LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 112
Chapter 112: A New Family 2
[So, how did it go with your mother? Did you ride the car that the Yeon family sent you safely?]
“Yes, now… I’m on my way back.”
After spending a few hours at the street food stall with Yoon-jung, Shia decided to take her back home when Yoon-jung had drunk enough to be half out of her mind.
During their time together, Shia and Yoon-jung shared stories of what they had experienced, laughing and crying as they talked through the night.
Considering all the time they had spent apart, it was easy to imagine how happy they must have been to meet again as family, acknowledging each other’s presence.
[Things are going to be noisy up north for a while.]
“Are you talking about the Mountain Guild?”
[Yes, they’ve been keeping an eye not only on Yoon-jung but also on you, Shia. Additionally, there have been instances where awakened individuals from the country were taken away under the pretext of being exchange hunters, so things are going to get quite loud here.]
“…Thank you. Because of me….”
[Don’t worry about it. It’s not just because of you. This old woman has had a long-standing grudge against those despicable, filthy people.]
Shia felt deeply grateful to Yeonseo, whose voice came through her smartwatch, and thanked her several times.
Although Shia was strong, she realized her shortcomings when it came to political maneuvering or playing the game of power and righteousness that took place among the upper echelons.
In the previous world, Menelapie and Teresa had always handled those matters.
Without Yeonhwa and Yeonseo, Shia would have found herself in a very difficult situation.
She had now turned into an adversary of the Mountain Guild, the world’s largest guild.
If Shia had been alone, she might have had to engage in a full-scale war, using extreme measures and getting her hands bloody for a while.
However, thanks to the help of Yeonhwa and Yeonseo, it seemed the conflict might end with a fight against the higher-ups in the association and government, which was a fortunate outcome.
Shia had no intention of letting anyone who touched her people, including her mother Yoon-jung, get away with it, but as a saintess, she preferred not to kill humans if she could avoid it.
[By the way, child. I heard the Mountain Guild is using the Demon King’s fragments. Are you alright with that?]
“What do you mean?”
[The fragments are a big problem for us, but they are like your personal reverse scale, aren’t they?]
That was true.
To Shia, who despised the very existence of the Demon King, the fragments of the Demon King, trying to invade this world, were extremely bothersome and something she felt compelled to eliminate.
“It’s fine. They’re afraid of me.”
[Afraid?]
“Even fragments have some level of intelligence.”
Now that Shia had spotted the Demon King’s fragments with her own eyes, it was almost certain that the Demon King was preparing to invade this world.
“But what do you think would happen if I stormed into the Mountain Guild right now? The fragments would be terrified.”
[Hoho, you’re quite thoughtful. Indeed, if you targeted the Demon King’s fragments and stormed into the Mountain Guild, they would hide. After all, the Mountain Guild probably isn’t the only one using the Demon King’s fragments. The Chinese government might be actively using them on their citizens…]
“Perhaps it’s not just China. Other countries might also be using the fragments.”
That’s why Shia decided to wait.
Even if she got rid of some fragments, it wouldn’t be the end.
There were undoubtedly more fragments out there.
They would hide.
They would work in secret.
The fragments of the Demon King were scattered all over the world, waiting for the right moment. And they probably sensed Shia’s existence by now.
If Shia were to attack the Mountain Guild directly, causing all the Demon King’s fragments to hide and avoid a direct confrontation, it would be more troublesome.
Shia had the ability to protect herself from them, but there was no Menelapie or Teresa here—only Shia was left alone.
“If the Demon King, whom I defeated in the ‘previous world,’ senses the presence of the Saintess of the Dead, he will definitely gather his power and come for me one day. There’s no need to poke the hornet’s nest first. I just have to wait for the right moment to strike.”
Did that wretched, dirty creature, the one I already defeated once, think I’d lose to it again?
Fine, come at me.
This time, I’ll make sure to annihilate it completely.
I’ll ensure that it can never set foot anywhere in this world again…
“So, I’ll wait. I’ll wait for the moment when it can no longer escape. When it feels the most confident… That’s when I’ll crush them.”
[Child, I’ve thought about it occasionally, but you sure haven’t lived this long for nothing, have you?]
“Oh, come on. Unnie, you’re the amazing one. You’re the hero of this world, after all.”
[Hero? Stop trying to flatter me. Hmph, I guess I’ll have to go soon. I’ll take care of the situation with China, so in the meantime, spend some good time with your mother.]
“Yes, thank you, Unnie Yeonseo.”
Later, Shia would come to realize just how much help she had received from the Yeon family, especially Yeonhwa and Yeonseo.
This incident could have escalated into a significant national issue.
