episode_0088

“Marriage? Jess, where did you learn such words?”

Upon hearing my words, Jess put his hand on his hip and smiled mischievously. His ears perked up, and his tail, which extended down to his calves, wagged.

“Teacher said that if you want to be with the person you love for the rest of your life, you have to get married! Then you can become a family!”

“Well…that makes sense.”

“I love you, Teacher, and you love me, so if we get married, we can become a family! Let’s get married!”

“But does that love mean…ouch, ouch, ouch!”

I tried to explain the meaning of marriage to Jess, but I began to feel pressure as if my waist was about to break. As I gasped for breath and turned to Iris, she was looking at Jess with a very dangerous expression.

“Iris, surrender, surrender!”

“….!”

Three years ago, after collapsing and saying “surrender” before I fainted, Iris became quiet when I said “surrender.” It seems like trauma has developed, and I feel sorry, but I think it’s a bit fortunate that there is a way to barely catch my breath now.

Sssk, Iris, who had been holding onto my waist, let go and grabbed the hem of my clothes, looking gloomy.

Iris’s level of skinship was an indicator of how she was feeling. Grabbing the hem of my clothes meant she was not in a very good mood.

“Teacher! Marriage! Marriage! And a hundred babies? No, let’s have a hundred children!”

“Where did you learn those words again?”

As I urgently shouted, Jess chuckled and said, “Teacher said that when you get married and become a family, babies are born! Let’s have a hundred babies and create a tribe!”

After hearing those words, I felt all the strength drain from my body. Like a young creature growing rapidly, apart from the childish face, it seemed that I had earnestly accepted the words “Let’s have a baby!” and “Let’s get married!” without even realizing it.

“I’m still a child, just a child.”

I want to be an astronaut when I grow up! I want to be a dinosaur when I grow up! I want to be a mermaid when I grow up!

“…?”

Something seemed strange in the middle, but anyway, Jess’s marriage, Ai’s remarks were no different from the words shouted without thinking when they were young.

‘First, let’s correct the grossly wrong information and teach the rest little by little.’

Thinking so, I began to explain at Jess’s eye level. I explained that one would grow old and die before giving birth to a hundred people, and that there is a separate love for marriage.

“But…”

Jess made a pitiful expression, curling his tail and drooping his ears.

‘Ugh! I need to be firm for education!’

Turning away from the expression that made me want to listen to anything, I barely nodded my head.

“Tsk.”

“…?”

A sound that seemed like it shouldn’t have been heard came from Jess’s direction. Reflexively, I turned my head to look at Jess, but he still had a sullen expression.

‘Did I… hear wrong?’

Jess, who was making such a sullen expression without sticking out his tongue, must have heard me wrong. Whether it’s true or not.

“Now let’s go eat. If we’re late, we might not be able to have breakfast.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Yeah.”

This time, I didn’t comfort the gloomy Iris separately. There was a need to be firm on marriage and skinship issues.

‘Perhaps because there has been no one else to rely on since childhood… she’s in a state of slight separation anxiety.’

For Iris’s healthy independence, I needed to slowly distance myself from her. Iris was also approaching adolescence, so I felt that she might naturally move away without me pushing her away.

‘…What if she says she doesn’t want to be in the same space because it smells?’

Suddenly, my shoulders felt heavy. I headed to the restaurant with a gloomy mood. Nero, who was having a meal in the restaurant, asked what was wrong when he saw the gloomy me, Jess, and Iris, but there was nothing special.

The eastern outskirts of Cardishan. A fist-sized ball of mist seemed to be dispersing and wavering.

“Ugh… How did I end up like this…”

After attacking Lian mentally, ‘it’ was almost destroyed in retaliation but managed to barely hold onto its life. However, that was all it could manage.

Most of its great power had been lost, and its body had become weaker than the average human it had always considered insignificant. It might perish if it remained like this.

“Urgh… Uwaaah! Damn it…”

It trembled, spitting out rainbow-colored vomit onto the ground.

“Asterias… Did you give up your existence and transfer the ultimate power? If not, there’s no explanation – …Urgh…”

After vomiting rainbow-colored matter once again, it staggered and fell onto the weeds.

