NOVEL WEB Ch. 22
Chapter 22: Build Up (2)
“I'm glad you found it.”
“I really am! This was a really important gift. I spent a lot of time picking it out.”
The woman, who came out with a bright smile, was holding the black box tightly in her arms.
I was curious about what it was, but I'll set that aside. Now, let's try asking for her name again naturally.
“This must be fate, so shall we introduce ourselves? I am Arsen Neroro.”
“……Huh?”
“Arsen Neroro. And you are?”
“Arsen……?”
It was at that moment. The woman's face, which had been full of smiles, was now tinged with bewilderment.
“You're, Arsen?”
She muttered as if asking herself, then suddenly covered her mouth with her hand.
“Sorry. I had something urgent to do and I forgot. I'll get going!”
“Excuse me? Hey, wait, just your name……. She's gone.”
The woman was incredibly fast. She waved while walking backward, then whipped around and disappeared as if she were folding the earth to run. It was truly in an instant.
“You're faster than any monster, aren't you?”
This was clearly her avoiding me.
“Hmm.”
She had left, but I didn't feel like I had lost her. Rather, her reaction to my name piqued my interest.
Let's organize my thoughts for a moment.
That woman is the protagonist.
The protagonist is the person Camila is waiting for.
And the protagonist knows me.
‘It seems we're bound to meet again soon.’
I stared for a long time in the direction where the jet-black woman had disappeared.
***
It had been 20 minutes since I returned to the lodging, got Lottie, and came back outside.
“Ike! Ike-e!”
Translated, it meant, like this, like this.
Lottie clapped her two small hands together and spoke with passion.
Grasshoppers were hopping on the ground on this autumn morning, and even though I tried to ignore it, the interpretation I was hearing in my ear was telling me to catch a grasshopper right now.
“Ah, for goodness' sake. I said no!”
“Hyung-ah-!”
Is there honey on bugs for children or something?
Last time it was an earthworm, before that a butterfly, and this time a grasshopper.
Why is she in such a frenzy to catch every bug she sees? I think I need to teach her properly this time.
That bugs are living things too, and they need to be respected. That they aren't something you can just catch for fun.
Definitely,
It's not because I'm scared of bugs.
“Lottie, no. Stop.”
“Ike-e-e!”
I really don't get it. This child, who stays quietly in my arms no matter what kind of commotion is going on, becomes this stubborn whenever she gets fixated on something.
“No. What are you going to do with a grasshopper if you catch it?”
“Ttugi! Ttugi-i!”
“Huh……. Just now, what? Ttugi?”
In the midst of it all, she learned a new word.
What is this!?
Is this a sign that she's about to start talking more? It took a month just to teach her ‘Hyung-ah’ for the first time, is my baby finally starting to grow?
“Hyung-ah, ttugi ike! Ttugi ike-e!”
“Geez, why is she really being like this. Lottie, you can't just catch small bugs like that. If you do that…….”
Just as I was about to give a speech on the preciousness of all life,
“You sure listen well, though. You came running right away just because I told you to come out?”
“This is why they're lower-class beings.”
Irritating voices cut in between my argument with Lottie. Moris and Deric were leaning against the plaza fountain, snickering to themselves.
Haha.
It seems these guys still think we're students.
“It's not even 8 o'clock yet, but you couldn't wait and came already. Do you like me that much?”
As I covered Lottie's ears with both hands and scoffed, Moris's mouth dropped open and he blinked his eyes rapidly.
“This guy, since yesterday…… are you really out of your mind?”
“Do I look like I am?”
“Nya! Nya!”
In the midst of the sharp exchange between Moris and me, Lottie threw both her arms up in the air.
Never mind that covering her ears was useless, she must have found the tone funny as she copied it with ‘nyanya’…….
‘How cute.’
The corners of my mouth curled up on their own.
“Why'd you bring the kid, too? Did you want to show her you getting your ass kicked?”
“Why do you think I'm the one who's going to get an ass-kicking? Who knows? This might become an educational scene showing how to handle bad guys.”
“Wow. This guy's really lost it, huh? Look, Deric. Didn't I tell you people need to be beaten periodically?”
Moris, who had brushed his hair back with a sweep of his hand, strode forward.
Thwack!
“Ugh…….”
“Hyung-ah!”
A sudden blow to my shoulder made me lose my balance. I thought he wouldn't touch me in the plaza if he was conscious of people's eyes.
A misjudgment. At the same time, Lottie squirmed in my arms.
“It's okay, Lottie. Hyung-ah is fine.”
“Ttugi! Quick!”
“……Huh?”
You're not, worried about me?
Lottie was pointing at the ground, not my crumpled face, and shouting. She was still going on about the grasshopper. Maybe it was a relief that she didn't notice I got hit.
“I'll show you. What happens when a toy dares to talk back to its owner.”
Moris, who whispered close to me as I held my shoulder with a dazed face, began to walk right past me.
“Follow me.”
Deric, who was following behind Moris, also deliberately bumped my shoulder as he passed. The impact almost made me fall, so I shielded Lottie's head first.
I glanced around once and reluctantly moved my feet.
‘Haah. Everyone is watching, right?’
I was acting all brave, brainwashing myself that the Rankers had my back, but…….
I don't know why I don't have any faith in them.
***
“I'm the rising star of Remble, and they dare to drop me? Fuck. Does this even make sense?”
