The person who choked and coughed was comforted by her patting their back as she spoke.
“There’s plenty of food. There’s more to eat than just this, so please, eat slowly so you don’t choke.”
She poured corn tea into a cup from her spatial bag and handed it to them. The person wept while looking at Sylvia but didn’t let go of their wariness.
Sylvia was worried about their attitude but decided to first attend to the children. Felix thought Sylvia looked amazing. She quickly noticed and responded to the children’s condition.
Why he felt so deeply moved by this, he couldn’t say.
Sylvia checked the children’s temperatures by placing her hands under their armpits. She continued to wash their still hot and skinny bodies with lukewarm water.
“I’m hungry…”
A child muttered in a barely audible voice.
Sylvia ground the cooked rice with wind magic and put it on the fire. She seasoned it with soy sauce and prepared egg liquid. After adding sesame seeds and sesame oil, she cooled it to a suitable temperature for eating.
Excluding the portion for the children, Sylvia told Felix.
“This is porridge. Could you distribute it to the people? Here are the bowls and spoons.”
From the subspace bag, she rummaged and handed it over.
Sylvia fed the children round spoonfuls of porridge with the magic of the wind, putting it directly into their mouths.
“Kids, can you hear me? What you’re eating now is made from rice. I’ll put it in your mouth little by little, so you must chew well and swallow.”
She seasoned it a bit more than usual. She was worried because they had sweated a lot.
The children eagerly ate the slightly salty egg porridge. Having been too hungry for too long, the children, who had not even been aware of their hunger, finally recognized their hunger and started squirming with their eyes open.
“Please give me more.”
“I want to eat more…”
With pitiful eyes, the children spoke to Sylvia. Seeing this, Sylvia felt a surge of emotion.
She seemed to understand what state they had been in to reach this place and how they had lived. Though she could not yet tell if they were from the Kingdom of Capitis, she felt a vague resentment towards the queen who might be in the palace.
“There’s still a lot left. So, you must not eat hastily. Understand? It’ll be trouble if you get a stomachache.”
“Yes, we’ll eat slowly. So please give us more…”
Sylvia hurriedly scooped the porridge into the children’s mouths. She evenly distributed it to all the children using the magic of the wind. She also put lukewarm corn tea into their mouths and repeated the process of giving them porridge for a while, taking meticulous care of all the children.
She emptied all the porridge she had prepared in advance. A child, looking at Sylvia clearing the bowls, asked with a sobbing voice.
“Is there… no more?”
The child was still hungry. Forgetting the pain, the child wept bitterly. Sylvia gently stroked the child’s face and explained.
“Eating too much at once can cause trouble. Instead, I’ll give you something else, so eat that for now, and we’ll eat again later, okay?”
Sylvia grew strawberries and cut them into small pieces. The children’s eyes widened at the sour and sweet pulp. Sylvia was proud as the children chewed diligently. Finally, she sighed softly. Seeing them eat made her feel relieved.
Sylvia approached Noel, who had shown the most severe symptoms. She checked his forehead for fever and called his name.
“Noel?”
Though he had been moving his mouth eagerly, there was no response. Listening to his breathing, it seemed he had fallen asleep. The breathing had calmed down compared to before, so she was relieved for the moment. She took out a spare blanket and wrapped the children in it warmly.
“Just sleep a little more, and when you wake up, I’ll give you more food.”
At her words, the children’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Really? It’s not just now that we can eat?”
“Yes, sleep well and when you wake up, I’ll give you more food.”
“Sob, sob.”
A child, who had been asking questions, burst into tears. As if the crying was contagious, all the awake children began to cry.
“Wah.”
“Sob.”
“Mom, Dad!”
The sudden outcry of the crying children startled their parents, who rushed in frantically.
“What’s going on!”
“What have you done!”
A man, who appeared to be one of the children’s fathers, yelled at Sylvia and tried to grab her by the collar. Before Sylvia could explain, Felix quickly stepped in and grabbed the man’s arm.
“Stop it.”
His grip was so strong that the man was startled and had to stop. Then, a child cried out in surprise and burst into louder tears.
“Daddy, I hate you! Why are you bothering that sister!”
The children, filled with sorrow and resentment, raised their voices even louder. Both mentally and physically at their limits, the children could only express their feelings through their cries.
When the children suddenly cried, the parents who had vaguely thought Sylvia was doing harm hung their heads in shame.
Sylvia urgently conveyed her message.
“Please put the children to bed first. We will come back later.”
