*Twist Fshhh*

A steady stream of water came out of the faucet when its knob got turned.

It still amazes me how this faucet looks and feels modern.

Adam’s using the public restroom of their home; more like just the restroom because it’s not public and it’s still within the walls of their estate. He’s washing his hands because a towel isn’t just going to cut it; saliva feels very dirty you know?

Hm… feels like I’ve been spoiled too much that I’m becoming such a clean freak?

Washing it on a sink that’s especially adjusted for kids, but it’s still a bit high for him because he’s too short. He’s using a stool to stand on.

The facilities inside are also very modern looking with several stalls, although there are no water free urinals like his previous’ world did, but it’s not losing with the sheer number of stalls it has. The inside is of course, massive; having a warm colored light and dark brown colored walls, the floor is also marbled but has a yellow luster because of the warm light.

It’s almost like Adam is just living in a slightly out of date mansion and is still basically living in a modern world scenario.

The restroom’s to the very right of the banquet hall, several meters away from the salmon-colored hair girl’s table. The female restroom is basically next to the men’s, safe to say that what’s separating them is the wall with a mirror.

There weren’t any people around because Adam managed to chance upon the restroom being empty.

*Opens*

Well, almost.

One of the stalls behind him opened, which he saw from the reflection from the large mirror. What came outside is a boy about the same age as him, having yellow medallion colored hair with blue eyes.

He saw Adam currently washing his hands and questioningly tilted his head.

Haaa… feels like trouble again.

Adam quickly finished up. He went down and hurriedly tried to leave.

*Grabs*

“Guhk.”

*Inhale Exhale*

Something stopped Adam from taking another step. It felt like his chain got stuck on something and he got choked by it for a moment.

“… … … … … … … . . .  .. . .  .. . .. .”

Adam slowly looked behind as to what could have caused it. He saw small fingers touching his chain on the corner of his eyes.

This… Little… Shit!

This feeling… it feels so nostalgic, yet it’s also a feeling that he doesn’t like taking over.

What is it again? An emotion that just wants to crush anything that’s within sight. So many controllers and phones fell victim to this emotion.

Right, he just didn’t want to think about it but… this is.

This is – anger.

It’s been over 2 years since Adam felt genuine anger, he doesn’t want to think about the last time he got angry, but now he is really blinded by rage that he didn’t even think about the scene where and how he got angry.

His patience has been running thin from all the fronts he’s been showing. Every minor and major inconvenience that he encountered since he was born here. Learning that he can’t just communicate with C from the get-go, learning that he is still incapable of using mana in this fantasy world, learning that he was too weak, learning that his parents planned him to stay at home for over 25 years, learning that he needs to still break his words just to not be suspicious, learning that he looks too girly, learning that he’s too short, learning that he can’t do much by being this young, learning that he still has to wait 2 more years for his family to even consider training him, learning that……..

 It’s all been building up like a boiling kettle; it’s only a matter of time before it blew its fuse.

And what tipped it over?

“You… dare touch my chain!?” Adam spoke in his old language without even realizing it.

Not only that, but he also literally got yanked by it. The only connection he had with C got touched. Not even his family tried to touch it without being overly cautious and then this random child held it like it was something to be inspected on a bargain sale?! The audacity.

Adam’s irises glowed and its color slowly shifting to golden yellow.

“?....?........ ? ?.... ???” The kid looks like he’s having trouble breathing as he tried to grab on air with both of his hands. He isn’t afraid, more like he is utterly confused as to why he can’t suck in air or even expel it.

Adam hasn’t fully turned around, so the glowing eyes haven’t been exposed or even his creased face.

He finally turned around and saw a kid having trouble breathing.

!!!!.... Oh, he might be asking for help because he has asthma. I didn’t know that asthma also exists in this world.

His anger gone, with not a single trace on his face.

Adam moment.

How immature of me to suddenly displace all my anger on a child. Especially when he was just asking for help.

One of his friends in the old world had also had Asthma, so he can sympathize a bit with this child.

“FuuHaaa.. Haaaa. Hahh..”

The child finally managed to breathe normally.

Adam went near him and kept caressing his back to relax.

“You okway?”

“Yes?...??”

What a bipolar son of a-

•••At the banquet Hall •••

Creed is talking to a guest while maintaining the act of Elcesta. As always, there are many questions pertaining to personal life, just like this, with a group of ladies.

