Raga of the Dry Branch - Chapter 5

5: I thought it was a dream (5)

I flopped on the bed and blankly looked at my long body.

“I, I am an ordinary human, but will that be possible with a single oath?”

What kind of race were they, even though I heard of the terms ‘incarnation’ as a child, a ‘representative’ born directly by God, but the term ‘Vina’ was unfamiliar. What the hell was that thing?

“That is because we are demigods.”

“… I see. But I don’t see anything like a halo behind your backs.”

“Even God’s incarnate wouldn’t have that. Just accept what you see.”

Tired. I couldn’t handle this reality with my low-class imagination. It seemed like I had to give up my wishes and humbly accept theirs.

It wasn’t a situation where I could just escape or run away because I didn’t like it, even if I secretly committed suicide, these people were talented enough to revive me somehow.

Still, unable to control my anger, I stared at the floor. Heliciad who was silent till then as she listened to all our conversations, asked in a stern tone, “Leave that aside, why do you only call him by a nickname?”

Her plump cheeks swelled up. She is so cute that if I didn’t know her original age, I would have been fooled by her innocent features. But not now, I was never going to forget that fact that she could be my great-great-grandmother.

“I will call everyone like that from now on. Please tell me what kind of name you want me to call each of you. And except for Mahoren, I will do that to others. And if you don’t like it, please tell me right away.”

“I like it, I like this idea so much. Then call me Shang-di. But why Mahoren?” Shang-Lodihara, the silver-haired beauty who wanted to be called Shang-di, tilted her head as she asked.

“It isn’t easy to call a shortened name for someone who is old on the outside.”

At that, everyone except for Mahoren burst into laughter.

“Yeah, but we are all the same age.”, said Shang-di with a smile on her face.

“Call me Ren, and talk comfortably with me. Or this old man will feel lonely.”

“… then, I will call you by that.”

“Me too! Heli! Call me Heli!”

“I too am fine with having a nickname, but I have never been called with a nickname till now, so it is a bit awkward. What would be good for me?”

“Maybe Fay sounds good.”

There was only one person left. When everyone turned towards Juli, he opened his mouth.

“I am not an easy man to deal with.”

“I see, but how come you talk informally with me?”

Did I look easy to him?

“You-you never bothered asking me if I wanted a nickname.”

“That one, I made it specially for you.”

Juli, I decided to take the lead because I was afraid you would do something weird.

“… you are so cheap.”

I couldn’t help it. I didn’t forget that I am the King of Flies yet.

“Then it is my turn to introduce myself. I am Alkeris Boizania. Please feel free to call me ‘Al’.”

Shang-Lodihara’s expression faded as she looked down at the young person’s face who seemed exhausted. She felt like she was walking through a fleeting moment, but 200 years had passed.

She liked to live. Daily life was exciting when watching the dynamic people, and it was fun to play a role among them.

In their races, there were some who were tired of living and wished that such Signs wouldn’t appear, but she was an exception. It was good to live, and being alive was a blessing for her.

Therefore, for her, the limited lifespan was concerning. It was around the time that she was gradually feeling anxious that her life was coming to an end. At that moment, this human appeared. How blessed she felt.

Besides, thanks to being on the same wavelength, the people she met for the first time were also ones with a strong obsession with life.

Thanks to that, she was able to persuade the human. Sign of Oath…

She wanted to live like that, but her ‘Sign’ didn’t want to live. Life had no meaning or fun, the human didn’t even want to live, but then these people had interrupted their plans. And we were pushing the human to live a long, meaningless life.

Originally, she just wanted to say ‘Goodbye~’ after hearing those words, but then she changed her mind after knowing the story. Still, just because she wanted to it didn’t feel like putting the human through a punishment for so long. She couldn’t just accept that.

“I am sorry but you will be happy soon.”

Because this noona (elder sister, called by men) wanted to do everything to make it happen.

Shang-Lodihara was smiling happily and turned her gaze back to the chest of the human and then remembered.

“I can… check it now?”

Is she really a Nuna!?!

Her ‘Sign’ who was deeply asleep, was slightly unusual from a normal human.

The person had just turned twenty? For that age, the human was already expressionless.

Long flowing light brown straight hair which is braided to one side of the shoulder, and the pale blue eyes which always looked down from the expressionless white face.

A pretty face and a quiet nature, despite the feminine slenderness, there was nothing womanly about the human. So a closer look and maybe she would be able to see the gender.

However, the sweet scent was contradicting. And it wasn’t about body type. Depending on the gender and race, each existence had a sweet smell.

