036
Before I could even hear an answer, a sound of coughing came from behind me.
It was a very delicate, faint sound… The kind of pitiful sound that makes it impossible to resist turning around.
“Is someone sick…?”
Being sick is not okay. I don’t like it when people are sick.
I’m particularly sensitive to the sound of coughing.
“Hi. Are you okay?”
I scurried over and sat down in front of the child who had collapsed.
As soon as I did, the child pressed his cheek against my knee, breathing heavily.
‘Wow.’
He looked about three or four years older than me.
But… but, you know.
‘How can someone be this beautiful?’
Until now, the most beautiful person I’d ever seen was my brother, Elzen.
But in an instant, that ranking was overturned.
Even in this pitch darkness, where it was hard to see anything clearly, there was something about him.
It felt like a golden glow was rippling around him. As if only he stood out more clearly than everything else.
Long eyelashes and slightly reddish eyes.
Rosy lips and eyes that slightly curved upwards.
A sharp, high-bridged nose.
The word ‘beautiful’ doesn’t even begin to cover it.
This is more like…
“…Gorgeous.”
It’s not like he’s bathed in sunlight. It’s more like he’s been crafted from that brilliant light itself, sparkling with radiance.
For a moment, I forgot everything about the situation and just stared at the boy in a daze.
I couldn’t help it.
It just felt like I had to do that.
‘He’s like the sun… I want to have him.’
Is it strange to think that way?
But honestly, I really, really want to have him.
[To be honest, his appearance is absolutely overwhelming!]
Just as I reached out my hand as if possessed, Yupyrhos suddenly appeared.
‘Overwhelming…?’
[It means extraordinarily, absolutely, superbly good-looking. It’s the highest level of praise one can give for someone’s appearance. To put it bluntly, he could topple an entire kingdom with just his looks!]
‘Ah, I see.’
That makes sense.
I gently touched the head of the boy who was rubbing against me.
‘So soft!’
He even smells nice.
Did he, like me, just get caught and brought here?
[The Water Spirit King ‘■■■■’ is worried about the consequences of disrupting causality.]
[The Fire Spirit King ‘■■■■■’ says its cannot reveal anything right now.]
[The Earth Spirit King ‘■’ clicks its tongue, saying it’s never seen someone like that before.]
[The Emotion Spirit King ‘■■■’ defends its, saying that’s why it’s a pure love type.]
Huh?
[The Emotion Spirit King ‘■■■’ expresses joy.]
[Pure love! Another pure love!]
Why is the Emotion Spirit King suddenly so happy?
[The Spirit King of ○○ ‘■■■’ makes a statement.]
[Fate is running wild. The cost of this won’t be light. It will only grow bigger with every passing second.]
It was a conversation I couldn’t understand, so I decided to treat the glowing letters as if they were lights.
“Sniff…”
Right at that moment, the child resting his head on my thigh started crying.
“Don’t cry. Crying will make you hungry.”
I rummaged through my pocket and pulled out a handful of hard candies.
“I’ll give you the strawberry flavor, just for you. It’s Chuu’s favorite.”
I handed the strawberry-flavored candy to the crying boy and then went over to the half-elf kids I had seen earlier.
“Here, you guys eat some too. Sweet things give you energy.”
“No thanks! We’re not eating something given by a human!”
“But it’s tasty. Look, yum.”
I popped a piece of candy into my mouth and stepped back. Hesitant at first, the half-elf kids snatched up the candies from the ground.
“It’s okay. My big brother will come to save us soon. When he does, let’s all get out of here together.”
I made a promise to myself. I’ll take every single one of these kids with me when I leave.
With that resolve in mind, I went back to the boy.
“Thank you. The candy gave me energy.”
At the moment that faint voice reached my ears, I felt a shiver down my spine.
How could his voice sound like that?
I wanted to keep hearing it.
Again, and again, just for me. For me alone.
“My name is Lacifer.”
“Lacifer.”
“Yeah. And you?”
“Shupetty.”
His jewel-like eyes filled with joy.
It was as if something was dancing inside those beautiful eyes, and I couldn’t look away.
“Shupetty. My Shu.”
“Huh? I’m mine.”
