88. Anyway, Kids These Days
88. Anyway, Kids These Days
Ego Weapon Philoi.
Over the past three months, I'd come to see her as something of a companion.
With her, I'd overcome so many dangers. And what didn't kill me only made me stronger.
Now that Tachia had transferred ownership to me, Philoi had become an inseparable part of my existence.
'Because only then can I kill Mother.'
So I'd let myself believe that what I saw back then was only a fragment of a nightmare.
'Because I have to become stronger than I am now to kill Mother.'
I didn't know why she hated her, but to that child, "mother" could only mean Tachia.
And yet she was saying she'd kill her own creator—the very person who gave me this weapon and helped me stay alive.
"Don't talk nonsense, Philoi. Why would I ever... to Tachia-ssi...."
-No, Daddy. You have to.
Even as I denied it, Philoi spoke.
-Because I was drawn to you, Daddy. And I have a duty to guide the one who drew me toward my mission.
-Wooooong.
A violent vibration shuddered through the spear.
Even as the force of its mana swirled into a gale, its voice rang clearly in my ears.
Not the innocence I knew, nor the savagery from that nightmare, but a chilling coldness.
-Because I was made to kill Mother.
The voice was still a girl's.
But the emotion behind it was terribly grown-up and earnest.
"...Philoi."
Was that truly her sincerity?
Was her real purpose to kill her own mother?
-Keuheuheu, hahahaha!
No—even now, Gorgon's laughter echoed around the soaring spear.
Unable to shake me over the past three months, it had shifted its target to Philoi.
"Right now. Shake that thing off and come down, Philoi."
I pleaded, desperately hoping.
Because otherwise, that child would truly try to kill Tachia—and that role would fall to me, the one who wields her.
-...Why?
Despite my pleading, Philoi questioned me instead.
I could feel the solemnity she'd held until now begin to falter at my dissuasion.
-You still aren't satisfied with your strength, Daddy. You have to do whatever it takes to get stronger, so why are you refusing a way to grow your power?
"I'll hear you out if you come down. So first, shake that bastard off...."
-Weren't you supposed to be on my side?
Kwarurung. The storm of power intensified, splitting the walls and sweeping the floor.
As shattered debris and dust swirled in the vortex, heightening the crisis, the voice from the spear began to rage even more wildly.
-I thought you'd be on my side, unlike Mother. So why did you wake me up? I've been helping you all this time. I thought if I helped Daddy, Daddy would help me too. So why...!
"Philoi. Listen to Daddy. I still don't... know anything about you...."
-I don't need it!! A daddy who won't help me can just get lost!!!
Philoi's emotions erupted—and she lunged at me.
No one knew better than I, who had firsthand wielded her, just how powerful that force and sharpness were.
If I couldn't dodge, my body would be torn apart. But since I'd been focused on persuasion, I was in no position to evade in time.
-Kwaaang!
But the tip of Philoi's spear never pierced me.
Because Ja-seong, who'd been sent flying by the shock just moments before, threw his arms around me and dragged us both out of the attack's path.
"Woo Hyosung! You okay!?"
"...Ja-seong hyung?"
"Stay still!"
Ja-seong slammed the ground with the shovel in his hands.
The moment that mana-infused force struck the earth—Kwarurung!—the ground around us began to surge upward.
This was the phenomenon of his Unique Ability, "Great Earth Reversal."
By hammering the earth beneath him, he could temporarily reverse gravity for the ground that received the shock. By controlling the flow of that reversed soil with his shovel's mana and synchronizing it with gravity's return, he could erect an earthen wall on the spot—one of his signature techniques.
-Kwagang! Kwang!
Philoi's body slammed repeatedly against the barricade he'd formed in an instant.
In all our adventures together, an earthen wall like this had never been breached quickly—but now, with Philoi ramming her body into it, severe cracks were spreading across its surface.
-Come out right nowwww!!!
And from beyond it, a blood-curdling scream rang out.
By the time my skin started prickling, I realized Ja-seong was staring at me quizzically, his back pressed to the earthen wall as he weathered the onslaught.
"Woo Hyosung, you."
"Hyung, I'm sorry for dragging you into this. How it came to this is...."
