– … Vaccinations probably aren’t necessary. Aside from the wings, he looks just like a baby, but after all, he is a fairy.
In a world where superhumans exist, vaccinations are, of course, a thing too.
Even if they awaken at an early age, before awakening they are just regular babies and tend to be exposed to minor illnesses.
And even after awakening, while minor illnesses can be ignored, major diseases are still a serious threat.
However, it’s said that such measures aren’t needed for fairy babies.
They naturally possess basic abilities superior to humans, and those that are specialized in combat, known as ‘fairy knights,’ definitely don’t need them.
In other words, it meant they rarely suffer from minor ailments, which was a relief.
– Plod, plod
On the way back to the dormitory, the tiles of the well-maintained road were gradually being stained by the sneaking orange light.
It had already become dinner time. The conversation with Professor Liana had stretched on.
“Coo…”
Thanks to that, the baby had succumbed to boredom and sleep, having long since settled into a rhythmic breathing pattern in my arms.
‘… Sleep well.’
The baby looked extraordinarily comfortable.
One of the sky’s feathers was used as a pillow, another feather was cuddled in his arms, while the broad third one was rolled up to cradle the sleeping baby.
Fortunately, the baby enjoyed the texture, so I was able to hold him close.
Thanks to being wrapped in the feather, basic protection and temperature maintenance were always possible, and if he got uncomfortable, I could adjust his position without using my hands.
‘Certainly a good choice.’
Choosing the feather was indeed the best decision. It was a winning streak. I have never regretted it.
As I adjusted the baby’s position using the feather, I felt a bit guilty for making him so tired due to the late hour.
Professor Liana was an elemental sorceress. Fairies and spirits share a deep connection, and in the process of understanding spirits, she had studied a lot about fairies too.
She herself once sought out fairies and eventually connected with the Taesan Clan, going to find the fairies within their territory.
However, that didn’t mean she knew everything about fairies.
To be precise… she couldn’t confidently answer the question of how to raise a fairy like an expert.
That was to be expected. She was an elemental sorceress, not a fairy sorceress, after all.
What Professor Liana could provide was limited to her brief knowledge of fairies and information through examples of other races, including spirits.
If I wanted to know more accurately, I would have to seek out someone or a faction that knew more about fairies than Professor Liana.
Both she and I knew such groups exist.
‘Taesan…’
Taesan (泰山).
A force grouped with the three great clans like Gop-hwa and Chang-hae.
The Taesan Clan is very important in the original work, as can be deduced from its status as one of the three major clans.
The strength they possess is tremendous.
The head of Taesan is currently a high-level hero, a powerful being on the brink of exploration.
Under the Clan, they possess multiple units capable of carrying out long-term extermination operations by entering the Demon Realm.
But Taesan’s advantage isn’t derived from brute force.
Since the beginning, Taesan has established itself in the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula, an area mostly made up of mountains.
From that perspective, it might not seem like a good land, but the natural herbs and various materials that grow there can yield profits that could dwarf a massive gold mine.
Adding Taesan’s unique ability to manage the land and vitality, the result is a place that truly belittles the value of gold.
Within that area of Taesan, there’s a region where fairies live and thrive.
Members of the Taesan Clan… specifically, those responsible for managing the fairies, would surely know a good deal about them.
‘… But I have no real connection to Taesan.’
The problem is, I don’t have much of a relationship with the Taesan Clan.
Gop-hwa has connections through Hong Yeon-hwa, and Chang-hae through Baek Ahrin.
Both are heirs of their respective clans, so the connections are indeed substantial.
However, I had yet to make any connections with a member of the Taesan Clan.
The only thing I had seen of the Taesan heir was a brief observation during a tournament.
‘Choi Ji-yeon.’
The heir of the Taesan Clan, a student currently in her second year at Shio-ram, class of 120.
Choi Ji-yeon frequently appeared in the original story.
In the first round, I met her early on, built a rapport, and fought alongside her against the tower’s invasion.
