“Put on some clothes. I’m not into seeing other people naked.”
“Wow, is this really skin? It feels soft and squishy, kind of similar to virtual reality… If I pinch it, will it hurt? Ouch!”
I tossed a black tracksuit set at Adella, who was flailing around like a curious little baby.
“Oh, thank you. But what about underwear?”
“Underwear?”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t bring any?”
“Yeah, I forgot.”
“There’s a time and place to forget things!”
She grumbled in a sulky tone while pulling the tracksuit zipper all the way up to her neck.
The inside of the tent hadn’t changed much since the last time we were here.
The mat was damp with sweat but was already drying due to the dry weather.
“Achoo!”
As Adella was putting on her pants, she sneezed and flopped down onto the floor.
“Are you a little calf or what?”
“The pants feel a bit small for me. My thighs are too tight.”
“Just wear it anyway.”
In the meantime, I powered on my phone, which I had thrown in the corner, and checked the weather outside.
Four degrees below zero.
Adella, whose immunity was at an all-time low, would definitely catch a cold by tomorrow.
I held her hand and shared my aura to warm up her cold body.
It was time to open the tent door.
The mana transmission speed from the power plant was too slow, so I had wasted too much time at the Akashic Records stage.
The folks outside wouldn’t freeze, but they’d been waiting for a while, so it wouldn’t hurt to hasten things up.
“Ugh… I can’t get up. My legs won’t cooperate.”
Adella was flailing her legs, trying to stand and repeatedly falling over.
It was just like what the eroders had experienced.
“Hold on here. I’ll go out first. In the meantime, get ready with your greetings or something.”
“Greetings? What should I say? Wait, don’t open it yet! Give me just a little more time!”
Ignoring her pleads, I deactivated the barrier and the interference magic circle.
Zip-
Cracking the zipper open and poking my head out, a cold wind rushed in.
“Na-me!”
“Are you okay, babe? You really know how to worry a person…!”
Professor Cheon and Master Baek rushed over.
“Took a while, didn’t it? Sorry for the wait.”
“Are you feeling okay? No injuries?”
“I just barely stopped your father from barging in. Look at what you did.”
Following his gesture, I shifted my gaze.
“Oh…”
The tent was fine, but the surrounding grass had been blown away.
Is it because of the Nascentia-affiliated magic that there was an outward shockwave?
Lucky that it didn’t create a crater. Otherwise, I would’ve had to dig at midnight.
“Did the magic work?”
“It was successful.”
“Really…?”
“Here’s the payment notice.”
To check whether the magic succeeded or failed, you just look at the mana payment notice.
What a convenient and groundbreaking system.
A magical profit generation function calculated to judge whether it was properly cast, all while the Magic Tower was happily collecting taxes from people.
Of course, Korea Magic Corporation didn’t send notices via messenger.
In order to comply with confidentiality obligations, it showed withdrawal records and encrypted notices through a bank account.
[Withdrawal Records]
<2052.03.14 08:41:38>
[Withdrawal: 21,000,000,000 KRW]
<2052.03.15 21:46:53>
[Withdrawal: 189,035,928,154 KRW]
With an advance payment of 21 billion, the deducted tax amount was 189 billion for a total of 210 billion KRW.
That meant I ended up spending 9 billion more than the originally anticipated 209.1 billion.
Plus, with over 5 billion spent on mana stones, it’s safe to say I was nearly out of funds.
[Balance: 49,103,948 KRW]
Honestly, it was quite precarious.
If I hadn’t earned pocket money through ads, I wouldn’t have avoided a deficit.
“210 billion! Oh my gosh!”
Master Baek gasped and held his neck, nearly collapsing.
“Still, I could at least buy a car…”
I trailed off.
Then it hit me that I had to pay back the manager who lent me the extra mana stone 500 million.
‘In the end, it’s a deficit.’
Let’s put off thinking about money for now.
“Is that friend inside right now?”
Professor Cheon asked, still with lingering doubt.
“Yes, she’s now my little sister.”
“Wait, can I go in and see?”
“Sure, go ahead.”
He’s probably worried that I might’ve created a chimera or something.
We took down the nylon tent and all stepped inside.
When I turned on the light, the room was filled with bright illumination.
“Gah!”
“What the heck…!”
“What are you doing, Adella?”
Adella was face down on the ground, her head buried in the dirt.
“That’s for apologizing.”
“Ah! I’m sorry…!”
Adella quickly lifted her head, kneeling and sitting back.
“Seriously, what on earth are you doing here?”
Master Baek scoured through the tent.
He seemed to think it was a trick, looking fires of suspicion for magic rather than magic itself.
Eventually, after rubbing his eyes several times, he broke the short silence and asked,
“Who is this young lady?”
Adella took a deep breath.
The nervous look in her eyes was nowhere to be found.
“My name is Asaneko Adella! It’s my first time in the Real World, so I have a lot to learn, but I look forward to your guidance!”
Adella reached out her hand.
But her fair, delicate hand soon lost its direction.
The chilling silence was colder than the winter wind.
“Ahahaha… Is this not the right vibe? What’s with the atmosphere?”
“…”
“Anyway, you’re going to raise her, right…?”
Thud-
That was the sound of my forehead hitting my palm.
*
“Thank you, Master Baek, for your help over the last two days.”
“Oh dear… I think this old man might be dying. I keep seeing things that aren’t there…”
“Please drive safely, Master. Adella, say goodbye.”
