Gaiden ― Later Il Tales (13)
The appearance of the two, as if they were seeing a newlywed couple, made me think a lot in that brief moment.
Is it really right for me to go over there and pretend I know?
The answer was no.
It was time for me to make a decision and immediately pretend I didn’t find them and turn around and go back to where I was.
“I haven’t seen you in a long time, aren’t you pretending to know me? This is a bit disappointing.”
Cass Lyle’s voice, strangely more masculine than before, caught my ankle.
Come to think of it, he understood his opponent not by his outward appearance, but by his inner appearance and energy.
This is a really ignorant bastard no matter who you look at.
I spit out swear words at myself and turned around again.
Cass Lyle was looking this way with a mischievous smile, and Alice Blesbuck looked at me and asked who the hell it was, and then asked with surprise as if she realized something later.
“Is this Jihyeok?”
“It’s been a while, Professor. I’m glad you’re doing well. Lyle-senpai too.”
As I nodded and bowed my head, Alice approached me.
At that moment, I glanced over her body, and her stomach was clearly visible, if at all a little.
Looking at it, it seemed like it wasn’t too long ago.
It was also the time to be most careful.
So while I was looking at her, she also looked at me several times and asked in a cautious voice.
“Uh, what happened… ?”
“That said, things are a little complicated… You don’t have to worry too much. It will probably be back to normal in a day or so.”
“yes… okay. You must have gotten into trouble again.”
She smiled understanding and nodded her head.
I smiled a little at her too.
“Then why did you try to pretend you didn’t know?”
I answered Cass Lyle’s question with a smile as if embarrassed.
“Actually, as soon as I saw it, I ran to pretend I knew it. But that… I did it because I thought it would be a nuisance if the professor’s physical condition or the appearance of the two of you intervened for nothing.”
“Great.”
At my words, Professor Alice let out an empty cough as if embarrassed.
I realized later that what I had said might sound like something to her, ‘Are you sure that you were a teacher, your disciple, and a student?’
“I didn’t mean it in a strange way, so don’t get me wrong, Professor.”
“Well then… Jihyuk, I know you’re not that kind of kid… The bad thing is me.”
Whispering in a low voice, Alice muttered in a somewhat gloomy voice.
“In the first place, I mean that no matter who I meet now, I am at least a hundred years older… .”
I was well aware that she had a strange complex for her age.
As she pondered on what to say to comfort her, Cass Lyle skillfully wrapped her arms around her waist and whispered.
“From that point of view, is it a crime for me to meet any human beings? That’s fine, criminals are a natural bond.”
“Hey, he’s too. What are you talking about… !”
“Why, you’re right.”
The two continued their love affair, arguing with each other, perhaps forgetting that I was in front of them.
Unknowingly, Cass Lyle let out a gasp, seemingly embarrassed, as if she had seen my expression, which had become dull in her mouth, gradually deteriorated.
“Um, sorry. You looked embarrassed.”
“no. It’s nice to see the couple looking good.”
“Ahaha… .”
Alice Blesbuck burst into laughter, but quickly punched Cass Lyle from an angle that wasn’t visible to me.
A vampire, even if it’s half, the power of a vampire who inherited the power of Jinjo cannot be weak.
I looked at her, pretending not to know that Cass Lyle was breathing and shutting her mouth.
“Then why did you return home? Now is the time to be very careful… ah.”
“Yeah, you’re right, Jihyuk.”
She giggled and smiled.
“A friend I’ve known for a long time is finally getting married, so can we just stand still? To be honest, Myung-Jun is that guy, and he looks gloomy and ugly, right? I was wondering who the hell would take me, but this is such good news. Thank you for going to Yuzuki and saving a person, and it makes no sense to say hello to Yuzuki.”
Alice was constantly smiling while talking nonstop.
I’ve seen Lee Myung-jun since childhood, and since I’ve been a teacher, friend, and colleague for decades, I can say that the relationship between the two is very special.
