Chapter 46: I Became a Mother

A bizarre scene unfolded: a child even smaller than the already small girl was clinging to her, kneading her chest.

What on earth…?

The Guild Master froze in place, his hand still outstretched to help the girl.

It was a situation that ordinary human imagination couldn’t possibly comprehend.

Who could have predicted this?

“Ah! Guild Master!”

The girl spotted him and raised both arms in welcome, hurriedly getting up.

Far from being hurt, she looked perfectly fine, her face even glowing.

Her bright smile as she ran over suggested nothing too bad had happened.

However.

“Uuu… Mama… Don’t leave me…”

“Ah! S-sorry! Come here! I’ll hug you!”

What interrupted their reunion wasn’t a formidable villain, but a tiny, unidentified child.

What the hell is going on here?

He had survived all sorts of incidents beyond the Gates.

Sometimes bombs would randomly fall from the sky.

Other times, tentacles would burst out of cracks in the ground.

“And it’s not ‘Mama’! It’s big sister… no, you should call me just sister.”

“Uung, no! Mama is Mama!”

Honestly, this scene before him was more bewildering than anything he’d experienced before.

Could it be that some villain was using a hallucination-type ability?

Or maybe he’d fallen into a trap.

So he clenched his fist to make a wound.

He blinked his eyes, shook his head, and tried to use his telekinesis.

He tried every method to break out of the hallucination, but.

“Guild Master? Are you feeling unwell?”

“Gild Masta! Are you not feeling well?”

Nothing changed.

Damn it.

Since I’m not crazy, this can’t be a hallucination.

As he stood there motionless, the girl approached, pulling on his wrist while holding the child tightly with one hand.

She tugged him along, grunting with effort, and sat him down in a chair in one corner of the room. Then she offered him a yellow drink from somewhere.

“Drink this!”

“Dwink this!”

No.

Who’d drink something of unknown origin in such a suspicious situation?

“I’m fine.”

As he said this, trying to refuse the drink.

The girl’s large eyes trembled, and she replied in a dejected voice.

“O-okay… If you say so…”

Hah.

How could he ignore that crestfallen reaction?

“No, I’ll drink it. I was thirsty anyway. Thank you.”

“Hehe.”

Even if it was a suspicious drink, it probably wouldn’t kill him.

Whatever else, the girl in front of him was real, and he trusted her.

Even if she was the kind of child who’d insist poisonous mushrooms were edible, she wasn’t the type to intentionally cause harm.

So he gulped down the drink, and a sourness that made his mouth pucker hit his brain.

“Ack! Kuk!”

It was lemonade.

The sourness was so intense it made his skin crawl and his back shiver, instantly clearing his mind.

Only then did he properly take in the girl, the child clutching her hand, and their surroundings.

He’d felt something was off since it got brighter and the air cleared.

The small room looked like a clean campsite, as if it were a completely different space.

The floor was covered with soft grass, and the walls and ceiling had cloud-patterned wallpaper.

The light in the center was decorated with colorful paper, like a sun.

The child clinging tightly to the girl’s hand like a lifeline looked about 7 or 8 years old.

“Hehehe! Kuk!”

“Tsk, you shouldn’t laugh at someone coughing.”

“I shouldn’t?”

“No, you shouldn’t.”

Somehow, the child’s appearance was strikingly similar to the girl’s, as if they were siblings.

He’d need a proper explanation to understand what had happened.

“Just… what on earth happened?”

At the Guild Master’s voice, unable to hide his confusion, the girl suddenly realized.

Come to think of it, I came here without saying anything, so everyone must have been worried!

That’s why the Guild Master came all the way here to find me, right?

“Hmm? What happened?”

The girl tried to lift the child, who wouldn’t leave her side and was looking up at her with bright eyes, to sit on the chair.

“Ungh…”

She failed.

She used all her strength to lift the child, but only managed to raise her about an inch.

“Kyahaha! That tickles!”

As the child started to squirm, she almost lost her balance and gave up on lifting her.

She could have solved this by using her Awakened ability, but she couldn’t risk hurting the child if she failed to control her strength.

“Phew…”

I guess the Guild Master and the monks who could lift me so easily were really amazing.

The girl quietly accepted reality and plopped down in place, hugging the child.

“Heheh! Mama’s warm! I like it!”

And so, with the child eagerly rubbing her cheek against her, she slowly began to tell her story.

*

Inside the room she’d entered with the mysterious man, all the girl could see was a small bathtub.

Huh?

Didn’t he say he’d show her his family?

But all she could see was a small bathtub, just big enough for one person, filled with water.

“Mister, where’s your family?”

The man silently stared into the bathtub, ignoring the girl’s question.

Could they be submerged in there?

The girl also looked at the bathtub, waiting quietly, following the man’s actions.

Then, with a splash-! she came face to face with a small being that appeared noisily, spraying water.

It was even smaller than the girl, who had become smaller as a woman.

Round, bright blue hair and skin.

