Kidnapped Dragons

Chapter 217: What is required of a Guardian (2)

Chapter 217: What is required of a Guardian (2) 4th iteration,

Baby Yellow took in a parrot – a white, clean and pretty parrot. When her mind was in a mess, BY strangled the parrot and it was by sheer luck that the parrot survived. Perhaps because of that, it soon opened the cage and flew away never to return after that.

Some precious things were only revealed once it disappeared and it tended to penetrate deep into the mind. That was the same for the baby dragon.

The young child that only knew how to be loved,

Knew how to give love to another.

Only after the recipient of the love disappeared.

At the end of the underground corridor, there was a place that looked like it would originally be used as a storehouse of important belongings. From the darkness, white and red glistening eyes faced the baby chicken.

Kuruk… uuung…

Soon, those let out the growling sounds of beasts as they turned towards Chirpy.

They appeared like a dog and a cat but their body was that of a human’s. They were [Beastmen], who had bodies that looked the most similar to humans among the spirit beasts.

Mana could be felt from the bodies of the two beastmen, who had coarse and dirty furs around their body suggesting the hardships they’ve suffered.

The vertically cracked fissure behind them entered Yu Jitae’s sight.

It was around 2.5 metres in height. Reaching the ceiling of the underground room, it was greedily opening its mouth trying to devour anything in sight. Although the fissure was dark, it was definitely linked to another world.

This was an ‘Intersecting Spatial Fissure’.

It seemed that they had stablised a fissure that linked to another place and moved it here, with alternate dimensional magic.

The two large spirit beasts resembling humans began walking towards the baby chicken. Currently, Chirpy was a big fat baby chicken bigger than a basketball, but appeared extremely tiny and feeble in front of human-sized beasts.

Despite that, the baby chicken stood still and gazed at the two of them.

And after approaching the chicken, the two of them lowered their bodies.

Kururung… Meow…

They then lowered their heads.

These spirit beasts were actually escapees of the Spirit Beast Breeding Centre. For the past 11 months or so, the baby chicken had travelled all across Haytling, let alone Lair, fighting other spirit beast escapees. That was why the baby chicken was always injured and had to be healed and scolded by Bom.

The spirit beasts did not like the baby chicken. Their viewpoint was that they were free after finally escaping the breeding centre.

However, staying at Lair and thus having to live whilst avoiding the eyes of humans was not true freedom for these spirit beasts, who had strong homing instincts. Chirpy asserted for true freedom by saying, ‘Should we not return to our homeland,’ and succeeded in persuading them thanks to both power and a justified cause.

The baby chicken was always next to Kaeul.

Kaeul always carried the baby chicken around, and during that process, the mountainous mana of Kaeul allowed the baby chicken to become slightly stronger.

The lowly spirit beast had received the blessing of a dragon.

Thanks to that, Chirpy became more and more stronger, getting less and less wounds over time. He increased his followers and most of the surviving spirit beast escapees now served him as their leader. ‘Little Boss’ – that was what they called Chirpy.

And at last, they finally discovered the fissure which some of them had come out of, and succeeded in stabilising its intersecting space.

Although the fissure in Yu Jitae’s eyes appeared unstable and sloppy, it was the essence of the baby chicken’s hard work.

Most of the surviving spirit beast escapees had already returned to their own dimension through the fissure.

Soon, the two ‘assistants’ began having a serious conversation with their ‘Little Boss’.

Chirp chirp. Meow. Kurung. Meoooow. Chirp.

Their conversation went like the following.

Cat: How long are you planning to stay here.

Dog: That right.

Baby Chicken: Let me stay here for a little more.

Cat: If the intersection breaks here, that is the end of everything. What is wrong. It has already been over a month.

Dog: That right.

Baby Chicken: There might be more comrades we have yet to find.

Cat: Strange words. How can there be such a thing. Did we not

“Kaeul.”

“Yes.”

“When there’s a beginning, there is an end.”

“Yes.”

“When there is a new encounter, there has to be farewells.”

“Yes…”

“You can’t look away from it.”

“I, I just don’t want to… I want to run away…”

“Even if you try to avoid it, you can’t. In the end, it will be right in front of you. When that happens, you might regret all the time you spent trying to avoid it.”

“…”

Then what should I do? She asked, and Yu Jitae replied.

“You must prepare for a good farewell.”

“How can there be a good farewell?” She asked again.

“…”

“That’s weird. How can farewells be good… How can there be good farewells in this world…”

Yu Jitae’s words broke a dam built inside Kaeul’s emotions. The child began crying with drops of tears dripping on the ground, and after crying for half a day, she vacantly asked.

“If we bid farewell, will there be another new encounter one day?”

There probably would be. He nodded as Kaeul asked yet again.

“Ahjussi. What are things that are required of a guardian?”

“Who knows.” He replied.

“Hmm… They should be able to heal a wounded child, and look after it right?”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. I think so. Bom-unni healed him whenever Chirpy was hurt. Me. I was the guardian but I couldn’t do anything… I was always sorry about that. I’m the guardian… but I’m useless…”

After that, Kaeul changed her major so that she could learn healing magic, and began learning aspects of healing magic occasionally from Bom.

For another little thing that would require her protection,

For another little thing she will meet one day in the future –

… That should have been the case.

So after returning to the dormitory,

Why was it that he found Kaeul pointing a small knife at her own hand;

Why was it that a drop of blood was travelling down the white wrist of the child onto her clothes.

Huu… when his eyes caught sight of the blonde child breathing out a hesitant sigh,

The top floor of the extravagant hotel,

The girl that slit her own wrist with a sharp dagger in the bathroom,

Her appearance that was a spitting image of Kaeul –

Images of that girl flashed past his head.

“Ahjussi?”

With surprised eyes, Kaeul looked at him.

Without saying a word, he stepped into the living room without even taking off his shoes. His expression might have scared her – Kaeul was sincerely startled and was frozen stiff.

Approaching the child, he reached his hand out and waited.

Forgetting to even give him the handle of the knife, she handed it over with the tip of the blade pointing him. Yu Jitae grabbed the knife with his hand in response and began crushing it with his grip. Like clay, the blade of the knife was reformed accordingly with the shape of his fingers. Seemingly unsatisfied with that, Yu Jitae ripped the blade like paper and threw it behind his back.

Charang–!

Fragments of the metal blade rolled across the front entrance and echoed.

When Kaeul raised her hands in surprise and fidgeted not knowing what to do, blood splattered and wetted both the ground and her arms.

“Kaeul.”

Facing the child frozen stiff from surprise, the Regressor asked with a low voice.

“What did you just do.”