Chapter: The Chick Class Merchant
“You won’t tell me?”
At Jurim’s question, Gru—who had climbed onto the kitchen cabinet—raised the ends of his eyebrows sharply and lifted his head.
His hands, which had been assembling a children’s cotton candy machine, stopped completely, such was his displeasure.
Mepisto, sitting on top of his head, opened his mouth in a diamond shape as if stifled and heaved a deep sigh.
A stifled expression was also evident on Gru’s tiny face, but even so, Jurim asked as if he absolutely had to say this.
“The person who gave you the photo card, they really weren’t a strange person?”
“Nuh-uh. And if you ask me one more time, it’ll be a hundwed times.”
“I haven’t asked a hundred times.”
Maybe around twenty-three?
Jurim replied, roughly counting.
“So what Gru wanna say is, Daddy asked too many times.”
Gru, wearing a Bbiyong Bbiyong photo card around his neck, struck the cotton candy machine with his chopsticks and scolded him.
Jurim felt wronged.
I mean, why would you take an item from a stranger? Not just any item, but one made from his photo card…
But he swallowed those words. Over the past two days, he had said this same thing about twenty times.
If only he could switch it out for a new item instead of the photo card…
Even though Kazuki had offered to make a new item for him, Gru insisted that he liked that Bbiyong Bbiyong, so in the end, the Bbiyong Bbiyong photo card remained hanging around the child’s neck.
Jurim ran his palm across his forehead.
He pressed Gru’s furrowed little brows, poking them gently, and changed the subject.
“What are you doing today?”
Each time Jurim pressed, Gru was pushed back like a roly-poly toy with a face full of dissatisfaction, only to spring back again; then, for a moment, his eyes sparkled.
He seemed pleased that his dad was showing interest in him.
“Makin’ cotton candy! Daddy, make cotton candy wif me too!”
Jurim asked how to do it while examining the machine.
“Woll it awound with chopsticks. Make it wound.”
Gru personally handed Jurim a single chopstick.
“Like this?”
“Uh-huh. About the size of Gru’s fist.”
“That small?”
That was when.
“……!”
Veilrak in human form came running hurriedly and then stood firmly between them, as if blocking the space between Gru and Jurim.
That fellow, who until just now had been sprawled on the sofa scratching his belly while watching a zombie drama, had come running like an arrow, so both Gru and Jurim wore question marks above their heads.
“……?”
“……?”
The two looked at Veilrak, who stood in the middle, with bewildered faces.
But Veilrak paid no heed to their gazes, crossing his arms and letting out a loose yawn.
“Veil wanna make cotton candy too?”
“No.”
It was a sincere answer.
“Here, take this, put it in here, and twirl it awound. You gotta make it dis small.”
But when Gru pressed the chopstick into his hand, he clicked his tongue and reluctantly made the cotton candy.
He could hardly refuse since it was his master’s order.
Veilrak roughly inserted the chopstick into the machine and then glanced sideways at Jurim again.
Jurim narrowed his eyes at the gaze that was stealing glances at him with guarded eyes.
What had caused such a sudden, dramatic change in attitude?
Until now, Jurim had been outside Veilrak’s sphere of interest.
Jurim had also found Veilrak’s existence unpleasant, but since Gru was glaring at him, there was nothing he could do, so he simply tried not to pay attention.
In other words, the two had been regarding each other with the indifference of a cow and a chicken.
But lately, the way Veilrak looked at Jurim… was as if he found Jurim’s very existence disagreeable.
No matter how much he thought about it, there was no reason for that to be the case.
Rather, Jurim was a generous landlord who didn’t even mind that his freeloader paid to watch B-grade zombie movies every day. There was no way he would suddenly become an object of vigilance.
Moreover, Veilrak hadn’t paid him any mind until just now; it was only when Jurim approached Gru that he had wedged himself between them.
If so, the only thing that came to mind was…
Suddenly, Jurim’s thoughts began to race uncontrollably without brakes.
Could it be… that he fell for our five-year-old…?
And started being wary of the people around her?
Ha!
Soon, Jurim too began glaring at Veilrak with terrifying eyes.
The six-year-old Uju was a bit iffy, but since he was close with Gru, he was barely within the passing line.
But this guy won’t do.
No matter how cute a child’s form he took, this fellow, who could have rolled in from anywhere, was not acceptable.
Above Gru’s head, their blazing gazes collided.
While the two were distracted from making cotton candy like that, the cotton candy was growing exceptionally large.
“You can’t make cotton candy dis big!”
In the end, Gru’s shout erupted, and the two snapped out of it, grabbing new chopsticks.
But the lightning-like gazes they exchanged remained the same.
“Ehuu—”
“Ppi—”
Gru and Mepisto let out sighs as if displeased.
