There was a knock on the door, and I knew who it was before even answering. Since I had gotten home, I had dreaded this, and it was finally there. Opening the door, the fake girlfriend I had created to avoid trouble at school had come to cause trouble at home. However, she wasn’t the trouble. Instead, it came in the little form standing next to her.

“Daddy!” Maya ran through the door and immediately threw her arms around me.

I wasn’t even sure how to respond to such a greeting. Ivy’s face turned red.

“M-maya! Don’t say something so ridiculous like that!”

“Hmm? Isn’t it better I see him as a parent while he’s taking care of me?” Maya responded.

“Even if you say that…” Ivy didn’t seem to be able to deal with Maya’s irrefutable logic.

“If you’re going to call me by the title father, then you’d be agreeing to any form of discipline I offer should you fail to adhere to my rules.” I declared darkly.

“Ah… discipline…” Ivy glanced up at me, looking somewhat uncertain.

“It’s okay! I trust daddy!” Maya declared, turning to her mother while still holding onto me, seemingly unphased by my threat.

Ivy continued to look uncertain, but as she opened her mouth, there was a yell from the house next door. “Ivy! Are you coming?”

It was Lana who sounded somewhat excited. I didn’t know much about Lana other than that she was a witch, but I had a distinct feeling that this was the first time she had ever had a friend over. She was very excited about it. Ivy looked over at the house next to her, and back one last time. She bit her lip before nodding and running off to the house next door. In the end, she was a teenage girl, after all, and the temptation to hang out with someone her age was too great for the girl who had to grow up too quickly.

It wasn’t like I cared. Countless parents had left their sick children to me during the epidemic. Most of them had even less reason to leave than Ivy. Not a single one of them stayed and took care of their child while I treated them. They seemed to expect me to feed and care for them. Thus, it wasn’t like I was uncomfortable with this kind of thing. I just wished I had a few flesh golems with me for help.

As I closed the door and turned back into the house, a girl was staring at me with her hands on her hips. “What is this?”

“You’ve met Maya, Kio” I explained. “Her mother needs her to stay the night here.”

Her eyes flashed. “Y-you can’t do that! Mom isn’t here!”

“Mom will be home in a few hours. I’m sure she won’t mind. This was sprung on me last minute.”

“Sh-she said you can’t have girls over.” Kio declared defiantly.

I raised an eyebrow. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Kio’s face flushed, and she looked like she wanted to argue more.

“Am I not welcome here?” Maya asked innocently.

Kio looked at the little girl and then panicked. “Ah… it’s just, I mean. If we need to feed you…”

“I already ate before coming!” Maya declared.

“Ah… but, a place to sleep…”

“I’m happy sleeping on the couch. I sleep on the couch most nights anyway.” Maya deflected that excuse as well.

As good as Maya seemed at manipulating her mother, she seemed just as skilled with Kio. She wasn’t satisfied, but she couldn’t come up with a valid complaint either. I shrugged. I was above being manipulated by a child.

“Here’s the couch.” I gestured. “Good night.”

Maya and Kio both blinked.

“Huh? It’s not my bedtime!”

“It’s already dark out. When is your bedtime?” I asked.

“8! It’s only 7…”

“Then you’re only losing one hour. I consider that an acceptable loss.”

“Y-you didn’t intend to watch her at all, did you?” Kio accused. “You just planned to abandon her.”

“…” It wasn’t like she was wrong.

Children were surprisingly sturdy. You didn’t need to stare at them all the time. These parents who expected a babysitter to watch their child the entire time were being unreasonable. Those parents would barely even pay attention to that child on their own, so what did it matter as long as they were safe and fed? As for making sure their emotional or mental needs were met, how was that the responsibility of a babysitter at all?

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Kio shot me a glare and then kneeled next to Maya. “Maya, are you hungry?”

“A little,” Maya admitted.

Kio shot me a smug look. I could only roll my eyes. Of course, if you asked a child, they would always be hungry. She probably wanted ice cream or a dessert.

Kio put out her hand. “Let’s get you something to eat.”

Maya glanced my way and then took Kio’s hand, and Kio lead her into the kitchen. I followed behind, mostly because I had never seen Kio function in the kitchen before. Mom never asked her, and I presumed it was because Kio didn’t know how.

“Alright… then, what would you like.” Kio opened up the fridge. “Hmmm, we have some leftover meatloaf.”

Maya stuck out her tongue and shook her head exaggeratedly.

“Ah… okay, how about some string cheese?”

She shook her head again.

“I have some oranges. Do you want me to cut one up?”

Refusal.

“Carrots? Mac and Cheese? Milk?”

Each one, Maya thought for a second and then shook her head. I could see the vein starting to pop on Kio’s forehead. She had been trying to show me up, but she couldn’t seem to find anything that Maya would settle on.

