Since I had gone to bed early without doing much, I woke up quite early the next morning.

Opening the window and listening carefully, I could hear lively voices from shops that had already started their business for the day.

The energetic calls seemed to be coming from the direction of the market.

Still slightly drowsy, Ivy and I wandered through the mansion.

Checking on Katya just in case, I found her sleeping soundly, breathing peacefully.

She seemed exhausted and was deeply asleep.

We were supposed to have breakfast together, but we hadn’t set a specific time.

Since it looked like she’d take a while to wake up, I decided to go for a short walk.

“Mii!”

As we walked, Ivy seemed to have shaken off her drowsiness and was now confidently puffing out her chest.

Together, we headed toward the stable where Sanshita was.

“Hihiin…”

“Bururuu.”

As always, the horses in the stable stiffened in fear at the sight of him.

They seemed sleep-deprived, their voices lacking energy.

It turns out that animals are highly sensitive to hierarchy.

‘Zzz… Huh? Oh, Boss Bruno, Big Sis Ivy! Thanks for your hard work!’

Completely unfazed by the horses, Sanshita had been sleeping soundly, but he immediately woke up when he sensed us approaching.

Wait… “hard work”? We haven’t done anything remotely like work since arriving in the royal capital.

“So, Ivy. What exactly are you planning to do with Sanshita?”

“Mii… Mii-mii!”

A magic circle appeared in front of Ivy—then she was suddenly enveloped in a purple light!

In the blink of an eye, she vanished completely, without a trace.

“Huh? Ivy? Where did you go!?”

“……ii……”

I looked around, but of course, Ivy was nowhere to be seen.

Could she have just disappeared in that instant?

Was that… teleportation magic?

Has she really mastered something like that—

“……Mii……”

Just as I was thinking that, I thought I heard Ivy’s voice from somewhere.

It was so small that if I didn’t strain my ears, the surrounding noise would drown it out completely.

“Miii~”

“Ivy!—Wait, you’re ridiculously tiny!?”

Ivy had always been able to change her size at will.

But this time, she was smaller than I had ever seen before.

She was even smaller than my pinky fingernail.

If I hadn’t been told she was there, I wouldn’t have noticed her at all.

She was so tiny that if she were walking on the ground, I might accidentally squish her.

Well, knowing her, she’d probably come out unscathed even if that happened.

“Miii~”

Still tiny, Ivy floated gently in the air, and another magic circle appeared in front of her, identical to the one before.

‘A-Ahh! I’m being engulfed by the light toooo!’

This time, Sanshita was wrapped in the same purple light that had enveloped Ivy.

Already having an idea of what had happened, I focused my eyes as hard as I could.

And there he was.

Right in front of me, Sanshita was sitting on the ground in a daze, his belly pressed flat against the floor.

‘M-My body shrank… (sniff, sniff)’

I had never seen Sanshita in a handheld size before.

So, Ivy’s ability to shrink herself could now be used on others as well?

When I asked, she shook her head from side to side.

So, it wasn’t an all-powerful ability.

Well, that makes sense—if she could shrink enemies at will, she could just step on them, and every battle would be an easy win.

Apparently, this power only worked on creatures connected to Ivy, like me and Sanshita.

Surprisingly, I could also shrink.

I was tempted to try it, but since we didn’t have much time, I decided to save it for another day.

Opening my pouch, the floating Ivy and the wing-flapping Sanshita slipped inside.

They were now small enough to fit snugly inside together.

It was a tight fit, and Ivy frowned slightly.

Peeking their heads out from the pouch, the two of them looked like nothing more than dolls.

This way, it would just seem like I was carrying around some mascots.

“Alright, let’s go!”

Putting on the sunglasses I bought yesterday for disguise and a hat to hide my hair color, I stepped out into the streets of the royal capital once more.

And thanks to our disguises, we were able to enjoy sightseeing without worrying about the stares of others—