Chapter 78: Chapter 78: Most Stupid Fight : Contest of Cruelty

There was an awkward silence as we walked through the dimly lit streets.

The girl beside me scanned her surroundings with terrified eyes, her head swiveling at every shadow and sound. Whenever shady figures lurking in doorways turned their gazes toward her, I felt a small tug at my leg as she pressed closer to me.

I hadn’t said a single word since we left the auction hall. The moment she accepted my hand, I simply walked, and she followed.

But the problem gnawing at my mind was simple yet overwhelming.

What the hell do I do next?

It was eleven at night, and exhaustion had seeped into my very bones. I had eaten some food in the morning, and now my stomach felt like it was consuming itself from the inside.

I had been traveling since dawn, and in the evening I had spent my energy fucking ten women.

Well, some of them had enjoyed it so thoroughly that I felt dominated by the end.

Images of those women flooded my mind unbidden. Sweat-slicked bodies. Desperate moans. And when I bid them farewell, their eyes had carried something that made guilt twist in my chest for reasons I couldn’t fully understand.

My thoughts shattered at the sound.

Grrrr.

It wasn’t from my empty stomach.

I looked down. The girl was still holding my hand, but her attention had drifted to a man closing up his fruit stall for the night. Her eyes tracked the apples and pears being packed away.

I coughed to gain her attention, since I still didn’t know her name.

She looked up at me with those impossible glowing eyes.

“Well then,” I said, trying to sound casual, “what would you like to eat?”

Her gaze immediately dropped to the cobblestones. “Anything. Anything is fine.”

My tone shifted to something more commanding before I could stop it. “That’s not what I asked. I asked what you want to eat. Not what you’ll settle for. What you actually want.”

She trembled slightly at my voice, and I cursed myself internally. I didn’t mean to frighten her, but this was genuinely my first time having a serious conversation with a child.

My previous interactions with children back on Earth had been… less than kind. I had always viewed them as pets at best and nuisances at worst. Little headache-inducing creatures that served no purpose in my life.

But as I watched her struggle to form words, something in my chest tightened.

She finally looked up, her voice barely above a whisper. “…s-soup.”

“Soup?”

She nodded timidly and added, “With bread.”

I stared at her in disbelief. I had offered her anything her heart desired, and she asked for the cheapest meal a peasant could afford.

But I sighed and let it go. I didn’t have the strength to argue with a child who would only grow more frightened and refuse to speak at all.

I led her to a nearby inn where we could secure a room for the night and fill our stomachs.

At the reception desk, I addressed the woman behind the counter. “How much for one room for the night?”

“Ten silver, sir.”

I placed a gold coin on the wooden surface. “Clean the room thoroughly. And in the meantime, bring some soup with bread, along with your finest dish.”

Her expression turned apologetic. “I’m terribly sorry, sir, but the kitchen is closed for the day.”

I didn’t argue. I simply placed ten gold coins beside the first.

Her eyes gleamed like stars discovering a new constellation. “Give us just a moment, sir. We’ll have your order prepared in no time at all.”

I turned and walked toward the dining area to find a seat. The girl still clung to my hand, her eyes fixed on my face with something between curiosity and wariness.

“See that?” I said without looking at her. “In this world, the only thing that truly matters is money. The one who possesses it becomes king. Money can buy anything. No, everything.”

I found a table and gestured for her to sit across from me.

“It buys silence. It buys service. It buys laws themselves. And it can even purchase people and their freedom.”

I met her confused gaze. “Just like in your case.”

I waved my hand dismissively. “Ah, forget it. You’re too young to understand any of this. Just sit.”

She climbed onto the chair opposite mine, her feet dangling far above the floor.

Fifteen minutes of silence passed between us before the food arrived.

The server placed a bowl of steaming soup before the girl first, then set the main dish in front of me. “This is our house special. Roasted chicken with buttery gravy, served with fresh bread.”

I glanced at the girl. Her gaze was laser-focused on the plate before me, not the soup that had been placed in front of her.

Those glowing eyes traced every piece of glistening chicken, every pool of golden gravy.

“Enjoy your meal,” the server said warmly. “If you need anything at all, just give us a call.”

I pushed the soup bowl toward the girl.

She sat there motionless, waiting for my command to begin eating.