No matter how hard one tried to hide their gender, they couldn’t escape the eyes of Vina, who were the higher race. But now they were confused. They couldn’t tell if the human was a man or a woman. Despite definitely looking like a man the sweet scent was raw like a woman.

Their ‘Sign’ was a human with a strange charm. The atmosphere was weird, like it was an ambiguous gender.

And the empty feeling flowed around the human body. Human beings who suffer from emptiness or lack of will, usually have blurred presence.

And very rarely, there are those who act as a charm and stand out, and this ‘Sign’ seemed to be one of them. wasn’t the innkeeper also too captivated by this human who was rubbing his forehead with a tired expression as if he was some handsome person? A man Shang-Lodihara liked. Despite not having many expressions on the face, the melancholy expression and the absurd expressions were cute to see.

And she certainly liked this human. A good boy or girl, she didn’t actually care about the gender of this human, but deep inside she was a pervert, and Shang-Lodihara was just curious, very curious. So, she considered this the moment for her to know the truth.

Shang-Lodihara’s hand moved towards the human, to check the gender.

She had to see, and she was just going to push the clothes a little up, but what? Her fingers were trembling. Taking clothes off without a consent, that too from a sleeping person was great disrespect, and if she went through she would be as bad as Heliciad.

“What are you doing?”

With her trembling hands, just as she was about to undo the 3rd button, a saboteur appeared, making her clench her teeth.

Just a little more!

Faysion gaze turned cold at her who was taking off the clothes on the human.

“You, come out right now.”

Seeing the elegant man who was always respectful to others, acting like this, meant he was angry.

“Would you mind waiting for 10 minutes? You are curious too, right?”

She stared at the blonde haired man with earnest eyes.

“Shut your mouth and come out.”

“… damn it!”

Shang-Lodihara grunted, but Faysion pretended to not listen.

“Any one who would see you would think you are a pervert, right?”

Heliciad smiled mischievously as she spoke to Shang-Lodihara. Shang-lodihara slightly twisted her body, showing off her slim, slender body as she smiled.

“Are you comparing your senile pervert taste to mine?”

“Puah! Senile!?”

Heliciad exclaimed as she spit out the strawberry milk she had been drinking.

“Now, now, calm down.”

After barely tearing away the two women who were growling at each other, Mahoren glanced at them. Julius, who was still in the long black robe, was lying on the sofa with no interest in what was happening and Faysion was enjoying his tea.

Normally, the side Mahoren took was what Faysion would do, but now it seemed like Faysion didn’t want to act himself.

“Enough of it. Can’t we just talk?”

Getting annoyed, Mahoren changed his way of speaking, and those words, both women who were silent, immediately straightened their posture.

“The important thing now is to make sure how we change humans. This isn’t a time to joke around.”

“End of jokes now! So, speak up. Anyone have an opinion?”

Heliciad wiped off the traces of milk on her clothes and erased them with magic, then spoke to people.

“How about travelling?”

Said Julius as he got up from the sofa.

“He looks like a nobleman, but doesn’t seem to have been away from the estate. And if he looks outside, wouldn’t his perspective on life change a little?”

“Shocking.”

“What?”

“The opinion is rather normal, unlike you.”

“…”

“Wah- beyond disappointment, I am just genuinely surprised.”

Heliciad widened her eyes in admiration. Since his face was covered with the hood the expression couldn’t be seen, but the temperature around Julius had dropped.

“You keep saying that I’m abnormal, but I think I am a lot more normal when compared to you.”

“Ehh, don’t be mad. That is your charm right?”

“…”

Julius turned away.

“yah! You can’t just lay down like that! if you spoke about the trip, then you should have some kind of destination in your mind, right?”

“…”

“Small man.”

Heliciad sprinted to Julius who was lying on his back, and poked him with her fingers. Mahoren, who was looking at Heliciad, shook his head and spoke.

“I don’t think it is a bad idea to go for an high-end facility and give him some peace of mind. Of course, the resort needs to be close by. Humans need to play, eat and rest well in order to live.”

“When did you get this inspiration about buildings? At what age?”

“What is this perverted woman even talking about? And how huge do you think the age difference between us is?”

“Look at your actions.”

“I can’t do anything about the way I look. But you, you won’t even be able to pay for a night, tch.”

Mahoren didn’t speak politely anymore as the stress kept building up onto him because of Heliciad. As he felt the others’ gazes on him, he let out an awkward cough.

“Hm, hm. Anyway!”

Clearing his throat, Mahoren smiled softly and said.

“Money is everything.”

“…”

Silence fell in the room, and Shang-Lodihara, who had been in her own thoughts till then, opened her lips.

“Let’s put that bullshit aside for now, I am going to do some background check on Al.”

“Background check?!”