After finishing her words, Sylvia grabbed Felix’s sleeve and pulled him along. Felix, who had still been holding the man’s arm, nodded stiffly and released him.
As they stepped outside the hut, they saw the mercenaries busily taking care of the people. Sylvia grabbed Felix’s shoulder, stood on her tiptoes, and whispered in his ear.
“Let’s go to the lake for a bit.”
Sylvia had not yet seen the lake nearby. If it was connected to the previous lake, she felt there must be something there too. As the two of them were about to move quietly, the man who said he was Noel’s father approached them.
Holding a twig pitifully, his complexion seemed a bit improved, perhaps due to having filled his hunger.
“Thank you very much, mage.”
Noel’s father, who had just a moment ago glared fiercely, ready to attack, bowed deeply to Sylvia in a respectful manner.
Sylvia smiled bashfully and waved her hand.
“What have I done?”
Noel’s father’s eyes teared up as he spoke.
“No, mage. Thank you so much for saving my son Noel. I didn’t know you were such good people and tried to threaten you… I know it’s shameless, but I’m sorry and truly grateful.”
Sylvia understood why they had approached them with twigs, recklessly. She knew how courageous parents could be for their children.
The man held back his surging tears as he confessed.
“Do you know how long it has been since we’ve had a grain in our mouths? It’s been a month… I’m not even sure if that’s accurate.”
Sylvia was surprised at the man’s words and her eyes widened.
“Is there nothing to eat around here? Were there no other creatures in the lake?”
Until now, there had always been something to eat from the lakes, so it was puzzling why this place was an exception. The man shook his head vigorously and complained.
“There are monsters near the lake, so we couldn’t get close. It was difficult to even procure drinking water… How could we enter the lake?”
“Monsters near the lake?”
Felix, who had been listening quietly, interjected. It was clear that the influence of the Black Dragon’s magic was felt here, so why were there monsters near the lake?
“Yes, those creatures pushed us to this point where we barely managed to build homes and survive.”
Felix looked at the man’s gaunt face and asked cautiously.
“Where did you come from?”
The man licked his dry lips. Felix was tense. The man looked up at him, hesitated, and then answered in a low voice.
“You might not believe me, but we came from the Lewidus Castle in the Kingdom of Capitis. How we ended up here, I… it’s hard to comprehend now. It seems we came here simply wishing to survive.”
The man stiffened his face as he briefly recalled the terrible past days. They had nothing, not even weapons. They had just banded together, protecting the children with a spirit of sacrifice.
The number of days they had to hide and keep quiet was countless, and without the help of mercenary groups showing goodwill, they wouldn’t have made it here.
Biting his parched lips tightly, the man bowed his head deeply. The place they arrived at wasn’t livable. There was no food, and ferocious monsters roamed nearby.
At least the place they were staying now was judged safe enough for everyone to gather and live. They had no energy left to move to another location.
Felix placed his hand on the man’s shoulder with a pale face and tapped it slowly and heavily.
“You’ve been through a lot.”
After finishing his words, he gripped the shoulder tightly once and then let go.
Sylvia looked at Felix and sighed softly. She couldn’t understand what was happening in the Kingdom of Capitis that made its people have to leave the castle.
She cursed Felix’s stepmother in her mind.
‘The one who tried to poison Felix’s food in the novel was petty and unlucky… And she’s doing the same thing in reality. Damn queen! What is she up to?’
In the novel, since the story was centered around the protagonist, there was no way to know about the other events. Sylvia caught Felix’s hand, which he had extended with a sad look towards the man.
“Stay here. We’ll take a trip to the lake.”
After speaking to the man, Sylvia led Felix away.
He gazed at the teal-colored head moving ahead of him, lost in thought.
If she hadn’t been there… what would he have become?
Perhaps, unable to contain his anger, he might have immediately sought out his stepmother and done something rash.
Considering the immediate threat to the lives of his people, it would have been right to attend to them first rather than seeking revenge on his stepmother, but he might not have seen that clearly.
The much smaller figure of Sylvia felt incredibly solid to him.
‘Meeting you might have been… one of the few fortunes in my life.’
Felix thought vaguely.
★★49. This is a demonic beast?★★
Following the sound of water, they found the lake. It seemed correct that, like the previous two lakes, the bottom was connected to a cave. From afar, they saw a lake of emerald color.
Sylvia exclaimed in admiration upon seeing the beautiful color of the lake. If the first lake was of a deep blue color and the second one pink, then this time, it was a perfect emerald-colored lake, as if emerald jewels had been melted and poured into it. The surface of the lake, sparkling in the sunlight, looked just like a gem. Sylvia strode towards it eagerly.
