Chapter 38 - Ilma

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Leon thought of approaching the little girl by stretching his hands, however upon realizing how terrified she was, he decided to hold still and called out to the girl.

"Hey, uhh... girl. Please, stop crying. Look, there is no trouble around anymore. Everything is fine.

Upon hearing a man's gentle voice, the girl slowly broke out of her own delusions. She opened her eyes and glimpsed at a figure squatting before her hiding place.

"You... you get away from me, you Monster!"

A surprised look came upon Leon before he was hit with the sudden realization.

'Oooh... I see. She saw something like monsters in her dreams. Yup, that should be a nightmare. So, that's why she is hiding here. Maybe I should do something about this first.'

Thinking like that, Leon decided to approach the girl again.

"Hey, Look. I am not really a monster. Hmm... you can think of me as a... friend. You see, you are hiding inside my room. This is my bed, you know? Still, even if I have found you, look. Have I done anything bad to you yet?

Upon hearing the humane voice and tone of the man in front of her, she became a bit more trusting of him, as she spoke,

"But...but, if you are not a monster... then, who are you? Where am I? W-Who brought me here? Where is Aunt Tanya?"

Leon became tensed at the girl's sudden outburst of questions.

There were a lot of questions that she asked him. Hence he decided to answer them one by one.

"Well... my name is Leon. You are inside my house and, this is my room. Also, this is my bed that you are hiding under."

"I think you were attacked by some bad people and your... Um, that Aunt Tanya... might be the person who handed you to me before leaving for somewhere. She... she should have something important to do right now. That is why she left you with me to take care of you."

"Don't worry. I am not a bad person. Since your Aunt Tanya thinks well of me and trusted me to take care of you, surely you can trust me as well, right?"

There was an obvious flaw in Leon's persuasion and his words since there was no way to prove whether that Aunt Tanya was the same person who handed him the child.

Also, he had no way of proving that he had not kidnapped her from somewhere. Since a masked person had handed him the child a person of attentive mindset might have noticed these things, however, Leon was currently dealing with a small child, who had become extremely terrified of her nightmares.

The child was away from her trusted people and had found herself in a stranger's house. There was no way that she could think of those things with a straight mindset.

"That... i-if that's true, then... have the Monsters gone away? And... and where is Aunt Tanya now?"

"Your Aunt Tanya... she really has something important to do. I think she might be back sometime later. But, until then she wants you to stay with me. Also, about all those Monsters... I have beaten them away!"

"I gave them a straight punch to their face! A kick to their stomach! They all ran away crying. Don't worry, there's no one else around here at all. There are only two of us in this room, and I won't harm you."

"R-Really? You promise?"

"Yes, I do. It's okay to come out now. It must be very cold in there. Come, let's sit on the bed."

Being slowly coerced by Leon, the little girl slowly crawled out from underneath the bed and came to stand in front of him.

Previously, Leon couldn't take a good look at the young child when he rescued her and brought her here. This time, however, he could see the child's features very well. Despite her haggard state, she was cute looking girl child with beautiful facial features and a charming presence about her. It wasn't strange for him to think of how such a charming child would be abducted by traffickers.

While Leon was still thinking of what to say next, the little girl suddenly approached him slowly and grabbed his pants while taking deep sniffs of his clothes. She kept sniffing from place to place as if she was trying to confirm something by doing so.

"W-What... what are you doing, young child? I'm not very clean yet. I haven't even taken a bath either. I... actually rushed here from somewhere. I am sure that I am really sweaty right now. You don't have to... I mean..."

Leon wanted to somehow stop the child from doing such embarrassing things. However, the young child didn't seem to mind his sweaty body odor much and kept sniffing his pants, and sometimes his hands for a while.

A weird glint came upon the young child's eyes and she broke the silence.

"This... this scent. It's aunt Tanya's body scent! Why is this scent on you? Are... are you really someone close to aunt Tanya? Really?"

Leon didn't know at all that his own body carried someone else's body scent. He then tried to sniff his own body around to detect it. His attempts, however, failed miserably as he found himself unable to do so.

"Eh?... Oh, right, right. I-I am someone really important to your Aunt Tanya. She... she must have said something about me before, right?"

"Umm..?"

"Yes! I am that trustworthy man. You can trust me, alright?"

Upon hearing Leon say that, a bright smile came upon the girl's face, as she tightly hugged his right leg with both of her hands and buried her face into his pants, taking deep sniffs as she screamed in excitement.

"Uncle! Oh wow! I finally found you!! It's so great to meet you. Finally... this time, I found you. Aunt Tanya always told me about you! You... you are her husband, my Uncle, right?"

Leon wanted to immediately deny that strange claim made by the little child. However having seen her distressed state earlier, and having known little of what she had suffered in the past, he had no guts to shatter this poor child's heart.

If he did, it would surely push the young child back into her shell.

'Oh well... let's just go with the flow for now. When the time comes, the truth would become clear by itself. I see no point in tormenting this poor girl right now. If she wants me to be her Uncle... then let's just be her Uncle for now. It doesn't matter much right now anyways.'

"Yes, Yes. I am your Uncle. Now, your Uncle is here already. No need to worry too much now, alright? Come, sit with your Uncle on the bed. There is no need for us to keep standing, right?"

