Unmar?ried Cou?ple? (3)
Unmar?ried Cou?ple? (3)
- ...You won't really need vaccinations. Other than the wings, she just looks like a baby, but she is a fairy, after all.
Even in a world where superhumans exist, vaccinations are naturally a thing.
No matter how early someone awakens, before awakening they're ordinary babies and inevitably get exposed to minor illnesses.
And even after awakening, while you can ignore minor ailments, serious diseases remain just as threatening.
But for a fairy baby, apparently such measures aren't necessary.
Their species' basic capabilities surpass humans to begin with, and as a "Fairy Knight" individual specialized in combat, she reportedly needs them even less.
In other words, she wouldn't suffer the usual childhood illnesses. I'd breathed a sigh of relief at that.
- tap tap tap
On the way back to the dormitory. The tiles of the maintained pathway were gradually staining with the orange light creeping in.
Evening had already come. The talk with Professor Liana had gone on too long.
"Cooo..."
Thanks to that, the baby had long since surrendered to boredom and drowsiness, breathing evenly in my arms, fast asleep.
'...Sleeping so peacefully.'
The baby looked thoroughly comfortable.
A baby sleeping in my arms, one strand of the Sky Wing Feather pillowed under her head, another clutched to her chest, and a broad strand rolled up and wrapped around her.
Luckily, she liked the texture, so I'd been able to hold her like this.
Wrapped entirely in the Sky Wing Feather, basic protection and body temperature were maintained at all times, and whenever her position grew awkward I could adjust it comfortably and properly without even using my hands.
'I really picked well.'
Choosing the Sky Wing Feather had definitely been the best call. So far it's been a winning streak. Not a single regret.
I manipulated the Wing Feather to settle the baby more comfortably, while also feeling sorry that the delay had worn her out so much.
Professor Liana is a Spirit Caster. Spirits and fairies are deeply related, and in the process of learning about spirits, she'd also ended up studying quite a lot about fairies.
She herself had once searched for fairies, and eventually gained a connection to the Taesan family that let her visit the fairies within their domain.
That said, she wasn't all-knowing when it came to fairies.
To be precise... she couldn't just reel off expert answers about how to raise a fairy.
That was only natural. She isn't a fairy mage; she's a Spirit Caster, isn't she?
What Professor Liana could offer was merely her brief knowledge of fairies, plus some information drawn from cases involving spirits and other non-human races.
If I wanted to know more precisely, I'd need to seek out a figure or faction that knew fairies in greater detail than Professor Liana did.
Both Professor Liana and I knew of such a group.
'Taesan, huh...'
Taesan (泰山).
A power grouped with the Calamity Flame and the Azure Sea as one of the Three Great Families.
As its standing among the Three Great Families suggests, the Taesan family is also treated as highly important in the original story.
Its latent strength is accordingly immense.
The head of Taesan alone is an active top-grade hero, a powerhouse standing on the verge of pioneering.
Under the family's banner, they possess multiple units capable of entering the Demon Realm and conducting prolonged subjugation operations.
But Taesan's strengths didn't come from combat power.
Since the time of its progenitor, Taesan has been a faction based in the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula, its territory mostly consisting of mountainous terrain.
Judging by that alone, it might seem like poor land, but the natural medicinal herbs and all manner of other materials that grow and sprout there yield profits that effortlessly scoff at a massive gold mine.
Add to that the continuous nurturing that uses Taesan's unique ability to handle earth and life force... and you get land that truly sneers at the value of gold.
Within such a Taesan territory, there is a zone where fairies have settled and live.
Members of the Taesan family... specifically those tasked with managing the fairies and such, will likely know fairies in considerable detail.
'...I have practically no connection with the Taesan side.'
The problem is that I have no particular acquaintance with the Taesan family.
I built ties with the Calamity Flame through Hong Yeon-hwa, and with the Azure Sea through Baek A-rin.
Since both are the heirs of their families, those connections were quite deep.
But so far I've had no contact with anyone from the Taesan family.
A member of the Taesan family... the heir, I'd only briefly observed at the tournament arena.
'Lee Ji-yeon.'
The heir of the Taesan family, currently a cadet enrolled at Siyoram in the 120th Cohort, second year.
Lee Ji-yeon is also a character I got entangled with fairly often in the original story.
In the 1st Iteration, I met her early on, built affection, and she was a party member who stood with me to the end, resisting the Tower's invasion.
We were entangled in later iterations too.
