Ch#68
"Chwee-woong......"
At Ppuppu's grumbling, Tie furrowed her brows sharply.
Then, after glancing once at Berugon—who was far off, untangling the badminton net from his ankles—she said,
"No more excuses, Ppuppu."
"......Chwee!"
"That's an excuse wight now! No mattew how much you wanted to hatch, you can't touch peopwe's twauma!"
"Chwee, chwe. Chwee-woong."
Tie shut her mouth.
'Ppuppu had no choice 'cause it has to eat to suwviwe too......!'
Her heart softened at the unexpected reply.
As if sensing it, a faint gleam flashed in Ppuppu's eyes.
The baby elephant placed its trunk on its waist and launched into an even longer explanation.
"Chwee-woong. Chwee! Chwee-chwee!"
"But......"
Tie's eyes spun as difficult words like 'natuwaw owdew' and 'competition fow suwviwal' poured from Ppuppu's mouth.
For something calling her mother, Ppuppu seemed far smarter than Tie.
"Chwee-woong. Chwee? Chwee. Chwee-wut."
Then Ppuppu hopped up and down on Tie's palm.
Tie pondered briefly before asking back.
"Weawwy?"
"Chwee!"
"Weawwy pwomising?"
Ppuppu shook its trunk vigorously.
Tie let out a sigh as if she couldn't help it.
"......Pawents can't win against theiw kids."
Then she gently stroked Ppuppu's head with her finger.
"Good. No mowe buwwying peopwe fwom now on."
"Chwee......!"
"If hungwy, Momma give mana. Undewstand?"
Ppuppu, flattened prone, made a heart shape with its trunk.
It was while Tie was giggling.
[Of couwse.]
A snide voice came from below.
Lowering her gaze, Lucarion was sitting demurely on the floor, having emerged unnoticed.
His black tail smacked the floor sharply, as if displeased.
[Gonna share youw mana with that thing?]
Before replying, Tie first checked where Berugon was.
Berugon was out in the play area, looking around the staff room.
Tie whispered in a lowered voice.
"Bwackie. Ppuppu says it can onwy wive with Tie’s mana. Othewwise, too hungwy and has to eat peopwe's twauma."
[You serious about adopting a magic beast?]
Tie scooted closer to Lucarion on her butt.
"But it says it doesn't wemembew...... The baby is so sad."
[So what? Fowgetting is natuwaw fow evewyone.]
Tie's face fell.
Soon her small lips pouted.
"......Stiww, Tie hates when peopwe wose memowies."
Meanwhile, Lucarion barely swallowed a sigh.
He knew exactly what Astie was thinking without looking.
'Obviouswy that man.'
The man, Astie's father.
The reason Lucarion knew of him was simple.
'Heawd about him evewy day in the pwevious wowwd.'
Back then, Lucarion had been asleep inside the Resting Bed.
And faintly, he could hear outside sounds from within.
Sounds of Tie and that man living, conversing with neighbors, and all sorts of other noises.
Inside the Resting Bed, Lucarion had been relatively at ease.
He felt good hearing Astie laugh, uneasy when she cried occasionally.
'......Can't caww it just uneasy.'
When the child cried, Lucarion felt as if the world was shattering.
An unbearable pity welled up, an obsession that he must stop her tears somehow.
Lucarion sighed again.
'That's why that day too.'
He vividly remembered when Astie first touched him inside the box.
Lucarion's eyes snapped open as if awakening from long sleep.
Hot blood flowed through frozen veins.
And then he saw her for the first time.
"Bwackie. You okay?"
Astie, looking no different from now.
Sapling-green eyes evoking spring by the lake.
Small white face and chubby cheeks.
A first sight, yet strangely familiar.
Thus bewildering.
The moment he saw her face, an immense longing crumbled all his heart's walls.
Seeing Astie's tears, Lucarion literally lost control of himself.
How to make the child stop crying.
How to ease that sadness even a little.
To that end, he distorted space-time with power long recovered in the Resting Bed.
What the child ultimately wanted was that man, Astie's dad......
'But he was awweady dead in that wowwd.'
Thus they returned to Talochioum.
But upon arrival, forgotten memories resurfaced from the severed past.
Before sleeping in the Resting Bed, he had been pursued by something.
His mana operation in the body was unusual.
Even that the man wouldn't remember the child anyway.
Torn between headaches, he fell asleep from mana depletion.
Of course, like in Korea, Lucarion could roughly sense outside from the Resting Bed.
As long as not in deep rest, it came naturally without effort.
The issue was his actions were limited in the Resting Bed.
But fortunately?
He then learned by chance.
That he could absorb Astie's mana.
It wasn't even difficult.
Lucarion just needed any contact with Astie.
Whether in Resting Bed or manifested.
The moment her hand touched, pure mana flooded him.
As if some natural law existed between them.
From then, Lucarion's options grew.
He could absorb her mana fully and leave, or prepare to face his pursuers someday.
But he couldn't.
Astie weighed on his mind.
'What the heck is with this kid.'
Lucarion glared resentfully at Tie.
Astie was a peculiar existence to him.
From the first moment of his broken memories, she felt like his sovereign.
An absolute sovereign he must serve.
The one softly holding his leash, an irrefutable existence now and forever.
Thus Lucarion couldn't rest deeply even in the Resting Bed.
Edgy, monitoring outside keenly all day.
To manifest when Astie was in danger.
And return to the bed when safe.
Long manifestations required more mana absorption.
But Lucarion disliked absorbing Astie's mana.
It felt like wounding her body to suck blood.
Of course, when trapped in subspace, he wanted to manifest early and eliminate damn Krazar.
But subspace hindered mana, delaying manifestation.
'......Anyway.'
Lucarion shook his head to clear thoughts.
Then glared sharply at the intruder before him.
This was the biggest problem now.
The creepy magic beast of bizarre form.
Yet Astie offered her mana willingly to this dumb beast.
The mana he'd painstakingly cherished, desperately needed.
Lucarion ground his teeth, glaring at the smug tiny elephant.
[I don't twust this. No, I can't.]
