Chapter 4
“It’s hot…”
Just yesterday it was slightly cool spring weather, but in one day it suddenly became summer weather. Quickly escaping from the mansion while avoiding Charlette’s eyes, I frowned.
I’m currently fourteen years old. I still have five years until I turn nineteen, when the fire will strike the ducal family.
I need to make the goblin club completely mine within five years.
I took out the club and stared intently at the sparkling green gemstone.
Several green and gold gemstones were embedded in the club—these were the hidden subspaces of the goblin club that the original Ariella never knew about.
There were two types of subspaces: green ones could store objects, while gold ones could store other people’s magic.
When I practiced putting things in and out of the green subspace alone in my room, it became such a mess that I couldn’t practice there anymore.
Ah, isn’t there a suitable place somewhere? The lake is too open. I can’t tell Shadi to get lost either.
I circled around the lake, craning my neck and looking around. It’s not like something would appear just because I’m looking for it… wait, there is something? What’s that?
I spotted a shabby building through the vines. The building was positioned where you couldn’t see it well unless you looked very carefully. Surrounded on all sides by large trees and with the roof covered in vines, it felt like a secret base.
‘Was it used as a warehouse? I wonder if the door is open?’
Squinting my eyes and wandering around the warehouse, I discovered a small window. I moved to a position where the window came into view while keeping my distance.
But could you really call that a window? Though it had glass fitted in a square wooden frame, the glass window that should have been clean was covered with all sorts of filth.
The side where I was standing was an ordinary mountain path you’d find anywhere, but only that place seemed to have different air.
An eerie atmosphere like a scene from a horror movie engulfed me. Just as I was about to slightly regret coming here, I heard a sound from the warehouse direction. It was a groaning sound.
There’s only me here. Well, Shadi too, but…
Shadi wouldn’t suddenly start groaning, and it wasn’t an animal sound either. It was definitely a human sound.
There was only one place around here where such sounds could come from. That secret base-like warehouse right in front of me. Thinking I was in a situation like the opening of a horror movie made my heart pound.
‘Should I take a quick peek? I might have been mistaken.’
After hesitating briefly, I slowly walked closer to the warehouse. The sound of leaves rustling underfoot filled the air.
“Grr…!”
Then I heard groaning from inside the warehouse.
Is there an injured person? The outsider Mom mentioned?
I approached the door and carefully grasped the handle.
“Miss.”
Shadi’s voice came from somewhere unseen, trying to stop me. Delighted at the familiar voice, I called Shadi’s name.
“Aisa? That’s Aisa, right? Did you see who’s in here?”
“A young boy has hidden inside. Miss, I’ll open it, so please step back…”
But Aisa’s words didn’t continue to the end. Before he could finish speaking, I reflexively threw the door wide open.
A young child groaning means he’s hurt! I need to save him quickly!
When I suddenly threw open the door, the groaning sound stopped abruptly. Preparing for any possible situation, I gripped my club tightly. I thought I heard Aisa’s exasperated sigh, but I ignored it and went inside.
Whether from the shock of roughly opening the door, dusty air shot up into the air, making it hard to see inside. I caught my breath for a moment, waiting for the air to settle.
In the warehouse filled with old objects, a boy stood upright. Gleaming red eyes shone from beneath disheveled hair, glaring at me.
“You…”
His appearance was a mess, as if he’d been rolling in a mud pit. The boy watched my every small movement.
“Are you okay?”
If I’d been alone, I would have cheerfully let loose a stream of curses at the air in front of me.
The child’s face was covered in wounds. As if scratched by something sharp, there was a long scrape on his forehead, and his lips were so torn from biting that you couldn’t recognize their original shape.
“I kept hearing groaning sounds earlier. Can I take a look?”
“Get lost. If you don’t want to die.”
The child was highly guarded. The way he kept looking behind me showed he was anxious about whether someone else might be there.
“How did you end up staying here?”
“You look like some rich family’s kid—get lost. Ugh… if you don’t want to become just ash.”
Ash? Did he just say ash? I’m already sensitive about fires, and he’s saying unlucky things!
