Chapter 335: A Harmonious Home (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 335: A Harmonious Home (2)
A three-tailed fox, swaying its three sky-blue tails.
Her eyes were piebald, a mix of orange and navy blue. They held a dreamlike quality, as if a piece of twilight had been plucked from the sky and placed within them.
She stood with her back ramrod straight, arms held firmly at her sides. The corners of her mouth were curved like a crescent moon, as if something wonderful had just happened.
“Mastah. Why do you not answer? Is Miho not asking you for your essence?”
“Um…”
Karami was clearly flustered by the three-tailed fox’s bold attitude. Just then, Rin appeared out of nowhere.
“Hey! I told you not to call Master that! Is he your friend?”
“What nonsense are you spouting, O Rin. This one is a descendant of the great Gumiho. Far from a friend, I am a being that the human before me should look up to from afar. When a being such as I asks for essence, he should offer it up, saying, ‘Oh, Lady Miho. It is an honor’…”
Thwack!
“Ack! Why did you hit me!”
“How dare you speak so rudely to Master? Who taught you to speak like that? And where did you learn that way of talking?”
“Yuhwa did…”
“Yuhwa, that old hag. She begged me to look after the child, so I trusted her, and she turned her into some little old lady…!”
“O Rin…”
“Aren't you going to call me Mom?”
“Ugh… My apologies, O Mother.”
“Use respectful language.”
Hic…
Clearly upset about getting a flick on the head from her mother, Miho sniffled while rubbing the spot. She looked at Karami with a pitiful gaze.
“Mastah…”
Her attitude changed 180 degrees as soon as the situation turned against her. Children are often more cunning than adults think, but this was on another level.
As expected of a gumiho's daughter.
Karami sighed and lowered himself.
“Come here.”
As he opened his arms, she immediately ran and hugged him. She buried her face in his chest and eagerly inhaled his scent.
She calmed down quickly, as if she’d been given a tranquilizer.
“Don’t spoil her, Master. When you act like that, she just gets more spoiled.”
That might have been true.
But coming from her of all people, it wasn’t so much understandable as it was absurd.
“Are you really the one saying that, Rin?”
Unable to hold back, Karami finally said something. In all his life, he’d never dreamed he’d hear such a scolding from Rin.
“I wasn’t like that.”
Wasn’t she?
‘No, absolutely not.’
He was certain she had been worse, if anything.
But he didn’t say it out loud, thinking it would only make things more tiring for him.
Exhausted from childcare, Rin let out a deep sigh.
“Haaah, who on earth does she take after to be such a troublemaker?”
“…”
Everyone there stared at Rin with looks of utter disbelief.
‘You’re one to talk!’ they screamed silently.
But the person in question seemed genuinely oblivious to the problem.
To anyone else, she was practically a clone.
Miho.
She was a yokai born between Karami and Rin.
Her fur was sky-blue, the opposite of Rin's pink, and he had no idea where that color came from.
But as befitting a descendant of a gumiho, it was a beautiful color. When she was with Rin, they looked like the Taegeukgi, which Karami found quite pleasing.
It felt properly patriotic.
He hadn't contributed to the birth rate of the Republic of Korea, but still.
In Rin's case, she had inherited the body of the previous gumiho after it was sealed, with a new personality taking root. Miho, on the other hand, was a yokai born in the normal way.
Rin had grown rapidly through her trials, but Miho was growing at the pace of a normal child.
Also, unlike the pure-blooded gumiho Rin, her power as a yokai was not as strong because she had the blood of the human Karami mixed in.
She was currently a three-tailed fox, but no one knew if she could grow to become a nine-tailed fox.
But the blood flowing in her veins was unmistakably that of a gumiho. This meant she possessed the minimum characteristics of one.
Miho, still nestled in Karami's arms, shot a sidelong glance at Rin.
And then.
“Mastah~ You like Miho more than that old hag, right?”
“…Old hag?”
“She has nine tails, doesn’t she? If that’s not a grandma, what is? It’s common sense to like the younger Miho more than an old hag, right?”
Grind.
Rin gritted her teeth.
The corner of her mouth twitched.
How dare she provoke a gumiho?
Over Master, no less?
It looked like she was about to explode, but she let out a deflating sigh and relaxed her expression.
“Ah, I don’t care anymore.”
Whoosh.
With a somersault, Rin's appearance became as young as Miho's. She then threw herself into Karami's arms.
“Wh-what is this!”
“How about it, Mastah? Isn’t the gumiho Rin much more beautiful than this pathetic three-tailed fox? See, I have nine of the pretty tails Mastah praised.”
“Th-this is a fake! Mastah, this is a fake! You mustn’t be deceived!”
“A yokai who can’t even use magic and doesn’t have a fox orb isn’t a yokai. She’s just a fox with many tails. But foxes have one tail, so if one has three, isn’t that just a monster?”
“Eek…!”
Rin's verbal skills had been honed for over a decade. The still-immature Miho could only take the one-sided assault head-on.
