episode_0162

CLIV.

“And the old man over there also came down.”

It is not unfamiliar to see people falling from the sky or ceiling.

“Sigh.”

It’s not something you see often, but it’s not a rare scene you won’t see at least once in your life.

There were quite a few people on the continent who were active in the Dark Route, and even though the emperors of the two empires were superhumans, there were people who the Dean feared and was wary of, even though he considered them easygoing.

“Shadow Big Bread Grandpa.”

Shadow, said to rule the night of the continent.

“This new guy? Leaving behind a good name?”

“Your Majesty. Your Majesty is known only as Shadow Bread on the Continent, but has your name been passed down? How many people know what a good name is?”

“Ahem!”

“You should have at least made business cards and distributed them. Didn’t you know that the era of self-PR is long gone?”

“… Damn. That sounds crazy, but it’s actually true, so I can’t refute it.”

“So what’s going on? Why are you hiding it while showing it so openly?”

Shadow’s Great… Ah, the name is unnecessarily long.

Shadow inspiration, let’s just call it inspiration for short.

In fact, I have unintentionally benefited from this inspiration and the shadows beneath it.

The Baron family that had caused a fight on the first day of entering Evergreen Academy and ended up in a bloodbath.

The Baron’s family asked Shadow to assassinate me, but he refused.

Also, when the witch was summoned in the candidate competency assessment, people still did not believe that the witch was summoned from a card the size of the palm of their hand.

When looking inside from the outside, the figures moving inside appear to be enveloped in grains of light, as if they are standing with their backs to the sun, because they are passing through a wall made of droplets of light.

So, the witch’s appearance, emitting light from the card, made the onlookers think that she had been hiding like a shadow and appeared.

Even the superhumans who were there, including the Dean.

To the continental people, the idea of ‘a person coming out of a card!’ is a picture they have never even imagined.

Scholars who have studied the reason why women gather around me,

『The Vessel of a Leader as Seen Through Candidate Gray』

“Gray to the Leader”

“The best leaders focus on people.”

They also published the same book.

Anyway, as someone who received such direct and indirect help, I at least felt a debt of gratitude to this inspiration.

“Why are you taking so long to ask me? Unless you want to borrow money, just say something first.”

Even though he had acted so playfully, the old man, who was confident even in front of superhumans, hesitated for a while with his lips quivering.

Then he opened his mouth with a face of firm determination.

“Daughter, I miss my daughter.”

“… … .”

The longing that had been suppressed and stored inside for a long time, now rotten and hardened like salt, bursts out.

The longing that flowed from those short, sigh-like words burst out into a deep, lingering fragrance that filled the entire smokehouse.

So I couldn’t playfully and nonchalantly respond with, ‘If you want to meet, then meet.’

“Okay.”

“Granddaughter… … . My only granddaughter too.”

“That’s right.”

“… … Thank you.”

There is a term called ‘ambiguous expression’.

An expression in which one word or sentence can be interpreted in more than one meaning.

I could tell, or rather, I could feel, that the words “thank you” were not simply a thank you for letting me meet my daughter and granddaughter.

Well, when it comes to information, isn’t Shadow just as famous as Assassination?

Not only did it allow us to meet,

For waking my family up safely from their dream,

He treated me with perfect form,

And to take care of them so that they can live their daily lives.

You probably already know what’s been going on with Auntie Papi, Uncle Joseph, and Catherine since they woke up.

Maybe they know better than I do, even though they live in the same house.

“Go. Witch. Excuse me, but do some magic.”

He was covered in blood and sweat.

The witch replied to my request, “You don’t have to be sorry,” and cast a cleansing spell.

The treatment was fine because Pope Judas was constantly talking and constantly throwing divine healing spells like a healer with infinite mana, so I went straight into the mansion.

As soon as you enter the mansion,

“Brother!”

Every time, Catherine, who was in the kitchen, would run to me and hug me, making a ‘dada’ sound, as if she knew how to do that.

“Hehehe. You finished early today?”

“Yeah. Catherine, weren’t you bored?”

“Wow. No! I made a cake with Mom! Right, Mom! Mom?”

Catherine looked excited to show off the cake she had made with her mother, but Auntie Poppy remained frozen in the same pose she had when she came from the kitchen, holding the cake in both hands.

Did Catherine think her mother’s sudden change in appearance was strange? Catherine walked away from Gray and walked towards Auntie Poppy.

“Mom?”

Startled by her daughter’s voice calling her while shaking her, Mrs. Papi dropped the cake and tray she was holding.

“Huh?!”

Everyone could have imagined Catherine’s cute scream sending plates crashing to the floor.

but,

Thump-.

“You almost got hurt.”

We had a punishment that made even the highest level demons tremble.

When Jingbul successfully received the cake plate, Aunt Papi awkwardly thanked Jingbul as if she had just woken up.

“But… … .”

“It’s been a while, my baby.”

“… Dad?”

If you include the long period of time she was asleep, Aunt Papi’s age is over a hundred years.

The moment that lady spits out the watery words, “Dad?”

“Black!”

The old woman began to shed tears like a broken faucet valve,

“Baby… … .”

The single word ‘father’ transformed the Master of Shadow, the terror of the continent and the ruler of the night, into a father.

Shadow Old Man approached Aunt Papi with each step feeling heavy. He held his daughter in his arms and cried for a long time.

As if it were an illusion that would shatter and disappear if touched.