A command that never came.

I tore off a piece of bread, dipped it in the rich gravy, and took a bite. Then I cut into the chicken breast and began chewing.

From the corner of my eye, I watched her. The moment I started eating, her attention snapped to her own bowl.

She began spooning soup into her mouth with a mixture of satisfaction and desperate hurry, as if afraid it might disappear.

I pushed my plate across the table toward her.

“I don’t like this,” I said flatly. “Why don’t we switch? If that’s acceptable to you.”

She processed my words for a moment, then pushed her soup bowl toward me in exchange. I pulled it close and began eating.

It wasn’t like I was making some grand sacrifice. In my current state of starvation, even a raw potato would have tasted like heaven.

From the corner of my vision, I watched her dig into the chicken. Her eyes widened with each bite, her cheeks flushing with warmth as flavors she had probably never experienced danced across her tongue.

Pure, innocent joy radiated from her small frame as she savored every morsel.

I slurped the soup and spoke without looking at her directly.

“If you wanted it, you should have just asked.”

I set down my spoon.

“Wanting something and dying with that desire still trapped in your chest is the most pointless thing a person can do.”

I caught the sudden flush of embarrassment coloring her face, though she remained focused on the food before her.

I was being stupid, I realized. Dispensing life wisdom to a child who could barely comprehend such concepts. I should have been asking about her instead.

After we finished eating, I led her upstairs to our room.

It wasn’t luxurious by any standard, but it was still better than my room back home. A master bed dominated the space, large enough to comfortably fit three adults, let alone the two of us.

The moment we entered, I locked the door behind us and summoned Amelia.

She materialized in a swirl of violet energy, anger clearly simmering behind a forced smile. Her eyes scanned the small girl for several seconds before turning to face me.

“This lowly creature is truly blessed to know that her summoner still remembers she exists.”

She began closing the distance between us, her words dripping with mockery and barely contained fury.

“Amelia, this isn’t the time for jokes,” I said quickly. “I need your help dealing with this absurd situation.”

Her tone grew even more teasing. “Oh, yes. Help. That’s when my time comes to shine, isn’t it? When you suddenly need assistance after completely forgetting I existed.”

“I didn’t forget you. I was just busy dealing with things where…” I trailed off and shook my head. “Forget it. I’ll explain everything later. But right now, can you please talk to that child? Ask her some questions? Find out about her?”

I pointed at the girl, who had wandered over to examine the fabric of an armchair with curious fingers.

Amelia turned back to me with an incredulous expression. “Do you think of me as some kind of babysitter? Because if so, you’re sorely mistaken. I am absolutely terrible with children.”

“Not worse than me,” I countered. “There were many children back in my world who were too scared to even look directly at my face.”

I crossed my arms proudly.

“There was this nine-year-old cousin of mine who kept disturbing my late-night porn sessions. So I made him sit beside my projection screen and showed him the most horrifying videos I could find. When I ran out of ideas, I showed him ghost hentai that even scared me.”

I smirked at the memory.

“From that day forward, that child never looked at my face again. Never threw tantrums in my presence either.”

Amelia’s eyebrow twitched.

“Then there was this small mute boy,” I continued. “He couldn’t talk at all, and I was already frustrated because the author had just dropped the peak of the series right when it was getting good. So I beat him up, knowing all he could do was cry.”

I stood there looking prideful, as if I had just won some grand argument.

Amelia refused to accept defeat. “And I have killed countless children. I was such a terror that mothers would invoke my name to frighten their little ones into behaving properly.”

I shot back without hesitation. “But you have experience being around children. I saw it myself when we were sharing memories. You were hanging around them all the time after I freed you.”

She raised a finger defensively. “No, that was different! It wasn’t reality, so it doesn’t count!”

Then her eyes narrowed cunningly.

“And what about you? Weren’t you nice to me when I was small? Didn’t you—”

I cut her off before she could gain any ground. “Didn’t you just say it wasn’t reality? Besides, I wasn’t foolish enough to ignore how obviously off things were in those visions.”

We stood there hissing at each other, locked in the most absurd argument imaginable. Two beings competing for the title of who had been cruelest to children throughout their existence.

Then we both heard it.

A soft, delicate sound breaking through our heated exchange.

Giggling.

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