06 - You are my Ramiel (2)

"Heh." Eros sniffed and stood up straight even though he was surrounded by 3 adults with masks over their faces and weapons in their hands: "See if this boy will be stubborn when he's sold. One of the adults laughed at his mockery.

"Pftt, boss, shouldn't the boss give us a bonus? This boy looks like he'll fetch a pretty penny when he's auctioned off at the Marché Noir."

The person called Boss smiled mischievously, a cigar in his hand. Unlike the other two, he wore expensive-looking clothes, and even the ring on his hand proved that it was a very expensive diamond.

"That's right, I'll give you a bonus if you can get this kid to go to the cage." 

"Okay, boss! Don't forget to give us a beautiful girl or boy like this one, it's a pity if we can't taste it." His friend nodded, laughing, and soon they pulled out their weapons.

Ching-!

Eros just stood there. Even his expression was bored. "Hurry up, boy!" the person holding the knife, annoyed by his flat face, immediately pointed the knife at Eros' face, "You don't want this sharp object to damage your fortune, do you?" 

Before the knife could touch Eros, the man holding the knife realized that something was growing inside his body, in an instant the knife was wrapped around by the roots growing out of the man's hand, the man screamed in fear and continued to use the knife to cut the roots.

The more the roots were cut, the more the man screamed.

The person carrying the sword wanted to help cut the roots, but every time the roots were cut, the man immediately screamed in pain. Just looking at the man like a madman trying to remove the root in his hand had already scared the boss.

"Please, boss, help me! I beg you, ARGHH-!"

The sound of the man's screams slowly faded as he tried to pull himself up with his hands, trying to get closer to the person he considered a friend. The roots were soon wrapped around the man alive in the thick roots, just the sight of someone trying to pull out the roots growing in his hands and screaming in pain was enough to give the two people goosebumps. 

Trembling, the man pointed his sword at Eros, "What are you doing?"

The boss, seeing his subordinate confronting Eros, immediately took out a magic scroll and wanted to run away from his subordinate. After all, why should he die when someone else is making the sacrifice? 

"Why, why can't the magic scroll work as usual! Damned!" The sudden fluctuation of mana frightened the boss, and he realized that the roots wrapped around his legs were causing him to fall.

"Want to kill him? You are brave enough to say that in front of me." 

Eros walked over to the corpse of the man whose body was completely wrapped in roots, slowly let red roses bloom. Not caring about the thorns growing on the stem of the rose, Eros plucked it.

"You're scared like fools just looking at this? Have these creatures forgotten the rules of the world?" 

With that, Eros squeezed the rose and crushed it into pieces of red dust that came out of his hand. As if on command, the roots immediately followed the other two.

"Foolish."

Just hearing a child speak so arrogantly should have annoyed him, but now he was terrified. Every time he continued to cut the roots, there were more and more. 

The fear that these roots would grow inside his body made him decide to run away from this place as soon as possible. Realizing that the roots were chasing him very aggressively, the man increased his speed, but without feeling anything, he fell down and saw his legs beginning to grow with roots.

Before Eros could finish them off, his right hand felt an electric shock. Eros just frowned, ignored the two people screaming, and then held his right hand. 

A pink transparent screen with a chat screen appeared in front of Eros. The words 'typing' appeared on the person behind it.

(Can't you stop doing that? I feel like my heart will stop every time I see it!)

"She typed that long for just one line?" Eros replied to the message from 'that person' by pressing the talk button.

"What did you want to say?" The two people trying to cut the roots wrapped around their bodies realized that the boy, who seemed to have different personalities, was suddenly talking to something they couldn't see. 

Before they could scream for help to the invisible person talking to the child, they felt an electric shock that was extremely painful, and they fainted instantly. 

(If Eri finds out you did this, you're finished!) 

"Oh, when the world's not moving?" Eros rolled his eyes lazily, "Ramiel, stop with this 'hope' you're spreading, you and I are different."

Behind the scenes, the girl in the black hoddie paused before finally returning to typing a message to Eros, (I know that, but you just got here! Don't make some of my brothers and sisters suspicious.)

(This is my territory, I can't let them destroy my place!) She typed message after message. 

The girl played with her fingers, waiting for a reply.

(Isn't it good to make your brothers more suspicious and vigilant, by starting in your territory, they will immediately recognize the threat, right?)

"Tch, that person is really cruel!" The girl quickly typed the next sentence, (I have canceled that power of yours, if it takes longer they will realize and Eri is on his way to find you.)

