MLMAS 06

Chapter – 06

Marie’s eyes widened as she trembled and shook her head.

“Shasha is my only family. I don’t want to live apart from her!”

Shasha, who had been folding the pages of a thick book and fidgeting with it, paused at Marie’s raised voice. She studied Marie’s expression, then timidly grabbed the hem of her sister’s clothes.

“Crophoto… can’t me and sis stay together?”

“……”

Cropot couldn’t bring himself to answer. He pressed his temple and let out a long sigh.

“It’s not like you’ll never see each other again. If you come to my shop, I’ll make sure you can meet. So just—”

“No. I still don’t want that. I’m going to live with Shasha. Please don’t take her away.”

Marie spoke quickly, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Mom told me to always take care of Shasha. Whether she’s a magician or a human, we’re family. If I don’t have Shasha, then I…”

Her voice trailed off. At last, the little girl’s face was covered in tears.

Sensing the seriousness, Shasha began to sniffle as well.

Cropot rubbed his forehead and waved his hand.

“Fine, fine. I wasn’t planning to force you.”

“…Really?”

“Yes.”

Marie looked at him with suspicion. He was their benefactor, yes—but he was also the man who had burned a werewolf to ashes in an instant.

Can I really trust him?

With a fearful expression, Marie pulled Shasha into her arms. After hesitating, she slowly held out her hand.

“…Can you promise?”

It was the gesture she often shared with their mother, Molly—a token of promise.

Her small pinky finger stretched out toward him.

Cropot stared blankly at Marie and her finger, as if he were seeing a ghost.

After a moment, he sighed and hooked his own pinky around hers.

“Fine. I promise.”

Marie’s tiny finger was enveloped by his much larger one.

“What exactly do you take me for? Did you think I’d rip you apart by force?”

“Um……”

“Hmm?”

Cropot pulled his finger away irritably.

“I saved your sister without asking for compensation and even nursed her for three days, and that’s what you thought of me?”

“What’s compensation?”

“Money. You asked me for help, didn’t you?”

Saying it like that made him sound like a greedy adult demanding payment from a nine-year-old, but technically it had been a request, so Cropot spoke matter-of-factly.

Shasha, who understood the word money immediately, gasped and whispered to Marie.

“Sis, do we gotta give Croft money? How much do we have?”

“Maybe four silver coins…?”

“Gasp. If we give that, what about food?”

“Yeah…”

“Do we hafta eat green porridge again?”

On days when Marie’s shoe-shining didn’t earn much, they couldn’t even buy bread, let alone grain. They had to boil weeds from nearby into porridge.

It was Shasha’s most hated meal. At the sight of the green lumps floating in it, she’d almost run out of the house in horror.

“Crophoto… I don’t wanna eat porridge.”

It made her stomach hurt. It tasted bad. It made her weak.

Shasha looked at him with teary, pleading eyes. Marie’s face darkened as well.

Cropot frowned, dumbfounded.

“Enough. Forget the money. I don’t need it, so stop looking pitiful.”

At his curt reply, Shasha instantly broke into a bright smile. It seemed she had grown used to his prickly personality during the three days Marie had been asleep.

Marie, however, still looked anxious, blinking her damp eyes at him.

“You really don’t need anything?”

“That’s right. I do have a conscience…”

He placed his pipe between his lips and exhaled a long stream of smoke.

Only then did Marie’s expression soften a little.

“That’s not the real issue. We need to decide what to do about your sister.”

“Shasha is…”

Marie hesitated.

If she kept raising Shasha in that old shack, she would surely be kidnapped by a werewolf again.

“She may look human now, but as her mana grows, other problems will arise. A magician has to learn how to handle mana.”

“What’s mana?”

“The power that allows one to use magic.”

Marie’s face darkened again.

The Shasha who always sparkled with ocean-blue eyes beside her now felt as unfamiliar as the clean dress she was wearing.

“Are you sure your mother never told you about magic?”

“…Yes.”

“May I ask how she died?”

