Chapter 27

*Boom!*

…

Thunder strikes. Thunder isn’t scary. It’s always like this here.

Rain comes and goes, the sun blazes, the wind blows like it’s trying to sweep you away, and when the suffocating humidity gets too much, roots sprout from the ground.

Last time, I even ran into a weird-looking monster.

It looked like a bird but had no wings.

A tiny monster that shot beams from its eyes.

This is no place to rest.

Being on edge and alert every moment naturally clears your mind of random thoughts.

Past sorrows, pains, regrets—they all melt into life, becoming just a distant memory.

It’s late at night.

I need to stay vigilant.

This area is crawling with monsters.

If I don’t protect my tent, I’ll end up getting soaked by the rain someday.

The rain in this world sometimes has poison mixed in.

Well, it’s not that the rain itself is poisonous, but the poison from the leaves above seeps into it, turning it toxic.

What a crazy world.

The pain of my skin burning made me curse for the first time in my life.

Luckily, thanks to the potion that person gave me the next day, I survived, but it left me a bit puzzled.

What am I even doing right now?

I keep getting help from the very person I’m supposed to kill.

Truth is, I’ve already failed.

My attacks didn’t work.

In the final moment, that person didn’t show pity for my act—just curiosity.

Like they were testing how far I’d go.

I failed completely, yet here I am, still breathing.

It’s incomprehensible.

Luckily, this world doesn’t give me enough time to dwell on it.

…

“I’m thirsty…”

The next day dawned.

The heavy thirst made my head ring as soon as I woke up.

I decided to pick some fruit to eat.

The fruit was at the very top of a tall tree.

Hmm…

My legs aren’t fully healed yet.

Should I just go for it?

The method I came up with was simple.

Stab the tree with my dagger, use my strength to climb, then stab it again to go higher.

It’s probably the wrong way to do it.

I’m not even halfway up, and my muscles are screaming in agony.

“Ugh…!”

*Thud.*

I managed to cut the stem of the fruit hanging just out of reach.

*Phew.*

The sweat pouring down feels awkward.

I haven’t felt like this since I learned to control my heart rate.

It’s exhausting, but I feel proud.

It’s the first time I’ve felt this way.

…

Then I climbed back down.

The fruit that fell to the ground shattered against a rock.

Its contents seeped into the dirt, leaving nothing behind.

Weird.

I thought I had no more tears to shed, but a wave of sadness hit me.

I wiped my eyes with my torn sleeve.

An hour later, she arrived and smiled at me.

She handed me a bottle of water as I collapsed from exhaustion.

As I stretched out my tongue to drink, a thought crossed my mind.

How many failures did this person go through to get to this point?

…

“Failed again today?”

…

Now I can predict exactly when the girl will disappear.

I’ve grown accustomed to sensing the movements of invisible enemies.

At the same time, I’ve learned the basics and tricks of stealth from her.

The key was this: bending light using magic power.

I could do that too.

Making my body completely transparent would be tough, but with enough practice, it’s not impossible.

The important part is using the tiniest amount of magic to bend the light without being detected.

And doing it quickly.

So the opponent can’t react easily.

It’s a higher-level skill than I thought.

And this is just the basics. Apparently, as you advance, you can deceive not just sight but also hearing and smell.

Fascinated, I asked her to show me, and she stood up and walked across the ground.

Not a single sound came from her footsteps.

Wow. That’s amazing.

How do you even do that?

I tried following her instructions, but I didn’t feel anything.

Am I untalented?

Probably not.

Let’s try again.

Blurring my entire body like her is too much.

First, I’ll wrap my hand in magic power and slowly bend the light.

The sunlight starts scattering everywhere.

The eyes don’t see objects.

They see the light reflected off objects.

So, if I can control this reflected light and prevent it from reaching the opponent, I’ll succeed.

It’s not easy, though.

“Stealth research is tough.”

Muttering to myself, I gathered the scattered sunlight and sprayed it.

Damn it. It hit me right in the eyes.

Ugh.

This is so annoying.

…

“Want to pick a name?”

“A name…?”

“Yeah, you need something to call me. It’s not a big deal, so just pick one.”

Hesitating at my words, the girl eventually shook her head, unable to decide.

