Chapter 65

07. Survivors of Chernicia

Shortly after returning to the lake house, I felt very low.

I managed to escape Theodore and brought Prince Frederick to the mansion, but there was no way to get the promised 3 billion golds.

‘I wonder what happened to Medusa…….’

I thought of the man lying around in blood for a moment with a shaking body and shook my head.

I wasn’t able to run away with him.

If it was an ordinary opponent and had made such a leisurely attempt in front of Theodore, I would surely have been in the same shape as him and rolled around in the mud.

Hi, rat.

Theodore was still the same, his personality was still dirty and he still had bad speech habits.

‘I thought he was going to kill me after I get caught.’

I got goosebumps when I thought of the madman with creepy eyes attacking me.

‘Well, let’s not think about it…….’

I decided to push the idea of Theodore away for a moment and think of my three billion golds.

Frederick also said he did not know how to contact his people.

‘I should have recognized his ability when he was sleeping snoring peacefully in the enemy’s den.’

I decided to keep him in the lake house until I got three billion golds.

It’s for his own good too.

I did something daring as confronting Theodore and snatched away his prisoner. But obviously I was angry because I didn’t get anything in return for my hard work.

‘He said he found me through the Lord of Arbela.’

So I sent a letter to the Lord of Arbela.

I couldn’t write down the details just in case, so I waited for a reply.

‘I heard Theodore’s leaving today.’

At least the fact that he was about to leave made me feel relieved.

Lastly, I was told that the Albrecht Imperial Army would leave the western continent today.

The reason I went to rescue the Prince last night was because Medusa wanted me to proceed before they left with him.

‘I’ll be safe after the Imperial Army leaves.’

However, I felt strangely empty even though I thought it was a relief.

‘Why?’

It was when I ignored the sudden question.

“Mom, I’m done practicing.”

Erwin came running towards me.

On Erwin’s hand was a small bronze sword like as big as a baby’s forearm.

It was an empty fake sword used by children about four or five years old, and Erwin swung it without difficulty even though he was still three years old.

“Okay, how about I check it out?”

I asked with a soft smile.

Then ErWin grabbed the sword with both hands and swung it in front of me.

“Yap!”

Whoo!

“Yap yap!”

Swoosh! Swish!

“Hiya!”

Whish! Whoosh!

It’s a little sloppy, but the way he posed and wielded his sword was..….

‘So cute!’

It was so lovely that I felt I’m going out of breath.

“That’s great, Er. You practiced hard. Your skills are praiseworthy.”

“Hehe.”

When I patted his head and praised him, Erwin folded his eyes into a crescent shape and laughed.

“Mommy! Lia is done with Yeonsu(Practice), too!

I took my hand off Erwin’s head and looked towards the sound.

Odelia, who came to the side before I knew it, was flapping her arms.

“I’m proud of Lia, too.”

Odelia practiced flying and firing fire next to Erwin, who wielded a fake infant sword with great eagerness…….

“Look. If Lia flaps like this…….”

Odelia jumped with her arms flapping like the wings of a dragon.

Then she jumped as high as the children’s hands and fell back to the ground.

“Lia can fly this much.”

Next to him, Erwin stretched out his fingers and exclaimed in a shocking voice.

“Wow! Lia flew!”

Then the excited Odelia jumped with her arms wide open.

“If I practice more, I will grow this much, this much, and this much.”

I burst out laughing at the cute look.

“Yes, I’m proud with Lia , too.”

When I patted her hair, Odilia smiled with her eyes closed.

“Hehe.”

Whenever I saw them smiling like that, I realized that the two children were twins, because the way their eyes folded in the shape of a crescent moon were very similar.

“By the way, Lia, how’s your fire-breathing practice going?”

I asked jokingly because I remembered Odelia shouting “Ppoo-woo-,” saying she would shoot fire and be a Dragon Warrior.

Then Odelia pouted.

“Lia is blowing very hard, but it’s not working well.”

“Of course, Lia. Mom has never seen a fire-breather either.”

I giggled and pressed Odelia’s plump lips.

Then Odilia suddenly clenched her fists and shouted bravely.

“Then Lia will be the Cheos(First)!”

“Cheos(First)? What’s that?”

Erwin tilted his head beside Odelia at the difficult words.

“Er, you don’t know Cheos(First)?”

“I don’t know.”

“You are like a baby. (You don’t even know that.)”

Odelia explained, tilting her chin arrogantly.

