episode_0074

“Don’t eat anything you pick up, spit it out, tsk.”

“Baeh..”

I made Jess spit out the small bird he was biting. The bird shook its body and flew away. Jess smacked his lips.

“Are you hungry?”

I took out a piece of jerky from my bag and put it in Jess’s mouth.

It’s been three days since we left the frenzy of the arena, and we were walking along a forest path. There were occasional villages, but we didn’t hear any sounds. We had already purchased most things we might need, and there was no reason to stop.

At first, I just walked without thinking about getting away from Jisoo’s land, but gradually, I needed to properly set our destination. I unfolded the map and checked the path we had taken.

The village we had just passed through was marked on the map, so it wasn’t difficult to figure out our current location.

“You said you didn’t know where Noah was after you separated in the middle?”

“Yeah.”

Nodding while chewing on the jerky, Jess gave me some strange information about the forest. Based on that, I estimated the location where Jess and Noah had separated.

“They separated in the Forest of Death? Hmm, I don’t know exactly which way they went, but…the nearest city is here, so should we go there?”

Muttering as I pointed to the name ‘Cardishan’ marked on the map, Jess vigorously nodded and flapped his ears. Iris just responded “Yeah” as I suggested.

Seeing the gentle appearance of the two children, my sense of responsibility grew.

“Alright, let’s find the safest route and go!”

That’s how Jess, Iris, and my journey continued.

***

“Haa…we finally made it.”

I exhaled deeply as I looked at the distant walls of Cardishan.

“I never thought it would take over a month just to travel here.”

Jess said he ran without stopping, so I thought it wouldn’t be more than a week’s distance. Of course, it was marked as quite a long distance on the map, but there were many villages with strangely marked distances, so I couldn’t trust it.

It’s a relief to have arrived. First, let’s rest well at the inn and then search for Noah from the next day onwards.

Even if it’s Noah, I feel like he would be living healthily even without me, but I wanted us to be together if possible.

“Let’s act together with the kids if possible. We just need to hold out here until the knight who will save Iris arrives.”

Cardishan is where Odil’s laboratory was when I first opened my eyes. So the knight who will save Iris will come to Cardishan later.

Thinking that far, memories of meeting the god of the dark fantasy world, the magpie, came to mind.

“…However, this world is no longer just a world in a novel, so nothing can be certain. That means… the knight might not come here.”

If that happens, there will be no choice but to escape the demon king’s land with the kids. Even if I had no means of power, I had the strongest weapon, the demon sword Gargantua.

It may be difficult to escape all together, but it won’t be impossible.

Still, it would be better if we could escape with the knight. Life would be much more comfortable.

Even if we escape from the demon king’s land, it won’t be completely safe. As befitting a dark fantasy world, there were lunatics everywhere, and reality was cruel.

At least until we arrive at Iris’s family, the dangerous situation will continue.

“Hey, good stuff has come in, so take a look!”

“Take your time coming down there!”

While organizing my thoughts, the city had suddenly come close. I took out silver from my bag and handed it to the soldier guarding the wall. It was a way to pass through the wall without any inspection, about 30 copper per person.

“Pass!”

I exhaled quietly behind the grinning guard.

“It’s probably because there are a lot of people, they don’t seem to be bothering much. It’s a relief.”

When you willingly hand over money like this, they used to drag on or pick a fight to extort more money. Some bastards even spout nonsense, telling me to take off Iris or Jest’s robe hood and present them as slaves.

Whenever that happened, I couldn’t help summoning my demon sword and crushing the opponent. Usually, such an incident would land me in prison without question, but this was the land of the Demon King.

The strong were revered here, so the guards were eager to offer money. It wasn’t much compared to what I had, and their annoyance at clinging to me was irritating.

Fortunately, it seemed that such a thing wouldn’t happen here.

“First, let’s go to the inn and get a room.”

I wanted to relax first, so I entered a tidy inn.

“Can I stay in a room with three beds for a long time?”

“Yes, that’s possible.”

Despite being covered in dust, the innkeeper smiled as if he were a loyal subject, nodding vigorously.

“I’d like to use each room, but… there are too many criminals to do that.”

If I had taken each room, there would have been a 100% chance of someone entering Iris and Jess’s rooms tonight. Of course, both Jess and Iris were powerful warriors, so there wouldn’t be a problem… but you never know.

It’s best to prepare for danger if possible.

