Conversation
Conversation
For a while, I skipped all the public lectures. It was only possible because of the blank period—something that would've been impossible during the regular term.
Of course, even during the blank period, several complications would arise and my growth would face a minor setback... but that's a problem I'll bear.
I didn't just vanish without a word.
I submitted a written notice to each professor stating it was for personal training, and when people around me asked if something was wrong with worried voices, I deflected with a similar excuse.
Permission came surprisingly easily.
The timing was right, and my consistently diligent image helped, too.
Also, it wasn't as if no cadet ever disappeared during the blank period for such reasons.
Not that the reason was anything but personal training, of course.
[Seo-yul? Time to eat.]
"Eat? Eat! Yay!"
[Good girl.]
[Come here.]
In reality, I was spending time at the dormitory with the baby—Seo-yul.
I was already a sorry excuse for a guardian who'd be running around during the vacation; I didn't want to be the kind of trash who'd leave Seo-yul behind and run around during the relatively free blank period, too.
I lifted Seo-yul with a practiced motion.
"Suck... suuuck..."
[No need to rush.]
[No one's taking your food, so slowly...]
I stroked the head of Seo-yul, who was nestled in my arms meekly sucking formula from a bottle. The snow-white hair tangled around my fingers, so soft it felt otherworldly.
"......"
I was reminded anew that Seo-yul was like an angel.
Not literally an angel by species, but her temperament was absolutely angelic.
I've never had any experience raising a child, but I've gathered knowledge about it and heard stories throughout my life.
Parenting is a nightmare.
Raising a baby is insanely hard. Even without experiencing it yourself, you end up hearing it from everyone around you.
Babies have weak immune systems, so you have to be meticulous about cleanliness. You have to scrutinize what you feed them, and if their skin is sensitive, you have to be picky about what they wear.
Their skin is delicate and their bones are soft. Their bodies are so fragile you have to watch out for everything around them as a potential hazard.
You have to keep a close watch for any sudden, unexpected actions a baby might take at any time, and soothe and care for a baby who cries regardless of morning, night, day, or dawn...
Just thinking about it for a moment brings up this much.
Looking after a baby is insanely difficult. Knowing that, I'd steeled myself for all-nighters during the blank period.
"Mmf... ngh..."
[Tired? Want to take a nap?]
"Uung..."
Seo-yul was nothing like that.
Seo-yul, who had emptied the bottle completely, squirmed in my arms. I patted her back, wondering if she was about to fall asleep, but she shook her head.
Based on the data I'd gathered over the past few days, this was her way of saying she wasn't going to sleep and wanted to savor the drowsiness. And savoring it required my arms.
If I put her down, the usually calm Seo-yul would, on rare occasions, throw a fit.
So I held Seo-yul in my arms for a while. As I sat on the sofa by the window, a perfect amount of sunlight streamed in.
"Eheh..."
At that, Seo-yul let out a laugh. Her wings fluttered gently along with her bright smile. A faint sparkle shimmered in the wake of her wings' path.
She was a fairy, not a human. So I had expected the parenting style to be different.
But I was surprised by how much calmer and more well-behaved she was than I'd imagined.
Seo-yul barely ever cried.
Part of it was because I was awake 24 hours a day, and whenever she wanted something, she would either call out with her still-babbling voice or crawl over to me and tap me.
Besides that...
Even though I hadn't taught Seo-yul any language, she understood my words and acted on them.
She had almost no bowel movements. She was wearing a diaper, but she'd never once had a bowel movement. Urination was also just a tiny trickle.
Worried, I examined her internally with Observation, but... I only found that she absorbed nutrients almost completely, leaving almost no waste.
"......"
As I recalled that, my expression turned odd of its own accord.
She understood and acted on words without being taught a language.
I, too, understood my parents' words immediately without having learned a language separately.
She has almost no bowel movements. It's thanks to absorbing most nutrients.
I was the same. The reason I use the bathroom is only to handle the minor urination and clean my body.
- I had wondered if Cadet Lee Ha-yul might not be human, but a fairy.
Not a human, but a fairy. It was a really odd statement. To have my species denied so suddenly, I could only be bewildered.
