“So? What do you want to know?”
Ooh, he was using polite speech—just a little more naturally this time.
I took a sip of the Americano I made myself and answered.
“First off, I want to know why you refused the food the priests were handing out.”
That was what I was most curious about, so I asked directly.
“Those bastards—they’re evil! For real!”
Before I even finished asking, the fierce boy exploded.
“T-They just started giving out meals all of a sudden. It felt a bit weird, yeah, but they were priests, and it was the temple, so everyone trusted them and ate it. I did too. Him too. And… Tommy.”
At the mention of Tommy, both boys’ faces noticeably darkened.
“Tommy really liked the priests. Followed them around like a puppy. That… dumbass actually believed the god Sinoa would save us or something. He was way too soft. The priests seemed to like him too.”
“…”
“Then one day, he said the temple offered to educate him. Told us not to tell anyone, but since we were his friends, he shared it. Told us to behave and maybe we’d get picked too. But then…”
The fierce boy squeezed his eyes shut before reopening them.
“He disappeared. He promised to sneak out and bring us food. He promised. But then… those damn priests acted like they didn’t even know who Tommy was!”
*
Tears started to stream from his tightly shut eyes.
“I know those bastards did something to him! But Derek keeps saying there must be another reason, that it wasn’t them!”
Derek. That must be the smaller boy’s name.
“I-I just…”
With the sudden shift of blame, Derek looked totally lost.
“Th-there’s no… proof…”
“Don’t give me that! You’re just defending them ‘cause your dad’s a priest! You don’t even know if it’s true or not!”
“Hey, let’s all calm down for a second.”
If I let this keep going, someone was going to say something they’d regret.
I gently patted the fierce boy on the back, then looked at Derek.
He looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his tiny shoulders.
“I… I…”
“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”
Tears welled up in Derek’s eyes too.
“M-My… mom…”
“Your mom told you that, didn’t she?”
He nodded.
Fat tears finally rolled down his cheeks.
I held back a sigh that was threatening to break out.
‘Why…’
Why do these kids have to suffer like this?
Whether or not Derek’s father was really a priest, I couldn’t be sure.
I didn’t know what kind of person his mother was or what her situation had been, but the fact that Derek was living on the street said enough.
Maybe she passed away from illness.
Stories like that came to mind on their own.
Common stories.
Tragically ordinary.
A man sneaking into the red-light district under a false identity.
A child born from that encounter.
Or maybe a housekeeper, taken advantage of by her employer.
They’re stories you hear all the time—but for someone, they’re real life.
“Derek, come here.”
I reached out.
Derek hesitated, then slowly leaned into me.
I hugged the two boys tightly, patting their backs.
They didn’t even make a sound as they cried—just let the tears fall.
Once they’d finally calmed down, I continued the conversation.
That’s when I learned the fierce boy’s name was Jack.
“Jack, is there any chance Tommy disappeared for a different reason?”
“No! …No way. Tommy was stupid, yeah, but he was a total scaredy-cat. Always super cautious.”
“So he was the careful type.”
Jack nodded.
“Sometimes he was almost like an animal… Fast on his feet too.”
Tommy must have had a keen instinct for danger.
From Jack’s perspective—someone who knew him well—there was no way Tommy would’ve disappeared unless he was forced or tricked.
‘The temple really is suspicious.’
Tommy said he was going there to be “educated,” and then he vanished.
“Have any other kids disappeared? Or maybe bragged that they were chosen to get educated by the priests?”
Jack’s lips clamped shut.
Then, slowly, he glanced toward Derek.
From the look of it, Jack didn’t seem too sociable—like he only really cared about the people he was close to.
‘Guess it’s Derek’s turn now.’
“Derek, do you know anything?”
Derek’s eyes darted around nervously. Then he finally spoke.
“S-S-Some kids… disappeared.”
His face twisted like someone who’d just remembered something terrible.
“T-T-Tommy and… s-s-someone… s-same thing…”
He couldn’t even finish the sentence—just kept stammering, trembling all over.
