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Join the ServerI had no regrets.
Even if it meant the hassle of exploring the opposite direction now that I’d already found one place, this couldn’t be the only village around.
As long as I didn’t repeat the same mistake.
I swallowed my pride, went into a restaurant, bought a bowl of meat stew, and also bought plenty of bandages to cover the tattoo.
Ah, I didn’t get ripped off at all—I watched what others were paying before I made my purchases.
As for the fruit, I’d leave it in the basement for now, and if it looked like it was going to spoil, I’d just eat it quickly.
The biggest problem was water…… I needed drinking water, of course, but I also wanted to wash my body.
Living like this, all grimy, was unbearable for a modern person who needed to shower at least twice a day to feel satisfied.
“……Damn it.”
First, I’d go back and see if there was anything I could use as a water container.
“Excuse me!”
Just then, I felt someone tug at my sleeve.
“What?”
I turned around and saw a boy dressed similarly to Rudan.
He was about chest-high to Rudan, with his hair and clothes all stained as if he’d been rolling around in a dust pit.
He looked about seven or eight years old—a small, shabby figure.
Only his bright, forsythia-yellow eyes stood out.
“Um, could you…… take me with you too?”
His gripping hand was trembling.
I pressed my lips together.
The situation was obvious.
Even for a child from a desperately poor family, if they had a caretaker, they wouldn’t end up looking that rough.
Even in a world with wizards, human sentiments probably weren’t that different from reality.
In the real world, I would have taken the child to a police station or shelter and arranged for institutional help.
But in my current situation—with my own nose barely above water—who was going to take care of whom?
“That’s difficult.”
“Ah……”
“I don’t have the capacity to take care of you right now, and I can’t provide you with a comfortable place to stay.
It would be better for you to find a kinder, more well-off adult.”
That’s all.
I muttered quietly and pried his hand off my sleeve.
The child’s hand was small and soft, as if it would crush if squeezed too hard—so small it was almost hard to believe there were bones inside.
Not wanting to feel unnecessary pity, I walked away without looking back, but I heard hurried footsteps from behind.
I didn’t want to be harsh with him.
As that thought crossed my mind, my stride naturally lengthened.
“W-Wait……!”
The boy, letting out a flustered voice, started running.
“Just a moment!”
Why is he so persistent?
“Master Wizard, please just listen to my—Uwah!”
Thump, crash!
A loud noise rang out.
The boy, having tumbled to the ground, was groaning in pain.
At this point, pretending not to notice was reaching its limit.
“Did I not make myself clear?
What’s the reason for being this persistent?”
I suppressed my voice to keep it from sounding like a shout, but what came out was a cold, dry tone.
It wasn’t intentional, but the boy, apparently frightened, looked up at me with a pale face.
“……There aren’t any other adults like that.
I’m a wizard too.”
In a resigned tone, I suddenly noticed the boy’s feet.
His bare, dirt-caked feet were covered in scratches.
What was I supposed to do about this……
My conscience was noisy, wanting to be a good person despite my cold demeanor.
After letting out a deep sigh, I asked.
“Can you sleep on a stone floor?”
“Yes!”
“If I give you errands, will you do them?”
“Of course!”
“Most of the time, you’ll only have bread and jerky to eat.
Is that okay?”
“That’s a hundred times better than starving!”
Right.
There was plenty of space and bread anyway.
If I left him alone, he’d manage.
“……Follow me.”
“Yes!”
The boy beamed brightly.
It was funny, considering how filthy he was.
“Um, Master Wizard, may I ask your name?”
“Rudan.
And you?”
“……El.
It’s El.”
At the shy voice, I gave a casual nod.
Having understood that I didn’t want to prolong the conversation, the boy didn’t say anything unnecessary on the way back.
The water problem was solved with absurd ease.
“Wow……!”
While El looked around with wonder, I shoved a piece of bread into his mouth.
“Eat that and search from the first floor up.
Tell me if you find anything that could be used as a water container.
I’ll start from the seventh floor and work my way down.”
The boy, who had suddenly taken a bite of the bread and was chewing, opened his eyes wide and asked back.
“A water container?
What are you going to use it for?”
“What else would you use a water container for but to fetch water?”
“……Ah.”
El, with a slightly dazed expression and his mouth hanging open, rolled his eyes, then tilted his head.
“There are two wizards here—do we really need to move our bodies?”
