Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Fairy Tale
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“Maybe I should write this part like this…?”
***
*Shake, shake.*
***
“For this part… I think it would be better to develop it this way….”
***
*Nod, nod.*
***
While the children played in the yard, Bada and I were in a quiet room, creating a fairy tale together.
Just as Lena practiced her singing and then performed for the children, Bada would often create fairy tales for them to enjoy.
This time, Bada approached me first and suggested we create one together.
Her small eyes were filled with anticipation. Moved by a look that was hard to refuse, I accepted.
I wanted to help make Bada’s world even more interesting.
"It would be better to do this part like this." "This should be taken out." Things like that.
I did my best to give her proper advice.
Her small hand moved busily, filling the pure white, empty pages with black letters.
One page, then another. The stack of paper grew.
A new world was being created by the little girl’s hand.
Bada would furrow her brow, contemplating how to make her world better.
When a good idea struck, her eyes would sparkle, and a smile would appear when the result was satisfying.
Bada was usually a quiet child, not one to show much emotion.
But now, in this moment, just like when she was reading a book, her emotions flickered across her small face, and I couldn't help but smile slightly.
Her bangs seemed to be blocking her view, so I reached for her forehead.
I carefully brushed her blue bangs aside with my fingers.
***
“Eek!”
***
Startled by my touch, Bada let out a loud cry and jumped to her feet.
The pen she had been holding tightly dropped to the floor, and she covered her forehead.
***
“What was that for…?”
***
Bada’s face turned bright red.
I wondered if she had a fever from exhaustion, so I touched her forehead. It was a little warm. She might have a slight fever.
Well, she had been pushing herself to work on her story lately, so it wouldn't be strange if her body was weakened.
Working hard is important, but so is resting.
Especially for children with weak immune systems, they need to be extra careful about their health.
I took her hand and led her away.
I had the bewildered girl lie down on the sofa and brought a blanket to gently cover her.
***
“Huh? What…?”
***
I wrote on a piece of paper and showed it to her.
***
[Rest for a bit.]
“But I’m fine…”
*Shake, shake.*
I raised my index finger and brought it close to Bada’s face.
She made a sound of protest with a troubled look, but I crossed my arms into an 'X' and shook my head.
Absolute rest.
Even when Bada whined, I refused again and made her rest.
I placed my hand on the blanket covering her and patted it gently to help her fall asleep.
I wanted to sing her a lullaby, but I can't sing.
I hoped she would be content with this.
Bada’s face became even more troubled.
For now, she did as I said and closed her eyes.
Of course, she would occasionally peek at me, but whenever our eyes met, she would hastily shut them again.
I won the silent battle with Bada.
Before long, Bada was fast asleep, breathing peacefully.
I carefully moved away so as not to wake her, returning without making a sound.
***
‘It's a mess… Should I clean up a bit?’
***
I neatly organized the stack of papers and cleaned up the trash scattered on the floor.
After finishing most of it, I stretched my body and arms.
Then I sat at the table and, this time, I picked up the pen.
I read the fairy tale she had written and drew illustrations to match the scenes.
So that Bada’s world could shine even brighter.
My drawings began to pile up.
Just as I was about to finish the last page, I sensed a small presence.
***
“Wow~~ Did you draw all of this…?”
***
Having woken up at some point, Bada was standing behind me, gasping in admiration at my drawings.
I glanced back to see Bada staring, wide-eyed and with her mouth slightly agape, completely captivated.
I could see small tears welling up in her eyes, as if she were deeply moved.
***
“Thank you…”
***
Bada hugged me tightly from behind.
*Gak?!*
She was hugging my neck so tightly I could barely breathe.
*Loosen up!*
I tapped the back of her small hand to let her know. But she must have misunderstood, because she squeezed even tighter.
*Ugh, can't breathe…*
Thankfully, I managed to escape her arms just before my face turned blue.
After that, we pushed forward and worked hard until the very end.