"You punk. If you had a kid, you should've said so!"
"...Huh?"
For a moment, that remark—which sounded like he understood everything—made me let out a dumbfounded noise.
At my reaction, Ja-seong tilted his head, bemused.
"From what I can piece together, that weapon treats you as its dad. Am I wrong?"
"Ah, well, I guess not. It's true, but... we're not actually blood-related...."
"Who cares about blood? I'm in the same boat—a widower with a daughter myself."
"...You mean that demon kid?"
"Yeah, that one."
Thump. Ja-seong tapped me on the head with his heavy hand.
It was a rough gesture, but it carried his characteristic rugged compassion.
Even in all this chaos, over something that had nothing to do with him.
"Once an adult takes a kid in, they gotta take responsibility."
Far from resenting me, he was accepting the situation based on his own convictions and trying to cooperate.
"Don't tell me you're thinking of giving up just because of one tantrum?"
-Kuuung, kung!!
The impact hammered against the earthen wall around us.
The moment it collapsed—which would be soon—a fight between Ja-seong and Philoi would be inevitable.
And in the worst case, one of them might end up dead.
"A conversation."
Right. If it's Ja-seong, he could definitely destroy a mithril Ego Weapon too.
He was, after all, one of the top-tier heavy-hitters among the heroes, riding high on his fame.
"I want... to have a conversation. With that child."
Even so, driven by my own selfishness, I chose to drag him into this.
Even though it could get him killed.
"Then what I've gotta do is set the stage so you two can talk."
Even though I knew perfectly well he'd accept.
Because I couldn't shake the thought that I had to use him to deal with my own circumstances.
"...I'm sorry."
"If you're sorry, come help me with kimchi season next time. Doing it alone didn't taste the same as when you were around."
That was, of course, something I'd do if fate allowed.
-Kwang!
First, though, I'd have to worry about getting out of here in one piece.
"That aside, Hyosung, earlier you seemed like you were having a friendly chat with that kid. It hadn't ever gone this crazy before, right?"
"Ah, about that. When I talk with her, it's always been inside a dream...."
As the cracks in the earthen wall grew worse, I took what little time we had and briefly explained my conversations with the child in the dream realm.
"Right, so you talked in a dream, yeah?"
Ja-seong nodded, chin in hand, listening.
Then, as if struck by a brilliant idea, he raised his shovel.
"Alright, I think I see the answer now."
"Really? How on earth...."
-Kagang!
My vision reeled from the impact to my head.
Realizing my head was now planted on the ground, I lifted my face and asked Ja-seong with great effort.
"H-Hyung... what the hell... why?"
"You said you talked in a dream, yeah? Then we gotta put you both to sleep for a bit, right?"
"What the...."
-Kagang!!!
Once more, the shovel came down on my skull.
And so my consciousness was cut off by the hand of that bastard I'd called hyung.
And then....
****
-Kwaaang!!!!
Just before the earthen wall could split, Nam Ja-seong swung his shovel and shattered the barricade he himself had made.
As the Ego Weapon went flying from the blow, Ja-seong placed a hand under the nose of his younger brother collapsed on the floor and said.
"...Good, he's still breathing."
If any lasting damage was done, it could just be healed later with holy power.
He'd have to brace himself for a tongue-lashing or two when the kid woke up, but that was a small price to pay to settle this matter quickly.
In an urgent situation, even seconds of wasted time could be fatal.
"Hey, kiddo! You seem to have a lot of beef with your daddy. How about I hear your troubles instead?"
But before knocking them both out, Ja-seong took a moment to check on his opponent's state by reaching out to talk first.
Maybe addressing the target of her rage could help calm her current frenzy.
-...You're not my daddy.
And, as expected, came the reply.
-You can't raise me. You can't kill Mother.
"Heh, guess you got all worked up. You're not holding back a single thing on your daddy and mommy, huh? You rascal. Don't you know what a huge blessing it is just to have parents? How can you try to strike them down with your own hands?"
-I don't care about any of that.
Kwarurung. The flow of power began to grow violent once more.
As his skin beneath the helm prickled from it, the spear that had floated into the air readied itself to rampage again.
