🔊 TTS Settings
Episode 5
I brought water, cleaned Baron’s hand thoroughly, then put his index finger in my mouth and sucked on it.
“Ugh?!”
Baron let out a short, startled scream. I went outside, rinsed my mouth with water, and came back in.
Baron’s face, looking at me, was as red as a ripe tomato.
‘Right, given his noble upbringing, this must have been a culture shock. But in the countryside, that’s just how it’s done sometimes.’
His violet eyes were shaking wildly; he looked so shocked I felt a bit awkward myself.
“I sucked on it, so the splinter might be out now.”
“Huh?”
“That’s what I was trying to do. Does it still hurt?”
Baron, who had been staring at the finger I rinsed, shook his head.
“O-oh. No. It seems fine. It doesn’t hurt at all.”
“That’s a relief.”
Finally feeling at ease, I patted Baron’s shoulder.
“Let me know if it hurts, okay? I’ll take you to a doctor.”
“O-okay.”
Baron nodded.
“And don’t ever do this kind of thing again.”
“No, it’s really o— Ow!”
“I’m not okay with it.”
Baron let out a surprised sound because I had poked his forehead with my finger.
“Kids don’t need to work. Don’t worry about adults, just play well, eat well, and sleep well. Understood?”
Baron stared at me.
“You need to answer, little Baron.”
“Don’t call me ‘little’.”
Baron pouted his lips and nodded.
“Fine.”
“Good.”
I refrained from further nagging and rolled up my sleeves. I placed the conch I’d gathered on the hearth to cook them just enough.
The conch cooked quickly.
I rolled the fully cooked conch into a basket and placed it on the table. Baron came over and sat across from me.
“We just crack these open and eat them, right?”
He extended his tiny hand, ready to crack them open himself, so I quickly stopped him.
“No, they’re hot, so you just sit still. They haven’t been purged of sand, so if you eat them as-is, they’ll be gritty. Also, we need to remove the salivary glands so your stomach doesn’t hurt.”
I skillfully disassembled and cleaned the conch. The tools weren’t the best, but the conch were so large I could somewhat cleanly leave just the edible parts.
They looked like the conch I knew, but just in case it was a different species, I took a bite first.
“Hmm.”
It was the taste I knew. Even better, it was well-cooked, savory, and pleasantly chewy.
“Great. Now let’s eat.”
I pushed most of the conch meat in front of Baron.
“Y-you’re giving me this much?”
I smiled, putting my portion of conch meat in my mouth.
“Kids need to eat a lot. And besides, you were hungry, right?”
Baron, who had been staring at me, pushed half of the conch in front of him back toward me.
“Even so, this is too much. You’re much bigger, so you should eat more. You must have been really hungry too.”
I placed it right back in front of him.
“No, I cooked plenty, so I can just open more. Besides, I’m an adult, I’m fine. The child needs to eat enough first.”
“I’m really okay, though.”
“Hey now, I said eat.”
Putting a bit more force in my voice, Baron nodded with a resigned look.
One bite, two bites. His mouth moving like a little bunny’s was incredibly cute.
‘And he eats so well.’
Watching him, I felt my nose tingle.
Though sometimes he seemed arrogant, Baron was an angel at heart. Born a noble and still so young, yet thinking of others and yielding.
Of course, losing his parents early might have made him watchful of others, but even considering that, he was a mature and admirable kid.
.
.
.
After finishing the meal, I had Baron rinse his mouth with clean seawater.
“Even if it feels icky, just bear with it a little. Tomorrow, after selling the , I’ll buy you oral care tools.”
Baron pursed his lips tightly as if thinking something over, but soon nodded.
“Sit here.”
If we’re done with oral care, it’s time to wash up. I scooped water with my hands and wiped Baron’s face.
“Ugh?!”
“Hold still. Let’s wash up quickly so we can sleep.”
Splash, splash. Only the sound of water filled the small house. After meticulously wiping his small face, I raised my hand and pinched his nose.
“Alright, blow your nose.”
“Huh?”
Baron asked back, as if not understanding what I meant.
Does he not know what ‘blow your nose’ means?
