Chapter 288

Chapter 288

Squeeee!

Gaia, who had carefully poked her head out, blinked when she saw Briel and Levin.

Zeon stroked Gaia’s head and said,

“It’s okay! They’re my friends.”

Squee?

“Yeah, friends! People you can trust.”

Squeeee!

Only then did Gaia completely pull herself out of the subspace.

“Good heavens!”

“What the hell is this?”

Briel and Levin could not close their mouths as they stared at Gaia.

It was already astonishing that a living creature existed inside a subspace, but that living creature was a whale.

And a whale that flew through the sky.

It was only natural that their mouths hung open.

However, Briel’s shock was different from Levin’s.

Drip, drip.

Suddenly, tears flowed from Briel’s eyes.

Seeing Briel shed bead-like tears, Levin was startled.

“What’s wrong?”

“The scent of a spirit......”

“What?”

“I can feel the fragrance of a spirit.”

“What does that......”

Levin blinked, unable to understand.

Leaving Levin behind, Briel approached Gaia.

Gaia fluttered her pectoral fins softly like butterfly wings and looked at Briel.

Briel carefully reached out and said,

“H-Hello!”

Squee?

“My name is Briel.”

Squeak, squeak?

“Uh, as you can see, I’m a High Elf.”

Squeeee!

At that moment, Gaia rubbed her head against Briel’s hand.

At the soft sensation, Briel’s eyes widened slightly, then she hugged Gaia tightly.

Gaia did not avoid Briel either and rubbed her head against Briel’s chest.

“Ahh!”

Briel wore an enraptured expression.

The scent of a spirit, which she was smelling for the first time in her life, made it impossible for her to stay composed.

Gaia was the first spirit lifeform born on Earth.

Even without Gaia intending it, a powerful fragrance flowed from her.

The spirit fragrance Briel smelled for the first time in her life was powerful enough to paralyze her reason.

“Haa! Haa!”

The sight of Briel holding Gaia tightly and inhaling the spirit fragrance made her look like a pervert.

“Hey, hey! Get yourself together!”

Levin, unable to watch any longer, pulled her away from Gaia.

“Aww!”

Briel, forced apart, looked regretful.

Zeon patted Briel’s head and said,

“You’ll be able to keep seeing Gaia from now on, so you don’t need to be that sad.”

“Really?”

“Yeah!”

“She’s going to stay with us?”

“Yeah!”

“Waaah!”

Briel hopped up and down in delight.

Having escaped the terrible aftereffects of the drugs, Briel had now begun expressing her feelings like a girl her age.

“This is really great. Right?”

Squeeee! Squee!

“Yeah! I’ll treat you really well. We’re friends now.”

Squee! Squeak, squeak!

“Yeah! Yeah!”

Watching Briel chatter away with Gaia as if she were talking to a person, Levin shook his head.

“What the hell are they saying? Can they actually understand each other?”

“In Kurayan, elves were beings who communicated with spirits.”

“Then that whale really is a spirit?”

“She’s different from Kurayan’s spirits, but I think she is a spirit.”

“What does that mean?”

“I wonder.”

Zeon shrugged.

Gaia was the child of a lifeform born from the fusion of a great spirit of Kurayan and a whale of Earth.

Even he did not know how to define Gaia.

Zeon said to Briel,

“People might show up here, so let’s go inside. Gaia, you should go into the subspace for now too.”

“Okay!”

Squee!

Briel and Gaia answered at the same time.

Gaia vanished into Zeon’s subspace.

Briel held Zeon’s hand and said,

“I can meet Gaia as much as I want at home, right?”

“Uh, do that.”

“Waaah! This is so exciting.”

“You’re that happy?”

“Of course I am. I’m probably the first elf born on Earth to meet a spirit.”

“Really?”

“This is a historic event. If the elves learn about this, they’ll turn everything upside down.”

“Then we absolutely can’t expose her.”

“Yeah! We can’t let the other elves know. Those things would never leave our Gaia alone.”

Although she was an elf herself, Briel did not particularly like other elves.

More precisely, she did not trust the elves who had adapted to the human world and lived within it.

They had already been stained by human greed.

“Let’s go home quickly.”

“Yeah! I want to see Gaia already.”

Briel nodded repeatedly and followed behind Zeon.

Levin scratched his head and walked behind them.

“Ugh! I don’t even know what’s happening anymore. A flying baby whale? More importantly, do we even have space in our house for that whale to fly around? I don’t know if we’ll have to expand the house again.”

Even so, the thought of gaining another family member was pleasant, so a smile appeared on Levin’s lips as well.

A long while after the three left the alley, someone appeared there.

The beautiful woman in a French coat was Borin Stravach, captain of the North District’s Blue Fallen Leaf Special Operations Unit.

Borin sniffed the alley.

