Chapter 34
“Ugh…”
Riri became sullen after being scolded by Katarina.
If she had a tail like a puppy, it would definitely be drooping right now.
“Ahem. Do not be too harsh on her. It might still be a little difficult for Riri.”
I subtly tried to stop Katarina.
It absolutely wasn’t because I felt like I was being lectured alongside her.
It was just that I felt bad seeing the youngest being scolded so much.
…Really.
“Yes, Liege Lord.”
Katarina immediately bowed her head to me.
Just as the commotion was about to settle down.
Riri, who had been keeping her head down, suddenly snapped her head up.
Her eyes were filled not with a sense of injustice or anger, but with a strong competitive spirit.
“No, Master. Lady Katarina is right…! I’m going to be a Retainer who won’t embarrass you, Master! Riri will do her best!”
'Huh?'
Even though she had suffered, Riri was showing an attitude of trying to overcome it.
Moreover, her reason was solely for my sake.
It was her single-minded determination to become a Retainer worthy of me.
'…'
I found myself looking back on my own actions.
If even my youngest Retainer was like this, what about me, her Master and a True Ancestor?
I touched the Sunlight with my finger once at the beginning, decided it wasn’t for me, and immediately called GG.
After that, I didn’t think about overcoming my weakness at all, and just rolled around in my Home Base.
How embarrassing was this.
Right. I’ve made up my mind.
I made a firm resolution.
I will overcome one of my greatest weaknesses, the Sunlight…!!
'Ugh. It’s impossible after all!'
- Instead of doing that, I decided to just be an embarrassing Master.
There was no way I could overcome that terrible nausea.
Embarrassing was embarrassing, and impossible was impossible.
Instead, I decided to at least praise my Retainer who had mustered up her courage.
“That is a good resolution, Riri. You are truly admirable.”
“Hehe, Master!”
Upon hearing the praise, Riri quickly broke into a bright smile.
Katarina, who was standing next to her, also gave a small nod.
When her expression softened a bit, it seemed she inwardly acknowledged the youngest’s resolve.
“Since the Liege Lord has personally praised you, make sure to devote yourself even more from now on.”
“Yeah!”
Hmm. Still, I couldn’t just send the youngest out into the Sunlight without any preparation.
After pondering for a moment, I pulled out a black hoodie that had been stuffed in my closet.
It was something I used to wear often back when I was a man, before I Awakened.
It didn’t even fit my body anymore, so I had been debating whether to throw it away or not, but I never thought it would be used like this.
“Riri. Wear this.”
“Huh? Clothes?”
“Indeed. If you pull the hood down low, it will block out the Sunlight much better.”
“Y-you’re giving this to Riri? Really?!”
Riri took the hoodie I handed her with both hands, then hugged it tightly to her chest as if it were some precious treasure.
“Thank you, Master. I’ll cherish it…!”
Then, Katarina, who had been watching silently from the side, suddenly trembled slightly as if overwhelmed with emotion.
“Ah…! The Liege Lord is a Great Being who has already conquered the Sunlight. Yet you still understand and Embrace our weakness. Truly, one cannot measure your boundless, ocean-like heart!”
No.
No. Not at all.
I just know the struggle because it’s hard for me too.
But I couldn’t exactly correct her and say no here.
I just showed a benevolent smile without saying a word.
At that moment, Si-Yeon, who had been quietly watching, silently approached.
“Riri. This will help too.”
What she pulled out from her clothes was the black Assassin mask she wore herself.
Si-Yeon wordlessly handed the mask, which covered the lower half of the face, to Riri.
“Wow, thank you too, Lady Si-Yeon!”
Riri put on the hoodie and meticulously wore the mask as well.
With the hood pulled down low and the mask covering her mouth and nose, her areas exposed to the Sunlight were significantly reduced.
Having perfectly armed themselves like that, Riri and Katarina stepped out the front door again.
This time, they didn’t come back even after quite some time had passed since they left.
“Are they doing okay?”
Growing curious, I brought up Katarina’s vision using [Sight Sharing].
The outside scenery entered my eyes.
First of all, the people passing by on the street were completely unaware of her.
It was Thanks to [Night’s Veil], which she kept active whenever she went out after the Seollim-dong Gate incident.
However, Riri, who was sticking close to Katarina’s side and following her with quick little steps, seemed to naturally perceive her.
It seemed Katarina had adjusted something so that only Riri could see her.
“Oh. So it can be used like that too?”
It was an application that even I, her Master, hadn’t known about.
