Chapter 9: S-ranker and a little girl

"Are you sure she's fine?"

[Message: Don't worry]

4 hours have passed since Bak fed the soup to the sleeping little girl although Bak knows for a fact that she still needs rest considering her condition but what he didn't know was that his standards for a normal person was a little bit skewed and biased by his otherworldly common sense.

"Recovery magic would've been handy right now"

[Message: don't ask for the impossible]

Indeed Recovery magic as the name stands, helps with the natural recovery by multiplying the recovery rate by 10x the normal speed and depending on the intensity of applied magic it could multiply more than 10.

Recovery magic is a very convenient magic to have but in a world like this one it was already too much for a wish.

Although that wish did seem possible due to the fact that a certain message screen is floating in front of him. Good

"So~ can't you give me that magic spell?"

[....]

There was no immediate reply from his grim reaper but he could tell that it was thinking.

Last time when Bak stupidly charged towards a dozen of undead he was bitten all over and the Grim Reaper was forced to give him a skill called 'Negative Status Resistance' this was a skill he never had even back at his previous world because it was a skill that can only be gained through doing things akin to torture and suicide that's why Bak thought that his Grim Reaper could do the same for a recovery magic.

Unbeknownst to him his grim reaper was royally pissed by his shameless question and simply did not reply immediately because she was preoccupied on being pissed.

[Message: Would you cut your arm for no good reason in a battlefield?]

"No"

It took about one and a half minutes for the grim reaper to reply but Bak's answer was quick and decisive. Any veteran would answer the same, losing an arm in a battlefield is akin to committing suicide.

[Message: Your basically asking me for the same thing]

The grim reaper's swift reply floated on the screen.

True they do have the power to bestow things like skills and magic but that wasn't without any risk for the grim reaper's themselves if the supervisor was to learn of it the grim reaper's powers or much referred to as "Privileges" will be confiscated and at worst the grim reaper themselves would be subjected to harsher punishments.

Bak was oblivious to this fact but he still had a rough guess and never chased the subject again.

"Well.. I guess that's that"

Throwing the subject away Bak looked at his hands, then to arms and whole body.

He couldn't help but notice that this body was nearly similar to his previous one aside frome the youthful and beardless appearance it was like a carbon copy.

"Though I'm not gonna complain about how young I've become but how young am I exactly?"

In his previous body he was 43 years old practically the eldest of the party but this one was clearly at the very least 10 years younger and that's why he was more curious with his current physical age was.

He stared at the message window waiting for an answer and the grim reaper gladly answered without restraint.

[Message: You're currently at the very least 25 years old]

"Twenty....five?"

Bak scanned his body again as if making sure he didn't miss anything.

"This kind of bodybuild at the age of 25? Even a knight would be surprised"

His current body was tuned with the right muscles in the right places they were not necessarily bulky and he could tell that they were born out of hard work normally where Bak came from this kind of body is much more common towards men who're 30+ years old.

[Message: Unlike our world this world has much more unique and different laws which is why you shouldn't use your otherworldly common sense here]

Bak read the message and hung his head contemplating and for a moment he could hear footsteps from the ceiling.

He could tell that there were still ghouls above but ignored it for the fact that they haven't showed any signs of attacking.

"It's better to not shake the hornet's nest if you live near"

While cooking Bak had made many audible noise but despite all the ruckus none of the ghouls above ever descended from the 2nd floor.

Bak also noticed that there was a stair right beside where the store was so he considered barricading the stairs but left it unchanged as he saw three ghouls slipping on their way down and killing themselves in the process.

"Besides they're so stupid they don't even know how to use the stairs"

[Keen Hearing]

[Detect]

[Enhanced Reflex]

[ACTIVE]

With that Bak proceeded to take a nap.

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"No matter how you think of it this is bad"

2 more hours passed Bak was now more concerned over the little girl and just then.

"Pa..pa"

The voice was a little weak but it was a good sign that at the very least the girl wasn't in coma.

Slowly the little girl opens her eyes looking above the unfamiliar ceiling unlike the restrooms this ceiling was blue in color.

As she continued to look around in an absent-minded fashion she saw a chair right beside her and on top of the chair was a steaming bowl of soup when she looked closely it was made up of mostly vegetables.

