chapter_0497

497 – Transaction

497 – Transaction

“Uh…”

We were left speechless by the unexpected arm-separation magic.

With our mouths agape in shock, Levinas pushed the severed arm into the shoulder of the middle-aged man.

Push- push-

As he forced the separated arm in, it wouldn’t attach, so he tapped it as if hammering.

Despite Levinas’s various efforts, the arm ultimately wouldn’t stick.

“……”

Levinas wore a blank expression similar to Gaeul’s.

Then he suddenly collapsed to his knees.

“Levinas has detached an arm…!”

Levinas cradled the steel arm in his embrace and pressed his forehead against the ground.

He didn’t hit it hard, just enough to make a soft thud.

“I will surely repay this grudge…!”

A grudge, huh.

Was he so shocked that he couldn’t think of the right words?

In fact, I was in a similar situation as Levinas.

“Hehe, actually this…”

It was just as the middle-aged man was about to say something.

Gaeul, who had been watching us with a blank expression, picked up the steel arm cradled in Levinas’s embrace.

“Woo-woo-woo!”

Gaeul made an ambulance sound and ran off somewhere with the arm.

We watched Gaeul’s retreating figure in a daze.

“My arm.”

“Oh.”

Snapping back to reality at the middle-aged man’s mumble, I ran after Gaeul.

The children followed behind me.

“Gaeul!”

“Woo-woo-woo!”

Gaeul moved to the Ggaemmi Guild’s storage with the fallen arm.

She tiptoed to peek inside the storage and, confirming no one was there, dashed toward the Dawn Guild building.

“Gaeul!”

“Woo-woo-woo!”

Gaeul stopped in front of Ensia, who was loitering on the first floor of the guild.

Gaeul bounced up and extended the arm toward Ensia.

“Look! Look!”

“This is… an arm.”

“Hek…!”

Ensia nodded at Gaeul.

She had a proud look on her face.

“Excellent. To bring back the enemy’s arm like this.”

“Huh?!”

“Isn’t it?”

Gaeul’s eyes widened as if they might pop out, and Ensia seemed to realize her mistake, hesitating.

In the midst of their exchange, Levinas ran in, waving the arm.

“Levinas…! Levinas has pulled out an arm…!”

“Oh. It was you, Levinas. Well done.”

“Ugh!”

At Ensia’s praise, Levinas collapsed to his knees.

Seeing the wailing Levinas, Ensia knelt slightly and reached out her hand toward his back.

I decided to inform the flustered Ensia of the truth.

“Ensia, this isn’t the enemy’s arm.”

“Then whose…?”

“It’s just the arm of a passerby.”

“Excuse me…?”

At this unexpected revelation, Ensia’s complexion turned pale.

Did she think there was no way out for her as well?

Gaeul made the ambulance sound again.

“Woo-woo-woo.”

As Gaeul spun around Ensia making the ambulance sound, the middle-aged man approached us, slightly out of breath as if he had run to catch up.

“Can you turn my arm back?”

“Ugh…”

Gaeul’s ears drooped.

She had been running around trying to reattach the arm, but it seemed she was disheartened by the failure.

“Don’t worry, it can be reattached.”

“Huh?”

The middle-aged man reinserted his arm.

Clunk-

With the sound of machinery clicking into place, the arm reattached.

The middle-aged man moved the steel arm around, wiggling his fingers.

“Whoa!”

“Wow!”

Levinas and Gaeul were more astonished than when the arm had fallen off.

In contrast, Bomi’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the reattached steel arm.

“That’s amazing. Should I switch to a mechanical arm too?”

“But then you wouldn’t have an arm, would you?”

“Um…”

Bomi looked down at her perfectly fine arm.

In deep thought, her tail perked up.

“Oh, wait?! No?!”

“Hehe.”

As I gasped in shock, Bomi covered her mouth and laughed.

I thought she was going to detach her original arm to attach a mechanical one, but thankfully it was just a joke.

“Hey, can you keep pulling and reattaching this arm?”

“Of course, it’s mechanical.”

“I get pulling it, but how do you reattach it?”

“Like this.”

Puff-

Puff-

The middle-aged man showed Levinas how to reattach the arm.

Watching this, Levinas pulled on his ears.

Could it be that Levinas’s magic would make his ears detachable?

I watched with bated breath, but…

“Yik.”

Levinas’s ears stretched out, and only his eyebrows shot up fiercely.

**

Fortunately, the middle-aged man’s arm incident ended as a simple prank.

We played around with the detachable arm until it was time to part ways with the middle-aged man.

“I thought I had gotten used to Earth, but it seems I was mistaken.”

As we watched the departing middle-aged man, Ensia wagged her tail.

