NOVEL WEB Chapter 22
On Saturday, we headed to Lapiz’s house as promised.
In a limousine.
“This is spacious…”
“The car seats are more comfortable than our home…”
Yeonhwa and Jinhyeon were at a loss for words.
“Lapiz, do you ride this thing to school every day?”
“Well… only when I go to the nearby station… it’s too far…”
I was equally speechless.
So, I knew Lapiz was rich. I mean, the original story showed how her economic sense crumbled when she got close to the protagonist.
Plus, when he visited her house, he outright called it a great house.
So I was somewhat mentally prepared.
But I never expected a limousine just to pick up a friend.
If it were something like, “I can’t let my savior ride in just any car,” I would’ve understood, but it clearly didn’t feel like that.
If that were the case, her parents or grandparents would have been in the limousine instead of Lapiz.
Thinking about parents who would let their daughter ride a limousine to pick up a friend made me feel a strange sense of awe.
How rich must they be to live like this?
And that awe only grew as we got closer to her ‘house.’
“Is that… a house?”
Her ‘house,’ visible from afar, was hard to describe negatively, no matter how hard I tried.
For a moment, I doubted the protagonist’s judgment in the original story.
“Y-Yeah, it’s a house… My grandmother built it herself…”
What on earth made her think that was a good house? That’s a luxury mansion.
Just looking at the main gate, the garden, the front yard, and the paths lined with sculptures—it was incredible.
And it wasn’t even in the countryside; it was right in the middle of Heros City.
One could say that such a wide mansion exists in the city where land prices are absolutely crazy.
Just in terms of financial strength, it was probably dozens of times more than Im Changwon’s family.
Yeonhwa, Jinhyeon, and I were all on the same page at that moment.
“Your grandmother must be an amazing person…”
“Of course! At least half of the buildings in Heros City wouldn’t have been built without my grandmother!”
As soon as her grandmother came up, Lapiz, usually composed, excitedly revealed a terrifying fact.
Hearing that, I couldn’t help but think that she must be living far too frugally compared to her wealth.
“Welcome! So, you must be Lapiz’s friends?”
As we walked through the incredibly large gate that opened almost magically, we were greeted by people who looked like Lapiz’s parents.
Maybe her mother had a connection to a returnee, as she had the same draconic horns and tail as Lapiz.
But aside from her eyes, her appearance was somewhat different.
She had long black hair and white skin, so perhaps her skin color was inherited from her father.
Her father’s skin tone was similar to Lapiz’s.
“You must be… Jinhyeon! And you are Yeonhwa. And you must be Blanca! Nice to meet you all!”
Even if Lapiz looked like her mother, it seemed her personality mirrored her father’s.
Her father enthusiastically welcomed us, while her mother viewed us with a kindly smile.
“N-Nice to meet you! I’m Lee Yeonhwa…! Y-You too…”
“You don’t need to bow your head. We should be the ones bowing to you.”
Just as Yeonhwa was stiffly greeting them, her mother politely bowed her head to thank us.
“Thank you for becoming friends with our Lapiz, and for taking care of our daughter.”
Jinhyeon seemed taken aback, and for some reason, Lapiz was swept up in the atmosphere, thanking us.
“To be honest, I couldn’t even imagine my daughter making ordinary friends. When Lapiz told me she made a friend named Arena, I was overjoyed.”
Her father even had teary eyes.
“You’re doing that in front of the kids? Come in. The food will get cold. First, let’s eat, and then you can play with Lapiz and chat.”
Her mother poked her husband in the side and guided us to the kitchen.
…It took us three minutes to reach the kitchen.
– – – –
Once we finished eating, Lapiz led us to her room.
Her parents said to call them if we needed anything and discreetly stepped aside.
With just her and us left in the room, Jinhyeon, who had been holding his breath, finally spoke up.
“I’ve never seen such a big house before.”
“The room is super spacious… ah, wait. That’s not important right now. Lapiz! Are the jewels in your room… just decorations?”
“Huh? Ah, no. They’re snacks…”
“Snacks?!”
Lapiz panicked, claiming that due to family circumstances, she had to eat stones periodically.