I placed my hands on his shoulders and gently channeled some divine power.
He looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack, but his body gradually calmed.
“So the group from Fitz was looking for you, huh.”
A cold voice spoke from the side, startling me.
From Jack’s point of view, already suspicious of Derek, this must’ve felt like a betrayal.
“Jack.”
I called out urgently, but he was already grabbing Derek by the collar.
“Jack! Hold on!”
“You—You did get hit by Fitz, didn’t you?! But you lied and said you just fell?! I told you—you gotta tell me when someone hits you!!”
Was that what really made him angry?
Maybe more than feeling betrayed, Jack was hurt.
He cared about Derek that much.
“I-I-I… I just… I was… I was so scared…”
I quietly watched the two boys for a moment before gently approaching them.
“Jack’s probably upset because you’re such a precious friend to him, Derek. Derek… you know, Jack. Derek doesn’t know anything.”
“I know! I know that!!”
The friend was gone, the temple was suspicious but out of reach.
In the end, the arrows of blame would inevitably turn toward someone nearby—someone with even the smallest connection.
I gently patted Jack and Derek on the head.
“You must’ve been scared, but you both held on well.”
“Sniff…!”
“Uwaaah…”
The boys cried for a long time, as if releasing all the bottled-up pain they’d been carrying.
∗ ∗ ∗
“Th-Thank you.”
Derek was the first to bow deeply in gratitude.
Jack glanced sideways at him, then bowed his head awkwardly.
“…Thanks. Urgh…!”
No sooner had he muttered the short word than Derek pinched him in the side.
“Seriously, you…”
“……”
“Th-Thank… you…”
“Yeah. I’m grateful too.”
Once their tears had dried, the boys asked again and again, as if trying to confirm—’Was this really enough? Was this the end of the deal?’
Only after I’d reassured them several times did they seem to relax.
And then… it was the children who brought it up first.
They said they’d be going now.
Honestly, it caught me off guard.
Even as we spoke, a part of me had been trying to figure out what to do with them.
Should I hire them as servants in my household?
Ask my grandfather for help?
If they stayed with me, there was always a risk they’d get dragged into something dangerous.
“Let me be honest. Are you really okay going back to living on the streets? If that’s what you want…”
The boys shook their heads.
They said they knew their place—and they had to find Tommy.
“It’s dangerous, though.”
The temple was taking children under the guise of education.
Maybe I’d just read too many fantastical novels, but something about it felt ominous.
And now, with Duke Luavis backing the temple…
I quietly looked at Jack and Derek.
They said they didn’t even know their birthdays or exact ages.
Jack had been abandoned on the streets when he was little, and Derek… he was born in a red-light district.
After his mother was beaten to death by a customer, he’d ended up living on the streets too.
No warmth, no comfort. If it was cold, they suffered the cold.
If it was hot, they suffered the heat. Rain or snow, they had no shelter.
“Hey, kids.”
Their gazes turned toward me.
“I’ll find Tommy for you. So you two just…”
At that moment, I felt a small puff of fluff hop onto my shoulder.
It was Seol, invisible.
[You think they’ll actually listen to that?]
His voice echoed only in my head, and I responded the same way.
“No. I know they won’t. Still…”
[I’ll help.]
‘With what?’
I didn’t even get the chance to ask.
Seol told me to grab Jack’s hand.
“Wait just a second,” I said, and gently took Jack’s hand.
[I’m going to bestow a blessing. For now, just channel your divine power. Move as I guide you.]
Following Seol’s words, I carefully infused divine energy.
And then, I felt a warm force wrap around it—something I’d only ever felt a few times when I practiced divine attacks.
It always made my chest swell unexpectedly.
The divine power that seeped into Jack began forming a pattern.
It felt like a magic circle, though I could only grasp about 30% of it for now.
[That’s enough.]
My eyes were drawn to Jack’s hand almost without thinking.
For just a moment, a glowing symbol flickered on the back of his hand before disappearing.
“…”
It was a pattern resembling tree branches.
Oh?! New skill unlocked??!