This House Has A Delicious Restaurant - Chapter 19.5 - A Flower on the Parched Land (Past) - Part 4

Indeed, the woman shot the dog in the head and, looking down at me while holding my shoulders, spoke as if evaluating me.

In her hand was a notebook.

That notebook probably contained the status of all the children. The children’s tongues had been cut so they couldn’t scream. This made the place reek of blood, but it wasn’t noisy.

Since I hadn’t yet revealed my final ability, she had not cut my tongue yet. If it were related to my voice, I might never be able to reveal it.

If not that, it’s probably because I don’t scream or cry as much as I should, so I’m not as loud.

My hands were soaked in blood, and I felt a bit dizzy, so I sat on the floor and looked up at the woman.

Her indifferent face was similar to Obella’s, but her personality was entirely different. It was remarkable that someone as kind as Obella came from a woman like her.

“May I ask you something?”

The woman looked at me with a curious expression.

The smile that had seemed friendly at first was gone, replaced by a blank stare as she looked down at me. I managed to smile in response.

“What benefit does experimenting with our abilities bring to that child?”

“Oh, you mean Terry?”

This was something I had been wondering about.

The woman hesitated for a moment, then seemed to have already branded me as a weak and powerless woman, and answered without much thought.

“Since your abilities are still unstable and not fully utilized, I can use your abilities as a reference to develop my own. Just by observing our first ability once, I was able to replicate it with my own powers. It’s still limited in scope, but if I see many abilities and use them frequently, it will expand quickly.”

She continued with a nonchalant face, making ruthless statements.

“You are subjects used to reference Terry’s development. So, you must maximize your abilities to be as useful as possible for reference.”

“So, Terry is also a guinea pig. Not a beloved family member.”

“What?”

The woman’s expression hardened into a scowl. Her grip on my hair was strong and forceful.

I looked directly into her eyes as she bent down to meet my gaze. I maintained a calm smile without anger or tears.

From her perspective, I must have seemed like a crazy person. Well, if that’s the case, so be it. Who wouldn’t lose their sanity in such a situation? Besides, my words weren’t wrong, so she was probably angry because it hit a nerve.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to achieve with that child but don’t get your hopes up too much. Anything that cannot be achieved with his own power will eventually not belong to you.”

“…You think you’re receiving special treatment because your tongue hasn’t been cut like the other children?”

“Not at all. I’m hoping my other ability is related to my tongue or voice.”

I said this with a cheeky smile, and the woman threw me to the floor as if to dismiss me. My injured shoulder hit the ground painfully.

I let out a soft groan, clutched my shoulder, and watched the woman’s retreating as she left the room. I sighed.

Having stirred her up like that, she would probably refuse to treat me for a while, maybe only tending to me enough to keep me alive.

I wondered what the original owner of this body’s ability was. It would be nice if it were a somewhat useful ability in this situation.

Thud, thud.

Hearing a knocking sound, I turned my head to see Zerdan looking at me, mouthing words.

It seemed like he was repeating the same words, his beak-like mouth flapping as he asked if I was okay.

“Does this look okay to you?”

I smiled, muttering words that would not be heard. The blood loss was making me feel dazed.

Zerdan appeared to be shouting something in a worried face, but I couldn’t hear him. I closed my eyes.

Was this déjà vu?

As I blinked slightly, I glimpsed silver hair.

I wondered if I had returned to my original self, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

My shoulder no longer hurt, so I frowned as I tried to clear my head. Then, someone’s figure approached clearly.

Young Terisier was dropping tears, placing his hand on my shoulder.

“…Why are you here?”

“Sister… are you still in a lot of pain?”

I noticed that the area around Terisier and me was brightly illuminated in a circular pattern.

Spatial manipulation.

The range was small, but I was within the space that Terisier controlled, and he must have healed my injuries because he wanted to.

I looked around, but the woman was nowhere to be seen. It didn’t seem like she had healed me intentionally, so I got up, feeling better. Zerdan and Terisier looked at me in surprise.

“I’ll ask again. Why are you here?”

“I, I just wanted to play with Zerdan… and I missed you…”

Was it merely a coincidence without any particular meaning?

Since it didn’t seem like such a young child would lie, I unconsciously patted his head. The soft silver hair swayed with my touch.

Seeing his smiling face reminded me of the once-sullen Terisier, creating a bit of dissonance, but seeing him enjoy being petted, it seemed he was still the same person.

“What happened to the dog that was here?”

“I made it disappear. That bad dog that hurt you.”

“…It’s not the animals that are bad; it’s the people.”

“But that dog bit you, didn’t it?”

It did bite me, but it wasn’t necessarily the dog’s fault. The dog had been moved by someone’s manipulation, and it was just hungry with nothing to eat in front of it.

Terisier pouted, looking like he didn’t understand.

“Anyway, thanks for healing me. I survived because of you.”

“No, I was just hoping you’d be okay, and suddenly you were better!”

