The Baby Who Regressed Refuses Childcare - Chapter 227
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Pitch-black darkness.
I felt pressure on my body as if passing through a narrow tunnel.
Opening my eyes with a start, I frantically looked around.
And muttered in a dazed voice.
“It worked…”
The ritual altar that had been placed in front of me was gone, as were the family members who had been surrounding me, watching over me.
A bright white space as clear as an open sky above the clouds.
This familiar place was undoubtedly,
[Little human! Sweet scent!]
The Heavenly Realm I had visited before.
[It’s been a long time, I truly didn’t expect you to come see us again.]
Just like when I first came, mysterious colored eyes appeared floating in the air before me.
Recognizing their shape and characteristic gentle tone, I called out happily.
“Lord Ricaruss!”
Ricaruss’s pupils curved into crescent moon shapes.
[The potential of humans is truly amazing.]
[She’s my descendant, so of course!]
Lasandra’s voice could also be heard.
Lasandra, who suddenly appeared from behind, pulled me into an embrace without warning.
She still had her explosion-like silver hair and was wearing a bright smile.
[You came to make a contract, right? Right? With me! A contract!]
I froze for a moment, then laughed awkwardly.
It was true that I came to make a contract, but I hadn’t decided that Lasandra would be the target.
‘But if I tell her the truth, she’ll definitely get upset, right?’
“Lady Lasandra. Hello!”
I deflected for now and bowed my waist politely.
Lasandra patted my head vigorously.
[Yes, yes, I’m doing well! But how did you grow so much? Last time you were a baby!]
Hegatan’s pupils narrowed.
[Lasandra, wrong! Not baby! Child!]
[Whether child or baby. You’re being picky about strange things.]
Lasandra smiled brightly again.
[I’ve been watching from here from time to time. To think you’d use the ritual altar Crookiatus made to come up to the Heavenly Realm, how admirable! Now you’re going to make a contract with us? Like Crookiatus did with the first Hunt?]
I nodded dazedly at the rapidly progressing conversation.
“Well, first I wanted to ask if such a thing was possible, and if you said it was possible, then I was going to proceed…”
[Of course it’s possible! What reason would there be for it not to work? Actually, this is my first time making a contract with a human as a deity!]
Lasandra’s cheeks turned red as if she was nervous.
She looked around at Ricaruss and Hegatan with sparkling eyes.
[You two have done it before, right?]
[We have. The very first time was when the Underworld was destroyed for the third time.]
My eyes widened.
“The third destruction? The Underworld was destroyed?”
Ricaruss smiled kindly.
[Did you think you were the first humans to exist in the world?]
I closed my mouth with a bewildered expression.
[Countless humans have set foot on the land where you live. Some stayed for ten million years, others perished in just ten days.]
Lasandra tapped my shoulder and interjected.
[But ten million years is really amazing, right? I was surprised when I heard about it after coming here. Honestly, compared to that, ‘we’ are at the level of newborn babies.]
The word ‘we’ made me newly realize that Lasandra had once been human.
Moreover, she was the starting point and ancestor of our Michaeliann Bloodline.
Ricaruss spoke.
[My first contractor was a young child with paralyzed legs. I felt sorry seeing them desperately pray every night to be able to walk, so I let them walk.]
I replied.
“That child was lucky. It’s like a deity suddenly appeared one day and granted their wish.”
[Yes. If only they hadn’t been too greedy, they would have lived prosperously and died a natural death.]
My eyes widened.
“They became greedy?”
[When legs that couldn’t be used became fine, wouldn’t there be nothing more to wish for? As that child grew, they wanted more and more. Money, honor, power…]
“So? Did you give them all of that?”
[I did.]
Ricaruss’s eyes gleamed coldly.
[Paying the price is the beneficiary’s responsibility.]
Ricaruss, who gazed into the distance for a moment, continued speaking.
[That child lived long. Even after contracting a very painful disease, they lived tenaciously. In old age, they spent each day barely surviving in pain. Begging to please be killed.]
“…”
[That’s not all. As much as they made a name for themselves, they had to taste shame later, and though money was abundant, no one truly loved that child until the day their breath stopped.]
