Chapter 288
—Piii!
Gaia cautiously poked its head out and blinked at Brielle and Levin.
Zeon stroked Gaia’s head as he spoke.
“It’s alright. They’re my friends.”
—Be?
“Yeah, friends. People you can trust.”
—Piiii!
Only then did Gaia fully emerge from the subspace.
“Oh my god!”
“What the…?”
Brielle and Levin stared at Gaia in shock, unable to close their mouths.
It was already unbelievable that a living creature existed inside a subspace.
But that creature was a whale.
A whale that could fly through the sky.
Their stunned reaction was only natural.
However, Brielle’s shock differed from Levin’s.
Drip.
Suddenly, tears streamed down Brielle’s face.
Seeing crystal-like tears falling from her eyes, Levin panicked.
“What’s wrong?”
“The scent of a spirit…”
“What?”
“I can feel the scent of a spirit.”
“What are you talking about…?”
Levin blinked in confusion.
Ignoring him, Brielle slowly approached Gaia.
Gaia gently flapped its pectoral fins like butterfly wings while gazing at Brielle.
Brielle cautiously extended her hand.
“H-Hello.”
—Be?
“My name is Brielle.”
—Beppi?
“U-Um, as you can see, I’m a High Elf.”
—Beii!
At that moment, Gaia rubbed its head against Brielle’s hand.
The soft sensation made Brielle’s eyes widen slightly before she suddenly hugged Gaia tightly.
Gaia didn’t avoid her and instead rubbed its head against her chest.
“Ahh…”
A blissful expression spread across Brielle’s face.
The scent of a spirit, something she had never experienced before in her life, completely overwhelmed her senses.
Gaia was the first spirit lifeform ever born on Earth.
Even without intending to, it naturally emitted a powerful spiritual fragrance.
The spirit scent, something Brielle had never encountered before, was so intense that it nearly paralyzed her reason.
“Haa… haa…”
Holding Gaia tightly while inhaling the spirit scent, Brielle looked almost like a pervert.
“H-Hey! Snap out of it!”
Unable to watch anymore, Levin forcibly pulled her away from Gaia.
“The scent…”
Brielle looked devastated at being separated.
Zeon patted her head and said,
“You’ll be seeing Gaia from now on anyway, so there’s no need to look so sad.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s going to stay with us?”
“Mm-hm.”
“Waaah!”
Brielle bounced up and down excitedly.
Having finally escaped the lingering aftereffects of the terrible drugs, Brielle had started expressing her emotions more openly like a normal girl her age.
“That’s amazing, right?”
—Beii! Pii!
“Exactly! I’ll treat you really well from now on. We’re friends now.”
—Pii! Pippi!
“Yeah! Yeah!”
Watching Brielle chatter endlessly with Gaia as though they were having an actual conversation, Levin shook his head.
“What on earth are you two talking about? Can you actually understand each other?”
“In Kurayan, elves were beings who communicated with spirits.”
“So that whale really is a spirit?”
“It’s different from the spirits of Kurayan, but I think it’s still a spirit.”
“What does that even mean?”
“Good question.”
Zeon shrugged.
Gaia was the child of a lifeform created through the fusion of Kurayan’s Great Spirit and an Earth whale.
Even Zeon didn’t know exactly how to define Gaia’s existence.
Zeon spoke to Brielle.
“Someone might show up here, so let’s head home. Gaia, you should go back into the subspace for now too.”
“Okay!”
—Be!
Brielle and Gaia answered at the same time.
Gaia disappeared back into Zeon’s subspace.
Holding Zeon’s hand, Brielle asked,
“I can see Gaia whenever I want once we get home, right?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“Waaah! This is so exciting.”
“You’re that happy?”
“Of course I am! I’m probably the first elf born on Earth to ever meet a spirit.”
“Really?”
“This is a historic event. If the other elves found out about this, they’d lose their minds.”
“Then we definitely can’t let it become public.”
“Right! The other elves absolutely can’t find out. They’d never leave our Gaia alone.”
Even though she herself was an elf, Brielle didn’t particularly like other elves.
More accurately, she didn’t trust the elves who had adapted themselves to human society.
They had already been corrupted by human greed.
“Let’s hurry home.”
“Yeah! I want to see Gaia again already.”
Brielle nodded repeatedly as she followed behind Zeon.
Levin scratched his head while walking after them.
“Man, I have no idea what’s going on anymore. A flying baby whale? More importantly, do we even have enough room in our house for that whale to fly around? We’re probably going to have to expand the place again.”
Still, the thought of gaining another family member made him happy, and a smile naturally formed on his lips.
Long after the three had disappeared down the alley, someone appeared there.
The beautiful woman wearing a French coat was none other than Borin Stravaho, captain of the Blue Leaves Special Operations Unit from the Northern District.
It was Borin Stravaho.
Borin sniffed the air in the alley.
“Sniff, sniff… What is this? That smells unbelievably good.”
