13 – Winning Without Lifting a Finger

“We have guests coming today.”

“Guests? Should we prepare some tea and cookies then?”

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to prepare.”

Mia recalled the cookies that Lian had baked, savoring the taste. The cookies with small chunks of chocolate were so delicious that her usual expression distorted in ecstasy.

“By the way, what’s that black thing?”

She wondered but quickly brushed it off. Mia lacked talent in cooking, considering she had a peculiar talent in alchemy.

And so, a day that seemed no different from usual began.

***

Ding!

With a cheerful notification sound, the oven stopped.

“Where-“

Upon opening the oven, a wave of heat rushed out. I took out the pan with the cookies on it, perfectly baked.

“Heh, they turned out well.”

On the kitchen table, piles of cookies were stacked. Thanks to her thoughts for the children, Mia had baked a lot.

“Ah…”

“Wow…”

As the sweet aroma of cookies spread, the children peeked their heads into the kitchen, their eyes fixed on the cookies.

“We’ll give them to you after dinner, so everyone stay calm, alright?”

“Yeah!”

“Yes!”

Since yesterday, the children who had started receiving education from Noah could now manage simple conversations.

“Well then, should we prepare some other things before the guest arrives?”

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There was a need to tidy up the space for welcoming guests and find the tea to offer. I held the handle of the kitchen drawer and mumbled.

“I’m sure the tea was here -.”

Muttering like that, as I opened the door, a glass bottle with tea leaves was placed inside.

“Today is a lucky day.”

The world of comedy has its own set of rules. If various items are piled up, they are treated as a lump and may appear brown or gray. Sometimes, when rummaging through a pile of things, an item you have never seen before might pop out.

If you give a hint that there’s something inside, an item that wasn’t there might appear. Of course, it doesn’t always happen. It was really a stroke of luck.

“I thought I had to do it around 245 times, but fortunately.”

As if insane, I opened and closed the drawer repeatedly. It was quite laborious, but as someone from the world of comedy, opening and closing the door quickly was as easy as the wind blowing.

“Now that the tea is ready, let’s go get the rest.”

Leaving the tea on one side, I exited the kitchen. The children who had gathered in front of the kitchen seemed to be led by Noah and Pia.

“It’s heartwarming.”

Seeing the children who were once starving to death in prison now experiencing ‘everyday life,’ a sense of pride welled up. Wiping the sweat from my forehead with my index finger, my waist felt sturdy.

“…Jess?”

“Yes.”

“What are you doing there?”

“Hanging out with Shumindan.”

Jess responded with a mumble, hanging on to my back.

“Why…?”

“Protecting Shumindan.”

That statement tugged at my heartstrings and made me emotional. Is this what it feels like to raise a daughter?

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s spend today together.”

“Yes.”

I started cleaning with Jess tied around my waist. Due to being a fairy, Jess was light, so it wasn’t too difficult.

“Phew, this should be fine, right?”

Wiping the sweat that dripped down, I quickly wiped my forehead with my sleeve, looking at the sparkling reception room.

Swish, swish.

I felt Jess, hanging on my waist, wagging his tail. Occasionally, the tip of his tail tapped my thigh.

“Now, let’s go prepare the meal.”

“Sure!”

Jess lifted his head, which had been buried in his back, and replied with a cheerful voice.

Thump!

His tail started wagging vigorously. It was a concern that he might hurt himself with such enthusiasm. To prevent Jess’s tail from dropping, I hurriedly headed towards the dining area.

***

On one side of the living room, there was a full-length mirror measuring over 2 meters. The mirror began to ripple like the surface of water disturbed by a thrown stone.

Zing…

With a strange sound, the mirror’s surface became even more turbulent, and a shiny shoe tip protruded from below.

Woong…

As if the mirror was stretching, a person emerged from inside.

“Well, it seems like you’ve arrived safely.”

The half of Dovan that popped out from the mirror shook a small wand he held in his hand, making the clown bones on his face rattle.

Then, Dovan’s figure became transparent. Smiling happily at his perfect dark magic, he quickly scanned the living room.

“Ah… As expected, this place lacks beauty, huh?”

As he made a show of appreciating the somewhat superficially arranged space, Dovan’s gaze sparkled down to the shining floor.

