Tap, tap, tap.
The sound was rhythmic.
It was the sound of someone tapping their fingers on the armrest of a chair.
The man making that sound sat in a slouched position, letting out a sigh as if he was indifferent.
“Hah, they really don’t show up, huh?”
Well, hoping for someone to keep their promise in a back alley was asking for too much.
Every time this happened, one was reminded anew of the truth that people can’t be managed with mere words.
In the end, power is the best.
The man muttered to his subordinate, who was always ready to obey orders.
“Take the kids with you and bring them here.”
Their reply was predetermined.
“Got it.”
Clink, as the subordinates left the office, he turned the chair around, placed his feet on the table, and gazed idly at the ceiling.
“Ah…. there’s nothing to do here.”
Should I have invited a woman in advance for times like this? Back in Beriton, it was enough to just call any elf girl in the hallway when bored.
While he was contemplating what to do, thinking maybe a nap would do him good,
– Ring…
The phone rang.
“What the hell is this…”
He was just about to fall asleep and was now feeling bad from the interruption.
After a cursory check, it turned out to be a call from the front gate guard.
Thinking that if they were calling for some trivial matter, he should brace himself, he picked up the phone.
“What’s up?”
– Um, boss. A guest has arrived. One female elf and one small hybrid kid.
The content of the call was absurd.
Out of the blue, a guest? He had no particular memory of calling for a woman.
“What? What the hell are those kids doing here?”
– They said they came on behalf of ‘Third.’
“What? What does that guy have to do with them?”
– They’re asking what the relationship is. Ah, yes. They say they’re friends with the guardian.
“Friends with that jerk’s guardian? What kind of nonsense is that?”
– I don’t know either. But they insist they want to talk to the boss…
Well, it seems like they might have called for backup.
However, it was the first time anyone had come in that boldly through the main entrance like this.
“What’s going on?”
In such an absurd situation, he was slightly taken aback.
At least the feeling of boredom had completely vanished.
‘Hmm…’
As he thought about it, curiosity grew within him.
He was keen to check the faces of the folks at the front gate who were acting like comedians.
“Connect to the screen.”
– Yes, understood.
After a moment, the phone switched to video mode.
When the screen appeared, he momentarily froze.
He even stopped breathing.
The reason was simple.
The woman on the screen was familiar.
“Ha, haha… Hahaha!!”
As soon as he recalled her, he went insane.
The scar on his nose was her handiwork.
“Let them in and guide them to the reception room. Don’t you dare let her slip away. Hold onto her until I get there, got it?”
– Yes! What about the girl she came with?
“What, let that brat die or whatever… no, wait a minute.”
The man glanced at the screen again.
That little kid next to her…
From what he could see, she seemed to be a hybrid.
And she was quite uniquely formed.
Cat ears and horns…?
Now that he thought about it, that old man had freaked out over the horned cat girl the last time, and she seemed like exactly his type.
There were no flaws in her appearance, so she seemed to have great market value.
That girl might be something the old man would like quite a bit.
“Hm, keep her aside. She looks usable as a product.”
– Understood.
———
Sigh, the man looked at the disconnected phone before heavily opening his mouth.
“…Let them in.”
“Alright.”
Once he gave permission, the woman nodded with a satisfied smile.
The man was completely intimidated by her aura.
Living in this world, the first thing one learns is to be perceptive.
Maybe that’s why, despite her lovely face, he felt a dangerous glint in her eyes like that of a sharp predator.
It wasn’t because he was scared to see the other guards getting subdued bare-handed.
“…”
‘Damn it, elves are something else.’
Instead of letting those words escape, the man muttered internally.
They were a race that was so different from their appearance. What on earth do they usually do to be that strong?
But that wouldn’t be the case for long.
Somehow, it seemed like the boss would personally take care of things…
As he thought this, he began guiding them.
“Follow me.”
———
“Hmm…”
Yerna walked down the corridor, her expression scrunched up.
It felt strange.
Seeing her expression, Luke immediately asked.
“What’s wrong, Yerna? Are you feeling uneasy about something?”
“Oh, it’s just that this situation feels somehow familiar.”
The corridor, the guards, and the facility in the woods… uninvited guests.
From there, an inexplicable sense of déjà vu struck her. She couldn’t quite pinpoint where she had felt this before.
It definitely felt like something she had seen before…
“Don’t worry too much. It probably won’t be anything serious.”
Luke could roughly guess where Yerna’s feeling was coming from.
It was likely a ‘residual feeling’ rooted in the trauma of old memories.
There was that time they exchanged flower accessories while walking the paths of Luke Forest.
At that time, Luke had gifted Yerna a flower ring while casting a spell to stabilize “anxiety about memories.”
Because of that, any negative emotions tied to that memory should have faded, which now left her feeling slightly off.
“Hmm… so that’s why, I guess?”
If Luke said so, then it must be true.
She must be overreacting; Yerna soon relaxed her expression and gently patted Luke’s head.
After walking through the corridor for a bit, the man guiding them stopped in front of a door.
“Please wait here; the boss will come to see you.”
“Thank you for your effort.”
“Wait a minute.”
Just as she was about to enter without any suspicion, Luke tried to follow her when the man blocked the door.
“What are you doing?”
“Why are you doing this?”
Luke looked up at the man blocking the door, who was staring down at him.
The man replied while looking down at Luke.
“Little kid, you need to go somewhere else. The boss doesn’t like children that much.”
