episode_0012

Asking me, a plain man, to become a mother… The content of what came out of Brünnhild’s mouth was problematic, but there was a bigger problem. That was the very fact that Brünnhild had spoken.

We all lump cute little creatures together and call them ‘children’, but even cold water has its ups and downs. If you divide ‘young children’ in detail, there are the childhood period equivalent to elementary school students, the infancy period from one year of age to six years old, the infant period when children are breast-fed before their first birthday, and finally, the newborn period when they are less than a month old.

And according to ‘my’ memory, Brünnhild was born in January of last year and is 13 months old this year, which is 2 years old in Korean age and only 1 year old in universal age. He is an infant who has just finished infancy. This means that the natural age is to crawl around on the floor and babble, rather than standing with both feet on the ground like now and communicating your thoughts with inaccurate pronunciation.

The speed of development may vary slightly from person to person, but let’s not give in and talk about walking on two legs. I have already come this far in search of ‘me’ who has found a place of my own in a place far away from my hometown by my own power and stopped walking to the orphanage. Isn’t this far beyond the scope of humans?

As I was lost in the situation, my common sense crumbling away, Brünnhild came closer and spoke to me, tapping my calf with his small hand.

“Sister? I mean, do you use this?”

“Huh? Uh, uh… of course I was listening. The last time I saw it was a few months ago, and I didn’t expect to see it here like this… I was so surprised that I didn’t say anything.”

“Hehehe… Are you surprised to see me too? I’m so tired of meeting Chakan’s little girl…”

Now, I felt confused as I looked down at Brünnhild rubbing her soft cheeks, a trademark of babies, against my calf. The confusion I had to deal with was doubled when the appearance of the doll that Brünnhild was holding tightly in her arms came into view.

The fact that Brünnhild came to the front of the room where I was staying, holding a doll that looked exactly like me, with her long hair braided into a ponytail and her bangs neatly arranged so that her red eyes were not obscured, as if she were holding a precious treasure, made me think, ‘ It was easy to guess how much he liked me, but at the same time, I couldn’t accept Brünnhild’s favor.

A girl who was abandoned by her parents as soon as she was born and was crying on the side of the road was taken to an orphanage, and whenever she had time, she brought her friends to play with her and persuaded Elisia, the richest among her friends, to donate to the orphanage. It was a difficult time for everyone. I worked personally to raise donations for the orphanage… Because it was the ‘me’ of the past who did all that, not the ‘me’ of the present.

What Brünnhild wants is the ‘me’ who was kind to him in the past, not the current ‘me’ who considers himself a man.

If you ignore this and accept Brünnhild’s favor, wouldn’t it be deceiving rather than doing it for Brünnhild’s benefit? Since only catastrophe awaits at the end of a human relationship full of fraud, wouldn’t it be better not to even start at all?

Even taking these moral reasons aside, the reason why I could not accept Brünnhild was clear. I, who has to enter the military academy in a few days, am holding the hand of a girl with whom I am not related by blood? I can clearly see what the principal and instructors there will say. It’s really unfortunate, but I have no choice but to reject this…

Weee~

…There’s a hummingbird. Also, a hummingbird with a bright yellow body like Brünnhild, wearing eye-catching yellow clothes like children in kindergarten and shiny shoes that make a noise every time they step. Could it be that we met and became friends on the way here? Otherwise, there would be no way he could swing his wings so fast that he couldn’t be seen next to Brünnhild.

As I began to question the existence of the hummingbird, which did not match the winter atmosphere, the hummingbird suddenly made a chirping sound, puffed out a puff of smoke, and turned into a woman with black hair and red eyes, just like me or Brünnhild… . what? A hummingbird became a human?

“Hello, Paula. My name is ‘Wingwing’ and I assist Lady Brunhild. If you really want to call me by a name that humans use… just call me ‘Hanna’.”