“What is this… Oh?”

Only belatedly did he realize that the sparkling not only covered the floor but also extended to the walls.

“What, how is this possible…!”

Amazed, he took a step forward.

Snap!

“Ouch…!”

Dovan tripped over his own feet and stumbled forward. The floor was so slippery, as if the friction had increased, causing him to fall as if his foot got caught on the edge.

Thud!

“Ugh…”

In a frog-like position on the floor, Dovan grabbed his chin and stood up.

“Damn, you had quite a convincing trap set up.”

Although Dovan wanted to immediately cast dark magic and explode everything around, he suppressed that urge.

*Sigh* “I need to save the toxic grass, so I have to endure.”

Dovan didn’t plan to sneak into Mia’s stronghold from the beginning. He intended to hand over Mia suitable ingredients and receive the toxic grass he desired.

“Damn it, what kind of experiment is this! She knows nothing about aesthetics!”

Mia refused Do-ban’s request because she wanted to experiment with poison flowers.

As Do-ban’s repeated experiments failed, he decided to sneak into Mia’s headquarters and steal the poison flowers.

“I just have to quietly steal the poison flowers and run away!”

He quickly left the drawing room, his eyes flashing.

Thud.

He opened the door and peered out. The first things that caught his eye were the dark purple floor and beige walls. The house, made of expensive mahogany, had a slightly blackish purple hue all around.

“Thank goodness I wasn’t caught.”

Relieved that he didn’t sense any presence of magic, he opened the door and stepped out.

“Hehe, if it weren’t for Lania refusing to choose me, I would’ve been discarded. That’s why there’s such a difference in our abilities.”

He chuckled and waved his staff.

“Now, show me where the poison flowers are.”

Then, a black aura visible only to Do-ban shot forward. Do-ban followed the light and began to move forward.

“Let’s go there.”

“Yes!”

After walking for a while, faint voices of young children could be heard. Do-ban furrowed his eyebrows and thought.

“Hmph, she said she wasn’t interested in human experiments, but here she is, secretly doing it like a little rat. Ridiculous.”

Do-ban chuckled with disdain.

“Heh, should I play a little prank now that it turned out this way?”

Do-ban loosely clenched his fist and exerted force in his hand. Suddenly, his sturdy arm began to twitch uncontrollably.

It was because the parasites infested inside his arm were responding to the magic and wriggling. Do-ban directed the parasites to his palm using magic.

Then, his palm tore open slightly, and a worm-like creature crawled out from inside. It was about the length of an adult man’s finger and covered in a dark red liquid, as if soaked in old blood.

“If I plant this creature here, I can witness quite an interesting scene.”

Carrying the squirming parasite, he approached the two children walking with stumbling steps. The parasite wriggled repulsively.

“Now, go -“

Just as Do-ban was about to throw the parasite at the child, Lian appeared from around the corner of the corridor. She had just finished putting the cleaning tools she used in the drawing room back in the tool cabinet and was heading towards the dining hall.

Jess, who was sticking to Lian’s back, had taken leave in the middle, telling Noah not to trouble Lian and went off by himself.

“…! Hm!”

“Whoa!”

The two children ran towards Lian with excitement on their faces. Due to that, the parasite that had been thrown off crashed heavily onto the floor. However, the problem didn’t end there.

The parasite desperately tried to return to its original body, as it knew that staying outside for too long would gradually weaken its strength and lead to its death. As a result, it fell onto the floor and landed on the despicable face of Do Ban, who was laughing maliciously.

“Hmm? What are you all doing here?”

“We’re having a feast!”

“Yeah!”

The two children made gestures as if they were eating, and Lian nodded in agreement.

“You were going to eat, right?”

“Yes!”

“Yeah!”

The children who had just started speaking nodded and smiled softly. They couldn’t smile brightly yet, as the terrifying experiences hadn’t completely faded away.

“Damn brats!”

Do Ban grabbed the parasite that was trying to dig into his eyeball and threw it onto the floor. Then, he turned his head quickly and looked at Lian.

“…!”

Do Ban’s expression became blank as he saw Lian. In just a few seconds, his gaze became filled with greed.

From Noble mtl dot com

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