Chapter 1087 – #258_귀로(4) – DeepL
#1081
1.
There was no fear.
The dance of life, beginning with tragedy and repeating itself in tasteless repetition.
Rinne had long since worn out all emotions of fear.
No matter what foe she faced.
Even if their magic was right at the base of her neck.
Linnaeus doesn’t even blink!
“…….”
Linnea’s complexion was now a deep blue.
“Papa~ Dorothy’s pocket money, please~”
Linnaeus’s eyes widened, because in front of him was a threat that was stronger than ever.
Dorothy, who was holding onto Xiu’s arm and shaking it like she was dangling.
Her appearance is that of a middle school girl, at the age when she will grow up to be loved by her father no matter how much she is praised.
“Woohoohoo.”
Dorothy watched Linnaeus’ expression change in slow motion from recognition to surprise to despair to frustration.
Linnaeus is more of a doll than a man, but when it comes to things like this, he’s got quite a range of facial expressions.
Of course, to a third party, it would be a blank, unchanging expression.
“Nang-kun, what happened?”
“Papa, who’s the big sister with the bangs and fierce eyes on this date, hehe, is she your enzoy?”
“As you can see, she’s back safely. Dorothy-sama, please stop teasing Rinne-sama.”
Rinne has just gotten out of bed after shaking off the aftermath of her injury.
Dorothy picks on Rinne with colorful theatrics.
Xiu mediates between them.
It’s the same old trio.
Rinne has been informed of the general situation.
Dorothy is annoying to Rinne, who has a tendency to be static, but he’s grown fond of her, so he’s sad when she leaves.
Now that she’s back safely, I thought I’d dare to be modest and say “Okaeri” to her.
Judging from the mood, I was even willing to sneak in a “Maybe I was bored without you….” to express my nostalgia and joy at being reunited.
“What happened is that I, the former world’s top arms trafficker, known as the Witch of the Compass, was adopted by a super-handy muscle-bound stepfather as a 15-year-old middle-school girl.”
But even with the pretense, Dorothy’s glee at making fun of Linnaeus makes the welcome slip down my throat.
“Isn’t that right, Papa?”
“Don’t call me Papa.”
“Why, it’s not because you’ve been robbed of your title, is it? You’re not feeling jealous of a friend who just barely made it back from crossing the Three Realms for that reason alone, are you?”
“Ugh…!”
That’s exactly right.
The title of Papa suits Dorothy now more than ever.
Her rosy cheeks, twinkling eyes, and bubbly little feet.
It’s a petite Dorothy that fits the ‘daughter’ look.
Linnaeus’ childhood was a dry and dull one, and the lack of family love that came with it made her fantasize about how happy she would have been if someone like Xiu had been her father.
This is the essence of Linnaeus’ Elektra complex.
It’s a distant, unattainable ideal that Linnaeus is slowly realizing in front of his eyes.
How can this not make her sick to her stomach?
“You’re not a par…. but you cannot be the daughter of Nangun.”
“Why?”
“You have different hair color, eye color, and race.”
Linnaeus logically tried to deny Dorothy and Xiu’s pseudo-father-daughter relationship.
She had the same dark eyes as Xiu, and she had the same glossy black hair.
It was a pitiful struggle.
Linnaeus, a floater, and Dorothy, a thousand-year-old fox.
They are not human compatibility for nothing.
If Linnaeus could keep his head above water, there would be no problem….
But when Xiu is involved, she’s like a cell phone sales balloon.
To Dorothy, who boasts a Gumshoe-level sneer, Rinne is the perfect teasing opponent who can only crouch still and use the F-ranked skill ‘Get Hard’.
“Hmph~ It’s okay. Instead, Papa and I made out, although it didn’t lead to blood…. we’re connected by something else that’s sticky~ so Papa, we’ll be a little stickier today, right?”
“Mmmmmmmm!!!”
Rinne finally loses it and charges.
Xiu grabs Rinne by the waist and stops her, as if to pull her down from the ring.
“Hehe~ Papa, you’re scaring me, blackblack….”
Dorothy continues to punch the air while Rinne’s hands and feet claw at the air like a cat.
It was a peaceful routine.
2.
A dessert gourmet cafe known only to those in the know.
Dorothy, dressed in her school uniform, nervously nibbled on Xiu’s spoon as he fed her ice cream.
Even so, the navy blue cardigan tied tightly around her waist looks great on her.
“Haaahhh~ Mmm, it’s delicious! It’s even better when Papa feeds it to me!”
“…….”
Next to Xiu, Linnaeus sat with his fists balled up, his insides boiling.
Even Linnaeus couldn’t give Dorothy, who had just returned, a favorable slap.
Instead, she barged in on a date that she would normally have given up.
It was Linnaeus’s timid revenge.
“…….”
But as I watched Dorothy flirt with her without a care in the world, I got a little chord.
