Chapter 7
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[This child grows up (2)]
Crumbling .
I said, handing the water bottle to the little boy who was chewing with his mouth full of meat.
“Eat in moderation. How many servings are you planning to eat by yourself?”
There were already a lot of bones in front of the little boy. I wondered if there was a hidden pocket of space in my stomach because of how much food that small body could fit into.
The little boy looked at me for a moment and pointed to the meat in front of me.
“Is this a mugger too?”
My mouth was still full of food, so my pronunciation was all muffled.
I sighed and nodded, and the little boy quickly grabbed my share of meat and stuffed it into his cheek, which was clearly already over capacity.
And then finally,
“Kek keek!”
His face turns bright red and he screams. I patted the kid on the back and muttered softly.
“…Did I pick it up for no reason?”
After a while, the little boy who finished eating suddenly wiped his lips with a tissue, pretending to be a young lady, and spoke.
“Well, it was okay to eat.”
“Should I throw it away again…”
I muttered in Korean, so the little boy couldn’t understand me.
“what? “What did you say?”
“never mind. “Anyway, how did you end up here?”
In response to my question, the little boy shook his head with a dark expression.
The guy said while crouching down slightly.
“…I accidentally crossed the dimensional gate. And when I came to my senses, I found myself in a cave-like place. “There were a lot of people there who looked like slaves, along with those people from earlier.”
“cave? slave?”
Red snakes. What on earth are you doing outside the restricted area?
I looked at the kid to tell him to keep talking. The little boy continued.
“They were startled and ran screaming to catch me. “I ran away and ended up there earlier.”
And he added briefly.
“Thank you for saving me. “I will definitely repay the favor.”
This kid. Aside from being a huge glutton, his speech and facial expressions are overly mature for a child.
It almost feels like an adult… I
‘m a little doubtful about that, but it’s better than whining and throwing a tantrum.
“Where were you before you came here? “Where is your hometown?”
The little boy’s expression became even darker.
“…I don’t want to talk about it.”
It was a face that seemed to have a lot of stories, but I wasn’t really curious.
Actually, I liked the kid’s hometown.
There was something else I was curious about.
“Are you the only one who crossed the dimensional gate?”
“huh. “I am alone.”
It was fortunate.
I also asked various questions afterward. Most of it was about the situation on the Gaia continent.
“I don’t know much about that…”
But this little boy didn’t know much. He seemed to be from the countryside somewhere.
As my questions rapidly decreased, the little boy asked this time.
“How do you know Gaia’s continental language?”
“I learned it before. “I’ve been there before.”
It wasn’t wrong. It may be very different from what this guy thinks now.
The little boy raised his head with a surprised face.
“Is there a way to go back?”
I looked around roughly.
“There are no fixed gates. “But there’s a good chance the gate will reopen in a few years.”
“Ah…”
I don’t know if I like it or not. The little boy made an incomprehensible expression.
Then he glanced at me and said.
“Help me.”
“what.”
“I don’t know anything about this place. “I can’t communicate and my strength is still weak.”
“I saw you were dealing with fire earlier.”
“…….”
The little boy quietly raised his palm upward, and a flame bloomed above it.
Grumble!
However, it still seemed weak enough to be extinguished by just a breeze.
The little boy said, protecting the flame with both hands.
“I need someone to protect me for a while.”
I spoke honestly.
“I’m busy. “I hate seeing children.”
The little boy bit his lip in response to the cold answer. Even so, my expression didn’t change.
“What if I pay a price?”
Then the story is different.
“…With what? “I’m pretty expensive.”
It would be nice if it was an artifact with powerful magic.
He seems like a kid with a story, so I think he might have one.
Heirlooms passed down from generation to generation or items imbued with spirits are also good…
The little boy bit his lip as if it was a waste to pay the price.
“The price is…”
It would be a waste to give away what was in my pocket. But kid. There is nothing free in this world.
The little boy closed his eyes and cried out as if he was screaming.