“Ugh… Lady Katarina. The Sunlight stings and makes me dizzy…”
“Did you not swear an oath before the Liege Lord earlier? Endure it.”
“Yeah… Riri will try to endure it…!”
Even while scolding her strictly, Katarina had subtly slowed down her footsteps to match Riri’s pace.
The two of them made it to the main road like that, but there, Riri’s footsteps came to a sudden halt.
“Lady Katarina. What is that?”
What Riri pointed at with sparkling eyes was a city bus speeding down the road.
“It is a bus, a form of public transportation that carries many people along a designated route.”
“A bus…! How fascinating…!”
“We must ride that as well.”
“Wow! I want to ride it!”
…Huh?
Surprisingly, Riri didn’t even know the concept of a bus.
Perhaps because she had inherited my knowledge, Katarina was basically equipped with common sense regarding Modern Civilization.
Whether it was a subway, a convenience store, or a Smartphone, she didn’t find anything awkward to look at.
But Riri looked like she was seeing a bus for the first time in her life.
Come to think of it, the fact that she didn’t even have the concept of honorifics showed that her Base was definitely different from Katarina’s.
“Does the basic knowledge they come with vary for each Summoned Retainer?”
Another question was added, but it wasn’t important right at this moment.
A short while later.
Having boarded the bus, Riri kept tugging at Katarina’s sleeve, finding whatever was outside the window so fascinating.
“Lady Katarina! That building is huge!”
“Be quiet. The humans are staring.”
“Ah. S-sorry… I am…”
Scolded again, Riri lowered her eyes.
At that, Katarina let out a light sigh.
“…You may speak comfortably with me. I scolded you earlier because you acted disrespectfully in the presence of the Liege Lord, so do not take it to heart.”
“Yeah! Got it! I didn’t take it to heart! Riri likes you too, Lady Katarina!”
Riri smiled brightly.
Katarina’s gaze needlessly darted out the window.
“Oh my.”
As I watched that sight, the corners of my mouth curled up into a grin.
Well, well.
Isn’t Katarina secretly adoring her younger sister?
Trying so hard not to show it is actually making it more obvious.
It felt like I was directly observing my fully grown eldest daughter taking my youngest daughter on an errand, perhaps?
It was a heartwarming sight.
Anyway, after transferring on public transportation a few times like that, the two arrived safely at their destination.
The place they arrived at was a secluded mountainside where a C-rank Gate had opened.
Quite some time had passed, and the sun was already beginning to set.
* * *
At the same time.
Near the entrance of the mountain where the gate had opened.
Two men, one blonde and one black-haired, had parked their car in a corner of the unpaved road and were smoking cigarettes.
They were B-rank Hunters belonging to the mid-sized Taesan Guild.
However, because High-rank Gates hadn’t been appearing at all lately, they had come all the way down to this Lower-tier Gate area to make some pocket money.
“Hah, fuck, why aren’t any decent gates popping up these days? Even Low-rank Gates are a bitch to reserve.”
The blonde grumbled while glaring at her Smartphone.
“Tell me about it.”
The black-haired man roughly agreed, sweeping his gaze around.
“We’ll just have to steal a spot and go in, I guess.”
From the start, they hadn’t come with a gate reservation.
Their intention was to kill time waiting near the mountain entrance, then extort a reservation ticket from someone and go in.
With the combat power of B-rank Hunters, they could easily intimidate the Novice Hunters who came to these C-rank Gates and steal their spots.
In today’s World where strength is prioritized above all else, it is a common occurrence.
Just then.
The black-haired man’s gaze fixed on someone approaching from afar.
A girl wearing a black oversized hoodie pulled down low and a mask.
She didn’t seem to have a Party with her, and the way she was looking around in fascination made her look exactly like a novice Hunter.
“Looks like she’s the one who reserved this gate, huh?”
As the black-haired man pointed with his chin, the blonde also looked in that direction and smirked.
“You’re right. She’s a total newbie; you can tell just by looking at her.”
They threw the cigarettes they were smoking onto the ground and approached the girl.
However, as they got closer and looked carefully.
Even though she was wearing a baggy hoodie, the silhouette of her figure was extraordinary.
'Oh, shit. She’s hot?'
A subtle desire flickered in their eyes.
“Hey there~ Excuse us for a sec~”
They stealthily stepped up as if to block the girl’s sides.
“…?”
“Hi there~ How old are you, baby? Did you come alone?”
The blonde blatantly flirted with her.
“Heh heh. You crazy bastard. Why are you startling the kid?”
The black-haired man hit the blonde’s shoulder and cut in, needlessly pretending to have manners.