“Darn it… Even when trying to recover strength, I keep vomiting…”

For three whole years, it hadn’t been able to leave Cardishan due to the remnants of Lian’s abilities within its body. Whenever it felt somewhat recovered, it vomited, and whenever it thought it had recovered, it vomited.

Repeatedly doing so left it weakened, unable to hide in Cardishan.

“If caught by those black sorcerers, who knows what will happen…”

Previously, it would have been inconceivable for black sorcerers to harm it. But now, its power had significantly diminished, and having suffered mental attacks from Lian, it could easily be captured if it made a mistake.

“Someday, I’ll definitely kill you.”

It grumbled as if swearing, then suddenly spat out rainbow vomit. Particularly, while staring at the sparkling rainbow vomit,

“Ah!”

Suddenly, a scream was heard, and a man, never seen before, rolled near where it lay among the weeds.

“I, I don’t know! I really don’t know!”

“I can find out for myself.”

“Oh, please don’t come!”

The man shivered, trying to crawl away, but the man in the robe was quicker. In an instant, he approached and firmly grabbed the fallen man’s head.

“Kkuk… Kkeueuk…!”

Intermittent gasping sounds were heard as the man, whose breath seemed to be cut off, rolled his eyes back and fainted with his tongue sticking out.

“Tsk, this guy doesn’t have any useful memories.”

As the unconscious man fell to the ground, the man in a robe lightly brushed his hand and turned to move elsewhere. At that moment, something hidden among the weeds flew up.

“Hey!”

“Huh?”

Suddenly feeling a familiar aura, the man blinked and turned to look at it.

“What are you again?”

“Hehe! I am ‘Hamulina,’ the servant of the great one!”

“Oh? Really? Why did you become so small?”

“You impertinent… Tsk, never mind. There’s something important, so take me with you.”

The man scoffed at it, but he had no intention of ignoring it. He couldn’t treat it lightly because it was a part of “that person’s” entourage. The man took it to his residence.

***

Inn Room 1008.

The man roughly threw his robe onto the bed. His strikingly clear sky-blue hair, orange eyes nestled within fierce eye ridges—this man, with a color that would catch anyone’s eye, looked no more than 16 or 17 years old at most.

“So, what do you want to say? Is it an order from that person?”

As the lad smirked, sharp teeth were revealed. Hamul flew next to the man and spoke in the heaviest voice possible.

“It could be said that it’s a story more important than an order directly given by that person.”

“Oh! Alright, tell me quickly! I’ll handle anything!”

Satisfied inwardly at the arrogance, Hamul smiled.

“If you’re a Four Devas, that’s how it should be.”

One of the Four Devas had died to the deceased warrior. Naturally, one of the positions of the Four Devas became vacant, and the man in front of him, Potensien, filled that void.

“‘Heh heh, whether he’s a lion or a saint, his mental strength may be strong, but his body is that of a weak human, so it should be easy to defeat him.’

Hamuel let out a despicable laugh and began to talk about Rian. When he mentioned that the saint chosen by Asterias to oppose ‘that person’ was here, Potensien couldn’t contain his excitement.

‘A saint?’

‘Yes, what you have to do is simple. You will brutally kill that guy!’

‘Heh heh, there’s nothing I’m good at as much as that.’

Potensien seemed pleased with Hamuel’s words, showing a sharp toothed smile.

‘So where is this so-called saint?’

Hamuel started to reveal the information he knew, bit by bit. He said that Rian belonged to an organization called ‘Nest’ and that their headquarters were hidden.

He even disclosed that the headquarters were protected by illusion magic and perception interference magic, making it difficult to find. After Hamuel finished speaking, Potensien snorted and said,

‘Hmm. So this Nest organization has taken over the western region, right?’

‘…? Yes, it’s doubtful whether the hidden headquarters itself is in the west, but they have indeed taken over.’

Thinking of the rumors circulating among humans, Hamuel affirmed Potensien’s question. In response, Potensien chuckled and said,

‘It seems like my mission to Cardysan this time might be related to that organization.’

‘Come to think of it, why are you here?’

It wasn’t until then, when his mind was filled with thoughts of revenge against Rian, that he began to wonder.

‘To investigate the city-wide curse incident.’

‘A city-wide curse?’”