Unmar?ried Cou?ple? (1)
Unmar?ried Cou?ple? (1)
To me, my biological parents were a perfect object lesson in what not to do.
Humans, adults, a married couple, parents.
Not a single decent quality among them. Just a thick catalogue of flaws. The phrase "the worst specimens of humanity" fits them perfectly.
Because of that, they ended up serving as a kind of warning sign.
The type of people you must never, ever come to resemble.
A borderline you dare not cross, no matter how low you sink.
A marker that tells you if you ever end up like that, hanging yourself would be the better option.
So no matter how worthless I felt, I tried my utmost to never be like them.
I wanted to become a decent person.
I wanted to grow into a decent adult.
I'm not confident in that right now, but... if I ever married and built a family someday, I wanted to be a good spouse.
And something I can barely even imagine at all... but if I ever had children, I was determined to make them happy.
I made that resolution long, long ago. That conviction still holds.
Marriage. Having children. Those are things you must consider with the utmost seriousness.
I'd examine gravely and double-check whether I could really meet someone, build a family, raise a child, and take full responsi—
"Appa!"
"......"
"Bbaa?"
The past resolution I'd been struggling to recall snapped cleanly apart.
A frigid reality I desperately wanted to turn away from was thrust right into my face.
The skin around my eyes twitched. My head felt like it had been scrambled into mush and was about to burst.
I dragged a hand down my face, my arms trembling as pathetically as if there were an earthquake, and shifted my Observation back to the scene.
Right there, plopped on the sofa directly in front of me, was an unidentified baby.
The baby gurgled with clear, bubbling laughter, as if the situation were the most delightful thing imaginable. The sound was so bright it nearly painted the air in vivid colors.
Every time the baby beamed, snow-white eyes blinked, and hair like silk floated down nearly to the small of the back.
Both tiny hands were stretched out, squishing my cheeks. The soft, warm sensation of those diminutive palms was unmistakably vivid.
If I only thought up to this point, it was simply an overwhelmingly adorable baby, but...
- fwish-fwish
The pair of wings rising from behind the baby's back were screaming, unmistakably, that this was no ordinary human infant.
They looked almost like butterfly wings that had been shrunk down to baby proportions.
And their vivid, rainbow-brilliant colors possessed a quality that made anyone who saw them think, unbidden, of something deeply dreamlike.
'Those are...'
I had seen wings with those exact characteristics in the original work.
I steadied my swimming head and traced back through my memories.
Monsters... a species I glimpsed extremely rarely while roaming through unexplored territories, and saw quite a few of during the raid on the Taesan family estate.
'Fairies?'
A category you'd have to call a higher form of spirit. A mythical species that lives in nature untainted by human footprints.
The Origin Egg had hatched.
That was significant.
Instead of an item, an elixir, an artifact, or a magic tool, a living creature had emerged.
That was extremely significant.
That living creature appeared to be a fairy.
A fairy, the kind you'd be hard-pressed to lay eyes on without raiding the Taesan family estate in the original work, was right in front of me, gurgling happily.
Truly, deeply significant.
But...
"Ah... pah!"
It wasn't nearly as significant as the sound that kept being shouted at me. In fact, compared to that issue, everything else was utterly, laughably insignificant.
'I do not want to hear that.'
I was not even the slightest bit prepared to hear words like those. No, wait—was this even my child to begin with?
I'd never once been in a relationship with anyone. Thinking about it that way, it was simply impossible for me to have a child.
I gritted my teeth as the thought settled. I didn't know if the baby could understand, but I had to say it, if only to convince myself.
[I-I am...]
- kkgggkk...
The necklace ground out a grating noise. The voice, which had always been completely emotionless, was now halting and choppy.
The baby scrunched up its face at the unpleasant sound. Even that expression was unbearably cute.
[Not your pa-parent...]
But that was that, and this was this.
No matter how adorable it looked, wrong was wrong.
Weren't we entirely different species to begin with?
Every time that... sound for a parent was directed at me, my head felt like it was being crumpled into a tangled wad. My chest felt caved in, heavy as if it were crushed flat.
My breathing grew rough. An involuntary groan leaked from my mouth.
[No... I'm not...]
The voice played back haltingly, stuttering. At the persistent grinding sound, the baby's face crumpled and it plugged its ears with its hands.
"Uung..."
Suddenly, the baby's eyes grew dewy, and tears began welling up. Sniffling as if it had understood my words...
