Chapter 8
Chapter 8
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Three Years Later
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Three years later.
Three years passed, and Enoch turned thirteen.
No one knew his exact age, but according to Leonne, who could pierce through truths to some extent, that was about right.
Enoch, at an age when he should be growing rapidly, had shot up in height until his head now reached Leonne's chest. His skills had grown even faster, to the point where even Leonne was startled.
Yet one thing remained unchanged.
“Enoch—!”
- Yeah…!
When Leonne called his name loudly, Enoch came dashing out from somewhere and threw himself into her arms.
Leonne naturally stroked his head.
“Do you like the forest?”
“A little?”
“You’ve been spending all your time there lately.”
“The forest smells like Leonne.”
Especially that massive, elegant Sati's tree.
Enoch called that tree Leonne's tree.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Leonne chuckled.
She shook Enoch's plump little body back and forth, looking thoroughly pleased.
Undine found it ridiculous.
[Good grief, this is unbelievable. What are those two doing?]
As always, the pair ignored Undine.
Undine sulked.
“Today, we’re heading into the city for the first time in a while.”
“Okay.”
“You don’t want to?”
“I like home better.”
“Honestly, me too.”
Still, one couldn’t stay cooped up at home forever.
Enoch still had over a hundred years before reaching adulthood, but they needed to slowly get him used to human life starting now.
And for good reason—he was a child born with the fate of the Heavenly Calamity.
To escape that heavy karma, he had to raise his own realm, which inevitably required independence and trials.
Once Enoch became an adult, he would have to mingle with humans, go on adventures, experience all sorts of relationships, fight desperate battles without a moment’s rest, and forge his own path forward.
Otherwise, reaching a transcendent realm would be impossible.
“Okay.”
Enoch just pretended not to hear.
He hated the idea of independence.
He just wanted to live with Leonne forever.
Leonne scooped Enoch up in her arms and let out a sharp whistle—wheek!
At that, the sword hanging from her waist unsheathed itself and floated gracefully in the air.
“Be a good boy, Enoch?”
Leonne sat astride the sword and settled Enoch on her lap.
Soon enough, the sword floated up gently, swimming through the clouds, and Enoch clung a little tighter to Leonne’s embrace.
“You like flying through the sky.”
“Yeah.”
“Come on, cheer up. Big sis’ll buy you something yummy.”
“…Human food doesn’t taste that great.”
Undine poked her head out of Leonne’s pocket, grimacing.
[Good lord, you’d think he wasn’t human himself from the way he talks.]
Zap!
[Ow, that stings…! Hey! I told you not to do that!]
Enoch, who had precisely zapped Undine with electricity, glared at her.
Undine flinched at the look in his eyes.
[Anyway….]
That damn Heavenly Calamity nature of his.
He never leaked a drop of killing intent toward Leonne, but he always went wild on her.
Still, Undine had it better than most.
When he lounged around the forest, killing intent leaked out constantly, making the animals around him tremble in fear as a daily occurrence.
Undine knew that, so she didn’t complain much.
Leonne was just a very, very special case.
“Enoch, look over there.”
Enoch, who had been in a staring contest with Undine, followed Leonne’s slender finger with his gaze.
Below the clouds, where her hand pointed.
A vast forest landscape stretched out.
“It’s the forest we live in. Pretty huge, right?”
He’d seen the view several times before, but Leonne showed it to Enoch every time they flew.
All because of her special affection for her forest.
“But you know.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s big, but it’s not like no one else can come, right?”
Leonne somehow understood Enoch’s clumsy question and answered.
“I’ve set up barriers around our home. And there’s nothing particularly special in this forest anyway.”
No matter how vast the forest, if superhumans really set their minds to it, they could traverse it.
Even Enoch could reach the nearest village in a day or two if he ran at full speed.
But there was nothing in this forest worth going to such lengths for.
In the end, the only ones who might come were the ordinary folk living nearby.
By their pace, it would take them months to reach Leonne’s home—not to mention the risk of being hunted by mana-infused beasts—so they rarely showed up.
Plus, with the barriers Leonne had personally set, it was safe to say no one else would come.
Unless someone who had reached a certain realm came specifically looking for her.
“Okay.”
Enoch nodded slowly.
They chatted idly like that for a while.
Leonne beamed and hugged Enoch tight.
“We’re here.”
“Errands again today?”
“Yeah. Nothing tough.”
