Mine (3)

“Guests~! Breakfast is ready!!”

A girl’s voice echoed through the house, waking everyone up.

Clang clang clang!

And matching the girl’s voice, a boy banging a ladle against a frying pan.

I looked at them as I shook the water off my hands at the sink.

“Ms. Yui, Mr. Ren. I think you might need to go wake them up personally?”

“Okay! Future brother-in-law!”

“Hmm.. it’s troublesome, but since it’s future brother-in-law asking, I have no choice.”

“……”

Since when did I become your brother-in-law?

Yesterday’s commotion and preparing breakfast together today seemed to have amplified their sense of familiarity.

“..Haha, I’ll leave it to you. Little siblings.”

I had a lot to say, but I decided to let it slide, thinking it was just children playing pretend.

As the children left the living room, I lowered my head and looked over the food I had prepared.

‘I prepared quite a lot in such a short time.’

Though I woke up around 6 AM as usual, it was a bit challenging with limited ingredients and side dishes.

Fortunately, thanks to the help of the children who woke up earlier, I was able to finish preparations just in time for breakfast.

“Yaaawn..”

As I was looking at the food with satisfaction.

Everyone began to walk out one by one.

“Oh, such a feast for breakfast?”

“Grrrr! So much meat..!!”

Narin coming out scratching her belly with a yawn like some unemployed person, and Irene approaching with her untamed bed hair, wagging her tail vigorously at the smell of meat.

“……”

“…uugh”

“Sister, wake up and come quickly~”

And Ga-yeon with wild, disheveled hair, followed lastly by Chise who could barely open her eyes as she was dragged by Yui’s hand.

I didn’t know about our kids, but I was surprised to find out that Chise was a heavy sleeper.

Anyway, with Chise finally arriving, I smiled and spoke.

“Everyone, please sit down. Let’s eat.”

“Did big brother make all of this?”

“It’s thanks to my little siblings who helped me.”

I gently patted the heads of the children who came running to my side.

“Ahem.”

“Hehe!”

Pleased with my praise, the children also showed proud smiles.

“I tried to make as much as possible, so I only roughly checked the taste, but..”

“No way! What do you mean roughly! I know it will be delicious! I-“

“Everything big brother makes is delicious to me.”

As Chise was waving her hands and speaking, Ga-yeon cut her off and opened her mouth.

“……”

Chise and Ga-yeon’s gazes scanned each other.

‘What’s going on..?’

I could sense that the atmosphere between Ga-yeon and Chise was unusually tense during this process.

They didn’t seem like this even yesterday.

“..Go ahead and pick up your utensils. The food will get cold.”

Feeling the atmosphere might get strange, I quickly changed the topic.

“Yes~”

“Chomp chomp! Mmm! It’s delicious!!”

And so, breakfast began.

Even after the meal started, the subtle tension between Chise and Ga-yeon didn’t dissipate.

Munch munch munch.

Chomp chomp chomp!!

They ate food rapidly as if competing.

It was a stark contrast to the peaceful dining atmosphere beside them.

‘It’s amazing how food doesn’t fly elsewhere when they eat like that.’

The meal continued for several minutes.

Despite the subtle atmosphere between the two, there was no awkwardness since they just quietly ate their food.

And when everyone at the table had finished eating, I brought out the dessert I had placed on the kitchen counter.

“What’s that?”

“I tried making muffins with the remaining time.”

“Wow! Can I eat it?”

“Of course, Ms. Irene. I prepared enough for each person to have at least one.”

I made a total of 8 muffins. That was enough for one per person with one left over.

“Nyom nyom! It’s delicious!”

“Oh? There’s one left. Big brother, what should we do with this?”

To Narin’s question, I simply answered.

“Hmm.. as for the remaining one, if anyone wants it, anyone can take it-“

Grab!

Chomp!!

But I quickly understood how bad that answer was.

As soon as my words ended, Chise and Ga-yeon instantly extended their chopsticks to snatch the muffin.

Their chopsticks became entangled and clashed in mid-air.

“‘This’ seems like mine no matter how you look at it.”

“‘This’ is clearly mine, right?”

Their gazes met.

“I saw it first, and grabbed it before anyone else. Isn’t it a nuisance to interfere after coming later?”

“You didn’t grab it, you were trying to grab it. Besides, aren’t you too young to possess something? How about graciously yielding to your elder sister?”

“……”

Are you two really talking about the muffin?

I felt an inexplicable chill and casually rubbed my innocent arm.

The standoff between the two continued for a while.

After they bickered, each elaborately explaining why they should eat ‘this’, for a moment.

When each of Ga-yeon’s arguments was blocked by Chise, she slightly changed her approach.

“Flat humidifier full of greed.”

“..W-what?”

Chise flinched at the sudden personal attack.

Not missing this opportunity, Ga-yeon looked at Chise’s upper body and smirked.

“No matter how much you eat, you only grew that much. Yield to me.”

“What does that have to do with this?!”

Chise shouted angrily, but her pupils were shaking mercilessly.