At the time, my head was too muddled to think much of it... but whenever similarities between Seo-yul and me appear one after another like this, my mind can't help but grow complicated.
"...I'll think about it later."
Of course, my head being muddled and busy hasn't changed even now. This was a very important topic, but... it's too soon to come to a definitive answer. Like always, I put off the confirmation for later.
- Ding-dong~
Just then, the doorbell rang.
"Iik..."
I had already sensed the visitor through Observation before the doorbell rang. I rose to my feet. Seo-yul, who had been lounging comfortably, scrunched up her face, which was unlike her.
Even that expression was so cute I nearly burst out laughing on the spot.
But since that would've obviously made Seo-yul sulk, I swallowed my laughter and tapped the hologram displayed on the wall.
- Ddiring... Click.
The remotely operated front door opened.
"Good morning, again!"
[Good morning.]
A cheerful morning greeting. I returned the same greeting I'd been hearing consistently for the past few days.
[Ellia.]
The woman taking off her shoes in the entryway, Ellia, smiled brightly and waved. In her hand was a plastic bag, as if she'd just come from grocery shopping.
The first day of the blank period. After accepting my request, Ellia had been visiting my dormitory regularly ever since that day.
[Was there still more to buy besides what you got yesterday?]
"Nope. I just bought a few snacks and jellies in case you got bored."
I approached and took the plastic bag with a tendril of the Sky Wing Feather.
"Ah, thank you."
With her hands free, Ellia quickly finished taking off her shoes and stepped inside.
And upon seeing an object placed on one side of the living room, she made an odd expression.
"...Something new has appeared overnight again."
It was an expression of disbelief, though I'd been expecting it.
I glanced over the dormitory with Observation.
Originally, my dormitory could aptly be described as barren.
The structure hadn't changed since I moved in; unlike other cadets, I hadn't brought in any other furniture, and there were no additional decorations.
That was because I hadn't really used the dormitory in the first place.
Now it was quite bustling.
The smooth, hard floor tiles were now mostly hidden, covered by a soft mat.
Furniture fitted with corner guards now filled the living room that once held only a table and a sofa.
The kitchen, where I'd stuffed all the cooking tools into the cupboards, now had a fair amount of ingredients in it.
And after bringing various pieces of furniture into the empty rooms, a fairly lived-in atmosphere now flowed through the once barren dormitory.
"Is this... a cradle? Don't tell me this one too..."
Ellia brushed her hand over a piece of furniture that had just appeared yesterday and looked at me with a 'please, not this' look.
I nodded nonchalantly.
[Yes.]
[I made it.]
The several bookshelves placed in what used to be an empty room, the small dining table and furniture tailored to Seo-yul's size, the various wooden toys...
The cradle Ellia was touching and even the clothes Seo-yul was wearing right now were things I had made myself.
I made the furniture in the room I was using as a workshop, and I used my previous sewing experience plus newly learned skills to personally knit Seo-yul's clothes.
My All-Rounder proficiency had increased significantly. And with it, I'd practiced plenty of subordinate skills like dexterity, woodworking, and crafting.
They weren't superhuman armaments or complex mechanical devices, just furniture and toys. I could easily make such things myself.
I paid special attention to the clothes. Since I had improved greatly since making Hong Yeon-hwa's scarf, I was able to engrave all sorts of convenience and protection magic into them.
It was a bit cumbersome since I had only one hand now, unlike before, but the results came out quite well.
"Seriously... I'm at a loss for words."
Ellia, after hearing my explanation, shook her head as if there were nothing more to say and reached both hands out to lift Seo-yul by sliding them under her armpits.
To which Seo-yul flinched and then quickly responded by burrowing deeper into my arms.
"Iiik..."
"Seo-yul~ Come to big sis? Hmm?"
The brief power struggle didn't last long. Seo-yul, who finally ran out of strength, was lifted by Ellia and nestled into her arms.
"Iiik...!"
"Seo-yul, shall we let Daddy rest a little?"
"Ing..."
"Good girl. Our Seo-yul is so nice~"
Even as she was buried in Ellia's ample chest, Seo-yul's struggling gradually subsided at the suggestion of letting me rest.