She can’t even do this much.

Oh well.

“I’ll pick one for you.”

Hmm…

A girl’s name…

Actually, I already had one in mind.

It came to me the moment I saw her.

“Yui. How about Yui?”

“Yui…?”

Number 62, so Yui.

Six-two.

[Puhaha.]

…Laughing?

Anyway, the important thing isn’t the opinion of a talking pigeon.

It’s how this kid takes it.

Luckily, the girl nodded obediently at the name I gave her.

Even if she doesn’t understand the meaning behind it, she seems to accept it for now.

She probably doesn’t get it yet.

A new experience. A new life. A new name.

How these things will affect her.

The girl has already changed a lot.

Even though she’s sitting here facing me, the fierce energy she used to have is gone.

She only tries to kill me when I allow it.

And even that isn’t threatening anymore.

It’s just a habitual, unspoken routine.

This world makes me focus entirely on myself.

In a place where no one is watching, where no one exists, I focus only on my breath and my actions.

I can feel my existence most clearly.

A girl who has already accepted that she’s dead, that her life is over.

How will she change in this world where she must reject death to survive?

I was curious about that.

*

“I’m here.”

“Hi, Mama!”

Mama?

I was wondering what that was about, and then I saw Belva reading a picture book over there.

The title was *Super Big Mama*.

It’s a fairy tale from another dimension, but I have no idea why the title is like that.

Anyway, I scooped up Miho as she clung to me.

The kids are growing faster with each passing day.

She still looks like a little kid, but Miho is almost ready to graduate from elementary school and enter middle school.

Of course, there’s no school here.

Instead, there’s the Academy.

The kids mainly learn combat skills and hunting techniques.

During breaks, they circulate their magic power to build adaptability.

It’s all about survival.

But there’s one more subject they’re learning.

Language.

It was too inconvenient not being able to communicate without Belva, so we decided to learn a common language.

It could’ve been Korean, which I know, or the language from Belva’s world.

But since we were at it, we thought it’d be better to learn a more universal language, so we started learning Runic.

Luckily, Belva knew Runic.

[I, Ruke. Ha-neun geun ga.]

“You’ve already memorized it all?”

[Da-yeo-eu ha-ji.]

Honestly, my pronunciation isn’t great, so it sounds like a zombie groaning.

But Runic is useful in many ways.

Runic doesn’t express existing concepts through letters; the letters themselves are symbols of meaning, so even those who don’t know Runic can understand it.

Plus, it’s concise and quick to convey.

It’ll be useful not just in daily life but also in battle.

“I’ve memorized it all too!”

Then, Miho, who was reading a magic book with me, suddenly shouted.

“Did I do well?”

“You did great.”

“Hehe.”

At my praise, her long, red eyes curved like a fox’s.

She sat on my lap and nuzzled her head against my neck.

So cute.

Thinking about someone taking Miho away in the future makes my teeth grind.

“Miho, let’s live together forever.”

If anyone wants to take her, they’ll have to beat me first.

With the condition that if they lose, they die.

No one will dare challenge me. Perfect plan.

Belva looked at me with pity from afar, but I ignored her.

What’s it to you?

After rolling around with Miho for a while, the demon trio came in, panting.

Water was dripping from their bodies.

They must’ve been hunting by the river.

When they saw Miho curled up in my lap reading a book, Setan shouted like it was unfair.

“No! Wait! This isn’t right!”

“Yeah! We’re working hard, and that fox… sister is just reading!”

“……”

It was a familiar reaction.

When Setan gets angry, Airos joins in.

Draud stays silent.

Dmukmuk.

Miho, smirking at the trio’s reaction, buried her face in my lap as if to show off.

“Ah, my head hurts. I studied so hard, I’m tired. Can I rest like this for a bit?”

The reaction was explosive.

“Wow, look at her attitude.”

“…I should learn magic too.”

“……”

I chuckled.

Even though they say that, demons love moving their bodies.

And they love chatting among themselves.

So it’s just whining.

I patted Miho’s head and told the kids,

[Go. Eat.]

By the way, there’s no taste-testing duty today.

It was supposed to be me, but I went on strike to meet Yui.