Chapter 10
“But I haven’t finished talking yet!”
I wriggled down from the sofa and tapped the bracelet on the table repeatedly.
No response.
“Hey! Hey! Mya-ne! Myana-dakka! Zanainju arasseo!”
As if the connection hadn’t been completely cut off, a screen floated back into the air.
“Jo. Da jo. Da muege.”
[……I threw it away. You said you didn’t need it.]
“……”
What an utterly unreasonable demon!
I had refused it, yes—but throwing it all away in less than a few hours? Did that even make sense?
‘If I knew you were going to throw it away, I would’ve taken at least some of it! What a waste!’
That day, I learned that even a baby’s blood pressure could rise to the point of dizziness.
Still, I felt a bit better the next day when Neriuwen explained that she had probably given it to people in need.
“Hugo doesn’t really… do that kind of thing, but sometimes he speaks without thinking things through.”
Translated differently, that just meant he was tactless. He smiled brightly and acted polite and respectful only toward Neriuwen.
“Resebseo.”
“That’s how people tend to see him. He’s just very shy.”
These siblings?
Wasn’t one supposed to be “perfect,” and the other “shy”?
It was ridiculous.
“Still, it’s not that he has bad intentions or dislikes you. You’re actually the first person he’s ever given anything to besides our mother, so he’s probably just inexperienced.”
He had lived for fifteen hundred years and never once given anyone a gift?
“Geojitma.”
“When have I ever lied to you?”
…She hadn’t.
I rolled my eyes, unsure whether to believe her, but eventually decided to trust her and let it go.
‘She said she’d take me to the sea today to cheer me up anyway!’
It was my first outing in two years since receiving the Fairy’s Blessing.
Until now, Neriuwen had treated the outside world like a minefield and never let me leave her barrier.
‘Honestly, I didn’t even care much about the outside world since I only had death waiting anyway.’
But now that we were actually going on a trip, I felt a strange excitement.
I had no real memories of anything that could be called “travel.”
‘Maybe school field trips?’
And even those weren’t good memories.
‘How strange.’
Out of all my lives, the fact that I was finally going on a trip—possibly even my last one—with a demon felt strange.
My stomach felt a little uneasy.
I was happy, but also strangely anxious.
“—Ri. Riri?”
“……Huh?”
“Why? Don’t you like it? Should we go back?”
I shook my head quickly as I looked at Neriuwen, who had just gotten off the carriage at the entrance of the port city.
No way. We came all this way—why would we turn back? I had to see the sea.
“No? I like it! I like the sea!”
“Then that’s good.”
Maybe… it was okay to enjoy this a little.
This might be my last time seeing the sea in this world, so I decided to stop worrying about pointless thoughts.
…Ah, wait.
My sea…! The emerald-blue ocean was right in front of me!
“My sea!!”
“What are you talking about?”
“My sea…”
“The sea? Do you want to go to the sea?”
Yes. Take me to the sea immediately, you kidnappers!
‘Sigh… I was just happily enjoying the smell of the ocean a few minutes ago. What kind of disaster is this?’
To explain how I ended up with these squid-like kidnappers, we have to go back to when Neriuwen and I first arrived in the port city.
That was probably where everything went wrong.
It started when a child deliberately bumped into Neriuwen and stole her coin purse.
“Hm. Should I catch them and teach them a lesson, or just consider it charity and let them go?”
At her muttering, I quickly tapped her hand.
“Cha-cha… baby….”
In a way, disciplining them might have been correct—but I knew such common sense wouldn’t work on street kids.
Besides, when this demon said “discipline,” I could only imagine violence.
And there was no need for her to move anyway; she could find them instantly with magic.
“Ma-beuro daejana.”
“I guess there’s no need to use magic. There aren’t many of them.”
“Ung.”
So I thought, fine, let it go.
“Still, humans don’t know that.”
I should have remembered then—the house full of gold and jewels.