However, the sly smile hanging on his lips was highly threatening.
“Sorry, sorry. My friend is a bit tactless. Anyway, it’s not easy to reserve a gate these days. We just so happened to fail to make a reservation.”
The black-haired man subtly brought up the main point.
“So I was wondering, do you have any thoughts of selling your reservation ticket to us? We’ll pay you well for it.”
“While you’re selling the reservation ticket, give us your number too. We oppas will handle the dangerous gate for you, so you just rest, and when we’re done, let’s hang out with the oppas, yeah?”
The blonde chimed in from the side.
“Ah. For reference, we’re B-rank Hunters.”
“You’ve heard of the Taesan Guild, right? We oppas belong there.”
Their calculation was that if they emphasized their affiliated Guild and rank, she would naturally grovel, give up her spot, and offer her number.
However,
“Hm? Reservation ticket? Taesan Guild? Riri doesn’t know about things like that?”
The girl tilted her head and looked up at the men.
But right then.
Seeing the girl’s eyes revealed inside the hood, they couldn’t help but flinch a little.
“What the. Why are her eyes so red? Are they bloodshot? Or are they colored contacts?”
Occasionally, there were cases where physical transformations occurred among high-rank Awakeners.
But there was no way someone like that would come to a C-rank Gate alone, so they thought that wasn’t it.
At that moment.
The girl continued speaking brightly.
“I don’t know about that stuff, but I brought an ID! Master gave it to me!”
“…Master?”
“And you know what! Riri rode a bus for the first time earlier too! It was super big and fascinating!”
“…?”
At the strange answer, the blonde and black-haired men instead put on dumbfounded expressions.
“What the Hell is with this bitch?”
“N-no, that’s not it. What we mean is…”
The flustered blonde tried to continue speaking.
“You, Are people from another Guild or Party members coming by any chance? Or are you alone?”
“I didn’t come alone! I came with Lady Katarina!”
'…?'
But even when they looked around, no one else could be seen.
On the mountain path, there were only sparsely grown trees and bushes.
Moreover
“Oh right. I learned how to ride the subway too! It wasn’t easy, but it was fun!”
The hoodie-wearing girl kept chattering nonsense that completely didn’t fit the situation.
“Ah shit, we can’t get through to her. What the Hell is this bitch doing?”
Eventually, the black-haired man clicked his tongue in annoyance.
“…What is this? Is she a bit slow in the head?”
The blonde muttered as if he were dumbfounded.
She looked perfectly fine.
But this was on the level of having not just one, but several screws loose.
The black-haired man lowered his voice and spoke threateningly.
“Hey. Looks like you’ve adopted some weird concept or something. Does this seem like a joke because we’re speaking nicely? Just quietly hand over the reservation ticket.”
“Huh?”
“We’re B-rank Hunters. You know what that means, right?”
Finally, the moment the blonde reached out and tried to grab the girl’s shoulder.
CRACK - !
“Gyaaaaagh?!”
The blonde’s scream echoed across the silent roadside.
His arm had instantly twisted into a bizarre angle.
“W-what the?!”
The black-haired man next to him was startled and tried to step back.
CRACK - !
“Gyaagh!!”
The black-haired man’s arm also twisted in the exact same direction in midair.
“Hwaaagh! M-my arm! My aaaaarm!!”
“F-fuck… What the Hell just happened?!”
The two of them fell to their knees, clutching their broken arms and trembling violently.
The girl hadn’t even lifted a single finger.
It felt like they were grabbed by something invisible, and their arms were twisted.
What on Earth was it?
Was she a Telekinesis-type Awakener?
They looked up at the girl with fearful eyes.
“Huh? These humans, their arms got all weird? How fascinating~”
Large red eyes stared down at them.
That unrealistically innocent tone of voice somehow felt incredibly creepy.
At that moment.
A sinister urban legend that had recently been secretly circulating among Hunters flashed through their minds.
An urban legend about a High-rank Monster, a Vampire that lived hidden within human society.
The characteristics of the Vampire in the urban legend were clear.
It hated Sunlight and wrapped its entire body up tightly.
It was active in the late evening or at night.
It lacked knowledge of the human World and sometimes showed awkward aspects.
It possessed bizarre and powerful abilities.
And lastly.
- - Its eyes were said to be red.
The men made eye contact with each other.
This girl perfectly met all of those conditions in front of them.
“…”
“Hwaaaaaagh!”
Gripped by extreme terror, they grabbed their dangling arms and ran away as fast as their legs could carry them.