Chapter 5 Emotional Manipulation, Crying Is Hard

The last 2 months were more boring than ever. We just trained, practised magic, meditated and once in a while we went out to have fun, though only Lucy had fun.

And right now we are going to [Lost Forest] to find some treasures. I didn't remember the treasures of the [Lost Forest] but i remembered that there are lots of treasures in there.

[Lost Forest] is considered [B] rank beast habitat because of its strangeness. There is not even 1 monster, only beasts.

There are too many strange creatures and things in the [Lost Forest], but they are mostly harmless.

[Lost Forest] is located between human kingdom's and elf kingdom's borders. Fortunately, Ceurie County is located on the kingdom's border that's sides with the elven kingdom. So it wasn't that far.

[Lost Forest] is a mysterious place that even master mages couldn't decipher what's happening in the forest.

In the [Lost Forest] there are strange things occasionally happening.

Ghosts act like normal humans but when told that they are ghosts, they would began to lose their minds and go rampage.

Or dancing musical instruments that big as humans with legs and arms. While dancing they play music too.

But the most known strange thing in the [Lost Forest] is disappearances. Every once in a while mages or knights disappeared in front of their comrades without a trace in the [Lost Forest].

Though i knew that we wouldn't disappear because only the disappeared ones are the ones with malicious [Aura].

Every person has their own aura. A strong aura doesn't mean a strong person or a weak aura doesn't mean weak person. Though usually, a higher person's rank means a stronger aura.

Aura is a combination of their; rank, highest grade affinity, will to kill, will to live, kill count and their karma.

Karma is different for everyone.

If some rapist believes their actions were evil, that would give them negative karma. But if a temple knight kills some innocent elves to honour their's god and this temple knight believes that their's actions were heroic, that would give the temple knight positive karma.

This world's karma system is fucked up too.

Anyway, the aura can be manipulated if practised. Even though aura is mostly harmless, if someone strong try to pressure someone extremely weak, they could kill them.

Last 2 months i tried to manipulate my aura but i couldn't do it yet. I didn't think aura manipulation was too hard.

Though i couldn't do it, it wasn't a problem. My aura shouldn't be malicious enough to make [Lost Forest] disappear me. Lucy is just a child anyway, so there wasn't any problem.

I thought about it first, walking was good but after giving it some thought, riding a horse was better. But my mind drifted to our stamina and agility stats, so i decided to low speed running.

******

We continued our journey without trouble for 12 days. On the 12th day, we encountered a group of bandits.

'It is a good time for Lucy to kill her first human.' was my first thought after i saw bandits. So i didn't do anything and nudged Lucy.

"There are 7 bandits. 4 of them 1st rank, 2 of them 2nd rank and last one low level 3rd rank. You are the one that will kill them. Quickly make a plan and begin to act."

Lucy was anxious, therefore i patted her back and gave her a warm smile as if to say 'you can do it!', though that is total bullshit.

Even if she can kill them easily, she will probably puke after her first kill, which would make her practically useless for a while.

Anyway, Lucy chanted her magic, 4 blades of wind shot to 4 canon fodder and cleaved them clean in two.

It was pretty good actually. She chanted fast and moved the wind blades accurately and she first took out the canon fodder that would annoy her later.

Anyway, Lucy tried hard but couldn't resist and puked. Bandits who saw this rushed to her to take advantage of her momentary weakness.

After they got close enough for the dramatic effect, they died with an ice spear stuck to their hearts.

After the bandit's death, i picked Lucy from the ground into my arms and went to the river.

'Lucy is crying a little too hard than usual. Did i break her? What should i do? A hug might work, but this may be an opportunity to show Lucy to her brother is 'deeply cares' for her. That is good, let's go with that.'

I washed Lucy's face and hair with river water and started to comb her hair.

While combing i started to speak:

"I am sorry Lucy. I shouldn't push you this hard. I just thought that it would be best for you to get used to this kind of things. I am sorry *hick, if you want i can do this kind of things instead of you. So please don't hate me. *hick"

I started to cry halfway through the speech and hugged her in the last sentence.

Lucy stayed still for a while, she must be shocked. Her mature and dependable brother was crying and saying 'please don't hate me' should be a great shock to Lucy. Lucy is just 12, but even she could tell that her brother was really sorry and afraid.

