Eating Charcoal

Sheena was still crying on Seion's arms. Then Seion immediately heard some footsteps rushing upstairs. He saw a group of men wearing white and black uniforms. They saw Seion with blood on his clothes and some bruises and open wounds in his body.

"We are the guardians of this city, are you all ok?" The man leading the group asked Seion.

"I am fine but the family members of this family are not." Then he pointed out the two dead bodies lying lifelessly while their grey matters spilled on the floor.

The guardians' expression turned grave and anger filled their faces. It was not their anger towards the monster that killed this family's pillar and light[1], it was their anger towards themselves who failed to stop a single monster.

"We are really sorry about this incident. We failed as the guardians of this city and we deserve a punishment." The leader of the group said

"Punishment? Why? You risked your lives to protect all of the residents and family living here and you asked for punishment? If you failed as the guardians, everyone should be dead right now, am I right? This was just entirely an accident that no one wishes for, so do not blame yourselves. Even I think gods make mistakes and you are not a perfect being who cannot make mistakes. I just want compensation for this family that can support this child's future. I hope you can fulfill my wish." Seion said it to lift up the guardians' morals and save them from blaming their selves.

The guardians were quite shocked by what the kid said. It really hit the point, they are the guardians who risked their lives for everyone in the city and they don't deserve punishment but they still felt it was their fault that this incident happened.

"Who are you?" The leader asked Seion.

"I am their neighbor, my name is Seion Curatonia," Seion said as he introduced himself.

Then he patted Sheena's head and introduced her, "This is Sheena Folcee (Fol-see) and those dead bodies are her mother and father." Then Seion pointed the dead bodies lying on the floor.

Then the leader instructed his men to clean up the dead bodies. The Brain-eating spider also did some damaged to their house and the Guardians from the Armaments of Humanity offered to renovate the house for compensation.

Seion asked Sheena if it is ok with her then she agreed and the deal was sealed and the renovation will start tomorrow.

"Do the little girl have any relatives where she can stay?" the leader said.

Sheena shook her head saying that she has no relatives to stay for the meantime.

"Then we will take you to our custody for the meantime then." The leader said.

When Sheena heard what the leader of the guardians said, she immediately clutched on Seion's arm tightly.

Then Seion understood what she means by that.

"When her parents are away, she was often left to me. We were close as siblings so I will take care of her and she'll live at my house." Then Seion placed his hand in her waist then pulled her towards his side.

The leader smiled. "By the way, my name is Arnold Moskov and you can ask for help when you needed to. Farewell." Then Arnold walked away and the guardians followed him.

"You'll live with me for the meantime, is that ok for you?" Seion asked her as he holds her hand and walked downstairs.

Sheena nodded but still refrained from talking. It really damaged her mind when she saw how the Brain-eating spider sucked her parent's brain.

Then they entered the house. Sheena took a bath and then changed to the new pajamas she brought from her house. Then she gave another room to Sheena.

Seion's house had many vacant rooms and he cleaned it regularly since he transmigrated here. He does not want untidy things in his house so basically he is a clean freak.

Sheena shook her head and said, " I don't want to be alone." Then tears dripped down her little face. Seion hugged her and comforted her for some time until she calmed down. Then he agreed to her request and then he took his bath.

He cleansed himself thoroughly from bloodstains. He also treated his wounds and also cleaned it. Regardless of what happened earlier, excitement flowed in his blood. He killed a monster and save a Lolita and he became quite ecstatic about that. And more importantly, he found a way to fix his life bar and that is by constantly absorbing life energy. But that was just his hypothesis.

He dipped his body in a hot water tub for the meantime and then dried himself after getting out of the tub and wore his pajamas.

When he entered the room, he saw Sheena was already sleeping soundly. Then he grabbed the blanket and placed it on Sheena.

Then he slowly gets up the bed and then lied beside Sheena and they shared the same blanket.

He was not able to sleep as the event that happened not too long ago still bothers him. He acted tough but deep inside he was afraid as hell. Seeing two dead bodies lying lifelessly on the floor with their gray matter mix in blood spilled on the floor made him want to puke on spot. But he needed to pull himself altogether in order to save Sheena who was in danger.