However, Yeonseo had handled almost all of the political and diplomatic headaches, preventing any further complications.
Thanks to Shia, Yeonseo also held several cards to pressure the Chinese side, and by the time Yeonseo got involved, the Mountain Guild had already lost, facing inevitable defeat for their actions that bordered on terrorism, kidnapping, and other crimes.
Furthermore, just after midnight, as Yoon-jung’s birthday passed and she legally became recognized as an adult, Yeon-ju, the Yeon family’s administrator, waited with a law firm renowned for its power and immediately initiated the legal procedures to sever Yoon-jung’s ties with her biological parents, including renouncing any inheritance claims.
As a result, Yoon-jung was now completely free from her parents.
She didn’t owe money for things she hadn’t even used and was no longer bound by the shackles of family.
“Oof.”
“Uh-huh, heh…”
When Shia arrived at the Returnee Shelter, she carried the drunken Yoon-jung in a princess carry and slowly walked up the steps.
Along the way, some people recognized Shia and looked at her with surprised faces.
“Uh, uh? Is that Isia…?”
“Shh.”
Shia gently gestured to those who recognized her to be quiet with a tentacle covering their mouths.
When the soft touch of her tentacle brushed their lips, the person who recognized her nodded with a startled look.
Considering that Shia had recently announced her participation in the S-rank promotion match on a broadcast, any fans watching would be surprised to see her carrying an unknown person like this.
Well, not many people had noticed.
At this moment, Yoon-jung was the most precious person to Shia, so she quietly took her home without waking her.
Thankfully, the house was spotless, thanks to Yoon-jung cleaning it a few days ago.
“Hehe, sleep well.”
Shia laid Yoon-jung down on the bed.
Yoon-jung had already passed out from drinking, so Shia gently undressed her and wiped her face and body with a warm cloth.
“…So many calluses.”
How hard must life have been for her this time?
Shia remembered that in her previous life, Yoon-jung’s hands had always been rough with calluses.
From dishwashing, housework, and other menial tasks, her mother’s hands were always dry and coarse, with small, lingering calluses at her fingertips.
And even in this newly regained life, though Yoon-jung had just barely turned an adult, her hands were rough and scarred from the harsh life of a hunter, unlike those of other girls her age.
“Heh, hehe…”
“You’ve worked so hard.”
Shia intertwined her fingers with Yoon-jung’s, feeling the roughness of her calluses.
When she was a child, she used to hold her mother’s hand like this when they went to the amusement park.
Yes, I thought I had forgotten… but now that I’m holding her hand like this again, the warmth comes back.
“Oh, you have quite the abs.”
Shia hadn’t noticed when Yoon-jung was wearing clothes, but her abs were not the type built from constant gym training like a bodybuilder’s.
They were natural abs forged through real combat.
Shia also had abs, but hers were more of a natural feature of her completed body, not something she had developed through training.
Despite her appearance, her abs were a little soft.
It might sound strange to say abs could be both hard and soft, but the real solid abs belonged to Menelapie.
Honestly, when I first saw those firm muscles, I almost swooned.
Not in a romantic or sexual way, but more like the feeling of awe when you see a perfect, magnificent work of art.
Ah, Yeonhwa’s abs are also pretty solid. I’d want to try tapping them like a xylophone.
“Goodnight, Mom.”
After wiping Yoon-jung’s body to a decent extent, Shia covered her with a blanket.
‘But what did I forget? This is strange…’
As Shia was getting ready to shower and go to bed, she felt as if she had forgotten something and looked around.
There wasn’t much in the house…
A few days ago, Mom had cleaned the entire house so thoroughly that there wasn’t even a speck of dust anywhere…
What could it be?
Shia looked around every room but still couldn’t figure out what she was forgetting.
‘The house is spotless, and the room we use as a storage closet doesn’t have anyth——’
Wait.
Nothing?
“Lucky Blade Centipede?”
Where’s the centipede…?
Shia’s face suddenly turned pale.
○○○○○○
The Lucky Blade Centipede had recently been enjoying some peaceful naps in the absence of its owner’s attention.
It wasn’t easy to find a comfortable place to sleep in this small house with its 15-meter-long body, but the centipede managed by curling itself tightly, like squeezing into a crack between rocks, to get some rest.
At first, the centipede had been somewhat busy following its owner, but it soon found satisfaction in the quiet time, dozing off while Shia was away.
However, the growing appetite that came with spending time with Shia quickly brought hunger to the Lucky Blade Centipede.
This was largely due to the fact that, when Shia had forcefully bathed the centipede during the raid in Andong Dungeon, it had received a blessing from the saintess.
The blessing was a kind of religious act, where one’s sins were washed away by the saintess’ touch, cleansing them and declaring them as one of her own.
