Chapter 25
Creak, creak.
“Damn it, hell…!”
In a narrow alley that seemed barely wide enough for a single person to squeeze through, Dovan was curled up amidst heaps of trash, grinding his teeth in frustration.
Squeak, squeak?
Rats rummaging through the garbage paused, tilting their heads as they noticed Dovan coming into view.
“Get lost!”
Squeak!
The moment the rats realized he wasn’t a new meal, they bolted away in a flash. However, not all the critters managed to scurry off. Dovan could feel a nasty bug crawling around on his back, yet he couldn’t muster any kind of reaction to it.
“How on earth did I end up like this…!”
Clenching his fists, Dovan trembled violently. His face flushed a bright red, fueled by a boiling rage that felt like it could erupt at any second.
He wanted nothing more than to unleash a barrage of magic and turn the place into chaos. But all he could do was sit there, completely powerless, atop his mountain of trash.
“Damn those Four Heavenly Kings!”
The reason Dovan, who once boasted a fancy laboratory, was now sitting in a landfill became clear — it was all because of Jiso, one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
After sneaking into Mia’s mansion and getting caught, Jiso had dashed over, bubbling with excitement at the thought of mediating the mess and promptly swiped all Dovan’s stuff, using a mountain of lame excuses.
Dovan lost everything — his lab, his test subjects, his magical items — and soon found himself wandering the streets, a total penniless wreck. Up until that point, it wasn’t such a big deal.
After all, he was a talented dark sorcerer. He could gradually recover what he had lost by earning some cash. But the real issue was that Jiso wasn’t satisfied with that.
She demanded his magic, his body, and even his soul.
“XX bastard! Making ridiculous demands…! XXX! XXXX!”
He muttered curses under his breath, nervously glancing around in case those thoughts somehow floated over to Jiso and summoned her out of nowhere.
Rustle, rustle.
“Crap!”
Dovan hissed as he brushed off a centipede that had crawled past his ankle. His eyes widened as he remembered how he ended up in this mess.
“It’s all that damn woman’s fault.”
Dovan didn’t for a second consider that he might’ve done anything wrong. Instead, all he could think about was plotting revenge.
“I can’t just run away like this!”
If he left the territory of the Demon King now, Jiso would definitely stop pursuing him. That was the only way he could escape, but his simmering anger was hard to shake off.
“That slave I saw at her house.”
Dovan slipped into a creepy grin as the image of Lian popped into his mind.
“I’ll steal that slave.”
He had no way to get back at Mia anymore, but he still had enough power to swipe one of her things.
Being a fugitive about to bail from the Demon King’s land, Dovan sketched his vile plan without a second thought.
“Surely… there are some usable slaves at that bitch’s place.”
Dovan rummaged through the trash, scavenging until he found a half-broken staff, with which he traced a magic circle in the air.
With cold sweat beading down his brow, he meticulously outlined the magic circle, which glimmered ominously in black.
Whoosh.
“Perfect!”
Dovan felt his magic connect to Mia’s mansion in the distance. Thanks to the traces left by his previous magic when he snuck in, it was surprisingly easy.
Whoosh -.
Like a familiar spirit slipping inside, part of the mansion came into view.
“Wait… this is… the slave quarters?”
In the cramped space, bunk beds were crammed against the walls. Originally meant for servants, it was currently occupied by kids.
“Lucky me.”
Dovan’s eyes sparkled as he set his sight on the new prey entering the room. His magic circle picked up the image of Pia, who had just entered and was rummaging through a drawer beneath one of the beds.
*
Shiver, shiver, shiver.
My legs were trembling so intensely it felt like they might drill right through the ground. I pressed my hands against my knees to steady them, but that did absolutely nothing.
“I’m done for! What do I do now?!”
I couldn’t remember a single solid plan I thought I had up until recently.
“Surely she’s not dead, right?!”
If that were true, this world would fall into the hands of the Demon King and be doomed. Tears started gushing out like a faucet turned wide open.
“Ugh, ugh.”
Thud.
With my forehead slammed against the kitchen table, I tugged at my hair, desperately trying to come up with a proper plan, but nothing came to mind.
