I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 310: Ice Water is Precious

"You made this yourself?"

A child who looked like she'd just entered elementary school.

To think this child had created an item capable of shaking up the rankings of adventurers.

It was hard to believe, but Jeffrey had no choice but to accept it.

After all, Gyeoul was brewing the tea right in front of him.

"Yes. I made this tea."

Is there a problem?

Gyeoul looked up at him with innocent eyes.

Jeffrey couldn't bring himself to question the child further, so he just shrugged.

'Surely Yeomyeong doesn't treat the child so preciously just because of the tea... right?'

Jeffrey quickly dismissed the fleeting suspicion.

The Gyeoul he'd seen was lovable just by existing.

She was as pure as a child from a fairy tale, and prettier than any child he'd ever seen.

She would have been loved even without any special abilities.

There was no need for strange thoughts.

"That's amazing. Could I perhaps take another bottle of tea with me?"

"Of course. As much as you'd like."

Glug glug-

Gyeoul poured the tea with effort.

The teapot must have been heavy, as her arms trembled while tilting it.

'What a tough little one.'

Despite being a child, she sometimes showed glimpses of maturity.

To have wisdom, virtue, and physical ability at such a young age.

She'll break many hearts when she grows up.

No, before that, getting Yeomyeong Guild's permission might be the first hurdle.

Jeffrey chuckled as he watched Gyeoul pouring the tea.

It felt like he'd gained an adorable niece.

"Here, this is my thanks."

Jeffrey held out a card to Gyeoul.

It had a black background with 'JW' written in gold.

This looks like real gold.

Gyeoul's eyes widened.

"What's this?"

"It's a Jeffrey usage card. When you need it, call the number written there..."

Jeffrey trailed off mid-sentence, pressing his lips together.

A child under Yeomyeong's protection probably wouldn't need his card.

It was a card that couldn't be obtained even for millions of dollars.

For Gyeoul, it would be even less useful than a toy card.

Jeffrey hesitated, not even fully extending his hand holding the card.

This stings my pride a bit.

Should I give her a more practical and useful gift?

As Jeffrey pondered this, he saw:

Gyeoul wagging her tail happily.

"Wow."

Gyeoul smiled brightly and took Jeffrey's card with both hands.

Even though the card was probably useless and worthless to her, she accepted it so joyfully.

Jeffrey's fondness for Gyeoul was skyrocketing.

"Should I give you something else instead of the card?"

"No, I like the card."

Gyeoul took out a business card holder from her bag.

She carefully placed the card Jeffrey had given her into the holder.

Truly, her every action was adorable.

**

After chatting and drinking tea with Jeffrey, I went outside to play with the children.

Today's play area was the small sandy beach by the pool playground.

Whoosh-!

Waves of water from the pool periodically washed over the sandy beach.

It was a small but decent imitation of a real beach.

"Huh."

Gaeul sat on the sandy beach, wagging her tail as she built a sandcastle.

She gathered sand diligently with her small hands.

Pat pat-

The sandcastle she had worked so hard to build was washed away by the waves from the pool.

"...?"

Gaeul stared at the vanished sandcastle with wide eyes.

The artificial waves from the pool must have been quite strong, as the spot where the sandcastle had been was now perfectly flat.

"......"

Gaeul looked down at the flattened sandy beach with a blank expression.

After a while, she started building a sandcastle again.

Pat pat-

She wagged her tail as she diligently built the sandcastle, but once again, it was washed away by the waves.

When the third sandcastle was washed away, Gaeul turned to look at me.

"Master...!"

Gaeul's ears and tail were drooping.

Was she sad that her sandcastle kept getting washed away?

I patted the sandy area behind Gaeul.

"Gaeul, if you build it back here, the waves won't reach it."

"Back."

"Yeah. In the back."

Gaeul crawled to the spot I pointed out and sat down.

She built her sandcastle diligently, but kept her eyes on the waves.

Whoosh-!

As the waves came in, Gaeul's ears and tail stood straight up.

However, the waves barely missed reaching her sandcastle.

"Master!"

Clap clap clap-

Gaeul clapped her hands.

Was she that happy about protecting her sandcastle?

Seeing Gaeul happy made me feel good too.

As I was chuckling, Levinas came running towards us from the other side of the sandy beach.

"King! We have a big problem!"

"What's wrong?"

"The Dark King only has her head left...!"

"Huh...?"

Levinas jumped up and down, pointing to one side of the sandy beach.

There was Saebyeok, buried in the sand with only her face showing.