Dylan, due to a past failure at the orphanage, had developed a great aversion to children.
It was something nearly akin to trauma.
But that didn’t mean he didn’t handle children as products.
“Oh, is that so?”
Yerna seemed to understand, and Luke nodded along.
There are certainly people who wouldn’t like having a little kid mixed in when adults are talking.
Though he wasn’t a child, what could he do? He couldn’t change his body right now.
To anyone’s eyes, he clearly looked like a child.
To convince them, it was essential to avoid being considered an eyesore based on first impressions.
Negative elements decided by first impressions would clearly influence persuasion, and removing those would naturally require a considerable effort and time.
It would be better for him to follow their words and stay somewhere else.
“It seems like you’ll have to talk to Yerna alone.”
“Luke, will you be alright by yourself?”
“Of course I will. More importantly, will you be okay?”
“Of course, I’m an adult, after all!”
“Haha, then I’ll wait somewhere else and cheer for you.”
“Alright. If anything happens, make sure to call me.”
————-
As he walked along with another man’s guidance, the man asked.
“Hey, kid. That elf said she’s your guardian, right? Where are your mom and dad?”
That question again?
“Where are your parents?” That was one of the standard questions adults asked kids who were alone.
Was there really nothing else to say?
Why were others’ parents such a point of curiosity? Luke sighed and answered half-heartedly.
“Ha, they’re gone.”
“I see.”
The man chuckled at his response.
It seemed like the parents had been gone for quite a while.
Then clean-up shouldn’t be a problem…
“Where am I going right now?”
Oh dear, it seems this little kid still didn’t understand his situation.
How unfortunate.
The man replied with a sly smile.
“To where ‘kids’ go in this place.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Luke nodded, recalling a children’s playroom he had once visited that was attached to a café.
On the surface, it seemed they had proper welfare facilities here.
As he thought this, Py approached him anxiously and spoke up.
– Luke, that guy seems strange.
“What do you mean?”
– His smile is weird, and I get a bad vibe.
“Py, judging people based solely on appearances is a bad habit.”
– But…
Luke glanced up at the man.
He seemed a bit flustered, his expression turning somewhat ambiguous, but he definitely had a smile that looked criminal.
It was understandable why Py thought he was strange, but he was just unfortunate in how he looked; he hadn’t done anything wrong.
But that man probably did not want to look that way; it wasn’t intentional.
Luke smiled at him in return and said.
“By the way, is the part where Yerna beat you up alright? Can you forgive her? She can be a bit extreme sometimes.”
The man was utterly taken aback.
‘What on earth? This kid.’
Even if he didn’t know where he was going, how could he go from humming to asking about his well-being…?
This was a truly peculiar kid.
It seemed like it could be fun after a long while.
He twisted the corners of his mouth into a wry smile.
“Is that so?”
As he smiled, Py began to stir again.
– See, I told you it was strange!
In contrast, Luke rebuked Py not to act like that.
It was definitely an unsettling smile, but as he told Py earlier, one must not judge people solely on appearances.
“Stop teasing him based on looks. When he smiles like that, it’s just pleasant.”
-……
——–
Yerna sat quietly in the reception room’s chair, nervously tapping her legs.
“Let’s calm down, calm down….”
She took a deep breath.
Why was she so nervous? It shouldn’t be a big deal.
This was just a suspicious-looking rehabilitation facility, and once the boss came out, she could properly persuade them.
So why was it so hard to shake off this uneasy feeling?
Was it because she was separated from Luke?
‘Ha, how obsessive am I about him? Get a grip.’
She would eventually have to part with Luke, and what on earth would she do when that day came?
If she wasn’t going to die with him, she had to get used to it starting now.
Right? So just relax. A little separation is nothing to fret over.
As she was suggesting this to herself, she felt a buzzing vibration from her phone that she had placed in her pocket.
Thinking it might be Luke, she quickly checked, but the number displayed was not Luke’s.
She felt a bit disappointed.
– Yerna, I have information about Dylan.
“Yes, what is it?”
– What? Aren’t you happy to hear from me?
“No, I am happy.”
A bit surprised by Yerna’s still indifferent voice, the person on the other end of the phone hesitated.
– You don’t sound at all excited… well, that’s that. Anyway.
“Yes. Please go on.”
– Based on the information I heard from a street punk, it seems like he’s definitely looking for someone. I found out who he’s searching for.
“Who is it?”
– They say he’s looking for someone named ‘Third.’
“Eh?!”
Yerna gasped and jumped out of her seat.
– What? Do you recognize the name?
“Are you sure it’s Third? Are you certain about that name?”
She almost shouted at the phone.
– I’m certain, he said he heard it several times. It doesn’t seem like he made it up. There’s information coming from other places too… But why do you care?
“Ha.”
Circle, experiments, facilities, underworld, drugs, crime.
And the terms connecting them: ‘Third’ and ‘Dylan.’
All the pieces came together in Yerna’s mind like a puzzle.
“Oh my god. Third is….”
‘Third is the person chasing after Dylan!’
Betrayal and emptiness.
A tremendous psychological shock made her feel like all her strength had left her body.
That familiar feeling was definitely not an illusion.
“Hahaha!! Hey! It’s been a long time!”
With a bang, the door opened and people came in. As Yerna slowly turned her head to look, she saw a familiar face.
“Dylan…”
– So, do you know where he is?
“…Yes, he’s right in front of me…”
