Chapter 70

Encounter (2)

“Ow, ow, ow... ow, that hurts, go a little easier...”

Noel could confidently say that even when she had been seriously injured in war, she probably hadn’t whined as much as this.

But even though she was staring at Aiden with narrowed eyes, Aiden could only let out pitiful groans at the sensation of the bandage wrapping around his arm.

Of course, if it were a matter of disinfecting a wound with blood gushing out and applying a pressure bandage, even Noel would find it painful enough to groan.

However, a grown man crying out in pain with a tear-streaked face was undeniably pathetic—so much so that she found it hard to believe he was the same person who just moments ago had jammed a pen nib into his own arm to pressure someone.

It wasn’t just her either. Even the infected girl Aiden had dragged outside to give medicine seemed to have a bit of that same sentiment in her eyes...

“Why would you do something that insane in the first place?”

“There are things more important than pain, you know.”

“...I wish you'd treat me as importantly.”

“Sorry? What was that? Could you say it a bit louder...”

Noel answered by tying the knot on the bandage as tightly as she could. Aiden let out a dying groan, but she paid it no mind.

“A-anyway.”

Trying his best to regain his composure as a mature adult, Aiden straightened himself and turned to the girl.

She had followed him out, but now wore a face that clearly said she had no idea why she was here.

Fortunately, Aiden was quite used to dealing with this kind of infected person.

“So, what are your symptoms? Where does it hurt?”

The sudden, blunt question made the girl roll her eyes around instead of answering.

Of course, Aiden hadn’t actually expected an answer, so he wasn’t particularly disappointed.

Infected people who live without even the most basic of needs being met are, as a rule, extremely reluctant to talk about themselves.

They had likely grown up under such harsh conditions that even a hint of being sick would lead to rejection—it would be ingrained into them on an instinctual level.

Especially children like her who appeared to have no proper guardian.

So in cases like this, sometimes Aiden had to use methods he wasn’t particularly fond of.

He sighed and turned to Noel.

“Noel.”

“Hm?”

“I’m not some weird pervert, you know.”

Of course, if Noel were to graph her affection level for Aiden, no matter the method, it would clearly take up an enormous amount of space.

Still, even she had moments when she wondered what kind of insane nonsense this man was suddenly spouting.

So even if she muttered some incredibly vulgar Yungmun-style curses while clutching her head from the sudden headache, no one could really blame her.

“Why would you suddenly say something like that?”

“No, don’t get the wrong idea.”

Saying that, Aiden walked over to the girl.

Then he grabbed the rag-like piece of cloth she was wearing in place of a proper top and, in one swift and practiced motion, flipped it up.

“...!”

She didn’t resist—no, more accurately, she was too scared to even react.

Even when the girl trembled with a deathly pale face, Aiden calmly and thoroughly examined her body with a sharp gaze.

Normally, Noel would have struck Aiden hard on the back of the head for even attempting something like this.

But this time, she silently watched what he was doing without lifting a finger.

Because in every one of his movements, there was a sense of practiced familiarity that inspired trust.

At the very least—

It was clear that this wasn’t Aiden’s first time seeing someone like her.

After observing the trembling girl for a while, Aiden finally let her clothing fall back down and spoke.

“There are a few things I can guess at.”

He spoke clearly, though his voice carried a sigh.

“Stop using your supernatural ability.”

The girl’s eyes quivered. This time it wasn’t just fear—it was clear that she was in shock.

“I don’t know what kind it is, but I can tell it’s the kind that’ll get you killed if you keep using it. And lately, it’s been getting harder to control, hasn’t it?”

There was no answer, but Aiden didn’t wait for one and moved on to his next action.

He extended the bag he had hanging over one arm toward her.

They were the medicines he had just recently coerced out of someone with self-harm as leverage.

Aiden placed the bag on the ground and carefully lined up the medicine containers in front of the girl.

“One of these, two of those, and two of these as well. Even if it’s hard to get a proper meal, you need to eat something before taking them. Got it?”

Still, the girl gave no answer.