“Do you have a husband?”

“… None.”

“Oh, are you searching for one? I know someone who’s still single and is pretty handsome too.”

“… I’m currently not interested on settling down… and I already have a person in mind.”

“Such a shame, you two would’ve been a nice couple. Who is this person if I may ask?”

The act is going quite well, Creed- Ahem. Elcesta always has a reply whenever asked.

But she got jolted a bit because she felt something from a particular direction.

“…!?”

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing much, I just felt a little chill on my back…”

“It is starting to get a bit cold.”

Elcesta looked in the general direction from where she felt it, she saw Ana and Gain pulling their friends over to some food.

… [Hero’s Blood]?

There are only a few people who can use it, and she is very familiar with how it feels and how it works. She is looking at two of the people who can use it.

Did it flare up from them? There – were – times when it activated itself when they were younger.

Pondering it over some more, it could really be just one of the two of them randomly flaring up, but it’s been so long since that happened. You can say that the two of them almost has perfect mastery over it.

It was faint and, in an instant, she would never mistake what it was.

Unless…

Elcesta’s silence only fueled the curiosity of the ladies she’s with. Just like earlier, they followed where she kept looking at.

She’s looking further ahead of her two children and is eyeing the restroom where Adam went into earlier.

•••At the restroom •••

“Ah, why is a girl here?”

The yellow medallion colored haired boy asked. He didn’t notice Adam with his unquenchable fury earlier, so he basically just brushed it off like nothing happened.

This little shit.

Just because Adam calmed down, doesn’t mean it was instantly extinguished.

“But I’m a boy.”

“I’m not tricked. Girls wear pretty necklace, and they have nice face!”

Necklace? I guess a child could see my ‘chain’ as a necklace. A nice face… So, if a girl’s downright ugly, she doesn’t classify as a girl?

The medallion-colored hair continued, “Mama also wears necklaces. Mama at girl’s restroom now.”

“I… Bwoy.”

“Girl.”

“…”

“…”

It appears they’re at an impasse.

How do I convince this little shit? Do I just remove my shorts and show the peepee?

No, don’t do it.

Nah, kids are pretty dumb.  Just like with my earlier experience with the salmon-colored hair; I bet he doesn’t even know there’s a difference down there between a girl and a boy. The bad scenario, even if I did show him, he’ll just assume that girls also have a peepee. Even worse scenario we start comparing the length and somehow it turns out that mine is smaller!

Yeah, we can’t have that.

“Don’t worry! I know where girl’s restroom is; I’m good kid I’ll bring you there!” Because there was a bit of silence and Adam didn’t reply anymore, the child just assumed he was right and grabbed Adam’s hand and proceeded to guide him outside.

Yeah, I know too. It’s literally the door right next to this!

“I don’t nweed to go.”

“It better if you know where.”

Hello? I was literally about to leave earlier and now you’re going to guide me to the girls' restroom??? This little shit is too ‘kind’ for his own good! I need to break off!

Though this “little shit” is a head taller than him…

Adam tried to break off by pulling his arm back.

*Tug* “Ngh!?”

Yo?

*Tug tug* “Nn!”

Adam kept pulling with all his might, but he just gets continuously pulled without the kid even noticing his resistance. It’s like he was trying to pull a moving tractor with his own body, even though it’s slowly moving, it’s not even budging.

*Tug tug tug tug*YOOOooo! Am I too weak or is he that strong?!

The two of them managed to go outside of the restroom now.

Jake is a few distance away from the men’s restrooms. He can’t go inside the restrooms because servants have their own place for restrooms, and they are advised to not use the restrooms for guests unless it’s an absolute emergency.

If you’ve already forgotten as to why he’s near the restroom, Adam told him to follow him around; so that he could act like a bodyguard to him. The rule is just stopping him from going inside the restroom with him.

Jake, my bodyguard! I’m getting kidnapped by a child! Stop him at once!

Our bodyguard Jake saw Adam getting pulled by a child the same as his age.

Adam kept gesturing using his head by looking at Jake, and back to the child’s hand where he was getting pulled.

“...?”

Though, Adam is doing it fast, that it didn’t register to him in an instant. It looked more like Adam was telling Jake not to interfere.

*Thumbs up* Jake replied.

FUCK YOU.

