When Did I Become An Artifact Dealer?!
Chapter 48: Spoiled Child

Chapter 48: Chapter 48: Spoiled Child

Cail ran away carrying the child. At first, he could still hear the child’s sobbing, but as time went on, he became silent.

"Did this kid fall asleep?" Cail thought. But he continued running. Heck, there’s no way he’d face that.

After making sure that he was already at a considerable distance, Cail went inside one of the houses. He put the child on the sofa and rubbed his arm. That was the longest time he had held a living being except his cat the entire time. That was almost half an hour’s run.

Just as Cail thought the child fell asleep, he felt a tug on his collar as he was just about to let go. He looked down and saw a red-eyed child looking at him.

’Uhm, what do I say about this situation?’

"Your parents... they’re dead now. You’re not going to see them ever again. As for now, you will be staying with me." Cail decided to go with the blunt approach. This kid saw his parents got eaten, right?

The kid, as expected, gathered a pool of tears in his eyes. Cail saw his cheeks and nose redden, then the child opened his mouth.

"Mommy... Daddy..." The child cried, tears streaming down his face.

Cail knew that this would be the reaction. He also knew that the way he broke the reality to this child wasn’t right, but who cares? Not him, not this child’s parents, and more importantly, this child doesn’t have the right to really care.

"Stop crying," Cail threatened. "If you continue crying, that big mon—" but before he could even finish, he almost choked on his saliva after hearing what the child said.

"Waaaaaaah!" The child screamed. The house shook, literally. Cail could feel the vibration of the house. The child rubbed his eyes and said, "They are dead? Do you think they at least left me a present before dying?"

The child looked like the entire world came crashing down. "Today is my birthday! I promised them to be obedient for that gift! Liars, bad guys dying in untimely death!"

Cail had an ominous premonition, and sure enough, the child looked at Cail with curiosity, not feeling sad in the slightest.

"Are you my new parent now?" The child blinked his huge eyes as he stared at Cail.

"Haaaaa." Cail raised an eyebrow at the absurdity. "New parent? Are parents easily that replaceable? Or did you already experience changing one?"

The child shook his head. "Never tried changing parents, this would be the first time." Then the child’s eyes glowed brightly. "Are you rich? I have been wanting to change parents for a while. When I wanted to buy something, they kept saying later because they don’t have money."

Cail felt exhausted. Is this child clueless or just plain cruel? Ugh, whatever.

"Nope, not your parent. And I’m poor," Cail said. He pressed the child on the sofa and pulled up his clothes up to his chest.

The child didn’t fight back and just looked at him in curiosity. Cail pressed his hand on the stomach of the child. While the glasses could see, understanding early void awakening needs better evaluation.

Cail let his void energy flow through the child’s core. The core was very fragile. The veins were delicate and the void energy inside was a bit chaotic.

"The house shaking a while ago, was that your ability?" Cail asked.

The child didn’t have any wariness. A stranger taking him away and patting his tummy. But he was a bit concerned about something. "Brother? Are you done? Can you close it now? My tummy will hurt."

Cail pulled down the child’s mini tuxedo. Cail had a gist as to what was going on but he had no idea when, or how, void awakening would occur. But this child’s void energy... seems to be a bit more chaotic than what Cail expected.

Cail looked at the child with a calculated look in his eyes. Picking him up is very similar to adopting a pet. Hmm, maybe adopting a guard dog should be an appropriate one.

You raise them with the sole purpose of giving them a task. And that is to guard a house.

This kid is a bit strange out of his expectations, but since he’s already here, might as well go on with the plan.

"I’m hungry!" the kid said. The house vibrated once again.

Cail looked around. "Again, I’m going to ask you. Is this your doing?"

"Yep yep!" the kid nodded without any suspicions. "My ability is called Environment Manipulation! I can affect my environment based on my emotion!"

"You’re really not wary, aren’t you?" Cail was impressed by the lack of survival instincts.

The child wasn’t bothered. "Dying is the worst thing that could happen to me."

Cail teased him. "You don’t know torture?"

"Torture?" the kid smiled. "I know that, but I can kill myself before it escalates to that point."

Now aside from bad motive, Cail became a bit interested in this child. He sat down beside the kid and asked, "How old are you?" Although Cail could gauge, this kid seemed to be pretty mature.

"I’m seven years old," the kid answered.

"A baby." Cail clicked his tongue.

That word seemed to have triggered something. "I’m not a baby! You are the baby!" The child’s cheeks puffed up from anger.

Cail’s bad taste rose. Teasing this child feels like teasing Blackie.

He poked the child’s cheeks and rubbed them until they turned red. The child did not cry and just glared at him.

When Cail finished his fun, the child hugged his waist and looked up at him. "You are now my new parent."

Cail tried to pull the child away. "Kid, I’m underage."

The child did not understand what underage meant. He didn’t care, he whined, "Noo! You’re not the one who gets to decide! I am!"

Instead of getting angry, Cail was curious. "Why do you get to decide?"

The child smiled. "Because I’ll be the one giving the benefits."

Cail paused. While that sounded good, it wasn’t a pleasant thing to hear from a child’s mouth. He patted the kid’s head and asked, "Are those really your biological parents?"

"Yes." The child’s eyes looked devoid of any emotional attachments. "The one that got her head ripped off was my mom and the man who got his legs eaten was my dad."

Cail thought, the kid did resemble those two.

While it was strange, Cail didn’t think it was a big deal. Based on what he remembered, he seemed to be involved with illegal arms dealing when he was seven? He thought he was strange, but when looking at this child, he thought...

"I’m not strange at all. My personality and interests were a bit rare, but that’s it. Look, isn’t this kid the same as me? Not very strange."