Her dimly glowing eyes merely drifted aimlessly through the air—that was the only response Aiden received. And this time, Aiden didn’t add anything further either.

Instead, he gently took her hand.

“......”

He had prepared himself for her to yank away, or at worst, even bite him but fortunately, the girl quietly accepted his touch.

Aiden remained still like that for a moment, as if trying to warm her hand with his own body heat.

“......”

“......”

The silence settled in, and then the girl’s breathing began to stabilize, and then the trembling that had shaken her body as if she had the chills slowly subsided.

Once that happened, Aiden, still holding her hand, pointed toward the medicine bottles.

“One of these. Two of those. And two of these. Got it?”

“......”

“One of these. Two of those. And two of these. Say it.”

“...O-one. Two. Two.”

“Again.”

“One. Two. Two.”

“Good. Don’t forget. Can you read?”

“......”

Silence again, but Aiden patiently waited for a response.

A sunken, barely audible voice finally reached him after about as long as it takes to drink a cup of tea.

“...Are you helping me?”

“As much as you trust me.”

“...Are you a bad person?”

“Well, first of all, I’m not old enough to be called ‘mister.’ And no, I’m not a bad person.”

“I can read.”

“Good.”

Saying that, Aiden pulled a business card from his coat. Along with it came the fountain pen he had stabbed into his own arm earlier. He scribbled something on the back of the card. Fortunately, even though it was stained with blood, it didn’t interfere with writing.

“Take this and go to the place written here. They’ll let you stay for about a day.”

The girl hesitantly took the card, then looked back and forth between it and Aiden with uncertainty. After repeating the motion several times, she finally spoke in a voice louder than before.

“I don’t have anything to give you.”

“I know.”

“Why are you doing this for me?”

“Because I’m an adult who has his head on straight.”

“Adults weren’t this nice.”

“That just means they only claimed to be adults. Real adults act like this.”

“You seem like a weird kind of adult.”

Noel, watching from nearby, gave a soft snort of laughter. It was a solid point.

“How did you do that?”

The question came suddenly from Noel, after the girl’s figure had disappeared.

“Sorry?”

“That girl was shaking like a leaf, scared out of her mind. But once you held her hand, she calmed down right away. Did you cast a spell or something?”

“Oh, that?”

Leaning absentmindedly against a streetlamp, Aiden grimaced in pain as he remembered that it was the arm wrapped in bandages.

“Well... I learned it from someone.”

“You learned it?”

“Yeah. But I can’t remember from who.”

Aiden answered with a slightly twisted expression. It was rare for him to show dissatisfaction.

“It was... during some really important moment. That’s all I can remember.”

“Hm. Hm.” Noel nodded quietly, then suddenly seemed to recall something and flinched.

Aiden, puzzled, turned to her. She then asked him a solemn question with the most serious look on her face.

“–Was the other person a woman?”

“...I told you, I don’t remember.”

In the first place, was that even important? The question briefly crossed Aiden’s mind, but the truth was, today he had given Noel too many chances to hold things over his head. So he chose to remain silent.

And Noel, in her own way, couldn’t speak either.

What Aiden had just said had struck her right in the chest.

‘…He said he doesn’t remember.’

That—

For Noel, who had also lost parts of her memory from childhood, was a strangely significant keyword.

So this man… also had parts of his childhood memory missing...

“......”

Well then.

What an ironic coincidence.

She mulled over that fact for a while, and it took her some time before she asked another question.

“By the way, where did you learn all that knowledge?”

“What knowledge?”

“The medical knowledge. Anyone watching would think you were a doctor.”

At that, Aiden gave a small laugh and rubbed his chin.

It was understandable—anyone would mistake him for one.

But as for that point, it wasn’t like he had any kind of professional training.

“I’ve seen a lot of kids like her.”

“Kids like her?”

“...During the Allied War, there were a lot of kids who got sick and deteriorated far worse than her.”

“......”

“The knowledge I learned back then, in makeshift ways.”

