Chapter 191
Chapter 191
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 191
Chapter Title: Living Together (1)
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Awakening early in the morning, I started packing up my things.
It wasn't enough stuff to really call it moving, but once I got everything sorted, there turned out to be surprisingly more than I'd expected.
At first, it had just been the one lonely carrier, but then kitchen tools and magic theses and all sorts of knickknacks started piling up, and this was the result.
-Rustle rustle.
Shiba had her head buried in the toy box, rummaging around inside, and pulled out a doll to hand to me.
"Ppi!"
Shiba shoved the chick doll into a plastic bag on top.
"Is this important?"
"Swa!"
"Swa? Is that its name?"
"Swa! Shiba's."
Shiba's favorite doll. It just looked like a chick plushie.
A bit on the large side—about the size of Shiba herself. Azalea had bought it for her, apparently.
Whenever I wasn't around, this chick doll was always there between Azalea and Shiba.
'...Swa Swa.'
The words slipped out as if on cue.
Good thing Shiba liked it.
Shiba planted herself in front of the toy box again and shoved her head back inside.
She could just reach in with her paw to grab a toy, but maybe she had her own little routine?
Before long, Shiba climbed right into the box, poking her head out over the rim and staring at me like a cat.
A chirping cat.
"Ppi hi hi."
Those round eyes looked like they'd go "grrr" if I picked her up.
"Daddy! Go!"
"...Daddy's not done packing yet."
"Ppiing~"
Still, I could feel her vocabulary growing bit by bit.
It wouldn't be long before I wouldn't hear those "ppi" starts anymore.
A twinge of regret hit me. I'd always figured Shiba would be chirping away forever. She'd grown so fast in the blink of an eye.
Kids really do grow up quickly.
'Even so, with that voice... calling me Daddy when she starts elementary school someday.'
Rummaging through the wardrobe brought a warm smile to my face.
-Squish.
"Hm?"
Digging through the underwear drawer, something came unstuck and pulled out with it.
Black, sexy lingerie. Maybe it had been stuck inside and she couldn't retrieve it.
I unwound the sticky bit from my finger and spread it out. Its wide size left my jaw on the floor.
'A thong?'
No way, so sloppy.
I pulled out my phone, snapped a photo, and sent it straight to Hwan-do.
-Me: [Photo] - Read
-Delivery Hwan-do: ????
-Delivery Hwan-do: What the hell is that?
-Delivery Hwan-do: Frostbite, don't tell me...
-Me: Not mine. Found it stuck in the closet. But why that nickname? lololol
-Delivery Hwan-do: Oh, that? Hehehe... Baek-do changed it on her own.
-Delivery Hwan-do: But that lingerie
-Delivery Hwan-do: ...how do you plan to use it?
Put away the porn.
-Me: I'm burning it.
-Delivery Hwan-do: Kyaaaaah! It's precious!
-Delivery Hwan-do: Keep it!!!
-Delivery Hwan-do: (angry peach emoticon)
-Delivery Hwan-do: (crying peach emoticon)
I pressed the power button on my phone once and let out a sigh.
'Talking to her fills my head with nothing but pervy thoughts.'
It kept pulling my mind toward the Lewd Demon side. That sort of thing.
Like how I'd picked up a bit of Lee Se-young's speech patterns, maybe I'd absorbed a little of Hwan-do's personality too.
Truth be told, just seeing that lingerie a moment ago had stirred up some lust.
"If only the Lewd Demon trait would rank up."
"Lewd Demon?"
"Sss... That's not a word you say."
"Lewd Demon! Lewd Demon!"
An excited Shiba repeated the awful word over and over.
I needed to watch my mouth. No bad words in front of kids.
Engraving that fresh parenting rule in my mind, I lightly flicked Shiba's forehead with my finger.
"Ppik!"
Shiba toppled backward. Time to pick out clothes.
"Come to think of it... this box looks pretty old too."
I pulled an ancient box from the deepest part of the wardrobe.
It wasn't from the dorm. It was the box where I'd stashed diet expenses and clothes from back when I first arrived here.
At the time, I'd agonized over whether to even bring it.
No real use for those old clothes anymore anyway.
Half nostalgia item.
I opened the box and took in its contents.
"Huh?"
Atop the box lay a round, colorful orb, sleeping peacefully.
Not entirely unfamiliar, but why was it here?
I snatched up the orb swirling with thick red energy and examined it closely.
The status window reacted at once, reciting its details.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ ▶ XXX (？) [Type: Equipment, Consumable] Weapon crafted from mistletoe. Incomplete state. Sure enough, it was the weapon Master had handed over to me ages ago.
Since it used mistletoe grown from her own body, the grade was exceptionally generous.
I'd asked her to complete it, so why give it in this unfinished state?
Figuring she had her reasons, I turned the orb over in my hands.
The orb pulsed violently.
-Crack!
The cracking orb startled me.
From the fissures poured black mana like an overflowing flood.
"Wha? Wait, shit, hold on."
"Ppi?"
"No, not calling you, sweetie... just a sec!"
This thing couldn't break right now.
In a panic, I gathered the shattered fragments onto my palm. They hissed and melted into a sticky liquid.
Like kneading viscous clay.
