Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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>Translator: Lord First
>Chapter: 14
>Chapter Title: How to Win Without Lifting a Finger
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“We’ll have a guest today.”
“A guest? Should I prepare some tea and cookies, then?”
“Well, it would be nice if you did.”
Mia licked her lips, recalling the cookies Rian had baked once before. The cookies, studded with black morsels, had been so divinely sweet that her usual composure had faltered.
‘Come to think of it, what were those black things?’
The question arose, but she quickly brushed it aside. Mia had absolutely no talent for cooking. It was an oddity, considering her aptitude for alchemy.
And so, another day began, no different from any other.
***
*Ding-.*
The oven stopped with a cheerful chime.
“Let’s see…”
A blast of hot air billowed out as I opened the oven. I expertly pulled out the pan lined with cookies.
“Hee hee, they’re baked perfectly.”
A mountain of cookies was piled high on the kitchen table. I had baked a huge batch, thinking of the children’s appetites.
“Ah…”
“Ooh…”
As the sweet aroma of cookies wafted through the air, the children peeked their heads around the kitchen doorway, their eyes fixed on the treats.
“I’ll give you some after we eat, so everyone be good, okay?”
“Uh-huh!”
“Yes!”
The children, who had started their lessons with Noah yesterday, were now able to speak in simple words.
‘Alright… now, should I prepare a few other things before the guest arrives?’
I needed to tidy up the space for receiving our guest and find some tea to serve. I muttered to myself as I grabbed the handle of a kitchen cabinet.
“I’m sure the tea was in here somewhere…”
Muttering this, I opened the door, and there sat a glass jar filled with tea leaves.
‘I’m lucky today.’
The Gag Anime World operates on a few principles. A diverse pile of objects might be treated as a single mass, appearing brown or gray, or rummaging through a mountain of items could unearth something you’ve never seen before.
And just like now, if you act as though something is there, it might just materialize. Of course, it didn’t always work. It was something that happened only if you were really lucky.
‘I thought I’d have to do that about 245 times. What a relief.’
Frantically opening and closing a drawer was quite the chore, but as someone from a Gag Anime World, opening and closing a door fast enough to create a breeze was nothing.
‘The tea is ready. Let’s go get the other things.’
I set the tea aside and left the kitchen. I could see the children who had gathered in front of the kitchen being led away by Noah and Pia.
‘How heartwarming.’
A wave of pride washed over me as I watched the children, who had been starving to death in a prison, now experiencing something called ‘daily life.’ As I casually wiped under my nose with my index finger, I felt a weight on my lower back.
“…Jess?”
“Ung.”
“What are you doing there?”
“Sticking wif Jjwin-nim.”
Jess, clinging tightly to the middle of my back, mumbled her reply.
“Why…?”
“Gonna pwotect Jjwin-nim.”
Her words tugged at my heart. Is this what it feels like to raise a daughter?
“Alright, alright. Let’s stick together today.”
“Ung.”
I began cleaning with Jess attached to my waist. Being a beastman, she was light, so it wasn’t much of a strain.
“Phew, this should be good enough, right?”
I looked at the sparkling drawing-room and wiped the sweat from my brow with my sleeve.
*Swish, swish.*
I could feel Jess’s tail wagging against my back. The tip of her tail occasionally tapped against my thigh.
“Let’s go prepare the meal now.”
“Ung!”
Jess lifted the head she had buried in my back and answered in a bright voice.
*Fwap-fwap-fwap!*
Her tail began to wag furiously. I was worried she might hurt herself. To keep her tail from falling off, I hurried to the dining room.
***
In a corner of the drawing-room stood a full-length mirror over two meters tall. Its surface began to ripple, like a stone had been tossed into water.
*Zzzing-…*
With a strange sound, the mirror’s surface rippled more violently, and the shiny toe of a shoe emerged from the bottom.
*Vwoom-.*
As if the mirror were stretching, a person popped out from within.
“Hmph, looks like I’ve arrived safely.”
Doban, who had emerged from the mirror, smirked and waved the small staff in his hand.
His form then turned transparent. Smiling pleasantly at his own perfect black magic, Doban scanned the drawing-room.
“Ahh… as expected, this place lacks beauty… huh?”
