Unmar?ried Cou?ple? (2)
Unmar?ried Cou?ple? (2)
I'd half-expected Professor Liana's reaction—going beyond surprise and straight into shock.
Hadn't I been the same? Not just my jaw dropping—my mind had practically blanked out, to the point of almost losing consciousness.
"So... you're telling me that baby came out of an artifact called the Origin Egg you acquired in the Tower of Growth."
[Uh...]
[Yes.]
"Oh dear..."
A little time passed.
I'd more or less finished my explanation. Professor Liana, who'd sat on the sofa across from me and listened calmly, let out a sigh laden with a whole mix of emotions.
"When you urgently said you needed help, I did suspect something unusual was going on, but of all the things you could've shown up with... a baby..."
I truly hadn't imagined this in my wildest dreams either.
Professor Liana, who'd had a hand on her forehead as if dizzy, lifted her head.
Her green eyes, blinking several times, gazed down at the baby cradled in my arms.
More precisely, at the five-colored wings unfurled from the baby's back.
"And not even a human baby, but a freshly hatched fairy... That's remarkable."
[I recalled your explanations about fairies, Professor.]
[Since you go so deeply into spirit arts, I thought you'd be knowledgeable about fairies as well.]
The fact that an egg suddenly cracked open and a baby popped out was maddening enough, and that this baby was calling me 'dad' was enough to make the whole world feel like it was crashing down.
But the strong likelihood that the baby's species was a fairy was also an extremely important issue.
Unable to hide my complicated feelings, I gently touched the tip of its wing.
The five-colored, shimmering wing flinched slightly. Fortunately, it didn't pull away or show any sign of displeasure. If anything, it seemed to flutter softly, as if asking for more.
Soft, throaty coos vibrated against my chest.
From my steady observation of the baby, one thing I'd learned was that it seemed to quite enjoy when I occasionally caressed the tips of its wings.
"Spirits and fairies have many connections, so I do happen to know a little about fairies."
Professor Liana, who'd been watching the baby's behavior with a peculiar look, nodded and spoke.
'That's a relief, at least...'
I let out an internal sigh of relief.
A baby had hatched from the Origin Egg, which I'd thought would at best end up a dud.
The baby had wings on its back that I suspected belonged to a fairy.
And that baby was now looking at me with a bright, innocent face and calling me dad...
In the midst of all this, it was a massive stroke of luck that Professor Liana knew about fairies.
'What should I ask first?'
I'd sorted out my thoughts a bit, but there was still so much I needed to ask.
The fairy race was one I hadn't encountered much even in the original story.
Brief sightings: during the 3rd Iteration 'Three Ends,' when I officially visited the Taesan family. During the 11th Iteration 'Diamond Warrior,' when I was ransacking the Taesan family...
In other iterations, the rare times I spotted one were inside the Demon Realm or in nature completely untouched by human hands. That was about it.
Even in the original, meeting a fairy was rare.
As a result, my knowledge and information about them was scant.
[I have a lot I want to ask.]
[Would it be alright if I asked some questions?]
"Of course. I'll certainly help you."
The answer came readily.
"Before that, though."
Just as I was about to follow up with a question right away,
Professor Liana raised a hand to gently block my question.
Wondering what this was about, I straightened up, and Professor Liana closed her eyes gently.
Her slender fingers tapped lightly on the table, and her closed eyelids flickered.
She seemed to be deep in thought.
"Before that... would it be alright if I asked you a few things first?"
When I waited patiently, Professor Liana opened one eye and asked me that.
A very simple request. Seeing her ask like that, I wondered if my earlier explanation had been insufficient. I'd thought I'd given a decent summary, hitting only the key points. Had it been lacking?
[Yes.]
[I'll answer faithfully within the limits of what I know.]
"Thank you. This is something I've been curious about for a while, so I feel I should address it."
Professor Liana smiled slightly, interlocking her fingers and resting her chin on them.
The air suggested she was about to get to the main point, so I nodded.