"Appa-aah..."
- crrrrack...
My mind went blank white.
My consciousness cut out completely.
The same consciousness that hadn't snapped even after taking a direct blow from Aerus was severed cleanly in a single stroke.
.
.
.
[No, no!]
[I'm sorry...!]
[I won't say that...]
When I came to my senses, I was holding the baby in my arms and frantically trying to soothe it.
I was absolutely not acknowledging that I was its father.
But I couldn't just leave a baby who seemed to consider me something like its father sniffling like that, and... ignoring it entirely would have been the worst, most unforgivable thing I could do, so I was merely comforting it for now.
I supported the baby with my only hand, bracing its back with the Sky Wing Feather to make sure it wouldn't tip backward.
"Ehehe..."
The baby, who had been on the verge of tears, smiled brightly as if it had never been upset and snuggled wriggling into my arms. It was so small that somehow it nestled cozily inside my embrace.
It was cute, and my feelings were complicated in many ways. A sigh rose up on its ow—
- hh-hrk...!
...I clamped my mouth shut before it could escape.
I cautiously checked on the baby. I swallowed my breath, terrified that it might start whimpering again. Fortunately, it didn't seem to have noticed.
In the meantime, it occurred to me that the baby—perhaps because it had just hatched(?)—wasn't wearing any clothes.
'...Is this okay?'
The living room was at a comfortable temperature. The baby didn't appear cold, but I worried it might catch one.
Babies naturally have weaker immune systems. That's why you have to keep their surroundings clean and care for them with constant attention.
And to top it off, wasn't this a freshly-born? human? fairy? baby? The more I thought about it, the more I felt like just leaving it like this was remarkably dangerous.
I was absolutely not acknowledging it as my child, but I couldn't just leave it alone.
- hwwwoom!
First, I indiscriminately blasted purification magic around myself and the baby. Even though Observation detected no dust or foreign particles, better safe than sorry.
Then, as a temporary measure, I spread the Sky Wing Feather wide and wrapped it snugly around the baby. It was an artifact, after all. It had at least some level of heat retention.
It looked just like a swaddling cloth.
"U-woo?"
The baby looked up at me and blinked. It fidgeted with the Sky Wing Feather wrapped around its body without any resistance. The texture seemed to agree with it, which was a relief.
But that relief lasted only a moment, and realizing that absolutely nothing had been resolved, my body sagged with exhaustion again.
'...What do you even feed a baby?'
I observed the baby closely.
It could sit on the sofa... ah, it could babble simple words like 'appa,' too. Its hair was lush enough to reach down its back...
[Baby? Hold on a moment...]
"Uung? Beh...?"
I supported its bottom with the Sky Wing Feather and gently opened its mouth with my hand.
'Teeth... it has some, huh?'
From what I knew, if a baby has teeth, you should be feeding it baby food, not formula...
'How many months old would this be? If it already has teeth, is it over 12 months? Then am I already late for vaccinations?'
No.
I still sorely lacked common sense about this world.
In a world where mana and unique abilities exist, there could easily be differences from the knowledge I had.
Above all else, wasn't this baby itself a fairy, not a human? It was highly questionable whether applying human common sense to a fairy baby(?) was even valid.
Confusion.
My store of knowledge was so shamefully shallow that I couldn't make a proper judgment.
I really wasn't the slightest bit prepared. If I acted recklessly with this paltry knowledge and something went wrong with the baby, what then?
My head throbbed. A headache of a different kind from the Authority's side effects... pain caused by mental burden, like stress.
- gurgle!
Still, I couldn't exactly twist my face into a scowl in front of a happy baby.
It was a truly desperate situation.
'...Fine.'
After a period of deliberation, gently patting the baby's back, I rose to my feet with grim determination.
A person has to be able to acknowledge their own shortcomings. Only once you truly feel where you are lacking can you fill in those gaps.
And if there's a gap you absolutely cannot fill yourself, you have to know how to ask others for help.
This wasn't just about me screwing up; the baby could also be endangered.
If I kept offering excuses—it was sudden, the circumstances were difficult—I could end up causing a catastrophe for the baby.
With stiff fingers, I tapped at my smartwatch.
.
.
.
Because of that blasted midterm evaluation, Liana had barely had a moment to breathe lately.
Superhumans with spirit affinity were rare.
Those whose aptitude surpassed a certain threshold were even rarer, and spirit casters who had not only raised that talent to a high level but could confidently claim to have achieved mastery were exceptionally rare.
