“Ikh...”

Astie could not stop crying.

Even so, she wiped away the flowing tears — shurkh — and picked up the jaw that had fallen to the floor, fitting it back into the skull.

Bale and Basto stared at the sight, petrified.

The child continued speaking.

“And Grandpa fortune teller too, ikh! Don’t worry, ikh! He ran far away, but he’s coming back here now! Grandpa has healing potions and bandages in his bag too.......”

“Tie.”

Basto interrupted the child.

“......Your. Hand.”

Astie lowered her head.

Dzing—

The skull’s jaw fell out again.

Astie gathered the bone once more, then looked at Bale and Basto.

“This? Bone Friend.”

Bale even forgot how to breathe and blinked dumbly.

Only Astie kept chatting as if nothing unusual were happening.

“So, his name is Bone Friend, and he’s friends with Bone Friend 2 and Bone Friend 3. And altogether there are Bone Friends up to 23.”

The skull’s jaw fell out again.

Astie, seemingly annoyed, stretched out an “iiin” and put the jaw back in place again.

Then she frowned, as if hearing something in the emptiness, and asked back:

“What? That Bale oppa and uncle could become Bone Friend 24 and 25? You can’t say such bad things!”

“.......”

“Is that a joke? But a joke is when the other person is happy too. If the other person feels bad, it’s just anger, that’s what they said.”

“.......”

“W, well, of course I know that, you’re really very kind! Thank you for saving oppa and uncle. Later I’ll even sell chhogasamgan, but I’ll definitely repay you!”

Bale’s and Basto’s gazes met.

“You don’t know what chhogasamgan is? It’s a house, a small house! A proverb, you know proverbs, right?”

“.......”

“Oh, you don’t even know proverbs? Well, ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) it’s fine, really, even if you don’t know, that’s still okay. Tie also doesn’t know so many things.”

“.......”

“Well, of course! Later I’ll tell you everything. Ah, friend, can you ask again when Grandpa fortune teller will come?”

Bale’s heart began to beat harder and harder.

And that’s why it happened.

When a bony hand burst out of the ground right in front of them, he almost collapsed from fright.

And when that bone clearly pointed somewhere into the forest behind them, it felt as if his heart had stopped altogether.

Dzing.

The raised index finger trembled, making a creaking sound.

Standing between the two men, Tie smiled brightly.

“Waa! It really is Grandpa fortune teller!”

There, in the distance, where the bony finger pointed.

With his forehead drenched in blood, fortune teller Nordix really was walking here on foot.

“Chew carefully~ you can’t be picky~”

Clear, ringing children’s laughter echoed through the cave.

Basto and Bale, with their wounds wrapped in bandages, remained silent the whole time.

Nordix, walking behind them, did as well.

“Spinach, carrots, black beans! Your bones will be strong!”

Tie was still holding the skull in her hands.

And she was still talking to it all by herself.

“Oh! Bone Friend 18 is hurt?”

“.......”

“Waa— if he’s in the ground, he’ll heal by himself. Then maybe injections won’t even be needed?”

Bale and Basto exchanged looks.

And then they froze at Tie’s next words.

“Oh? Uncle, here!”

Tie pointed precisely to the place where the Magic Stone had been.

“Look! There really aren’t any cracks anymore!”

Basto froze in place, staring blankly at the ground.

Tie’s words were true.

The Magic Stones that had stood in the darkness nearby had vanished without a trace.

And the cracks around them had disappeared as well.

“The Bone Friends said that everything in the ground knows everything, and it’s true! They probably finished off everything that was left! Wow! We took the Magic Stones! And two at once!”

They swallowed dryly.

Basto and Bale had not been able to destroy all the creatures that came out of the cracks.

The mere fact that one Rikellops had broken out of the cave during the fight was enough.

So the idea that the Magic Stones had been completely cleared... they could not even imagine it.

Basto turned away from the delighted Tie.

And with a serious face, looked at Bale and Nordix.

