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Chapter 14
[Sss… Haa, I’ve been so hungry that everything looks tempting. Even human food would normally be harmful to me.]
Wait a minute.
I’ve heard this line somewhere before.
Where was it…?
I think I’ll remember if I eat some chicken.
I took a bite.
[Hnn… The smell of the meat juices from this chicken… The sauce has soy sauce and sugar in it. Humans sure love sugar. I like sugar too, after all.]
Hmm.
Now I remembered.
The identity behind this voice.
“Juen! Your name is Juen, right?”
[Juen? No, it’s Junel!]
A retort immediately followed.
“Ah, Junel, right. Sorry. I’m good at remembering people, but I’m not so great at remembering the names of monsters.”
Junel.
He was the guardian of this place I was in—the Kalrai Market—a sword spirit.
Now his name was mostly seen in legends, but in the original story, when Dotchef’s sword eventually broke, he sacrificed his own body to grant Dotchef a powerful sword… a kind-hearted spirit, in short.
That spirit always referred to himself as “I” in a formal, almost self-important way.
I remembered that.
[Monster?! I am no mere monster… W-Wait, did you just hear my voice?!]
A very flustered voice echoed.
“Of course. I can hear you, so I’m talking.”
Silence fell again. The quiet wind whispered softly around us.
[Aaaah!!]
A flying squirrel-like creature darted in. If you’re going to reveal yourself, you could at least do it quietly.
Thunk!
“Wah!!”
It collided with Halara’s prominent nose.
[You brat! You can see me!]
Junel grabbed my cheeks with both hands and lifted my head. And… oh my!
“So cute!”
A three-head-tall little person with short limbs was staring at me. In the novel, it had only been described as a plump-cheeked fairy.
I hadn’t realized it was such an adorable tiny creature.
[You can really hear me!]
“This little fairy is so cute. Oh my, oh my! A phone! Oh no, there’s no phone here. I should take a photo and make it my profile picture.”
They say there’s magic in this world, yet there’s no smartphone when it’s actually needed.
If I had one, I could defeat Dotchef and become the strongest in the world.
[Can you hear me?!]
Despite Junel’s small size, his voice was louder than mine.
“Of course I can hear you. I’m not that old. Even if I speak softly, I hear everything.”
[Really? Really… I can actually be heard…? sniff]
But had I done something wrong? Tears formed in his large eyes.
Flustered, I offered the leftover piece of chicken skewer to Junel.
“Don’t cry. Eat this at least, okay?”
When you’re hungry, it’s natural to feel sad. He had even said he wanted to eat it by twisting my arm, so he must be hungry.
Then Junel cried even more, sadly.
[Ugh. I’m not crying! It seems I’ve been cursed by the Water Spirit! Water keeps flowing from my eyes!]
Apparently, Junel had more pride than I thought. But even that prideful Junel was cute.
“You make this place really feel like a fantasy world.”
So many things had happened here, and people’s lives were all similar in some ways, but now the rich scent of a novel world filled the air.
I’ll live long enough to see it properly.
“You must be really hungry. Eat this first, then let’s go to my house later. I’ll cook something for you. Even though I’m just eating this here now, I’m actually pretty good at cooking.”
Junel chewed on the chicken skewer I had given him. Though he looked like a human, his squirrel-like chubby cheeks made him incredibly cute.
Was he satisfied with the snack? He wiped his eyes and then hugged my face tightly again.
[Brinihanta! I thought you were completely wiped out!]
“Brinihanta?”
[Yes, you’re of that tribe! One who carries the blood of the Brinihanta family!]
Junel pointed at me with one of his four fingers.
The Brinihanta family appeared in the original story. One of the five founding hero families, the only one capable of communicating with spirits. Once powerful thanks to using spirit abilities, the family had eventually gone extinct.
“Could it be… I’m a descendant?”
Oh, please. God, tell me it’s not true.
[Why wouldn’t it be? Only they can talk to me.]
I had accidentally learned a truth that might have been better unknown.
Halara was actually a descendant of an extinct family.
Which meant I was doomed to a short life, whether I went to Bloody Mary or not.
“My God…”
My body shook.
How could such a cruel trial befall a poor extra-possessed person?
[Wow, how did you survive?]
“Me? Who knows?”
Halara really was specialized in survival.
The Brinihanta family had been exterminated worldwide, leaving no trace of their bloodline.
So how had Halara survived to continue the lineage?
But all that mattered now was the future.
“What should I do now?”
[What can you do? Live in hiding, quietly.]
Live in hiding.
Of course, I knew that was the only option.
But I hated it.
‘Why should I hide if I’ve done nothing wrong?’
I had spent my previous life hiding all the time, and I didn’t want to live in hiding even after dying and ending up here. Not as a fugitive forever. At least here, I wanted to live with dignity.
That was the right I gave myself as a possessed person.
Besides, now I had Junel, someone I could open my heart to a little.
I gently pried Junel off my face. He clung even harder to my stomach.
[No! I’ll protect you, so let’s live quietly here!]
He must have been very lonely. After all, Junel was a spirit that lived where sword energy flowed. The rumors of him appearing in Kalrai Market were likely because the Bloody Mary family was here.
If he were to leave this place, his sword energy would weaken, and so would his power.
I stroked Junel’s back against my stomach. His small wings were as cute as a small animal’s.
“I feel stronger because you’re here.”
[Really?]
He spoke like a little old man.
“Yes. I don’t know where we’ll live next, but even if my situation gets resolved, I think we’ll have to leave somewhere and live quietly—just the two of us.”
[What’s the matter? Is it something I can’t fix?]
Junel couldn’t fix it. I seemed to be the only one who could see him in this world.
I could also figure out how to hide the truth that I was a descendant of the extinct family.
“It’s fine. Everything will work out.”
Just as I thought that…
“…Halara Sehebe.”
A man’s voice called me from behind.
Dotchef returned to the village in a clean shirt.
Even late at night, Kalrai Market was bustling.
“Now that I think about it, there was a spirit staying here.”
Seeing the thousand-year-old spirit Junel happened long after he awakened his 9-star power. Only after acquiring and absorbing the Brinihanta relics could he see the legendary spirit.
‘Can’t see him now. That chatty spirit.’
But soon, he would. There was no power he couldn’t gain if he wished. Two sparkling stars danced before his eyes. In the meantime, Dotchef awakened his 2-star power.
But right now, he needed to find Halara.
The mysterious woman who had changed even Francesca from the past.
‘She can’t be pregnant.’
Dotchef recalled their first encounter. It was a dark night that he couldn’t remember.
There was no way a child could be conceived that night. But Francesca’s misunderstanding wasn’t all bad.
‘Thanks to that, I can keep her bound.’
That was his goal.
He couldn’t leave Halara, changed, alone in this world. He intended to gradually uncover her identity and understand why she had approached him in the past.