Ricaruss looked at me.
[And none of this was my doing. I simply gave what was asked for. What price it would return as later is determined by the providence of the universe.]
[Providence! Universe! Scary!]
Hegatan, who had been listening all along, exclaimed.
Looking over, Hegatan’s eyes were indeed slightly frightened.
[Even divine dragons have no freedom! From providence!]
[It’s like karma.]
Lasandra added.
[Providence, I mean. It’s quite an abstract word, isn’t it? So I understood it as something like karma.]
I nodded.
“Like how Crookiatus, who was once a divine dragon, was banished to the Underworld? Crookiatus ultimately couldn’t escape from the sins he committed either.”
[You really are a wise child.]
Ricaruss smiled.
[Just as you said. All living beings in the world receive retribution later according to the karma they’ve accumulated. Humans think we govern all of that, but that’s not the case. It simply flows that way.]
[Of course, when things go too far, we sometimes intervene. Like when I killed the previous Barkin Tribe chief with lightning.]
Another familiar voice came from the opposite side.
When I turned my head, Ulgen’s pupils were shining toward me.
[It’s been a while, Annellia. I really didn’t expect to see you here again!]
Ulgen, who smiled brightly, added.
[Did you come to make a contract with one of us? To completely seal Crookiatus?]
I nodded.
“Yes. So, please help me.”
Ricaruss, Hegatan, Ulgen, and Lasandra all looked at me.
“Seven years ago, I defeated Crookiatus by accident, but he’s still breathing.”
[Being tenacious in life by his very existence, it can’t be helped.]
“Actually, the atmosphere has been quite ominous lately. The entire area near Debokio Island where Crookiatus’s Nest is located has been overrun with Demon Beasts…”
My expression darkened.
“Recently, they’re often spotted even on the continental coastline. I don’t know what route they’re taking, but they’re suddenly discovered in mountainous regions too.”
Lasandra made a humming sound and then answered.
[They’re flowing in through the ground. Since they move underground, it’s not strange that they suddenly pop out of mountains, right? Before I sealed him, when Crookiatus was in full swing, it was the same.]
I nodded.
And brought up what I had prepared to say.
“So, what if Lord Ulgen and I made a contract?”
At those words, both Ulgen’s and Lasandra’s eyes widened simultaneously.
After a brief silence, Lasandra asked in disbelief.
[Not, not, not, not me?]
I made an awkward expression and watched her reaction.
“Well, actually, I discussed it with my family, and it seemed advantageous to contract with a deity who can exercise physically powerful attacks…”
[But I’m your ancestor! Even if it’s quite distant, we’re family! But you’re choosing Lord Ulgen? Not me? Seriously?]
“No, it’s not like that! I’ve already seen what Lord Ulgen’s abilities are like from that lightning incident, so…”
[Hegatan is strong too!]
At that moment, a huffing voice was heard.
When I turned my head, Hegatan was looking at me with blazing eyes.
[Hegatan! Crushes rocks! Collapses mountains! Makes tsunamis!]
My eyes widened at those words.
“You collapse mountains? And you can make tsunamis…”
[That would be long before you humans settled down. Since humans kept fighting so much, we occasionally created disasters for the purpose of cleanup, mediation, or punishment.]
Ulgen continued with a grin.
[Back then, we each chose something we liked and decided to govern it, and what Hegatan took charge of was the earth.]
“The earth?”
[Soil, I mean. Hegatan clumps it together, scatters it, makes it vibrate, things like that. You already know what I govern from seeing it, right?]
I looked at Ricaruss with a surprised face.
“Then what about Lord Ricaruss?”
[I handle the atmosphere. I felt that using large flows to govern detailed things suited me well.]
“Then making rain fall, creating typhoons, all of that too…?]
[That’s right. Why, has your mind changed?]
I closed my mouth with a dazed expression.
Then I slightly nodded my head.
“A little?”
[Then who will you choose? Let’s hear it once. Who you think is the strongest.]
I gulped down my saliva.
Then I smiled very obediently toward Ricaruss, who seemed the most authoritative among them.
“Hehe… By any chance, couldn’t I have all of them?”
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————