Gru carefully put the round cotton candy into a ziplock bag so it wouldn’t lose its shape, then pulled Veilrak.
“Veil, come wif me. Mepi too.”
Gru slipped into the room like that and used *The Dungeon is an Open Door* to open the dungeon gate.
As soon as they passed through the gate, they saw a well-landscaped forest like a park.
Around them, several toy factories were making chick drones and excellent syrup.
Gru entered the dungeon, which looked like an amusement park, put his hands on his hips, and lectured Veilrak.
“Veil, you can’t twy to eat Daddy!”
Veilrak, who had no such intention whatsoever, opened his mouth in bewilderment.
“……What?”
Gru knew all too well that Veilrak had been looking at Jurim with sinister eyes these days.
At first, he had thought he was imagining things…
“It’s ’cause you wanna eat Daddy. Wight?”
“Nonsense! To eat something like that—the very thought makes my stomach churn!”
“Huh? Then why are you wike dat? Veil keeps wooking at Daddy wike dis.”
Gru grabbed the ends of his eyebrows with both index fingers and pushed them up.
“……That’s.”
As Veilrak hesitated, uncharacteristically, the sly Mepisto didn’t miss the opportunity and answered instead.
“Ppi-ppi— ppi-ppi— ppi-it—”
“Mepi, I dunno what you’re sayin’……”
They couldn’t communicate, but.
“Ppeet?!”
Mepisto widened his eyes and looked at his own wings in displeasure. Then he brought up a pop-up window again and spoke.
[Gru’s Daddy smells weird.]
“Huh?”
For a moment, Gru was flustered and gaped.
“Daddy, Daddy washes evewy day…… He’s clean! Pwobably!”
In truth, Gru didn’t know if he was only pretending to wash in the bathroom!
“Th-there’s no stwange smell! Daddy smells nice! Like a warm wind!”
Gru was making excuses for Jurim with all his might.
Veilrak cut in, saying that wasn’t it, and continued the explanation.
“Sheier has devoured too much of On Jurim’s soul.”
What? His heart dropped instantly. Gru turned deathly pale and blinked, asking back.
“……Sheier?”
“The master of the 99th floor. Our Emperor. That thing in On Jurim’s left hand.”
“But the glove…… I just made a new one?”
“There was no way something like that could block Sheier. Not from humans.”
“Wait, Veil…… Then what happens to Daddy? No, what we gotta do?”
Right now, what mattered more than what happens if his soul was devoured was how to prevent it from being devoured!
Veilrak spoke, thinking that Gru knew how to get to the point.
“What I know are two things. Either completely separate Sheier from On Jurim’s left hand and subjugate him, or On Jurim fully synchronizes with him while maintaining dominance.”
Too hard!
Gru opened his mouth wide.
Veilrak noticed that his master hadn’t understood his words, so he grabbed a twig and began to draw on the ground.
Veilrak drew two circles inside a human shape and explained.
“Right now, Sheier and On Jurim’s soul are together inside On Jurim’s body.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Since Sheier’s soul is of a higher rank, it’s only a matter of time before On Jurim is gobbled up by Sheier. You might think the glove was blocking it…… but a more accurate expression is that Sheier simply had no desire to do so until now.”
“The glove was useless?!”
“It might have helped to some extent, but completely blocking him is impossible.”
Ding!
It felt like a bell ringing in his head. The Black Flame Dragon sealed in Daddy’s hand hadn’t actually been sealed……!
“So the methods are to pull Sheier outside, or conversely, On Jurim devours Sheier.”
“Then it works?”
Veilrak stared intently at Gru, who saw hope in his words.
“That’s right. Theoretically, if it’s the master, you could pull Sheier out and subjugate him.”
That would be mere theory.
As Gru brightened, Veilrak spoke firmly.
“But of course, it’s currently impossible.”
“W-why……?”
“Because the master is too trash-tier.”
“……!”
At the blunt words that suddenly pierced his ears, Gru opened his mouth dumbly.
“Because Gru is twash……!”
“You are trash-tier.”
Veilrak emphasized once more.
“At your current level, where you struggle to even transform my body at will, it’s absolutely impossible. Right now, your control is severely lacking as well.”
It can’t be……. Gru bit his lip tightly and clenched both fists.
A cold weight settled in his chest.
Daddy’s soul is being devoured…….
He couldn’t leave it like that.
To save Daddy, Gru had to grow.
But how?
That was when.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
His phone rang continuously with deposit notifications. It must have been the payment for the drones sold in recent transactions.
At the same time, a pop-up window appeared before his eyes.
[Accumulated sales are being updated.]
[Achievement: Unlocked!]
[Due to the effect of (Unknown Title), 1% of the sales amount is deposited into the piggy bank as filial piety points each time an item is sold.]