“Ah, that’s true. Then I’ll be yours. Your Lacifer.”
“Huh…?”
The conversation felt a bit odd, but I didn’t dislike it.
It just made me think that this boy, Lacifer, wasn’t scary at all.
“You’re not scared at all?”
“Yeah… no, I’m a little scared.”
I’m pretty sure he just said ‘yeah.’
Did I hear it wrong?
I rubbed my eyes and looked again, only to see tears welling up in the corners of Lacifer’s eyes.
‘Ah. He’s just pretending not to be scared, huh?’
Oh dear.
I hoped Lacifer wouldn’t cry. But then again, if he did cry, I think he’d still be beautiful.
As I blankly stared at his face, I scolded the naughty little voice inside my head.
‘You can’t wish for your friend to cry!’
I have to make sure he doesn’t cry.
“Hey, I’m the class vice leader.”
“Really?”
“Yup. So just trust me. I even knocked down Ricardo.”
I strengthened my tongue to make my pronunciation clearer and puffed out my chest with pride.
Just like brother Mikard would, I stood tall and broad-shouldered. Then, I began counting how many people were in this strange space.
‘One, two…’
[Three half-elves. Two human children!]
So there were five of us in total.
‘Where is this place? It doesn’t seem like a room.’
The floor beneath my feet felt strangely wobbly. The walls also swayed slightly.
“A ceiling?”
If I had to describe it, it was like being an eraser or a pencil inside a bag.
As I touched the wall and mumbled, Lacifer, who had quietly approached me, smiled.
“Yeah, it’s a ceiling. It looks like we’ve been thrown into a sack. And now we’re being moved somewhere.”
“Is there any way for us to get out of here?”
“Hmm. I doubt it. I think it’s impossible. What should we do? I’m scared.”
Lacifer hunched his shoulders slightly.
But why was he smiling?
‘Is he really scared?’
I had my doubts, but there were more important things to think about right now.
“Does anyone have something sharp?”
Of course, no one did.
What child would carry around an item from the ‘forbidden items for kids’ list?
‘Ugh.’
I wanted to escape before Admiral came to rescue us!
[The Water Spirit King ‘■■■■’ sternly declares that good children should never touch knives.]
[The Fire Spirit King ‘■■■■■’ smiles, saying it’s better to see kids struggling than staying quiet.]
“Huh?”
As I casually scrolled past the glowing letters from the Spirit Kings, I tried to sit back down.
That’s when I noticed that Lacifer’s gaze was fixed on the same spot as mine.
It was as if he could see the glowing letters too!
“Ah, so this is how they’re watching over us. We don’t need to worry.”
“Huh? Lacifer, what did you just say?”
“Nothing.”
That’s a lie! He definitely said something just now!
But LaciferAdmiral played it off like it was nothing.
[The Earth Spirit King ‘■’ advises that it’s best for everyone to stay together in one place.]
Following the Earth Spirit King’s advice, I moved next to the half-elf kids.
As I did, Lacifer followed me closely, and soon we all huddled together like a ball of bread dough.
Snuggle, snuggle.
The only sound in the quiet space was the rolling of the candy.
How many seconds passed like that?
“Shall we sing a song?”
“A song?”
“Yeah, let’s sing. Then the Admiral and my big brother will find us faster.”
There’s a song that the teacher of the Carrot Class taught us!
I cleared my throat and boldly began singing ‘Little Chick Chirp Chirp.’
The half-elf kids didn’t seem to know the song, but since Lacifer apparently knew it, he soon joined me in singing.
“Chirp chirp chirp, little chicks! Cluck cluck cluck, mama hen! Chirp chirp chirp! Cluck cluck cluck! Let’s walk together!”
To be honest, that was all the lyrics I knew. But thanks to that, the half-elf kids eventually joined in and started singing too.
The narrow, dark space was suddenly filled with the sound of cheerful singing.
Feeling excited, I jumped to my feet and sang even louder.
“Chirp chirp chirp, little chick ch—!!”
Just then—
KWA-BOOM!!
An enormous explosion rang out.
And suddenly, the glow of sunset light streamed in!
“I’m here to rescue you, little crab.”
The savior was none other than the Admiral.