I wonder what kind of blessing she had to accompany me on a dating course where her outfit was turned inside out.
I envy her.
Envy.
I’m dying of envy.
Nang-gun doesn’t seem to see Rinne as his daughter, but Dorothy is being treated like one just because her appearance has changed.
She’s even the one who discovered and used the title Papa.
It wasn’t a title for a lady like that.
“Papa,” Dorothy says, “I’ll eat all of this, and I’ll eat the popsicles.”
One more thing I don’t like about Dorothy.
She’s not using cognitive dissonance magic on this date.
Even when Xiu tries to use it, she actively discourages him.
“Why are you drooling like that?”
“…Hmph.”
“Xiu, where are you looking? No, Xiu, are you crazy? Are you an animal? Do you want to do that to a girl in a school uniform? Forget it, I’m leaving!”
“…Heh heh heh.”
“What the hell, that guy next to me is crazy! He’s so fucking hot, hoeeee!”
The witch’s beauty is a magic in itself.
She attracts the attention of the clerk as well as the two or three couples around her.
“Come on, you’re pretty, right Papa?”
“I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by all this attention, so can we use some magic?”
“Woof, woof, no, no, no.”
This is definitely Dorothy’s plan.
Linnaeus is a Confucian girl who dreams of being the best man in the world, but is passive about public displays of affection.
She’s restricted by the gaze of others according to the eastern tradition of modesty.
A modest woman should be ashamed of the gaze of a stranger, but the prodigal daughter in front of her doesn’t care about that, allowing for a more one-sided attack.
“That’s a witch, right? Then she’s wearing a school uniform, but she’s not a minor….”
“But she’s not the only one in a uniform, the other one is also crazy….”
“What’s her relationship with the other one? Are they lovers?”
Rinne’s ears perked up as her highly developed psychic senses picked up the couple’s conversation.
It’s also clear from the situation that the ‘other’ is Linnaeus, who is sitting like a ghost.
“…Or maybe not.”
“She’s just sitting there, isn’t she?”
“So that witch in the school uniform is a couple with the handsome guy…. And the bridesmaids next to them?”
Linnaeus felt the pressure from the reactions around him.
I have to do something!
Do what?
Something that would make them look like lovers!
“Papa~ another bite, ouch, what, what!”
“Eat this.”
Rinne scoops up a big spoonful of ice cream and shoves it into Dorothy’s open mouth like a baby bird.
What can I do here to look like a lover?
What can I do to make it look like I’m in the best shape of my life, and still look innocent and chaste?
Linnaeus’s eyes dart about wildly.
And she has a great realization.
No, no.
I don’t need to be quiet.
Hesitating because of what others might think is a high barrier to true love.
She crosses it.
The wall of archaic modesty that has always prevented Linnaeus from making love.
“Papa.”
Rinne wrapped her hands around Xiu’s waist like a schoolmarm.
She shoveled ice cream into her mouth and then pressed her lips to Xiu’s.
“Chuuup….”
Rinne’s mouth becomes the bowl and her tongue the spoon in a sugary onslaught of kisses!!!
-Dalgrak
“Wow….”
“That’s pretty bold….”
The sound of dropped spoons and gasps of horror all around.
The gazes that have been drawn to the fiery display of affection, which may be familiar in the Western world but is rarely seen in the Eastern courtesies, become even more heated.
Linnaeus’ face burned as if on fire.
Her normally stoic body, a master of swordsmanship, has shrunk to the point where it looks like she’s trying to hide something.
“Is it good?”
“Uh, uh, yes.”
Xiu, stunned by the unexpected attack, nods hesitantly.
“Which do you like better, Lin’s lips or the ice cream?”
Linnaeus was usually so high-minded and blunt.
But when she snorts and bosses him around, every man’s heart melts easier than ice cream left out in the middle of summer.
“Your lips taste better.”
Xiu replied stammeringly, as if hypnotized.
Then, as if for all to hear, Linnaeus licked his lips slightly, his eyes damp with moisture.
“Rinne’s insides are even more delicious than her lips….”
Rinne, who had been trapped in the traditional female view, had broken through the wall!
Dorothy, flustered by Rinne’s unexpected offense, rushed in.
“What? Are you kidding me? You can’t ruin my special school uniform date like this!”
“You shut up.”
Shi Wu deployed a soundproofing spell to muffle the conversation.
“…….”
“What did I see….”
The audience is stunned to realize that the love triangle in front of them is actually a harem.
-Bam!
“Holy shit.”
Part-timer Kim Seom-gok, who had been watching the subtle catfight, threw his plate on the floor.
3.
After such a ruckus.
Linnaeus and Dorothy happened to be together, so Xiu brought up the topic she had been wanting to ask.
“Dorothy, Linnaeus. Do you know anything about Las Werpanas?”
It was about Lydia’s legacy, Las Werpanas.
