Chapter 66 - All That is Left [2]
"U-Uwaaaah!!!" The two of them cried out in fear, clearly uncomfortable with the situation.
"I should do something about this..." I shook my head, unable to explain myself when I knew this was my fault.
After the chase, I managed to catch the hooded figure, only to discover they were a kid, watching me for some unknown reason.
Of course, I was going to ask him a few questions, but then another stranger appeared who seemed to be his sibling.
Together, they looked at me with fearful eyes, crying because of my mischief moments ago.
"Bweeeeh!!!"
"...Sigh."
Feeling a bit guilty, I decided to stop closing the distance and sat down where I was.
"Before I apologize for teasing the two of you, your brother over there decided to eavesdrop for a long time before running away. Isn't that suspicious?"
"...Sniff!" They looked at me in silence, unable to respond while still frozen in fear.
This is going nowhere.
As much as I hate to admit it, if Scarlett were here, the situation would have been different.
Scarlett may be a machine that rips her enemies apart without emotion, but she knows how to take care of kids—problematic ones at that.
—Simon, for example.
"...Hmm, let's start simple, simple!" I nodded, trying to figure out how to handle the kids alone.
"You two... What's your name? My name is Aria, by the way." I smiled, trying not to break their boundaries too quickly.
With this approach, the two of them calmed down, looking at each other to see what they could do.
If not for my relatively harmless appearance, it would've gone another direction.
The purple-haired girl glanced at her big brother for approval.
She was hesitant at first until the boy nodded, realizing there was no way out of this.
"M-My... my name is Luna..."
"I'm Ray... are you really not here for us?"
"Nice to meet you two, Ray and Luna. But here for you...?" I tilted my head, confused by what he meant.
"Nn, the scary people uncle told us to be careful of."
"Scary people..."
I placed my hands on my chin, curious about who these 'scary people' were.
"And this uncle, do you know where he is?"
"W-We were trying to escape until we had to hide because scary monsters found us..."
Once again, Luna began to tremble with fear, recalling what had happened before they found me.
"U-Uncle... he… hiik…" She stuttered, unable to finish her thought.
At the mention of these events, she fell silent, and Ray hugged her tightly, trying to comfort her.
As Luna struggled to finish her words, I raised my hand to stop her, as I had a good idea of what had likely happened.
"Monsters. Were there a lot of them?"
"M-Mhmm…"
"Then I have one last question: when did you encounter the monsters?"
"I... don't know..."
"..."
—Clench...
'Dammit…' I clenched my fists.
Here were two kids stranded in the middle of nowhere, with food and shelter in short supply.
They had no guardian to protect them, left alone to die in unpleasant ways.
How many others were suffering like this?
"Fooo..." I took a deep breath to calm down.
It was now or never. I had to decide what to do next.
There was no one here to tell me what to do.
Except myself.
—Slap!
Without any warning, I slapped my face with both hands to jolt me awake.
The kids were surprised by my action, but I managed to smile again, hoping to gain their trust.
"Alright, you two—stand up."
—Vooom…!
With a flick of my hands (unnecessary), the shackles that bound Ray suddenly disappeared and were absorbed back in me.
"You two want to get back home safely, right?"
There was silence as the kids remained hesitant, which was expected.
As much as I don't want to—I guess I'll have to give something that everyone likes, which I was saving up.
—Fwip…!
"...!"
Fiddling in my pocket, I pulled out the deliciously packed macarons I had been saving for when I got hungry.
I had planned to enjoy them after creating enough ammunition today, but that wasn't important right now.
"Here, you two must be hungry, right?" I juggled the macarons in my hand.
Without context, it probably looked like I was luring them in with candy, but let's not focus on that.
Ray looked at me with skepticism, but I could see he was struggling to control his drooling.
I knew it would take time to earn their trust... or perhaps it wouldn't take as long as I thought.
Luna, who had defended her brother, suddenly dashed toward me, snatched the macarons from my hands, and returned to Ray.
