Not a Baby
Not a Baby
I underwent a medical examination.
An inexplicable bodily regression.
Even if I couldn't prove the exact reason, if there was something wrong with my body, they'd be able to find it.
"Hmm..."
"Mmm..."
There was a small hitch before the examination began.
Master and Professor Liana sat me down on the sofa and let out thoughtful murmurs.
"A fairy, you say..."
Master watched the gentle fluttering of my wings with an awkward gaze.
She'd been too distracted to look closely earlier, but now that she'd gathered herself, there was something peculiar in her eyes.
"...He really does look like a fairy."
Fortunately, she didn't seem put off by it.
If anything, she seemed to accept it. Then she stroked me with a touch so brimming with affection that it swept away my unease in an instant.
Reassured, I subtly leaned my cheek into her petting hand.
[Happy]
[Like being petted]
"...Is it really all right to just take him like this?"
Watching the scene with a look of disbelief, Professor Liana pointed a finger behind me—more precisely, at the wings still clinging to my back.
Three pairs of blue wings.
The Sky Wing Feather.
The Sky Wing Feather was the first artifact I'd ever acquired, chosen for its compatibility with my mana's exceptional purity.
After obtaining it, I'd steadily fed it mana to enhance its performance, and after soaking my body in the Lake of Mana, its capabilities had improved even further.
Then, when I'd used it as a medium for my spiritualization, it had clung tightly to my back—and even after the spiritualization ended, it was still stuck there.
Amazingly, I could still feel it. The sensation of the wings twitching on their own if I so much as thought about it was strange.
"...Wouldn't it be fine? Horns sprouting, wings appearing, skin color changing... There are rare cases where a body becomes distinctive when a unique ability manifests."
"Can we really lump this in with those? Cadet Lee Ha-yul's current state is... a little too blatant, don't you think?"
Professor Liana's green eyes calmly swept over my appearance.
"Snow-white hair and eyes. Translucent wings sprouting from his back."
I took stock of my own appearance as well.
My black hair had turned white, and the Sky Wing Feather was stuck fast to my back.
"Spirit affinity to the degree of freely commanding spirits. High-purity mana. An exceptionally beautiful appearance... Mm..."
My spirit affinity had been extremely high from the start, and the purity of my mana likewise.
Beautiful... I wasn't sure about that, but there were certainly a lot of points that fit.
Honestly, the word 'fairy' had popped into my own head too.
I wondered how I looked to other people.
"I don't know much about fairies. They're an exceedingly rare species to begin with. I never encountered one while operating in the Demon Realm, and I've only come across them a little in old texts."
As Master said, fairies were an exceedingly rare species.
Their population was extremely small to begin with, and their habitats were unknown, so no proper research had ever been conducted.
The only fairy habitats I knew of were the grounds of the Taesan Family and the interior of the African Demon Realm.
Even those were not easy to access.
The area within the Taesan Family's estate where fairies lived wasn't something you could get permission to enter through ordinary connections.
During the 3rd Iteration's Three Ends, it was only after I'd first become entangled with Lee Ji-yeon and built up high affection that I was finally able to enter the natural habitat where the fairies lived.
The Demon Realm wasn't easy either. They concealed themselves and lived in reasonably deep places—not quite the inner core, but still difficult to reach.
"But they're well-known, aren't they? Robest's autobiography, was it? That book sold so many copies..."
Robest's autobiography.
A hunter named Robest wrote it upon retiring, and since he'd been a fairly famous figure in the field, the autobiography gained considerable fame as well.
That autobiography included an account of meeting a fairy.
I'd read it myself while researching various materials after Seo-yul was born.
My impression of the contents... it felt like a fairy tale.
A story about a protagonist who faced a life-threatening crisis in the forests of the Gray Zone, and the little fairy who found him and offered help.
I don't know if it was true or false. Even if he really met a fairy, I don't know if he truly received help.
What mattered was that the autobiography sold quite well, and along with it, the image of fairies became widely known.
The illustrations of fairies I'd seen in the original work matched that image, and Seo-yul's appearance matched it too.
Maybe that was why Professor Liana had concealed my appearance when we entered Siyoram.
Siyoram's security was incredibly tight, but the moment I printed out my special admission certificate and showed it, they let me right through.