The battle with the Brain-eating spider terrified him even more. It's ugly face coupled with its proboscis that could suck his brain if he made a slight mistake in his actions terrified him so much that he felt that he was about to pass out anytime.

In his past life on earth, he was not able to see even the terrifying animals at the zoo but he saw all of them on the net. But the Brain-eating spider was different; it was on entirely a different level than the normal animals back on earth.

He was just transmigrated here not too long ago and his life was already threatened. He needed to be stronger to protect himself and to protect this little girl sleeping peacefully beside him.

But he needed to fix his life bar first in order to do that.

"I will try to download a map of the safest forest and buy some water and food. But before hunting, I will take of Sheena's needs first and help her move on from that incident." After deciding his future plans, he fell asleep immediately. He was really tired mentally and physically.

The morning came and peeked through the windows. The sun rays that passed through the windows hit Seion on his face thus waking him up.

Then he felt something warm inside his blanket, he raised his blanket and saw a little girl and it was Sheena.

He suddenly remembered the incident that happened last night and he still felt a little bit afraid about what happened. "I'll protect you Sheena." He said to the sleeping little girl as he pats her head.

Then he got up from the bed and takes a shower. He still saw some bruises in his body when he passed by a mirror. After taking a bath, he changes clothes and then immediately heads to the kitchen to cook their breakfast.

Right after he finished cooking, he heard Sheena screams upstairs. He rushed upstairs and open the door in his room and then saw Sheena crying while leaning against the wall in the corner while holding a blanket.

When Sheena saw Seion, she immediately runs toward him as he shouted "KUYA!"[2]

She immediately hugged Seion as she continues to cry. Seion was not dense in terms of reading a person's emotion. He knew that Sheena cried because she felt alone and afraid. The incident really traumatized her. Seeing your parents who cared for you died in an inhuman manner in front of you will really leave a deep scar in your heart. Especially in the case of Sheena where she is still an 8 years old girl and she was really close to her parents.

'I really need to bring her to a psychologist to examine her current condition.' Seion said to himself.

"Just cry Sheena, I promise you that I will always protect you from any danger that will befall to us." He said this as he pats Sheena's little head.

"Really Kuya?[2] You'll protect me?" Sheena asked as she looked up to her Kuya[2] Seion.

"I already protected you last night, isn't it enough to prove that I'll protect you always?" Seion said as he winked towards Sheena.

Sheena continued to cry while hugging Seion but she stopped later on. Seion goes back to the kitchen and fetched a glass of water and brought it upstairs and offered it to Sheena.

Sheen drank the water in one go and then she put down the glass to the table nearby. "Shall we go to eat breakfast? I cooked something for us." Seion asked Sheena.

Sheena frowned as she stared at Seion. Seion noticed Sheena frowning as she stared at him and he asked her, "Is there something on my face?"

"Uhhhm, no. I am just worried about our breakfast." Sheena's answer only made Seion more confused.

"Why?" Seion is already frowning in confusion. He didn't know why Sheena is talking like this.

"Because I saw you eating charcoal before." Sheena was embarrassed by her answer. She didn't know if her answer is offending or not but she was just honest.

Her answer only adds confusion to the already confused Seion. Then Seion tried to recall things through this world's Seion's memory.

He was a terrible cook and his foods always burnt crisp that is why Sheena said he was eating charcoal.

Seion blushed as he looked at Sheena. Then he said, "I already knew how to cook a month ago so don't worry. Come let's go downstairs because the food will get cold." Then he stood up and then offered his hand to Sheena. Sheena grabbed it and then both of them headed downstairs.

*Note

[1] In the Philippines, A Father is associated as the pillar of the home that makes it stronger and stands still while the mother is associated as the light that gave hope and caring love towards the whole family.

[2] In Filipino culture, we called our elder brother as Kuya or our elder sister as Ate (Pronounced as A-te not the past tense of eat). I would like to adopt some of our Filipino cultures in making this novel and I also found it a little bit easier to fit in the sentence than using "Big Bro" or "Big Sis". If you found this a little bit annoying or hard to understand, just comment down, I can change it anytime.