-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: 3 Years Later
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Three years had passed, and Enoch had turned 13.
His exact age was unknown, but that was Rionne's judgment—and she could pierce through truths to a certain degree.
At an age when he should have been growing rapidly, Enoch's height had shot up in spurts; his head now reached Rionne's chest. His skills had grown even faster, to the point where they astonished even her.
Yet one thing hadn't changed.
"Enoch──!"
- Yeah...!
When Rionne called his name in a loud voice, Enoch came dashing out from somewhere and threw himself into her arms.
Rionne naturally stroked his head.
"Do you like the forest?"
"A little?"
"You've been spending all your time there lately."
"The forest smells like you, Rionne."
Especially that massive, elegant Satis tree.
Enoch called it the Rionne Tree.
"What kind of answer is that?"
Rionne chuckled.
She shook Enoch's body back and forth, looking thoroughly pleased.
"Good grief, this is ridiculous. What are those two even doing?"
As always, the two ignored Undine.
Undine pouted.
"Today, we're making a rare trip into the city."
"Yeah."
"Don't you want to?"
"I like home better."
"Honestly, me too."
Still, one couldn't stay cooped up at home forever.
Enoch wouldn't reach adulthood for over a hundred years yet, but they needed to slowly get him used to human society starting now.
And that was because he was a child born under the decree of the Heavenly Death Star.
To escape that heavy karma, he had to raise his own realm—and that inevitably required independence and trials.
Once Enoch became an adult, he would have to mingle with humans, go on adventures, experience all sorts of relationships, navigate desperate battles where he couldn't let his guard down, and forge his own path forward.
Otherwise, reaching a transcendent realm would be impossible.
"Yeah."
Enoch just pretended not to hear.
He hated the idea of independence.
He just wanted to live with Rionne forever.
Rionne scooped Enoch up in her arms and let out a sharp whistle—whoosh!
Her sword, hanging at her waist, unsheathed itself and floated gracefully through the air.
"Be a good boy, Enoch?"
Rionne straddled the sword and sat Enoch on her lap.
Soon, the sword rose gently, swimming through the clouds. Enoch clung a little tighter to Rionne's embrace.
"You like flying through the sky."
"Yeah."
"Come on, cheer up. Big sis will buy you something tasty."
"...Human food doesn't taste that great."
"Who does this kid think he is? Anyone would think he wasn't human."
Crackle!
"Ow, that stings...! Hey! I told you not to do that!"
Enoch had precisely zapped Undine with electricity. He glared at her.
That glare made Undine's body twitch for a moment.
"That damn kid..."
That Heavenly Death Star nature of his.
He didn't leak a drop of killing intent toward Rionne, but he always went wild on her.
Still, Undine had it easy compared to others.
When he lounged around in the forest, killing intent leaked out freely, making the animals around him tremble in fear as a daily occurrence.
Undine knew that, so she didn't complain much.
Rionne was just a very, very special case.
"Enoch, look over there."
Enoch, who had been in a staring contest with Undine, followed Rionne's slender finger with his gaze.
Below the clouds, what her hand pointed to was a vast forest landscape stretching out endlessly.
"This is the forest we live in. Pretty huge, right?"
He had seen the view several times before, but every time they flew, Rionne showed it to Enoch.
It was because of her special affection for her forest.
"But you know."
"Yeah?"
"It's big, but... no one else can come here, right?"
Rionne understood Enoch's clumsy question and answered.
"I've set up barriers around our home. And there's nothing particularly special in this forest anyway."
No matter how vast the forest, if superhumans were determined to scour it, they could navigate it.
Enoch himself could reach the nearest village in a day or two at full speed.
But there was nothing in this forest worth going to such lengths for.
In the end, the only ones who might come were the locals nearby.
By their pace, it would take months to reach Rionne's home—not to mention the risk of being hunted by mana-infused beasts. So they rarely showed up.
Plus, with the barriers Rionne had personally set, it was safe to say no one else ever came.
Unless someone who had reached a high realm came specifically looking for her.
"Yeah."
Enoch nodded slowly.
They chatted idly like that for a while.
Rionne smiled brightly and hugged Enoch tight.
"We're here."
"Errands again today?"
"Yeah. Nothing difficult."
Rionne jumped down from the sword, carrying Enoch, and landed discreetly in a secluded spot near the city gates.
