Chapter 9

“It might be unnecessary meddling, but just standing there and taking hits is stupid. If your legs are fine, at least try to run away.”

At my pointless interference, Jiegal Someone mumbled with a small mouth, speaking clumsily.

“I… legs… slow…”

Chirp~! Chirp chirp~!

From Jiegal Someone’s carefully cupped hands, a sparrow poked its head out. It was a sparrow with an injured wing.

It seemed that if they ran away, they might be caught and the sparrow taken, so they crouched to protect it. …What a foolish kid.

Getting beaten up so badly just to protect one sparrow. If I hadn’t intervened, their head would have been smashed by a rock, and they would have been seriously injured or even dead. Truly a foolish kid.

“…Then instead of just taking hits, at least shout for help.”

Looking down at the sparrow chirping happily, seemingly enjoying the gentle hands, Jiegal Someone quietly shook their head.

“I… no one… to help… Chirpy too… no one… so… I… will help…”

I was speechless at the pure blue eyes.

This kid is disliked by the family head. Helping them might bring some disadvantage later. That’s why no one helps.

Small and frail compared to peers. Tattered clothes here and there. Not the appearance of a child from a prestigious family.

Today was the first time I saw them being bullied, but I can roughly guess what kind of life they’ve lived.

If I were in the same situation, forget saving an injured sparrow, I would have set fire to the warehouse while everyone was sleeping.

“Hahahaha! It burns like the forest of Yiling!!” …and so on.

I was reflected in Jiegal Someone’s eyes. They looked at me as if I were something very strange. …Finding someone who helps strange. What a pitiful life.

“You protected it today, but what will you do if those guys come after the sparrow again? It seems like it can’t even fly because it’s injured.”

“……”

At the teasing question, Jiegal Someone tightly closed their mouth and carefully held the sparrow. For some reason, the Master’s words came to mind.

‘If you’ve learned, then next is to teach… right?’

I looked into those clear and beautiful blue eyes. They were pretty eyes. Pure eyes.

Right. Teaching martial arts is no big deal. I was bored anyway, and it would be a good way to kill time.

Once decided, I didn’t hesitate. Wasting time is foolish. I asked Jiegal Someone, who was fidgeting like a fool, in a calm voice.

“Want to learn martial arts?”

The girl called Jiegal Someone found the boy strange.

He wasn’t old, yet he walked with a cane, and unlike others, he didn’t ignore, hit, shout, or fear her. This was a first.

It was the first time someone had helped her. There were people who gave her food, but it felt like they were forced to do so. But the boy was different. It didn’t feel like he was helping out of obligation.

The girl was curious about the boy’s name. She didn’t know much, but she knew that everything in the world had a name except herself.

The shiny thing up there is the sun. What the boy held in his hand was a cane. And before the boy appeared, the only one who talked to her was ‘Chirpy,’ who chirped~ chirped~, so it’s Chirpy.

So, she didn’t know what ‘martial arts’ the boy was talking about, but she wanted to know more about him, so she nodded.

…Come to think of it, it was also the first time someone offered to teach her something.

***

Since she didn’t look like a proper person, I ordered the maids to wash Jiegal Someone and dress her in decent clothes.

The maids looked shocked and refused at first, but when I slipped them some money, they reluctantly did as told. Money really is the best.

Waiting in the room, a freshly washed Jiegal Someone entered. I thought she was cute even when dirty, but after washing, she was undeniably adorable.

White skin, hair as black as the dark night sea. …It didn’t seem like she took care of it, but how is her hair so smooth? Amazing.

Jiegal Someone fidgeted with her new soft clothes and looked around the room. She was like a wild animal given to humans.

Hmm~ But I’ve been thinking, calling her Jiegal Someone is bothersome. I need to think of a suitable name.

A strange child born from the sea with a complex birth secret that may never be known.

“Guhae.”

When our eyes met as she looked around the room, the name slipped out. It was a name that came to mind without much thought, but it suited her.

“Passing Gu (過). Sea Hae (海). Guhae (過海). Jiegal Guhae (諸葛過海).”

She seemed to intuitively understand that it was her name. Jiegal Guhae’s gaze was felt.

“…My… name?”

“It’s inconvenient to call you Someone. It’s a pretty good name, don’t you think?”

“How… to… write…?”

She doesn’t know how to write? What were they doing, not teaching her to read and write? Well, I’ll have to teach her writing along with martial arts.

Writing is crucial for living as a human. It’s much more important than martial arts. Martial arts are good to learn, but writing is essential. So, I took out paper and slowly wrote her name, explaining its meaning.

