WOFSTF 14

Chapter 14

[Tsk… Haa, I’ve been so starved that everything looks appetizing. Human food is nothing but harmful to this body.]

Wait a minute.

I’ve heard this line somewhere before.

Where did I hear it?

I think it’ll come to me if I eat this chicken.

I took a bite first.

[Hmm. The smell of juices spreading from that chicken… The sauce has soy sauce mixed with sugar. Humans are creatures who love sugar. This body quite likes sugar too.]

Hmm.

Now I know.

The identity of this voice.

“Juen! Your name was Juen, right?”

[It’s not Juen, it’s Junel!]

Immediately, a rebuttal came back.

“Ah, Junel. Sorry. I remember people well, but I’m not good at remembering monster names.”

Junel.

He was a sword spirit called the guardian of this place, ‘Kalrai Market,’ where I am.

Though his name has now become something you’d only see in legends, in the original work he was a kind spirit who later sacrificed his own body to give Docheop a powerful sword suited for him when Docheop’s sword broke… well, a pushover… no, a good spirit.

That spirit always referred to himself as ‘this body.’

That’s what I remembered.

[Monster?! This body is not some monster… No, you, you, did you just hear my voice?]

A very flustered voice echoed.

“Of course. I’m talking because I can hear you.”

Silence followed again. It was when the wind was quietly echoing.

[Waaaaah!!]

Something like a flying squirrel came fluttering over. If you’re going to reveal yourself, do it quietly.

Thud!

“Ack!!”

This guy crashed right into Hallara’s proud nose.

[You bastard! You can see this body!]

Junel grabbed my cheeks with both hands and looked up. But oh my!

“So cute!”

A 3-head-tall small person with short limbs was looking at me. In the novel, it was only written that he was a fairy with chubby cheeks.

To think he was such a cute little one.

[Can you really hear what I’m saying?!]

“To think such a cute little one is a fairy. Oh my! Phone! Oops, there are no phones here either. This is something I should photograph and set as my profile picture.”

This world has things like magic, but it lacks the essential smartphone.

If only I had that, I could beat Docheop and become the world’s strongest.

[I’m asking if you can hear this body’s words!]

But this fairy has a louder voice than mine despite his small body.

“Of course I can hear you. I’m not that old. I can hear you even if you speak quietly.”

[Huh? Really? Can you really hear… *sniff*, hear me…?]

But did I do something wrong? Tears formed in his large eyes.

Flustered, I held out the remaining piece of chicken skewer to Junel.

“Don’t cry. At least eat this and stop.”

People naturally feel sad when they’re hungry. He said he wanted to eat even if it meant twisting my arm, so he must be hungry.

Then Junel shed tears even more sadly.

[Wah. This body does not cry! It must be cursed by a water spirit! Water keeps flowing from my eyes!]

It seems Junel has more pride than I thought. But even such a Junel was cute.

“Seeing you really makes this feel like a fantasy world.”

With so many things happening and people living the same way everywhere, I hadn’t felt it, but now I could smell the thick scent of a novel.

You live long enough to see everything, really.

“You must be very hungry. Eat this for now and let’s go to my house later. I’ll make you something at home. Even though I’m just eating this here now, I’m quite good at cooking.”

Junel chewed the chicken skewer I gave him. Though he looked human, his cheeks puffed out like a squirrel’s, which was really adorable.

Did it serve as a snack? Junel wiped his eyes and hugged my face again.

[Brinihanta! I thought they were all wiped out!]

“Brinihanta?”

[That’s right, you’re of that race! One who inherited the blood of the Brinihanta Clan!]

Junel pointed at me with one of his four fingers.

The Brinihanta Clan appeared in the original work. It was one of the first five great hero families, the only family that could communicate with spirits. They once held great power by using spirit magic, but now they’ve been exterminated and disappeared into history.

“Don’t tell me that descendant is… me?”

Oh, please. God.

Please tell me it’s not true.

[Why wouldn’t you be? You’re the only beings who can converse with this body.]

I learned a truth that might have been better left unknown.

To think Hallara was actually from an exterminated family.

That meant whether I went to Bloodmere or not, I was destined for a short life.

“Oh my…”

My body swayed.

How could such trials be given to a poor extra character possessor?

[Wow, how did you survive?]

“Me? That’s what I’d like to know.”

Hallara must have really been specialized in survival.

Brinihanta was an exterminated family.

At that time, the whole world eradicated the Brinihanta bloodline thoroughly, making sure not to leave a single drop of that family’s blood.

But how did Hallara manage to survive through the generations?

But what happened until now has nothing to do with me.

What matters is the future.

“What should I do now?”

[What do you mean what to do? You have to live in hiding, quietly.]

Live in hiding.

Of course, I know that’s the only way.

But I don’t want that.

‘I didn’t do anything wrong, so why should I live in hiding?’

I lived my entire previous life holding my breath, and I didn’t want to live in hiding even after dying and falling into this place. Especially not as a lifelong fugitive. I wanted to live proudly here, at least.

That was the right I gave myself as a possessor.

Besides, now that I have Junel, I have one more friend I can open my heart to.

I peeled off Junel, who was still clinging to me and rubbing his face against mine.

Junel stuck to my stomach with a smack, as if he didn’t want to be separated.

[No! This body will protect you, so let’s live quietly here!]

He must have been very lonely. Well, Junel is a spirit who lives where there’s sword energy. The story about him appearing in Kalrwai Market is also because the Bloody Mary Household is here.

If I were to leave this place, the sword energy would fade and Junel would also weaken.

I stroked Junel’s back as he clung to my stomach. His small animal-like cute wings were also adorable.

“Having you here makes me feel a bit stronger too.”

[Do you mean it?]

His way of speaking is like an old child.

“Yeah. I don’t know where I’ll live from now on. Even if my situation gets resolved, I think we’ll have to go somewhere and live quietly, just the two of us.”

[What kind of situation? Is it something this body can’t solve?]

Junel probably can’t solve it. It seems I’m the only one in this world who can see him.

I could discuss with Junel about being a descendant of the extinct race and find ways to avoid being discovered.

“It’s okay. Everything will work out.”

It was the moment I was thinking that.

“…Halara Seheb.”

I heard a man’s voice calling me from behind.

***

Docheop came down to the village again, dressed in a clean shirt.

Despite the late evening, Kalrwai Market was bustling with people.

“Come to think of it, there was a spirit staying here.”

It was long after he awakened his 9th star that he got to see the thousand-year-old spirit called Junel. Only after obtaining the relic of Brinihanta and absorbing it was he able to see the legendary spirit they said could be seen.

‘I can’t see it now. That chatty spirit.’

But he would see it soon. There was no power he couldn’t obtain if he set his mind to it. Two twinkling stars flickered before his eyes. In the meantime, Docheop awakened his 2nd star.

More importantly, he needed to find Hallara now.

The mysterious woman who had made even Francesca change, unlike the past.

‘She couldn’t possibly be pregnant.’

Docheop recalled their first meeting. It was a pitch-black night that he couldn’t remember no matter how hard he tried.

A child couldn’t have been conceived from that night. But Francesca’s misunderstanding of the situation wasn’t entirely bad.

‘Thanks to that, I was able to tie her down.’

That was his purpose.

He couldn’t leave Hallara, who alone had changed in this world, to her own devices. He planned to keep her by his side and peel back the layers of her identity one by one. And also the reason why she had approached him in the past.