At that point, Master spoke up.
"Even taking that into account, it doesn't seem like a problem... but I doubt the Headmaster failed to grasp his condition."
"That's true. If they gave him a special admission slot, they wouldn't have brought him here without knowing. No—maybe they brought him precisely because they knew."
"Well, fairy or human, apart from the wings they're pretty similar."
"And if it does become an issue... the Vice Headmaster and Siyoram will handle it on their own."
"Besides, how would anyone even prove he's a fairy? Can't we just insist the things on his back are an artifact and be done with it?"
'Huh?'
Professor Liana and Master's discussion was, in the end, about how my species might become a controversy.
As I quietly listened to their conversation, I suddenly tilted my head at the part about just insisting it was an artifact.
'...But it is an artifact in the first place.'
I didn't know why it was stuck to me, but ultimately, this was the Sky Wing Feather—an artifact.
The way it moved was identical to the Sky Wing Feather.
The Sky Wing Feather, which included a shape-shifting function, moved exactly as I directed it with my thoughts.
I'd gotten a lot of good use out of that function.
If I left it alone, it returned to its winged-garment state, but when I manipulated it, it became armament that freely switched between a weapon and a shield.
'Mmm...'
I conjured the image. I gave the command in my mind.
—Snap
"Huh?"
"Oh?"
The sensation faded.
Professor Liana and Master's eyes went wide.
"...They came off?"
The wings detached. The separated wings transformed into their winged-garment form and wrapped around me.
'That works, huh.'
I blinked in surprise too. It had happened more easily than I'd thought. I should have just tried it from the beginning.
"...It wasn't even a problem worth debating."
"So it seems..."
Master started to let out a deep sigh—then swallowed it back down and pressed my cheek firmly.
And so, amid the reactions of those bewildered by my younger-looking appearance, the examination proceeded.
There had been a small worry, given my regressed form and the appearance of equipment that practically radiated creepiness, that I might end up dissected.
But reassured by the sight of Master and Professor Liana standing protectively on either side of me, I was able to go through with the examination without further concern.
The real problem came after that.
"...Ha-yul?"
"Hiiiing... Daddy..."
After the examination.
I came face to face with Ellia, looking nearly as disheveled as Master, and Seo-yul, still whimpering with tear tracks clearly streaking her face.
'Ah.'
My heart rotted away with guilt.
Self-loathing slammed against my skull.
My mind went dark...
.
.
.
A lot had happened, but winter break wasn't over yet.
My visit to the Calamity Flame Family had lasted less than a week.
I'd spent quite a long time in China.
I'd roamed around busily for nearly ten days, and from going missing to being rescued had taken about a week as well.
So at the point when Professor Liana and I entered Siyoram together, there was about a week left of winter break.
[Contact: Hong Yeon-hwa]
▶Hong Yeon-hwa: you
▶Hong Yeon-hwa: stay quietly at the Cradle and wait
▶Hong Yeon-hwa: don't go anywhere
▶Hong Yeon-hwa: answer me
▶Me: yes...
There were still plenty of cadets who hadn't returned to Siyoram.
Hong Yeon-hwa and Baek A-rin were among them.
When I'd gone missing, the Calamity Flame Family had panicked and dispatched forces.
...It was hard to lift my head.
Someone who'd been slotted into the family register, in my own way, had gone and thrown myself at a high-rank monster barely ten days later and vanished. From the Calamity Flame Family's perspective, they must have been ready to tear their hair out...
The Changhae Family had dispatched forces as well.
I could understand that too.
The Changhae Family was the power that ruled over the northern Korean Peninsula and the Manchuria region.
In other words, they were right next door to where this undead incident had erupted in China.
And to top it off, the leader of the undead that had emerged was reportedly the Twin-headed Poison Dragon.
The Changhae Family was one of the factions that had been especially harmed by the Twin-headed Poison Dragon in the past.
The Twin-headed Poison Dragon's toxicity and plague had affected the Changhae Family's territory as well.
And now the Twin-headed Poison Dragon had emerged again... Their trauma must have flared right back up, so they'd immediately mobilized their forces.
Incidentally, thanks to Lee Ji-yeon, who'd been caught up in the incident with me, the Taesan Family had mobilized their forces too...