"…What?" I was surprised by how quickly she grabbed them from me.
Luna began munching on the snack like a hungry rabbit, her cheeks stuffed like a chipmunk's.
Ray also took some macarons into his mouth, devouring them with such vigour that one would assume he hadn't eaten anything for months.
It didn't take long before everything went back to square one... and then began to cry again, tears streaming down their faces like a waterfall.
"U-Uwaaaah!"
"Wait—hold on! Stop crying already!" I stepped closer to them, but this time, they didn't mind.
I didn't expect that giving them food would have such an intense impact.
“Uwaaaa… hhk…!”
"I-I have more, so please just stop crying!"
—Rustle...!
Desperate, I showed them the pouch where I kept all the sweets I had left.
Since I like sweet things... which definitely came from my transformation into a girl, I had stored a few treats in the Spatial Ring.
That pouch contained all sorts of goodies I had been saving for my entire trip in Trestkania.
I was 100% confident that this would make the kids sway in joy—a treasure trove they wouldn't dare snatch from my hands without permission.
However, my willingness to offer such treasure had the opposite intended effect.
"UWAAAAH!!!"
"Oh come on!"
I panicked from stress, almost tearing up over this bizarre situation.
Trying to comfort the kids, I ultimately gave up and let them cry it out, hoping this would ease their pain, isolated in a deserted city like this.
'Incredible, this translator, that is,' I thought as I fiddled with the earrings in my ears, wondering how they worked.
How did the language convert in real-time? How could they understand what I was saying?
The pitch and tone of the kids' voices were identical, as if they spoke Demurgian tongue so fluently that I couldn't wrap my head around it.
If Orion hadn't given me this device, I would have faced a much rougher situation with these kids.
North Trestkania, near the border. Afternoon.
It took a while to calm the kids down—a total of five minutes to dry their tears.
It wasn't an enjoyable experience, that's for sure.
"Hey, big sis! Where did you come from?" Ray asked, feeling more at ease compared to before.
I'm not sure when it started, but both of them began calling me "sister," which I don't mind.
"I came from Demiurge. Ever heard of that place?"
"Ah… I know that place! Mom and Dad told me it's a nation of magic!" Luna's face lit up at the mention of magic.
"Magic…?" Ray's curiosity piqued, and he looked at me with admiration.
...Right, Trestkania banned the use of magic.
From now on, everything here is treated differently, from rules to advancements.
If Demiurge is a modern country infused with magic, then Trestkania exists without magic but boasts technological advancements in its place.
It was no surprise they were eager to know what magic looks like.
With that thought in mind, Ray's excitement faded as he recalled something.
"Ah… Mom told us that magic is bad…"
"B-But...! That's..."
The siblings, who had been taught their whole lives that magic was banned and punishable by law, grew gloomy once again.
"...Hmm." I nodded, considering what I should say.
That's right, it was clearly stated in the law itself, engraved at the very top of Trestkania's rules.
...So? Do I really care about the law when order has crumbled?
What is the law going to do in a destroyed world like this anyway—execute me?
Deciding to ignore their concerns, mana began to flow from my fingertips, just enough to make their experience... enjoyable.
“H-Huwah…?! What's happening?!"
—Vooom…!
"Luna…? What's wrong—uwah!" Ray tried to see what was wrong, only to experience the same phenomenon.
"W-We're flying!" Luna's initial look of fear quickly turned to excitement, then to pure joy, as I used <Telekinesis> on them.
<Telekinesis> consumes a decent amount of mana, but since they were two small kids who weren't moving excessively, I could easily control them as if they were floating.
"Aha…. hahaha!!!" Luna giggled in pure joy.
"U-Uwaaaa!" On the other hand, Ray was terrified of heights and tried to stabilize himself.
I'm the one controlling where they go, so it was up to me if I wanted to bring them down. Heh.
