I Don't Want To Work! - Chapter 49
CHAPTER 49
“You’ve grown well.”
In terms of physique and height.
Lionel has grown leaps and bounds since the last time I saw him.
Now, I can’t even tease him about being little anymore.
‘Who’s the little one when he’s bigger than I was in my first life?’
I chuckled softly.
When did this kid, who was barely half my height, grow this big?
‘It’s amazing.’
I could still vividly remember the first time I saw Lionel when I closed my eyes.
Sunken cheeks, awkward arms, a body that wouldn’t look out of place even if it were dead.
But his eyes sparkled as brightly as ever, like a young child.
That kid has grown this much now.
As I reached out, he naturally bent down and brought his cheek to my hand.
Just like he did when he was young.
“You’ve grown so well, Lionel. I’m genuinely happy for you.”
Honestly, I was worried about him even as I lay dying.
He needed to be a bit rougher and more sensitive.
I managed to raise him healthy by feeding him and putting him to sleep properly.
But I couldn’t change his personality.
Honestly, even if I tried to change it, it wasn’t a personality or character that could be changed.
So until the moment of death, I wondered if this kind of kid could fit into society.
‘It was needless worry.’
He approached me with a smile and said so.
It seems everything turned out well, thankfully.
“It’s thanks to you, Master.”
Lionel smiled prettily, not knowing what I was thinking.
As he did, he gently placed his hand on top of mine.
“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have grown this much.”
“That’s not true.”
I shook my head.
“If you had just handled the situation well, you would have grown even without me.”
I meant it.
His personality might have been a bit bad, but he had everything else he needed.
The desire to survive, the ambition to move forward, and most importantly, the skill.
So even without me, he would have grown up well, that much was certain.
Just the direction might have been a little different.
“No.”
Lionel shook his head.
And he squeezed my hand that was resting on his.
“It’s thanks to you.”
It was the same response as before but with a different tone.
There was a deeper sincerity in it.
“No one was there for me. No one tried to help me.”
“…That’s…”
“But you were the only one who didn’t pretend not to see me.”
Saying that, Lionel smiled prettily again, his eyes wrinkling.
“To me, there’s only you, Master.”
I looked into his clear blue eyes for a moment and nodded.
“Yeah.”
I have to acknowledge it when he’s speaking so earnestly.
My response made Lionel smile broadly.
When he smiles like that, I can see traces of his younger self.
“But Lionel.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Why are you still alive?”
He should’ve died, he had to die.
Why is my disciple still alive?
And that too, in his original body, unlike me who has been reincarnated several times.
“It’s quite strange.”
I brushed Lionel’s forehead with my free hand, searching for any divine seal that might be present.
After all, isn’t there a divine seal on my forehead?
However, as expected, I felt no power whatsoever.
“Only some gods can intervene in human lifespans.”
But neither the main deity nor Detmé, whom I met recently, said a word.
If they had created an entity other than myself, Detmé would have given me some sort of hint given her personality.
In short, it wasn’t the gods who granted Lionel immortality.
So, there is only one god left.
“Did you receive power from a demon?”
Now, he was a demon who had lost his original name.
Before I was even born, there was a great turmoil in the divine realm.
An unknown god attempted to kill the main deity, who was his father.
It was an attack of rebellion.
However, they couldn’t defeat the main deity, and the god was soon subdued helplessly.
Although the main deity forgave the god exceptionally, the god threw himself from the divine realm to the earth.
Combined with the evil beings on Earth, he became a demon.
That was what I sometimes referred to as ‘the other side’.
When the gods moved, the demons and evil moved.
When the demons and evil moved, the gods moved.
After several clashes, a subtle balance was achieved.
‘I’ve heard of a nameless god, but considering that it clashed with the main deity and received forgiveness, it must have had some power.’
So, it wouldn’t have been difficult to grant Lionel the power of immortality.
“Lionel.”
“Master.”
Before I could say anything, Lionel gently pressed his cheek against my hand.
As if asking me not to scold him, he made a gesture mixed with coquetry, leaving me speechless.
“I know what you’re worried about, Master.”
“……”
“But this disciple isn’t as frail as you think. And I’ve told you.”
Lionel smiled cheekily with his eyes squinted.
“I’ll catch up soon enough.”
Lionel got up and turned his gaze towards where the body was.
At the same time, flames surged from the corpse.
‘Oh…’
I blinked as I watched the flames cleanly consume the body and vanish.
Even Carmel had a delay of about 2 to 3 seconds when using magic without an incantation.
But now, as soon as Lionel’s gaze reached it, flames surged from the corpse.
He was skilled enough even as Carmel.
‘So this is the legendary 10th circle mage.’
He could defeat a dragon with magic.
“This knight is already taken care of.”
Lionel smiled prettily as he neatly finished tidying up the surroundings.
“So, you can go back with peace of mind, Master.”
“Yeah.”
I nodded casually.
I had trusted him enough to come here.