Then,
“What are you doing?”
“Ah…”
Pia’s blunt voice echoed as she walked into the kitchen.
“Why? Looking for something?”
“It’s not that, but…”
Pia trailed off, furrowing her brows a bit as she stared at my face. Did I have something smudged on me?
Without saying anything, she gazed at my face and eventually turned on her heels and left.
“Did she need something? Oh, wait, it’s about time to start preparing for dinner.”
Just a few days ago, Mia was completely engulfed in despair and still hadn’t snapped back to reality. She kept mumbling things like “I’m not wrong,” while flipping through a bunch of old specialty books.
Since Mia wasn’t interested in even eating properly, I thought I should prepare something simple for her.
“Thankfully, we’ve got plenty of ingredients… should I whip up some easy-to-eat sandwiches today?”
I dressed Mia in her outerwear, handed her a wallet, and gave her a list of things to buy, and she managed to shop for everything all by herself.
“Is it really possible for a person to become this broken? More importantly, was that incident shocking enough to warrant such a reaction?” I pondered, but since I had so much more free time now, I figured it was fine not to push Mia to snap back to reality.
“As for Iris… since there’s no immediate solution, I should just tackle what’s directly in front of me.”
I plastered on a bright smile despite feeling tears trickling down. After all, the residents of this goofy world have a knack for bouncing back quickly.
“Now, let’s see… there should be bread around here somewhere?”
I started preparing the dinner, digging through the suitable ingredients.
“Big brother!”
“Brother!”
As soon as I got busy in the kitchen, several kids peeked their heads in.
“I’ll help! Here!”
“Me too! Over here!”
“Can I help too?”
After showing them how to easily make a few simple dishes a couple of times, the kids eagerly jumped in to help with meal prep. I smiled and nodded, welcoming the excited kids who came rushing in.
There were not three kids, but four who joined.
“Master!”
Jess came bounding toward me, her tail wagging furiously, and clung to my leg. As I pat her head in response to her adorable antics, her perky ears drooped down.
“Wow…!”
“A tail…!”
Normally, Jess hid her ears and tail, so the children were fascinated by her sudden reveal. They couldn’t help but reach out towards the sway of her tail, drawn by their instincts.
“Stop! You can’t touch Jess without her permission.”
“Oh, okay!”
“Jess, can I touch your tail?”
At the kid’s question, Jess’s tail twisted up and vanished in an instant. She shook her head at the kids, glancing back at them.
“It hurts when you touch it, so I hate it.”
“Whoa, it hurts!”
“I didn’t know! Sorry!”
The kids’ eyes went wide with surprise, and they quickly apologized for their thoughtless actions. Jess nodded back at them, bravely assuring them it was okay.
Watching the adorable kids, I unraveled a loaf of bread, the size of my torso, from the wrapping.
“Alright, before everyone helps out, there’s something we need to do first, right?”
“Wash our hands!”
The kids chirped as they climbed up the little stairs I had made for them, washing their hands at the sink.
Thanks to the long stairs set up at one side of the kitchen table, the kids could easily pitch in when it came time to cook.
“I’m glad I built those.”
In the past, I only asked them to do tasks that didn’t require the stairs, like throwing away the trash or moving plates.
The kids were still little, so just helping with those tasks was plenty. I insisted on creating the stairway after seeing Jess jump around helplessly in front of the sink with a troubled expression.
“This is what it feels like to have a daughter.”
I smiled warmly and sliced the bread, placing it in front of the kids. They enthusiastically began assembling sandwiches with their tiny hands.
With so many helpers, dinner preparation wrapped up in a jiffy. I packed the sweet sandwiches to Mia’s liking and handed the tray over to Jess and the other kids.
“Take this to the dining room and let the other kids know it’s time to eat, okay?”
“Okay!”
“Yes!”
If they were normal kids, they might have squealed with “Waaah!” and dashed away, but these little ones, having seen their fair share of horrors, calmly carried the tray instead.
Leaving those kids behind, I headed toward Mia. It was a familiar route, and I arrived in no time.
Knock-knock, creak.
Without waiting for a response, I pushed the door open.
