87 – The Arrival of the Housewife
Until now, I had always lived among people who vaguely knew that there was something between Jess and me, so I never imagined such a situation.
As I quickly transformed into an adorable and innocent owner of a mischievous water spirit, I trembled all over and raised both hands.
“Oh, n-no! It’s not like that…!”
“Oh! Is this the owner that Jess was talking about?”
“Yes!”
“…?”
Unable to follow the situation, I stood frozen with both hands raised. Jess’s teacher smiled and whispered softly.
“Among water spirits, there are cases where they call their protectors ‘owners’.”
“Oh, I see…”
Finally, I was able to relax and breathe a sigh of relief. The teacher chuckled lightly and spoke.
“Shall we continue the lesson?”
“Oh, is that okay?”
“Of course.”
Upon hearing those words, Nero and I entered the classroom. As the teacher introduced us briefly, I waved my hand gently at Iris, who had wide eyes. Iris’s cheeks turned slightly red.
“Iris and Jess look like the oldest ones here.”
Although there was a wide range of age groups, the majority of the children were much younger than Jess. They appeared to be mostly in the lower grades of elementary school.
Considering that Iris looked like a middle school student and Jess looked like a upper grade elementary school student, there was quite a significant age difference.
“Come to think of it, I don’t exactly know the kids’ ages.”
After living as slaves for several years, it was strange to know their ages.
“Maybe Noah and I are the same age, and Iris is one or two years younger than me.”
I could be so sure because there was a slight mention of it in the original work. I couldn’t remember the exact details, but I had a memory of reading that Lian, who was trash in the original work, and Noah were the same age.
“If there was a status window or something like that, I could have known their exact ages. It’s a shame.”
While I was thinking about that, Nero and my introduction came to an end. Nero and I brought chairs to the back of the classroom and sat down, watching the children’s class.
The children kept turning around and couldn’t focus on the class. But soon, they started participating enthusiastically in the class, especially after Jess was praised by the teacher and ran over to me to have his head patted.
After that, as if a rule had been established, whenever the children received praise, they would come over to me, fidgeting, and ask to be patted.
Children who grew up without parents at a young age seemed thirsty for affection. As I patted them to my heart’s content, Iris looked at me with a strangely cold gaze.
Because my instincts reacted strongly, I whispered to the younger sibling who came to receive pats from Iris that they were the only one. Then the scary gaze regained warmth.
“Ugh… I know that saying this to Iris is not good…”
Even though I knew it, I couldn’t help but leave it as it was because my instincts told me that if I did, something really bad would happen.
Anyway, the noisy class came to an end and it was lunchtime. We followed the teacher to the kitchen.
“Oh? Teacher, are you preparing the food alone?”
“Yes, even if there are magic circles, we can’t bring ordinary organization members here casually.”
She knew very well that the annex and the main building were close and that a pass was required to go back and forth.
As she said, if ordinary organization members were brought in haphazardly, there was a possibility that the information about the officers’ residence would leak out. However, there was not a single reliable officer available to assign as a cook.
She had no choice but to prepare meals for more than 20 children alone. And during class!
“I’ll help you.”
“What?! No, no! I can’t ask a guest to do this.”
“Well, we’ll finish quickly if we do it together.”
With a smile, she headed into the kitchen, while Nero received a communication through a modified communication device that looked like a crystal.
“Hey, sorry to bother you, but can I go somewhere for a moment?”
“Sure, go ahead. I’ll have lunch here and then return to the main building with Jess and Iris.”
“Yeah, if anything comes up, you can contact me through the teacher.”
“Got it.”
There was only one valuable communication crystal in the annex. I didn’t receive one because I never had a reason to leave the main building. Besides, there were always officers with communication crystals nearby, so I didn’t feel the need for one.
After Nero left, I rolled up my sleeves and said:
“Well, shall we get started?”
A professional housewife appeared in the kitchen.
***
“It’s delicious!”
“Mm-hmm!”
“Yummm…”
I watched the children eat hurriedly with a satisfied smile on my face.
“Oh… Where did I put those ingredients?”
The teacher looked at the unfamiliar spices and ingredients with a puzzled expression, but after taking a bite of the food, his expression brightened and he began to enjoy the meal.
“Yummy, what’s this called?”
Jess stuffed food into his mouth and brought me a plate full of the food he thought was delicious.
