This House Has A Delicious Restaurant - Chapter 18 - Raid (3) - Part 3

When I opened my eyes again, the scene before me was quite unfamiliar.

The ground was cracked and dry, resembling parched earth, with ruined buildings scattered around. The area was devastated.

Nearby trees looked as if they had been struck by lightning, suggesting there had been some kind of clash with Obella.

“Moa!”

It seemed our companions had been hiding somewhere. They suddenly appeared and ran towards us.

I quickly scanned them but did not see the person I was looking for. Not even on the other side. There was no sign of Terisier.

A woman of similar build to me had come into my arms. Though her appearance was mature, seeing her shedding tears so freely was quite unusual.

I gently stroked Anise’s bright blonde hair, and she couldn’t help but let her tears flow even more.

“I was so shocked, thinking something had happened to you, Moa… I couldn’t see you no matter how hard I looked and you didn’t respond…”

“Thank you for worrying. I think I just lost consciousness for a moment. Thanks to Zerdan, I wasn’t seriously injured, and Sidon healed me. I’m sorry for making you worry, Anise.”

Anise kept muttering that she was relieved. I lightly patted her back while looking around.

The relieved faces of the companions were noticeable. Obella, too, seemed to have been worried, letting out a small sigh of relief.

Anise had already taken the lead and couldn’t fully express her feelings, but she must have been quite worried.

I gave Obella a reassuring smile and then looked around.

In addition to Obella and Anise, I saw Phel, Diswen, Mummy Man, Luke, and Lazis.

Khan was sitting on the ground, seemingly holding onto a body presumed to be Ding’s, with his eyes slightly glazed, as Sidon had said. Zerdan and Sidon stood on either side of me.

I decided to ask Obella for an explanation to understand the current situation.

“What about Terisier? I don’t see Liffree either. Can you tell me what happened after I fell?”

“…I don’t know what happened to Terisier, but he suddenly started unleashing uncontrolled abilities. It was as if his abilities were rampaging. Some companions almost died during this process, but fortunately, thanks to Sidon, they survived.”

“Yes, and it seemed like Terisier wasn’t in his right mind. Amidst all this chaos, his rampaging abilities were attacking in all directions… I was thinking of forcibly putting him to sleep, but Liffree, was it? He did something strange.”

Following Obella, Phel recounted the situation.

She frowned as she spoke, indicating that the situation had been quite dire.

“Liffree? He wouldn’t have had the ability to stop Terisier.”

“Yes, that man is the one who was mentioned before about imbuing wishes into gems, right? We naturally focused on Terisier and didn’t pay much attention to him. But somehow, he boldly approached the rampaging Terisier. And… I’m not sure of the exact details, but it was clear he used a strong ability. He emitted a very bright light and used his hands to hold Terisier’s face while using his ability.”

Bright light?

And he used his ability on Terisier.

Did Liffree have another hidden ability?

But judging from Zerdan’s reaction, it didn’t seem so.

“After that, Terisier’s rampage suddenly stopped. And strangely, he listened to the man’s orders with a blank stare. We tried to stop him, but he attacked us. The only one who could fight back against that attack was Obella. By the way, Obella was using Anise’s ability at that time, but he still felt overwhelmed.”

“…Did you also use Anise’s ability?”

“Yes. It doesn’t seem like Terisier had been hiding his abilities from us all this time… I just don’t know. It felt like something extremely heavy was pressing down on us, making it hard for the rest of us to move.”

Does he also control gravity?

His abilities were more varied than expected, and there didn’t seem to be significant limitations.

It was unclear what Liffree had done, but it seemed Terisier was being controlled by him.

He didn’t seem to have a mental ability like Diswen.

“If Terisier is being controlled, could Diswen’s abilities counteract it?”

“I’m not sure. It seems to be somewhat different from mind control abilities… It might be possible, but there’s a risk that Terisier’s mental state could be damaged.”

Diswen answered honestly while thinking of Terisier.

Applying different abilities to one person simultaneously seemed implausible.

Even if the same ability were used, it would either fail or only a stronger ability would work.

Using Diswen’s ability recklessly might shatter Terisier’s mental state.

It was better not to take risks with uncertain outcomes.

First, finding Terisier was the priority. Since Liffree’s plan wasn’t quite right, we couldn’t just leave him as he was.

“I think we need to find Terisier first.”

“But how? We don’t have any specialists in tracking. Terisier, who could transform into animals, was the only one with that ability, but now he’s missing. Lazis’ ability only works if the opponent’s location is known or if he has previously sensed their abilities. That’s why it took us so long to find you.”

So, they used Sidon’s ability to find us through Zerdan’s presence.

I thought quietly. Indeed, except for Lazis, there was no one with teleportation or tracking abilities. They were specialized in offense, defense, and support, at least among Obella’s group.

I directed my gaze towards Khan, who had his head bowed in sorrow.

It was a painful situation for him, but…

I quietly walked over to Khan. Though the others’ gazes turned towards me, no one said anything.

Khan, who always had a stern face whether attacking or arguing, was now seated with an utterly haggard look. His body was slumped, but his grip on Ding was tight and strong.

Ding’s abdomen was still stained with a lot of blood, now congealed. Despite that, Ding’s face appeared quite peaceful.

Seeing this, I took off my outer garment. Although I was only in a black sleeveless top, it didn’t matter.

