Ch#205
Tese tan thought as he looked at the wriggling baby.
'......Small.'
How was he supposed to hold such a tiny life?
Fear and awe mixed with unfamiliarity, making his head ring.
"I know it's contradictory."
A voice came from opposite him.
Lifting his gaze, he saw Ardiana's gaunt face.
Ardiana spoke in a cracked voice.
"I never even held her properly once. So you......"
Unable to finish, her cold eyes stared at Tese tan for a long time.
As if she still lacked the courage to face the baby's face.
"I'm going."
Ardiana turned her back.
There was no chance to call her.
When he came to, a small, warm baby was already squirming in his arms.
The scene changed once more.
* * *
"I told you, didn't I? The leader has a woman!"
In front of the fireplace.
Libia shouted from behind the silently seated Tese tan.
"Look at this! So all that time, it was because he got dumped by a woman?! I thought it was some unspeakable story! Some painful past or something, damn it!"
"......"
"Everyone else plays around with love and fails once—does that mean turning into a corpse for half a year?! And now......!"
Libia roughly tousled her own hair.
"He comes back with a baby too?! Are you really insane? What the hell do you plan to do-?!"
Aleric beside her let out a sigh.
"Stop it, Libia."
"Stop what?! Do you not get what situation this is? What crazy mercenary group drags around a newborn baby?!"
"......Depending on the situation, there could be a newborn."
"Depending my ass! So now who's going to take responsibility for that baby? The leader's the type who stands there dazed in front of monsters! The guy who just stares blankly while they slice or tear his own throat!"
"We cover him."
"Covering has limits! How do you cover for someone who's out of it?! If that's how it's gonna be, disband the mercenary group!"
Silence fell over the base.
All the members' expressions turned complicated.
Libia lamented.
"How are we supposed to raise her, how the hell are we supposed to raise a baby?!"
"......"
"The mom must be crazy too? What kind of lunatic sends her own baby to a mercenary group? He's the only dad? She's not the mom?! Ah, I really wanna see her face once!"
That was when.
"Waaah-!"
A baby's cry erupted from the armchair piled high with blankets.
Libia clamped her mouth shut with a gasp.
"Waaah! Waaaah!"
The baby wailed pitifully.
With a flustered expression, Libia turned to Aleric.
"D-Did my voice get too loud?"
Aleric sighed again.
At that moment.
Tese tan, who had been staring only at the firewood, rose from his seat.
"......No matter what, I'll raise her."
He walked toward the armchair.
The moment he picked her up, the baby immediately stopped crying.
Tese tan turned to the executives.
"Her situation's worse than mine. So I'll raise her."
Libia let out an absurd scoff.
"Her name is Astie."
Tese tan held the baby out before her.
Libia, looking down at the baby, slowly closed her lips.
"Bu, baa......"
Green galaxies swam over her face.
As if promising to remember her forever within them.
"Crazy......"
A curse slipped unwittingly from her mouth.
Libia turned creakily to Aleric and Victor.
"Wh-Why is the baby so pretty?"
"Ha, Libia. Watch your words."
"Were babies always this cute? Or is she pretty because she's the leader's daughter......? The leader's pretty handsome."
"Libia."
"No, look! The baby is......!"
After hesitating, Libia took Tie into her arms.
The baby scrunched her pale forehead, then rolled her eyes this way and that.
"......Uu!"
Then burst into giggles upon seeing Libia.
Libia's expression finally crumbled completely.
"Haa...... She even smells so good......"
Aleric burst into laughter.
Victor poked Libia with a curious expression too.
"Give her here. Let me hold her."
But Libia widened her eyes and glared at Victor.
"Give her here? Give her here?! To the miss?!"
"Suddenly miss?"
"The leader's raising her! If she's the leader's daughter, she's our concern too! Get the title right, or I won't hand her over."
The mood lightened, laughter erupting here and there.
The scene changed once more.
Time piled up more honestly than anything in the world.
"Aak! The miss spit up again!"
"......Why tell me?"
"Because you'll clean it?"
"Why can't you?"
"Because I have to wipe around the miss's mouth and hug her tight?"
"You really......"
"But you know, Aleric, I always find it fresh and nice seeing you like this."
"......"
"You know? My ideal type's a guy who's good at childcare and housework."
"......"
"Seeing you like this, it feels such a waste to keep you just as a comrade."
"Cut the nonsense."
Astie grew day by day.
In a few weeks, her newborn look faded, and her babbling increased daily.
Astie was a baby who laughed easily.
She readily met eyes with anyone and smiled brightly.
No one in the mercenary group disliked it.
"Victor. What'd you buy this time? Don't tell me all this is for the miss?"
"Yeah."
"Didn't the leader say? The miss's room's about to burst. No more buying random stuff without reason."
"There's reason. All necessary."
"A drum street performers use?"
"She'll play it around five. Birthday present for then."
"Child's saddle."
"......Probably seven-year birthday present?"
"Amethyst pacifier too. Isn't this expensive?"
"Only one left, had to buy it."
The members had been preparing for Tie's first birthday since nearly ten months ago.
"Leader! You really bought a house in the Eldrin Plains?!"
"Yeah. Can't keep this up with Tie around."
"Crazy, then I wanna live there too!"
"......I'd rather decline."
Tese tan had his own plans too.
Unable to continue mercenary life with Tie, he planned to settle somewhere safe with the child.
"So I'm clearing those Mana Stones in advance."
"Of course! Sieging ahead means no headaches later—how great? When do we go?"
Still tiny, but when Astie turned one.
When she could say real words like 'daddy', 'uncle', 'auntie' instead of just babbling.
When she could toddle around.
"Wanna make a yard, plant lots of flowers! But kinda dangerous? Kids eat grass and stuff."
"Buying the whole plains, no need for a yard."
"The whole Eldrin Plains?!"
"No reason not to."
"......Leader. All that mad workaholic grinding pays off, huh?"
Tese tan was clearly excited, and everyone in the mercenary group knew it.
That made it all the more tragic.
"Nice weather. Perfect for Mana Stone sieges."
"The miss is up on the plains, right? With Victor?"
Eldrin Plains.
The long canyon occupying below it.
The day they all set out for the unsieged mid-sized Mana Stone.
"Leader! Face of Ruin......!"
Of all times, the curse making monsters rampage even in daylight returned.
"The canyon collapsed! Evacuate!"
The ensuing storm brought winds, and part of the canyon crumbled down.
"Victor......! Why'd you go there?!"
"Monsters everywhere up top too! With flying monsters, better below......!"
It was supposed to be a meaningful day.
As planned, Astie should have waited in the safe cabin atop the plains.
But,
"......Astie."
In the center of the final changed scene.
Tese tan regained consciousness.
The countless scenes he'd observed without form had now reached their end.
"......Astie!"
The surroundings were filled entirely with corpses.
Atop the pile of comrades' bodies, his own self stared somewhere, limbs bound by monsters.
There, a baby wailed wrapped in cloth.
"Kieeeek-!"
The next moment, a dragon descended before Astie, kicking up gusts.
Jet-black body, red eyes.
Tese tan knew the dragon's identity.
It was undoubtedly Lucarion.