Though it took quite some time, we finally had a finished product.
***
“It’s finished.”
***
Bada raised the work high in the air with a joyful voice.
Her face was full of a bright smile, and she looked truly happy.
Bada, who had been looking at her work with sparkling eyes, turned her head toward me.
Clutching the book tightly, she asked with a somewhat worried expression,
***
“…Do you think the kids will like it…?”
***
*Of course.*
I nodded vigorously in response to her unconfident voice.
My confidence made Bada’s face brighten up again.
Since I'd borrowed from famous fairy tales I remembered from Earth to build the story, it shouldn't fail, at least.
*…Probably?*
Honestly, I was anxious about whether the adaptation to fit this world would actually work, but I didn't let it show.
***
\*
***
The next day, in a room darkened by turning off all the lights and closing the curtains.
The children were seated, all their eyes filled with anticipation.
Behind the children, the adults, Red and Rene, had brought chairs and were also sitting.
Bada, the star of the day, seemed to find it difficult to stay calm now that it was about to start, restlessly shaking her leg.
I placed a hand on Bada’s shoulder and gave her a light pat.
My encouragement seemed to ease the tension in her face. She took a deep breath and stood with me in front of the children.
Today was the day to present our creation.
*Clap, clap, clap.*
Bada flinched at the sound of the children's applause.
I patted her back to help her relax.
Bada cleared her throat, gave a brief greeting, and then lightly introduced the work.
Then she placed the book into a small device.
The device whirred, and a beam of light shot out from its lens, projecting onto the wall.
Bada and I returned to our seats.
That machine was a device that visualized books into videos.
Just as Earth has audiobooks, this world has machines that automatically play books as videos.
It was a very expensive item, but we acquired it easily with Red's money.
A countdown appeared on the screen, and then the story began.
***
[Once upon a time, back when tigers used to smoke…]
***
A mechanical voice narrated the story.
The machine had learned my art style, and it appeared on the screen.
***
[In a certain city, there lived a very wealthy Dragon King from the Dragon Palace family…]
***
The children watched the video with fascinated eyes.
The beginning went like this.
The Dragon King fell ill and ordered his trusted Fixer, the Turtle, to bring him a jewel called the Rabbit's Liver.
The Turtle went to the meeting place and met a rabbit beastkin who had the jewel.
The Turtle offered a bag full of money as promised, but the rabbit beastkin refused,
On the grounds that it wasn't enough money.
He was demanding more money even though it was the agreed-upon amount.
The children quietly whispered their complaints about the rabbit's unreasonable demand.
***
“That’s not fair.”
“The rabbit is mean.”
***
The two argued for a while before the rabbit made a suggestion, pretending to be generous.
***
[If you beat me in a race, I'll give you this jewel for free. But if you lose, you have to leave the money behind.]
***
The Turtle accepted the challenge.
The race course was quite dangerous. It was filled with hazardous machines, and it wouldn't have been surprising if someone got seriously hurt.
The Turtle’s face hardened, while the rabbit wore a sly grin.
***
“This isn’t a fair fight.”
“Yeah, look at that rabbit’s face.”
***
The children whispered quietly.
*Bang.*
At the starting signal, the children gasped.
The rabbit was fast, as expected. But the Turtle overtook him at a much greater speed.
The winner was the Turtle.
***
[Damn it. This can't be happening.]
***
The rabbit refused to accept the result and tried to just leave.
The children were quietly indignant at his cowardly behavior.
***
“He’s a coward. You have to keep your promises.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
***
But the Turtle threw the shell from his back into the sky, deploying a domain and turning the surrounding area into his own space.
The rabbit could no longer escape.
Left with no choice, the rabbit pulled out two daggers and charged, and the Turtle threw a punch.
The two daggers and the fist clashed.
As a fierce battle unfolded, the children watched, completely engrossed.
***
“Go, Turtle!”
“Yeah, you’re doing great!”