Immediately the transparent screen showed the sentence 'offline' to the person with the name 'Ramiel'. Ramiel who turned off her computer like a nervous person, she bit her nails nervously and whispered to herself, "I've had enough of this, please give me news quickly, 001!!!".

Eros looked up at the sky and could only sigh at the dusky pink clouds that had completely surrounded this forest.

The roots that wrapped around the two men disappeared, Eros quickly soiled his white shirt and picked up the sword that had fallen next to the man who looked like he was about to die. Immediately, Eros used the sword to scratch his face and hands, inflicting the worst wounds on his palms.

His diamond-like eyes shone and lightning struck the two men. Eros quickly walked away from the two burned men and smiled mockingly, "Really, Ramiel is showing you the right path."

Eros continued walking through the large trees, soon he heard a call calling him. 

"Eros, where are you?"

"If you hear this, scream!"

"I'm coming to you right now!"

Hearing the sound of shouting, Eros immediately followed the sound of the shouting voice, Eriu immediately stopped after seeing Eros standing in front of him, with dirty clothes with various scratches on his hands and face, Eriu immediately ran towards him while carefully looking at Eros' wounds with concern, "Huff, huff, Eros, cough, I finally found you.

Eros just stared at those blood red eyes, eyes that were always full of laughter and life. Now, this person in front of him looked very worried, not just once, but he had seen this look many times before and it was always the same.

In the past, 'that person' said he hated him by looking at him with a disgusting look, and 'that person' also said he liked him by looking at him with a look full of love.

Now what is 'your' look at me like?

Love or hate?

"Eriu." Eros immediately hugged Eriu and whispered, "You know, Eri, I really hate people who do things without their brains."

The blood on his palm soaked Eriu's clothes, "So please don't do anything stupid." Eros rested his head on Eriu's shoulder, "Because I will always be with you."

Eriu immediately shivered and tried to push Eros away, but since Eros was hurt, he could only laugh, making everything sound like a joke, "Haha, are you that scared, just calm down, I'm here."

With Eros hugging him, he smelled the fishy smell of blood even more and the sentence that sounded like a threat already made him shiver with fear.

Eros let go of the hug immediately and tears ran down his cheeks, "I, I'm just afraid that you'll do something stupid again and end up like that time!" Before Eriu could answer, the woman's voice calling out to them made Eriu look back.

"Eri, Eros!" Ariadne, who was being carried, immediately saw Eriu and Eros. Her face was filled with panic when she saw the long scratches on Eros' hand, with a lot of blood on the palm. Louise set Ariadne down right in front of them.

Ariadne, in a panic, immediately asked Eros several questions as she covered his wound with the cloth from her shirt after ripping off her sleeve. As she bandaged Eros' wound, Louise asked, "Are they still after you?"

"I don't think so... after I escaped from them, I could hear the sound of thunder behind me..." Eros looked down and his hands were shaking. Eriu, realizing this, wanted to help him calm down, but Ariadne immediately hugged Eriu and stroked his head, "It's okay, we're all with you. Nothing bad will happen."

"Um..." Eros nodded and Louise immediately offered to pick him up. Eriu was surprised and saw the blindfold around Louise's eyes, "Dad, there's no way..."

"You've seen your mother, no?" Hearing Louise answer like it was nothing made Eriu incredulous, Eriu immediately tried to remember the days when he was carried by his father, Louise Grith.

"..." Eriu could only remain silent as he watched Louise pick up Eros. They all left the forest immediately and found many people gathered at the entrance of the forest. 

The people who gathered at this time were residents who feared that the lightning and clouds that covered the sky of Te Amo village were a punishment from the gods they believed in.

"It is likely that these clouds will disappear tomorrow. So go back to your homes and take care of your safety first. Reliun Myes, with his duties as village chief, immediately calmed the panicked villagers.

Several other people immediately noticed their presence, as just coming out of the forest made these four people conspicuous. They immediately realized that Eros, the villagers' favorite son, was injured. Perhaps it was because during Eros' stay in the village, many good things happened, such as the crops that never failed after Eros' arrival and the birds that only flew around to help the farmers by driving away the annoying pests.

In just 5 months, Eros had captured the hearts of everyone in the village. Of course, if the child who appeared and gave good things was suddenly injured, they would be very angry, because they all believed that Eros was the god's favorite son.

Eros himself often went there to help the farmers, so they all knew Eros, and of course they knew his friend, who was never seen. The last time they saw him was when he was injured.

