practice some more. I hoped for one day to reach the point where I could easily sew like a modern sewing machine.

That being said, I was far from making anything cute. Actually, all of my 'final products' were worthy of being called 'burnable garbage'. Despite these moments of disappointment, I was always pleased to see that I was progressing even if it was just a little. If it wasn't for this and the lack of other modern distractions, it probably would have taken me a whole lot longer to reach this point.

Since improving my basic skills in tailoring was the key to everything, whenever my cloth roles ran out, I would just reuse my completed creations. Knowing how to properly undo the sewing without damaging the material was also a skill that I needed to work on.

While I was having fun with this, my little sister was being left out. Unlike me, she had nothing else to do besides playing and training. As of lately, thanks to her ever increasing boredom and maybe a bit of envy of me having a hobby while she didn’t, she ended up trying to pester me as often as she could. I found it cute in a way, but she was disturbing my concentration flow, making me stab my fingers on several occasions.

One day, I concluded that this situation would just keep getting worse and worse if she didn't find something to do while I was tailoring. In other words, we had to split our time in training, playing, and individual hobbies.

Thus, I suggested this to her.

“A hobby? Me?” she asked tilting her head cutely.

It never occurred to her that she could also have one.

“Yes!” I smiled and nodded.

“But what? Brother stabs cloth with needles, and I don't like that.” she shook her head.

Is this how tailoring looks to you? I retorted in my mind.

“Ahem! Well, first of all, I'm not 'stabbing' the cloth with needles. It's called sewing, and it's a way to stick different pieces of cloth together or mend damaged ones. When I do this, most of the time, I use only ONE needle.” I lifted a finger up.

“But the other day, you almost turned aunty into a pin cushion.” she said tilting her head.

“I didn't stab her even once! I was careful! Also, when you are making clothes, you need more needles to stick the pieces together so you can get a good idea of how the final product might look like. That's why aunty's been working on a wood replacement I can use.” I nodded.

“I don't get it... Why not just go to the tailor and get it all done? It looks like wasted time to me. You should practice your sword with me or play with me instead!” she nodded, revealing her true intentions.

“Sigh... A hobby is different from that. Training is training and playing is playing, but a hobby combines both. You train to get better at that art and have fun while doing so. It's something you discover, not force upon yourself. If I didn't like tailoring, I would have given it up by now, but I find it fun. Do you understand?” I explained.

“Something fun? Like conquering the world?” she asked with a gleaming smile.

I simply narrowed my eyes at her and retorted without hesitation “NO! What are you?! The Demon Queen?!”

“Muuu! You're no fun, big brother!” she pouted.

“Sure. Sure. I'm no fun because I don't want to conquer the world with you.” I waved her off.

“Muuu!” she puffed her cheeks and glared at me “Well, I don't understand what you mean by hobby! It sounds like a waste of time to me! I don't even know what to start with!” she then struck her palm with the bottom of her fist as if she suddenly got a brilliant idea “I know! You suggested this, you come up with something for me!” she pointed at me and smirked “Take responsibility, big brother!”

I narrowed my eyes at this little devil who just pushed the whole thing on my shoulders. She was half right, but she was also half wrong. This wasn't something I could suggest, it was something she had to discover on her own.

Letting out a sigh, I scratched the back of my head and thought about it for a moment.

“How about reading?” I asked.

Gaming was out of the question, so reading was a safe option.

“What? Why?” she asked confused.

“To smooth out your whole image.” I replied.

“Huh? I don't understand...” she tilted her head.

“Let me put this way. Most of the time, you look like a princess that goes out of the castle with a big sword on her back while saying 'I'm off to slay the dragon!' to the army of knights behind her as if it was something everyone in her position would normally do.” I explained while narrowing my eyes at this barbaric, yet cute, definitely cute, little sister of mine.

“So? Even you think so!” she giggled.

For her that was a compliment not an insult.

“Aaand exactly that's why I believe reading or something the like would be the best hobby for you!” I declared with a nod.

Cassandra put on a serious expression as she thought about it.

After a minute or so, she replied while shaking her head left and right “I don't get it. A princess that can slay a dragon sounds normal to me.”

I almost fell out of my chair. I thought she was thinking about picking up reading as a hobby or something like that, but she was just wondering about the whole image thing.

Letting out a sigh, I rubbed my forehead with a finger while trying to think of what was the best way to explain things to her.

When I was just about to give up, I got an idea.

“Little sister, do you remember when aunty Eliza told us that it's no good to practice all day long?” I asked.

“Yes. But we don't get tired like her, and we recover faster from exhaustion too!” she pointed out.

Yeah... I can't tell her that's not normal either... I thought.

“True, but the point is that you need a certain... erm... variety of actions in your daily routine in order to allow your mind to absorb information in the best way possible.” I stopped when I noticed her eyes turning into dots. “Erm... How should I say this? Because I picked up tailoring, I've been doing better at sword fighting and magic, right? Even aunty Eliza said so, remember?” I smiled, hoping I got through to her.

“Hm...” she knitted her brow and stared at the floor.

She's so cute! I squealed in my mind.

“Reading you say?” she asked.

“If you don't find a story you like, you can always try to write your own, just don't copy it word by word from others. Respect the work of other authors.” I pointed out.

“Alright... I'll give it a try!” she nodded and then walked over to the opened window.

She was full of determination

What's she planning? I wondered.

It was a sunny day outside, just perfect to enjoy an outdoor cup of tea, and mother was doing just that.

Unfortunately, in my desire to suggest a good hobby for my cute little sister, I forgot a very important and crucial detail.

“Mother! Teach me how to read and write!” shouted Cassandra from the window, causing several birds to be spooked and fly off into the distance.

Oh yeah... We're five... We don't know how to read and write yet... I thought while face-palming myself.