Honestly, I wasn't particularly nervous. I already knew Professor Liana wasn't a strange or malicious person.
I trusted that whatever she wanted to ask me wasn't meant to harm me in any real way.
And then.
"Cadet Lee Ha-yul, are you really human?"
[Excuse me?]
Right to my face, I was hit with an insult to my personhood, asking if I was even human.
From the mouth of Professor Liana, who was always so kind and benevolent, came a remark I'd never imagined being directed at me.
My thoughts froze for a moment at the preposterous remark denying my species.
"...Why would you... Ah... Ah? Ah, aaaah! No, no, wait! That's not what I meant!"
The previously solemn Professor Liana saw my utterly bewildered expression and flustered, blinking rapidly.
As if replaying her own words, she then seemed to realize something, her eyes snapping wide open as she let out a startled sound.
Then, waving both hands frantically, she denied her own statement, insisting it was a misunderstanding.
"That's not what I meant! I wasn't insulting you! Really! I meant it literally, asking about your species!"
[I'm sorry...]
[If you point out what I did wrong, I'll try to correct it.]
"No, I...! Really, that's not what I meant..."
Professor Liana's eyes were practically spinning.
.
.
.
"I'm sorry. I should have immediately added an explanation..."
It didn't take long for the misunderstanding to be cleared up.
After Professor Liana's earnest clarification, it turned out she truly had zero intent to disparage or insult me. She'd genuinely just been asking a pure question about my species.
[I still don't quite understand.]
[Could you perhaps explain a bit more?]
"Hmm... Of course."
...That made it even more baffling.
She'd asked if I was sure I was human. The nuance was as if she thought I might be something other than human.
I couldn't understand it one bit.
What possible reason could there be to claim I wasn't human?
"Ever since the start of the semester, while I've been mentoring you a little, there were a few things I mentioned, Cadet Lee Ha-yul."
Scolding herself for her earlier blunder, Professor Liana ruffled her own hair, then took a sip of coffee as if her mouth was dry.
Then, as though determined not to repeat the same mistake, she began to explain, uncurling her fingers one by one from a fist.
"One. Your mana purity is absurdly high."
[I remember.]
"It wasn't just high—it was pure, far too pure."
My mana is pure, with a high purity and practically free of impurities.
At the time, I naturally didn't know, but looking back now, that purity is one of the reasons the expansion ability 'Homogenization' is possible.
Because it is pure and free of taint, it can be easily corrupted by anything. That property allowed me to use Homogenization to imitate unique abilities of attribute and special types.
"Two. A spirit affinity high enough to exert control over a spirit without a prior contract."
Professor Liana continued her explanation.
"Fairy mana is close to the pure, natural attribute power... Do you remember? That was something I taught during Spirit Arts class."
[I remember.]
"I also told you that spirits are lifeforms composed of attribute power, and that fairies, as a species, are specialized in handling spirits in many facets—the nature of their mana, their affinity, and so on."
[...I remember.]
Having said that, Professor Liana wiggled the two fingers she'd extended.
"Your mana, Cadet Lee Ha-yul, is bizarrely pure, which allows you to convert it into 'attribute power close to nature,' isn't that right?"
[For now... yes.]
"And also, your bizarrely superhuman spirit affinity allows you to exercise dominion over spirits without having to go through a contract."
'......'
I'd had a hunch halfway through, but hearing up to this point, I could more or less grasp the gist of what Professor Liana was trying to say.
Mana purity. Attribute power. Spirit affinity.
It was much easier to follow thanks to her emphasizing and comparing by uncurling her fingers one by one.
Perhaps my thoughts showed on my face, because Professor Liana nodded.
"I thought that you, Cadet Lee Ha-yul, might not be human—but a fairy."
[Does that even make sense?]
The necklace instantly produced my incredulous reply.
I could now partly understand why Professor Liana thought I was... um... something like a fairy.
But I still couldn't fully accept it myself.
I kept tilting my head, voicing my doubts.