Buried in the sand, Saebyeok was comfortably dozing off.

"King, were you really surprised? Actually, Levinas buried her!"

"Yeah. I was really surprised."

"Hehe, this is a prank people do at the beach. Levinas learned it!"

"That's impressive."

So Levinas was playing a prank.

I laughed along with the giggling Levinas.

Then Levinas pointed to the spot next to Saebyeok.

"Does King want to be buried there too?"

Does Levinas want to bury me?

It was a bit scary, but I knew it was just a simple game.

"Umm... mmm... should I?"

"Yeah! Levinas will dig the hole for you!"

Levinas started digging the sandy beach with quick hand movements.

For Levinas, who could easily dig through dense soil, digging in the sand was a breeze.

"King, get in here."

Levinas pointed to the hole she had quickly created.

I nodded and climbed into the hole.

"Are you going to cover me with sand?"

"Yep!"

Levinas started pushing the dug-out sand back in.

I also used my hands to push sand inwards.

After filling the hole with sand, only my head was left above ground.

Even though I was buried in the ground, it wasn't as scary as it used to be.

"King only has her head left too!"

Levinas laughed mischievously at the sight of me with only my head showing.

I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, pretending to be dead to play a trick.

"Bleh."

"Master...!"

Gaeul, who had been playing and building sandcastles, ran over to me in surprise.

She licked my cheeks frantically with her eyes wide open.

"Gaeul, this is just a game. You don't need to worry so much."

"Game?"

"Yeah. It's a game where you get buried in the ground."

"...!"

Gaeul perked up her ears and started digging at the sand I was buried in.

Sand flew towards my face from Gaeul's digging.

I managed to keep sand out of my eyes thanks to my quick reflexes.

"Gaeul puppy! You have to dig from the other side! That way sand won't get in the face!"

"Yeah."

Gaeul turned around and dug the sand.

This time, sand flew towards Saebyeok, but she just kept sleeping without caring.

"It shouldn't hit the Dark King either!"

"Huh...?"

Gaeul stopped digging and stared blankly at me and Saebyeok.

After blinking for about thirty seconds, Gaeul started digging again.

She dug in a direction that wouldn't hit either me or Saebyeok with sand.

"Wow."

Gaeul must have really thought hard about it.

My tail buried in the sand twitched happily.

I wanted to wag it, but it was too tightly buried to move much.

"Gaeul puppy! Want to have a sand-digging competition with Levinas?"

"Like."

Dig dig dig-!

Levinas and Gaeul started digging sand at a rapid pace.

Just then, a water droplet fell on my nose.

"Huh?"

What's this?

Is it about to rain?

I looked up at the sky.

The sky had darkened with clouds that had gathered without me noticing.

Drip drip-

The raindrops that had been falling one by one suddenly turned into a heavy downpour.

I wanted to avoid the rain, but my body was still buried in the ground.

"Ah."

This is bad.

As I looked down with startled eyes,

Saebyeok, who had woken up, rose from the sand.

Despite the pressure of the sand, she just stood up as if it was nothing.

"Let's stop playing for today since it's raining."

Saebyeok reached her hand into the sand where I was buried.

She pushed her hand through as easily as if piercing paper, grabbed my shoulder, and lifted me up.

"Wow."

She effortlessly pulled my sand-buried body out.

As expected, having Saebyeok around is reassuring.

My tail wagged rapidly.

The sand that had been stuck to my tail flew off and went into Gaeul's open mouth.

"Bleh bleh."

Gaeul spat out the sand.

Realizing it was an unintentional attack, Gaeul just wagged her tail without complaint.

To be honest, even if it had been intentional, Gaeul probably wouldn't have complained.

"Should we go to the tent for now?"

"Yeah!"

We went into the tent to avoid the rain.

We didn't go into the container house because of the sand stuck to our bodies.

Shake shake shake-

As I was brushing off the sand stuck to the children's bodies, Gaeul was busy running back and forth in the tent.

Looking closer, I saw she was taking pots and cups from inside the tent and putting them outside.

"Gaeul, what are you doing?"

"Rain water."

"Rain water? Are you trying to collect rainwater?"

"Yeah."

There's plenty of water in this neighborhood.

Why is she trying to collect rainwater?

Tilting my head in confusion, I followed Gaeul outside the tent.

Outside the tent were cups and pots that Gaeul had placed.

"Gaeul, why are you collecting rainwater?"

"Rain water precious."

Saying this, Gaeul put down a pot on the ground.

It was a pot with a hole in it.

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