She was tangled up with me again in later rounds.
In the third round, she got caught up in revealing Taesan’s unique abilities, and in the fourth round, she was trading monster byproducts to replace the player’s body with various natural resources.
In the ninth round… well, I killed and devoured her to absorb her power…
In the ninth round, ‘Hungry Ghost’…
I completely abandoned plays centered on virtue and entered a true route of wickedness.
That was the round where I used my unique ability, ‘Devour,’ to eat not just Choi Ji-yeon but others from Taesan to siphon their power.
In that ninth run, I committed a stream of heinous acts, was promptly designated ‘Top Priority Extermination Target’ by the guild, and was soon exterminated by the incoming allied forces.
Regardless…
If I want to build a rapport with the Taesan Clan, it would be best to go through the heir, Choi Ji-yeon.
I plan to make a request during the mentor class in the second semester; maybe I’ll formally meet her then?
Of course, there’s no guarantee she’ll accept me… but I think she might, more often than not. It’s not like I have other options.
[Student Lee Ha-yul, verified.]
I arrived at the dormitory.
Thanks to magically concealing my appearance and evading people’s gazes with my observational powers, I hadn’t encountered anyone on the way.
‘It doesn’t necessarily need to be a heavily forbidden matter, but… there’s no need to go broadcasting it around.’
I sighed… and tried to lay the baby down onto the bed.
– Squish…
Just as I was about to place the baby down along with the feather, those cute little fingers suddenly grabbed my clothes.
It was a response that screamed reluctance to fall. It had been the same in Professor Liana’s lab.
I had tried to lay him down comfortably on a small bed with the feather, yet he clung to me desperately, refusing to let go.
Reluctantly, I acted while carrying the baby.
First, I tore open the box placed on the table and took out its contents.
It was the delivery I had ordered earlier that morning, which had arrived in the package storage room installed in the dormitory’s first-floor lobby.
The contents weren’t very diverse.
Basically, baby clothes and diapers.
I had quickly bought clothes and diapers on the way to the lab, but my tight schedule meant I could only buy one at a time, so now I ordered several.
Then…
There were several round cylindrical containers stacked on one corner of the table.
Their surface displayed a light yellow background with sparse white clouds drawn on it, along with a photo of a baby beaming happily.
It was the powdered formula I had bought to feed the baby.
Since he already had a few teeth, I considered giving him baby food, but… following Professor Liana’s advice, I bought formula instead.
I held it in my hands with a peculiar expression.
I didn’t think I would be buying and using something like this.
– Ding
[Beginning heating…]
First, I boiled water to mix with the formula. Surprisingly, a kettle for mixing formula… a formula pot actually existed.
While the water boiled, I manually cleaned and purified the baby bottle dozens of times with purification magic, then filled it with formula using a spoon.
Ding- The alarm sounded as the water in the formula pot reached the right temperature. It didn’t need the cooling process.
I filled the baby bottle with water from the formula pot. At first, I added it in moderation to dissolve the formula powder, and only then added the remaining water.
That process was quite straightforward.
Maybe because it’s a world with magic, a few steps I knew were omitted.
“Ehh…”
[Sorry for waking you up]
[Let’s eat and then sleep]
Since I couldn’t feed him while he was asleep, I woke the baby up again. Gently rubbing his earlobe made his bright white eyes flutter open groggily.
Apologizing to him, I patted his back and lifted him into my arms.
I supported the baby’s back with one arm and used the feather to cradle his head and neck, creating a cozy situation.
It looked really strange. If someone were to observe from the side, they might think I was some kind of tentacle monster, but for me, being one arm short, this was the best I could do.
In carrying out the earlier steps, I meticulously activated my observational powers.
The water’s temperature, the amount of formula in the bottle, and even the position I held the baby were done precisely as described.
I wrapped the formula with the feather and brought it to the baby’s mouth.
– Sniff? Sniff sniff…
As the baby’s nose twitched at the strange approach, he glanced at it, blinking and then opened his mouth to latch onto the bottle.