The aroma of the soup tinged the girls hunger and no sooner she started slurping through it and eating the vegetables without any sign pickiness.

She could feel the hot soup traveling from her mouth down to her stomach filling it with warmth, the vegetables with each bite seem to be flourishing with deliciousness as she swallowed her throat gladly welcomed the solid food, soon the soup was gone from the bowl and into the stomach.

Finally free from hunger the girl continues looking around and as she did the memories and realization started flooding her head.

"Papa..?"

Tears started welling up in her eyes.

Her papa wasn't here she realized...

As her eyes starts being filled with watery tears she started feeling the sorrow of losing someone.

"Papa!"

As she called for the person whom she'll never met again the tears started running down her cheeks and fell to the cloth which served as beddings.

She could feel her heart twisting in agony and sorrow.

Her throat which was visited by the soup moments ago started feeling parched and narrow.

She cried as loud as she could believing that the sorrow would go away if she did.

She cried as much as she could believing that her papa would return and soothe her just like before.

But none of it came true, the pain and sorrow merely felt bigger and heavier than before and her papa didn't comeback and soothe her.

At the same time Bak was feeling a heavy guilt as he watched the little girl, he didn't understand why but his heart was like it was struggling to say something, he didn't know why but he can feel his body becoming heavy as his heart struggled and suddenly tears flowed out from his eyes.

Bak was watching her although she didn't notice him inside the room Bak was there in the corner he didn't know why he felt like he wanted to hide from the little girl he just felt ashamed and guilty somehow, he didn't even noticed that he was also crying.

"I'm sorry..." He suddenly blurted.

Bak heard his own voice from his mouth through his ears pleading for forgiveness from the girl, he didn't know why but his heart was screaming those words like it was desperate. Slowly bits of memories entered his head.

A loud **snap** that caught everyone's attention.

A dead man on the floor right in front of him, and finally a little girl crying and clinging desperately to the dead body as if it was going to disappear. This were the memories of the soul who once owns this body.

"I'm sorry."

Bak walked closer to the little girl and he kneeled in front of her still asking for forgiveness as if it was a chant.

The unknown guilt now felt much more familiar even though Bak himself didn't commit it his current body still remembers the guilt of the previous soul that once resided in it and it screamed for forgiveness and it screamed for atonement.

"I'm sorry..."

In an attempt of consolation Bak hugged the crying little girl in an attempt to calm her down.

The little girl in turn felt the warmth of another person wrapping around her, warmth that she once desperately wished for when she was thrown and locked alone inside that cold restroom.

This warmth although not from her papa, she still felt satisfied and so her arms reflexively hugged back.

[Message: Fate sure is ironic]

The message was lost and ignored as both Bak and the little girl cried.

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"Zzzzz.."

[Message: Heh, I've never thought I've finally see you cry pathetically like that again]

Sneered the Grim Reaper.

"That wasn't me it was this body that cried"

Bak retorted.

It took 5 minutes for the little girl to calm down.

Thanks to the warmth that Bak provided the little girl calmed down quickly and drifted off to sleep once again.

After the girl slept again Bak himself sat at a chair to regain his composure.

"Haah... What kind of sick joke is this?"

Bak stared at the message screen seemingly to blame it for the situation.

When he first awoke in this world his Grim Reaper has said that he was put in this body with the Grim Reapers power.

What he wasn't aware of was the fact that compatibility with the body and soul was required for the transfer to work and now he was suspecting that his grim reaper purposely picked this body to make him suffer.

[Message: Don't blame me on this! It was either that body or a body of an armadillo!]

The Grim Reaper reasoned.

"Yeah sure"

But Bak didn't take it at face value but willingly brushed the subject under the rug.

He was feeling conflicted and at the same time relieved.

**Slip**

**Crack** Splat

A sound echoed from the stairs it was the sound of a bone splitting and the wet sound of flesh bursting.

"And that's the seventh one"

Surprisingly Bak seems to be used to it now.

In truth when they were busy crying 4 Ghouls attempted to use the stairs to approach them but ultimately slipped on their own and died. Surprisingly Ghouls and Stairs are never meant together well unless it was a head to stair relationship.

Bak turned to ignore the violent relationship between the stairs and ghouls and turned to the knife that he used to slice the vegetables.