She wanted to examine the inside of the lake right away. Then, Felix called out to her in a low voice.
“Sylvia, stop there.”
Afterward, he darted forward swiftly.
He had drawn a sword from subspace and raised it high to strike down something. A crunching sound of something breaking was heard.
Sylvia wondered if there really were monsters here. She was curious why, unlike the previous lakes, monsters could openly enter this place. However, even after capturing the monster, there was no foul smell emanating from it. The identity of the monster, obscured by the large back of Felix, became a bit intriguing.
Sylvia cautiously placed her hand on his back and peeked her face forward. The sight of the monster, its flesh scattered and shattered in front of him, came into view.
“Huh?”
Somehow, the appearance of the monster seemed very familiar. She stared intently at the pincers embedded in the tree and then turned her head to look at the crushed torso on the ground.
The protruding flesh looked delicious.
“Huh?”
Thinking a monster looked delicious…
While tilting her head curiously observing the monster, Felix hid Sylvia behind him again and murmured in a low voice.
“There’s another one. Stay here.”
Before she could call him as he darted forward again, Sylvia saw a terrifyingly large pincer moving viciously. She gaped at the sight of the monster, which Felix was about to split in half. Sylvia shouted desperately.
“Felix! Stop! Stop!”
Without hearing her, Sylvia sent a gust of wind magic to lift the monster into the air. Only then did Felix cease his attack and look at Sylvia.
“What?”
His tone suggested confusion over why she would use magic on a monster that he found so repulsive.
Sylvia, trembling, looked at Felix and then raised her hands high, shouting triumphantly.
“Eureka!”
“What?”
“There’s, like, a ridiculously kind god.”
Sylvia jumped up and down excitedly. Felix found her happiness at seeing a monster strange and hurried over to place his hand on her forehead.
“Are you sick?”
He thought she must be unwell to show such a drastically different demeanor from yesterday.
“No, I’m not!”
“But you seem sick?”
He thought her condition looked peculiar, yet she kept denying it.
Sylvia, frustrated, stomped her feet and said.
“It’s not a monster!”
The creature near the lakeshore wasn’t a monster. It was a giant coconut crab.
The person who choked and coughed was comforted by her patting their back as she spoke.
“There’s plenty of food. There’s more to eat than just this, so please, eat slowly so you don’t choke.”
She poured corn tea into a cup from her spatial bag and handed it to them. The person wept while looking at Sylvia but didn’t let go of their wariness.
Sylvia was worried about their attitude but decided to first attend to the children. Felix thought Sylvia looked amazing. She quickly noticed and responded to the children’s condition.
Why he felt so deeply moved by this, he couldn’t say.
Sylvia checked the children’s temperatures by placing her hands under their armpits. She continued to wash their still hot and skinny bodies with lukewarm water.
“I’m hungry…”
A child muttered in a barely audible voice.
Sylvia ground the cooked rice with wind magic and put it on the fire. She seasoned it with soy sauce and prepared egg liquid. After adding sesame seeds and sesame oil, she cooled it to a suitable temperature for eating.
Excluding the portion for the children, Sylvia told Felix.
“This is porridge. Could you distribute it to the people? Here are the bowls and spoons.”
From the subspace bag, she rummaged and handed it over.
Sylvia fed the children round spoonfuls of porridge with the magic of the wind, putting it directly into their mouths.
“Kids, can you hear me? What you’re eating now is made from rice. I’ll put it in your mouth little by little, so you must chew well and swallow.”
She seasoned it a bit more than usual. She was worried because they had sweated a lot.
The children eagerly ate the slightly salty egg porridge. Having been too hungry for too long, the children, who had not even been aware of their hunger, finally recognized their hunger and started squirming with their eyes open.
“Please give me more.”
“I want to eat more…”
With pitiful eyes, the children spoke to Sylvia. Seeing this, Sylvia felt a surge of emotion.
She seemed to understand what state they had been in to reach this place and how they had lived. Though she could not yet tell if they were from the Kingdom of Capitis, she felt a vague resentment towards the queen who might be in the palace.
“There’s still a lot left. So, you must not eat hastily. Understand? It’ll be trouble if you get a stomachache.”
“Yes, we’ll eat slowly. So please give us more…”
Sylvia hurriedly scooped the porridge into the children’s mouths. She evenly distributed it to all the children using the magic of the wind. She also put lukewarm corn tea into their mouths and repeated the process of giving them porridge for a while, taking meticulous care of all the children.