– Slurp… slurp?
With an instinctual suck, the baby’s eyes widened in surprise. Soon, his slurps picked up speed, and the content of the bottle gradually diminished.
“……”
Watching the baby like that was utterly bizarre.
The formula emptied quickly. I had fed him in the lab too, but… babies sure eat a lot.
I adjusted him in my arms. He felt warm overall, and his stomach was full, making his face resting on my shoulder look incredibly drowsy.
“Ugh.”
In that moment, the baby squirmed a bit, and a cute burp escaped his lips. He did well even without me rubbing or patting his back to encourage it.
After some time, having burped a few times, the baby began to breathe evenly and drifted back to sleep.
Babies… babies…
‘Guess I need to name him…’
While observing the baby, who had fallen into slumber, I felt a strange emotion as a thought kept nagging at me.
A name is a word that signifies an individual separate from others.
Usually, a name is given by parents.
Or sometimes grandparents or other relatives may thoughtfully bestow it; some may go to a naming shop to receive a name with a deep meaning.
I named myself.
My parents never gave me a name, and it was only after the house burned down and I entered the orphanage that I realized the need for one, so I named myself.
At that time, I didn’t care what my name was, but the idea of someone randomly naming me, with whom I had no connection, felt odd, so I flipped through the dictionary and came up with something.
‘Lee Ha-yul.’
Includes righteousness (彛), how (何), and the law (律).
To put it simply… it means to keep the rules one’s established for oneself to be righteous, no matter where or when.
I’m satisfied with my name.
I was honestly just scribbling at that point, but I’ve never been called a weird name, nor have I been uncomfortable with it.
‘……’
But if it came to naming someone else, I would never do it lightly.
Now I find myself in such a situation.
I can’t keep calling this baby just “baby”, “child”, “little kid”, etc.
I need to… name him.
As soon as that thought crossed my mind, my head began to spin.
Such things are typically done by family… by parents.
I am not the baby’s parent. I lack the qualifications and abilities to be a parent.
While I won’t debate anyone’s concept of what makes a good parent, I certainly don’t meet what I decide is necessary to actually qualify for that.
I lack money, and I can barely scrape together any parenting knowledge… nothing feels sufficient.
But…
“……”
The baby sees me as a parent… and the thought of sending a child like that to some kind of daycare facility was excruciating and too painful to even imagine.
That would be an act of irresponsibility akin to what my ‘parents’ did. It’s something I should never copy or follow. It’s an act that negates my very essence.
– Hoo…
I cautiously exhaled, sorting through my thoughts.
Rather than complicating things, I summarized them simply.
Becoming a parent is a burdensome task.
The baby sees me as his parent.
I have no qualifications to be a parent.
However, the idea of throwing away a baby who sees me as a parent is simply too revolting to even entertain. It’s impossible.
Then… I must take care of him.
‘… They say fairies grow up quickly.’
Fairies don’t take as long to physically mature as humans do.
According to Professor Liana, particularly fairy knights specialized in the protection of rulers grow even faster than regular fairies.
That period lasts only a few years. By that time, he will reach maturity by fairy standards.
In other words, he will be capable of normal thought and judgment.
‘Until then… I can raise him, right?’
I may not have the slightest qualifications to be a parent, but if I had to pick the biggest flaw among them, it would be my uncertain lifespan.
If I were to raise the baby and then suddenly fall over dead, it would put the baby in a really, really sticky situation.
But if things go as anticipated, even if I can’t break the curse, I will last for a few years, and in that time, the now-maturing fairy will be able to live independently.
Additionally, he would eventually connect with the Taesan Clan, and if I were to die suddenly, I would request they send the baby to the fairies.
It’s a truly complex feeling. Have I ever felt my heart this uneasy before?
Suppressing a sigh that tried to escape, I patted the baby’s back.
“Ehehe…”
Such a simple action, yet the sleeping baby, appearing blissful, let out a broad smile.
That made my feelings even more complicated.
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