"Un! Okay~!"

The little girl seemed to agree to anything Leon asked, as she followed him to sit down next to him on his bed.

Even while sitting, her body couldn't sit still, as she kept turning around and looking at Leon's body, face, hands, clothes, and everything else about him. It was as if she was meeting her childhood Hero whom she has often heard Tales about. After all, she was still just a curious child.

"Uncle... why... why did you not stay with Aunt Tanya? Why did you leave her alone before? S-She must have been so lonely before, you know? Aunt Tanya said that you two really love each other. Is that really true?"

At the bombardment of such unexpected questions, Leon stiffly scratched his face while thinking,

'Well, how am I supposed to know what happened between your Aunt and Uncle? I am really just a voluntary substitute here. So... if you haven't met him yet, let's create a mad story by myself.

Leon laughed awkwardly, trying to dispel the little girl's high-tension aura and the strange look in her eyes as he spoke to her,

"Well, you know... she has something important to do right now. And... Ah, yes! Just like that, I had important to do as well. See?"

The little girl didn't seem to be satisfied with Leon's explanation, as she stared at him worriedly and asked,

"But... but, you could have visited Aunt Tanya once before, you know? Why did you never come back once? And... and, when is that important thing of yours ending? Why hasn't it been completed yet? Are you going to come back to live with us soon?"

At this point, Leon had no idea what to say. He just laughed awkwardly as spoke to the little girl,

"Hey, hey. No need to think too much about it, little girl. When your Aunt comes back, we can talk about it in detail. For now, your Aunt told me to have you stay with me. So, you must be an honest and obedient girl, alright? Your Aunt told me that you are a good child. So, are you really a good child?"

The girl appeared to be very serious as she nodded deeply and spoke,

"Yes! I have always been a very good girl. Aunt Tanya knows it very well. Uncle, you will see. I am a good girl. A very good girl!'

"Hahaha... why not? Uncle believes you. You must be a very good girl. I am sure that your Aunt would be back very soon too. Until then, why don't you try living with this Uncle of yours."

"Yes!! Let's have fun! Fun with Uncle!"

Looking at the little child's bright eyes, Leon sighed in relief. He had successfully brought the young child's mind away from her nightmares and the strange environment. He had made her sense some sort of similarity with him.

With this as the foundation of their relationship, he was sure that he could build a strong relationship with her, to make her feel as safe and secure. At least until the woman who had handed him the child, eventually returns back to take the child with her.

When the sleepy Leon thought that he could finally catch some sleep, the little girl held Leon's wrist with her small hands, as she looked deeply into his eyes and spoke,

"Then, Uncle? What fun thing would be doing first? I... I would like to play some games!"

Several black lines appeared on Leon's forehead as he tried to speak back to the girls,

"Hey, hey. It's still dark outside. I-It's not the time for, um... good children to be awake. The play time is when... yes, you have taken breakfast first, you know? And then... then we can play together, alright?"

"Ahh... then, what are we supposed to do now?"

"Uhhh... how about we try sleeping together first? I mean... you can sleep beside your Uncle here! No problem. I can sleep... here and you can sleep right there. Alright?"

"Ohh... sleeping with Uncle..? Alright!"

Leon breathed in relief as he thought he had calmed this little bundle of excitement down. But, that was when a question resounded in his mind, that he couldn't help but ask the child.

"Wait... Your aunt couldn't tell me your name properly when she left. Can you tell me your name first?"

"Me? I am Ilma! Nice to meet you, Uncle Leon!"

"Hahaha... it's nice to meet you too, Ilma. Now, it's time to sleep like a good child, alright?"

"But... but, Uncle. Aunt Tanya always told me stories before to help me sleep. Does Uncle knows some stories as well?"

"Ahh... stories? Then, how about this one... once upon a time there was a donkey..."

"No! Donkeys are stupid! I hate donkeys!"

"Ehhh? Do you hate Donkeys? Well... once upon a time there was a big monkey..."

"No! No! Monkeys are naughty! They always disturb me when I go out to play!"

'Huh? Just what kind of place was she living in before that had so many animals around? Did she live on a farm or something? Who knows what kind of mysterious place this girl was living in? Having Donkeys and Monkeys around herself... Don't tell me that she was a jungle girl before or something?'

"I see... then, this one should do it. Once upon a time... there was a little girl... who found a strange cave. Inside, there were weird noises coming from inside..."

This time around, the little girl listened quietly to Leon's story. His own storytelling skills were top-notch. He could easily cook up some stories with his own previous life experiences.

Leon himself didn't know when he had fallen asleep, way before the child next to him. As a result of which, he simply slept peacefully right next to the child.

"Ehhh? What happened next? Huh? Uncle... you are asleep already? Hmmm... then, what should Ilma do now? Well... let's just hug Uncle and sleep."

"Hehehe... nighty night, Uncle..."

The little girl hugged Leon's left arm tightly and slept while putting her little head on his arm and slept soundly.

She could still smell the faint fragrance of her Aunt Tanya's body coming from Leon next to her, which helped to calm her down immensely and soon, the duo of the young man and the little child fell asleep soundly.

...

A/N: A Big THANKS to all my dear Patrons. It's because of you guys that this cold world feels a bit warmer nowadays.

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