“Still, it’s your power. It’s an amazing ability.”

“But it doesn’t work well unless it’s close to me or you. So Mom is sad. I want to do well, but it’s not working…”

“You don’t need to try to impress that woman.”

I thought Terisier might have been a bit more cherished, but it seemed not. To her, everyone was just a test subject.

If only Terisier’s ability were perfected, she would have all the money, house, and power. I understood why she was obsessed, but her methods were flawed.

“Could you let me talk to Zerdan?”

“Yes! I can at least let you talk!”

Terisier hugged me tightly. It seemed that the closer one was, the stronger the ability would be.

Once again, a bright light enveloped the ground beneath us in a circular pattern. I looked over at Zerdan.

“Zerdan.”

“Ding?!”

“It looks like you can hear my voice now. I’m okay, so stop crying.”

“I’m not crying…!”

“I told you, you’re bad at hiding your emotions. Wipe your tears first and then talk.”

Zerdan was seen rubbing his eyes with his sleeve. His pride made him not want to show his vulnerable side.

Still, I appreciated his concern.

“Thank you for worrying.”

“…I thought you were dead.”

“It almost was.”

I smiled and patted Terisier’s head, who was still in my arms. It was strangely addictive, like petting Terisier when he had turned into a cat.

Fortunately, Terisier didn’t seem to be struggling after using his ability, so I requested him: to erase part of the woman’s memory. I wasn’t sure if it was possible, but…

The next day, the woman brought in a child with a smile that seemed completely indifferent.

She appeared surprised by my torn clothes, so I guessed that Terisier’s ability had worked well.

The child the woman brought was a small boy. It seemed he had been managed by the woman before coming here, as he looked tidy.

‘So, that’s Liffree.’

Although everyone here was a child, it was easy to distinguish him because I recognized his face.

Liffree looked around the bizarre laboratory with a tense expression. Despite his young age, he seemed to instinctively sense that something was wrong. I could hear the sound of him racking his brain to survive.

He merely pretended not to know, touching and putting down the jewel the woman handed him repeatedly, trying to hide his abilities.

To Liffree, Zerdan advised him to run away, just as he did when he first saw me. It seemed he had spoken out of sympathy, as Liffree was the only one who had expressed doubt about the situation after me.

But escaping, as Zerdan suggested, was difficult.

I watched Liffree quietly, concentrating on him.

He didn’t seem to have had any past interactions with Terisier… What kind of connection could there be?

I stared at Liffree, hoping to catch even a small clue.

In response to my gaze, Liffree occasionally looked frightened and tried not to make eye contact. Since I was just staring without speaking, he probably thought I couldn’t talk because my tongue had been cut.

It didn’t matter what he thought.

Soon, an incident occurred where Liffree’s ability was exposed due to Terisier, drawing the woman’s wrath. It was a situation similar to mine.

Terisier didn’t seem to have any malicious intent, but from the perspective of those being harmed, it was probably hateful.

As Liffree was subjected to experiments, he grew increasingly haggard by the day. When the power of his ability weakened, the woman decided to dispose of him, planning to kill him like the other useless children.

Terisier had a serious accident and injured his eye. It seemed that Terisier had been hurt by another ability user’s lack of control while he was playing nearby.

I was shocked to see Terisier clutching his bleeding eye and almost stood up but managed to restrain myself.

The woman appeared extremely flustered and tried to use Terisier’s ability to heal the injury. However, Terisier was in shock from the wound and couldn’t use his ability at all.

The situation was critical, and he might die from blood loss.

What to do? As I was observing, Liffree, who had been standing next to the woman, quietly raised his hand.

He flinched under the woman’s harsh gaze but spoke calmly.

“…I think if my ability and his are combined, it might work. Fortunately, there’s a gemstone that matches well.”

The woman’s expression became complex at the sight of the gemstone Liffree presented.

If left as it was, there was a high chance that Terisier would die from blood loss or lose his sight even if he survived.

Terisier’s ability could heal him eventually, but that wasn’t an option right now…

With no other choice, the woman nodded, and Liffree approached Terisier.

“…I don’t know what your ability is, but I’ll help you, so stop crying and cooperate.”

Liffree could infuse his wishes into gemstones.

The effect of the ability depended on the compatibility of the gemstone. It seemed that the gemstone he was holding now had surprisingly good compatibility.

Terisier instinctively sensed Liffree’s intentions and used his ability. A bright light appeared beneath them, and the gemstone naturally seeped into Terisier’s injured eye.

After blinking his eyes for a moment, Terisier rubbed his eyes with his hands, then started to smile brightly, tears streaming down his face. His eye, which had been injured, looked just like it had before.

The phenomenon was created by Terisier’s and Liffree’s abilities.

I widened my eyes as I watched the event unfold.

I had finally realized why future Terisier didn’t have any adornments with gemstones despite being controlled by Liffree’s power. It was hidden in Terisier’s eyes all along…