In the 3rd Iteration, after I got caught with Taesan's unique ability, we ended up tangled in a complicated mess. In the 4th Iteration, it was a transactional relationship, trading monster byproducts and various natural resources to replace the player's body.
In the 9th Iteration... I killed and devoured her, absorbing her power...
The 9th Iteration — 《Hungry Ghost》.
A cycle where I utterly discarded a karma-centered playthrough and dove headlong into a genuine evil karma route.
That was the iteration where I used the unique ability "Gluttony" to devour and steal the power of Lee Ji-yeon and other members of Taesan.
The 9th Iteration committed one boundless atrocity after another like that, until I was designated a "top-priority extermination target" by the Association and soon after was subjugated by the coalition forces that came crashing in.
Anyway.
To build a relationship with the Taesan family, the best route would be through the family heir, Lee Ji-yeon.
I'm planning to apply to Lee Ji-yeon when the mentoring classes start next semester, so I'll probably formally meet her around then.
Of course, there's no guarantee she'll accept me unconditionally... but I figure she likely will. It's not like there aren't other methods.
[Cadet Lee Ha-yul, authenticated.]
I arrived at the dormitory.
I'd cloaked myself with magic on the way over and used the Observation Authority to avoid people's gazes, so I didn't run into anyone.
'It's not an issue that absolutely must be kept secret... but there's no need to broadcast it to the whole neighborhood either.'
Swallowing back a sigh, I tried to lay the baby down on the bed.
- grip...
Just as I was about to set her down along with the Wing Feather, tiny little fingers caught hold of my clothes.
A refusal to be put down. She'd done the same thing in Professor Liana's lab.
I'd tried to lay her down on the cot with the Sky Wing Feather so she could rest a bit more easily, but she'd clung on, using all her strength to refuse to come out of my arms.
I'd had no choice but to proceed with everything while carrying her.
First, I tore open the boxes on the table and took out the contents.
They were deliveries I'd ordered in the morning; I'd brought them up after they arrived at the parcel storage room set up in the first-floor lobby of the dormitory.
The contents weren't especially varied.
The basics: clothes for the baby to wear and diapers.
I had rushed to buy and put clothes and a diaper on her on the way to the lab, but... since I lacked time and only bought one of each then, I'd ordered multiple sets now.
And then...
Stacked on one side of the dining table were several round cylindrical containers.
The surface had a pale-yellow background with a few white clouds sketched across it, and a photo of a baby beaming brightly.
It was powdered formula, purchased to feed the baby.
Since she already had a few teeth, I'd wondered if I should give her baby food... but following Professor Liana's advice, I'd bought formula instead.
I picked it up with an odd expression.
This was a product I'd thought would never have anything to do with me. I'd never imagined buying and using something like this.
- ding
[Heating started.]
First, I boiled water to mix the formula. Surprisingly, a kettle specifically for mixing formula... a product called a formula pot, actually existed.
While the water was boiling, I'd cleaned a bottle by hand in advance and blasted it with Purification Magic dozens of times, then scooped in the powdered formula.
Ding— As the water in the formula pot reached the appropriate temperature, an alarm sounded. It was a temperature that required no cooling-down process.
I poured the boiled water from the formula pot into the bottle. At first, I didn't pour it all at once but just enough to dissolve the powder, and only then added the remaining water.
The process was fairly simple.
Maybe because this is a world with magic, several steps I used to know about were omitted.
"Ng... pah."
[Sorry I woke you.]
[Let's eat, then sleep.]
Since I couldn't exactly feed her while she was asleep, I ended up waking her. When I gently rubbed her earlobe, the baby's clear white eyes opened, still drowsy.
I patted her back apologetically and gathered her into my arms.
I supported her back with my arm, and divided the Wing Feather strands appropriately to brace her neck, head, and overall body.
It was a really bizarre sight. If someone were watching from the side, they'd probably accept it if you called me a tentacle monster, but with only one arm, this was the best I could do.
Every step before this had been carried out by minutely operating the Observation Authority.
The temperature of the boiled water. The amount of formula in the bottle and the process of dissolving it. Even the posture for holding the baby — I did everything precisely according to the instructions.
I wrapped the Wing Feather around the bottle and brought it to the baby's mouth.
- Sniff? Sniff sniff...
The baby, who had tilted her head at the approach of some strange object, wrinkled her nose. She blinked her eyes and then opened her mouth wide to latch onto the bottle.
- suck... sip?
The baby, who had been instinctively sucking with her cheeks, went wide-eyed. Soon, with the sucking subtly quickening, the contents of the bottle gradually diminished.
"......"
The baby's expression was utterly mystifying.
