Helmut: The Forsaken Child - H.F.C Chapter 258 (Part 1):

The surroundings were desolate and quiet. An unusual peace had settled in this part of the Forest of Roots.

No beast in the area was unaware that Helmut was under Elaga’s protection. Therefore, he wouldn’t be attacked.

For Helmut, it was a familiar day, but that day was different. As Elaga approached lazily, Helmut sensed a faint presence beside it.

Helmut turned his head. Two humans stood next to Elaga. One was a woman, the other a small girl.

Elaga spoke triumphantly.

[Now, why don’t you humans have a chat with each other?]

“Um, hello?”

“He… llo?”

[That guy’s name is Helmut. The bigger one is Susan, the smaller one is Sarah.]

Helmut quietly observed the woman and girl who cautiously greeted him.

There was only one reason he reacted. This was the Forest of Roots. It wasn’t an environment where the fragile humans before him could survive. He could guess who they were.

‘Naho’s… livestock, perhaps.’

The young girl, Sarah, ran up to Helmut and asked,

“I’m Sarah. Why is Helmut lying in a place like that?”

‘Is this Elaga’s new hobby?’

It seems it’s taken an interest in caring for humans after grumbling about it. Helmut’s interest ended there.

After withdrawing his gaze from them, Helmut closed his eyes again.

Black hair and black eyes. Although incomparably more delicate compared to the demonic beasts in the Forest of Roots, Helmut somehow exuded an intimidating aura. A boy with a dry and cold atmosphere.

Although they had heard Elaga raised him, there was no sense of familiarity. It’s difficult for a boy raised in the Forest of Roots to be ordinary.

The woman hesitated, unable to speak. Sarah, less perceptive than her, bravely thrust her face towards Helmut.

Elaga had given permission to bother Helmut as much as they wanted, disregarding the subject’s wishes.

“Helmut, doesn’t your back hurt lying like that?”

“Helmut, where did you come from? Where were you born?”

“Helmut, Helmut, Helmut!”

Helmut couldn’t help but react to her incessant chattering.

“Don’t bother me.”

Though brief, his words were abruptly cutting, with a hint of ferocity.

The girl flinched, her face immediately contorting. And then,

“Waaahh!”

A piercing cry tore through their eardrums.

Helmut raised his Vis to block out the sound.

To think that the first time he used Vis after all this was for something like this.

‘Elaga.’

It’s doing unnecessary things. He had told it to leave him alone. It never respects his wishes.

Of course, Elaga had its reasons. Elaga was an insensitive leopard and the ruler of this domain. And Elaga still acted as if it were Helmut’s guardian.

“Sa-Sarah. Don’t cry.”

Susan hugged her daughter to comfort her. Elaga frowned, looking alternately at Sarah and Helmut, then spoke gruffly.

[Making a child cry, what a temper.]

That wasn’t something anyone could deny, but Elaga wasn’t exactly in a position to say it.

Sarah soon stopped crying. But she didn’t leave Susan’s arms, staying tightly embraced. It wasn’t at all an atmosphere for conversation.

Elaga, dissatisfied, tapped the ground with its tail and gently pushed them with it.

[We’ll come back tomorrow.]

Helmut didn’t answer. His answer wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

The problem was that Elaga really kept its word.

The next day, it brought the two human females to visit Helmut again.

This time, they came with a basket full of food that Susan had personally cooked.

There was even bread, somehow baked with ingredients they had obtained. It’s food that’s hard to come by in the Forest of Roots.

However, Helmut didn’t show any reaction to the food that was emitting a delicious aroma.

Helmut had tasted all sorts of delicacies from the outside world. Also, while some fill the emptiness in their hearts by filling their stomachs, Helmut was the opposite.

This time too, Helmut only chewed and swallowed the food perfunctorily after being threatened by Elaga that it would force it down his throat if he didn’t eat.

“Um, how does it taste?”

Susan asked cautiously.

She was of noble origin. The boy before her seemed far younger in comparison.

But there was a feeling that she couldn’t treat him carelessly, which naturally made her speech more polite.

Helmut didn’t respond this time either. He chewed and swallowed the food perfunctorily, then lay back down.

These unfamiliar women, the existence of humans, irritated him like insects crawling on his skin, but he chose not to react.

“Helmut, hello!”

Children are simple. Sarah, her mood recovered in just a day, tried to speak to him again, but Helmut ignored her.

This time, Sarah didn’t cry. Susan and Sarah spent time there, chattering with each other, regardless of Helmut’s silence.

They passed the time doing needlework they had brought or reading books from who knows where. As if Helmut was just a background to them.

Elaga occasionally conversed with them, staying there for hours before taking them away.

This continued. Not every day, but quite frequently, about every other day.

And at some point, their visits became unbearably irritating to Helmut.

They weren’t constantly talking to him, but just their presence, moving around and making noise next to him.

It invaded the time Helmut desired.

What Helmut wanted was just silence. A swamp-like silence where no one existed. He wanted to be immersed in that. He needed no one.

But the voices he could hear even without listening, their movements, their existence. He tried to ignore it, but even the act of trying to ignore it was irritating, and at some point, it became unbearable.

Helmut finally called out to Elaga when it came to visit him alone a few days later.

Otaku_Tensei

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