“Listen. If my guess is correct, then Tie.......”

Bale and Nordix nodded.

Meanwhile, Tie had already sat down on the spot where the Magic Stone used to be.

In front of her she neatly laid out the skull (apparently because the jaw kept falling out) and was pondering chikka or chikke.

“You know, when I lived in Jongno-gu, Grandma 107 did implants! If you get implants, new teeth grow right out. You should go to the dentist too and get implants.”

“.......”

“Huh? There’s no dentistry underground? Then what should you do...... do you at least have insurance? If you don’t have insurance, treatment is a bomb in terms of money. Implants are expensive.”

“.......”

“Then there’s nothing that can be done. I don’t have insurance either, by the way? When I caught a cold before and went to the hospital, Father paid a lot of money, and I was so embarrassed. If you have medical insurance, it’s not that expensive, but I don’t have it, so that’s how it turned out, Lady 203 said.......”

What an implant is.

What dentistry is.

What medical insurance is, and who Lady 203 is.

At moments like this, Tie really was an ordinary four-year-old.

Chattering about things she imagined herself, and talking to someone with whom conversation was impossible.

At first glance — typical child behavior, nothing strange.

But.

“The problem is that she really does seem to be talking to that skull.”

Nordix and Bale nodded.

Definitely, Tie was not communicating with an imaginary friend right now.

With something that only she could hear and see.

Probably with a “real skeleton.”

“Uheheh! Really? Bone Friend 15 stole a tooth from a bad creature, that’s so funny! The tyrannosaurus will get angry!”

“What should we do?”

Bale turned pale and muttered.

“What are you even supposed to do in a situation like this.”

But the other two didn’t know the answer either.

Someone who uses necromancy that had existed only in legends had appeared in the world.

And that person was a four-year-old child without a guardian.

“......Mm? Ah, really? To pass the mercenary exam, you need a creature core? Huh? You’ll really collect cores for me?”

On top of that, she didn’t even seem to understand what she herself was doing.

Basto bit his lip and turned toward Tie.

And walked straight up to the child who was peacefully conversing with the skull.

“Tie.”

Astie finally raised her head.

Seeing her serene face, he involuntarily tensed and swallowed.

“Your skele... I mean, Bone Friends.”

The child’s eyes widened.

“Can you tell me how you summoned them?”

Tie tilted her head as if the question were difficult, and only after a long time did she answer.

“I didn’t call them.......”

“Then what is it, huh? What is this supposed to be at all!”

The impatient Bale cut in.

Tie, still tilting her head, scratched the back of it while looking at them.

“We just met.......”

“Just met? With skeletons? Where?”

“But, Bale oppa, they’re not skeletons. They’re Bone Friends.”

Bale shut his mouth.

Then, forcing a very pretty smile and clenching his teeth, he asked:

“Fine. Bone Friends. And where exactly did you meet them?”

“Well, I was praying in the forest so that no one would die, and then I met them. My voice in the prayer was so loud that they woke up. From the first Bone Friend all the way to the twenty-third!”

At her giggling smile, Bale lost the ability to speak.

At that moment, Nordix’s voice came from behind.

“......A child born with magic. And her magic is extremely strong.”

Basto’s, Bale’s, and Tie’s gazes all turned to Nordix at once.

Nordix, calmly looking at Tie, continued.

“Without realizing it, she awakened her own ability. She is still too young, so it is natural that she does not understand what exactly she has done.”

“Does Tie have an ability?”

The girl asked.

Leaving the frozen Basto and Bale behind him, Nordix stepped forward.

“Yes. It seems you have a truly outstanding ability. Normally awakening happens already in adolescence, but you......”

Tie’s green eyes opened wide.

After thinking for a moment, the girl suddenly exclaimed:

“N, no way!”

The three men held their breath, focusing on the words that would fall from her lips.

But Tie clapped her palm against her knee and said something completely out of place:

“Blood is thicker than water, yaa!”

In the settled silence.

The skull’s jaw fell out again.