-I have something I have to do. That's what I was made for....
What would follow was the berserk attack of a weapon with a will.
Its power was too much to handle even with the might of a hero, so an ordinary person would have chosen to flee for their life—or reluctantly destroy that weapon.
"Fine. Whether it's your mission or whatever, if you want to cry, then cry your heart out."
But Ja-seong didn't hesitate.
He still didn't fully grasp how this situation had unfolded. But there was one thing—one solid reason he had to humor his younger brother's stubbornness right here, staring him right in the face.
"It's an adult's job to put up with a crying child's tantrum."
Adults were meant to protect kids. And the ego housed in that weapon was still young and immature.
He'd thrown his body onto the road to save one little kid from almost getting hit by a car—so why would he let a strange new world break that principle of his?
-Why are you getting in my way? I have to....
Thus, the moment she faced the paladin standing his ground and blocking her path, she felt her rampaging emotions accelerate even further.
Was it because of the whispers that had been buzzing around her?
No. She had long since stopped hearing anything like that.
The whispers of a mere undead had only served to remind her of what she'd been forgetting all along.
-It's all for Mother, so why... why do you keep getting in my way?
And so, anyone who blocked her path had to be shattered.
"Is that truly your own will?"
Before the surging emotion could erupt, she sensed someone's presence approaching from the entrance of the altar connected to this room.
"Or is it merely will borrowed from someone else? If it's only borrowed, then why do you follow it so stubbornly?"
"Huh? Old-timer! It's dangerous here! If you come in here...."
-What are you supposed to be!!
The paladin cried out, recognizing the man.
But whatever he was, he was just another obstacle to her.
-First Daddy, and now everyone—why won't anyone understand me! Don't get in my way anymoooore!
Yes, anything outside her purpose was trivial.
The tip of the spear surged forward with a flood of emotion born from that single-mindedness—and the old man facing it swung the staff in his hand and let out a bellowing roar.
"Haaak (喝)!!!!!!!!"
Following that roar, the strike burst forth with a deafening—Kwang!
The Ego Weapon, overpowered by that force, was slammed into the ground, all its momentum wiped away.
A single strike.
That was all it took for the old man's staff to break the Ego Weapon's strength.
-Euh, euhhh....
A groan rose from the Ego Weapon, proof that the impact had been anything but light.
By the time the rampage from moments before had died down as if it were a lie, the old man who had struck the Ego Weapon raised his staff and spoke.
"Kids these days, honestly."
"When an adult speaks, you should show some respect. They always have to come charging in with no manners, forcing you to discipline them."
No, "old soldier" was a more fitting term than "old man."
The forcefulness from moments before, and the gaze revealed in that instant—those were things only a warrior who had fought for his life could bring to bear.
"Aigo, my back. It's hard even to give a kid a knuckle sandwich at my age."
"...You're that old-timer who comes to the cathedral to pray sometimes, aren't you?"
Sensing a disconnect from the figure he thought he knew, Ja-seong approached and spoke. The old man let out a chuckle and forcibly straightened his bent back.
"That I am. Just a humble old man who sometimes stops by when he's feeling homesick. Folks who know me call me the guardian deity of Workshop Street—Alley Chief Jang."
"Ah, yes. So you're a blacksmith."
"No, not a smith—Alley Chief Jang...."
-Woooong, wooong.
A tremor rose from the spear driven into the ground while they chatted casually.
But it hadn't awakened.
Its consciousness might have been subdued by the earlier blow, but the stirring of its unconsciousness merely affected reality, like the tossing and turning of a bad dream.
"Hmm. Seems the bed's quite rough. That young man over there must've gotten on its bad side quite fiercely."
"Do you know something, old-timer?"
"Not everything. But what I don't know, I intend to find out. After all, I'm the one who dragged that young man into this destiny."
Jang answered Ja-seong's question nonchalantly.
Then, stroking his beard as he stepped forward, he looked down at the man collapsed on the ground and closed his eyes.
"...Tachia Philoi."
In this moment, with so little time left granted to him.
"It seems the time has finally come to keep my vow with you."
As if he was finally finding the meaning of the life he'd lived until now.