A Former Police Officer Who Died And Get A Second Life!-Chapter 102: Walking Together

On top of that, if Alberich said he would take Cari back by force, then Qiong Xing would not allow it either.

"I... want to stay with Caribert."

"You do not have to go back?"

He asked whether he would not miss home even if Cari was not with him.

"I never planned to go back from the start, so it is fine. I had already given up on parents like that, and the only family I have is Caribert."

There was surely no lie in the serious eyes looking at him.

"So being able to stay together is enough? Even if Cari dislikes it?"

The sad expression immediately appeared on the face that lowered, but when he raised it again, there was resolve.

"Even so. Even if it is only from a distance, I want to stay close to Caribert, even just a little."

If he had that much resolve, then it would be fine.

Qiong Xing nodded, then gently patted Alberich on the head as he looked over.

"Well done. Then you should come along with us too."

"...Huh?"

"Haaaaa!?"

He smiled at the four people in shock, then picked up Cari and left the house behind.

....

With his stomachs full, Qiong Xing left the house where he had been held and the fresh air for the first time in several hours felt wonderful.

"By the way, the three of you are not wearing collars. Was that alright?"

Elias had still been wearing his, but Joa, Leander, and Cari who arrived later were not wearing any.

When he worried that they might have been captured, Leander laughed as if it were nothing.

"We climbed over the castle wall, so it is fine."

Huh?

Climbed?

The castle wall?

When he looked up at the wall standing right beside them, there were indeed a few protrusions here and there.

But whether one could actually climb it was another matter entirely.

He turned his gaze toward Leander and the others.

"...Will I... be able to do that someday?"

"No, impossible."

"No, impossible."

"No, impossible."

"No, impossible."

Being corrected even by Alberich, Qiong Xing finally accepted it.

If Alberich who had a build not so different from Qiong Xing’s, said so, then it was surely impossible.

Qiong Xing who is giving up was carried by Joa as they left the town. Originally, he wants to walk the road to the hideout... but Joa did not let go.

"Joa?"

"For a while, it will stay like this."

After saying only that, Joa started walking while still carrying both Qiong Xing and Cari.

It seemed he had worried quite a lot, so Qiong Xing decided to stay quiet.

Of course, Alberich had his rope untied and was walking on his own.

Qiong Xing felt a little sorry for being the only one taking it easy, but when Leander and the others took turns carrying them, they seemed relieved.

"Are you guys really okay with this? Taking someone like me along?"

"If you do anything, we can just kill you."

"If that’s what you want, we can do it right now."

"If you do anything to Qiong Xing, we’ll make you suffer worse than death."

Scary. Far too scary.

And Joa, what does worse than death even mean?

Cari was frightened... no, he was not.

He was sleeping.

Good, good.

"Well, as long as I can be with Caribert, I’m fine with anything. And... I think I owe you an apology too. If there’s anything I can do, I’ll do it."

Qiong Xing smiled at Alberich who apologized honestly, but when Qiong Xing instead apologized for having defeated his companions, Alberich just laughed in response.

"Those guys were just thugs I hired only to search for Caribert, so it’s fine. Lately they kept demanding more money, and they were stupid criminals who could only do shady work anyway."

When told not to worry about it, Qiong Xing did not say anything further.

"By the way, I forgot to ask earlier, do demons have anything they are weak against? Cari eats pretty much anything, so I’d be worried if I accidentally fed him something bad without knowing."

So far there did not seem to be anything he disliked or reacted badly to, but Qiong Xing wanted to know if Alberich knew anything.

"As for food, not really. Well, individuals might have their own likes and dislikes. Personally, I can’t stand tomatoes."

That was unexpectedly cute.

Qiong Xing loved tomatoes.

Cari did too. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Since it seemed to be simply a personal dislike, Qiong Xing thought that if Alberich caused trouble, they might add tomatoes to his meals.

"Then I guess Cari will figure it out eventually too. Is there anything besides food?"

"Obviously, holy water is no good. And if we run out of magic power, we die."

"Magic power... magic power, you say. How do you use that magic power?"

"...Huh?"

"..."

Alberich stared blankly at him and froze, while Leander and the others, perhaps already used to this, only let out sighs and said nothing.

"Seriously? But you... Cari calls you Mama... huh?"

It seemed to be something he should have known.

Sorry, Cari.

He had been able to live without knowing because it had never caused any trouble before.

"Ah, well... I guess that explains it. Why Cari calls you Mama."

"...Yes?"

"If you didn’t know, that means Caribert never used it, right? But you raised him without worrying about that. Like a normal kid, like it didn’t matter. Like he didn’t need something like that."

He said that was exactly why Caribert had grown attached to him and called him Mama, but to Qiong Xing, it felt like, something like that?

It was true he hadn’t known Cari had magic power, but even if he had known, Qiong Xing would surely have raised him the same way he did now.

"To you it might be something small, but to Caribert... no, to us demons, a demon who doesn’t use or can’t use magic is nothing but a useless failure."

To be called useless just for that, demons really seemed like a difficult race to deal with.

He didn’t feel like he could get along with them.

Apparently, Cari’s mother had mistaken his hair turning white as a sign that his magic had disappeared and abandoned him.

Alberich spat out that she probably didn’t want to be the mother who gave birth to something useless.

Hearing that made Qiong Xing feel unbearably sorry for Cari.

When he hugged him tightly, Cari unconsciously snuggled closer and Qiong Xing found him unbearably cute.

"That’s why I’m glad you were the one who bought him. I was worried the whole time. I was told he was thrown away, and even when I searched nearby he wasn’t there. When I asked my father, he said he didn’t know anything. I left home to look for him, but there was no information at all. But thanks to you, Caribert looks really happy now."

Alberich’s face when he said thank you looked like that of a brother who truly cared about his family and Qiong Xing wished somehow that he and Cari could make up.

Cari was still confused now, but surely one day he would understand.

Since he had been abandoned when he was still very young, he didn’t seem to remember Alberich, but even so, Qiong Xing hoped they could become close as siblings.