“Isn’t that strange…?”
“What’s strange about it? People can eat stones too. There are people who eat poison.”
As I pointed at myself, Lapiz chuckled, looking relieved.
“Then… could you start by telling me your story, B-Blanca…?”
Ah, right. I had completely forgotten because I was overwhelmed by her wealth.
I originally came to share my story.
“Well, if you insist on hearing my not-so-interesting story… alright, I’ll tell you.”
As I took off my uniform coat and folded it, I began to tell tales of people that never existed and events that never happened.
“When I came to, I was already being raised by nomads without any biological parents around.”
“W-Wait a minute. What happened to your biological parents?!”
“I don’t know. I don’t know if they’re dead or alive. I don’t know if I was sold to the nomads or if the nomads killed my parents and took me in.”
Don’t think too weirdly about it.
Having a complete family is a rarity in the outskirts. After adding that, I resumed.
“Well… anyway, I grew up doing odd jobs among kids who were in similar situations. Monsters that came out from the gates occasionally took my friends, but I managed to survive somehow.
By the time I was about 10, there were only a few children left.
From then on, I started going into the gates with the adults.
“Kids were… inside the gates…? That’s not just or fair—”
“Jinhyeon, in the face of survival, justice and morality go out the window. Those lofty ideals only come up when you’re well-fed and comfy.”
I interrupted him before he could spout more nonsense.
Even if what I said was a lie, I didn’t want to hear any more of his talk about justice.
“What was I saying? Oh, right. The gate. Inside the gate, our role was bait.”
When we reached a fork in the road, we either checked it out or pushed someone to see if it was a trap or not.
That’s how it worked.
“How many made it out alive?”
After holding up one finger, I pointed at myself.
“When my life was hanging by a thread, I gained abilities similar to what I have now. At first, I could eat anything without issue, and from then on, I started expelling various things like now.”
“So, your abilities awakened like Teacher Gazer…?”
Unsure if I should say awakened, I felt it wasn’t quite right and changed my wording.
“No, I’d say I realized what my abilities were at that point. Although, I did cause quite a few people to get dragged in because I couldn’t control my powers like Jinhyeon does.”
But honestly, it wasn’t sad at all.
Given how rough they were with everyone.
“Naturally, since my fellow companions were included, they got furious and came after me to kill me. So, I ran away. Deep, deep into the dungeon.”
“Oh my…”
Lapiz seemed shocked, covering her mouth in disbelief as I revealed this story.
However, not long after sitting there, curiosity seemed to take over, and she asked how I ended up in Heros City.
“While running away, I happened to meet Hunters and Heroes.”
It was sheer luck. I fabricated the story as I went along.
Usually, there should only be one entrance for each gate, but the gate I entered had a few oddities because it had multiple entrances.
And by chance, I witnessed a Hunter from Heros City getting severely injured as they entered one of those doors and sent out a distress signal.
“I almost got attacked because of some misunderstandings, but luckily, a Hero came and took me out too. If it weren’t for them, I would have died.”
“That’s quite a tale…”
I wrapped up the story by saying that because that Hero saw my abilities and circumstances, they volunteered to be my guardian, allowing me to live in Heros City.
“That’s why I joined the Hero Academy. I wanted to become like that person.”
“Can I know that Hero’s name?”
Jinhyeon, perhaps feeling some affinity, asked who saved me, wanting to know the Hero’s name.
“Gazer.”
“G-Gazer?! T-Teacher Justitia?!”
Lapiz gasped in shock at the mention of Justitia’s name.
“Wait, you had a relationship with Teacher Justitia?! Why didn’t you say anything?!”
Yeonhwa, likewise surprised, asked why I hadn’t mentioned it to us.
“Well, it wasn’t particularly important, right? Even though they’re a guardian, it’s not like we have a deep bond.”
“I see…”
After the story concluded, the atmosphere in the room grew a bit more somber.
Hmm. Maybe I conveyed something.
“That must have been tough, Blanca.”
“Y-You were probably struggling too, and yet you reached out to help me…?”
Only Jinhyeon maintained a complex expression, remaining silent.
Well, I guess I could consider this a success for now.