48 – Nightmare
The girl embraced Yohanna with a whoosh.
Yohanna held a skewer in one hand and petted the girl’s head with the other.
“Hello, Mr. Clown! Long time no see!”
The girl smiled as Yohanna petted her, clearly enjoying the attention, then turned to me and said, “Are you still the same Mr. Clown as before?”
I slumped down, pretending to be lifeless.
“hehehe.”
The girl laughed innocently at my act.
Perhaps she called me “Mr. Clown” on purpose after seeing my reaction.
“hehehe, even after seeing this, are you still going to call me ‘Mr. Clown’?”
I said confidently as I stood up, flicking my finger.
I created an illusion for the girl.
“Wow!”
The place where we stood instantly transformed into a meadow.
Butterflies of various colors fluttered around us.
Since entering the academy, my proficiency in creating illusions had greatly improved.
“The clown uncle is amazing!”
The child exclaimed, spreading both hands wide in excitement.
“Even if you call me uncle like this…”
I stopped mid-sentence and glanced at the child’s arm.
“Why are you like that?”
When I stared silently at the child, they flinched.
Understanding that staring silently with this mask on could be eerie, I paused.
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“You have a wound on your arm. When did you get hurt?”
Unintentionally, I asked in a serious tone.
There was indeed a wound on the child’s arm.
Looking at the wound, it seemed recent.
“Huh? Oh~ this? I fell while playing earlier.”
The child spoke, looking at their wound as if it were nothing.
And I didn’t like that.
“Just wait a moment.”
I took out ointment from the spatial pocket.
I wished I had a potion to use, but all I had was a black potion.
“You don’t necessarily need to apply ointment for such a small wound…”
“Just stay still.”
I interrupted the child, who seemed to be refusing.
“Ugh……”
As the medicine touched the child’s wound, a faint sound escaped from the child.
“It might hurt a bit, but bear with it. The pain will fade, and the scar will disappear.”
I checked if there were no more wounds on the child’s body.
Fortunately, there were no other visible wounds.
“Apply the ointment to the wound once a day.”
I forcibly placed the medicine bottle into the child’s hand and spoke.
“Well, but…”
When I handed over the entire bottle, the child hesitated to refuse.
“I have plenty of them anyway. So, don’t decline and just take it.”
I took out dozens of medicine bottles and showed them to the child. In reality, they were all fakes created in my imagination. Unaware of that, the child finally accepted the medicine bottle silently.
“…………..”
“……………”
Both Johanna and the child remained silent.
Sigh. Did I make it too serious?
The atmosphere darkened in an instant.
While pondering how to break the tension.
The child, looking at the skewer in Johanna’s hand, spoke.
“Unnie, you’re eating that skewer again today.”
Does “again today” mean that Johanna usually eats that skewer?
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“…….Huh?”
Yohanna averted her gaze upon hearing the child’s words.
Perhaps the reason I glanced at the skewer shop earlier wasn’t because I wanted to eat, but rather because I might not be able to eat if I’m standing next to it.
“Senpai, didn’t you say not to eat while patrolling me just a while ago?”
“……………”
“Could it be you secretly ate while it was prohibited until now?”
Yohanna, seemingly embarrassed, shifted her steps with a slightly reddened face.
“Where are you going, Senpai~?”
“I have to patrol.”
Yohanna’s steps were decidedly faster than they were just a moment ago.
“Senpai, let’s go together!”
I ruffled the child’s hair to lighten the mood and ran towards Yohanna.
While Yohanna and I patrolled, the child walked alongside us.
It didn’t matter that we were walking instead of running while patrolling.
Fortunately, nothing significant happened during the patrol.
The only report was that adventurers were fighting in a certain store. When we entered the store after receiving the report, the adventurers stopped fighting upon seeing the academy uniforms.
Since most academy students were nobles, the adventurers were intimidated.
Even recalling the game story, nothing significant was expected to happen for the next month.
“Mr. Clown, will you come again tomorrow?”
The child, who heard that it was time to part ways, looked at me with sad eyes.
“….. That.”
I couldn’t casually blurt out the words that I would come tomorrow to the child.
Because I had seen people who said they would come but didn’t when I was in the orphanage. And I understood well the feelings of the child experiencing that situation.
“I’ll come tomorrow too.”
Johanna said as I remained silent.
“Yeah!”
The child smiled brightly upon hearing that and left.
“Senior, but can we come for patrol tomorrow as well?”
I asked Johanna as we walked to the academy. No matter how much she is the leader of the student council, can she do as she pleases?
