The Dutiful Kid Who Saved the Villainous Family - Chapter 182

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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 182

[A proper sixteen-year-old teenager! Airi’s Status Window]

“Wow!”

The status window name changed!

Airi’s eyes sparkled with wonder, finding it incredibly fascinating.

Then Cookie, who appeared from somewhere and had grown a bit wider compared to seven years ago, stuck out his foot.

“Airi! You always leave me behind!”

“But Cookie, you said you had to drink tea and wouldn’t play with me.”

In Korean age, she was a third-year middle school student.

Cookie rubbed his face wearily as he watched Airi, who had become a proper teenager capable of using reasonably sound logic.

Unlike the past when he detested ‘cookies’ calling it a tragedy of fratricide, recent Cookie had been diligently getting plump by eating all desserts except cookies.

Cookie wiped away the crumbs from the corner of his mouth and said.

“S-still! You should understand my feelings! How can you just leave me behind!”

“Okay, I’ll stick you right next to me again.”

Airi grinned as she tucked Cookie into the inner pocket of a dress specially made for him.

“Now let’s look at the status window together!”

“Yeah. Well, it’s strange that the status window appears automatically even without me…”

Cookie scratched his round bald head and soon said.

“Anyway, look up there, Airi!”

The status window spun around several times in the air.

[Item Window]

[Evil Spirit Fragment 1/2]

The message that one evil spirit fragment had been collected sparkled.

Along with the traces of the Pope, no, the evil spirit, the status window had appeared again.

It meant that the journey of Hero Airi, now sixteen years old beyond nine, and her friends had begun anew.

* * *

In the darkest and gloomiest place in the world, the being who was once the Pope was hiding.

One who could hide even in the shadows of rotting corpses, even in the soot of old pubs.

Through his contract with a god, he lost his physical body and finally became free.

‘No, was that really a god?’

Thinking about it now, he wasn’t sure if what he offered his blood to was truly a ‘god.’

Could a being that touched his most base and ugly desires truly be a ‘sacred’ ‘god’?

But that no longer mattered.

By casting off his human flesh, he had finally become free.

He could become an emperor, a street musician, or even a magical beast.

It meant he had become a being who could rule this world with a single gesture.

Waiting for that era, he held his breath hidden in the shadow of the filthiest person even in the dark back alleys.

So that people passing through the back alleys wouldn’t sense his menacing atmosphere.

His purpose was singular.

To seep in through human fever.

For that, he had to burrow into human minds.

Dwelling in others’ unconscious and consuming infinite vitality.

The more he did so, the closer the host came to death, and the stronger he became.

The Pope, no, the wicked evil spirit who was no longer a pope, shifted his gaze.

He could move locations with just a blink of an eye.

Finally, Ortejo Castle came into his view.

A being filled with the purest magi.

A being so pure that no magi could parasitize it.

As a formless existence, there was only one person he could parasitize.

A being who would allow him to rule the world most effectively.

That was, precisely…

* * *

Even though the status window had returned and the Pope’s magi had appeared, Airi’s daily life hadn’t changed much.

Because now the Pope was essentially alone.

Airi was checking to see if there were any souls who still hadn’t regained their bodies.

During this time, Berry’s cooperation was tremendously helpful.

However…

After searching the Northern Plains and arriving at Ortejo Castle Gate while firmly holding Berry’s hand.

“Berry.”

“Yes.”

Airi looked at Berry, whose hand she was holding, with a somewhat strange gaze.

His voice saying ‘yes’ was very low, which felt a bit odd.

That wasn’t all.

“You know, Berry got really tall? You’re completely an adult.”

Berry was tall.

Throughout their lives, Berry had been taller than Airi most days.

Yet somehow, today Airi found that strangely noticeable.

The one blushing his ears while looking at her, coloring his cheeks, was all Berry.

But why…

‘But why does he feel unfamiliar?’

With a strangely unfamiliar fluttering feeling, Airi quietly held Berry’s hand tight.

But this emotion might not be simple at all.

Airi turned her gaze away from Berry’s sharpened profile and said.

“You know, Berry.”

“Yes.”

“Come to think of it, where did you go yesterday?”

Berry hadn’t kept his promise to take an evening walk with Airi last night.

Instead, he had guarded in front of Airi’s doorway while getting wet with morning dew.

His attitude seemed as if he was afraid of something, making Airi feel a bit strange.

“We’re the kind who tell each other all our secrets.”

“Yes…”

“We also promised to stay together for a really, really long time.”

Airi still didn’t know much about ‘marriage.’

But she did have a wish that the promise they made with pinky swears in childhood would still be valid.

Airi held Berry’s hand tightly.

Then she asked carefully.

“You know.”

“Yes.”

“Actually, I can feel magi from you right now.”

Berry’s blue eyes wavered.

But he didn’t show any aggression.

Berry remained Berry.

He whispered low like the usual Berry.

“If you want to take my life to eliminate the magi, that would be fine…”

Airi jumped up and waved her hands.

“What are you talking about!”

“But if I’m tainted with magi, it means I could become a bad person.”

Even talking about his own life, he remained calm.

Airi opened her eyes innocently and said.

“Berry can’t become a bad person. If you’re tainted with magi, I’ll just purify you.”

Airi made a serious expression once again.

What she really wanted to say wasn’t this.

Airi whispered low without letting her guard down.

“But….”

“But?”

Airi still held Berry’s hand tightly.

When they had approached in front of Declan’s reception room, she whispered low.

“…Besides Berry, I think I can feel Magi near Father again too.”

“What…?”

Magi could be felt from Declan again?

Berry’s gaze wavered.

Though he didn’t know the exact circumstances, he thought Declan had been freed from the influence of ‘Magi’.

Airi was thinking as well.

‘I’m sure we suppressed Father’s Magi with the potion….’

Airi carefully nodded and said.

“There’s only one evil spirit fragment, but if it’s affecting two people.”

Then….

‘What does that mean?’

Neither Berry nor Airi could understand that situation at all.

Then, a dark shadow appeared in the reception room corridor.

Since they had been talking about Magi, it was when Airi clenched her fists with a very tense expression.

“Who are these two people daring to date in front of my reception room?”

“Gasp, Father!”

It was Declan.

Airi smiled warmly and said.

“They say even tigers come when you talk about them, so Father must be a tiger.”

Declan raised his black eyebrows.

“I’m not a tiger.”

“…?”

“And I heard everything you two said.”

“What…?”

“About feeling Magi from both Berry and me.”

“Oh my….”

“It seems like you mean the evil spirit fragment might have approached both Berry and me….”

It was quite a logical deduction.

Airi widened her eyes and nodded as if that was exactly what she wanted to say.

“It seems dangerous.”

Hearing those words, Declan’s gaze, who had been pondering, briefly turned to the two people’s clasped hands.

Airi instinctively tightened her grip on Berry’s hand.

Then Declan grabbed his black hair with both hands and muttered.

“Ah, I really think I’m going to become an evil spirit.”

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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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