[TS] Became a Peach Saint – Chapter 99

Squish.

“Gah!! Stop, stop!”

Squish squish.

“Ahhh!”

Joseph’s hair flies everywhere.

“Wow. Forced it out and now it’s bleeding.”

“Why on earth?”

“Why, you little brat? You kidnap innocent people and think your hair will stay intact?”

Squish. Squish. Squish.

“Ahhhhhh!”

Joseph’s hair is grabbed in handfuls and pulled out like weeds.

“That should do it. Come out, almighty magic pen!”

Ding!

Swish, swish.

Using Joseph’s scalp as canvas, words are written.

“Kidnapper. Good, done. If this doesn’t last a year, I’ll come back and pluck out every last hair, even your… you know.”

“……”

Thud!

“Gah!”

“Answer me, you jerk.”

“Yes, yes!”

“Lucky for you, I left the sides alone.”

Thanks to that, Joseph’s head now has a highway running down the middle, with only the sides left intact.

“Now go bring your boss here.”

Joseph slumps and walks towards the room with the goat beard, while Lily watches with a strange expression.

“Feeling sorry for him?”

“No.”

Given Lily’s usual temperament, I expected her to intervene, but she was surprisingly firm.

“Why?”

“They kidnapped us under the guise of accelerating world development, using us for labor and human experiments. Many families were taken.”

Anger. Despair.

Even a sense of helplessness.

Lily’s round eyes conveyed a multitude of emotions.

“Really? What a messed-up world. I love it.”

While chatting with Lily and gathering information about this world, the goat beard, supported by Joseph, approached me.

“Hi?”

“……”

Click.

“Hi?”

“Ni-nice to meet you.”

“How did you heal him?”

“Used a high-level potion I had on hand.”

“Gasp.”

Lily, who was listening nearby, was so shocked I almost pulled the trigger.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“High-level potions are said to be expensive enough to save a small village.”

At Lily’s words, the goat beard frowned.

“What kind of academy professor has that kind of money? Must’ve made it selling slaves.”

“It’s a family heirloom.”

Whether it was because he changed his pants or something else, the potion had clearly worked—aside from a slight limp, he was fine.

“Fascinating. Anyway, Joseph, pluck his hair out.”

“What did you say?”

“If you don’t want to end up like him, pluck his hair.”

“……Baron Jero, I apologize in advance.”

“Ah, no!”

Pluck pluck.

“Ahhh!!”

“Pluck it all out, you brat.”

Squish!

“Ahhh!!”

“Want a demonstration with your remaining hair? Pull it out by the roots.”

Squish! Squish!

“Ugh.”

Joseph, who had vowed to dedicate himself to his subordinates, began plucking the goat beard’s hair with more enthusiasm than anyone else.

“Want to take a bite, Lily?”

“No.”

“Then have a choco bar.”

Lily, who had been eyeing me, quietly took the choco bar from my hand.

“Thank you for the food.”

“Om nom.”

“So you’re a Beastkin.”

“No, I’m not.”

While I was arguing with Room Uncle, who was giving me a weird look, I noticed Lily hurriedly munching on the choco bar.

She was pretending not to care, but she seemed really hungry.

“Lily, want some food?”

“I’m fine.”

*Grumble*

A small growl came from Lily’s stomach.

She had already learned to hide her feelings and refuse, like a child.

Lily, who seemed unusually mature for her age, reminded me of Jia for a moment.

“Hey, move aside.”

“Huh? Huh? Yes?”

“I said move.”

Joseph stepped aside, revealing Goat Beard, who looked like his hair had been chewed off by a rat.

*Smack!*

“Gah!”

As I swung my hand, Goat Beard’s lip split open.

“You bastard. Whether you sell people or organs…”

*Smack!*

“Guh!”

“I don’t care what you do, but messing with kids is a universal no-no. Got it?”

Even though he was dazed from the slap, he desperately nodded.

“You’re a damn lunatic. Kidnapping and starving a kid? You should just drop dead, you scumbag!”

*Smack! Smack! Smack!*

Goat Beard’s teeth scattered into the air.

“Gah!”

*Thud.*

When I let go of his collar, he finally slumped to the ground.

After staring at Goat Beard sprawled out, I pulled out a gun from my storage space.

*Bang!!!*

Another stream of blood gushed from between Goat Beard’s legs.

“Drop everything you have, take care of the kid, and get out of here.”

Joseph and the other knights, who had been watching nervously, quickly started cleaning up.

After finishing the job, I returned to find Lily looking up at me with wide eyes.

“Let’s eat.”

As I patted Lily’s head, her soft green hair brushed through my fingers.

“Lily, do you like meat?”

*Nod. Nod.*

Still feeling awkward about being in debt, Lily cautiously nodded. I opened my storage space and the shop.

Burner, grill, meat, and even wrap veggies.

Sitting in the forest with the fresh scent of grass, I couldn’t think of anything better.

“Both of you, come sit here.”

Whether they thought I was a real magician or not, they remained unfazed even when flames rose from the burner.

*Sizzle.*

As soon as I placed the pork belly on the hot grill, the delicious aroma spread everywhere.

The two, who had been awkwardly standing by my side, quickly took their seats.

“Ueong.”

“You came too?”

“Meow? Beastkin…”

“I told you, I’m not.”

Leaving Room Uncle, who was fixated on strange things, behind, I started grilling the meat in earnest.

*Sizzle.*

The pork belly sizzled to a perfect golden brown.

When I started cutting the long strip of pork belly with scissors, Lily stared at it as if entranced.

There was still a lot of pork belly left, but I placed a plump piece of meat and some ssamjang on a wrap veggie and folded it.

“Ah.”

“…Ahh.”