It was amazing that a baby, who was supposed to be rolling around in bed and crying, came to me and asked me to be his mother, but the hummingbird that followed the baby transformed into a human woman dressed in a neat maid’s uniform and bowed to me. I can’t believe I’ve been doing it. I can’t believe this even when I see it with my own eyes.

Even if I told this story to others, how many people would believe me? If you just treat it as a meaningless joke and move on, it’s fortunate, and in an age where psychiatry is not developed, there’s nothing you can say if you treat me like a strange person and try to stay as far away as possible.

Anyway, no matter what I did, the conversation with the hummingbird that had become a human became a reality rather than a dream, and there was no way for me to avoid it.

“You may have been surprised to receive a visit from the young lady… I will explain the situation, so please do not feel sorry for the young lady and reject her…”

When flapping its wings, it is said that unlike other birds, it does not flutter but buzzes like a mosquito. After listening to the explanation of the person whose human name is Hannah, I found out that after I stopped going to the orphanage, B. It is said that Rünhild spent every single day looking forward to the day when he would meet ‘me’ again.

One day, when I meet my ‘Chakan sister’ again, I will quickly take off my diaper and learn how to use the bathroom to show that I have grown up well, or I will learn how to walk on my own two feet and express my thoughts through language. ..

In this way, in the heart of the baby who had been abandoned by the parents who gave birth to him, the being called ‘I’, who had shown kindness for the first time, took up a very large place, and in the end, a hummingbird that he met by chance while looking at a flower field responded to the wish in the baby’s heart. As a result, I gained the ability to transform into a human being, and in order to repay the favor, I searched for the location of ‘myself’ and came to this point.

“Somehow… Among the stats, there is magic… If a hummingbird becomes a human, it means that the magic I know exists in this world.”

After realizing the situation, I muttered to myself and wondered what to do about it. Now that I’ve heard this story, my conscience hurts to refuse it, and it’s difficult to accept it because it’s difficult in many ways to take care of a young child who will go to the Military Academy and then transfer to the SS that will be created a few years later as a unit to protect our dear father, the President. . What can I do with this?

“Of course, I am not asking you to accept her for free. I will pay the full price. We can prepare all the documents so you don’t have to worry about the adoption process. Oh, and when Paula is unable to take care of her because of school or work, I will play with her, so please…”

Hannah noticed the look of concern in my eyes and took out a 1kg gold bar from her pocket and pleaded with me in a subdued tone. I was speechless as my eyes widened at the presence of a golden object in an unexpected place.

gold. Metallic materials have been considered the most valuable resource ever since mankind began to build an economy.

If you go back to the distant past, American dollars or euros are nothing more than high-quality paper, but if you have gold, you don’t have to worry about making a living even if one day you are suddenly possessed by the body of a person who lived long ago, and even in the future, humanity will survive. It will not lose value until we have the technology to extract metals from asteroids.

But carrying around such gold in 1kg chunks in Germany in the 1920s, when the value of currency evaporated into the air and the left and right were going crazy on friendly terms? It’s not gold ore mixed with miscellaneous impurities, but in the form of a 99.999% pure gold bar?

I don’t know where on earth they got this, but it wasn’t difficult to guess how desperate the other person was when they tried to hand it over to me. Moreover, he said that he would take care of all the complicated adoption procedures, and that he would even serve as a daycare teacher when I could not take care of the baby… If I refuse this…

“Well… I would be too snobbish to accept something like this in exchange for accepting the child, so leave it behind. Let’s come inside and talk more.”

“That means…! Are you saying you will accept the lady? This… thank you. Still, take this. It will be a great help to Paula in what she is trying to do.”

Hannah didn’t accept the gold bars because she thought it was too burdensome, and even though she said she would accept it because she couldn’t kick out the child who came to see her or send him back to the orphanage, she forcefully handed it over and walked into the room, holding up Brünnhild. Inside the room where Elysia was waiting, dressed in an outfit that was too unhealthy to show to a baby with a naked apron.