And then I'd subjugated the Twin-headed Poison Dragon and gone missing.
They probably figured they might as well conduct a search while they were at it.
Anyway, among those forces were Hong Yeon-hwa and Baek A-rin, who happened to be at their main houses since it was winter break.
But I'd been rescued earlier than expected, and then whisked away to Siyoram at top speed.
Hong Yeon-hwa apparently wanted to come right away too, but since she was one of those leading the forces, she said she had to at least finish the minimum wrap-up before coming.
...
Anyway, I suddenly found myself with time on my hands.
I'd planned to spend the whole winter break in China, but with the incident, I'd returned early.
I had no intention of wasting that time. My body might have ended up in this state, but that didn't mean I couldn't train.
Even if I couldn't move my body, I could still train my mind.
In particular, I intended to put serious effort into magic during the second semester.
First year, second semester.
If the academic schedule proceeded as it had in the original work, I would be able to enter the Floating Island.
It wasn't as though there were no flying islands in a world full of all kinds of supernatural abilities, but there was only one Floating Island I was thinking of.
'The Tower of Knowledge.'
The Floating Island I was thinking of housed the Tower of Knowledge.
The Tower of Knowledge was a tower not particularly well-known to the public.
A tower that those in the know all knew about, but didn't know in detail.
The Tower Master of Space and Harmonization had created the Association, the Tower Master of Growth had created Siyoram, and the Tower Master of Observation had created the Observation Corps.
But the Tower Master of Knowledge hadn't really created any organization.
They simply holed up on the Floating Island in seclusion.
However, they'd let the player of the original work—the special admission cadet—inside.
'Assuming things go the way they did in the original...'
Of course, there was also the possibility that things wouldn't go as they had and they wouldn't let me in.
Even so, I planned to study magic.
I'd been neglecting magic lately.
So even during what remained of the winter break, I intended to dive into magic intensively.
And then...
"Okay, our baby? Say 'ah'~"
My thoughts were cut off. A warm sensation touched my lips. A spoonful of warm vegetable porridge tapped lightly against them.
The person holding out the spoon was Ellia. She was smiling brightly, urging me to open my mouth.
A little embarrassing, sure, but it wasn't the kind of thing I could just flatly refuse.
If only it weren't for my current situation.
'......'
With a sour expression, I turned my observation outward.
I didn't have to look far.
The chair I was sitting in. An infant dining chair.
Around my neck, alongside the Confession Necklace, a bib had been tied.
'Good heavens...'
And furthermore... Seo-yul was sitting beside me.
She was in a similar state.
'Wait, since when did she get that big...?'
Her b-body size... was similar to mine.
Before winter break, she'd definitely been much smaller...?
I felt utterly wretched.
And a swirl of emotions I couldn't quite put my finger on swept over me.
It wasn't so awful I'd call it negative... it was just the kind of feeling that made me unable to lift my head.
I kept my mouth firmly shut and shook my head.
No matter how I thought about it, this seemed wrong.
No matter how much I looked like a kid or how much my intelligence had regressed... I didn't think I deserved this kind of treatment.
[...I am not a baby]
[And I can eat by mysel—]
"Oh dear... my heart has been aching so much these past few days. I feel like I might cry..."
Ellia suddenly sniffled in an exaggerated, theatrical tone, dabbing at her eyes with her fingers.
'......'
The acting tone was obvious enough for anyone to see.
But the image of Ellia's state a few days ago surfaced in my mind.
Her hair, once yellow like chick down, had turned brittle and dry. Her face had been dark and lifeless. Her mind and body had been utterly exhausted...
And Seo-yul, held in her arms, had cried herself to exhaustion and fallen asleep...
—Ah...
"There we go. Our baby eats so well, what a good boy~"
I had no right to defy her.
Warm porridge entered through my obediently opened mouth.
* * *
[Player Correction System: Measurement]
...
▶Mental State
「Fairy(?)」
「Regression」
「Growth」
「Complexity」
「Guilt」
「Embarrassment」
「Comfort」
...
[Player Correction System: Affection]
Lee Ha-yul → Ellia Srade
●●●●●●●○○○(77▶78/100)
「Affection」 「Gratitude」 「Little Chick」 「Sorry」 「Guilt」