Convinced that I was alone, the child walked steadily toward me. Wearing a shabby shirt much larger than his body and staggering as he walked, he looked like he might collapse at any moment.
The child who approached me with fiercely raised eyes smelled of burning. When I stepped back, startled by the strong smell of fire, perhaps thinking I looked easy to handle, the child ignored me and passed by.
“Hey, where are you going with that body!”
Completely ignoring my shout, the boy left the warehouse. I worried he might collapse and die on the road.
Ah… this feels so unsettling.
In the end, I followed the boy while keeping my distance. Even though I accidentally stepped on a branch and made a loud noise, the child didn’t look back. He clearly didn’t look to be in good condition.
The child who went down to the foot of the mountain crouched by the stream, then scooped up stream water with his wounded hands that showed beneath his long sleeves.
When he was about to drink the stream water without hesitation, I almost involuntarily lunged forward. Even though the water was relatively clean, it wasn’t clean enough to drink.
He should at least quench his thirst at the lake…
“Cough…”
After coughing a few times with heaving shoulders, the child looked around and went out to the wide roadside. There were no hiding places by the road.
Wondering what to do, I went out to the roadside and followed the child while keeping my distance, maintaining tension so I could summon my club at any time.
If he keeps walking like this, he’ll reach our villa… Where is that kid’s destination? Why is he just wandering aimlessly?
“Woof!”
Woof?
Wondering what sound that was, I turned my head to look around and saw a small puppy like a ball of fur emerge from the bushes.
Oh my, what! It’s so cute!
Forgetting I was secretly following someone, I almost screamed from the cuteness. Perhaps because it was still a baby, its ears that couldn’t stand up yet drooped down.
The puppy, sticking out its pink tongue and running around like a mischievous troublemaker, circled around the boy.
‘Mom! It’s so cute! It looks so soft! I want to pet it!! Come to me too!!’
Because the small puppy blocked the path, the child’s steps stopped. The child ignored the puppy’s bright-eyed bouncing and walked around it.
I could hear a small sigh, as if it was difficult to walk properly because of the puppy frantically circling around his feet.
“…Get out of the way.”
Even at the gloomy voice full of metallic sounds, the puppy didn’t give in. Though what would that tiny animal know?
“Grr, woof!”
“Move.”
“Woof!!”
I was watching the standoff from a distance when red flames rose from the child’s hand. I hadn’t seen wrong.
It was definitely fire.
Was his threat about becoming ash if I didn’t get lost real? But that crazy kid! He’s trying to burn a puppy to death just because it blocked his path for a moment?!
I couldn’t just watch that, so I was about to jump out with my club. If only the boy hadn’t acted strangely.
“Ugh…”
The boy stepped back and shook his burning hand. So, he shook his hand. It didn’t seem to be because it was hot.
If it had been hot, he would have screamed and stuck his hand in the stream.
As if producing the fire hadn’t been his own will, the child waved his hand in the air for a long time.
…Can’t he control his magic power?
The puppy was still running around circling his feet, and the boy waved his arm to put out the fire on his hand. Watching this scene, I took out my club.
The green gemstone embedded in the club sparkled with light. It was time to use the club’s ability that Ariella didn’t know about.
I planned to use the ability to summon objects stored in the green gemstone’s subspace.
Before leaving home, I had randomly put various things in there as a test, but what had I put in there?
“Fire extinguisher, come out, ta-da!”
…As if I would have put in a fire extinguisher.
Fire extinguishers are from my past life anyway. There’s no such thing as a fire extinguisher here. I think I swept in everything from my room.
Ah, water gun! A small water gun the size of my palm!
I had stored the water gun that Sier gave me as a gift, saying it was popular among the children in the village below.
It was much cruder and heavier than the light, colorful plastic water guns from my past life, but for the current situation, there was nothing more perfect than that.
That… should put it out, right?
It’s not some eternal hellfire or anything, so it should go out. Fire caused by unstable magic power is no different from ordinary fire.
“Water gun, come out, ta-da!”
Like a goblin in a fairy tale, I chanted the spell into the air. Actually, I don’t need to shout, but it’s more fun to shout.