“It’s my body!”
Then, as if she was humiliated, she covered her small breasts with her small hands.
I came to my senses a beat late.
“…What a crazy little boy!”
And without even realizing it, my hand moved first.
Sigh!
“Aya!”
I sighed deeply and said to the little boy who was holding the top of his head in pain.
“There is no need for that kind of payment. Do you think I’m a pedophile?”
The little boy, holding his head and lowering his head, muttered to himself.
“weird. They said humans would do anything to mate with a young female…”
What? female? Mating?
I said with a hardened expression.
“hey. “Bring money or something.”
“Since I don’t have one, I’m going to use my body instead!”
Sigh!
For a cocky little boy, a beating was a cure.
“It hurts…”
The little boy looked up at me while touching the lump on the top of his head.
A look of incomprehension was evident on his face.
“I have nothing else to give you other than that.”
ha. Why on earth is this guy so twisted?
I can’t throw it away again….
“It’s done. “Do some chores.”
“…uh?”
I pointed to the empty plates and bowls with my eyes.
“Water and detergent are at the back of the tent, so take them with you and wash them thoroughly.”
“Then…”
the little boy says, looking at me.
I nodded awkwardly.
“one month. It’s okay to stay here. In the meantime, I’ll teach you the Korean language and common sense.”
The little boy’s expression suddenly brightened. That’s how badly my facial expression would have been.
It’s really annoying.
The little boy quickly finished washing the dishes and brought them over. There was no need to check if it was clean. They dried everything with fire and even disinfected it.
This guy. I use my flame-type abilities to wash dishes.
“Well, that’s pretty cool.”
When I said that, the little boy immediately put on a proud expression. Ugh.
“Hey Kid. I think I’m asking too late. What is your name?”
“Lily.”
Lily? I tilted my head.
“It’s a strangely familiar name. Besides, I know how to use fireworks… I must…”
“What exactly?”
When I stopped mid-sentence, Lily asked with a puzzled look in her eyes.
The moment I looked into those bright red eyes like jewels, a ray of cold sweat ran down my back.
Oh no way.
I slowly began to look at the girl again.
People from the Gaia continent.
Red hair that goes down to the waist.
The ability to create flames.
She has an extraordinary beauty that will make her a great beauty.
And the name ‘Lily’.
“You can’t believe it…”
An image of someone appeared in an old memory.
I only saw it briefly, but I couldn’t forget that powerful sight even if I wanted to.
A being with red hair spreading everywhere and burning down half of Seoul.
That woman and this little girl looked exactly like each other.
gulp.
For a moment, I swallowed dry saliva without realizing it.
“Fire Witch?”
A monster that burns down half of Seoul about 10 years later.
One of the [six disasters] I experienced in my last life.
“huh? “What did you say?”
Fortunately, I think he spoke in Korean.
I looked directly at Lily and spoke again.
“Holy shit.”
Of course, this time it was also in Korean.
*
*
*
I camouflaged the tent so that it could not be seen using a simple formation method I learned from my martial arts friend Jubal.
Ssssssut.
As the stones and branches were placed in order according to the flow of energy, the shape of the tent became blurred and an unpleasant fog appeared.
Lily watched the scene in amazement.
“wow! “How did you do it?”
Come to think of it, that guy Jubal must be doing well in Moorim by now.
“mister! “Are you ignoring me now?”
“It’s noisy, kid. “I’m immersed in old memories…”
We sorted out the names we used to call each other.
I call this guy kid, and this guy seems to be trying to call me uncle.
The face value is 20 years old, but you are an old man. I feel like I lost more.
If I think of a more trivial title sooner or later, I’ll have to call it that.
Anyway
, I pointed to Lily’s backpack and said,
“Go in.”
I took Lily and headed into the city.
Of course, it was impossible to take Lily, who came from another world, through the barbed wire fence of the restricted area.
“Hey! See you again soon!”
Despite my warm greeting, the soldier guarding the iron fence had a dull expression.