Though neither Shia nor the centipede had any awareness of this, and the god Shia served didn’t actually exist in this world, the blessing of the Saintess of the Dead slowly began to alter the centipede’s inner being.
The first change was an increase in intelligence.
Originally possessing the intelligence of a 3-to-5-year-old child, the centipede experienced a significant leap, developing a distinct sense of reason and intelligence, almost to the point of being considered a mutant.
And as it received the blessing of the Saintess of the Dead, the centipede’s internal composition gradually began to resemble that of the one who had blessed it.
Of course, the centipede was still just a centipede.
Its eating habits had become more similar to Shia’s, its energy level was much higher than that of its kin, and its body was now composed of highly purified mana. But outwardly, there were no noticeable changes.
[Squeak…](Damn, I’m hungry…)
And today, with Shia away again, the centipede woke up from hunger.
Where did my owner go?
Where’s the food?
I’m hungry.
Take me with you.
A torrent of desires and thoughts swirled through its mind, but Shia had already left.
The centipede wandered around the now-empty Returnee Shelter where Shia lived.
With its 15-meter-long body, going outside would undoubtedly cause a huge commotion, and the centipede was well aware of that.
Its increased intelligence meant that it now understood how different it was from humans. It knew that if it went outside without Shia, it might encounter dangerous hunters and possibly be killed.
[Squeaaak…](Food… I need food…)
Remembering how Shia used to take things out of the white box and eat them, the centipede fumbled with the refrigerator.
Since it had no idea how to open the refrigerator, the centipede spent dozens of minutes wrestling with the door.
Eventually, through sheer luck, it managed to open it. As soon as the door opened, the centipede spotted a dark, apple-like fruit inside.
[Squeak?]
What’s that?
A dark apple.
The sweet smell coming from it.
It was the apple that had grown from the decayed branch of the World Tree atop Olgania’s head, which Shia had received as a reward after resolving the incident in the Great Elf Forest.
Although the real, high-concentration malevolent energy belonged to the Demon King’s fragment, if Shia had consumed that fragment, there was a risk she would become the next Demon King. So, in this world, the rotten World Tree’s apple was the most concentrated malevolent energy that Shia could safely consume.
Originally, Shia had intended to eat this rotten apple later as a kind of supplement, but with all the recent incidents involving stalkers and the case with Yoon-jung, she had spent more time outside and completely forgotten about the apple.
And the Lucky Blade Centipede couldn’t resist the sweet and enticing smell of the malevolent energy coming from the apple.
The owner left this delicious thing for me to eat!
Crunch, crunch!
Though the centipede was a carnivore, the intense malevolent energy from the dark apple completely satisfied its cravings.
Just one bite of the highly concentrated malevolent energy was enough to make the centipede feel its hunger being quenched in real-time.
[Squeaaak~](Burp~)
Although the centipede initially intended to eat all the various meats and ingredients in the fridge, just one apple had filled its stomach so much that it felt like it was going to burst.
Feeling a sense of full satisfaction, the centipede drifted back to sleep.
Several hours later…
“…Squeak…”
The centipede woke up, rubbing its eyes as it got up from its spot.
I’m hungry.
How could I be this hungry again after just sleeping for a few hours when I was so full earlier?
“…Squeak…”
The centipede looked around, noticing that its perspective had risen slightly.
The owner still hadn’t returned.
“Squeak… Huh?”
But something was strange.
No, something wasn’t just strange—it was very strange.
When did I start walking on two legs?
When did my view become this high?
When did I get hands that look like my owner’s?
When did I start rubbing my eyes like a human?
When did I start standing here like a human?
Blink, blink.
The centipede looked into a mirror and saw its reflection, now resembling a human.
It wasn’t a perfect human.
Its skin had a dark, sunburnt brown hue.
At the joints of its arms and legs, yellowish chitinous segments wriggled, and the ends of its limbs were not soft human flesh but the hard, venomous claws and exoskeleton unique to the centipede.
Its eyes were purple.
However, instead of regular human pupils, its eyes looked somewhat grotesque, with layers of compound eyes within compound eyes.
There were horn-like or thorn-like protrusions embedded in its navel and the center of its chest.
A long tail that resembled its original centipede body stretched between its waist and hips, but it was only about 1-2 meters long now, not even a tenth of its former 15-meter length.
Most notably, there were jiggling masses of flesh swinging in the way, similar to the cumbersome lumps on its owner’s body.
If Shia’s body had been made a few years younger, it would probably look something like this.
“………….”
The centipede thought about why it had turned into this form but didn’t dwell on it for long.
Well, if I’ve changed, I’ve changed.