She emptied all the porridge she had prepared in advance. A child, looking at Sylvia clearing the bowls, asked with a sobbing voice.
“Is there… no more?”
The child was still hungry. Forgetting the pain, the child wept bitterly. Sylvia gently stroked the child’s face and explained.
“Eating too much at once can cause trouble. Instead, I’ll give you something else, so eat that for now, and we’ll eat again later, okay?”
Sylvia grew strawberries and cut them into small pieces. The children’s eyes widened at the sour and sweet pulp. Sylvia was proud as the children chewed diligently. Finally, she sighed softly. Seeing them eat made her feel relieved.
Sylvia approached Noel, who had shown the most severe symptoms. She checked his forehead for fever and called his name.
“Noel?”
Though he had been moving his mouth eagerly, there was no response. Listening to his breathing, it seemed he had fallen asleep. The breathing had calmed down compared to before, so she was relieved for the moment. She took out a spare blanket and wrapped the children in it warmly.
“Just sleep a little more, and when you wake up, I’ll give you more food.”
At her words, the children’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Really? It’s not just now that we can eat?”
“Yes, sleep well and when you wake up, I’ll give you more food.”
“Sob, sob.”
A child, who had been asking questions, burst into tears. As if the crying was contagious, all the awake children began to cry.
“Wah.”
“Sob.”
“Mom, Dad!”
The sudden outcry of the crying children startled their parents, who rushed in frantically.
“What’s going on!”
“What have you done!”
A man, who appeared to be one of the children’s fathers, yelled at Sylvia and tried to grab her by the collar. Before Sylvia could explain, Felix quickly stepped in and grabbed the man’s arm.
“Stop it.”
His grip was so strong that the man was startled and had to stop. Then, a child cried out in surprise and burst into louder tears.
“Daddy, I hate you! Why are you bothering that sister!”
The children, filled with sorrow and resentment, raised their voices even louder. Both mentally and physically at their limits, the children could only express their feelings through their cries.
When the children suddenly cried, the parents who had vaguely thought Sylvia was doing harm hung their heads in shame.
Sylvia urgently conveyed her message.
“Please put the children to bed first. We will come back later.”
After finishing her words, Sylvia grabbed Felix’s sleeve and pulled him along. Felix, who had still been holding the man’s arm, nodded stiffly and released him.
As they stepped outside the hut, they saw the mercenaries busily taking care of the people. Sylvia grabbed Felix’s shoulder, stood on her tiptoes, and whispered in his ear.
“Let’s go to the lake for a bit.”
Sylvia had not yet seen the lake nearby. If it was connected to the previous lake, she felt there must be something there too. As the two of them were about to move quietly, the man who said he was Noel’s father approached them.
Holding a twig pitifully, his complexion seemed a bit improved, perhaps due to having filled his hunger.
“Thank you very much, mage.”
Noel’s father, who had just a moment ago glared fiercely, ready to attack, bowed deeply to Sylvia in a respectful manner.
Sylvia smiled bashfully and waved her hand.
“What have I done?”
Noel’s father’s eyes teared up as he spoke.
“No, mage. Thank you so much for saving my son Noel. I didn’t know you were such good people and tried to threaten you… I know it’s shameless, but I’m sorry and truly grateful.”
Sylvia understood why they had approached them with twigs, recklessly. She knew how courageous parents could be for their children.
The man held back his surging tears as he confessed.
“Do you know how long it has been since we’ve had a grain in our mouths? It’s been a month… I’m not even sure if that’s accurate.”
Sylvia was surprised at the man’s words and her eyes widened.
“Is there nothing to eat around here? Were there no other creatures in the lake?”
Until now, there had always been something to eat from the lakes, so it was puzzling why this place was an exception. The man shook his head vigorously and complained.
“There are monsters near the lake, so we couldn’t get close. It was difficult to even procure drinking water… How could we enter the lake?”
“Monsters near the lake?”
Felix, who had been listening quietly, interjected. It was clear that the influence of the Black Dragon’s magic was felt here, so why were there monsters near the lake?
“Yes, those creatures pushed us to this point where we barely managed to build homes and survive.”
Felix looked at the man’s gaunt face and asked cautiously.
“Where did you come from?”
The man licked his dry lips. Felix was tense. The man looked up at him, hesitated, and then answered in a low voice.
“You might not believe me, but we came from the Lewidus Castle in the Kingdom of Capitis. How we ended up here, I… it’s hard to comprehend now. It seems we came here simply wishing to survive.”