The formula emptied in no time. I had fed her once at the lab, but... well, babies do eat a lot, don't they?
I adjusted my hold on the baby. Warm all over and with a full belly, perhaps, the face resting on my shoulder was thoroughly drowsy.
"Urp."
At that moment.
The baby's small body gave a little lurch, and a burp came from her mouth. She'd done it all by herself without me having to rub or pat her back to prompt it.
After a while, having burped a few more times, the baby fell asleep with even breathing.
The baby... the baby...
'I'll have to... give her a name, won't I.'
While I was observing the sleeping baby with strange emotions, I grew troubled by a thought that had been prodding at me for a while now.
To a person, a name is a word that represents oneself, so as to be distinct from other people.
Usually, one's name is given by one's parents.
Or a grandparent or other relative might give one after much deliberation, and there are also cases where people go to a naming center to receive a name imbued with deep meaning.
I named myself.
My parents didn't give me a name. Only after the house burned down and I entered the orphanage did I realize the necessity of a name, and I named myself.
At the time, I didn't really care what the name turned out to be, but I felt a sort of resistance to having some person with no real connection to me just toss one out, so I'd flipped through a dictionary and come up with one myself.
'Lee Ha-yul.'
Lee (彛) for upright, Ha (何) for what, Yul (律) for law.
If I forcibly interpret it... it roughly means "always abide by the rules you've set for yourself, wherever and whenever, so that you may be upright."
I'm satisfied with my name.
To be honest, I'd just roughly thumbed through it at the time, but I've never been teased for having a strange name up to now, nor has it ever felt uncomfortable.
'......'
But if it were a situation where I was naming someone else, I would never do it sloppily.
Right now, I am facing that very situation.
I can't just lump her together under "the baby," "the child," "little one," "infant," and so on forever.
I need to... give her a name.
The moment that thought struck, my head went dizzy.
That sort of thing... is normally done by family... by parents.
I'm not the baby's parent. I have neither the qualifications nor the ability to be a parent.
I have no intention of nitpicking the standards other people consider for parents, but at the very least, I don't measure up in the slightest to the level I set as necessary for me to become a parent.
I lack money, my knowledge of childcare is paltry... there's simply nothing that meets the mark.
However.
"......"
The baby is following me as her parent... and the mere thought of leaving a child like that at a facility like an orphanage was so agonizing it felt like my head might shatter on the spot.
That would... be acting like my own "parents." It's an act I must never resemble, never imitate. It would be a denial of my very foundation.
- sigh...
Carefully exhaling, I sorted out my own thoughts.
I didn't complicate them; I summed them up simply.
Becoming a parent is a burdensome thing.
The baby is following me as her parent.
I am someone who has no right to be a parent.
But the very notion of abandoning a baby who follows me as her parent is horrifically disgusting. It's impossible.
If that's the case... I have to raise her.
'...Fairies are said to grow quickly, right.'
Fairies don't take as long as humans to reach physical maturity.
According to Professor Liana... the Fairy Knight, especially specialized in protecting the ruler, will supposedly grow at a quick rate even among fairies.
She said that period wouldn't be more than a few years. By that point, she'd be considered a full adult by fairy standards.
In other words, she'd reach a level where she can think and judge normally.
'If it's only until then... I can manage to raise her, right.'
I don't have a shred of qualification to be a parent, but if I had to pick the biggest flaw, it's my uncertain lifespan.
If I suddenly keel over face-first on the roadside and die while raising her, the baby's situation would become truly, deeply awkward.
But as expected, even if I can't break the curses, I'll live a few more years, and in that time the baby will have become an adult and be able to live on her own.
Also, I'll contact the Taesan family before then, and if I do drop dead out of nowhere, I plan to ask them to send the baby to the fairies.
My feelings are really complicated. Has my heart ever felt so unsettled before?
I swallowed back another sigh that tried to escape on its own, and patted the baby's back.
"Hehehe..."
With just that small gesture, the sleeping baby let out a little smile, as if everything in the world was perfectly happy.
My feelings grew even more complicated.
.
.
.
The sun set and rose again. A day passed.
Yellow eyes blinked repeatedly. The expression was deeply complicated... and riddled with bewilderment.
Ellia's gaze, which had been sweeping over my face, dropped down and fixed on the baby in my arms, whose expression was thoroughly displeased.
"You want... my family to look after this baby, just for the break?"
[Yes...]
One day after I'd resolved to raise her somehow until she was grown.
I, the most worthless failure of a guardian worse than a worm, uttered these words.