The Devil Who Grants Wishes

[Dad, this is the soup I made! Try it once!]

[Dad, how about this dress? I bought it with my croquettes when my dad left, isn’t it pretty?]

[Dad, I think Nero is in a lot of pain these days because he is old. I want to find Nero medicine with my dad, can’t we?]

Aww…

Ever since the day she returned from granting the hero’s wish, Lucia became somewhat strange. When I get home, the audio doesn’t go blank for a second.

Originally, Lucia always followed me and said things, but this time it was even worse and the direction had completely changed.

“Dad, Croquette says I don’t have to worry about mana poisoning anymore! I say that when I use magic, my mana consumption is so great!”

Previously, he was trying to get my attention by relying solely on me, but this time he is trying to get my attention in the form of leading the conversation.

It was strange that Lucia, who was still dependent on me even though she had reached the age of puberty…

“Aigokeros?”

“Yes! Shall I show you one? Like this…”

Aww!

Lucia stretched out her hand, and then a beam of considerable size came pouring out of it, and the place where the beam passed was a canyon that looked like a giant earthworm had passed.

The trees in the beam’s path had, of course, completely evaporated without a trace.

“Right!?”

“…”

wow…

What’s this.

I thought I was using magic inefficiently because it consumes a lot of mana… but was it just ignorant mana draining?

It’s weak by my standards, but for Lucia, who is just about to go through puberty, it’s an absurdly strong magic.

“So… you don’t have to leave the house anymore. You don’t have to be addicted to mana anymore.”

It is said that self-development without any goal has little effect, but if you set a goal for self-development, the effect increases dramatically.

The reason that Lucia was able to use such strong magic was probably because, as I just said, I desperately practiced because I didn’t want to leave the house anymore.

…Lucia.

“…mana poisoning isn’t the only problem.”

“yes…?”

“As I am a demon, I have no choice but to release the magic. Unlike Aegoceros, my power is so strong that it is impossible to suppress it, but that magic is fatal to the human Lucia.”

I also want to grant Lucia’s wish, but unlike Mana, Magi cannot be released from the body just by using normal magic.

There are two ways to consume magic, either using the devil’s magic or expecting natural release, but of course the former is a method that Lucia cannot use. If you use the devil’s magic with a human body, you can’t stand it.

In other words, if I stay by Lucia’s side, Lucia’s body will be pickled with magic without time to spontaneously release, and eventually she will become like the countless demon eroders that I saw through the monitor while playing Noah.

That’s not okay.

“…is that so.”

Upon hearing my answer, Lucia shook her head. It’s completely different from when I was in high tension, looking up at me and talking to me until just now.

…you seem very disappointed.

Well, I must have been practicing magic with the single thought of not making me leave the house until now, but it’s only natural that the training was quickly wiped out—

“…Okay, next is Maggie!”

“…?”

“I’ve come all the way here to get rid of my mana addiction, but I can’t get hold of my ankle, can I?”

However, Lucia regains her original vitality in an instant, as if she had always been.

…it’s strong.

I don’t think I was a very good father, but I’m so glad I was raised like this.

**********

“Forest…”

The elf, who received a request from the guild, looked around and was terrified.

Even though it is not autumn or winter, the vegetation in the forest is all dropping leaves. There are still sparse leaves left, but this is only a matter of time.

Not even a single rotten leaf among the leaves that fell on the floor. It feels as if it has been pickled and stuffed in medicine.

“Isn’t it serious? It is very difficult because the herbs that grow in this forest also lose their leaves and die.”

“Ummm… Since when?”

“It’s been about three months since the leaves started falling like that.”

It’s been 3 months… tt, there are too few clues.

First of all, I think we have to find the reason for this somehow… Let’s see.

“…town.”

When you pick up a leaf that has fallen on the ground and smell it, a stench stinks in your nose.

Even this stench is not just a bad stench.

At the same time as your nose tingles, your vision becomes out of focus and your mind goes blank. It feels as if you have just woken up.

“Why?”

“Why is that… Isn’t this smell okay?”

“Yes?”

…Humans don’t seem to be able to sense this stinky smell.

If you can’t smell it even though you put it directly to your nose, this stench is not an ordinary stench.

Write… things are messed up.

I got this because it was just a request to investigate a forest that has changed strangely, but this is too much to say. It looks like something terrible is about to happen.

“Let’s go inside. The request fee will come and go, so prepare well in the center of the town.”

“Oh, yes! Lena-sama, please take care of me!”

However, I have no veto right now.

