The Little Boy Who Runs A Secret Shop

"This isn't good. No not even one bit..." Numen was mumbling nervously inside Grant's head. The little child was anxious and fearful of what might happen to Grant.

"Death? Yes, death. Grant might die this is bad. He may starve. Get trapped... Have a hundred prisoners besiege him... Why an A or B rank mission Ah, damn it! This is jus-"

"Numen please shut up..." Grant prevented the faint-hearted boy from descending into a long soliloquy. Grant knew best that Numen was a cheerful optimist but his personality had a flaw. Numen tends to overthink and overestimate things when there is a huge possibility of Grant dying.

Numen popped out of Grant's body and stared nervously at Grant. Lips twitching, he asked him a question.

"You. You seem so calm about this..."

"Yes. Yes, I am..." Grant nodded. It's just a B or an A-class mission." Grant shrugged while he walked across the town's streets. Turning from alleyways to alleyways and corner to corner. His feet slowly but surely brought him to his destined location.

Numen floated beside him. Falling mum and his eyes were focused on Grant.

"How can you not be worried and stay calm? Jack may twist his words and tell half-truths to shake deals to his favor but that's the point. There is always some truth in what he says!"

"There's a huge chance you can die from this!"

Numen panicked. Grant stopped before pinching the bridge of his nose. He could understand where Numen was coming from but he just can't stand it when anyone near him loses rationality.

Grant reached forth and pinched both of Numen's cheeks.

"Oww oww stop that!"

Grant continued despite his companion's protest and cries of pain. With narrowed eyes, he stared down passively at Numen.

"Let me ask you a question. Does panicking or overthinking things help?" Grant let go and looked out into the distance. His eyes seeming to show reminisce about a certain memory.

"No it does not but still! Yo-"

"Numen I will be fine. Have some faith in me..."

"And besides, Do I really look that weak?" Numen shook his head.

The child sighed before vanishing once more into Grant's forehead. Grant resumed his pace.

The alleys and buildings in the shady parts of town twisted and Grant finally arrived at his destination. A dead-end of an alleyway. The alley was darker than others and mana seemed to be especially scarce here.

Knock! Knock! Knock~

In front of him was a tall stone brick wall. Grant walked forward before knocking rhythmically on the wall.

The wall parted and light illuminated the whole alleyway. Behind the now open wall was a homely looking living room. The insides were of finely dark stained wood. There was a couch, a flight of stairs spiraling to the second floor, and an open trapdoor.

Paintings and weapons hanging on the walls gave the room some class.

Grant sniffed the air and caught the smell of alcohol heavily dousing the room. He looked around and heard something fall to the floor.

Think~ A bottle of open alcohol rolled from the ground and made its way to Grant. The contents spilling out.

Grant picked it up. Put it before his nose and took a whiff. He frowned before downing the drink.

"Brandy..." Grant mumbled and a groan caught his attention. Sprawled on the ground was a child looking to be ten to twelve years old in appearance. The smell of alcohol drowned him as he drooled onto the couch.

He had the appearance of a regular child with bluish-gray hair. But that was if you were to disregard the two tufts of thick fur on the child's head. They were triangular and the boy's eyebrows were a bit thick for his age. And that thick bushy tail popping behind him.

Ears. They were animal ears. Specifically the ears of a wolf.

The child was a wolf demihuman. A demihuman was human in appearance. With only the exception of some slight animalistic traits such as tails, scales, or a pair of animal ears either on top of their heads or on their sides.

The bluish gray-haired boy reeked of alcohol. A satisfied drunk smile present on his lips.

"Ehe... ehehehe~" He giggled in his sleep. His face was extremely flushed and seemed goofy at the moment.

Grant facepalmed. Dragging his palm across his face downwards before sighing.

The boy's eyes slowly opened. Seeing Grant, the boy's pupils regained clarity and shone brightly.

"hic! Hic!" The boy tried to speak but he only let out small hiccups. He fell to the ground and stumbled up his feet. Wanting o run-up to Grant.

The boy regained his footing before rushing to Grant. Jumping high up in the air despite being a small child, showing the enhanced strength that demihumans commonly possess.

The boy closed the gap with that one jump. latching onto Grant's torso and making the man catch and spin the boy in the process.

Grant removed his hood and revealed his face to the boy. A brilliant smile spreading across his face. The boy smiled and his bushy tail shook up and down. He was excited.

"PAPA!" The boy screamed and rubbed his face onto Grant's cheek. Grant rapped the boy's head and put the child down.

The child frowned. Hugged Grant's leg and started climbing up. Wanting to cuddle with Grant more. Grant sighed. He picked up the child and set him up at the back of his neck. Letting the boy mount him.

"I'm back... Tir why were you drinking Brandy?" Grant asked, his tone a little cold and terrifying. Tir, the wolf demihuman merely giggled in response.

"Cuz papa was drinking Bwandy! It looke fun so I tried it! everything became Woozy after..." Tir giggled. Grant sighed, his brows frowned a little bit.

He was worried about the child being exposed too early to alcoholic drinks. Grant looked around, cleaned the room while the troublesome Tir fell asleep on his back. Hugging his head tightly.

Numen popped out of Grant. A shocked expression present on his face.

"You have a son!???!?!?!" Numen, flabbergasted, asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I do. He may not be my biological son but he is my sunshine..." Grant's eyes arced upwards and he seemed genuinely happy at the moment. His usual zombie-like, cold expression was nowhere to be seen as if it was just a memory of the past.

"No way... You? Caring? Not cold? But..." Numen couldn't believe what he was seeing. During the first two weeks, he was with Grant, all he saw was a cold, ruthless and brutal tall man coated in bloodstained dark garments. Seeing his constant cold expression and tone melt away in an instant had shocked him to the core.

"It's hard to believe no? When I was summoned to this new world, I found Tir on the streets. Selling flowers. He tried selling me one." Grant explained to Numen who was dumbly nodding to what he was saying.

"I declined. He kept trying to sell me things and I shooed him away. But after a while, he came back with more flowers."

"Aren't you too cruel to shoo him away like that?" Numen questioned. His eyebrow raised and his gaze a bit stern.

"Maybe I am cruel. Honestly, I can't afford to care too much about things other than myself or my own interests. But Tir? He's a different case." Grant sighed after cleaning up the mess Tir had made. He looked at Numen blankly.

"Tir is a really good child. I took pity at him by the end of my first day here and fed him some food. Starting from that point, the child had secretly followed me. Doing things I didn't know and risking his life to help me."

"But how can a child do all that? Follow you and all?"

"He is special. I can hear his heartbeat but I could never pinpoint his exact location or direction. It was as if he was my shadow himself." Grant reasoned, Numen catching his hint.

Shadow magic... It was one of the stealthiest and untraceable forms of magic out there.

"A talented shadow attuned demihuman... Is that why you adopted him?"

"That was one of the reasons... But other than that, I picked him up because he was a really good child." Grant answered Numen who fell inaudible.

The floating spirit tried to process everything. A smiling Grant, a child that knows shadow magic but one thing didn't register.

"How come he is in this place? Tartarus I mean? And he has no collar..."

"He followed me in. I didn't notice at all until he surfaced out of my own shadow after the sun started to set." Grant sighed. He picked up the child and set him down on the couch, rapping his head, Grant filled a glass with water and let the child drink it all.

"So you keep him inside this hidden place. Away from all eyes..."

"It's a temporary solution. I'll keep him in here until I reach rank C. So that I'll be able to protect him. Plus... He also runs this little shop of mine whenever I am away." Numen nodded. Grant checked the boy before he went down the trapdoor. Entering a spacious basement.