“I’m fine, so eat a lot.”
“Hu, hii… gulp. It’s so delicious! Jess is the best!”
“The best! Jess!”
“Jess!”
The expression on my face, which had been pleasantly relaxed by the sight of the children shouting after Jess, turned pale in an instant.
The sight of young children collectively calling me their master! It was a situation that wouldn’t be strange even if the police appeared and took me away, transcending space and time. I immediately raised both hands and said,
“You can’t call me that way! Just call me sir -… no, call me hyung or oppa!”
I realized too late that it was ambiguous to ask them to call me sir. Then the children obediently started calling me hyung or oppa.
Some children proudly showed off their chubby bellies, saying that they had already learned the terms hyung and oppa.
After the lively lunch ended, Jess and Iris prepared to go back to the main building with me. The other children ate and slept in the annex, so only Jess and Iris left the building.
“Hyung, you can’t go?”
“Don’t go!”
“Huuaaah!”
“Huuying!!”
From Noble mtl dot com
Some children threw tantrums, while others burst into tears. The slightly more mature children were patting the crying children, saying, “You shouldn’t cry!”
In dangerous situations, you shouldn’t cry to survive, so the teacher didn’t stop them either.
“We’ll come again tomorrow. Let’s stop here for now.”
“Really?”
“Really. I’ll come with Jess and Iris tomorrow.”
The children’s faces brightened at those words. They still seemed filled with regret, but they seemed satisfied just knowing that they could meet again.
After that day, I started visiting the annex every day. Even though they were children, Noah convinced me that I didn’t need anyone by my side anymore because there were so many people around.
Noah hesitated for a while, but after visiting the annex once, he nodded his head.
I finally gained my freedom!
Every morning, I went to the annex with Jess and Iris, helping with the teacher’s lessons and preparing meals.
I came up with various lessons that I thought would be good for the children’s education and conducted them. And so, enjoyable days passed by…
Three years have passed.
***
“…? Huh? It’s already been three years?”
When you spend every day the same way, there are times when you wonder when time has flown by, don’t you? I was feeling exactly like that right now.
“But even so, isn’t it too fast?”
As I felt that doubt, I suddenly saw my reflection in the mirror.
An average face that was somewhat presentable (compared to the faces of other kids, it wouldn’t be too bad, right?), white hair that always reached my shoulders, and clearly elongated arms and legs that showed that I had definitely passed 17.
“But at least being tall is good.”
Although there were still many traces of youth on my face, my height had grown so much that I no longer felt like a child. It was comfortable, like wearing clothes that fit my body.
While I was admiring the changes in my appearance over the past three years…
Knock knock.
I heard a slightly heavy knocking sound. There was only one person who knocked with such force, clenching their fist tightly.
“Come in, Jess.”
Creak!
“Master Juin!”
Even though Jess had grown older and become proficient in speech, he still called me “Master” as “Master Juin!” Honestly, if he didn’t call me that way, I would feel a bit disappointed.
Thump!
Jess ran towards me and hugged me tightly. Suddenly, Jess had grown so much that he was almost 170 centimeters tall. If I had grown a little later… I would have had to look up at Jess.
“Oppa.”
Iris walked softly outside the open door, smiling gently. Iris was slightly smaller than Jess. It seemed that Jess, being a werewolf, was naturally taller.
I lightly stroked Jess, who wouldn’t let go while holding onto my waist, and then released him.
“Now that Jess has grown up, you can’t just cling to me like this, you know?”
“hehehehe…”
Seeing his drooping ears, I wanted to cancel my words, but I held back. When he was young, it might have been different, but now that his secondary traits had appeared, it was necessary to teach him not to hug anyone recklessly.
“But you’re Master Juin…”
Jess easily understood that he shouldn’t touch or hug others without permission, but when it came to me, he didn’t understand.
“hehehehe…”
Iris approached and hugged my waist tightly.
“It’s okay for family members to hug each other, right?”
“Well, that’s true.”
Since it wasn’t a wrong statement, I nodded my head while trembling with my words, and Iris had a satisfied expression. Then, Jess puffed up his cheeks and shouted.
“I want to be family too!”
“No, you can’t. Oppa is my oppa. Jess, your hair is red.”
“Then let’s get married!”
A heavy silence fell upon us at the unexpected words that I couldn’t even imagine.