“Sniff, sniff! What is this? It smells incredibly good.”

Borin had been tracking an unusual wavelength under the orders of Serian, the queen of the North District.

A moment ago, she had felt a strange wavelength from this direction.

Because she had been in the slums, she had been able to detect it. If she had been in Neo Seoul, she would never have felt such a faint wavelength.

Borin had come running just in case, and she realized that a strangely pleasant scent remained here.

It was a scent she had never smelled before.

A refreshing scent that made her feel good just by smelling it.

It felt as if her chest had been cleared wide open.

“What on earth was here?”

She kept sniffing. But cruelly, the scent soon vanished.

“What was that, really? What the hell left behind a fragrance like this?”

---

Squeeee!

As soon as they returned home, Gaia came out of the subspace.

Excited, Briel said to Gaia,

“This is our house. I’ll show you around.”

Squeeee!

“This is the living room. It’s the space where we live. Isn’t it nice? The Watching Eye protects it, so it’s safe.”

Squeak, squeak?

“It’s fascinating, right? I think so too. Anyway, as long as you’re inside here, you’re absolutely safe. No one can invade from outside. So you can relax too.”

Squee!

“Let’s go to my room first. There are tons of fascinating things. I made a lot while Zeon was away.”

Squeeee!

Gaia gently wagged her tail and followed behind Briel.

Seeing that, Levin shook his head slightly.

“She’s not even a puppy. Why is she following Briel like that?”

“Probably because Briel is a High Elf. I heard pure-blooded High Elves originally had incredible affinity with spirits.”

“That’s a relief. I felt a little bad leaving her home alone.”

“You must have been away from home a lot while I was gone.”

“Well, there wasn’t much to do, and I felt empty, so I just...... I’m fine now.”

After finishing his revenge, Levin had wandered for a while because of the emptiness in his heart.

He had spent more time roaming outside than staying at home, and during that time, Briel had been alone.

That did not mean Briel had spent her time feeling lonely.

Briel had been busy obtaining inspiration and giving it concrete form in her own way, so she had no room to pay attention to Levin. She had not even noticed when Levin was gone from the house all day.

Levin knew that too, but he still felt a little guilty about leaving her alone.

“I’m glad you’re fine now. Nothing happened?”

“It was peaceful. Almost too peaceful.”

“Really?”

“It’s just my guess, but I think City Hall used its influence.”

“Looks like the Mayor kept his promise in advance.”

Jin Geum-ho had said that if Zeon completed the mission, he would make sure the other districts could not touch them carelessly.

The mere fact that Jin Geum-ho and City Hall were watching made it difficult for the other districts to easily touch Zeon, Briel, and the others.

“We should be able to live comfortably for a while. As long as we don’t cause any trouble.”

“What trouble would we cause? We’re not people obsessed with fighting. I like this peace.”

“So do I.”

Zeon smiled and nodded.

It was the home he had returned to after a long time.

He felt this every time he came back from an expedition, but the fact that there was a place where he could rest with peace of mind was itself a blessing.

Neither Steel Fortress nor Neo Seoul’s glittering buildings gave Zeon this sense of relief.

It was not that large, but Zeon liked this house where he could rest comfortably.

Levin asked,

“What are you going to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you not going to stop by the Dokkaebi Market?”

“Is there a problem?”

“No. I just thought, since you’re back, it might be better to drop by once.”

“There’s no problem, so there’s no reason to go there now. I’ll just rest properly, and when I get tired of resting, I’ll go then.”

“Got it, Hyung! Do that. It’s not urgent anyway.”

“Yeah! So from now on, I’m planning to stay glued to the sofa.”

“Okay!”

Levin smiled as he watched Zeon lie down fully on the sofa.

Everyone liked the sofa Zeon was lying on.

Once someone sat down, the softness and comfort that seemed to wrap around the entire body were no joke.

So when Zeon was not around, a battle for the sofa would often break out between Levin and Briel.

Of course, the winner of that battle was usually Briel.

Levin, pushed out of the battle, would look at Briel with envy, but Briel never once gave it up.

‘Now that Gaia’s living here too, I’ll never get a chance to sit on the sofa again.’

Still, he did not feel bad.

Just then—

CLATTER!

Briel opened her door and came outside.

Gaia followed behind her.

Briel opened Levin’s door and said,

“Now I’ll show you Levin’s room.”

“What?”

“Shall we take a slow look at what’s inside a man’s room?”

Squeeee!

“Hehe! This is exciting.”

For a moment, Levin failed to grasp the situation and stared blankly at Briel and Gaia.

THUD!

When the door closed, he came back to his senses.

A man’s room contained things women did not know about.

Things that absolutely could not be shown to others.

“N-No!”

Levin hurriedly rushed into the room.

A moment later, his scream erupted.

“You can’t look at that!”

“Haha!”

Squeeee!