At that, Ellia beamed and stroked Seo-yul's head.
Seo-yul puffed out her cheeks, but she made an effort not to outright reject the touch.
It was a huge improvement.
Seo-yul on the first day had completely refused any touch from Ellia and Professor Liana.
That was the reason Ellia kept visiting my dormitory.
As she kept coming and growing familiar with Seo-yul, I could clearly feel Seo-yul's wariness thinning.
Of course, I suspected part of it was that Seo-yul could feel Ellia genuinely cared for her.
"What's the status of Seo-yul's identification?"
A moment later.
Ellia, who had been eating the simple breakfast I'd prepared, tilted her head and asked.
Currently, Seo-yul has no identification. To be precise, we haven't registered her yet.
I stroked Seo-yul, who had barely squirmed back into my arms and looked content, as I answered.
[I was planning to talk about that today anyway.]
[Please look after Seo-yul for a bit this afternoon.]
[There's someone I need to discuss the identification issue with.]
I had a way to deal with that.
.
.
.
A few hours later.
I opened the door and walked into a café.
It wasn't in the Siyoram commercial district, but one of those tucked away in some secluded corner.
The bell attached to the glass door jingled. The clear sound lingered in my ears.
The interior was spacious and had good facilities, but there wasn't a single customer.
"Cadet Lee Ha-yul, your reservation is on the 2nd floor of the main building."
The sole employee waiting at the counter recognized my face and spoke to me.
I nodded and took the side stairs up to the second floor.
Stepping on the creaking wooden stairs, I reached the second floor, which was just as spacious as the first.
Sunlight poured through the window right next to me, illuminating my body.
I sensed a presence.
Just like the first floor, there was only one person on the second floor.
Hair neatly combed back.
A sharply tailored black and white suit and a high-end wristwatch on one wrist.
A man with the typical appearance of a dressed-up office worker.
He had been sitting with his eyes closed, fingers laced over the table. He gently opened his eyes.
Black irises. He then smiled a neat, business-like office worker smile and rose to his feet.
He was careful with the chair, but the faint scrape still reached my ears.
I walked up until I was right in front of the man.
Maintaining his business-like smile, the man cautiously extended a hand.
"It is an honor to meet the hero. I am Maxwell, affiliated with the Disaster Management Department under the Association."
"Maxwell."
I mulled over the name and sharpened my senses further.
My senses of touch and hearing grew keener, picking up on presences with greater sensitivity.
I felt the brush of clothing against skin, and the wind and vibrations tapping my skin.
I picked up the faint sway of distant leaves and could even distinguish the individual cries of dozens of birds.
And then, the presence I sensed from the man grew even more layered.
The sound of a beating heart, the sound of inhaling and exhaling breath. The presences a person inevitably gives off.
There was nothing particularly strange. The technique I had tentatively named Echolocation found nothing out of place in the man or the space.
That was rather chilling.
I ignored the man's outstretched hand and walked over to the wall between the windows.
The presence I felt there was similarly unremarkable. The sound of wind hitting the wall outside was realistic.
But the flow of mana was subtly strange.
I reached out and pulled the wall surface to the right.
The flow of mana surged. Then the information relayed through my senses changed completely.
The presence of the man standing behind me vanished. The overall presence on the second floor shifted.
The 'door' I had only sensed through the Authority of Observation opened.
The true second floor revealed itself. At its center, the man from before was sipping coffee.
At the sound, he turned to look at me standing before the open door.
The man smiled his business-like smile and rose to his feet.
He was careful with the chair, but the faint scraping sound still reached my ears.
I walked up until I was right in front of the man.
Maintaining his business-like smile, the man cautiously extended a hand.
"It is an honor to meet the hero. I am Maxwell, affiliated with the Association President's Direct Enforcement Department."
The meeting with the Association, which I had been postponing since the Sipnaha Incident due to lack of time, had finally arrived.
* * *
[Unique Ability 「Mana Affinity」 grows.]
[Unique Ability 「All-Rounder」 grows.]
...
[Player Correction System: Affection]
Lee Ha-yul → Ellia Srade
●●●●●●●○○○(75▷76/100)
「Affection」 「Gratitude」 「Chick」 「Sorry」