Starting as a palm-sized orb, it morphed into clay-like sludge, expanding in volume until it began invading the room.
"...What the hell."
As I dazedly raised my phone, the former orb pulsed once more.
-Thump!
The clay slowly compacted into a round, hard shape.
Soon settling into a form no longer orb-like.
A silver bracelet.
Couldn't call it a weapon... just a common accessory.
I tilted my head, imagining the kind of weapon Master might bestow—probably gauntlets. Something simple, not flashy, just enough to protect the bones.
-Crack!
As the thought formed, the bracelet pulsed again.
It slowly melted, clinging to both my arms before reshaping.
Exactly the gauntlets I'd envisioned.
"...Ah."
A proper reaction finally escaped me.
-Current form unstable. The World Tree sent additional info belatedly.
How does it even dig up and relay this stuff? Which World Tree inputs it?
No way the World Tree of Purity?
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ 【 'World Tree of Purity' shrugs her shoulders. 】 What's with the kid doing housework all of a sudden?
Well, the status window had always preemptively answered whenever I wondered about something.
Anyway.
Unfixed form meant it could serve any role?
Then I wondered if it fulfilled its original purpose properly.
Gazing at the gauntlets, I imagined a different shape.
-Crack!
A magic staff.
No sooner thought than the mana detached from the gauntlets and reformed.
A staff so finely carved from raw wood it seemed believable, now in my hand.
Just in case, I gathered mana—magic manifested with incredible potency.
No matter what weapon form I envisioned, it exceeded expectations.
'Not bad?'
If I were a nobody, maybe, but...
Right now, cosplaying as a mage, nothing could be better.
Or switch to a sword and act like a swordsman. Above all, this versatility was insanely flexible.
My innate Combat-Type Physique already felt attuned, suggesting all sorts of uses.
'No clue why Master stashed it here, but...'
Maybe just for the surprise.
Kids do that, right?
Hiding a cupcake made at kindergarten in a desk drawer, hoping parents find it.
If they don't, they get tired and hand it over themselves. Maybe Master was thinking something similar.
'Hiding kid-like thoughts in a corner like that. Acts all worldly and shrewd with advice. But this stuff? Always kinda cute.'
Deep thoughts, but actions pure adorable.
My proud, cherished Master.
I snapped a photo with my phone and sent it to her.
-Me: [Photo]
Did she see it?
A reply came soon after.
-Cheon-do: Surprised?
"Heh heh."
I'll put it to good use, Master.
Only after typing that could I finally wrap up the move.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ -Wish.
Starry still remembered.
What Si-heon had said back then—that one line about granting anything!
Anything. Whatever she wanted.
Stuff that overflows in porn or manga, right?
[...N-No lewd stuff!]
[Just once, please! I'm begging!]
[R-Really just once?]
All that weird crap.
But Starry could confidently say she was nothing like those comic characters.
"I'm not like those idiots."
They'd already been intimate for ages.
So no matter what she asked for, it wouldn't be weird at all.
Any play, any location, any outfit—she could decide it all!
"Ehehehe."
Letting out a sleazy cackle, Starry suddenly dove into her research materials like they were on fire... only to cool off just as fast.
...Digging through all that lewd stuff had suddenly plunged her mind and body into icy depths.
Peak self-loathing timing.
"Ah..."
Honestly.
Lewd was great, but... she didn't want lewd to be the goal.
Starry leaned back against the headrest.
Farther back, farther still.
Stretching languidly while staring at the screen, she wobbled... and toppled backward, yanking out her earphones.
"Eek!"
Thud!
Instantly, the game anime song blasted from the computer speakers!
[Kimi no zenzenzen...]
Starry shot up, forgetting the pain, and jammed the earphones back in.
"......She probably didn't hear, right?"
No way she did. She couldn't have.
How much effort to build that pure image... this would ruin it.
Still, all good.
This was the vice president's office. And her private room.
Starry had no time to go home after overtime anyway, so she handled meals and hobbies right here.
But this was Hunter Association HQ. People passed by occasionally.
"...Phew, hehe."
Confirming no one outside, Starry sighed in relief and righted her chair.
"Whew... Close call. Almost outed as an otaku~"
Skillful gamer girl's secret otaku life.
Luckily passed this time too. Heavenly luck.
"Anyway, what wish to make... Ask Si-heon to an amusement park?"
Starry leisurely dragged her mouse downward, happily shaking her head side to side.
"......Wish?"
Lee Se-young's voice from behind.
"Mommy, Shiba!"
Startled, Starry whipped around to face Lee Se-young.
"S-Se-young-jjang, you scared me! When'd you get there?"
"You were spacing out, so I wondered what you were up to and stood by your side. Still listening to J-pop, huh."
J-pop.
The term people who know zilch about games or anime use for ani songs.
Se-young already knew all her tastes anyway, liked or not.
The real issue was that.
"What happened between you two?"
Her secret meeting with Lee Si-heon was busted.
"Uh, huh?"
And Starry stuttered by mistake.
"...Why the stutter?"
The wife face!
Facing Lee Se-young's icily hardened expression, Starry trembled in terror.
"Si-heon... that bastard did what again."
"...Wh-What are you talking about?"
-Ding ding ding~.
-1 Life