Grrrrrr
The centipede furrowed its brow at the hunger rumbling in its belly.
[Squeaaaak…](I’m hungry…)
Now possessing intelligence far superior to that of its kin—or perhaps even comparable to that of humans—the centipede accepted the transformation of its body into a human-like form as a stroke of good fortune.
Because in this form, it could go outside!
In the Hunter era, there were hunters and awakened individuals who had mutation or transformation abilities, and some possessed special powers that made them look more like monsters or beastmen from fantasy movies than ordinary humans.
While such people were initially shunned, by the time of 2088, society had long grown accustomed to them. So, the centipede’s appearance would likely be seen as nothing more than that of a slightly unusual mutant-type awakened person.
‘There’s no food in the house.’
‘I don’t know when the owner will come back.’
‘There must be a lot of delicious food outside.’
With those thoughts, the centipede made up its mind and took its first grand step outside.
[Squeaaak… Squeak… Squeak…]
However, the centipede didn’t know how to open the door, so it spent a while struggling at the entrance of the Returnee Shelter.
It could have just smashed the door with force, but it couldn’t be sure that its owner wouldn’t deep-fry it for destroying the house.
Eventually, as the centipede was wrestling with the door, it spotted a neighbor passing by.
[Squeak?]
Watching the neighbor grab the door handle and turn it to the side, the centipede realized that simply pushing the door wouldn’t open it.
It also noticed that the neighbor had something draped over their body.
Now that it thought about it, humans always wore strange pieces of cloth even though they already had skin.
Shia was no exception.
Even though its owner wouldn’t get hurt going out naked, she always wore something.
‘Do humans have to wear those cloth pieces to go outside?’
The centipede judged that it would need to imitate the humans to avoid suspicion and returned to the storage room where Shia’s clothes were kept, pulling out something to wear.
Fortunately, most of the clothes fit the centipede’s body reasonably well.
But some of them were too tight.
It especially disliked the underwear.
Just wearing it made the centipede feel as if its body was being constrained, so it didn’t
bother with the underwear or pants, opting for a loose-fitting top instead.
This should be enough.
Now, let’s go out.
Beep beep.
With the sound of the door unlocking, the centipede took its first steps into the bustling, vast world of 2088’s Hunter society.
Everything was huge.
It was noisy and chaotic.
On the streets, large metal boxes rolled by quietly. Countless humans, draped in various strange cloths, moved about busily.
So this is the human world.
Not the rotten mountain where I lived, but the real outside world of humans.
The centipede took each step with wide, curious eyes, like a baby experiencing everything for the first time.
“……?”
“Oh wow…”
“Is that a mutant-type awakened one?”
“Who is that?”
Naturally, attention was drawn to the centipede.
Its body resembled Shia’s, the one who had given it the blessing, albeit slightly.
Because of that, it had a captivating and imposing figure. And with such a body barely covered by a single t-shirt, it was only natural for people’s gazes to be drawn to it.
Had this been 30 years earlier, the centipede would have been reported and taken to the police immediately.
Grrrrrr
[Squeaaaak…](I’m hungry…)
It was very hungry.
Though it was nice to explore this fascinating, chaotic human world…
First, I need to eat, right?
Where should I go?
I’m really, really hungry.
Sniff sniff
At that moment, the centipede caught a whiff of something delicious and began staggering toward the source of the smell.
Its centipede tail wiggled behind it, as if expressing how pleased it was by the enticing aroma.
[Squeak… Huh?]
The centipede finally discovered the source of the scent.
It was the same smell that sometimes clung to Shia when she came home late at night or early in the morning.
[Our Neighborhood Blood Sausage Soup]
The scent of steaming, fragrant blood sausage soup wafted from the bubbling cauldron, causing the centipede to feel something trickling from its tongue and lips.
*Slurp…* *Gulp…*
Drool.
When it had still been a centipede, it didn’t have these kinds of physical reactions, but now that it had taken on a human form, it found itself drooling and licking its lips.
“Oh, are you a customer?”
[Squeak…?]
What’s a customer?
What’s that?
The centipede tilted its head in confusion at the friendly voice of the middle-aged woman who had emerged from the restaurant.
“Oh my, even young ladies are getting into blood sausage soup these days? You look like a hunter. Want a bowl?”
“……..”
“Don’t just stand there. Come on in! We’re not officially open yet, but if you want to eat, I can serve you now!”
[Squeak.]
For some reason, the human’s hospitable attitude made the centipede curl its lips into what was probably a smile.
Most importantly, it couldn’t resist the intoxicating smell of blood and meat coming from the blood sausage soup.
Slurp… Gulp… (It smells delicious.)