“Oh, and.”
Lionel looked at me.
“Do not trust the gods too much. Especially the main deity.”
“The main deity?”
“Yes.”
Woooosh! A fierce wind blew.
Not only my navy-blue hair but also the tree shadows cast over Lionel’s face trembled.
“Master, isn’t it strange?”
Lionel stared at me and spoke.
“I’ve been searching for you in this body all along.”
Searching, and searching, continuously searching. There was no giving up.
“But we’ve never once met face to face. Isn’t that a bit strange, no matter how vast the world is?”
“……”
“We’ve never met once all this time.”
Woooosh!
The shadow cast over Lionel’s face started to grow larger.
But even within the shadow, his blue eyes were shining fiercely.
“When I finally found you.”
He slowly closed his eyes and then opened them again.
“You were dead, Master.”
There wasn’t a single exception.
The body of the dead master was warm as if just about to take a breath.
It truly meant it had just stopped breathing.
“Who could have manipulated death so skillfully?”
The shadow engulfed Lionel. He smiled.
“I’ll see you again soon, Master.”
With that, Lionel disappeared.
Left alone, I stared at the spot where Lionel had stood for a moment, then let out a deep sigh.
I had a bad feeling.
A very bad feeling that I wouldn’t be able to rest properly even in this lifetime.
* * *
‘To be honest, I’m tired.’
“Kweeek!”
‘I’ve been working all this time! Huh? Not just one lifetime, but hundreds of lives!’
“Kwek, chwi, chiig! (Hey, human, stop!)”
‘So, I said I’d take a little break this lifetime, but why is everything going wrong!’
“Chwi, chwiig. Baek! (Hey, stop it!)”
As I snapped out of my reverie at the urgent voice,
“Ah.”
Under the blunt knife, I held to cut herbs, there was an orc’s hand instead of herbs.
Oh no, I almost cut something random while lost in thought.
“Chwiig… (Sorry…)”
I smiled lightly at the pale orc.
The orc withdrew his hand, trembling.
“Come on, take a break! Chwiig!”
“No.”
Ignoring the orc’s words, I quickly sorted and mixed the herbs.
“I can’t stay long.”
Even if Lionel had intervened, leaving the place unattended for too long was asking for trouble.
I had to go back as soon as possible.
“And now we’re done. After covering the wounds with these herbs, wrap them in cloth.”
“Chwiig!”
“And boil this in water and drink it.”
“Alright!”
As the orc turned away and chattered, the gathered orcs each took herbs and went to tend to the injured orcs with them.
‘Alright.’
Should I just finish the last remaining task and go back?
“I want to see the chieftain again before leaving.”
Nodding, Oakle immediately led me to the chieftain.
The chieftain’s face, dark just a few hours ago, was now noticeably brighter.
“Thank you.”
“No, I didn’t come here to hear your thanks.”
I shook my head and stopped Oakle from leaving.
“Chieftain, and little chieftain.”
I looked at the two orcs.
“What do you think about going to Mentre?”
Mentre.
It was a place not crowded with people, given its vastness and proximity to Cranis.
It was a perfect place for the orc tribe to settle anew.
“You said they set fire to the village. So, I suggest seizing this opportunity to establish a new foothold.”
“What’s in Mentre?”
“A man I know.”
He wasn’t the type to be swayed by loyalty or such things.
But if you gave him what he wanted, he would never betray you.
“I’ll tell him. He’ll give you some land to live on and help you build a village.”
It might be a hefty price, but what can we do?
‘In the end, it’s all because of me.’
And I would collect this debt from Marquis Floyd.
“What do you think?”
“……”
“……”
For a moment, the two orcs didn’t say anything in response to my words.
It was Oakle who answered.
“We, chwiig!”
“……Huh?”
I blinked.
I didn’t expect to be rejected.
But come to think of it, don’t I get rejected too often?
“Why?”
“We, generations, chwiig! From that, caught, our place!”
Oakle shouted firmly.
“We won’t leave, we’ll fight, chwiig!”
“But humans might come back.”
“I know.”
The chieftain spoke.
“Humans will come back, hardships will come. But…”
The shadow cast over his wrinkled face weighed down his words.
“We will fight. That’s our pride.”
A face that would never compromise.
I hesitated to choose my words for persuasion but eventually shook my head.
It won’t work, nope, won’t work.
Persuasion wouldn’t work on those faces.
And above all, there’s pride, isn’t there?
Pride.
“Alright.”
I sighed deeply.
“Then I’ll tell him to send supplies or something. At least take that.”
“Not a problem.”
Having finished the conversation, I stood up. It was time to go.
“Wait, wanderer.”
“Yeah, what?”
“A while ago, there was a minor earthquake in Cranis.”
A minor earthquake? Minor earthquakes could happen anytime, so why tell me about it?
“Oh, could it be!”
“Pendrade wakes up.”
It was time for my friend to wake up from his nap after several hundred years.