"Its amazingly sharp for a kitchen knife"

He flips the knife and took a closer look at it.

"The angle and precision of it is undoubtedly perfect!"

**Clank** **crash**

A sound of something falling came from within the store just right behind him. Alerted by the noise Bak turned around while holding the knife and pointing with menacing aura.

"**Hic**"

This buffoon of a man pointed a knife towards a little girl which has just woken up from her sleep and still emotionally washed.

Tears started building up inside the girls eyes .

The moment she woke up there was a man pointing a knife at her anybody with experience raising a child would agree that any kid would start wailing their eyes out if ever such things happened.

[Message: Idiot] the grim reaper agree's

Bak belatedly realising what he just did hastily lets go of the knife he was holding but as if having a mind of its own and trying to pull an unnecessary idioticy the knife landed stabbing itself on the cold hard concrete with a **stab** and unnecessarily ominous metal clank.

That only made the situation worse as the little girl now completely terrified started crying out of fear.

"Please stop crying... See? I won't hurt you"

**Cries harder**

[Message: Yeah no. How can she believe that the man who murdered her father won't hurt her?]

The Grim Reaper sarcastically messaged .

"But it wasn't me!"

Bak retorted back trying to prove his innocence.

[Message: Different apple tree same apple fruit]

Bak was about to say that that proverb was completely wrong in the situation but kept it on his throat as there was a much more pressing matter to attend to.

"Waaahh!"

And that was the crying little girl in front of him he doesn't know what to do in this situation as he never encountered such.

Bak has fought against monsters bigger, stronger and faster than him he has fought against demons and strong humans but never in his 43 years of life has he ever dealt with a child.

*This used to be Nicole's part* he complained but complaining now was no use as he didn't have his party member with him right now.

Desperate for solution Bak started frantically looking around and his eyes settled on the scented soap, its white in color and was comparatively softer than the ones that Bak used in the Inn's.

((Bak shouldn't you respect me as your elder!?))

((Elven age doesn't matter when the person himself acts like a total spoiled brat and a dimwit!))

((I'm 110 years old dammit!! Show some respect!))

((I'm not showing respect to your elven ass until you stop acting spoiled!))

((Well next time you go fight you better watch your ass for yourself I'm not covering for you anymore!))

That memory wasn't really helping Bak directly but he did get something out of it. The person he was arguing with was an elf with many skills, from bow, magic, and other miscellaneous stuff he often argues with him due to not being respected as an elderly among the party.

But that elf had a hobby that might help Bak in this situation. Whenever their party takes a rest be it within the road, forest or Inn that obnoxious elf would always hold something sometimes it would be a small block of wood, a sizable stone, a candle or even soaps that elf would climb a tree or anything that could give him a high vintage point and start carving the wood blocks or whatnot with his knife.

He would often just make sculptures of beautiful women but there was one sculpture that stood out for Bak he even went as far as to praise it.

((Hah! You finally recognize my glorious skill that has been cultivated before you were even out of your mother's womb!))

"Waaahhh!!"

The reminiscing Bak was snapped back to reality and quickly he took a spoon and holds the soap, he first created an outline for the sculpture and started carving out unneeded excess soap soon he started carving in angles in order to give it shape.

Bak was awfully concentrated on carving that he didn't notice the girl stopped crying and watched him with keen interest and curiosity.

Just like a child as she is she couldn't help but feel curious on what Bak was doing, she never watched anything like it before.

She sat quietly on the makeshift bed and watched Bak with shining eyes.

1 minute passed, 30 minutes passed and finally an hour.

"Phew"

Bak let out a sigh as he finally finished the sculpture he looked at the sitting little girl who was now in front of him, her face was filled with amazement as she stared at the finished sculpture.

"Do you want it?" Bak asked in a meek voice in order to not scare the girl again.

The little girl looked at Bak and then to the sculpture several times as if asking "Can I?" Bak found this behavior as cute and let out a giggle.

"Don't worry you can have it"

Bak gave the sculpture to the little girl and for the first time the little girl smiled.

Bak can't help but feel glad after seeing her smile for the first time.

The atmosphere was so peaceful within that store but that peace was meant to be turned into chaos soon.

"Shishishishii~"

**Sniff** **sniff**