Lily looked at the size of the wrap and opened her mouth as wide as she could.

Still, it was tiny.

I popped the wrap into Lily’s mouth, and she chewed on the mouthful of food.

“Tasty, right?”

*Nod. Nod. Nod.*

It suited her taste.

He kept nodding his head, and seeing that made me feel good too.

“Put the meat on top of the veggies, can’t you see the sauce here? You put this on and eat it together.”

While explaining how to eat to Lily, a big face approached from the side.

“Ah.”

“Huh?”

“I like meat too. Ah.”

Seeing Room Uncle’s awkward smile, I stacked two large lettuce leaves and built a tower of meat on top.

“Here, ah.”

“Ah—”

When the over 2-meter-tall giant opened his mouth wide, it felt like the abyss of a cave had opened.

Seeing Lily and then this, the sense of reverse empathy hit even harder.

“Tasty, right?”

“Maida!”

“Ueong!”

“You eat raw meat.”

It always feels good when we all sit together and eat meat.

“Lily, you’re good with chopsticks, huh?”

“It’s fun.”

“It’s hard.”

“Room Uncle, you should use a fork.”

Looking at the chopsticks in Room Uncle’s hand, it seemed like toothpicks were unnecessary.

After struggling, Room Uncle ended up stabbing the meat with the chopsticks and lifting it.

In contrast, Lily was skillfully handling the chopsticks with her tiny hands—she was quite dexterous.

—Kyaaaaaa!!

“Ah, that scared me. What was that?”

“Ueong!”

While eating meat, a sudden loud noise echoed.

It was so loud that the birds sitting on the trees flew away in shock.

Room Uncle, who was deeply engrossed in the meat, froze.

“Bauder.”

“Bauder?”

Naturally, my head turned downward.

I remembered Goat Beard mentioning something about Bauder’s offspring earlier.

“Seems like the mother came looking for you.”

“Ueong.”

“This isn’t normal.”

“Why? Just send it back.”

“Adult Bauders are monsters. Even large monsters avoid them.”

Boom! Boom! Boom!!

—Kwaaaaaang!!!!

As soon as Lily finished speaking, trees that looked thousands of years old were torn apart like paper, and what seemed to be the mother of the baby bear appeared.

—Kyaaaaaaaa!!!

“Ugh, my eardrums are gonna burst.”

As soon as I saw the Bauder, I instantly understood why Lily called it a monster.

A living being that looked to be around 8 meters tall.

The mother bear slowly approached, tearing trees apart with her massive claws.

—Grrrrrr.

A low growl filled with hostility.

The mother bear’s gaze was fixed on the baby bear in my arms.

“Ueong, do something. Your mom’s mad. Damn, this is terrifying.”

The pressure of a building-sized creature approaching with hostility was overwhelming.

Only now did I realize it.

This wasn’t the kind Earth I used to know.

“Ueong Ueong!”

At that moment, the baby bear in my arms jumped forward.

It stood up and seemed to be explaining something to the mother bear.

Since it wasn’t language, neither Truth nor Understanding could make sense of it.

“Ueong! Ueong Ueong!”

—Grrrr.

“Good, good. Keep explaining.”

I thought I had gotten stronger, but I was wrong.

In this insane world, even a bear popping out made my heart race like crazy.

Only now did I realize.

Whenever I questioned why I had to do this, Baekseol always said the same thing.

「You have to get stronger.」

I have to get stronger.

“Ueong!”

At least it seemed like things were working out somehow.

The hostility in the mother bear’s eyes gradually faded, and she lowered her massive body.

“Kruhng.”

“Uh. Yeah, right. You’re Kruhng. The misunderstanding’s cleared up, right?”

The mother bear’s head came closer and closer to the ground, almost touching it.

Seeing her lying flat like that, it almost seemed like she was apologizing for scaring us.

As I tried to approach, Lily grabbed my sleeve and shook her head side to side.

“It’s fine.”

I patted Lily’s head once and slowly approached the mother bear.

Ding!

“It’s natural honey, infused with the blood and sweat of bees.”

Sniff sniff.

Whether it’s high intelligence or a keen sense of smell, I don’t know, but as I approached with the honey, she opened her mouth.

I poured a jar of honey into the mother bear’s large mouth, and she smacked her lips, savoring the taste.

“It’s really great, huh?”

“Kruhng.”

“Yeah, it’s better than human food.”

As I poured honey into the mother bear’s mouth, Lily and Room Uncle approached.

“As expected of the Beastkin Grand Mage. Taming a Bauder is amazing.”

“Ah, come on. She was just begging for her life.”

“Bauders are supposed to be untamable creatures of terror. This is incredible. It’s my first time seeing an adult Bauder up close.”

“No, it’s not.”

I had to clean up the mess and send the cub back to its mother.

“You should go to your mom.”

“Ueong!”

Sensing that I was trying to send her away, the cub clung tightly to my leg, refusing to let go.

Even when I first met the cub, she had no fear, sitting on my lap like it was nothing.

“Now I get why you’re so fearless. Your mom’s amazing.”

“Ueong!”

Being raised under the protection of such a creature, it made sense.

“Alright, let’s go our separate ways. You go to your mom.”

I peeled the cub off me and sent her back to her mother. Looking around, the knights were preparing to head left.

“Hmm. Should I go left too?”

As I scanned the long forest path, I felt a presence and looked down to see Lily staring up at me.

“Lady Autumn.”

“It’s Eonni.”

“…Eonni.”

“What.”

After calling me, Lily silently stared up at me, and I met her gaze before reaching out my hand.

After staring at my hand for a while, Lily finally took it.

Ding!

<Tutorial: Choice>

<Clear!>

Finally, Lily smiled brightly, like a child.

It was as if a radiant flower had bloomed.