The Elf Sisters and Big Sister (2)
I couldn't help laughing at the pure, earnest question. A hundred nights? I'd only been a minion for two months — there was no way a hundred days had already gone by.
For a little kid, Lan-lan-i was sharp. She remembered exactly how many nights she'd been fed.
She loved how her body grew every time she drank blood, so she'd drawn height marks on the corner of the workshop every single day.
I'd left them there because, mid-work, they'd make my chest tighten with something warm. Anyway — she'd figured out she hadn't even lived a hundred days yet, and it was making her anxious.
"Lan-lan-i hasn't slept a hundred nights."
"Really…?"
Lan-lan-i was one breath away from tears. She'd be cute crying, sure, but calming her down would be a pain, so better to fix the misunderstanding now.
"But Evril hasn't slept a hundred nights either."
"For real?!"
"!!!"
This time it was Evril who took the hit. All that swaggering confidence vanished on the spot, leaving only a tiny kid glued to her mother's leg.
"Mama… I haven't slept a hundred nights?"
"Uh, um, well…"
A flustered Evrande shot help-me looks in every direction. And when a kid's mom needs backup, the only one for the job is the kid's dad.
"Evril listened to her mama so well that she came to meet Daddy even without sleeping a hundred nights."
"That's right! Exactly that!"
Evril's face lit up.
"Really?? I was good??"
"Yep, yep. Our Evril was sooo good that she got here early."
"Love Mama!"
Evril threw her arms around Evrande and squeezed. Looking a little envious, Cheonsol stepped in and gathered Lan-lan-i into her arms.
Lan-lan-i, who'd been nestled against her mother since her Thumbelina days, settled into position with practiced ease.
"The children have settled, so shall we talk properly? Do you intend to remain in the garden?"
There weren't enough seats. There was a bench, but three people would fill it to capacity.
"Yeah!"
Sophia answered with pure excitement. Seating arrangements clearly hadn't crossed her mind. Then again — what could you expect from someone who'd lived in a bare-bones starter divine realm with zero decorations?
"I'll go inside and bring out a mat. We'll need food too, right?"
"We can just order that. Just grab the mat."
"This lady shall assist as well."
"You stay here and look after Lan-lan-i. She wants to talk more with Evril, and leaving her alone would be weird."
"That is reasonable."
Cheonsol accepted it — then belatedly asked,
"But did we possess a mat?"
"Of course."
"I have not seen one…"
"I'll go get it."
I fled inside before Cheonsol could catch on.
Weaving a single mat wouldn't take long, so I'd planned to just make a new one. She was too sharp for her own good.
As I pulled materials from the workshop, something cracked.
"Did Lady Sophia skimp on the construction again?"
The sound was coming from Al-al-i's sweet house.
Unlike Lulu, who'd always rocked and tilted to show her will, the always-quiet Al-al-i was bouncing wildly, breaking free of her nest.
The sight of an egg the size of an ostrich's hopping around left me blank for a second.
"Al-al-i…?"
Crack.
"No way. Right now?"
Crack-crack.
Fissures spidered across the shell.
A life born inside a giant egg. The child named Al-al-i had, at some point, begun to think.
"Our Al-al-i. How's the new house? Soft and fluffy, right?"
The voice that had given her a name. Al-al-i knew, by instinct, that its owner was her father.
Daddy… like…
She wanted to answer by shifting her shell, but Al-al-i was more than a little shy. Too embarrassed to actually do it.
Father was busy and couldn't look after her often, but that was still fine.
"Heh. Al-al-i. Lan-lan-i. Just grow up healthy, all right?"
The woman named Cheonsol who appeared at some point was also nice. She didn't feel like a mother the way Father felt like a father, but the hands that wiped her egg were gentle, and Al-al-i liked that.
"Al-al-i, you! You're my little sister!"
The half-vampir who showed up late and declared herself the big sister, though — Al-al-i did not like her.
Every time Lan-lan-i made the claim, Al-al-i offered a timid rebuttal.
I'm the big sister…
Shy Al-al-i thought: once I'm fully grown and out of here, I'll show them who's the big sister.
Al-al-i worked hard to grow as fast as possible. She slept well. She listened carefully whenever Father spoke.
"Cheonsol. Lan-lan-i's asleep — how about it?"
"In the workshop again, are we."
"If we do it in the bedroom, Lan-lan-i will wake up. Feels good when I touch you here, right?"
"Nngh… you know this lady far too well."
Whenever Father got strange, Al-al-i held her breath and listened even harder.
Then, at a certain moment — no one told her, but she simply knew it was time to break free of the egg.
Father, who'd gone outside, came back. Al-al-i hammered with everything she had against the world wrapped around her.
"Al-al-i?"
Yes. It's Al-al-i.
"No way. Right now?"
I want to see Daddy's face.
What did kind Daddy look like? Would he stroke her the way he always did, even after she broke out?
Lan-lan-i got held a lot, she'd heard. Could she be held in Daddy's arms too?
"This isn't something I should watch alone. Al-al-i's monumental birth — everyone's gotta see it!"
One of Al-al-i's wishes came true already. Father scooped up the enormous Al-al-i and held her steady.
"Everyone, look! Al-al-i's about to come out!"
"What? For real?"
"Al-al-i is finally emerging?"