The sad reality was that she wanted to curse, but she didn't actually know any curse words.
Unable to bear the sorrow, Miho burst into tears.
“Waaaaah! Daddy! M-Mommy…! She called Miho a m-monster…! Miho was just… just playing a prank because I wanted to play with Mommy…. Waaaaah!”
“Haaaaah…”
Karami let out a sigh deep enough to make the ground sink.
“Hmph, serves her right for messing with me.”
Rin, a genius at one-upping her daughter, flashed a victorious smile. To a gumiho, even her own daughter was a rival if she coveted what was hers.
*
“You’re a mother. Don’t compete with your child.”
“Yessir.”
In the end, she got scolded.
Rin, back in her original form, was kneeling as punishment.
Miho, nestled in Karami's arms, sniffled and sneered with tear-filled eyes.
“Kuhuhu. This is your punishment for bullying Miho. Keuheung.”
“Miho, you need to get along with your mother too.”
“…”
“If you don’t want to, you can spend a week in White Cloud Valley…”
“Kyaak! Miho hates it there!”
“If you don’t want to go, what should you do?”
After thinking for a moment, Miho stood up. She approached Rin and bowed her head.
“My apologies, O Mother. I shall keep my pranks in moderation. So please, do not think of Miho as a monster.”
The word “monster” seemed to have hurt her quite deeply, as all traces of her mischievousness vanished.
She peeked timidly at Rin, worried she might not accept her apology.
“…”
At that, Rin was speechless.
She looked shocked.
Miho's reaction was a familiar one to Rin. She, too, had once lived while being called a monster. Wherever she went, people avoided her, the pink fox, as if she were a calamity.
Rin could never forget the emotions she felt back then. Only now did she realize what a terrible thing she had said.
Her opponent wasn't a rival for Master's affection, but a daughter who simply loved her father.
“…I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. I was very wrong.”
“Mm, thank you for saying so. Then Miho shall now go receive Mastah's essence…”
“Ah, no you don’t. Master’s essence is mine. Miho, you can eat yokai essence or something.”
“Why! Wasn’t the mood just right for you to allow it!”
“If you start eating Master’s essence now, you’ll get spoiled. If you really want it, you’ll have to defeat me.”
“You’re a mother! That’s so cheap!”
“That’s how it is for yokai. The law of the jungle.”
Even with her own daughter, there was no mercy when it came to essence. Such was the ecosystem of a gumiho.
Just when it seemed like a heartwarming atmosphere was forming, it reverted back to normal in less than five minutes, as expected.
Still, it wasn't a total loss.
“I’ve lived long enough to see her apologize.”
Alfia, who had joined the commotion at some point, muttered.
Mirabelle and Naredi agreed.
They had seen her apologize after causing trouble and getting scolded by Karami, but this was the first time they’d seen her do it voluntarily.
“She’s still a mother, after all. I guess she’s growing up too.”
That wasn't just true for Rin, but for everyone.
“By the way, Lady Alfia, where is Irina? You came alone?”
“She’s sleeping. She needs a lot of sleep at her age.”
Irina, the half-elf born between Karami and Alfia.
Elves, whose perception of time differs from that of other races, mature slowly.
Though they were all born around the same time, Irina's physical age was even younger than that of Lucia and Lumia, who were born last.
She was just at the crawling stage.
Normally, this would be the busiest time, but here, there were plenty of nannies to look after the baby, and most importantly, there were spirits.
The spirits showed great interest in Irina, the daughter of Alfia who commanded Servants. There was no greater communion for an elf in their childhood.
This was happening much earlier for her than for others, so she would surely become a great Spirit Master later on.
But what was regrettable was regrettable.
“All the other kids are playing with their parents, but when will I get to play with Irina? I want to teach her how to shoot a bow already.”
“Shall I cast a growth-acceleration spell on her?”
“Hmm…”
Alfia seriously considered it.
It went without saying that Alfia preferred to let nature take its course without relying on the power of magic.
However, Irina had many friends her age right now.
Spirits were one thing, but mingling with friends was the best. She had a wide variety of friends: a witch, a beastkin, a vampire.
There could be no better environment for children to grow up in.
But for Irina to become like them?
At least twenty years would have to pass. By then, only Irina would be a child; the rest would be adults.
That was what concerned Alfia.
She was afraid Irina would be left all alone.
“What do you think?” Alfia asked, conveying her thoughts.
“Your point certainly has merit, Alfia. I seriously think it’s a good idea. There’s nothing more important for a child than friends their own age.”
“I knew it, right? Then, Mirabelle, could I ask you?”
“Of course! I want to see a grown-up Irina soon, too!”
Karami started to walk away.
“Where are you going?”
“I have to go to the tower. I’ll leave things here to you.”
“You’re so busy.”
“It’s something I have to endure. Well then, I’ll be on my way.”
The place Karami was heading to was the tower guarded by a dragon.
It was time to play with the two princesses.