“Don’t bring that up! I don’t need any ill-omened ghosts following me around!”
Master Baek requested to be dropped off at a suitable intersection in Gunsan.
“Are you going to have a place to sleep tonight?”
“I’ll manage! I’ll just crash at my buddy’s place!”
Considering Adella as some kind of supernatural powerhouse, he didn’t even look back as he left.
Thud thud thud-!
The sound of metal being knocked echoed from the trunk.
I opened the trunk to find Adella squished awkwardly inside, popping out like a weeble.
“Phew, that was cramped! Why didn’t you take me out sooner, I passed the power plant ages ago!”
“We still have a long way to go, so let’s hurry. It’ll take two and a half hours to get back home, and we’ll get there around 1 AM.”
“Okay, I guess. But seriously, what’s with the ghost thing?”
“Is it alright if Adella sits in the back with me? I have some checks to do.”
It wouldn’t be polite not to sit in the passenger seat, but given the situation, I asked Professor Cheon for his understanding.
As the car entered the highway, I switched on the lights and began examining Adella’s body from all angles.
[Cast: Diagnosis]
“Open your mouth.”
“Ahhhh!”
Tap tap-
I poked her teeth one by one with my fingertip.
“No cavities. Is there anywhere you’re uncomfortable right now?”
“My ears are really itchy.”
“How itchy are they?”
“Um, they feel a bit sensitive…?”
“What about if I touch them like this?”
“Whaaa!”
I merely held her earlobes with my fingers.
Adella thrashed around like she was being tickled in her armpits, causing the car to bounce up and down.
“Just sit still. Why are you acting all extra?”
“But I told you I’m sensitive! Why are you touching me without saying anything?!”
“From now on, try listening to ASMR before bed. That’ll help you adapt quickly.”
“Okay, okay, just stop touching—ugh!”
It seems she was unfamiliar with her altered body parts.
“But it’s okay if I don’t have a tail?”
“Huh? A tail? Wait, where did my tail go! My tail!”
“Well, this side doesn’t seem problematic.”
It looks like the tail was just for expressing emotions and served as decoration.
So, Adella had three things to practice.
Improving her adaptation to new ears, regaining her balance, and…
Grumble-
“What was that noise?”
Professor Cheon was surprised by the sound he’d never heard before.
Adella turned bright red, lowering her head.
It wasn’t a light rumble, it was a deep growl.
“Are you hungry?”
“Yeah, a little… Actually, I feel like I’m going to starve to death from earlier.”
*
There was no way I could send Adella out looking like this.
Even if it was 11 PM, a silver-haired beauty strutting around in a tight tracksuit would attract way too much attention.
I bought a convenience store bento at a rest area and handed it to her.
Tears streamed down her face as she devoured the stir-fried pork.
“I’m sorry, pigs! Why are you so delicious? Heeek!”
The tear-soaked rice particles were disappearing into her mouth.
By now, there were hardly any vehicles left on the highway.
Professor Cheon took a moment to put down the steering wheel and join the conversation.
“You’re eating well. Is it tasty?”
“Yeah, it’s delicious! Heeek! Thank you for the daily bread! I will never forget this kindness and will surely repay it!”
“Oh, it’s nothing. By the way, Na-me, what’s her current state? She moves inexplicably smoothly.”
“Current state?”
“If we consider a scrap metal robot as zero and a human as one…”
“She’d converge at limit one. She thinks, has a heartbeat, and wields aura, just like our kind.”
Professor Cheon had asked the same question several times now.
He probably couldn’t believe it easily.
To a practitioner of magic, this would be nothing short of a miracle.
“I haven’t completely perfected the magic. I merely took a peek at what was stored in the Akashic Records. While a perfect human body can be achieved, I’m not familiar with the individual organs.”
“Peek? How?”
“Just like that.”
Somehow, “just like that” had turned into an evasive answer.
After much pondering, he eventually resolved to accept Adella.
Within that resolution lay the dual meanings of ‘I acknowledge you as a human’ and ‘I will accept you as family.’
“For now, we should keep this a secret from others. Simply existing is too risky of a magic.”
“I agree completely. Actually, I’m worried about how to treat Adella…”
“Huh?”
“Nah, don’t mind me. Just eat.”
“Hehe, this rolled omelet is truly delicious. Want a bite, sis?”
“I’m fine.”
I peeked at Adella’s meal slyly.
The pace at which she moved her chopsticks noticeably slowed.
Pretending to be nonchalant.
As reality began to settle in, she seemed to become uneasy.
“I’ll find a way to deal with it, so you don’t need to worry too much, Na-me.”
“Got it, thank you, Father.”
At times like this, having an adult around is truly reassuring.
Grateful, I leaned over and gave my dad a gentle hug over the headrest.
The warm glow of the streetlights zipped by swiftly.
*
Bang-!
The bathroom door flung open violently.
It happened while I was happily brushing my teeth with a new toothbrush after changing into new pajamas at Na-me’s House.
“Take it off.”
“What?”
“Take your clothes off.”
“What are you suddenly talking about barging into the bathroom for?!”
“I need to get rid of the residue clogged in your pores before you sleep.”
“That’s so sudden! What on earth is residue?”
“Do you even know if I tell you? It’s a sediment that occurs when mana is imperfectly condensed… Anyway, hurry up and wash up; I’m really sleepy.”
“AAAAH!”
The door clicked shut, and Adella’s desperate cry was quickly suppressed.