The soldier looked at my backpack and said.
“The load has been reduced a lot.”
“haha! I’m the youngest in the guild, so I’m in charge of supplies. “I have to buy a lot more and go back.”
“…Please pass.”
The soldiers let me through without much checking.
Thanking the Whitehouse Guild again, I walked away from the iron fence and patted my backpack.
“Come out now.”
Lily, who was crouching in her backpack, slightly stuck her head out of the backpack.
The little boy looked around curiously.
“wow. “This is a village in this world.”
This guy. Maybe they think of me as a stroller, but they don’t even think about coming down.
“If you’ve seen everything, can you come down?”
Lily came down and walked next to me.
I glanced at the little boy walking next to me.
It felt a little sad to see him alone in another world, looking around the city with a wary face.
but.
When I think of the sight of dozens of superhumans being burned to death with a single wave of the hand, the hairs on the back of my head involuntarily stand on end.
…I never thought I would save disaster.
[Six disasters]
Among the numerous accidents that will occur over the next 20 years, these are the disasters that caused the most terrible loss of life and property damage.
One of them was walking next to me now.
Fire witch.
A monster that suddenly appeared one day and burned more than half of Seoul over three days and nights.
At that time, hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties occurred and over a thousand superhumans died while fighting the fire witch.
In the end, the superhumans joined forces and succeeded in killing the Fire Witch, but it took several years to completely repair the damage.
“At that time, I really thought the world was coming to an end…”
At my words, Lily puffed out her cheeks and expressed her dissatisfaction.
“Why are you speaking in a language I don’t understand earlier?”
“This is our country. “If you feel unfair, learn quickly.”
“It’s disgraceful.”
As I looked at the little boy’s doll-like face, I recalled the moment when I faced disaster.
A ring of fire wrapped around the city.
A thunderbolt of fire rained down from the sky like a meteor.
The ground cracked and a pillar of fire rose up.
It literally looked like the end of the world.
A fire witch who played with the superhumans who were praised as heroes and the large guilds that looked down on state power like children.
There was one reason why I was able to survive that huge disaster.
Because I was weak.
Because even if I went to fight the fire witch, I was sure I would die before I could even get close to her.
I was able to survive because I was assigned to a civilian rescue team, not a combat unit at the time.
Then, we only met once.
It was while rescuing civilians trapped under a building.
Suddenly, I heard a loud noise and turned my head to see a fire witch flying just a few dozen meters away, turning the fleeing superhumans into piles of charcoal.
At that time, the fire witch glanced at me and passed me by.
It felt like it wasn’t worth killing.
To be honest, I was a little tired of pants at that time.
I looked at Lily, the future fire witch, with a slightly more disturbed expression.
“Bitch.”
“huh?”
Actually, I thought a lot about it.
What are we going to do with this little boy who could grow up to be a disaster in the future?
Should I just kill him?
Or should I save it?
And came to a conclusion.
“It’s okay to change the future.”
There was a high probability that the reason this little girl became a fire witch was because she was kidnapped by a criminal organization and suffered terrible harm when she was young.
I stopped it for now, and all I have to do is prevent it from happening in the future.
And one more thing.
I also calculated that by using this guy’s power, I could accelerate my retirement even further.
A talent so crazy that it could be a disaster.
I said, ruffling Lily’s hair.
“kid. “Don’t cause trouble.”
Instead of answering, Lily slapped my hand away.
“Don’t treat me like a kid.”
“With angry hair.”
We headed to the market.
Previously, I was carrying a 24-person tent by myself, so I couldn’t pack much else.
Especially food ingredients.
“I’ll make a special meal for dinner tonight.”
Lily swallowed her saliva at my words.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned about this kid in a short amount of time, it’s that he’s a huge glutton.
“Special meal? What is that?”
“Nutritious landlord’s mana nutritional meal.”
It was a recipe brought from the future that would make up for our lack of mana.
[This child grows up (2)] End
ⓒ Ganjjajang