Under orders from Serian, the Queen of the Northern District, Borin had been tracking an unusual wave of energy.
Just moments ago, she had sensed a strange fluctuation coming from this direction.
It had been such a faint signal that she could only detect it because she was already in the slums. If she had been inside Neo Seoul, she never would have noticed it.
On a whim, Borin rushed over and discovered a strangely pleasant scent lingering here.
It was a fragrance she had never encountered before.
A refreshing aroma that made her feel better simply by breathing it in.
It felt as though her chest were opening wide.
“What on earth was here?”
She kept sniffing the air, but unfortunately, the scent quickly faded away.
“What was that really? What could possibly leave behind a fragrance like this?”
***
The moment they returned home, Gaia emerged from the subspace.
Excitedly, Brielle said to Gaia,
“This is our house. I’ll show you around.”
—Piii!
“This is the living room. It’s where we spend most of our time. Nice, right? The Watching Eye protects this place, so it’s safe.”
—Pippi?
“Isn’t it amazing? I think so too. Anyway, if you stay in here, you’ll be completely safe. Nobody from outside can break in. So you can relax here too.”
—Pii!
“Let’s go to my room first. There are tons of interesting things there. I made a lot while Zeon was away.”
—Piiii!
Wagging its tail back and forth, Gaia happily followed behind Brielle.
Watching them, Levin shook his head slightly.
“That thing’s not even a puppy, so why is it following Brielle around like that?”
“It’s probably because Brielle’s a High Elf. Apparently pure-blood High Elves originally had incredible affinity with spirits.”
“That’s a relief. I felt a little bad leaving her home alone.”
“Sounds like you were away from home a lot while I was gone.”
“Well… there wasn’t really anything for me to do, and I felt kind of empty, so… But I’m alright now.”
After getting his revenge, Levin had wandered around aimlessly for quite a while because of the emptiness he felt inside.
He spent more time outside than at home, leaving Brielle alone most of the time.
Not that Brielle had been lonely.
She had been too busy turning her inspirations into reality to pay much attention to Levin. Sometimes she was so immersed in her work that she didn’t even notice he’d been gone all day.
Levin knew that too, but he still felt somewhat guilty about leaving her alone.
“I’m glad you’re feeling better. Nothing happened while I was gone, right?”
“It was peaceful. Almost suspiciously peaceful.”
“Really?”
“It’s just my guess, but I think City Hall stepped in.”
“Looks like the mayor kept his promise early.”
Jin Geumho had promised that if Zeon completed the mission, the other districts would no longer be able to interfere recklessly with them.
Just the fact that City Hall and Jin Geumho were watching was enough to keep the other districts from casually targeting Zeon, Brielle, and the others.
“We should be able to live peacefully for a while. As long as we don’t cause any trouble.”
“What kind of trouble would we even cause? We’re not battle-crazy maniacs. Honestly, I like the peace we have now.”
“So do I.”
Zeon smiled and nodded.
It had been a long time since he’d returned home.
Every time he came back from a distant mission, he was reminded that simply having a place where he could truly relax was a blessing.
Neither the Iron Fortress nor Neo Seoul’s glittering skyscrapers gave Zeon this sense of comfort.
The house wasn’t large, but he loved being able to rest here in peace.
Levin asked,
“So what are you planning to do?”
“What do you mean?”
“Aren’t you going to visit the Goblin Market?”
“Is there some kind of problem?”
“No, it’s just… since you’re back, I figured you might want to stop by.”
“There’s no issue right now, so there’s no reason to go immediately. I’m just going to rest properly for a while. If I get bored, I’ll visit then.”
“Got it, hyung! Sounds good. It’s not urgent anyway.”
“Exactly. Starting now, I plan to stay glued to this couch.”
“Alright!”
Levin laughed as he watched Zeon collapse onto the sofa.
Everyone loved that couch.
The moment you sat on it, it felt unbelievably soft and comfortable, as though it were wrapping around your entire body.
That was why, whenever Zeon wasn’t home, Levin and Brielle often fought over it.
Of course, Brielle usually won.
Whenever Levin lost, he would stare at Brielle enviously, but she never once gave up the sofa willingly.
‘Now that Gaia’s living here too, I’ll probably never get to sit on that couch again.’
Still, he didn’t really mind.
Just then—
Crash!
Brielle burst out of her room.
Gaia floated behind her.
Opening Levin’s door, Brielle announced,
“Now I’ll show Gaia Levin’s room.”
“What?”
“Shall we slowly investigate what kinds of things exist in a man’s room?”
—Beii!
“Hehe! This is exciting.”
For a moment, Levin blankly stared at Brielle and Gaia, unable to process what was happening.
Bang!
The door slammed shut, and his senses finally returned.
There were things in a man’s room that women absolutely should not see.
Things that could never be shown to others.
“N-No!”
Levin immediately sprinted toward the room.
A moment later, his desperate scream echoed out.
“You can’t look at that!”
“Hahaha!”
—Bei!