If you cancel the quest here and go back, you will not be able to receive the quest from the guild for a while due to the penalty, and if that happens, the mercenaries of Leon Kingdom will no longer be able to withstand the situation when they quit.

If you don’t receive this commission, your house will be taken as collateral, but that’s absolutely not possible.

Well, that’ll be fine! You’ve seen a lot more than this. It must be just a simple anomaly.

Jerrit-

‘Hmm… But what the hell?’

But even now, the smell that still stings my nose makes me feel as if I have sniffed it somewhere.

Ummm… is that enough?

How many stenchs have you smelled so far, there may be one or two that smell similar?

………….

“…and again.”

Also, the wild animals are dead. After birds, deer and rabbits, this time it’s a wild boar.

The deeper you go into the forest, the higher the frequency of corpses appearing.

Moreover, what is unusual is that the corpses of these beasts do not have any trauma.

Everyone is just chilling with their eyes wide open.

There are even no insects such as maggots entangled in carcasses. They probably all lost their lives and died just like these beasts.

The bizarre phenomenon does not end with the extinction of animals.

Parrut-

“Ugh…!”

Occasionally, I feel someone’s gaze and I get goosebumps all over my body.

Each time, he raised his bow and aimed at the place where he felt his gaze, but there were only branches and leaves swaying in the wind.

This forest change is not just an anomaly. There’s something I can’t handle.

‘…Do you want to jump right now?’

House? It’s important, of course, but it’s less important than my life.

What good is a home after you die? Are you going to use the whole house as a coffin?

Write… Yeah, it’s better to go home after this.

It’s debt.

“…a starburst?”

I turned around to go back the way I came, but suddenly there is a flowerpot planted with starflowers in the place I passed.

Starflower is a very common flower because it does not require much light and emits a fragrant smell, so it is popular as an ornamental and aromatic flower to be brought into the house.

But… no matter how common a flower is, it is so unnatural in this situation.

It was planted in a flowerpot, and it suddenly appeared in a place where there was nothing until I passed by, isn’t it?

First of all, in case you don’t know, aim-

blah blah

“Kurreul…”

“what…”

At that moment, Byeolbaragi suddenly makes a sound of boiling sputum and transforms into an impossible form.

The large flower, which is the unique identity of Byeolbagi, has turned ugly like the mouth of a death worm, and the stems and leaves are also transforming as tentacles, teeth, and eyeballs grow to match the ugly flower.

‘It’s the first time I’ve seen something like this… Knock, we need to attack first!’

Just looking at the appearance, it is clearly not a normal situation.

If I stand still like this, I can see the future where terrible things happen to me, as if I have some kind of predictive power.

You need to understand the situation, sleep, and attack first.

“Aaah!!”

‘Okay, that’s right!’

Since it was changing bizarrely from moment to moment, I was mindful of the possibility that the arrow would not hit, but luckily, the arrow hit well.

Blood gushed out from the stems and leaves pierced by the arrow, and then burst out like a hole in a dam. The dry ground is drenched in the blood spurted out of the flowers.

what? Do you think he’s surprisingly weak compared to his ugly appearance?

Baby, you’re making me scared for nothing… uh…?

gurgling- gurgling-

‘Uh… um…’

what else is that

A lumpy, meat-like tumor grows on the cut surface, and eventually fills the area cut off by the arrow.

It is not a complete recovery.

Tumors grew on each cut surface and connected to each other, and it was just a rough patch of the missing area.

But… rather, it makes it look even more bizarre and terrifying. Even I, who has seen all kinds of things that I couldn’t see, was startled for a moment.

Uh, come on, let’s shoot more so he doesn’t recover-

“Keeaah!”

“-!”

Then, the flower screams and runs towards me in a straight line.

The flower, which had just been far away, reached me in an instant, and at the same time, my entire field of vision was filled with something bright red.

uh…? what is this

“Kup!?”

“Ahhh!?”

At that moment, the rushing flower screams in embarrassment and then stops right in front of me.

A large amount of saliva came out of the flower’s mouth, probably because of a reaction to the sudden stop, and after baptizing the whole body with the saliva to awaken the mind, the momentary paralysis begins to return.

All he could see was a bright red throat and countless teeth there.

what…?

Am I… nearing death?

uh… huh?

soo much

strength in the legs

If I stay still like this, I’m sure this flower will kill me, and even though I have to run away, my legs won’t move.

Ah… uh…

“Keehee…”

Lena, covered in flower saliva and her own body fluids, just sits down and trembles, and the flower just looks at the elf smelling her master and doesn’t know what to do.