Chapter 88 :

Episode 19 : Brother Figure (6)

"Was it alright to leave blackie and spidey alone in the lake..? Uncle?" Mya asked me while staring in Behemoth and Mirai's direction.

During this, I was pulling out the bluegills that were in my inventory to give it to Mya. "They will be fine."

Mya didn't trust my words which made logical sense since I just left a cat and a spider in the middle of the lake without any raft or food.

"They will come back soon. So do not need to worry." I showed her a smile that meant everything is fine.

"If you say so.." 

"Mya! Come sit down here!" Louis called out, causing me to wonder what he was trying to do.

Much to my surprise, Louis had laid out a blanket onto the ground with enough space to fit everyone here.

"Come! I'll cook you some good food." As he spoke, he took out a frying pan from his inventory which shocked Mya greatly.

Mya ran up to him to ask him a question. "Brother.. do you always carry a pan with you?" 

"If I don't, how will I cook for you?" Louis's answer was straightforward which made Mya to be more stunned.

This used to surprise me quite a lot as well in my past multiple lives, but I had gotten used to it whenever I brought along players who could cook. 

Speaking of cooking, it will be important later on in the stages, so after seeing Louis's status, without a doubt, I must bring him along in my team. 

If I didn't, then there wouldn't be anyone who can cook delicious meals for my comrades everyday.

I stared at Louis who was showing off to Mya with his cooking utensils. ‘I'm not quite sure if HwanGi-ssi and Alaine can cook.. But just in case, let's try to add him in my team for now.’ 

As Louis and Mya were talking to each other happily like siblings, I glanced up, spotting the sun was about halfway down.

With little time left, I needed to finish up with my own quests as well. However I couldn't just leave Mya alone with Louis who I had no trust in yet.

"Urk!" I groaned, having felt something occurring in my head.

A sudden pain emerged inside my head, it was painful but thanks to my skill, the pain had subsided.

[Hidden Skill, ‘Simulation’ Lv. 2 has offset the pain.]

It was too unexpected that it took a second for my skill to activate.

"Lucifer.. Did he mess up one of my memories?" Fully knowing who caused such a pain, I mumbled while rubbing my head.

There was a reason why Lucifer hadn't talked to me for a while, it was because he was doing some important work.

Work as in helping me to rearrange my memories slowly but surely, since my mind was clouded. Because I couldn't remember easily how many lives I had lived, I needed someone to help me.

For someone to organise my memories, only Lucifer could do it, I must say he is like a lifesaver.

Without him acting as a memory storage, anyone would have gone insane from having lived over hundreds and hundreds of lives. 

"But I ponder.. what kind of being is he to have such an unique power?" I thought, suddenly becoming suspicious of Lucifer for a bit.

This was when I realized that I hadn't questioned Lucifer's existence since the beginning of having him by my side.

"Why didn't I.. Ack!" This time, the pain had multiplied to an extreme extent, not even ‘Simulation’ could offset this intense pain.

[Error! Hidden Skill, ‘Simulation’ Lv. 2 can't process the unknown affliction!]

[Error! Hidden Skill, ‘Simulation’ Lv. 2 has failed!]

The pain kept stacking up, mentally hurting my head as the seconds flew by. Obviously, I felt agony before, but this was on another level. 

"Damn.." Because I was enduring the pain, it took me a few seconds to become aware of an attack coming this way. 

Without any certainty if it was an attack, I figured I should just dodge it. And so, I had moved my head aside to evade a string that was traveling through the wind like a bullet.

Then I extended out my hand and caught a tiny spider who was using the string to spring herself to me, looking all adorable and such. 

At that moment, the aching that I had felt and sustained, had disappeared when I was disturbed, unknowingly forgetting about something important. 

‘..What was I thinking about earlier?’ I thought to myself.

"Captain!" Mirai uttered.

I mused after realizing a cat had come bumping into my leg. ‘It must not be important if I forgot about it..’ 

Not aware that I had forgotten something significant, I looked over to the spider in my hand, asking her. "Mirai, did you end your argument?"

Mirai being all scared because of what happened earlier, responded fast with slight fright in her tone. "Yes, Captain! I won't ever do that again!"

"Excellent." I smiled.

"Master! Me too! I won't argue with that little insect!" Behemoth who was rubbing his head on my leg, exclaimed.

"Behemoth. You still haven't done your quest yet right?" I asked, picking him up.

