The Babysitter Wants to Stop Dying

Chapter 28: Let's Ask Before Buying a Baby Gift (2)

That's right.

Lottie had already been completely weaned off formula before she even met me. The day we first met, she was holding an egg in her hand and eating it, so a baby bottle was out of the question.

It was a surprisingly useless gift.

“……Whaat?”

Round red eyes and a gaping mouth.

“Her teeth have almost all come in, so she eats bread, fruit, and even potato salad just fine.”

I even mentioned she likes snacks earlier.

I tried my best to ignore her deeply disappointed face at the news that the gift was unnecessary and added the rest. At that, shouts erupted from Phillip and Delphi again.

“Vice-Captain!”

“Ms. Romero!”

“Ugh, my ears!”

As if they were about to grab Romero by the collar and shake her, they berated her and then pounded on the Vice-Captain's back with all their might. I subtly put down the box and covered both of Lottie's ears.

“That's why you should ask before buying a gift! Go and get a refund right now!”

Delphi, who grabbed Romero's right ear, and Phillip, who swiftly picked up the box.

“I bought it in District 1, but we're already leaving Eastbourne.”

“Then run there and back!”

“Y-you're too much!”

“You're the one who's too much, Ms. Romero!”

But is it okay for them to treat the Vice-Captain like that?

Wasting money was worth a scolding, but the atmosphere was a bit chaotic. For that person, it probably wasn't even pocket change.

‘Does she usually spend money like a pushover?’

Meanwhile, Romero, who didn't resist at all, was just sweating profusely and completely intimidated.

‘Hmm.’

It was hard to believe that this was the same person who had glared at Mago in the ruins of Eastbourne.

‘She's competent when she needs to be, but her usual treatment is……’

An idiot?

I never expected the protagonist to have such a weak mental state.

“But I threw away the receipt.”

At the two who looked ready to throw Romero out of the cargo wagon at any moment, Romero confessed another hidden fact.

“You wretch, you're so slow at other times, why are you so quick at times like this? When on earth did you throw it away?”

“No, I naturally thought it would be used well……. I threw it away as soon as I bought it.”

Kung-!

It seemed the wagon had passed a smooth road and entered a rough area again. As the floor began to shake irregularly, Delphi, who had let go of Romero's ear, leaned against the canvas surrounding the cargo bed and let out a sigh.

“This is why we don't entrust money to Ms. Romero. Because she always spends money on strange things! She kept saying she wanted to try managing money, so we trusted her, and she goes and buys something like that for that price?”

“Strange things! It was a gift for my niece, though……”

“It was useless and ridiculously priced. Doesn't it feel like déjà vu? Ms. Romero is always like this, you know?”

“Last week, she bought 1000 quri worth of bell peppers because they were cheap. And she didn't eat a single bite herself. I had to eat only bell peppers until yesterday to finish them.”

To Delphi's nagging, Phillip shrugged and added a word. After hearing a few other past incidents, I could understand why Romero was being scolded.

It seemed okay for her to be scolded a little more.

“Anyway, from now on, Phillip or I will be managing the money again.”

“What? Giving it and taking it back?”

“If Ms. Romero continues, we might end up starving like last month. Like when the staff officer was managing the money.”

“……”

I didn't know who the staff officer was, but it seemed something big had happened last month. Romero, who had been talking back despite being intimidated, quietly took out a heavy-looking pouch from her pocket.

“Still, looking at it, it's not too bad. Vice-Captain, since Lottie can't use this, I'll take it.”

“Phillip……. Don't tell me you have that kind of taste?”

Phillip, who had opened the box as if he had no choice, turned beet red at Delphi's disgusted expression.

“What kind of nonsense is this crazy woman spouting now? Are you insane?”

At the disgusted Phillip, Delphi asks with a smirk.

“It's a relief if you don't. But what are you going to use that for?”

“I'm going to get married too, you know. Even as a baby, my child should be able to handle this much weight.”

“So you're going to give that to your future child who hasn't even appeared yet?”

As Phillip nodded and packed the box,

“So Phillip thinks he can get married in the first place. Scary.”

Delphi landed another blow.

“Really, Delphi-sunbae, let's just have one punch.”

“As you well know, I have a pretty strong self-defense instinct. Be careful, you might lose all your teeth today.”

“You really think my shield is dog food, don't you?”

Their bickering, without losing a beat, was perfectly in sync as if they were one body.

“Hey, don't fight.”

Perhaps sensing that it was about to turn into a real fistfight, Romero, who had been the one getting hit earlier, raised her hand and gestured for the two to sit down. The funny thing was that as soon as she did, they both sat down.

“It's because the Vice-Captain always covers for them that they're all losing their discipline. We have no sense of hierarchy.”

As Delphi glared at Phillip with a face full of dissatisfaction,

“Ooh. It's the old man, the old man Delphi.”

As expected, a grating sound flew right back.

“This guy, really!”

It seemed like it was going to be an unusually noisy journey.

***

The wagon, after the baby bottle commotion, was quiet.

Delphi, who had thoroughly educated Romero on how to shop for things, had returned to her original spot and had fallen asleep. Phillip was organizing the bag he had brought before boarding, and Romero was also leaning against the haystack with her eyes closed.