Then she suddenly stopped and turned back to us.

“I had something urgent to tell Gyeoul, but I forgot.”

“Something to say?”

“Yes. It’s quite serious.”

She glanced at Bomi, hesitating.

After a moment, as if she had made a resolution, she clenched her fist and opened her mouth.

“Josephine wants to meet with Gyeoul.”

“Excuse me…?”

Why is Josephine suddenly wanting to see me?

I couldn’t help but freeze at the unexpected mention of someone.

When I turned to the side, Bomi also wore a blank expression.

“W-why is Josephine suddenly…?”

“She proposed a deal.”

“A deal?”

“Yes. I don’t know the exact details. However, she said that if you don’t accept the deal, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

“Uh, um…”

Could it be a simple threat?

Or is there really something going on?

Whatever it was, I didn’t mind having a conversation once, but the problem was Bomi.

‘What should I do?’

It was at that moment I looked at Bomi with worried eyes.

Levinas, who was next to me, raised his fist.

“It’s time for a surprise attack!”

“A surprise attack?”

“Yeah! We’ll go meet her and give her a surprise attack!”

Whoosh-

Levinas threw a punch into the air.

As he kicked around, Bomi, who had been tense, started to giggle again.

“Yeah. Let’s go hit her and come back.”

Bomi followed Levinas and threw a punch into the air.

This is how our kids should be.

Thanks to that, I was able to shake off my hesitation.

“Okay. I’ll meet her once.”

**

There were no formalities in meeting Josephine.

Thanks to the trust the Beastmen of the now non-radical village had in us.

‘Huh.’

But if they’re not radicals anymore, what should we call them?

As I walked, pondering the new name for the Beastmen village, Saebyeok stepped in front of me.

“Gyeoul, I’ll go first.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

I followed behind the reliable Saebyeok as we approached Josephine.

Given the atmosphere, I thought we would meet in a closed building, but Josephine was working in the fields, sweating profusely.

‘Hmm.’

The unexpected atmosphere eased my tension.

Thanks to that, I was able to approach Josephine with lighter steps.

“Josephine. I heard you have something to say.”

“Uh, uh… it’s about the deal…”

Thud.

Josephine wiped her sweat as she stuck a small shovel into the dirt.

It seemed she was quite dedicated to tending the fields.

“What kind of deal?”

“Slavery.”

“Excuse me?”

“Beastmen slavery.”

Josephine smiled like a villain in her shabby clothes.

It didn’t seem fitting, so it wasn’t scary, but I couldn’t help but listen closely to the mention of Beastmen slavery.

“In the very deep places of the human world, they trade Beastmen.”

Josephine’s words were shockingly beyond imagination.

I was taken aback, but I couldn’t show hesitation in front of Josephine.

“…How does Josephine know about that?”

“Don’t misunderstand. I’ve never sold out my own kind.”

“But you treated Beastmen and Divine Beasts like slaves.”

At my words, Josephine only smiled without answering.

Then Levinas, who was beside me, threw a punch at Josephine.

Thud-

Levinas hit Josephine’s shoulder and quickly dashed back behind me.

It seemed he was trying to impressively subdue Josephine.

“Get to the point…!”

“I just told you. I’ll tell you the location of the black market. But instead…”

“Instead…?”

Was a huge proposal coming?

I swallowed hard as Josephine grinned.

“Could you reduce this damn labor time a bit?”

“Excuse me…?”

The word ‘damn’ came from Josephine, who always appeared relaxed.

Has the hard labor taken away her composure?

As I pondered, I proposed to Josephine.

“Then I’ll reduce it by ten minutes a day.”

“Huh…?”

“Isn’t ten minutes enough?”

Ten minutes was enough time to replenish some lost stamina.

No, it wasn’t really enough, but it was still time to recover some lost stamina.

I thought so, but for some reason, Josephine’s reaction was strange.

“I didn’t think you were so cruel…?”

“Me…?”

What’s cruel about that?

Isn’t ten minutes enough?

Feeling flustered, I scratched my cheek and looked around.

The children who had come with Ensia were looking at me with wide eyes.

“Wang is amazing…!”

“Gyeoul has no mercy for villains, huh?”

“Uh, yeah…?”

Isn’t ten minutes enough?

The gazes of those around me looking at me were just bewildered.

A word from the author (Author’s Note)

Thank you so much for reading today, PIA1747014585384!

Thank you for the comments and recommendations! They always give me strength!

There’s not much time left until 2024!

Everyone has worked hard this year!

Let’s all fight for the upcoming 2025!

───

Thank you for the 100 coins, Kim Ipali!

Thank you for the 100 coins, Lee Seung-eon_836!