Marie’s face stiffened instantly. Seeing how pale she had become, Cropot looked away.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. It’s not important.”

“Okay…”

Marie sealed her lips. As she seemed to recall that day, tears pooled in her green eyes. It was a cruel question for a child whose mother had died only a year ago.

Cropot pondered how to resolve the sisters’ situation.

Marie was human. Shasha was a magician.

No matter what, they were family—and they had no one else.

He couldn’t separate them, yet he couldn’t simply send them off to fend for themselves.

And above all…

He blinked and looked at Marie, who was desperately holding back tears.

After a long silence, he took the pipe from his mouth, raked a hand through his hair in frustration, and slammed the pipe down on the desk.

Startled, Marie looked up.

“I’ll let your sister stay here until she can handle her mana to some extent.”

“What?”

“But once she’s learned, you’ll go where I tell you and live as if you’re dead. Both of you must forget about magic.”

Marie stared at him in shock.

“Y-You’ll really do that for us?”

“Yes.”

“But we don’t have anything to give you…”

“I said I don’t need money. What would I do with pocket change from children?”

Grumbling, Cropot crushed the papers spread before him with his pipe. The sheet bearing the name of an orphanage vanished instantly.

Mesmerized, Shasha began climbing onto the desk, but Cropot used magic to gently push her back without hurting her.

“I’ll only teach her magic. You’re responsible for taking care of her.”

“Magician…”

“Don’t step into any area I haven’t designated. And don’t leave the antique shop.”

Marie didn’t know whether to feel moved or suspicious of the conditions attached.

But to a child whose mother had died, Cropot was the only one who had reached out a hand. With tears in her eyes, she nodded.

“We’ll do that. But what do you mean we have to forget about magic? And why can’t we go outside?”

“In the human world—the world you live in—using magic leaves traces. You’re human, and your sister is a magician. You’ll attract attention. If you want to avoid werewolves, she must not use magic.”

After saying that, Cropot fell silent.

A magician who can’t use magic…

Marie looked down at Shasha with sorrow.

“Can you use magic?”

“I…”

He hesitated, then sighed.

“Originally, I shouldn’t. I was exiled to the human world for a reason… Don’t look at me like that. I won’t tell you the details.”

Marie quickly wiped the curiosity from her sparkling eyes.

Tapping his finger on the desk, Cropot continued.

“You may not fully understand this, but before a magician crosses into the human world, they must register the amount of mana they’re allowed to use here. If they exceed it, investigators will arrest them.”

“Investigators…”

Mana. Human world. Investigators. Marie quietly stored the information in her mind.

The laws of the magic world are strict.

“You remember the old man and the black-haired woman in the cave? They’re investigators too. They came after me for using magic.”

“Gasp.”

“That’s why I told you not to leave the shop. I’m under their surveillance.”

Marie nodded instinctively, then frowned.

“If you’re the one being watched, why do we have to be careful too?”

“If your sister’s existence becomes known, she’ll be taken to the magic world. And you’ll be sent to an orphanage with your memories erased.”

“What?!”

“That’s our law. Humans and magicians cannot be family.”

He muttered softly, “At least, according to the magicians.”

Marie’s face turned pale. Trembling with fear, she hugged Shasha tightly.

“Thank you for helping us, Magician. Truly… thank you.”

She understood she had no other choice. Bowing deeply in haste, she expressed her gratitude. Shasha, dragged along, flailed as she was forced to bow too.

Cropot frowned and waved them off.

“That’s enough. Once your sister can control her mana, I’ll send you away anyway. Probably… three months will be enough.”

“Three months?”

“Yes. Too short?”

His steady gaze met Marie’s.

She shook her head quickly.

To a child, three months was a very long time. She hadn’t expected it would take that long, and she began to watch his expression nervously.

Ignoring her hesitation, Cropot exhaled another long stream of smoke.

Three months.

In the end, the suspicious sisters would be in his care.

Closing his eyes, Cropot watched as Marie gently stroked Shasha’s hair.