Leonne jumped down from the sword, carrying Enoch, and landed discreetly in a secluded spot near the city gates.
If she were alone, she’d have dived straight into the city, but since this was for Enoch’s education, she couldn’t teach him bad habits.
Normally, one had to go through procedures at the gates to enter the city.
Saaak—
Leonne cast a spell to alter her appearance to look human.
Her elven ears shortened to human length, her facial structure shifted, her radiant golden hair lost its luster, and her forest-green eyes turned blue.
In short, a beautiful elf became a slightly less beautiful human.
After that, the group lined up familiarly in front of the gates and waited their turn.
It wasn’t long before it was their turn.
The guard, recognizing Leonne’s face, grinned sleazily.
“Back again, huh? How about it today?”
Leonne shot back a cold glare at the guard’s vulgar gesture.
“Acting pricey. Let us through.”
Normally, she’d need to show a pass, but for a beauty like Leonne, her face was the pass.
A guard who’d seen her once before couldn’t possibly forget.
Staying true to her haughty human persona, Leonne strode forward imperiously.
Enoch memorized the guard’s face.
‘…A mere human dares.’
In the three years, Enoch had become an excellent racist.
*
Dendal was a small city.
It barely scraped by as a city by the barest standards.
But even a city like that had what it needed.
Enoch wandered the market, holding a paper listing the things they needed.
Of course, Leonne had split off from him as usual, using the excuse of buying other stuff.
Did she really believe errands were that great for his education?
Who could say.
‘Clothes…, pens. Books too, huh.’
He hated studying, but it was what Leonne wanted.
He didn’t want to cheat, so he had no choice but to buy them.
“Sigh….”
“Ah…! Um, over there…!”
Enoch turned at the approaching presence.
There stood a girl, her face flushed bright red.
Actually, “a girl” was an understatement.
Girls all over the street were gazing at Enoch with sparkling eyes.
“P-Please take this…!”
Born under the Heavenly Calamity Star with exceptional martial talent, Enoch’s physique was perfectly balanced.
Add a touch of luck, and his face was handsome enough to have no shortcomings—elongate his ears a bit, and he could pass for an elf of the race of beauty without anyone batting an eye.
“Kyaa…!”
Enoch glared at the girl who handed him a letter and bolted, then roughly stuffed it into his already bulging pouch full of gifts from other women.
[Humans these days. What’s so great about this little kid? Don’t they have any sense of beauty? How is it always this chaotic every time?]
Ignoring Undine, who had tagged along as his bodyguard, Enoch peeked into his stuffed pouch.
Letters, handkerchiefs, accessories…, even worn underwear.
Humans really were a bunch of lunatics.
Enoch suppressed his killing intent with effort and slipped into a nearby alley.
He dumped the pouch’s contents on the ground and incinerated them all with his power.
He even shook out the pouch roughly a few times, feeling sticky about it.
“Sigh….”
With a deep sigh, Enoch looked up.
His eyes had already turned ice-cold.
“Hey, human.”
Enoch’s voice echoed through the quiet alley.
But only silence answered.
Electricity sparked at Enoch’s toes as he furrowed his brow.
Zap!
In an instant, Enoch’s figure vanished,
Boom!
And the alley wall crumbled.
Enoch dusted off his hands and glared at the retreating man.
“Why are you tailing me like some shady dwarf? Got thief blood in your veins?”
[How can you say something so harsh…! Aren’t you going overboard without Leonne here…!?]
Undine was aghast, but the man didn’t twitch.
Elven insults just sounded vague to human ears.
“That’s why I hate humans. Filthy bugs.”
[You’re human too, idiot!]
“I’m half-elf.”
[Leonne…! We’re in trouble! The kid’s lost it!]
While Undine wailed in worry over Enoch’s mental state, the darkly clad man finally spoke.
“Do you have ties to elves?”
At those words, Enoch’s aura turned ferocious.
“Ahh…, now I see. You’re trash worse than a human.”
“There’s a misunderstanding. I’m no elf hunter.”
Enoch didn’t reply.
Instead, purple lightning gathered in his fist, sharpening into claws.
Zzzzzzap─────!!
The leaking killing intent made the man’s expression harden.
It was no aura for a child, and the killing intent was far from ordinary.
“How about we talk it out? I don’t want to hurt you.”
Of course, the thoroughly speciesist Enoch didn’t listen.
He had no desire to talk with a human!
Rumble—!
Thunder echoed through the alley of the small city.