Just as he was about to click his tongue at the barely furnished space, his gaze fell upon the gleaming floor.
“Wh-what is this… gasp?”
He then realized that the shine extended not just across the floor, but all the way up the walls.
“H-how could this be…!”
As he took a step forward in admiration.
*Squeak!*
“Urk…!”
Doban tripped over his own feet and tumbled forward. The floor was so squeaky clean that the friction had increased, causing his foot to catch as if on a ledge.
*Thud!*
“Ugh…!”
Sprawled on the floor in a frog-like pose, Doban pushed himself up, clutching his chin.
“That wench. She actually set up a rather plausible trap.”
Doban wanted to unleash his black magic right then and there and blow everything up, but he suppressed the urge.
‘Hmph… I must endure. I need to get the poisonous herbs.’
It wasn’t Doban’s initial plan to sneak into Mia’s base. He had intended to trade some decent materials with Mia to get the herbs he wanted.
‘Damn her, what does she mean she needs to experiment! She knows nothing of aesthetics!’
Mia had refused Doban’s request because she wanted to test the poisonous herbs on Rian.
Driven mad by continuous failed experiments, Doban had decided to sneak into Mia’s base and steal the herbs.
‘All I have to do is steal the herbs as quietly as possible and escape!’
His eyes glinted as he slowly exited the drawing-room.
*Click.*
He opened the door and peeked his head out. A deep, purplish-black floor and beige walls were the first things he saw. The house was made of expensive magic wood, giving the entire interior a purplish hue with a hint of black.
‘Good, it seems I haven’t been discovered.’
Relieved at the absence of any palpable demonic energy, he stepped out of the room.
‘Heh heh, she’s a wench who would have been cast aside if not for Lady Rania’s favor. Of course, there’d be such a difference in our skills.’
He sneered and waved his staff.
‘Now, point to where the poisonous herbs are.’
A black aura, visible only to Doban, shot forward. Doban began to follow the light.
“Let’s go there.”
“Okay!”
After walking for some time, he began to hear the slurred voices of young children. Doban’s eyebrow twitched as he thought.
‘Ha, she acted all high and mighty, saying she had no interest in human experiments, yet here she is, doing it secretly like a rat? How absurd.’
Doban thought with a crooked smile.
‘Heh heh, since it’s come to this, shall I have a little fun?’
Doban lightly clenched his fist and squeezed. His heavy arm began to tremble violently.
The parasites packed inside his arm were reacting to his demonic energy, squirming wildly. Doban used his energy to guide a parasite to his palm.
His palm split open slightly, and a black, earthworm-like creature crawled out. It was about the length of a grown man’s middle finger and was covered in a dark red liquid, as if soaked in old blood.
‘Planting this fellow should provide some rather amusing entertainment.’
Holding the squirming parasite, he approached the two children who were toddling down the hall. The parasite writhed disgustingly.
‘Now, go—.’
The moment Doban flung the parasite at the child, Rian walked around the corner of the hallway. He had just put away the cleaning supplies from the drawing-room and was on his way to the dining room.
Jess, who had been on Rian’s back, had been plucked off by Noah, who they met on the way, chiding him for making Rian tired. He was now alone.
“…! Hyeong!”
“Ung!”
The two children, their faces lighting up, started running toward Rian. Because of this, the parasite he had thrown plopped onto the floor. But the problem didn't end there.
The parasite would gradually weaken and die if it stayed outside its host for too long, so it desperately tried to return to its original body. The parasite on the floor shot up with a *pfft!* and landed on the face of the vilely smirking Doban.
“Hm? What are you two doing here?”
“Gonna nom-nom together!”
“Ung!”
As the two children made eating gestures with their hands, Rian nodded and said.
“You were on your way to eat?”
“Yes!”
“Ung!”
The children, who had just started to talk, smiled slightly and nodded. The terrible memories hadn't fully faded, so they weren't yet used to smiling brightly.
‘Grrr! Damn brat!’
Doban ripped the parasite trying to burrow into his eyeball off his face, flung it to the floor, and whipped his head around to look at Rian.
‘…!’
As Rian came into view, Doban’s expression went slack. Before a few dozen seconds had passed, his eyes were clouded with greed.