“Put force in your nose and blow. Hook!”
“No, wait!”
Baron jumped up. He wiped the water from his face with the back of his hand, looking utterly bewildered.
“What do you take me for?!”
“You have boogers, don’t you? Dust must have built up in your nose too.”
“That, there’s no way I have those!”
Baron recoiled in shock, taking a few more steps back. He looked so mortified I simply nodded.
“What’s wrong with a kid having boogers? Fine. Have it your way.”
Leaving Baron, who was covering his nose and eyeing me warily, behind, I finished washing my face too.
Then, the sound of waves came from outside. The tide seemed to be coming in already.
I went outside, scooped seawater, and poured it into the largest wooden barrel I had. It was a makeshift purging tank. I put the remaining inside.
Purging them like this would make for an easy meal tomorrow morning.
“Phew, finally done with the day’s work! Now let’s sleep.”
I laid Baron down on the bed and lay down beside him. It was time to rest.
Perhaps because the bed was so old, it creaked loudly, echoing in the room with every movement.
Still, the blankets, freshly washed and sun-dried, smelled sweetly of sunshine.
“It might be uncomfortable sharing for a while, but bear with it a little. I’ll earn money and buy you your own bed too.”
Baron’s lips twitched as if to say something, but then he nodded.
I gave Baron my arm as a pillow and pulled him close into a tight hug.
Pat, pat.
“Now sleep.”
Perhaps tense, Baron’s body was completely rigid.
A normal child would have snuggled right in when hugged like this. Maybe he’s just not used to it?
“Has an adult ever put you to sleep like this?”
“Huh? Uh….”
“Should I stop if it’s uncomfortable?”
I kept patting him and asking. Baron relaxed his body, burrowed into my embrace, and closed his eyes.
“No, keep doing it. It feels nice.”
Perhaps too shy to touch me directly, he only clutched the hem of my clothes near my side, but the corners of his mouth were curled up in a happy smile.
‘That’s right. A child should be like this.’
He’s this cute; what if I had left him at the orphanage?
The thought of Baron making the same expressions those children had was horrifying.
I was glad I didn’t leave him.
“Sweet dreams, Baron.”
“Sweet dreams… big sister.”
Seeing Baron’s relaxed expression, I too felt at ease.
I closed my eyes. A wave of fatigue washed over me anew.
On the night Haley’s fell into a deep sleep. About a hundred meters away from the old shack, a small shadow stood.
“Ignis Fatus.”
No sooner had the low utterance fallen than a white sphere of light appeared in mid-air.
It was the same light Baron had insisted was a ‘shimmering firefly’ when Haley’s had asked about the strange light she saw.
Ignis Fatus, the size of an adult man’s fist, was a type of spirit known for emitting an intensely bright light.
As the sphere’s light illuminated the surroundings brightly, the small shadow’s face became clear.
It was Baron.
However, unlike during the day, his eye color was not violet but red. His crimson eyes, despite being a warm color, exuded a cool aura. Not a trace of the childish demeanor he had shown in front of Haley’s remained, as if it had never existed.
Baron gazed at the sphere before him with an attitude that seemed to hold the entire world beneath his feet.
In fact, earlier when dusk had settled over the land, Baron had summoned the Ignis Fatus.
It was so that Haley’s could find her way back home without losing her direction.
He had thought she might be startled by the unfamiliar light, but she needed a landmark to return safely first.
And he had called other subordinates to roughly clean up the house. He thought he should repay her in some way since she had tried to help him.
Haley’s, who used the light as a guide to return, was indeed curious.
But Baron had disguised the nature of the Ignis Fatus with the excuse of it being a ‘shimmering firefly’.
When she asked if he would catch and tame it for her, Haley’s eyes had shimmered, and the corner of her mouth twitched. In Baron’s eyes, that meant the Ignis Fatus would be very useful to her.
A soft laugh escaped his lips as he recalled Haley’s expression.
‘Well, it shines brighter than a lantern at night, so it would be useful in many ways.’
Soon, Baron gave a command to the Ignis Fatus..
“Listen carefully to my words. From now on, you are a shimmering firefly.”