It looked as if water had been molded into a person.

“Papa!”

Is that… supposed to be family?

Though it looked like a child, it clearly wasn’t an ordinary human.

Water droplets constantly dripped from its entire body, as if its flesh was melting.

And.

“Hold me! Hold me!”

The child tried to jump into the man’s arms, spreading its tiny arms wide, but.

“……”

The moment its body emerged from the bathtub, it lost its form and splashed onto the floor like a wave losing its power.

It wriggled and squirmed in the puddle on the moldy floor.

After struggling several times, it flowed into a drain and disappeared.

The man closed his eyes tightly, as if he couldn’t bear to watch.

What is this…?

Even the girl, who had seen all sorts of horrific things in the cult, couldn’t hide her shock.

Soon after, when the child popped up in the bathtub again.

“Papa! Hold me-!”

Tears rolled down her cheeks without her realizing it.

What sin could these people have committed to suffer like this?

If there was a hell for people with children, it couldn’t be worse than this.

The pain of the man watching his child constantly try to approach him, dying and coming back to life…

How agonizing it must have been.

God.

Is this… a punishment from God?

If not, then.

By sending me here to see this, does it mean You want me to save this person?

If I’m mistaken, You can take away my power anytime.

So for now, I’ll help this poor child.

Having assessed the situation, the girl immediately grasped the man’s hand tightly.

Even with the girl’s body heat, there was no sign of warmth returning to the man’s cold hand.

“Mister, I’ll help you. You came looking for me because you wanted to save the child, right?”

As she’d already sensed, the man wasn’t a normal living body.

“Yes. Because you could see me.”

“You’re already dead, aren’t you…?”

She couldn’t feel the emotions a normal person would have.

Most of the emotions she sensed from him were hatred, revenge, regret, and misfortune.

He was a body left with only raw resentment, enough to make the girl follow him as if entranced.

“Yes. Please… help my daughter…”

Though it was her first time meeting a living ghost like this.

“Okay. I’ll help you.”

The girl forced a smile, meeting the man’s eyes.

Mia will understand my situation this time, right?

She made a wish.

Is there a way for that child trapped in the bathtub to live with a normal body?

The answer came.

There is.

You need to make a contract to share the abundant energy in your body.

A contract?

She slightly furrowed her brow at the word that reminded her of a contract with a demon.

“…This isn’t related to demons, is it?”

Surprised by the girl’s negative reaction, the man urgently raised his voice.

“A spirit! I once heard the people trying to kill my child say she was a spirit!”

He was worried the girl might try to kill his daughter like other Awakened, but.

Even more than that, he wanted to save the child trapped in that small bathtub.

Thanks to this, the girl quickly made up her mind.

A spirit is like a fairy, right?

Fairies are good beings, so it should be okay to make this contract thing.

And so, she began the contract with the child in the bathtub using the method she’d learned through her wish.

Splash, splash.

She walked across the floor where puddles remained, approaching the bathtub.

“Uung?”

The child, who had been busy looking at the man, tilted its head.

“…Who are you?”

It retreated to the edge of the bathtub, keeping its distance.

Judging by the subtle trembling of the water, it was clearly frightened.

“Do you want to hug your dad?”

The girl spoke gently, carefully extending one hand.

“Uung…”

Though they looked like an older and younger sister with little age difference based on their arm length and appearance.

While patting the nodding child’s head-

“Shall we hold hands? I’ll help you get out of there.”

The girl’s appearance, comforting the child, shone like a noble saint for a moment.

Though she had been worried that her lack of eloquence might not be enough to persuade the child, those concerns were brief.

The child, who had been staring at the girl, also cautiously reached out its hand.

“Mm.”

A child dragged beyond the Gate and turned into a spirit.

Because of that, it had become unable to leave even the bathtub, but.

Thanks to this, it knew the girl had a pure body that had never committed any sins, so it felt no aversion.

And so, the girl’s and child’s hands touched.

As the Awakened’s energy connected, the child’s opaque body gradually began to take proper form.

“…Thank you so much. I’ll repay this favor somehow.”

Skin gradually taking on a flesh tone.

Short arms and legs, chubby cheeks and belly.

As the child’s appearance returned to normal, the man’s form gradually faded.

I can entrust my daughter to this girl.

Following the good energy I felt for the first time was the right choice.

Thanks to her, my daughter, cursed so terribly, can return to a normal life.

“But be careful from now on. Don’t follow strangers carelessly.”

The man, his grudge resolved, disappeared like that.

He felt he could leave the rest to the girl.

Because of this, he didn’t witness the scene that followed.

“Uung…?”

Daddy’s gone.

The confused child looked at the girl and.

“Mm?”

The warm energy, just like being in mom’s arms, the gentle gaze.

Although her chest isn’t as big as mom’s, mom is mom!

“Mama?”

“Uh, huh? Mama? Are you talking to me?”

“Mm! Mama! Like!”

The girl had become a mother.

—