… It may be irrelevant now, but when I think about what she did for revenge after Lee Myung-joon’s absurd death, I got goosebumps without realizing it.
“Well, actually, there are other reasons besides that.”
“Any other reason?”
“okay. And Jihyuk is related to you.”
She nodded.
“Actually, me and the professor were walking around the area that used to be Milited’s sphere of influence, looking for traces of him.”
As Cass Lyle explained:
He and Alice were said to have been looking for warehouses, research facilities, and historical sites that Milited had built in case anything happened, as they are one of the Seven Evils that can create or split their own clones.
“And a few months ago, I discovered the remains of Milited… .”
“The important things were empty.”
Alice Blesbuck murmured as if worried inside.
“I wondered if it was the work of a tomb robber, but there is no way there is a robber who can break through all the magical devices and traps and take them. First of all, I want to tell the story to Sipgang.”
The first thing that came to mind at their words were the patterns engraved on my body and the fragments of Milited that Han Soo-young brought to heal my body.
‘no way… .’
Anyway, I think you’re right.
It was time to think so.
“uh? Aren’t you Professor Alice?”
Han Soo-young’s voice was heard.
When I turned my head to look, she and Yeeun Lee, Gina, Laune and Minerva were walking towards me.
“Swimming? Were you here too?”
“Yes, Professor. oh my god… !”
As soon as Han Soo-young saw Professor Alice, her eyes twinkled and she came closer.
She, too, seemed to have noticed that Professor Alice’s stomach was bloated.
“… long time no see.”
“uh? Uh, yes.”
Lee Ye-eun, who had a friendly expression as soon as she saw Cass Lyle, looked at Professor Alice once, just like Han Soo-young, and gently greeted her.
In the same way, Cass Lyle, who had a hardened expression on her face, made a surprised expression, and then gently nodded her head to receive her greeting.
“You are a descendant of the homunculus created by Milited and the vampire who followed Milited.”
Minerva uttered that, and there was no reaction, but it seemed that they were not particularly interested.
Perhaps because of the energy of the World Tree, Raune looked at Cass Lyle with a frown on her face and walked in front of me and blocked me as if protecting me.
“I’m Alice Blesbuck in Cass Lyle.”
Gina, who approached me next to me, muttered in a strange voice.
Come to think of it, Gina also said that she had just woken up.
If so, I thought that now would be the first time I saw them in person, who left for a foreign country a few years ago.
“… … .”
Gina stared at Alice Blesbuck without saying a word.
To be precise, he was looking at her stomach.
I quietly called out the boy’s name.
“Gina.”
“Yes, brother.”
“Do you have any concerns?”
“… why?”
I let out a small laugh.
“It’s just that my brother has a problem. You can tell by pretending. I was just trying to pretend I didn’t see him, but as you know, he’s a bit wide.”
“What did you say… .”
Gina chuckled and burst out laughing.
Moments later, the boy tapped me and signaled to move away from the party.
As I stepped back a little as desired, I heard a deep sigh.
I slowly lifted my head and looked at Gina.
“But it really doesn’t matter.”
Gina muttered like that, but I knew earlier that it was a habit to spit out something uncomfortable to say.
Gina, who had been crawling for a while, let out a small sigh and muttered.
“… I was just a little bit pissed off.”
“yes?”
“And then, what… You call it sage time? It has also come.”
Gina sighed once more and held out her hands towards me.
I quietly let him lift me up and hug me.
Gina, who held me, murmured.
“It’s small, brother. And light.”
“Because I’m young.”
Gina smiled softly.
“right. And when you got older, you took care of me instead of that woman. I raised it up like my brother said.”
“… … .”
Then he gently reached out and grabbed my ankle and wrist alternately.
“It’s really thin. After all, a child’s body is like this… .”
He carried me around with this body and secretly gave me laundry in case I would be scolded.