“Passing Gu (過), to pass. Sea Hae (海), something as blue as your eyes. Guhae (過海), to cross the sea.”

Guhae’s eyes, which I thought were pretty but dull and weak, sparkled.

“…Guhae (過海).”

She held the paper with her name written on it in her small hands, not taking her eyes off it. I’m glad she likes it.

It’s just a fake name until the Jiegal Family’s succession issues are resolved and she gets her real name, but seeing her so happy makes me proud.

Guhae muttered her name written on the paper for a while. Then, as if she thought of something, she looked around and handed me a blank paper.

“Name… tell me… write…”

Come to think of it… I hadn’t told her my name. I forgot. I slowly wrote my name on the paper Guhae handed me and explained its meaning.

“Deceive Man (瞞), to deceive, to hide. Heaven Cheon (天), what you see when you look up outside. Mantian (瞞天), to hide the sky.”

Guhae held the paper with my name written on it as if it were a treasure, her eyes sparkling as she stared at the characters to memorize them.

“Man… Cheon… Man… Cheon… Mantian…”

After repeating the name a few times, she picked up a brush and started writing her name and mine on a blank paper. Honestly, having just learned to write, it was like drawing worms with ink, a waste of paper.

But it doesn’t matter. When teaching a child something, the important thing is to make it fun at the start. If Guhae is enjoying learning to write now, a few sheets of paper are worth it.

And besides, it’s not even my paper. It’s paper the Jiegal Family gave for studying.

Watching Guhae, excited by her first words and brush strokes, recklessly ruining the paper with ink, I felt proud.

Well done, Jiegal Guhae. Don’t worry about the cost of paper. Bankrupt the Jiegal Family, who neglected their duty of basic education.

After dozens of sheets were sacrificed, Guhae seemed satisfied with her work and handed me a paper. On it, our names were written in crooked handwriting.

“Mantian… Guhae…!”

Her face was usually expressionless, but the faint blush on her cheeks showed she was quite happy.

Mantian Guhae (瞞天過海). To hide the sky and cross the sea.

Somehow, it made me laugh. Naming her made such a grand statement come out.

As I quietly laughed, Guhae looked at me with expectant eyes. It was the face children make when showing their creations to their parents.

Hmm~ Honestly. The handwriting was worm-like, and it wasn’t symmetrical. Ink splattered everywhere, and the paper was crumpled, almost tearing.

…But for a first attempt, it was pretty good.

I took a yakgwa from my snack pouch and put it in Guhae’s small mouth. Then I gently patted her head.

“You have talent. With a bit more practice, you might become a famous calligrapher? Or not.”

Guhae didn’t respond to my praise, just lowered her head and nibbled on the yakgwa like a squirrel.

Is she shy? I thought she was expressionless like a stone, but she has her cute moments.

From any angle, seeing someone happy and shy from praise while enjoying a sweet snack was just an ordinary child.

Maybe Guhae’s father was a foreigner? In martial arts terms, a ‘colored-eye person.’

My reasoning goes like this. First, Sowol, who went missing at sea, floated around and was found and rescued by a foreign merchant ship. Sowol, seeing the strange and unfamiliar foreigners and their goods for the first time, thought she had arrived at the Dragon Palace.

Old records say that foreigners were mistaken for goblins because of their unfamiliar appearance. It’s similar to that.

And according to my speculation, Guhae’s father was at least the ship’s captain or someone of very high rank.

Anyway, cutting through the details, Sowol and the captain fell in love. But the captain had a fiancée arranged by his family, and Sowol couldn’t leave her family to go to a foreign country, so the captain gave Sowol the gold and treasures he earned from trade and sent her back to land.

“Keu… keuheuheuheu…”

I laughed at how ridiculous my own thoughts were. I read a lot of comics in my past life. Even as a comic story, it lacks plausibility.

Well, these kinds of stories aren’t about right or wrong answers but the fun of imagining the backstory.

As I laughed to myself, lost in imagination, Guhae tilted her head, looking at me strangely. Such a cute sight… What is that?

I doubted my eyes and approached Guhae, pulling her cheek. Her soft, moist cheek stretched under my fingers, revealing her white, pretty teeth. Neat and regular, beautiful teeth.

But… but… they’re pointy. Like shark teeth, pointy.

As I stared at her teeth in surprise, Guhae’s eyes darkened, and she quickly covered her mouth. It seemed to be a complex.

I’m sorry for unintentionally hurting her, but the existence of such pointy teeth is even more surprising.

Is it genetic? If it were just canines or some teeth, maybe. But can humans have such pointy teeth?

I watched Guhae, who was dejectedly nibbling on the yakgwa, carefully.

…Could her father really be a dragon?