What Happens When The Second Male Lead Powers Up [EN]: Chapter 695

#695

Animal Crossing in Silence (4)

We fell into the Great Depression.

-Swish!

-Heeheeheeing!

“By Arian Liester, who has received the Holy Scar!”

“Ugh, damn it! What is that?! Where did that suddenly pop out from?!”

“Cristel! Watch your language!”

-Squeak

“Goodness, did the Angelic Duke have a child?”

The group was thrown into an uproar, and the forest at night, which had been watching us, also seemed to be in a turbulent mood.

While I was at a loss, looking at the baby that had suddenly sprung from my arms, Cedric had already drawn his Divine Sword with a terrifying momentum.

Amidst the screams of his friends, Jibril Diop was making terrible noises like, ‘Put that down.’ ‘Just put it on the ground, and I’ll take care of it.’

I glanced at his fiercely gleaming staff, and then, seeing the outline of the Divine Sword turning red, I was horrified.

The girl in my arms was blinking with an innocent face even in the midst of all this. Soon, the baby babbled.

“Wanna eat Ether.”

Somewhat unclear pronunciation.

As three or four-year-olds usually are, her body was too small, and her fingers were short.

I moved my lips, which were trembling uncontrollably. What should I do in this kind of situation?

“No, wait. No… Who, who are you? Where did you come from? I originally…”

I was holding a clear, round puddle.

Just before I could add those words, a huge shock, as if I had been hit in the back of the head with an iron pipe, struck me.

My mouth opened involuntarily, and my fingertips trembled. Could it be…?

Really?

“Eh…”

No way. Jeong Hyun-seo, is that you? I looked up at the sky for a moment.

The view was just dark and suffocating.

“Puddle, where did the puddle go? I clearly had it under my coat. Because it’s cold, I wrapped it up like this.”

“Uung. Right.”

“Where did it go? Did I drop it when I was caught in the net earlier? No, why isn’t it here.”

“Woong.”

“It was just your size, just your size…”

I trembled at the end of my words and groped around my back and waist, but not even a drop of water from the puddle remained.

There really wasn’t a trace.

Demi and Ropi came to my feet, sniffed, and looked up at the baby.

The troublemakers were strangely not wary of the little one.

I was in a state of panic, but I thought of an adult I could rely on and quickly turned my head.

“Sir Johan.”

Then the Cardinal smiled softly in the darkness.

He wore a carefree expression as usual.

Please give me the answer, Father Herit. Please.

“What, what is going on? Could it be that the puddle turned into a person in the meantime…?”

“Give her to me, and I’ll take care of it quietly.”

What?!

“No, no! That’s absolutely not allowed!”

She’s still a baby! I hurriedly hugged the little one and curled up.

Now that I see it, the Holy Knights, except for Isabel and Duke Lasso, were staring at us with very fierce eyes.

Even I got goosebumps from that chilling energy.

As I hugged her tightly, the child whimpered for a moment and then hugged my neck with both arms.

The small body had a clear presence and volume, but on the other hand, her skin was very cold for her age. Children usually have high body temperatures, so it was strange.

But it’s not like she’s bloodless, and even though she’s a bit thin, she doesn’t seem to be in bad condition.

Could it be because she doesn’t have any clothes on?

“…Princess.”

“Yes.”

Finally, Ms. Gain opened her mouth, her eyes twitching as if she had a magnesium deficiency.

Fortunately, she wasn’t holding a whip.

“Really, this… I’m saying this because I think we need to address it once. No joke, seriously. We need to confirm it first.”

“Yes.”

“Did you perhaps just give birth to her?”

“Ah, what are you saying!”

Would that even be possible!

“I just remembered that you said you were a virgin!”

“What does that have to do with me giving birth!”

“There’s that thing! Ah, I’m so flustered that I can’t remember it suddenly. What was it? A word similar to a bill. Annunciation [the divine announcement to Mary that she would conceive and give birth to Jesus].”

“I roughly understand what kind of logical leap you made, but I’m a man!”

“Oops.”

And being a virgin is my private life, so please don’t say it out loud!?

“What’s a virgin?”

Diop caught the importance of that word like a ghost and asked.

I quickly raised one finger and gave him a warning look.

Don’t try to know. Especially you.

“According to His Majesty Hanan…”

Just then, Isabel’s calm voice echoed through the bushes.

We simultaneously turned to look at her with wide eyes.

Saaa, the bronze-colored eyes of the Holy Knight, which had been momentarily tinged with bronze, calmed down again to a peaceful black.

It seemed that His Majesty Hanan had told her something in the meantime.

“…He says that she is the existence that the puddle from before has transformed into. However, he is concerned that the vessel has not yet been established, so she is in an incomplete state.”

“Ah! I knew it. So the Princess didn’t give birth to her. That level of easy delivery is rare. Whew, I was worried about postpartum care for nothing.”

It’s obvious that you’re still thinking that way, Ms. Gain.

“It’s a relief that it was the puddle. But what does it mean that the vessel is incomplete…?”

“He said that she has a human form, but she is not yet a complete human. To be exact, he feels that she is closer to ‘water’…”

“I don’t feel the energy of a Holy Knight, so that must be why she wants the Princess’s Ether.”

Sir Johan said calmly.

I tried to accept the situation as quickly as possible.

Isabel, who had come closer, carefully stroked the baby’s cheek.

The child seemed a little scared by the shadow cast by her long fingers, but soon offered her cheek, knowing that she had no malice.

The dark water-colored hair that grew neatly beside her ears was reflected in the moonlight, creating a mysterious feeling.

The large gray eyes, which had not yet developed a clear color, were moist.

I felt a strange sense of déjà vu and looked closely at the child’s round profile.