Louise immediately took Eros down and hid him in the back with Eriu.

"Oh my, Eros, what happened to you?" One of the peasant families that Eros often helped was also there, looking at the scratches on his hands and face. Just to see the child who had always helped her looking disheveled and his eyes reddened with tears made her heart sad.

Reliun immediately went over to Louise and Ariadne with a panicked face. Eriu, who was standing behind Louise and in the middle of Eros and Ariadne, was invisible to everyone's eyes and had no intention of interrupting the conversation between the adults.

"What happened?" Reliun asked.

"Tch, those bastards want to kidnap Eros again and now it looks like they're even bolder for doing it openly!"

Remembering that Eros had almost been kidnapped by a merchant they knew and that day when Eros and another child had disappeared, everyone was worried. Even more annoying was the merchant's excuse that Eros himself had no family and it would be better if he stayed with the Marquis, who was an influential person in the Kingdom of Louire. 

The day before Eros was kidnapped, Eriu, realizing the situation, chased Eros and ended up stabbing him with a knife. The wound itself almost hit his heart and made him barely survive despite the use of healing magic. But Eros suddenly said that he would heal him, and that day, Eriu survived.

Even the wound on his body disappeared as if it had never existed. 

And this event also made the people of that village think that Eros was the god's favorite child with so much mana. They also promised the Grith family that they would hide this secret so that no outsider would dare to steal the godchild given to them.

After that, Ariadne and Louise beat them all until the sound of broken bones could be heard everywhere, and they threw them into the sea called the Sea of Redemption. 

The sea is the most severe punishment for sinners, because after entering the sea, those who survive will always think of atoning for their sins, and will even be willing to sell everything to donate to the village of Te Amo.

Unfortunately, the merchant and his subordinates were never seen again after they were thrown into the sea.

After all, if they were imprisoned they would still be free with their money. So, Louise mercilessly pulled them using the rope wrapped around their necks to move. Ariadne also kicked their asses as she cursed at them, 'You really say that child has no family!?'

'You want to see what it really means to have no family? Let me show you, you bastards!'

"How did they get into this village again? Didn't we forbid merchants who have no intention of cooperating with us from visiting this village?"

"Those dirty rats don't even know the word stop!"

The villagers immediately looked at Reliun and expressed their displeasure. Before the village chief was replaced, there used to be a scam against the farmers. Merchants who said they would buy their crops deceived them by giving them counterfeit money. 

So in order not to be cheated again, the previous village chief made a rule that if there were merchants who wanted to trade with this village, those merchants would not be allowed to do so.

In order not to be deceived again, the previous village chief made a rule that if there were merchants who wanted to trade with this village, they would have to introduce themselves to all the villagers, and if they were accepted, they could make a magical agreement with the village chief.

The villagers immediately vented their anger at the village chief, who was believed to have let the strangers in without their knowledge. Of course, Reliun, as the village chief, calmed everyone down and said that he also did not know that they had come without telling him.

Reliun quickly changed the subject by talking to Eros, "Eros, did you see the faces of those people?"

Eros shook his head, "I didn't see them, they all covered their faces with masks..." 

After that, Eros pointed to the forest where they had come out, "But I remember where it is!"

Several people looked at each other sadly to see this very gentle and kind child injured, "Eros, you need to rest and let us adults chase the bad guys away!"

"Yes, Eros, rest. Tomorrow, Auntie will bring you your favorite green tea and some cow's milk."

"Yes, I will also ask my parents to give you the spicy food we brought from the eastern lands!"

Eriu's mouth opened wide in disbelief. Hey, aren't those all my favorite foods? All I know is that Eros has a sweet tooth for things like sugar and honey. He even hates spicy food.

Eros shook his head, "No, I still want to help you and thank you for the food..."

Eriu could only look back and forth at Eros and the villagers talking to each other, now he felt like he was in another dimension. Don't tell me, Eros often went to the farmer to get paid and then bought him green tea?

Now he knew where all the green tea flavored milk that Eros always brought came from. Eriu looked at Eros with a loving smile, forgetting that Eros had threatened him earlier, "I'll make your favorite pudding with caramel on top." 

Eros' eyes widened with a blush on his cheeks and he looked very happy, Eros immediately hugged Eriu next to him and cried on the spot.

I pray to you, God.

Please give us the 'hope' you speak of. I just want to be free from this place!

Where are you gods?

Why did you never help us?

Ah, you have destroyed my 'hope', God. 

Gods, you are a fraud.