When Did I Become An Artifact Dealer?!
Chapter 50: Burned Girl

Chapter 50: Chapter 50: Burned Girl

"Inshi, you know. You’re injured, so I think you should just stay here. It’s dangerous exploring the rift," a man said. Despite the righteous reason, the guilt on his face was clear.

Inshi looked at the man and smiled. "I—I know. You guys go ahead. Don’t mind me. I’ll just stay here."

The man heard the shaking in her voice. He felt pain, but his decision was unshakable. The rift was dangerous. Bringing Inshi wouldn’t just bring her harm, but also bring the whole group down.

He hugged Inshi. "Inshi, don’t worry. I’ll give you my find. Trust me." He looked **at** Inshi in the eye as he held her hands. "Everything will be okay. Just stay here. I’ll be back."

"Aires, are you done talking to Inshi?" A head poked out of the door.

The two of them looked at the cute short-haired girl staring at them. Aires smiled. "Sirae, I just finished talking to your sister."

Hearing that, Sirae became bubbly. "Aye! I just heard you saying you’ll give your find to my sister? Why don’t you count me in?"

Sirae went inside and hugged the scarred girl. "Don’t worry, sister. I won’t let you be at a disadvantage in this exploration!"

Inshi smiled and rubbed Sirae’s head. "You, don’t do that. I don’t want to take advantage of you... You’re already very busy with your mission. Just keep what you find and make sure that you are safe."

Something flashed in Sirae’s eyes. "Big sister... Do you still hate me?"

Inshi felt a bit of panic in her heart. She looked at the frowning Aires from the corner of her eye. "Sirae, we’ve already talked about this before..." she whispered.

Sirae smiled. "Big sister, you never said you don’t hate me anymore." Sirae’s eyes watered. "You can accept Aires’s finds but not mine?"

Aires interjected, "Sirae, your sister just felt that you’re at a disadvantage in that deal. She was just doing things that she thinks is good for you."

Sirae bit her lips and let out a forced smile. "I know. I—I’ll go out and ready myself." She hurriedly ran outside the door.

Aires looked at Inshi, who was staring at the floor. He sighed. "Inshi, I know you feel bad... But Sirae didn’t want that accident to happen. Don’t push her away or make her feel like you hate her. She’s one of the people who only wish the best for you."

Inshi didn’t answer. Aires walked toward her and cupped her face. "Look at me."

The moment Inshi saw her reflection in Aires’s eyes, she slapped his hand away. "No!"

An unrecognizable face filled with bumpy scars. A blind left eye and a deformity on the left side of her face. Seeing the ’monster,’ Inshi felt something inside her snap.

"Don’t—don’t look at me like that!" She covered her face.

Aires wanted to touch her, but seeing her flinch that hard, he gave up. "Okay, okay... I’m not doing anything."

After a while, Inshi calmed down. Aires approached her and kissed her burned hair. "I’ll get going now. Stay safe here. I left some artifacts for self-defense and bound this house. Rest assured, nothing could harm you."

Inshi nodded. "You—stay safe... I’ll be waiting here."

...

Hearing the door close, Inshi’s gentle smile vanished. She sat on the cold tiles and covered her face.

"Sirae..." Her voice was filled with mixed emotions.

She looked at her hands. They looked horrifying, with thin reddish skin and an ugly burn mark that looked like her skin was sticking together at a weird angle. Her pinky had vanished, and she no longer had any nails. That sounded worse, but what took more damage was her face. It now looked like an abomination.

"I—I’m sorry, Sirae..." She felt like a horrible sister. She couldn’t forgive Sirae, no matter how hard she tried.

That incident on the other void rift expedition—that changed her life. From a promising void user to a burdened monster. Despite looking amicable on the surface, no one knew how dark her heart had become after that incident.

"Sirae, if you had just listened to me, none of that would have happened."

"Aires, you claim to still love me despite looking like this..." But remembering how disgusted he was when he first saw her, Inshi felt like dying...

She understood, but that didn’t mean she could accept it. Despite knowing human nature, she wasn’t numb to all their hypocrisy.

Sirae, despite being a bit problematic, was the only family she had.

Aires, despite hating her looks, still felt responsible as her fiancé.

Her family and teammates, despite no longer expecting anything from her, wanted to give her a happy life after the accident.

"I should be satisfied..." she muttered, a sharp pain stabbing her heart.

"What about my dream?! What about my sacrifice?! Do any of you know how much effort I put in to be in that position, only to be pulled down by a stupid mistake!" She screamed inside the room like a madwoman.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" From being hailed a young genius to this. The gap was too big for Inshi to handle.

Why should she care what people felt when she herself didn’t know what to feel about the situation? They obviously tried to be considerate with her, but why did she feel so stupid?

"It’s normal to feel bad."

At first, Inshi thought it was one of the hallucinations she suffered after forcibly severing herself from her artifact. But when she looked at the window, she saw a man wearing a helmet and carrying a child in his arms.

The child was wearing a cloth over her head, looking at her in curiosity. The child pointed at her and asked the man, "That sister. Why does the titan look more human than her?"

"What do you consider human? I don’t base it on appearance," the man wearing the helmet said. He tapped the window, and although Inshi couldn’t see what he looked like, she could feel that he was smiling.

"For me, humans are people with a flame burning inside them..." the man said. "Fan that flame until it causes a wildfire or arson."

The child pulled the man’s collar. "Flame? I’m not seeing any flame in humans. Don’t tell me you don’t view anyone as human?"

"Because you’re an idiot." The man knocked the child’s head. "Don’t take what I’m saying literally."

Again, the man knocked on the window. Inshi finally came back to her senses and looked at the two people outside warily.

How did they get inside the bind-class artifact?!

But before Inshi could even say or do anything, the man opened the window as if the light film wall that was protecting it didn’t exist. He did not jump inside the house, but he placed the child on the window sill and looked at Inshi.

The situation was off, but what came out of the man’s mouth worsened the weird atmosphere.

"You are my first customer to experience this new pricing. You have nothing? Don’t worry! My trade got a new upgrade! You can pay for your desires with just a small price..."