'Okay, Maggy's hamburger is prepared, only... I believe that this alone will not be enough for her. Maybe a gift would be good? But I don't know what to buy...'
Noah's wardrobe was not very varied. He always bought clothes thinking about their practicality, both when it came to clothes to use in Fortresses and when talking about clothes to wear in everyday life. For someone who loved colors, "disappointment" would surely be the perfect word to describe the feeling that person would feel when looking at the clothes that Noah owned for casual use.
Noah was always varying between black and white for his clothing, and today was no different. Wearing a long-sleeved sweatshirt, black pants, and white sneakers, Noah was in his usual gear preparing to leave the house and visit the hospital. Of his clothing, the only thing that was not practical were his white sneakers, which he only wore when he went to see someone important since he was too lazy to wash every time he left the house, making him considerably reduce the number of times he wore those shoes.
The initial plan he had was to go directly to the hospital and spend the whole day playing and talking with Maggy, but when he saw his bank account, now with many zeros at the end from a single Fortress, he felt he should spend at least a little of that money on her. She was always the reason he wanted to make more and more money; if he couldn't spend some of that money to make her happy, it would be worthless.
The problem he was facing was that he just didn't know what to give her. He initially thought about buying a doll, but for some time she had been telling him that she didn't want that kind of thing anymore. Probably being influenced by what she was seeing on the internet, and also by everything that happened in their family, she apparently wanted to grow up faster. Noah thought it was cute, but it made it very difficult for him to choose what to give such a cute yet headstrong girl.
As he sat on the bus holding the bag with her hamburger between his legs, his brain unconsciously ignored the conversation of the people around him. This was a means of self-defense that he subconsciously developed to protect himself from all of the judgment that he received from people he knew who were whispering to each other from afar, mocking him for allegedly praying to a god of beauty. If he didn't have this self-imposed barrier, he would have overheard conversations like that of the two middle-aged women who were sitting two seats behind him.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Anna, look at that boy. I wish I knew someone like that in my youth," one of the women said. This one wore a lot of makeup on her face, but given the features she had, she was certainly a beautiful woman when she was younger.
"Hehe, don't you think you're past the age of watching boys that young? I believe he's old enough to be either of ours son," the other woman, a little fatter, said.
"That's true… My daughter must be close to his age. But I will tell you, I would be a very happy mother if my son-in-law was as beautiful as this boy; surely, my grandchildren would be extremely cute," the beautiful woman chuckled to herself, imagining the cute children.
The other woman heard her friend's comment and couldn't help but laugh along as well. Her own son was a few years younger than this young man. If he had become as handsome at his age, she would have no worries about finding a daughter-in-law in the future.
These kinds of comments were extremely common around Noah; he just didn't know it. If he had started paying attention to the conversation of the people around him, he would have either become too arrogant to be praised so many times, or he would just be ashamed to hear older women say such shameless things.
Not that he cared much about it, since as he had to mature very early, he was much more mature than most people his own age. That was the big reason that many older women he interacted with even offered their number to him. Some of them Noah even thought about accepting and calling them back, but remembering how much responsibility he carried on his shoulders both when it came to getting money to pay for Maggy's treatment and to pay off the debt his mother had from his uncle, he put those thoughts aside.
What good would it do him to go out to have fun with women, while his only reason for life, Maggy, was lying alone and suffering in a hospital bed? Noah could just as easily invest the time spent dating women to study Fortresses and more effective methods of combat, and that was exactly what he did. At times, his lower head spoke louder than the upper one, but with so many responsibilities and so few methods of fulfilling those responsibilities, the top head always managed to take over before it was too late.
As Noah looked out of the bus window without knowing what to do, he noticed a little girl the age of his sister walking on the sidewalk while holding an ice cream with one hand, but what caught Noah's eye was not the ice cream she was holding in one hand, but what she was holding in the other hand. Instead of a small normal animal, in the girl's hand was a small white mouse - not a normal white mouse, but a white mouse with bright eyes! That was not an animal; it was a monster - a monster that was often found in Rank D Fortresses!
Looking through the bus window, Noah noticed that the little mouse with the bright eyes was not the only monster that was walking around the city. There were actually a few others of them, or rather, several others of them.
'How did I not notice this before?! Did I become so focused on improving myself that I started to ignore such important things around me? Maybe there are other things as important that I haven't noticed until today?' Noah wondered mentally with wide eyes glancing from side to side.
When he was an ordinary high school student before his mother had passed away, Noah had heard of Blessed who brought monsters out of Fortresses and tried to raise them as pets.
When this news came, the population was clearly very excited, especially the students at the school. Noah was no exception: just as the girls wanted the cutest monsters to keep them company, the boys wanted the bad-ass monsters to show off to their friends. This included young Noah as well.
He imagined heading down the street riding on the back of a majestic fire lion from a Rank A Fortress. As the monster's graceful mane would catch fire, people would stare at him with admiration, just as wealthy people received such looks when they displayed their luxury cars. Noah had imagined about riding high rank monsters as if they were luxury mounts, as if he were a superstar.
Clearly, this was nothing but a high school students' dreams, as in just a few months the Blessed began to give up trying to tame these monsters, ruining without knowing the dreams of countless boys who wanted to impress girls with the monsters they had, leaving only a small minority of researchers still trying to tame monsters and use them for their own benefit.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmWho knew that after so many years, apparently those researchers had managed to discover a method of taming monsters that had such a brutal aura.
To satisfy his curiosity, Noah took out his cell phone and searched for the term 'Domesticated Monsters' on his search page. The result that came up surprised him. Apparently, the researchers managed to find a way to truly domesticate the monsters, but this only worked for weaker monsters. For stronger monsters, the future owner of the monster needed to be equally strong to control it, otherwise they would lose control of the monster and it would kill everyone around.
'So that's the reason why only the most harmless monsters of Rank D Fortresses were in the hands of normal people and children. Perhaps there are Blessed Ones who have tamed stronger monsters like the fire lion of a Rank A Fortress?'
Seeing how happy the little girl was when she held the little white mouse with bright eyes in her hand, Noah had an idea of what gift he would give to his sister.
Sunday's Extra Chapters Challenge!
[3.700 Stones = 2 Extra Chapter]
[4.000 Stones = 4 Extra Chapters]
[+500 Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[Chapter edited by Azurtha]