It was a peaceful scene that made it hard to recall the time just half a day ago when they were about to be killed by a swarm of alligators.

“Lottie, are you asleep?”

I had felt the strength drain from the body clinging to me at some point, and I guess she had fallen asleep.

Looking at the slowly rising and falling Lottie, I fidgeted with the messy baby carrier. I had only bought it a day ago, but it was no different from a rag.

Come to think of it, Lottie and I had very little luggage. Romero had come empty-handed, but Delphi and Phillip each had their own luggage, the size of Lottie, which they must have packed at some point.

Even though I had bought everything, the damned alligators had completely destroyed the lodging, so we were back to square one.

All we had were a few diapers and clothes in a shabby little bag that Camila had packed for us.

In any case, it was a relief to have salvaged even this from such a devastated state, but I would have to buy some necessary items as soon as possible.

The fortunate thing was that I had Camila's check tucked away inside my shirt. I think there were five or six more, so I could probably use them.

‘Don't tell me she's going to deduct it from my salary later or something.’

A sudden sense of foreboding washed over me, but she didn't seem that petty. She gave it to me to use, so she probably wouldn't charge me separately.

No, she had to. I spent quite a lot yesterday.

Above all, most of it was for Lottie, so as her mother, she should know that much…….

‘Huh?’

Wait a minute.

‘What really is the relationship between this person, Lottie, and Camila?’

My head snapped to the right. It had been such a whirlwind of a time that I had completely overlooked this important point.

The protagonist, fast asleep with her head completely tilted back, was in dreamland.

Since Romero said she was the aunt, the current assumption is that Lottie and Camila are still mother and child.

To Romero, Lottie is the most precious being, and Camila is the next in line.

‘What kind of relationship is this?’

I wracked my brain, but the puzzle pieces just wouldn't fit. I had a rough idea, but it felt like there was something more.

Besides, the relationship between Romero and Camila didn't seem particularly good either.

Romero reacted very sensitively to Camila's safety, but on Camila's side, there was no particular greeting or special interest. Rather, the emotion in her eyes as she glanced at Romero for a fleeting moment seemed quite complicated.

Hatred? Sadness?

I couldn't tell.

At the very least, it wasn't a positive emotion.

“They seem like family, but……”

Since Romero said she was Lottie's aunt, Lottie must be the child of the protagonist's older or younger brother. Naturally, Camila would be his wife.

But while a niece can be the top priority, can the child's mother be that important too?

‘I could just ask, but I end up being cautious for no reason.’

I was trying to figure it out on my own, but when we came from the Center to Eastbourne, while moving from the yacht to the lodging, I had almost blurted out to Camila, 'Lottie is your son, right?'.

But a strange resistance that blocked my throat made me shut my mouth in the end. I felt it was better not to ask. As if something was stopping me from asking.

But now, I feel like I'll go crazy if I don't get a definite answer…….

‘Right. I'll just ask Romero when she wakes up. Exactly what the relationship is between the three of them, Camila, Lottie, and herself.’

After deciding to stop worrying on my own, I felt a little refreshed.

I stretched my stiff neck and let out a light sigh. My eyelids were throbbing.

‘I guess I've relaxed a bit. I'm so tired.’

I survived the chaos thanks to the grasshopper, but I was the one who had run like crazy. My legs were trembling even though I was sitting. It was understandable, since things that I could never have imagined with my original stamina kept happening one after another.

‘At this rate, I might end up beating up those alligators with my own hands later.’

I chuckled and opened and closed my right hand. I was scared because I almost died this time and almost lost Lottie, but I had definitely gained something.

Every time this thing called an achievement pops up, my abilities improve dramatically. The opening rate, which had been creeping up little by little, also shot up.

‘It would be nice if the criteria were clear.’

Then I could maximize efficiency.

I waved my hand lightly, and a series of notification windows popped up in front of me. I skipped past the quests and clues and focused on the ability window.

In any case, I had protected Lottie from the alligators and survived, so I thought something might have changed.

‘Oh.’

[Ardent Protection* / Opening Rate 50%]

It went up.

The rest was as I knew it, and the protector opening rate had increased by 1%.

‘But it's a bit stingy.’

I protected a child from such a ferocious swarm of alligators, so I thought it would be okay for it to go up more.

The important thing is that it went up, but there was a sense that the speed slowed down significantly once a certain percentage was reached.

‘More important than this is increasing the ability copy opening rate, and to do that, I need to commune with the target……’

So far, I had used the abilities of Lottie, Cobe, and the grasshopper.

That meant all of those targets had communed with me. Of course, the grasshopper was stated to be a temporary ability use due to an achievement.

I had a rough grasp of the criteria for communion. It seemed that communion was defined as the extent to which the other party thinks of me in a friendly way.

In any case, since I had joined the Knights, the probability of increasing 'communion' with the people in front of me was high.

“……”

Phew.

I was already tired, but I used my brain too much. It seemed like it was about time for me to get some shut-eye too.

‘By the way……’

Old man Philemon, I hope he's safe.

I swallowed the worry that had been weighing heavily on a corner of my mind and forced my eyes shut.

There was nothing I could do by worrying here anyway.

What I have to look at is always what's in front of me. I should just protect the child in my arms.

Repeating that to myself, I gradually fell into a deep sleep.