“During the trial period, let’s keep patrolling together.”
“Who?”
“The student council members.”
They wouldn’t do that, right?
I knew how much the student council members liked Johanna. They wouldn’t give up the chance to patrol with her.
I kept asking until we arrived at the academy, but I couldn’t figure out the reason.
.
.
.
After all the academy classes were over, I habitually tried to call Erika when I entered the dormitory.
“Ah……”
Today, I just realized that I haven’t spoken to Erika. No, I intentionally didn’t think about it until now.
‘What should I do?’
In the end, I spent the evening organizing the space-time.
“Sigh….”
As time passed, the sighs from my mouth grew louder.
It’s already a good time to sleep.
Even lying in bed, the sighs didn’t disappear.
Can I sleep well without medicine or Erika?
Swoosh.
I lay in bed, tossing and turning for a long time before falling asleep.
.
.
Suddenly.
“Sigh…. Sigh….”
I woke up, breathing heavily, and checked the clock.
10 minutes.
It’s been 10 minutes since I fell asleep.
The bed was already soaked with sweat I had shed.
Drip, drip.
I walked to the bathroom to wipe the sweat flowing down my face.
“Sigh….”
No matter how much I splashed cold water on my face, it was hard to clear my mind.
The nightmare I had just before falling asleep kept coming back to me. The cold back alley, the lost warmth of the children, and even the hot blood flowing on the ground – everything vividly resurfaced.
“Uwaaah!!!”
I had only slept for 10 minutes today.
.
.
.
“Are you okay?”
Johanna suddenly asked me as I walked for patrol.
“Yes? What are you talking about?”
“You look very tired.”
Hearing that, I felt my face. Thankfully, the mask was still in place.
“How did you know I was wearing a mask?”
“I don’t know. I just had a feeling.”
“It seems even seniors can be mistaken. I’m perfectly fine today. Now, shall we go to where the little girl is waiting?”
Even though the promised time had passed, the child hadn’t arrived at the meeting place.
It was normal to think that she hadn’t woken up yet and couldn’t come, but perhaps because of the nightmare I had earlier, I felt anxious.
“Senior, do you happen to know where that child lives?”
Yohanna lowered her head.
Well, she wouldn’t know.
“Senior, can you wait for a moment? I’ll go and find her quickly.”
“I’ll come with you. It’ll be easier to find together.”
True to Yohanna’s words, they quickly found the child’s house with her presence. Other people readily answered when Yohanna asked.
The child’s house was on the outskirts of the city.
The house, not taken care of, was old and dirty.
She recalled what a man said earlier.
The child’s mother bought expensive liquor and meat last night.
Looking at this house, she could tell that they couldn’t afford expensive liquor at all.
“No way.”
Her body trembled, and the worst thoughts kept shaking in her mind.
“Senior, just a moment.”
I stopped Yohanna, who was trying to enter the house.
Unconsciously, I spoke briefly.
The child’s injuries and the way she seemed keenly aware of things kept coming to mind.
“I’ll go in first.”
I enveloped my body in an illusion.
“What’s with that appearance?”
Yohanna was surprised to see me. It was because my appearance was exactly like the child’s.
I opened the door in the form of a child.
Creak.
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The old door easily opened at my touch.
The house was a mess.
Trash scattered on the floor, and the walls were covered in mold. I couldn’t believe a child lived here.
A woman, seemingly intoxicated, stared at me with blurry eyes in the middle of the house.
She adorned herself with clothes and accessories that didn’t suit the old house.
The woman’s gaze shifted to me.
In her eyes, the intoxication from seeing me as a child disappeared, replaced by anger. I couldn’t see the gaze of a mother looking at her child.
“Why are you here? I told you not to run away, to stay with those people! Because of you, my life is a mess, and you can’t even stay still!”
Silently, I picked up the medicine bottle that had fallen to the floor.
It was the medicine I had given to the child.
When I opened the bottle, more than half of it was gone. The child must have been applying it consistently for at least a month.
The smell of the medicine I had given lingered in the air, reaching the woman in front of me.
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Are you ignoring me too?”
The woman grabbed my shoulders in the form of the child. As her hands touched me, the illusion unraveled, and I returned to my original form.
“Huh?”
The woman was bewildered.
“What are you?”
I was furious.
I swung my fist toward the worthless bastard in front of me.
Thud!
“Sigh…”
I gasped for rough breath.
The contents of the nightmare surfaced in my mind.
“Oppa, please kill us…”
Now this is getting interesting