In the end, Adam and the child got inside the girl’s restroom. There were many ladies in their dress inside; like how it was in the old world where they need constant preparations or fixes on themselves. Unlike men who just take a piss, wash hands, maybe style their hair for a bit then leave.

“Mama, there was girl in boy’s restroom.”

He called out to a lady with long dark brown hair and blue eyes. She’s wearing a simple yellow dress and has the necklace that the child said, the necklace having purple gemstones while being silver probably reminded the child of Adam’s chain.

“Was there?”

She looked over to her child then,

“!!!”

Adam is seen smiling while waving at them.

Yeah, I can understand why you would be surprised.

Her son basically brought in the child of a respected individual into the girl’s restroom; not just any respected individual, literally the son of the one who was celebrating her birthday which they got invited to in the first place.

This is almost the same as your child finding a green rock, and as he showed you, it was a grenade.

“Um… Danil, can you let go for now?”

“Okay.” He looked at Adam then said, “This is girl’s restroom.”

Looking around the restroom, there isn’t much to see. In fact, you’ll see the worst of the ladies because they’re more likely to be fixing themselves inside. That’s why if Adam wanted to ogle at ladies, he’d rather do it once he’s outside of this place, where they are in their most confident and prettiest state. Don’t even think about going to the stalls, it’s not worth it.

The ladies who noticed Adam are using the stance of “I saw nothing” and resumed whatever they were doing.

I have everyone on hostage now. If I feel like screaming at the top of my lungs, everyone here would be kicked out.

But let’s not do that. It’s already annoying for Adam as is just from getting unwanted attention earlier.

“… … Thanks!”

Adam patted Danil’s head.

Rather than call it patting, it’s more of aggressively ruffling Danil’s hair.

“Hehe, you’re welcome!” Danil seems to be enjoying it.

I’ll take the mantle of not knowing what’s the difference between the word “girl” and “boy” to save you all of us from trouble. Adam thought.

“Adam, what are you doing here?”

“Aunt Elcesta!”

Elcesta appeared just inside the entrance of the restroom, she looked to be hesitating to go further but still went to go near Adam.

“Did you need to use the restroom?”

“I jwust done.”

“Let’s go then, you’ll be bothering the ladies inside.” Elcesta offered her hand.

“Okay!” Adam took her hand without any delay.

Thanks! I can leave without making up a reason.

The two of them left the restroom. You would be able to hear the relieved collective breaths of the people inside if you stayed.

As the two of them walked hand-in-hand, they passed over Jake. Elcesta seemed to lean over Jake for a quick second and whispered something to him.

Jake instantly shivered and looked unwell, though he was flushed red as if he suddenly got a fever.

Creed looked intently at Adam as they walked, using an

Forgive your father, I’ll be looking at your status!

A status screen appeared in his mind.

It’s a given that my version of [Appraisal] is weaker than the god level scroll, but it still gets the job done… Tsk, yet his collar doesn’t even get registered as an equipment on mine.

Creed inspected Adam’s status as they walked.

There’s still no [Hero’s Blood] on the Traits… so it was really Just Ana or Gain.

Even if the two of them did master it, it seems that it can’t be helped for it to flare up every once in a while.

It looks like Adam has the potential to be a mage… but his mana isn’t proportional to the amount of intelligence and wisdom; it’s also very high for his age… hmm.

He might as well check his overall growth since he’s already looking at it.

Oh, but his Charisma is already in the 3 digits… That’s very unnatural. Yet, that’s amazing! That’s my son!

He’s brightly smiling while walking with Adam. What a simple fool.

Why is she smiling? Adam thought.

*Tingle tingle*

Hm, I’ve been having this de ja vu sensation; a tingling one at that. I can’t seem to pinpoint what’s causing it.

Adam looked around, still confused about it. It’s like a spidey sense that just won’t stop in his head.

Just think, Adam. You have the perfect memory. Remember when it started.

…It started when I held Elcesta’s hand. Why is that?

It’s a given that her hand would be bigger than Adam’s. But there’s something more to it.

I’m remembering the times when I held my old parents’ hand? No, that can’t be it. I don’t even want to think about them; they can rot in the old world for all I care.

So, what is it?

Is it… her actual hand in particular?

Adam kept feeling the hand that was holding the same hand.

Th-this is!

The crease on the hand feels very similar. He must have touched the very same hand before.

Who would have such a hand?