I might be a beggar, but Neriuwen was so absurdly rich that she could dismiss the living expenses of several years as “not much.”
That’s why this happened.
‘I forgot how this world works for a moment.’
There was no male escort because Beryl had briefly stepped away.
A wealthy woman and a small child, alone together.
To them, we were perfect prey.
‘They probably didn’t even know she was a demon.’
Neriuwen usually kept me close, but she had briefly set me down in the inn room.
She had gone to ask the innkeeper if there was food suitable for a baby, since I might want to try something other than Beryl’s cooking.
In that short moment, intruders burst into our room, lifted me up, and that was how I got kidnapped.
“Hehehe. How much should we ask for? There was a ridiculous amount of gold coins earlier.”
“More than that, right?”
But strangely, being kidnapped didn’t make me think of anything except wanting to see the sea.
‘Aren’t they the ones in danger?’
All we had to do was wait for Neriuwen to notice I was gone.
The real ones who should worry were them.
Well, not that worrying would help.
Whether you got beaten quickly or slowly by a demon—that was all it came down to.
“The kid is so calm. Why isn’t he crying?”
“I know, right? First baby I’ve seen who doesn’t cry.”
They had rough faces.
I ignored their chatter.
‘You’re in danger, so let me go!’
Even if I said that, they wouldn’t understand anyway.
‘Should I just close my eyes and wait for the violence in a few minutes?’
Just as I was thinking that—
“—You want money?”
A clear, beautiful voice suddenly came from empty space.
It was Neriuwen.
“Riri!”
“Yes.”
Seeing her appear with a graceful smile made relief surge through me.
She stood at the entrance of a shabby building, arms crossed, then flicked her finger.
At the same time, my body floated into the air and landed naturally in her arms.
Warm, familiar comfort.
Yes. This demon is definitely mine.
“W-what?! Where did she come from?!”
As the kidnappers scrambled for weapons, Neriuwen snapped her fingers.
“Then you should be rewarded.”
At that moment, clink—several gold coins fell to the ground.
And then, from the broken wooden ceiling above, even more coins began pouring down.
“What is this?! Gold coins?!”
“Am I dreaming… gold is raining….”
“B-bite it! See if it’s real!”
Some stared in awe, others in greed, as gold coins rained like a storm.
They glittered so brightly that the dim room shimmered as sunlight reflected off them.
It was, for a brief moment, a beautiful scene.
But—
“It’s real! It’s real gold!”
“We’re rich! We’re rich! Hahaha!”
“I told you! I said they were rich!”
“Don’t stop! Collect it!”
Watching them greedily clutch the coins, I clicked my tongue internally.
‘It’s all meaningless once you’re dead anyway.’
Blinded by the glittering moment, they didn’t realize the falling gold was trapping them.
They only noticed something was wrong much later.
“W-wait, wait! I can’t move!”
“What? Since when—”
They struggled in the pile of gold before their eyes finally landed on us.
“T-this is enough! We’ve received payment!”
“Yes! The child is safe!”
“This is unfair. The reward for protecting Riri must be much greater.”
What nonsense justification.
Neriuwen smiled faintly while holding me.
“It’s already enough! More than enough!”
But of course, that meant nothing to our demon.
“Hm. No. Not enough. You protected our Riri, so this isn’t nearly sufficient.”
In other words—they had picked the wrong target.
“Th-this crazy woman—stop it!”
“If we die, our comrades will come for you! Do you know who we are?!”
“You insane woman!! Stop!!”
They had been trying to escape through the gold, but now the coins piled up to their chests and they began begging.
“P-please spare us!”
“We were wrong!”
“We won’t do it again! Please!”
Neriuwen watched them silently as they were buried deeper in gold.
“Are you… still not satisfied?”
One of them glared, teeth clenched, finally snapping—
“Y-you—!”
He swung his fist.
Neriuwen easily dodged it and snapped her fingers again.
“Still not enough.”
