The Dutiful Kid Who Saved the Villainous Family - Chapter 176

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 176

‘I am great, that’s true!’

At the status window’s words, Airi’s shoulders and nose simultaneously shot upward.

But her dignified shoulder shrug was only momentary.

“Wh-what is this?!”

As if commemorating some kind of ‘festival’, the status window was decorated quite magnificently.

Airi’s eyes grew wide as she examined the status window from all angles.

At the bottom of the status window was…

[Evil Spirit Fragment (Completely Purified State) 1/2]

“Not a soul, but an evil spirit…?”

Airi tilted her head in confusion. Then she looked down below.

Through the gap of the open casket, she could see the Pope’s wicked face with eyes already closed.

‘I punished the Pope’s very bad corpse.’

Looking at the Pope who was no longer breathing, Airi tilted her head again in confusion.

‘Something’s strange…’

Airi tried tapping the status window.

She also tried rubbing the status window.

However, the text that read [Evil Spirit Fragment] didn’t change.

Airi stared intently at the status window and muttered quietly to herself.

“Why isn’t it a soul…”

Cookie tilted his head beside Airi.

“Right. An evil spirit?”

As Cookie and Airi’s expressions grew quite serious, Declan stepped forward.

He had already gotten rid of the shoddy knot that Airi had tied.

“What do you mean? What evil spirit?”

“I punished the fluffy clouds that were all around the bad Pope’s corpse.”

“Oh, right. That’s impressive.”

“Yes. But how did you untie the knot on your wrist?”

“The Pope is more of a problem than that. Seeing that an amazing baby hero like you has such a serious expression, something incredible must have happened.”

When Declan praised her, Airi quickly forgot about the knot that had been on Declan’s wrist.

Then she began explaining the situation with dignity and majesty.

“But then all the clouds disappeared and a circle came into my hand.”

Airi showed the orb that was now in her palm.

It was a round, pitch-black orb, like the deep night.

“Yes, I see. It must be a soul. Maybe the Pope made a contract with a demon… What a completely rotten human being.”

“Yes, but it’s strange. It says it’s an evil spirit fragment, not a soul!”

As Airi eagerly chattered about what she had seen in the status window, Declan’s expression also gradually grew serious.

“An evil spirit probably means a soul possessed by a demon, and maybe part of the Pope’s soul remained in the corpse. It changed when it was purified… If that’s the case, then the Pope isn’t dead.”

“Huh, gasp!”

“The Pope’s soul has been split in half. It means we need to find the remaining one.”

“That’s right! Evil spirit fragment, one more left!”

Declan looked down at the golden casket with disgust and spoke.

“What was he trying to do by selling even his own soul? Trash bastard.”

Airi nodded at Declan’s words.

“Trash.”

Airi, who had been criticizing the Pope harshly, suddenly hesitated.

Come to think of it, she always collected all soul orbs in her item storage.

In that case.

“Will the Pope’s soul end up going into my item storage…?”

“…”

“…”

“Hmm…”

Serafin, Berry, and Declan, who had positioned themselves on either side of Airi as if protecting her, fell silent in turn.

Airi Ortejo.

Currently 9 years old.

Like the child hero who would save this world, she had bravely dealt with the corpse—no, the shell—left behind by the evil Pope, but…

“This is shocking…”

As she rolled the Pope’s orb into her item storage, Airi hung her head in despair.

“My item storage has become rotten and corrupted.”

“…”

“It’s rotten.”

Airi, who had emphasized twice that her item storage was rotten, pouted her lips.

She had always kept only good things in her item storage.

Really good items.

Really wonderful soul friends.

And among them…

“It’s been defiled! …”

…Emphasis, already the third time.

When Airi let out a deep sigh, Cookie patted her shoulder comfortingly.

“It’s okay. Let’s collect one more evil spirit fragment and deal with it quickly.”

“I understand…”

A mission to quickly collect the evil spirit fragments had been added.

But Airi somehow felt like she knew.

“Still, there’s something good!”

“Something good?”

“Since the evil spirit purification is finished, I feel full of power!”

If she collected souls and even collected the evil spirit fragment named the Pope.

Maybe then…

“I can quickly finish this and become a 5-star Purification Mage!”

…She felt like she might be able to meet her mother, whose name was Olivia.

Then the status window sparkled.

[Of course, you can meet her.]

…Though it passed by briefly, Airi could read the affection contained in those words.

‘That status window, I don’t really know its identity, but it seems like a really, really kind friend.’

An existence as comforting as Cookie, whom she had met while working to save this world. The status window!

So when the status window said something like that, it somehow felt like that thing might actually come true.

‘I can meet Mother, whose name is Olivia!’

Her heart felt quite a bit proud.

* * *

That night.

In place of Airi, who had fallen asleep exhausted and snoring from the unexpected adventure, Declan moved the numerous experimental subjects’ ‘bodies’ found on the mountain ridge to a safe location.

‘The experimental subjects are really just breathing.’

He had taken measures so that once all the experimental subjects’ souls were collected, they could be returned to them.

Next, he imprisoned all the cardinals who had committed wicked acts.

They didn’t even know they had been beaten up by Serafin.

‘Mind control ability?’

But there were many things that didn’t make sense.

“We don’t know what choice His Holiness the Pope made either.”

“He seems to have departed taking only part of his soul.”

“Part of his soul…”

That’s right. The Pope abandoned his hideout and also abandoned the test subject’s body.

Instead, he had taken a portion of the test subject’s soul with him.

‘I didn’t even provoke him enough to make him abandon his body…’

Declan furrowed his brow.

Then what exactly was the Pope’s scheme?

What could he possibly want to achieve so badly that he would fragment his own soul?

To suddenly appear as a corpse.

Wasn’t this far too sudden?

Declan found it difficult to gauge the reason behind the Pope’s ‘choice.’

Somehow, Declan had an intuition that the Pope had one last hidden move.

Lost in thought, he gritted his teeth.

Like a father.

Whatever move the Pope makes…

‘I have to protect her.’

Because I’m her father.

* * *

A week passed after that.

Despite the commotion that had occurred on the mountain ridge, the Pope did not appear.

There were no incidents of test subjects’ souls possessing other people’s bodies, nor anyone being duplicated.

Perhaps thanks to that.

A brief peace came to the capital city.

Airi ate heartily with Grandmother and Grandfather while thinking to herself.

‘This is strange.’

They clearly said there was one ‘fragment of evil spirit’ remaining.

But Airi’s status window remained unchanged.

After finishing her meal and going up to her room, Airi pondered deeply.

‘If I were the Pope, what would I do?’

As a hero, understanding an evil spirit’s mind was difficult.

But Airi decided to try finding clues through her conversation with Cookie.

“Hey, Cookie.”

“Yeah?”

“What is the Pope trying to do by abandoning his own body and becoming a fragment of evil spirit?”

“I wonder…”

“What’s his goal? My goal is to become a hero and save people. But the Pope…”

Probably, living well and eating well wasn’t the Pope’s goal.

For that, he would need his own body.

Just as Cookie and Airi were both lost in thought.

The curtains decorating Airi’s room window fluttered in the wind, then were quickly pulled aside.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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