I received the key and headed to the assigned room. It was larger and more expensive than other inns, and the interior was neatly decorated. If the inns I had stayed in before were motels, this one felt more like a hotel.

“I wanted to rest well. It’s good. You two bathe first, I’ll tidy up.”

“Bath! Master Juin! Let’s bathe together!”

Every time I told them to bathe, Jess would cheerfully jump around, taking off her clothes. She grabbed my clothes and hung them up, and I shook my head at her behavior.

“As I said last time, no.”

“Aww..”

“What’s not allowed is not allowed.”

“Okay..”

With her ears drooping, Jess headed to the bathroom. Unlike usual, Iris, who used to tease us to bathe together with sparkling eyes, had already gone into the bathroom.

“Children grow up quickly.”

Seeing Iris growing up was both joyful and sad. This is a father’s heart!

While thinking that, I pushed Jess into the bathroom. Before long, neatly folded clothes and messily crumpled clothes were laid outside the door. The neatly folded clothes were Iris’s, and the messily crumpled clothes were Jess’s.

At first, I just threw the clothes around, but after seeing Iris and me neatly folding the clothes, Jess started to awkwardly imitate us. Every time that happened, he would come and nuzzle my head when I praised him for doing well while folding the clothes.

Thinking of the cute sight of Jess, I began to roughly tidy up the luggage. After roughly finishing the tidying, I placed the clothes for the kids to change into in front of the door. While I was taking out the clothes I would wear from the bag, Iris and Jess came out of the bathroom, exuding a floral scent.

The two children, wearing fresh clothes with lightly blushed cheeks, looked incredibly lovely.

“Joo-in!”

Jess ran over, water dripping from his head. Familiarly, I dried his hair with a towel, and he rubbed his face against my stomach.

“Jess, wait a moment, I haven’t washed yet, I’m dirty.”

“Joo-in smells good!”

“Jiji, Jiji. You also need to dry your hair, so let’s get down.”

After coaxing him a few times, Jess reluctantly relented. Since there was no hair dryer here, I only dried his hair enough so that the water wouldn’t drip. It would take too long to dry it any further.

“Oppa, me too.”

“Okay, okay.”

I dried Iris’s hair, who was waiting quietly, and the floral scent tickled my nose. After removing the appropriate amount of moisture, I put away the towel.

“I’ll go wash, so rest.”

“Yeah, can I… tidy up Oppa’s clothes?”

“If you do, I’ll be grateful!”

Smiling at Iris, who was already trying to be filial, I nodded my head. I immediately went into the bathroom, took off my clothes, and opened the door slightly to leave the clothes outside.

Thud.

I closed the bathroom door and summoned my sword. The sword transformed into a thin, needle-like shape as if it had been waiting. I roughly stabbed it into my thigh and started washing.

Ssshhhh -.

“Ahh…”

The warm water washed away the fatigue.

***

Lian entered the bathroom, leaving Iris alone with Jess, who quickly wiped away her gentle smile and approached the front of the bathroom.

“Sniff sniff…”

Jess crouched down and followed closely behind Iris. She didn’t feel uncomfortable with Jess acting like an animal.

Because Jess acted so much like an animal, Iris half-jokingly thought of him as a pet that Lian was raising. Thanks to that, she was much more relaxed around him.

After confirming the sound of water from inside the bathroom, Iris hung Lian’s clothes on the door before throwing the robe to Jess.

In response, Jess wrinkled his nose, repeatedly dilating and contracting his pupils.

“Sniff sniff sniff sniff!”

Jess put Lian’s clothes on the floor, rubbed his nose against them, and then, like a puppy hiding a toy, he grabbed the robe and headed somewhere.

Iris hugged Lian’s shirt to her chest.

“Sigh, hoo… Oppa…”

Although it seemed like a perverted behavior, there was a reason for it. Whenever Lian left, he would gather his clothes to make a nest and, due to his habit of feeling relieved by smelling his scent, Iris had to smell his clothes whenever he left.

Knowing that this behavior was not normal, Iris secretly hugged his clothes only when Lian was away.

She handed the clothes to Jess not only to cover his mouth but also because if she held Lian’s clothes alone, Jess would keep approaching, sniffing, and disturbing her.

Anyway, she happily embraced Lian’s strongly scented clothes.

Thud thud!

At that moment, a disruptive sound interrupted her happy time. It was the rough knocking of someone.