Chapter 19
Even though they landed slowly on the ground, strangely, everything seemed to turn upside down and swirl. When Harriet staggered, unable to properly maintain his balance, Ender supported him by holding his waist.
At the same time, Ender was stroking a small bottle as if it were very precious. Watching Ender carefully putting the bottle filled with opaque white liquid into his pocket, Harriet was about to ask what he would use it for, but decided against it upon seeing his junior’s satisfied expression.
Under the evening sunset sky, Ender’s figure was so beautiful and enchanting that it deserved to be captured in a painting.
Limping with his uncomfortable leg, Harriet got into the car that Ender opened for him. This time, it wasn’t a military vehicle. It was an expensive luxury car that Ender had carefully selected himself.
In fact, it was useless to Ender who could fly in the sky, but it was necessary for traveling with Harriet. This car was going to serve as Harriet’s feet and legs, taking him around the village from now on.
There was a cheap, old car at the military base that Ryan and Harriet had saved up to buy, but it was in a mess due to Angela’s reckless driving.
Sitting in the driver’s seat, holding the steering wheel and starting the engine, Ender looked back at Harriet with a slightly awkward smile.
“I’m not very good at driving.”
“Ah… really?”
Certainly, no matter how favorably one looked at it, he wasn’t good. Harriet sat in the back seat and smiled as he moved his uncomfortable leg onto the seat. His junior, who was embarrassed about having something he wasn’t good at, was really cute.
Perhaps because they had been floating in the sky for quite a while, Harriet suddenly felt thirsty. He rummaged through his bag, but all the extra water had been consumed.
The weather had been hot lately, and it seemed like the lost fluids couldn’t keep up with the amount he drank. With a troubled feeling, Harriet lowered his eyebrows in a figure-eight shape and said,
“Ender, do you have any water?”
“Yes.”
Even in this moment, Ender completely turned his upper body backward and very politely handed the water bottle to Harriet with both hands. Harriet blankly stared ahead.
Ender… what about the steering wheel?
Having received the water bottle in bewilderment, Harriet stared at the front where the car, entering a very winding mountain road, was about to collide with a tree. And he prepared for the imminent impact. But fortunately, the car did not hit the tree. This was because, like something out of a movie, the car gently floated up into the sky.
“Hmm… I think this is better than driving, don’t you agree?”
Ender smiled bitterly as he controlled the car with his ability, arms crossed. Even that face appeared to Harriet as a very captivating smile.
Harriet blankly stared at Ender’s back and suddenly tilted his head. To Harriet, Ender was always a cute, lovable junior. He wanted to listen to anything his reliable junior said. Being with him made him feel comfortable, and he didn’t dislike how Ender followed him.
‘What is it?’
Harriet fingered the red jewel attached to his cane. The sponsor who gave him this cane was no longer in this world, but he was the only one who told him to run away from the military. And he was drowned deep under the sea by merpeople.
Act as your heart desires.
He always said those words to Harriet. But Harriet didn’t know his own heart well.
Raising his head and giving his attention to Ender, Harriet discovered something shimmering on his shoulder. Unconsciously touching it, Ender turned his head at the feeling of body heat. He, who had been meaninglessly pressing the accelerator with a vroom-vroom sound, smiled and grabbed Harriet’s wrist.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing……”
A perplexed expression appeared on Harriet’s face. Ender laughed refreshingly and swirled his hand. The car floating in the sky went even higher. The higher it went, the hotter it got inside, but with the air conditioner turned up high, it wasn’t hot.
It was Harriet’s first time looking down at the ground so leisurely. The only place he had ever looked down on was the sea, and since it had been dyed with blood, this was his first time seeing such a scenery.
Before they knew it, they had arrived at Harriet’s house, and Ender naturally parked the car in the front yard. Dust rose thickly due to the wind. Ender’s temporary residence, the military tent, swayed back and forth. As Harriet got out with Ender, he said,
“Want to eat?”
“I will cherish it as a lifelong keepsake.”
“……?”
Though he wasn’t sure how one could cherish it as a keepsake, at any rate, it meant he would eat.
Nodding his head, Harriet opened the front door. Ender said he had something to bring and went into the tent. Harriet held between his fingers what he had unknowingly taken from Ender’s shoulder earlier.
It was Ender’s hair. Perhaps because he had seen Ender collecting Harriet’s hair this morning, he ended up collecting some too. Ender’s black hair was very shiny, had a good texture, and smelled nice.
Harriet sniffed it and put it in a small transparent box. He closed the lid with a click and placed it on the shelf full of his mug collection.