If she'd come alone, she would have landed right in the city, but since this was for Enoch's education, she couldn't teach him bad habits.
Normally, one had to go through procedures at the gates to enter the city.
Snap!
Rionne cast a spell to alter her appearance to look human.
Her elven ears shortened to human length, her facial structure shifted, her radiant golden hair lost its luster, and her forest-green eyes turned blue.
In short, a beautiful elf had become a slightly less beautiful human.
Afterward, the group lined up familiarly at the gates and waited their turn.
It wasn't long before it was their turn.
The guard recognized Rionne's face and grinned sleazily.
"Back again? How about it today?"
Rionne shot back a cold glare at the guard's vulgar gesture.
"Don't get cocky. You're clear."
Normally, she'd need to show a pass, but for a beauty like Rionne, her face was the pass.
A guard who'd seen her once before couldn't forget that face.
Staying true to her haughty human persona, Rionne walked ahead with dignified steps.
Enoch memorized the guard's face.
...How dare a mere human.
In those three years, Enoch had become an excellent racist.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Dendallor was a small city.
It barely scraped by as qualifying as a city at all.
But even a city like that had its share of essentials.
Enoch wandered the market with a paper listing what they needed.
Of course, Rionne had split off from him as usual, using the excuse of buying other things.
Did she really believe errands were great education?
Who knew.
'Clothes..., pens. Books too.'
He hated studying, but it was Rionne's order.
He didn't want to buy them, but he'd have to get the books anyway.
"Haa...."
"Ah...! Um, over here...!"
Enoch turned at the approaching presence.
A girl stood there, her face flushed bright red.
Actually, calling it just one girl was an understatement.
Girls here and there in the street were gazing at Enoch with sparkling eyes.
"H-Here, please take this...!"
Born under the Heavenly Death Star with exceptional martial talent, Enoch's physique was perfectly balanced.
Combined with a touch of luck, his face was flawlessly handsome—so much so that if he just stretched his ears long, he could pass as an elf from the race of beauty without anyone batting an eye.
"Kyaa...!"
Enoch glared at the girl who shoved a letter into his hands and bolted, then roughly stuffed it into his already overflowing pouch of gifts from other women.
"Humans... What's so great about this little kid? Their sense of aesthetics must be totally shot. How is it always this chaotic every time?"
Ignoring Undine, who was tagging along as his bodyguard, Enoch glanced into his bulging pouch.
Letters, handkerchiefs, jewelry..., even worn underwear.
Humans really were insane.
Suppressing his killing intent with effort, Enoch slipped into a nearby alley.
He dumped the pouch's contents on the ground and incinerated them all with Divine Power.
Feeling sticky, he even shook out the pouch roughly a few times.
"Haa...."
Letting out a deep sigh, Enoch looked up.
His eyes had gone cold and still.
"You there, human."
Enoch's voice echoed through the quiet alley.
But only silence answered.
Electricity sparked at the tip of Enoch's foot as he furrowed his brow.
Crackle!
In an instant, Enoch's figure vanished,
Boom!
And the alley wall crumbled.
Enoch dusted off his hands and glared at the man rapidly backing away.
"Why are you tailing me like some shady dwarf? Got thief blood in your veins?"
"H-How can you say something so harsh...! Aren't you talking too rough without Rionne here...!?"
Undine was shocked, but the man didn't flinch.
Elven insults didn't quite land on human ears.
"This is why I hate humans. Vermin."
"You're human too, idiot!"
"I'm half-elf."
"Rionne...! Big trouble! This kid's lost his mind!"
While Undine wailed in worry for Enoch's mental health, the man in dark clothes finally spoke.
"Do you have ties to elves?"
At those words, Enoch's aura turned ferocious.
"Ah ha... Now I see you're worse than human trash."
"There's a misunderstanding. I'm not an elf hunter."
Enoch didn't reply.
Instead, purple lightning gathered in his fist, forming sharp claws.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Heavenly Demon Purple Thunder Claw
Lightning claws form
Rrrumble─────!!
The leaking killing intent hardened the man's expression.
This was no ordinary aura or intent from a child.
"How about we talk it out? I don't want to hurt you."
Of course, the excellent racist Enoch ignored him.
He had no desire to talk with a human!
Rumble!
Thunder roared through the alley of the small city.