The man stiffened his face as he briefly recalled the terrible past days. They had nothing, not even weapons. They had just banded together, protecting the children with a spirit of sacrifice.
The number of days they had to hide and keep quiet was countless, and without the help of mercenary groups showing goodwill, they wouldn’t have made it here.
Biting his parched lips tightly, the man bowed his head deeply. The place they arrived at wasn’t livable. There was no food, and ferocious monsters roamed nearby.
At least the place they were staying now was judged safe enough for everyone to gather and live. They had no energy left to move to another location.
Felix placed his hand on the man’s shoulder with a pale face and tapped it slowly and heavily.
“You’ve been through a lot.”
After finishing his words, he gripped the shoulder tightly once and then let go.
Sylvia looked at Felix and sighed softly. She couldn’t understand what was happening in the Kingdom of Capitis that made its people have to leave the castle.
She cursed Felix’s stepmother in her mind.
‘The one who tried to poison Felix’s food in the novel was petty and unlucky… And she’s doing the same thing in reality. Damn queen! What is she up to?’
In the novel, since the story was centered around the protagonist, there was no way to know about the other events. Sylvia caught Felix’s hand, which he had extended with a sad look towards the man.
“Stay here. We’ll take a trip to the lake.”
After speaking to the man, Sylvia led Felix away.
He gazed at the teal-colored head moving ahead of him, lost in thought.
If she hadn’t been there… what would he have become?
Perhaps, unable to contain his anger, he might have immediately sought out his stepmother and done something rash.
Considering the immediate threat to the lives of his people, it would have been right to attend to them first rather than seeking revenge on his stepmother, but he might not have seen that clearly.
The much smaller figure of Sylvia felt incredibly solid to him.
‘Meeting you might have been… one of the few fortunes in my life.’
Felix thought vaguely.
★★49. This is a demonic beast?★★
Following the sound of water, they found the lake. It seemed correct that, like the previous two lakes, the bottom was connected to a cave. From afar, they saw a lake of emerald color.
Sylvia exclaimed in admiration upon seeing the beautiful color of the lake. If the first lake was of a deep blue color and the second one pink, then this time, it was a perfect emerald-colored lake, as if emerald jewels had been melted and poured into it. The surface of the lake, sparkling in the sunlight, looked just like a gem. Sylvia strode towards it eagerly.
She wanted to examine the inside of the lake right away. Then, Felix called out to her in a low voice.
“Sylvia, stop there.”
Afterward, he darted forward swiftly.
He had drawn a sword from subspace and raised it high to strike down something. A crunching sound of something breaking was heard.
Sylvia wondered if there really were monsters here. She was curious why, unlike the previous lakes, monsters could openly enter this place. However, even after capturing the monster, there was no foul smell emanating from it. The identity of the monster, obscured by the large back of Felix, became a bit intriguing.
Sylvia cautiously placed her hand on his back and peeked her face forward. The sight of the monster, its flesh scattered and shattered in front of him, came into view.
“Huh?”
Somehow, the appearance of the monster seemed very familiar. She stared intently at the pincers embedded in the tree and then turned her head to look at the crushed torso on the ground.
The protruding flesh looked delicious.
“Huh?”
Thinking a monster looked delicious…
While tilting her head curiously observing the monster, Felix hid Sylvia behind him again and murmured in a low voice.
“There’s another one. Stay here.”
Before she could call him as he darted forward again, Sylvia saw a terrifyingly large pincer moving viciously. She gaped at the sight of the monster, which Felix was about to split in half. Sylvia shouted desperately.
“Felix! Stop! Stop!”
Without hearing her, Sylvia sent a gust of wind magic to lift the monster into the air. Only then did Felix cease his attack and look at Sylvia.
“What?”
His tone suggested confusion over why she would use magic on a monster that he found so repulsive.
Sylvia, trembling, looked at Felix and then raised her hands high, shouting triumphantly.
“Eureka!”
“What?”
“There’s, like, a ridiculously kind god.”
Sylvia jumped up and down excitedly. Felix found her happiness at seeing a monster strange and hurried over to place his hand on her forehead.
“Are you sick?”
He thought she must be unwell to show such a drastically different demeanor from yesterday.
“No, I’m not!”
“But you seem sick?”
He thought her condition looked peculiar, yet she kept denying it.
Sylvia, frustrated, stomped her feet and said.
“It’s not a monster!”
The creature near the lakeshore wasn’t a monster. It was a giant coconut crab.