With quick thinking that’s the same as taking information from the preconscious level of the mind, the crease he’s feeling right now got compared to all the people he has felt before. Only one hand managed to coincide with crease as if it was placed between layers while the opacity of the other was low.

It’s the same crease as my father!

What is this? What are the chances of the same crease to be present on two different people? It’s probably very low, but not improbable.

Then let’s feel it some more.

Adam caressed the hand of Elcesta. With his increased sensitivity from being able to feel and control the flow of his own blood. Adam easily managed to construct the exact fingerprints of Elcesta by just feeling it.

I’ve researched fingerprints before because I was curious. I know a thing or two about them, good thing the memory of it didn’t get damaged.

The thumb fingerprint.

A tented arch.

Index Finger.

Plain arch.

Middle finger.

An Ulnar Loop.

Ring Finger.

Another Ulnar Loop.

And little finger.

A Radial Loop.

Adam easily identified each fingerprint because he can clearly view it in his mind.

All of this… have the same characteristics as Father too!

To compare fingerprints, they must have the same classification. Just like how you can’t compare a bullet from a Colt and a Revolver; although both being a gun, they use two different bullets.

No way… is Elcesta actually just father crossdressing?! It can’t be!

The chance of having the same fingerprints can be hereditary. So, there may be a chance that it came from the same relative. It’s low, but not that low.

Then one thing left to do… It’s to compare its characteristics.

The chance of a person having the same fingerprint is 1 in 60,000,000. That’s just from one finger, what’s more if it’s ALL the fingers? So, Adam has to compare it again just to be sure that Elcesta is really his Father… albeit, in a drag.

An appendage spoiling the recurve creating an upthrust pattern, the typelines, the shoulder, bifurcation….

For a fingerprint examiner to declare that it came from the same person, there needs to be 12 to 16 matches of characteristics. Then the examiner will overlay the two fingerprints in a program just to further prove the point.

No- no way! I found 12 matches! I even overshot and found 38 of the same characteristics! I even overlayed the two in my mind and it came out to be a perfect match!

How can Adam never notice that Elcesta is Creed? He must’ve been blind as hell to not see it. Are you saying that all it took for Creed to be unidentifiable was long hair and a few make-ups? Is he really his son if he didn’t recognize him the moment he saw Elcesta?!?!

Th-that’s just one finger, it’s 1 in 60,000,000. It may not be the same on the other finger! Yeah! That must be it! No way, the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen is my father! I mean, her voice isn’t even the same! HahahAHA!

So, Adam started to compare the other fingers too.

Ho… HOLY FUCK! No fucking way… Every finger matched…. I can’t remain ignorant of this information… What the fuck! So that’s the reason why she was hesitant to get in the women’s restroom; she wasn’t’ a woman in the first place! Why did no one tell me it was him?! Did they found that this is funny?!

Yes, this is hilarious.

Adam is now down on his spirits because…

Shit… getting “trapped” by your own father.

Adam looked at Elcesta again- Er, Creed. His long hair flowed while he walked and while having a bright smile on his face. He’s truly beautiful.

BUT THAT’S HIS FATHER!!!

“Papa…”

“!!!” Creed got jolted back to reality, he lost the appraisal on his mind because of losing his focus. He looked at Adam and saw such innocent looking eyes.

But he had a promise with Serena, he can’t confirm it here and now. He has to play the role of Elcesta, and the people who knows will also play along.

“H-huh? Where?” Creed can only play dumb about it.

So you’re still going to play "that", father…

“I… I mwiss Papa… Where is he?” Adam used his most pitiful tone to talk to Creed.

Adam who looks like he’s about to cry is prickling on Creed’s conscience. His heart feels like it’s bleeding and being squeezed to dry is very painful to bear. But,

“… H--- He… He’s still a bit busy… please don’t cry. He’ll be… back soon. I promise.”

“… … …Really?”

“Yes…”

“……Okay.”

I’ll just prick you a bit using guilt for the time being…

 

 

Chapter 15 end. ~~~Getting trapped in another world~~~

 

Glossary:

Trap – Astolfo, Nuff said.

Ridges – The part of the fingerprint that leaves a dark impression. Most of the things I wrote earlier on characteristics are a type of ridges.

 

Extra:

Elcesta just facepalmed as she watched Jake give a thumbs up to Adam as he got pulled into the women’s restroom.