Liana, a spirit caster who had practically reached the top tier, was an extraordinarily valuable talent even at Siyoram, so she was being mercilessly ground down for test design and grading of the midterm evaluation.
It was tiring.
It wasn't grueling the way the frontline had been.
Both her body and mind were far more at ease than on the frontline, where you had to keep constant 24-hour watch, nerves sharpened for monsters that could ambush you at any moment.
But...
Liana had been through harsh training under a weight of expectations practically since childhood, and she'd thrown herself onto the frontline before reaching adulthood, enduring and struggling there until just last year.
Now she'd retired from active hero work. 'Surely things will be relatively comfortable from now on!' For Liana, who had clung to that hopeful anticipation, even this workload felt terribly strenuous.
If she could have her way, she'd throw it all aside and run away, or just lock herself in her lab, but it wasn't something she could do.
So, on what was clearly marked as a red-letter Sunday, Liana had trudged into the lab in broad daylight.
Her plan was to handle basic administrative tasks and then continue chipping away at the mountain of midterm scoring still piled up.
- ding! ding! ding!
"Hm?"
[Contact: Cadet Lee Ha-yul]
▶Cadet Lee Ha-yul: I apologize for contacting you on a Sunday morning. A matter of urgency has come up, so I am reaching out like this.
▶Cadet Lee Ha-yul: I need your help, Professor.
▶Cadet Lee Ha-yul: Would it be possible to meet at your lab? I would like to see you as soon as possible.
"Hmm?"
She'd just taken a sip of her morning coffee and was checking her backlogged emails. At the name Lee Ha-yul, Liana's eyes widened.
A real-time message had flown in from Lee Ha-yul, who was never the one to initiate contact.
And its contents were far from ordinary. Apologizing for contacting her on a day like this. I need your help. I want to meet as quickly as possible...
'We'll have a long meeting tomorrow anyway because of the training... Is it that urgent?'
Liana tilted her head and sent a reply saying he could come over now. Lee Ha-yul immediately expressed his intention to depart right away.
Even at a glance, this was an ominous current. Had something else happened to that kid?
'How long has it been since the incident at Sipnaha? No, wait, if something like that happened again, he would've gone to Atra, wouldn't he?'
Though she felt a tiny bit hurt, if Lee Ha-yul had fallen into a crisis, he would dash straight to Atra and cling to her, not Liana.
Why was he coming to Liana specifically?
- knock, knock
[Professor]
[It's Lee Ha-yul]
"Yes, come in."
Lee Ha-yul indeed arrived very shortly after.
He must be in a hurry.
When she granted him entry, the door opened, and Lee Ha-yul slipped inside with an attitude timid as a rain-soaked puppy.
[I'm sorry for imposing on a day like this]
Even leaving aside her role as supervising professor for Ipchun Class, she had also been asked by the Headmaster to look after Lee Ha-yul. This much was nothing to feel sorry for.
Liana shrugged and tilted her coffee cup toward her lips.
"No. I was already here at work before this. More importantly, what's the mat—"
"Bbaa?"
"—ter... huh...?"
At the distinct sound that burrowed into her ears, the hand tilting the coffee cup froze.
The lips about to sip the coffee froze as well, and the other hand tapping at the hologram froze too.
"Huh?"
Liana blinked a few times, dazed, and then turned her gaze.
Behind Lee Ha-yul, who stood there awkwardly, his ever-present winged garment was nowhere to be seen.
No, wrong. The winged garment was fastened in front, not behind.
To be precise, some kind of pure-white baby...? A baby with wings on its back... no, a fairy?
He had the baby wrapped up in the winged garment like a swaddling cloth, cradled carefully as if it were his own child.
"...?"
Liana's mouth dropped open dazedly.
No disaster of coffee spilling everywhere occurred.
Fortunately, she'd already managed to swallow it.
* * *
【A Fairy Knight resonates with the Player.】
【The Mental State ｢???｣ reacts.】
...
【Player Correction System: Measurement】
...
▶Mental State
...
｢???｣ : ?
...
【Player Correction System: Affection】
Lee Ha-yul → Liana Bellus
●●●●●●○○○○(65▶66/100)
｢Fondness｣ ｢Gratitude｣ ｢Kind Adult｣
...
【The conditions to lift the ｢Curse of Silence｣ have not been met.】
【The conditions to lift the ｢Curse of Solitude｣ have not been met.】