"Wait, hold on. You named her Al-al-i?"
"You insane human! If you're going to take my sister's child, at least give her a proper name!"
"Hey, why are you getting mad? That's not important right now. Al-al-i's being born!"
Al-al-i felt a brief flash of pressure. She'd wanted to come out somewhere quiet, with only Daddy watching — but far too many people were staring.
"Really? Lan-lan-i's little sister being born?"
"If she's Lan-lan-i's little sister, then she's my little sister too!"
Another kid boldly claiming big-sister status, and the pressure evaporated.
I was here first…
Who are you calling little sister?! For the first time in her life, Al-al-i put everything she had into it.
Crack.
The stifling ceiling vanished, and light poured in. Seeing the outside world for the first time, Al-al-i immediately searched for Daddy.
Not that woman. The big-chested one was the goddess.
Ma…ma?
An elf drew her gaze by pure instinct, but that didn't matter right now. Al-al-i finally found the person she'd been looking for.
"Daddy."
"Our Al-al-i!"
Breaking free of the shell and sinking into Daddy's arms was as warm as she'd imagined — and harder than she'd expected. That made it even better.
Al-al-i's own skin was hard, after all. After savoring Daddy's embrace for a while, she looked down at the two little ones gathered below and made her declaration.
"Al-al-i is… the real big sister…"
It was a declaration of war.
"Lan-lan-i is the big sister!"
"I'm the big sister!"
"You kids…"
"Lan-lan-i was born first!"
"No!"
"Be quiet…"
The kids went at it hammer and tongs. Al-al-i, slower with her words than Lan-lan-i and Evril, looked like she was at a disadvantage — but her much bigger frame meant she wasn't getting pushed around.
Al-al-i was genuinely huge. She looked old enough to start elementary school.
The original egg had been big too, and maybe the long incubation made her grow even more. Not enough samples to say for sure.
"Mad Demon. Is it wise to leave the children like that? Should you not intervene?"
"Leave them. Kids grow by fighting. And better to sort this out early so they don't keep fighting later."
"Is that so. As expected, thou art reliable."
I'd just settled Cheonsol when another elf butted in.
"Hey. Is the kid's name seriously Al-al-i?"
"What's wrong with Al-al-i?"
"What's wrong? Everything from one to ten is wrong!"
"Evrande. Calm your sister down."
"Al-al-i was a bit much."
Evrande clicked her tongue. I was already busy refereeing a kids' fight — why were these elves like this?
"Mad Demon. This lady is somewhat reluctant to say it, but Al-al-i is… rather unfortunate."
"You called her Al-al-i this whole time and now you're saying that?"
"Was Al-al-i not a temporary name? The child has emerged strong and healthy — ought she not receive a true name?"
"Okay, you at least make sense."
Evrande and Cheonsol, who'd been quietly sparring for dominance, suddenly found common ground. Nice that my kids' mothers were getting along — sad that they'd formed an alliance specifically to grill me.
"Heh heh. Are you guys always like this?"
"Ugh. I want to deny it, but yeah, this is pretty much the usual."
"This is gonna be fun. I thought you were brighter lately because the battles were going well — so this was why? You look way better than before."
"That's a compliment, right?"
The goddesses had vanished into their own little world and weren't helping. Honestly, I hoped they'd stay that way. Sophia never took my side anyway.
In the end, sorting things out was a man's job.
"Everyone, calm down."
"I was calm from the start."
"Evrande, was it. Do not fall for that. It is a technique the Mad Demon employs whenever his words grow thin."
"Is that so? Uh… but why do you call Yohan Mad Demon?"
"In this lady's world, a warrior who is strong yet mad is granted the epithet Mad Demon."
"Heeheeheehee! Mad! That's a perfect evaluation of Yohan! He's been crazy since the day he first became a minion!"
"Hoh. This lady had thought he changed to adapt to the War of the Gods. Was he the same from the beginning?"
"Both of you, stop changing the subject."
The topic had been shifting nicely — until Evrande's sister stepped on it. An elf who was unlikable in every way except her looks.
I kind of wanted to impregnate her into a proper education.
"More importantly, let's do introductions first."
"I'm Ebria. More importantly…"
"I'm Kim Yohan."
"I already know that, obviously. Name: Kim Yohan. Race: human. The human so oblivious he can't even be bothered to read the posts our Evrande keeps uploading to the board."
"Excuse me?"
What was this about.
"Ah, unnie! I told you not to say that!"
"You spent every day locked in your room crying, so why keep quiet about it?!"
"Wh-who cried?! I did not cry!"
Kids fighting, elves fighting — the noise was genuinely scrambling my brain. No choice. Time for me to take one for the team.
"Quiet!!! KIEEEEEEK!!!"
I unleashed a Lion's Roar, and silence fell. Exactly the atmosphere I wanted.
"Mad Demon!! Kieeeek!!"
"Kieeeek?"
"Al-al-i doesn't want to copy…"
I scooped up an excited, bounding Lan-lan-i into my arms. Scooped up Evril too, who'd raced over in competition. And for Al-al-i, who was making a sad face because there was no room left, I put her up on my shoulders.
Al-al-i was a bit heavy, given her size…
"Love Daddy."
The kid was happy, so putting her down felt wrong. It wasn't actually hard, so I'd just keep carrying her.