A sound of something being filled with a splash was heard from somewhere, but it was too faint for Harriet to notice.
* * *
Angela excitedly left the mart, singing happily. Wearing short jean shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt due to the hot weather, she was even cuter than usual.
A bright smile spread across her face, and her slightly protruding canine teeth were visible above her widely spread lips. Her hair, pulled back into a ponytail, swayed back and forth as Angela ran.
A village grandmother passing by raised her hand upon seeing Angela rushing by.
“Hello! Granny~”
Even as she zoomed past with a whoosh, Angela’s greetings were very bright. The village grandmothers really liked Angela with her bright personality.
Shake shake. The cat treats she bought at the mart rattled inside the bag. Angela, who was running carefully on the road to avoid bumping into people, increased her speed even more as soon as she entered the mountain.
As if it wasn’t tiring at all, Angela’s running speed didn’t decrease. There was even a strange phenomenon where afterimages appeared and disappeared.
Running at such a speed, Angela couldn’t stop despite the huge rock in front of her. It was a dangerously perilous moment where an ordinary person would surely break bones or receive a great impact.
But Angela, with her hands behind her back and her legs lifted, delivered a forward kick as if striking. Surprisingly, the rock turned to powder and flew to various parts of Angela’s brightly smiling face.
A large rock in the mountain disappeared without a trace. If Harriet had seen it, he would surely have murmured, ‘…You’re strong,’ and clapped his hands with a troubled face.
“Ryan!! Ryan!”
The place where Angela finally slowed down was near Ryan’s house at the outskirts of the village. Ryan’s house was located at the edge of the mountain where human traffic was rare.
Due to his ability to empathize with animals, a container provided by the military was installed in a place far away from people. The reason was that so many animals visited that an ordinary person might be in danger. Indeed, from rabbits and deer to bears and wild boars, they all came to visit Ryan.
Angela arrived in 10 minutes by running a distance that would take 30 minutes by car. Perhaps tired from running, she gasped for breath and quickly jumped into Ryan’s house.
“Cat!!!”
This was her goal. Of course, the animal Ryan had brought this time was not a cat but a tiger, but to Angela, it was just a minor difference.
She liked animals as much as Harriet did. She had once gone on a volunteer trip to the African region. The locals had earnestly warned that dangerous animals like lions and cheetahs appeared in the savanna outside the safety zone, so caution was needed.
But a hungry mother lion came to the base camp where people were staying from the edge of the savanna. Seeing her thin belly, it was clear she had given birth not long ago. It was an unusual case for an animal that normally forms a group and lives communally with other females.
The guide who unleashed his ability gestured for them to step back, saying it was dangerous. The lioness, dripping saliva, quickly avoided the ability user’s attack and charged with her mouth wide open.
Chomp-!
Angela raised her forearm and pushed the guide away. With her arm in the lioness’s mouth, she was surprisingly smiling.
Snap.
At that moment, one of the lioness’s molars that had bitten Angela’s arm broke and fell to the ground. In contrast, Angela was too fine for someone bitten by a lion. No, more than fine, she was smooth. Angela stroked the lion’s head.
“Cute.”
The ability user guide, still fallen backward, dropped his jaw.
Angela, who even shared her own food with the lioness, waved her hand as the lioness left. The lioness, having quickly devoured two chickens, left carrying a huge piece of pork with bones. In the distance, a male lion and lion cubs could be seen.
One of the bewildered volunteers said,
“What about our food?”
“I’ll go hungry!”
Anyway, Angela liked all animals, whether carnivores or herbivores, dangerous or not. It was just that animals were afraid of Angela.
Angela knocked on Ryan’s container, bang bang bang. From inside, Ryan’s voice could be heard saying, “Ah… ah wait a moment Angela. Ah, Nabi!” along with tumultuous noises.
While Angela, with her sparkling brown eyes, impatiently stomped her feet, there was a rustling sound from behind, followed by the sound of something falling with a thud.
“???”
Angela turned her head. Thinking that perhaps an elderly villager who had come to the mountain to pick herbs or wild vegetables had collapsed from dehydration in the scorching sun, she hurriedly ran over.
But surprisingly, the person who had collapsed was a young man. The man, who didn’t look like a villager, had long blue hair.
Creeeeak-.
Ryan, opening the container door, came out holding a baby tiger with a red ribbon attached to its military leash. The tiger didn’t seem to dislike it either, as it obediently nestled in his arms with its golden eyes wide open.
“Angela?”
“Uh… Ryan, I think we should go to the Captain right now?”
Angela said while poking the collapsed person with a tree branch.
“It’s a merman.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