The back alley scenes were still vividly imprinted in Aiden’s mind.

War orphans. Defeated soldiers missing arms or legs.

It was a place that could only be described as hell descended upon the earth.

Strange ways of judging a person’s condition were common back then.

If they could stand and speak, they had a week left.

If they were bedridden and couldn’t get up, three days.

If they couldn’t keep food down, two days.

If they couldn’t speak properly, one day.

Aiden had merely stood there, watching the tangled chaos of life and death unfold before him.

Naturally, epidemics were part of that, and the girl he had just examined looked almost exactly like an orphan from that hellscape who had used supernatural powers.

The more they used it, the more it rotted them from the inside, until eventually they died even earlier than the people they were trying to protect.

“......”

Noel looked at Aiden with a calm, quiet gaze.

She knew full well that every person carried a history as long as the path they had walked, and that it was wrong to assume anything about that path too lightly.

But this man—

Just what kind of hells had he walked through?

Even Noel, who had seen all sorts of warzones and hellish battlefields, couldn’t begin to imagine the “something” he must be hiding within his heart.

“Well, that’s that. Shall we head back? What a way to start the morning.”

“......”

And every time he brushed off such things like it was nothing, she found it impossible to get used to.

‘What is this man, really...?’

And in truth—

Even Aiden had no choice but to just let it slide.

-System Message

▶ You have successfully completed the ‘Bonus Quest’.

▶ Target ‘Drakan’ has developed Affection toward you. You may copy one skill!

▶ Target ‘Ganesha Aldebaran’ has developed Affection toward you. You may copy one skill!

▶ Due to successful progress, a follow-up event has been triggered. Try raising Affection further!

Aiden blankly skimmed over the text with his eyes.

Wait, hold on.

He knew that sometimes a bonus quest could be triggered.

‘…Was it that just now…?’

Probably.

It seemed something had happened without him realizing it.

The girl, clutching the medicine pouch tightly to her chest, walked down the alleyway.

It was the item Aiden had given her just a short while ago.

The only difference now compared to when she had been with Aiden—

Was that her walking posture looked perfectly normal.

As if the whole thing about being sick had just been an act.

Then—

A voice called out from beyond the alleyway she was walking through.

A young man.

Wearing a monocle, a silk top hat, and a suit.

He looked every inch the merchant.

“You’ve gotten a lot better at acting human. Before, you could barely keep your disguise up.”

“…Master.”

“Your tone, your behavior—everything was perfect. That training paid off, huh?”

Then—

As soon as the girl faced the man, a supernatural energy pulsed around her body.

Magical power.

Not the Empire’s prayer power, not the Great Plains’ mana arts, not the Holy Flame of the Crown Kingdom, nor the dark energy of the demonkind.

But a supernatural ability long forgotten.

The evidence of ‘magic’—a power whose lineage had been severed even in this modern world filled with superhumans.

As that magical power swept over her body, the girl’s true form was revealed, no longer the slum child she had been pretending to be.

She barely maintained a human shape.

Her body was covered in scales. Her slit pupils had the distinct traits of a reptile.

Clear signs of being Dragonkin.

A descendant of the dragon race, long thought to be extinct.

“So.”

Even faced with such a rare species, the man continued speaking unfazed.

“What did you think? Meeting this cycle’s ‘Omnipotent One’ in person. What kind of person is he?”

“……”

The Dragonkin hesitated and looked down at her hand.

Thanks to her now much larger physique, the medicine pouch Aiden had given her was barely hanging on and about to tear but still, it remained delicately hooked around her arm.

And seeing that—

There was only one conclusion that came to the Dragonkin’s mind.

“…He seems like a good person.”

“I think so too.”

The man said that with a smile as he pressed down the silk top hat.

“Really, he’s worth getting more involved with, don’t you think? The previous Omnipotent One was a bit disappointing… Let’s see if this one is different.”

The ‘Merchant of Death’ stroked his chin with interest.

However—

His eyes gleamed sharply.

“Let’s see… whether he’s someone we can stake our fate on.”