Gina let out a small laugh.
“I just thought I had grown a lot over the years I spent here, but I guess that wasn’t the case.”
The child muttered in a voice that seemed somewhat lonely.
“And I also realized that I depended on my brother a lot more than I thought… So I guess I was just grumpy when I saw it from the side… .”
I gently stroked the boy’s cheek with my shrunken hand.
Then Gina looked at me.
I was so worried about what to say, I decided not to say anything meaningless.
Because this alone has already been conveyed enough.
And just as I thought, Gina burst into laughter and hugged me tight once more.
“Brother.”
Gina giggled and whispered the name she had called me long ago.
“What if it doesn’t go back to normal? Then I will protect you. Just like my brother protected me.”
“Thank you, but I hope that doesn’t happen.”
So, as if it was funny just thinking about it, Gina burst out laughing as if it was funny.
Then Gina said, ‘Huh?’ I looked down while making a noise, and I also lowered my head and looked down.
“… … !”
There, Laune was clinging to Gina’s leg.
He pointed at me and slapped Gina’s leg with her fist, but Gina understood the meaning and nodded her head.
“Yeah, I see. sleep. I’m here. Take it, lady.”
Gina said playfully and gently lowered me.
Then, right away, I stroked Laune’s hair that was clinging to me.
“Well, after all, this kid is also my nephew… can you say?”
Gina suddenly burst into laughter while answering the advisory question.
“The children I will meet next will definitely be these pretty children.”
Gina, who was grinning, slowly turned her gaze to look at Han Soo-young and Professor Blessing.
Their story was already heading towards the end to some extent.
Gina, who confirmed this, said to me in a loud voice on purpose.
“So, brother.”
“yes?”
“When are you going to put your nephews in my arms? The more I have, the better.”
“Collock, Colok!”
Hearing this, Han Soo-young coughed as if she had heard the words, and Lee Ye-eun showed no reaction, but her face was turning red.
“Hey, Gina.”
Gina looked at her with a gaze as if she was saying what the hell he was saying, and on the contrary, she smiled.
“Then I will carry it. Instead of my brother.”
* * *
Contrary to the expectation that it would return to normal in a day or so, on the second day, there was no significant change in my physical condition.
No, to put it bluntly, I grew up a bit and came back to the point where I looked like a middle school student to a high school student.
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Other than that, nothing has changed at all.
I was staying in the territory of the World Tree, following Yeeun Lee’s recommendation to stay until my physical condition returned to normal.
I talked to Jin Ye-seul and Lee Yu-na as well as Evangeline Lohengrin about the current situation, and as if kissing each other, all three of them responded that they would come to me as soon as the academy was over.
To be precise, I could barely dissuade him that he would come right away.
Even if Yeseul and Yuna were like that, I really didn’t expect that even Evangeline-san would have such a violent reaction.
In any case, the person who made the potion said that he would come to visit him, so he thought that he would be able to return to his original state in no time.
So, I never expected that it would turn out like this.
“… What do we do? It was completely blocked.”
Yeeun Lee muttered like that with a bewildered expression on her face.
She was wearing an unusual dress, similar to the one she wore during the ceremonies of the past World Tree Festival.
As a ceremonial dress, it was very colorful and beautiful.
“What are you going to do, this?”
I was absurd and kicked the wall in front of us with my feet.
The walls were not made of concrete, but of branches of a world tree.
As with all World Tree clans, a person with the power of the World Tree cannot instinctively oppose someone with power higher than himself.
Most of the World Tree’s clan could not disobey me, and I also could not disobey Lee Ye Eun.
In fact, it could be said that no one had more power than Yeeun Lee.
There was only one being with the power of a world tree stronger than her.
The world tree itself.
In short, the current situation we are in can be seen as the intention of the World Tree.
It is because it was none other than the World Tree that brought us to this point, and made us to be alone in this space.
We are now trapped in the world tree.