"No, I haven't."

"Then stay here and finish your quest. Make sure that nothing happens to Mya and keep your eyes on that man."

"Eh?"

"Mimi and I need to complete our quests. Since you're doing one right now, I'll entrust you with Mya's safety."

"Yes..?"

"You can go do your other quest when either me or Mimi arrive back here. Do you understand what I had said?"

"Yes!"

"So you'll finally do your quest?" I grinned with a smile fixed with malevolent, watching Behemoth sweating from the thought of going into water.

Since I knew Behemoth won't do his quest even if I told him to, I'll have to be certain that he must do his quest.

With Behemoth on my left hand, I spun my left arm to gather momentum before throwing Behemoth into the lake.

"Noooooooooo!!" Behemoth cried out as his voice was getting hard to hear when he got further away.

As soon as Behemoth landed into the lake, Mirai laughed while she was standing on my right hand. Thus, I asked her. "Was it funny?"

"Yes, it was hilarious! Captain!" 

‘Did Mirai know that I tossed Behemoth in the lake because he called her a little insect?’

Even if she knew or not, it didn't matter.

I patted her head with my index finger before leaving this area without telling Mya and Louis. 

———

Currently holding onto his wet clothes, Louis now had new clothes on since he had stored a few pairs of clothes in his inventory just in case.

Naturally, he had changed his clothes in another area where no one could see him get naked, which meant he was far from where Mya was.

When he walked back to the lake after storing his soaked clothes in his storage, Louis found Mya roaming around the lake, seeming like she was searching for something.

"What are you doing, Mya?" Louis asked in curiosity. 

When Mya saw Louis came back, she rushed to him and asked him. "Uncle JoonChul isn't here! Even Spidey is also gone!"

Mya after being distracted by Louis for a long time, finally realized two people had disappeared.

Getting slightly worried that JoonChul might have abandoned her, she had a sorrow expression on her face. "Did they leave me.. here alone with blackie?"

"No, no, he didn't. I'm sure of that." 

He might not know why JoonChul left, but Louis knew that he couldn't just let Mya be anxious and depressed over JoonChul's and Mirai's disappearances.

After thinking that, Louis carried Mya in his arms, figuring that Mya may have been tired from searching. 

Mya was startled for a moment, nevertheless she didn't reject Louis's sudden action. "What a-are you doing?"

"I'll make you a good meal." 

Carrying her to where the blanket was, Louis quickly laid Mya down on the blanket before swiftly going to collect some twigs and sticks he could find.

Despite going to get firewood, he didn't adventure far away from Mya because he had to protect her somehow.

Even though it took a short moment, Louis finished gathering enough woods to start a campfire.

He then speedily went back and dropped all the firewood on the ground a few feet away from the blanket and the trees.

Mya watched as the campfire was being built by Louis, she was nosy on what meal he could be cooking up, nonetheless she was still thinking about JoonChul and Mirai. 

"Where could h-he have gone..? Why d-did he leave me here..?" Mya muttered quietly to herself.

It was then that Behemoth had gone out of the lake and immediately shook his body to dry all the water that was in his fur. 

After finishing his quest in a matter of a few minutes, Behemoth proudly expressed his pleased expression with his mouth having a bluegill. 

Thrilled by not having to stay in the water for much longer, Behemoth was sparkling like the purrfect cat he was.

Anyways, when Mya was being sad, Behemoth had placed himself on her lap, staring right at her.

"Blackie.. did your owner l-leave you here with m-me too?" Mya was baffled at first when a cat just rested on her lap, yet she was calm after finding out it was just Behemoth.

"Meow..! Mrow!" The fish in Behemoth's mouth dropped down when he had opened his mouth to meow.

Although Mya was quick to go and grab it, Louis was quicker to take it first. He said as he went back to the campfire. "Sorry, I'll be taking this."

"Meow!!" Behemoth hissed and was barely close to slicing off Louis's face after Louis had taken the fish.

"I'll make you the best fish dish with this bluegill." 

After only hearing that, Behemoth's mind went wild from just imagining what kind of fish dishes he was going to eat.

Trapped in his imagination, Behemoth didn't realize Louis had already left to cook nor did he become aware of Mya smiling while patting him.

‘I wonder what kind of dishes it is..? Could it be better than my papa's cooking?’ Mya was now curious as well after Louis spoke the words ‘the best’, completely forgetting about JoonChul and Mirai in the process.