‘..What are you two doing.’

And Irene, Narin, Ren, and Yui were watching the scene as if they found it interesting.

“Flat-chested sister, your growth is complete. So the baby dies of starvation.”

“Don’t call me flat-chested!”

“Meanwhile, me? Still growing. Already past the flat chest stage. Therefore, yielding to me benefits future generations.”

As Ga-yeon raised her head shamelessly, Chise’s expression became blank for a moment.

She then let out a loud shout.

“No, I’m not that small!!”

“Everyone comforts themselves saying that.”

“This size is above average?! Look! Look at this quickly!”

Stop it..

Everyone except me seemed to have no intention of stopping them.

Thud.

Finally, to mediate their quarrel, I deliberately put down my chopsticks on the table with a sound.

“Enough. How can you fight at the dining table?”

And with young children watching too.

How do you think they’ll grow up watching this!

Only after my intervention could the two’s quarrel finally calm down.

‘Hah.. why are they fighting like this?’

I scratched my cheek, which had reddened even more than when we got off the plane yesterday.

“Is this the destination?”

Several hours later.

As per our original plan, we arrived at the location of the last Vestige of Mystery.

“..It’s high.”

A secluded mountain valley and long stairs extending upward.

If the information was correct, our target would exist at the end of those seemingly endless stairs.

“Do we have to climb up?”

“Of course we have to.”

At my words, they showed various reactions.

“Sniff sniff.. there’s a strange smell!”

“Climb up here..? It’s not even a hiking trail, why was this built?”

“When I heard what big brother was saying, I think it was some kind of shrine.”

“This level of stairs would be a breeze!”

For reference, Ren and Yui were left at their home.

I had originally planned to leave Irene behind too, but because she clung to me with her whole body and threw a tantrum, I had no choice but to bring her along.

‘At least Irene has consumed a lot of good Life Force, so she must have fulfilled the mana condition..’

Being a barrier-enclosed space makes me feel uneasy for some reason.

Well, if Irene shows any signs of being affected, I can ask someone to take her out.

She might also be perfectly fine without anything happening.

I shook off my thoughts and looked at the place that would be above the stairs.

‘According to what’s known, it’s simply an old, unmanaged shrine. But the reality is different.’

I thought about ‘it’ that would be continuously guarding the Vestige of Mystery up there, then shook my head.

“Let’s go up for now.”

So we moved our legs together toward our destination.

“Huff, hah.. hah..!”

From behind came the sound of labored breathing.

It was probably Narin, who had the weakest physical strength among us.

“Are you okay, sister?”

“Oh, Irene.. sister is dying, dying..”

Huff.. hah.. hoo.

Narin wasn’t the only one making these sounds.

I could feel that the breathing of the other kids was also becoming slightly more labored.

‘Just.. when.. hoo. Do we reach the top?’

It feels like we’ve been walking for a good 30 minutes..

Yet the shape of the shrine was nowhere to be seen.

We continued climbing the stairs.

30 minutes.

1 hour.

2 hours.

‘Something’s strange..’

It felt like my sense of time was being distortedly twisted.

My body was complaining of extreme fatigue beyond a normal level, and the shrine was still not visible.

“Hah..”

I was getting out of breath.

Sweat had soaked through my clothes, adding to their weight, and my mind was getting fuzzy.

“Haak.. aak..”

“Urgh..”

And.

The strangest thing among all this was.

“I’m sensing something’s wrong, and I’m not the type to walk mindlessly, yet?”

Wooong-!!

I immediately activated my ability to create a World Tree Branch.

Gooooo-

As the unique warm energy that stabilizes the human mind and body permeated through me, I was finally able to stop climbing the stairs.

“Haah..”

The fatigue that had made me feel like I was dying just a moment ago completely disappeared.

The sweat that had been pouring down felt like it had never been there at all, and my fuzzy mind cleared up as if I’d been splashed with cold water.

I looked around.

Everything was quiet. Even the panting breaths beside me had disappeared.

A situation that would seem abnormal to anyone.

‘..Since when was I under a hallucination?’

I continued to scan my surroundings while mulling over my thoughts.

Could something have changed? I surely came here according to the original story’s criteria.

“Is this place an illusion now? Or reality?”

Damn, I could deeply feel that things had gotten complicated.

Are the kids safe? I can’t afford to lose those personnel, even if I fail to secure the Vestige of Mystery.

I continued to look around.

Thinking that if this wasn’t reality, there might be some strange anomaly.

And if it was reality, to think about where they might be located now.

“Is it because of that thing guarding the Vestige of Mystery? If there’s been an unforeseen butterfly effect due to my actions-“

As I continued to mutter and tried hard to think, that’s when it happened.

Whoosh-!!

“Huh?”

From above the stairs, red flames rushing down like a wave.

“Oh shit-!!”

I tried to resist the approaching flame that was coming at an overwhelming speed, but it was too late.

Whuurururu-!!!

Woong-!

The wave of flames engulfed me completely.