“Cheos(First) is like… a squirrel or a dragon. Like how Jelriko is the (Cheos First) Yonza (Hero) of squirrels.”

“Really?”

“That’s why I’ll be the Cheos (First) fire shooting squirrel like Dragon Warrior and Jelriko.”

“Then Lia is like Jelriko.”

“Woong! That’s right!”

After completing the perfect explanation to Erwin, Odelia looked at me with a proud look.

Her glistening eyes were like, ‘Praise me.’

“Wow! Lia, I’m so proud of you. You know such a difficult word.”

I couldn’t disappoint the child’s expectations, so I smiled as the child wished and patted her head.

Then Lia closed her eyes while smiling brightly, “hehe!”

‘Ah, I’m happy.’

When I saw Erwin and Odelia smiling lovingly, I felt an indescribable sense of happiness.

As expected, this peace was so precious to me.

I had to keep this peace.

“Master, there’s a letter from the Lord!”

At this time, Laura was looking for me from the inside of the building.

It was also the news I’ve been waiting for.

****

Yvone left for a while, leaving Erwin and Odelia alone.

However, the two children did not cry even if their mother was not seen.

The garden of the lake mansion, which they had been played since birth, was the most familiar playground for the two children.

Erwin bravely practiced swordsmanship again.

And Odelia also practiced shooting fire there.

“Oh, why isn’t it working?”

No matter how much she tried pretended shoot fire, it didn’t go her way.

However, it when Odilia continued practicing without giving up.

“What?”

At that moment, Odilia’s eyes grew round.

A small flame from her fingertips quickly rose while burning the leaves before.

It’s gone.

“Eh! Eeh! Eh!”

Odelia ran to Erwin with a half-burnt leaf in wonder.

“Look, Er! Lia succeeded!”

“Huh? Did this Lia do it?”

“Woong! Look. I’ll show you Lia’s fire.”

Odelia once again pretended to shoot fire to show Erwin.

However, what happened a while ago was like a coincidence, and no matter how much she tried and whined, she couldn’t produce a very small flame.

“That’s weird. It was here a while ago and I was like Tturaego (Dragon) shooting fire with my hand…….”

Odelia tilted her head and looked down at her palm.

“Lia can’t shoot fire.”

“No! Lia just spewed out a little while ago!”

Odelia wept as if she had become a liar.

“It’s Jinsil (true)…….”

Odelia murmured in a melancholy voice.

But Erwin’s cared more about something else than whether she really could shoot fire.

“Lia, are you hurt here?”

Erwin, squatting in front of Odelia, asked pointing to her knee, which had been bothering him for a while.

Odelia had a small scar on her knee.

It was a place where she got hurt while jumping to fly in the sky a while ago.

“Uh. I was practicing.”

“Lia, it’s gonna hurt.”

Erwin looked concerned and asked carefully.

“Lia, do you want me to say ‘Pain pain go away’?”

“What?”

“Pain pain go away, let our Lia get better. (It’s a rhyme sang by Laura to console the children if they are hurt.)”

Odelia watched Erwin sing with her eyes wide open in wonder.

Erwin, who was understood her look as a sign of consent, gathered his small lips and blew “Ho-” over Odelia’s wound.

The ticklish breath seemed to touch Odelia’s knee, and soon the red wound disappeared without a trace.

“……!”

Erwin, who saw it, raised his head with a startled face like a rabbit.

“Lia! Did you see that?”

“Wow! Lia got better thanks to you!”

Odelia hugged Erwin’s neck with a joyful yell.

“Er is the Choego (best)! I love you, Er!”

Then she kissed Erwin on the cheek.

Erwin, who had only blinked in surprise until a while ago, quickly smiled and pulled the corners of his mouth.

“Hehe.”

Odelia pointed inside the garden and said to Erwin with a smile.

“Er! Let’s go play there now!”

“What should we play?”

“Let’s play Yonza(Hero), do you want to be Jelriko?”

Odelia jumped excitedly and asked.

“Yes! Let’s play Jelriko!”

Erwin started chasing after Odelia. But soon stopped as if he had thought of something.

“Right, I need a sword to be a Yonza (Hero) Jelriko.”

Erwin went back to get the baby sword he had left behind.

T/N: Again, children’s talks are hard to translate. It took me hours to understand what they meant to say, and I’m still unsure if I translated it right. Feel free to point them out if I’m wrong.