Sorry because he pushed Lucy too hard, afraid because he thinks that Lucy will hate him.

Lucy doesn't know why her brother thought that she will hate him, but she thought that it was her brother's sort of trauma.

So she did what her brother usually did to her.

Lucy laid me on her lap and started to caress my head.

When she started to caress my head, i knew that my plan worked.

In my previous life, my acting skills were top-notch. Though my body was different from my previous body, i could still fake crying easily.

I acted like i have some sort of trauma from my childhood and cried like a child.

Lucy will listen to me more easily because right now, she thinks that everything that i forced her for her wellbeing.

I hug her waist and buried my face in her belly.

"I am sorry. I should be the one that comforting you, i am useless" i murmured.

"It is okay. My Brother is the one that usually takes care of me. Once in a while, i can take care of brother."

Suddenly she started to act like a big sister. That was an interesting sight.

Anyway acting like this is pretty tiring for my mental health, so i will sleep on the lap of Lucy as if passed out from crying. Afterwards, i will act like nothing happened.

******

I woke up, stretched my limbs and looked around.

I forgot that we are outside and slept here. Thankfully nothing happened.

I looked towards Lucy, she was leaning on a tree and sleeping.

I cast illusion magic on her so that she couldn't hear or feel anything and sleep peacefully.

I picked her up and started to run at full speed. We spent too much time, so my thought was simple. Run until Lucy wakes up because i can run faster and longer than her.

While i was running i started to think about Lucy's lap pillow.

'In my previous life, i got many lap pillows from different women, but i didn't like them much they weren't comfortable enough. But strange thing was that Lucy's lap pillow was too comfortable. Am i a pedophile? I don't think so. I didn't feel anything when I was lying on it, but it was too comfortable for to be undeveloped 12year old's thighs. Did she cast a spell or anything like that? But i didn't feel any movements from mana. Ughh.'

After a while, Lucy woke up, but i acted like, didn't notice her.

She noticed that i was carrying her and blushed a little, after that she closed her eyes and pretended to sleep.

What a spoiled brat, she is pretending to sleep because she wants to be carried. Though i am okay because with this i can run our 5 days distance with ease.

Sun was going down, so i searched for a place to sleep for the night.

I found a tree with a hollow big enough for 1 child. I would prefer a cave but beggars can't be choosers, so i squeezed in with Lucy and blocked the entrance of the hollow tightly.

I sat with open legs and placed Lucy between my legs and leaned her back to me. Afterwards, i took out a blanket from my storage and wrapped it around us.

Lucy was still pretending for a reason i don't understand but i can hear her quickened heartbeat.

I didn't care about either of them, so i just slept.

******

The next morning came and i opened my eyes.

I found a drool like thing on my lips. It was strange because i don't droll usually when i am sleeping. But i didn't think about it too much.

'I must be too tired that even i droll.' was my thought.

I woke Lucy up, because it was too cramped that i couldn't even move.

I don't know the reason but Lucy blushed furiously when she saw me. I thought that she got used to my beauty, so i asked her why she blushed. She didn't answer and turned her head away in shame.

"Hahaha, it is okay. Don't be embarrassed, if it is you looking at my face, i don't mind." I said with a mischievous smile.

My face became more beautiful than 2 years ago, so it's pretty much normal sight for me to have random strangers stare at my face minimum every minute and it is pretty creepy honestly, i am 12 year old child god's sake. Although i am saying beauty, it is not masculine or girly beauty, It is androgynous beauty.

"Really!?"

"What is the use of beauty? if it is my sister that stares at my face other than random passersby, i would be happy. I thought that you got used to it though."

"I thought so too, but it looks like i am not fully used to it." Lucy said with a clearly embarrassed tone.

"Hahaha, i forgot that my Lucy became cute when she was embarrassed." I kissed her cheek quickly.

"Brother!!" Lucy shouted clearly embarrassed.

"It's your fault to became this cute, i couldn't hold myself. Anyway, get ready, i will prepare something to eat and we will continue our journey."

I thought that Lucy got over her crush on me. Though it looks like she couldn't get over it or her old emotions resurfaced back with more strength.

After some time we ate in silence and Lucy was staring at me.

'She really took my words to her heart'

Afterwards, we continued our journey.