You kept eating water in the underground passage whenever you had a chance, and you grew up so fast and became a real person.

No matter how I think about it, it doesn’t make sense…

“Hmm.”

Because this is a world line derived from .

If it’s a place where my mom and brother’s imaginations are doubled, there’s no need to be surprised.

“But… Is it just my imagination?”

This child, somehow, seems to resemble someone. Where else have I seen this hair color?

“Baby, do you have a name?”

Isabel asked in a voice as sweet as an angel.

The baby held her finger tightly and replied.

“Uung. Rin.”

“…”

“Rin… Isenia.”

…Huh?

“…”

“…”

“What?”

We turned to each other with blank faces.

Did she just say ‘Rin Isenia’?

-Rustle!

Flinch! At that moment, I heard the sound of a twig being stepped on behind me.

Cedric and Diop immediately stood in the way of the rear, but Sir Johan was a little faster.

By the time Ms. Gain wrapped her arm around my shoulder, an opaque blade of air had already rushed in, aiming at someone’s forehead.

I was surprised to see the person and gasped.

-Whooooosh…

“Th, th… Thank you for helping, I came to say.”

“…”

“Oh, that child is…”

Kobi.

The leader of the masked children we saw during the day was hiding behind a tree stump.

Francois looked back at Sir Johan, but he didn’t seem to have any intention of backing down.

The white hair was floating in the air, defying gravity.

The child trembled with fear but spoke haltingly.

“Ah, earlier. I hid nearby and watched. You… chasing away the Duke’s people.”

“…”

“Thank you. Th, thanks to you. Our younger siblings were safe. I didn’t know there was a priest, a priest…”

“…”

“Anyway… Thank you. I mean it.”

As the frightened girl barely finished speaking, Isabel gently grabbed Sir Johan’s sleeve.

The man slowly withdrew the blade of air. At that moment—

“Ah, there.”

-Swaaack!

“Sir Johan!”

For some reason, Kobi suddenly took off her mask, and the Cardinal moved his sword again.

I was so horrified that I called out his name.

The tip of the blade was about to get too close to the child’s forehead.

“Baby, baby clothes!”

Thud! Sir Johan’s weapon immediately stopped in the air.

Kobi, who had taken off her mask, had a much younger face than I had expected.

The young cheeks were red from the harsh mountain life and cold.

As soon as the girl made eye contact with me, she hurriedly offered the words she had prepared.

“Th, that child needs clothes, right?”

“…”

“Clothes to wear. It’s still March, so it’s cold.”

“…”

Unexpectedly, I blankly looked down at the little one in my arms.

The eyes of my friends also turned to us.

The baby who introduced herself as ‘Rin’ was indeed too cold.

Her touch of pulling Ms. Gain’s pink hair was perfectly healthy, but it was still difficult to take her around like this in many ways.

…No, is it even possible for us to ‘accompany’ this child?

“We, we have clothes that our younger siblings used to wear in our cave. They’re too small now, so they don’t fit at all. I’ll give them to you if you need them.”

‘We also have some food to give.’ Kobi said in a stuffy voice.

The child was so brave that she was already acting confident, even though Sir Johan’s weapon was still aiming at her.

Hugging Rin…, I looked back at my friends with a troubled expression.

Soon, I made eye contact with Cedric, the final decision-maker.

“Your Highness, what should we do…?”

“Wow.”

“Oh my, baby. You can’t touch the insignia carelessly. This belongs to the handsome uncle.”

‘Hehe?’ I couldn’t give a proper answer to the returned question and could only smile bitterly.

Cedric silently looked down at me, then stared intently at the way I was holding the baby.

Then, after thoroughly examining the troublemakers clinging to me, he finally stared at the child in question.

Soon, a languid bass voice flowed out.

“…It seems that today is not the day to leave this forest.”

Clang, the Divine Sword disappeared back into its scabbard. Ms. Gain and I blinked.

That means…

“I’ll accept the offer. It wouldn’t be bad to know the current situation of the Lasso Estate.”

*

Kobi, who was a bit prickly but had a clear sense of gratitude and resentment, diligently guided us.

“This way. Don’t step on the bushes, just skip over them. There are several traps besides the nets.”

“Good Lord.”

“Ouch!”

“Watch your step.”

The mountain path was becoming increasingly complicated, so much so that it was densely packed with sharp rocks and bushes, and Sant and Francois barely managed to set foot with the help of Isabel and Sir Johan.

The rest of the group soothed and took care of the exhausted horses.

Even though it was a forest, the twilight was especially dark, and since this place was essentially part of the Memphis Mountains, the road was very rough.

Diop whispered his reasoning that Kobi might be luring us to a dangerous place.

Hugging the baby, I bit my lip. It was an argument that sounded reasonable on the one hand, but.

“Hah, but… That child has already clearly seen the power of the Dukes with her own eyes. She also knew that the Angelic Duke was a powerful priest, cough.”

“…”

“Knowing that she could never be a match for them, cough. She wouldn’t think of such a reckless operation…”

“…That’s also a valid point.”

At Duke Leopold Lasso’s point, the wizard raised one eyebrow.

I let out a silent sigh and looked at the small back going ahead.

The girl was wearing a thin tunic and vest in the chilly weather.

“We’re here. Here, can you see the blue wagon wheel marks on the ground?”

In front of a tangled bush, Kobi finally pointed to the dirt floor.

We were so busy catching our breath that we didn’t immediately digest the child’s words.

“I don’t know why, but the Duke’s people can’t cross this line. No, they can’t even find it. Even though it shines like this.”

“…”

“So we usually never go outside this mark. Not even one step.”

After explaining that, the girl smiled and pulled back the lush vines in front of her like a curtain.

I belatedly understood the meaning of those words and was dumbfounded.