***
Meanwhile, from a distance, two brothers named Sun and Moon were watching the fight.
When the rabbit was at a disadvantage, they hurriedly contacted a family called the Heavenly Family.
***
“What’s that?”
“What are they plotting?”
***
The children were puzzled by the two brothers' actions.
In any case, the Turtle won the fight as well.
The children clenched their fists, their faces full of joy.
But.
***
[That’s far enough.]
***
From afar, three hundred rabbit fairies swarmed in and attacked the Turtle.
A desperate crisis.
The children watched anxiously.
Sounds of "What do we do?" could be heard.
There was even a child who clasped their hands together to pray.
As if answering their hopes, the Turtle pressed his palms together and slammed them on the ground.
Then, a giant gate appeared behind the Turtle.
Through the gate, the Turtle's comrades appeared one by one.
***
"""Ooooh."""
***
The children let out quiet cheers.
The two sides clashed, and a battle began.
Buildings crumbled, the ground split, and the sky shook.
I heard the sound of someone gulping beside me.
As the endless battle wore down both sides, something fell from the sky and landed.
When the dust cleared, the figure of a lion beastkin was revealed.
***
[I have come to end this fight.]
***
The beastkin resembled Red.
***
“It’s Big Sis!”
“It’s Big Sis!”
***
The children reacted enthusiastically.
And so did the adults behind them.
***
“Oh my, Ms. Red made an appearance.”
“Haha…”
***
The war between the two factions came to an end with the appearance of Red the Lion.
The rabbit got beaten up.
The Turtle returned with the jewel, and the Dragon King’s illness was cured.
Finally.
***
[Everyone, you must always keep your promises.]
***
The video ended with this heartwarming lesson.
The lights came on.
A storm of applause erupted from the children.
Bada ducked her head, looking embarrassed.
The hard work had paid off.
The two adults who had watched from the back said quietly,
***
“For a fairy tale, that was quite spectacular.”
“As long as the children were happy, it doesn't matter.”
***
*Right.*
*It was a bit over-the-top for a fairy tale, but.*
*As long as the kids were satisfied, that's all that matters.*
*Hmm.*
*Maybe I should try spreading isekai literature like this?*
***
\*
***
Gray was sitting on a pew in the cathedral.
He was looking at the documents in his hand.
It was a list of key individuals that Isaac had ordered, including information on the small, masked child.
Isaac had been obsessed with this child ever since returning from the zoo.
He had even borrowed the power of a Cult of the Grim Reaper believer to try and kidnap the child.
Isaac had said.
This child was different.
Isaac tried to uncover Lily's secret, but in the end, he learned nothing and died.
***
“Hmm…”
***
There was no need to listen to the words of a man he had merely used.
He could just ignore it and destroy all the documents.
But Gray found himself a little concerned about the masked child.
Why had Isaac been so obsessed with Lily?
What was it about this child?
He had a vague feeling that uncovering that secret might be a great help.
But he was at a loss as to how to approach her.
Red was a major obstacle.
One wrong move and he could get caught and devoured before achieving his grand cause.
While he was pondering who to entrust the job to.
*Step, step.*
He heard footsteps.
***
“You seem to have a lot on your mind. Why not leave it to me?”
***
Gray recognized the voice and spoke without turning his head.
***
“Oh? You’ll do it? What whim has possessed a man who never lifts a finger unless there’s money in it?”
“I heard. You recruited one of the Seven Deadly Sins who received a prophecy.”
“And?”
“I want to prove that I’m better than the Seven Deadly Sins. To put it simply, my objective overlaps with yours, so I figured I’d solve your problem while I’m at it.”
***
Gray was lost in thought.
The man next to him was an ally, but he was a calculating person who weighed profits and losses carefully.
For a man who would never take a loss to offer a hand first.
It reeked of suspicion.
But.
***
“Alright. I’m sure you can handle it.”
***
Gray did not refuse the man’s offer.