What was he talking about?
At the incomprehensible words, I merely cast a silent gaze.
The boy grinned and whispered.
“Please bend down, Rudan.”
A faint sense of unease crept up, but I bent down as the boy instructed.
Then El brought his small hand to my neck—right where the tattoo was engraved.
“Rastin Vira.”
A low voice resonated, and at the same time, white light flooded my vision.
Through the light, I saw a portion of the stone floor rise up in a circle.
The stone was changing shape like clay.
“Hmm…….”
Soon, a stone jar was completed.
The vessel, which came up to about waist height, was half-filled with clean water that sloshed gently.
El looked at it with a somewhat deflated expression.
“As expected, it doesn’t come out pretty.
Material magic isn’t my specialty……”
What was he saying?
He’d just created the thing I needed most in such a useful way—who cared about aesthetics?
I ruffled the boy’s hair vigorously.
“This is more than enough.
Good work.”
“Hehe……”
“But if you can do something like this, couldn’t you have managed on your own?”
El looked up at me with a puzzled expression.
“I can’t do it alone.
I’m an Emission-type wizard.”
Ah, right.
That was the setting.
As I nodded, the stares I’d received in the village today came back to me—eyes mixed with contempt and fear.
Mulling it over, it was strange.
Sure, wizards who lived long and aged little would inevitably cause friction living among ordinary humans, but they couldn’t do anything alone anyway.
Why were they so feared and shunned?
“…….”
Because they were different.
For that sole reason?
“Rudan?”
Whether my mood had shown on the outside, the boy called out to me with a worried look.
I consciously loosened my stiffening lips.
“I want to wash up.
Can you make a bathtub too?”
“Not just a bathtub—I can make you a towel as well!”
The boy replied brightly, finally relieved.
As if he’d only now earned the right to be here through useful actions.
‘If you use cleaning magic, you can be spotless in one second, so why go through the trouble of bathing?’
El asked belatedly, only after he’d already made a bathtub, towels, and even a change of clothes.
When I answered that washing with warm water made me feel properly clean, he looked utterly confused.
‘Rudan is…… not very wizard-like.’
I ignored that comment and asked if he wanted to wash together, but El jumped back, his face turning red.
Apparently he was embarrassed to show his naked body to others.
“The little thing.”
Truth be told, I didn’t particularly like children.
Not that I hated them—it was more that I felt uncomfortable because I didn’t know how to act around them.
Surely, taking care of someone wasn’t something that suited me.
Yet I’d blurted out nonsense about washing him anyway, simply because he was so filthy that I felt a sense of accomplishment just imagining him clean.
It was less like taking care of a child and more like rescuing a stray animal.
Well, I wasn’t going to force him to do something he didn’t want to.
“He seems older than he looks, judging by his conversation.”
His sense of shame and the way he spoke made it clear that El was quite a precocious child.
So much so that I wondered if a child’s vocabulary could really reflect that level of intelligence.
Wizards had a disconnect between age and appearance—some were thousands of years old yet looked like young men.
For all I knew, that kid could be a few hundred years old too.
If that were the case, I’d want to kick him out…… but I didn’t want to give up the suddenly improved quality of life.
I’d figure it out if I watched him a little longer.
Besides, I was planning to look for a way back starting tomorrow—why would I need to get deeply involved with a kid I met on the road?
We were simply keeping each other around because it was mutually beneficial.
When I came down to the third floor in clean new clothes, El came running as if he’d been waiting—holding two skewers with three strawberries each.
“Rudan!”
I caught the child who jumped into my arms with one hand, and he handed me a skewer with an excited voice.
“Look at this!
It’s frozen!”
……Wait, maybe he really is just a kid?
“That’s nice.
You eat it.”
“Yes!”
The boy replied brightly, now completely clean as if he’d never been filthy before.
His hair, which had been a patchy gray, was now a pure white.
Even his eyelashes were white.
Once the dust was washed away, his face was as delicate as a boy from a masterpiece painting—so charmingly picturesque that passing adults would stop and coo at him.
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
“When you’re done eating, go to another floor.
This is where I’ll be sleeping.”
“Okaaay……”
Of course, his appearance didn’t stir any emotion in me.
You’ve got to see this next! The Lich’s Journey in Another World After Reincarnation will keep you on the edge of your seat. Start reading today!
Read : The Lich’s Journey in Another World After Reincarnation
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