I draped the removed outer garment over Ding. Khan’s eyes turned towards me. His eyes seemed lifeless, yet tears continuously flowed, as if to prove that he was still alive.

“Khan. Did you hear from Sidon that Ding is already dead?”

“…Ding is alive.”

“Yes, Ding was alive. It’s hard to believe that Ding, who talked and laughed with me, is a dead being. But Khan, the Ding in front of you now is indeed dead.”

“What… What do you know to speak so recklessly?”

Khan’s eyes hardened with anger. It looked like he might attack me at any moment, so I bent down to meet his gaze.

“I don’t know much about Khan or Ding. But I do know that Ding liked and followed you a lot.”

“……”

“She missed you a lot. It seems she loved you like family.”

“…I was a fool… If I truly cherished Ding, I should have been closer and spent more time with her. I avoided her, fearing that my ability might cause a rejection and put her in danger… Even though I knew she wanted to see me, I stayed away because I didn’t want her to get hurt… I was a fool…”

Tears fell onto Ding’s face, as if Ding were crying, and the tears flowed down the child’s cheeks.

“Even if Ding didn’t see you often, she liked you a lot. That’s still true now. Unfortunately, you couldn’t be together more, but you remain a good memory for Ding. So if you grieve like this, Ding will be sad.”

“I can’t believe Ding is a dead being.”

“It’s okay if you don’t believe it. If the memories you shared were vivid and joyful, Ding was alive in your past. Ding was alive in my past as well. Now, you can keep Ding alive in your heart.”

Khan murmured that he hadn’t even properly apologized yet. But it seemed he empathized with my words to some extent, as he held Ding even tighter.

I watched him sincerely apologize while holding the child. Ding’s form began to fade from her toes.

Was this the true end for Ding?

Khan quietly watched as Ding’s body slowly grew faint and disappeared. It seemed he wanted to be with Ding until the very end.

Eventually, Ding’s body completely vanished, leaving only my outer garment on Khan’s lap.

* * *

Fearful of her affair being discovered, my mother killed my father during the night.

The next morning, I found my father’s body lying dead, and my mother had disappeared from the house.

From a young age, I was left alone in an instant, losing my family. To survive, I stole from others and took lives.

With a natural ability to hide my presence, I became adept at stealing. Even if caught, I could quickly escape, so I acted with ease.

Thus, I repeated this lifestyle, and it became my life. A life of stealing what was precious to others.

That day was no different. Laughter came from a wealthy-looking home, where an elderly couple and a young girl lived.

Recalling my own childhood, I found their family repugnant. Driven by my twisted emotions, I attempted to steal something from them, not expecting that the woman might be an ability user.

The woman, with her ability to subtly manipulate gravity, caught my trembling foot while I tried to steal a valuable item. I found it amusing and laughed at her futile attempt.

The shadow quickly climbed up the woman and strangled her strongly.

It would have been better if they had just hidden somewhere.

Thinking of them as insignificant insects, I killed the woman and the man who appeared afterward.

It was an impulsive act. After all, humans are beings who kill those who are useless or obstructive.

My mother did it, so there was no reason for me not to. I felt no guilt.

But as I was about to leave the house, I saw the girl quietly emerging from the room, and for the first time, I felt a strange sensation.

The girl didn’t cry. She simply approached the dying elderly couple, still alive, and held their hands until they took their last breath.

Rejecting the feeble push that seemed to urge her to escape, the girl stayed by their side until the end, showing no tears.

When the elderly couple finally passed away, I frowned at her first cries.

Was it because she didn’t want to show a crying face at the end? What did that little girl know?

Instinctively, she should have fled if she sensed that I was a dangerous figure.

I stared at the girl in silence for a moment. It might have been a whim. I wondered if a child raised with such love would become numb to murder and accept reality, living by stealing food or items like me, if she lost her parents.

But the next day, and even two days later when I returned, the girl remained by the elderly couple’s side, without eating anything.

Even though the corpse was likely to start smelling from decay, she showed no signs of leaving.

It was then that I truly recognized the child’s small stature. She was too young to face reality alone, having become an orphan.

Perhaps the child only knew the elderly couple and was unaware of the outside world. If so, I had destroyed the child’s world.

Seeing the child growing weaker and drying up without crying, I instinctively reached out. It was an impulsive act as if the child’s image overlapped with my own childhood.

The child didn’t even know I had killed the elderly couple. If she found out, it would be a deceitful act. It was madness.

Moreover, why should I care about someone else now? It was nonsensical.

Despite the realization that it was a pointless act, I couldn’t let go of the child’s tiny hand once I had taken it.

Now, the child looked at me with an unfamiliar trust, following me. I saw my own childhood self once again overlaying the child.

Perhaps, in some unconscious way, I had hoped someone would reach out to me like this. I was doing for the child what I had wished for myself.

It wasn’t truly for the child’s sake; it was just providing the bare minimum of necessities.

But the child was happy and followed me. Despite not wanting to see the smiling child who knew nothing, my gaze kept falling on her.

At some point, I began to feel affection for the child who innocently smiled while holding onto my leg. I felt guilty when she told me her name, Ding.

As I started to care for her, it became familiar to have her around. I vowed to take responsibility for her.

When Ding grew up, I intended to tell her the truth and sincerely apologize, even if I couldn’t be forgiven. I promised to stay by her side, keep her safe, and be there until she became an adult.

I made that vow…

But now, the child I was supposed to be with was no longer by my side.