[As far as I know, most fairies have extremely small physiques.]
That was why I hadn't been sure if the baby in my arms was really a fairy.
All the fairies I knew were, at best, only the size of a palm.
The baby's wings certainly looked fairy-like, but the body itself was the size of a normal baby, so I couldn't be sure.
"Fairies, if you break them down, are divided into various species. The size differs depending on the species. Though most of them have hidden themselves away these days..."
Professor Liana pointed a finger at the baby cradled in my arms.
"If the ancient texts' information is correct, this child is estimated to be a fairy knight tasked with guarding the ruler-class entity of the fairies... a Fairy Knight."
[A Fairy Knight?]
"Yes. If we compare to ants, it's somewhat like the position of a soldier ant? Though of course, an adult Fairy Knight's strength is around 4th Rank... it's more like a grade akin to an elite royal guard."
'4th, 4th Rank?'
I took fresh stock of the baby sitting quietly in my arms, fiddling with my hair.
In the late stages of the story, so many monster-like creatures appear that it might seem weak, but anything around 4th Rank is a monster that can fight a top-grade hero one-on-one, or single-handedly wipe out a party composed of upper-grade heroes.
A Fairy Knight... An individual I'd never heard of in the original. Was the original wrong? Or did it exist, and I just never discovered it?
"I didn't initially think you were a fairy, Cadet Lee Ha-yul. 'Mana purity abnormally high...' I just thought you were a superhuman with a peculiar Innate Talent."
Professor Liana shrugged.
"My suspicion started with the spirit aspect. Handling a spirit without a contract is, to my common knowledge, a method only fairies can use. Though up to that point, it was still just a possibility."
Professor Liana's gaze alternated between me and the baby—the Fairy Knight—sitting quietly in my arms.
"...But seeing this scene now, that possibility seems to have resurfaced."
My mana is pure. Like a fairy, I can handle spirits without a contract. And a fairy was born from an Origin Egg that drops items suited to its user...
[I understand there are many commonalities...]
I paused to organize my thoughts, then tapped my necklace to reply.
[But isn't that still weak as a basis to suspect my species?]
"Of course, I'm not certain either. I may know about fairies, but I'm not an absolute expert."
However.
Leaving room for doubt, Professor Liana wiggled her fingers.
"But the fact that a fairy was born specifically from an artifact called the Origin Egg, that this fairy is a Fairy Knight type, and that this Fairy Knight immediately calls you her parent and follows you? Seeing that... the possibility has indeed become very high."
With that lengthy explanation over, an awkward silence settled inside the laboratory.
'...What is this.'
I had no choice but to wear a complicated, subtle expression.
Strength drained from my body, and I slumped limply back into the sofa.
My body slackened, and my mind did too.
Shocking things had been happening one after another, all at once, pummeling me indiscriminately.
A baby fairy suddenly hatched from an egg and started calling me dad.
And when I came to get advice about that, this time, I was hit with the suspicion that my very species might not be human, calling my birth into question...
'Then what are my parents?'
What are the people who raised me? It's strange. Can a fairy be born among humans? I'm from a previous world that had no concept of other races, to begin with.
"Now, you may ask what you were curious about, Cadet Lee Ha-yul. I'll do my best to faithfully answer anything I know!"
As if understanding my confused state of mind, Professor Liana smiled a warm, benevolent smile and granted me permission to ask questions.
"Yaaawn..."
As I sat there with my mouth working absently, the baby opened her mouth and let out a lazy yawn.
She was starting to get drowsy. After all, babies naturally sleep a lot.
As I stroked the head of the baby whose eyelids were drooping, succumbing to sleep, I asked what I most urgently needed to know.
[So, does the baby need to get her vaccinations?]
"Excuse me?"
[Even if she's a fairy, she's still a baby, isn't she?]
[I was just thinking she probably needs to get her shots...]
Professor Liana blinked. It was a reaction that clearly said this was the last question she'd expected to come first.