They have a good eye for dropping you.
“That Rendolph or Rudolph or whatever, I didn't like that subjugation team captain from the start. All stuck-up, not even from Remble, but acting all high and mighty just because he's a Ranker.”
Self-made on top of that. A rare talent indeed.
I didn't reply to Moris's grumbling and only looked around. If I said what I wanted to, I'd only earn a beating in this deserted alley, so I decided to keep it in my throat for now and focus on where I was going.
By the way, if we keep going this way, it's the coast. Just how far are they planning to go?
The occasional signs showed that Southern District 3 wasn't far off.
“If I just master this, a cadre position in the subjugation team is in the bag. I'll join another subjugation team and later, I'll really get that guy's nose……”
A smirk spread across Moris's face as one corner of his mouth curled up. The scar below his lip made his expression look even more cunning.
“I'm really lucky. How could you show up at just the right time? My new skill has good power, but it was a bit hard to control, so I was in a tough spot.”
“……”
“Now that the perfect test subject has appeared, it's only a matter of time before this body becomes the strongest!”
It seems he brought me here while plotting something malicious, but unfortunately, I couldn't pay attention to that.
Because after figuring out our destination was roughly the coast,
“Ttugi-i! Hyung-ah-a!”
I had to go back to the repeating cycle of the grasshopper hunt.
“Lottie. Are you really not going to listen to Hyung-ah? Shh.”
Even to my small whisper, Lottie did not yield.
“Ttugi-i-i-i! Ttugi! Ike-e!”
“Fuck! Make that brat shut up! What has he been saying since before!”
Moris, who had been muttering to himself, suddenly roared. Deric also turned back and glared.
No, haah…….
“……Let's be quiet, Lottie.”
In the end, I had no choice. I could only hug Lottie tighter with both hands to muffle the sound against my chest.
“Ttugi-i-i-i!”
An incomprehensible stubbornness, along with her drool, began to stain my shirt.
***
The place we arrived at was a coastline far from Southern District 3. A place uncharacteristically quiet in the bustling Eastbourne.
“Put the kid down. I may be an aspiring Ranker, but I don't touch kids.”
My goodness. Then why did you do that yesterday?
It was absurd, but Lottie had to be unharmed.
“Lottie. Let's get down for a little bit.”
“Noo! Ttugi!”
You really don't have any worries about your Hyung-ah.
Reassured by the struggling Lottie, I undid the baby carrier and sat her down on the sandy beach.
‘Hey, but I'm really about to get my ass kicked now, is no one coming?’
Suddenly, I remembered my body that was constantly covered in bruises back at Remble. But there was no sign of anyone coming to help.
Moris cracks his neck and beckons to me with his hand.
“Shouldn't you at least tell me what you're planning to do?”
“Run.”
“……?”
“Don't just stand there, try running away. Just run! That way!”
Whack!
“Oof!”
As soon as I instinctively ducked my head, a rock the size of a baby's head flew at me. The unannounced attack made me snap to my senses.
The large rock lodged in the sand was quite threatening.
If that had hit my head, I would have died, 100 percent.
“Damn. It missed.”
A rock of a similar size to the last one forms below Moris's outstretched hand.
Moris manipulates rocks freely. His specialty is trapping an enemy inside a giant stone wall to isolate them or buy time.
So he was originally a supernatural being specialized in defense, but seeing him practice like this, it seemed he thought the reason he was dropped from the subjugation team was because he lacked offensive power.
“This one's for real.”
Whoosh-
As Moris moved his hand, another rock came flying.
“Damn it! Somebody, please come help!”
At this moment, the only thing I could trust was my own two legs. The fortunate thing was that he wasn't skilled enough, so it was possible to dodge.
“Fuck! Why can't I hit him!”
“Aaaargh! I'll die if it hits me!”
“Why is that bastard so fast? Fuck! Here I go again!”
Thwack! Thwack!
“Shouldn't someone be helping me by now!”
I wonder how long I ran for my life like that.
Eeeeeeeeeeng-!
Eeeeeeeeeeng-!
What came was not the rescue I had hoped for, but a piercing siren sound.
“What, what is it! Hey, Deric!”
“Over there! I think something appeared!”
“Hyung-ah-a, ttugi!”
A sudden evacuation alarm.
At the same time, the ground began to tremble. This was no ordinary bad feeling. Moris and Deric also lifted their heads.
Among the various siren sounds, this one, which blared steadily without any change in pitch.
It was a monster appearance.
“Why is there never a quiet day in this crazy world!”
I had been running all over the place, but I immediately changed my trajectory and ran toward them. Thankfully, they seemed flustered, so even while I was lifting Lottie and strapping on the baby carrier, Moris and Deric were only focused on the announcement that would follow the siren.
As soon as I finished buckling the baby carrier, the alarm that came through was a spectacle.
I've seen two Gates in the last few days, and now a swarm of monsters?
But this was the first time I had actually heard of AA-class.
‘This is Southern District 3, isn't it?’
“Moris! Are you guys going to stop them?”
“I'm not even a Ranker, what kind of bullshit is that!”
“Hey, you bastard! Where are you going!”
Still, since Moris and Deric were here, I thought I wouldn't die if we ran away together, but.
“Fuck! A monster called AA-class appeared, you think I'm just going to stand still!”
Just standing still was enough to make me lose my balance.
“What in the world is coming.”