“Brother… … .”

When her mother cries, her daughter Catherine can’t help but shed tears.

Catherine ran to me with that face and hugged me, like a child who had a scary dream.

Did you hear Catherine’s terrified voice?

Or was it just an instinct that I had as a mother?

Aunt Papi wiped her tears and looked for Catherine.

“Kitkat. Come here.”

“Mom!”

Catherine, who heard Auntie Papi calling her name after leaving her father’s arms, runs to Auntie Papi, avoiding her father’s expression while avoiding him, and hugs him.

Arcana and I, who knew the meaning contained in each and every action, gesture, and look, looked at Catherine in her mother’s arms with pitiful eyes.

“Our princess. Say hello. It’s grandpa.”

“Grandpa… Right? Aren’t you the Dean’s grandfather?”

“Yeah. The principal’s grandfather is my dad’s dad. This grandfather is my mom’s dad. So he’s our Kitkat’s maternal grandfather, right?”

“Other… Grandfather?”

As a child, curiosity raises its head. Even though it is afraid, it digs deeper into its mother’s embrace, and it looks up at its father with a glance.

How cute and lovely that appearance would be from the inspiration’s point of view.

I grabbed his shoulder as he was about to approach me and stopped him.

―Because the wound hasn’t fully healed yet, it takes some time for me to get used to strangers. Don’t get too close.

A technique learned from a clown, transmitting sound into secret places.

Catherine’s condition was conveyed using a technique commonly referred to as telephony.

As expected.

I took my hand off the shoulder of the man who was looking at me with surprised eyes and approached Catherine who was in her mother’s arms.

“Catherine. My maternal grandfather. Another grandfather who will protect Catherine.”

“Really?”

“Then! Above all.”

“What’s more important?”

“I have a lot of money.”

At the unexpected words, question marks appeared on the faces of those watching anxiously in the hall.

“Huh?”

Catherine also tilted her head as if she couldn’t understand.

“You’re rich. You might be the richest person on the continent. If you want, you can buy Catherine that chocolate cake every day, in large quantities!”

“Wow, wow? Really?”

Catherine, who was a sweet-lover along with May, finally realized what I had said and raised her head to look straight at the old man.

Catherine’s eyes at that time were unwavering and sparkled with anticipation and excitement.

“That, then!”

“Wow! Wow!”

Before I knew it, I let go of Aunt Papi’s hand, which I had been holding tightly, and raised both my arms in excitement, expressing pure admiration.

“Chocolate cake?! Buy it right now!”

“Wow! Grandpa is the best!”

Catherine gave her grandfather, whom she had just met for the first time, a ‘best’ rating when she heard the Shadow Man’s declaration, who had cried his eyes out while the seal was lifted, confidently, with his shoulders full of strength, as if he were holding a sword in his hand.

Sweetness is so scary.

“The best, the best?! Hehehe. Chocolate cake? I’ll buy you the whole store!”

That’s not it. It’s this crazy shadow inspiration tank.

Obviously, the beginning was very moving and had a lively and exciting atmosphere.

Yes, definitely.

“Okay! This time it’s a chocolate ice cream shop!”

“Wow! Grandpa is really the best!”

But I don’t know why the atmosphere changed so suddenly. Yeah. That human was a superhuman after all. It’s probably a problem to expect a superhuman to think normally, right?

Yeah, that’s it.

Think about it like that and think, this is shit, and move on… … .

“This time it’s a chocolate factory!”

“Stop it! You crazy old man!”

… will it be there?

It’s not like I’m just buying the store, I’m buying everything on the continent with the word chocolate in it.

The name of the factory written on the piece of paper that the old man was waving was clearly visible to Jun-su’s enhanced eyesight.

[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]

“Crazy old man?”

He tells Catherine that he will buy the factory that supplies 70% of the continent’s chocolate.

This chocolate factory is more famous because it is known to be directly managed and supervised by dwarves.

What if the owner pays the dwarves enough to swim in the finest beer instead of leaving the machines and quality control to them?

Anyway, he’s offering to buy the factory that produces the continent’s highest to mid-level chocolates from scratch for the still young Catherine.

“Stop it. And Catherine, stop teasing Grandpa.”

“Yeah. Oppa. Hehe.”

Shadow Master was dumbfounded for a moment at Catherine’s answer that she didn’t say she wasn’t kidding, then he came over to me with a sly smile.

“Thank you.”

“Huh? What is it?”

“Just. Everything.”

“Ah, get out. This picture is really weird. Right now.”

This is what the shadowy old man, who is still middle-aged despite being a superhuman, says as he places his hand on my shoulder.

It’s weird.

It’s very strange.

You said you got goosebumps all over your body for a moment?

“I won’t pick up soap or anything like that.”

“Soap? What soap?”

“There is something like that.”

“Yeah? Well, do whatever you want, you know?”

“How would I know if you suddenly asked me that? And if you continue from the previous line to the present, it’s really strange. There’s a lot of room for misunderstanding!”

Think about it.

Suddenly, the middle-aged man spoke in a deep, low voice,

-thanks.

-Just everything.

-You know?

This is how the conversation is going on now.

“My granddaughter has the qualities of a spirit master.”

“Right… … . Wait. How did you know?”

Yes, that’s right.

Catherine has the qualities of a spirit master.

But I also found out about this from Jingbeol, the spirit knight of the brain storm.

“I’m a spirit master too.”

“… Huh?!”