While they played, floating around like fish in a lake, I continued walking toward the camp to save time.
'Hah, what am I really doing?' I wondered, realizing that I was playing with a couple of kids.
For someone like me, who had held the title of a loner for the longest time, this was a rare occurrence.
Now, how do I explain to Scarlett that I found two stray kids in this town?
"Sister, sister~! Do you have any more beautiful magic?" Luna called out to me, addressing me as "sister."
"Yup, lots of them."
"Really...?!" Her eyes sparkled, her shyness disappearing as she witnessed the magic.
I guess I've always been used to being the older sibling, no matter the situation.
Before I could show her any more impressive tricks with a smug on my face, Ray tugged at my scarf, trying to get my attention.
"P-please… let me down..."
"Hmm? Big Brother, are you not having fun…?"
"I… I am…! But—urmmpfg!"
...Wait, there's no way this is happening.
At that last moment, panic spread across my face as Ray struggled to hold it in...
—his vomit, that is.
"W-Wait! Hold on!" I tried to move away from him.
Just as I was about to let him down, I used too much mana and dropped him too quickly, resulting in a messy situation...
He vomited all over my face.
"We're sorry…" The two of them bowed their heads in apology.
"…" Scarlett, who had woken up due to the commotion outside, came to see me drenched in... dubious liquid.
"… It's alright, I can just clean myself up."
Without saying anything further, I utilized my mastery of mana to clean my body.
A gentle wind flowed upward, as if a calm breeze had passed by.
This magic didn't consume much mana, so I used it on Luna and Ray, too, while I was at it.
They both stared in awe at what was happening, but I ignored their reactions and uttered a single word to complete the incantation.
"Cleanse."
—Voom!
At that moment, dirt and unnecessary substances clung to the tip of my finger, allowing me to remove sand and... vomit and dried blood stains.
Once the process was complete, three balls swirled on my finger, with one of them standing out prominently.
About this ball of rainbows and sunshine… I'll just throw it far away from here.
"There, see? Nothing to worry about," I said, clasping my hands together to reassure him.
Ray, still feeling guilty, broke into a smile and nodded.
"Thank you, big sis," he expressed his gratitude.
"Lady Aria, who are these children, and why are they here?" Scarlett asked me.
I may have been too distracted by using the spell <Cleanse>, but I hadn't noticed that Scarlett was wearing the translator device in earring as well.
"Ah, I forgot to introduce them," I said, nodding my head as the two children hid behind me, wary of Scarlett.
"These two are Ray and Luna. They were stranded here after their guardian…" I hesitated, unsure how to continue, and gave her a hint about what had happened.
Scarlett quickly sensed what I was implying and nodded thoughtfully.
"…I see." After a brief silence, her emotionless expression briefly lit up, only to be replaced by visible remorse.
—Tap…!
"!!!" The kids flinched as Scarlett approached them and knelt.
They were on the verge of retreating behind me, but Scarlett made her intentions clear: she wanted to make them feel safe.
"Ray, Luna, have no fear."
Perhaps it was because I had known her for years, or maybe it was because I had never seen the characters in the novel behave like their respective roles.
But Scarlett, the Ashen Witch, smiled with a brightness that could rival the sun.
"I assure you, we will take you back to your home. I promise you this with my life and my mana." She placed her right hand on her chest and extended her hand toward the kids.
The moment Scarlett looked at Luna and Ray with warmth, all three of us, including me, felt more at ease knowing she was a kind person.
...
...
...
"T-Then...!" Luna raised her voice, revealing information she had kept hidden until now.
With newfound confidence, she looked at Scarlett and me, deciding to trust us in that crucial moment.
"Sister… Auntie...! Please save them! Save mommy and Daddy…!"
...
...
...
“Auntie...?” Scarlett's expression collapsed, as if she were on the verge of disintegrating into ash.
I was about to let out laughter, but for the first time since she found out who I am, she looked at me with the intent to bury me in the ground.