I sighed and walked over to the fridge. Kio took a step back, crossing her arms and glaring at me. After a glance, I pulled out something from the vegetable drawer.

“You’re having celery.” I declared, lifting the back of green sticks.

She stuck out her tongue in disgust but then hesitated. “With peanut butter?”

“No.” I had peanut butter, but I wasn’t going to get it.

“Bleh! I don’t want it.”

“Then, you’re not hungry. Go to bed.”

“Eh? I-I am too hungry!”

“Then eat the celery.”

“I don’t want the celery!”

“Eating isn’t about fulfilling your wants, it’s about fulfilling your needs.”

“Fine, then, I don’t need celery!”

“Then, you aren’t hungry.”

“Gah! I am, it’s just plain without peanut butter.” Maya whined.

“Well, we don’t have peanut butter, so you’ll eat it plain.” I lied.

“I don’t want to!”

“Fine, then you don’t eat.” I moved the celery back to the fridge.

“Ah… b-b-but… I’ll take it!” Maya panicked as I started to close the door.

“Very well.” I pulled out the celery, and then put some on a plate.

She sat down at the table, and then stared at the celery that I put in front of her, but didn’t touch it. It was clear that she didn’t want to eat so much as she wanted to avoid being put to bed.

“You’re not eating,” I spoke quietly, reaching for the plate.

“No! I will… it’s just… plain.” She frowned.

I slapped a jar in front of her. “I found peanut butter.”

“Ah, you said you didn’t have any!”

“I found it.”

“But…”

“Do you not want any?”

“I’ll take it!” She cried out desperately.

With a knife, I spread some peanut butter on her plate. This time, she stuck the stick in her mouth as if she was afraid I’d take it away from her. During this entire exchange, Kio was giving me a strange look. I glanced back at her.

“What is it?”

“N-nothing!” She looked away, but after a few seconds, her eyes wandered back. “Um… about the err… ointments that you make…”

“What about them?” I asked.

“Ah, it’s just…” her eyes darted to Maya who was crunching on her celery, making a face each time even with peanut butter on them. “Do you have anything that can… improve things… by Friday?”

I narrowed my eyes. “What do you mean by improving?”

Her face flushed. “Y-you know… things… like, for the guy.”

I thought I knew what she was talking about, but then she lost me. “The guy?”

“You know, for the first… ah forget about it!”

She pulled away from me, giving me a look as if I had somehow done something to offend her. Then, with a huff, she spun around and walked away. The door to her room slammed shut a moment later.

“What’s with her?” Maya asked.

I shrugged.

After Maya finished her snack, I went and got her a blanket and pillow and then made sure she was put to bed on the couch. I gave her a remote and let her watch the television. I found that televisions were good was to distract stupid people. They could just stare at them all day. It was the perfect weapon against an annoying child.

Once she was settled down, I went to my room. With a stretch, I went to my desk and started pulling out my ingredients. Tonight was a bit special. I wasn’t just going to make some balms and potions. I had a more ambitious project. I had boughten the supplies when I went shopping, but I wasn’t confident enough in it to do it yet. I still lacked confidence, but need took precedence.

Pulling out some pieces of fabric, a needle, and string, I began my most difficult mission yet, sewing. Thankfully, I wasn’t particularly bad at sewing. I had to sew up the wounds of countless people. As a flesh made, I was also accustomed to sewing bodies back together. Thus, one could say that I had an extremely steady hand. Sewing fabric wasn’t the same thing, but it did have its uses. In particular, when it came to scribing spells, the fabric was a bit more permanent than paper. Just as I started to get into a rhythm, my door opened.

“What you doing?” A youthful voice asked.

“You should be asleep,” I spoke in a flat voice.

“I got bored.” She admitted.

“You’d be less bored if you were asleep,” I responded.

“What is that?” She tried to deflect my words a second time.

With a sigh, I showed her the cloth in my hand. “I’m making something.”

“Really? Is it a present?” She asked.

“You could call it something like that.” My lips turned up slightly.

“Is it for Mom?”

My smirk dropped. “It’s not.”

“Who’s it for?”

“It’s for me.”

“Eh? Then why did you call it a present?”

“It won’t be anything if I keep getting disturbed by little girls!” I hissed.

“Oh…” She went to my bed and sat down, and realizing she had no intention of leaving, I decided to ignore her and get back to work.

However, she wasn’t satisfied sitting there and waiting. She started to swing her feet, kicking the back of the bed. Thump. Thump. Thump. Her feet kept hitting it, and she didn’t even keep to a rhythm. I found my irritation quickly rising.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

I finally reached the end of my patience. I put down the fabric and spun around. “Will you-”

“Can I help?” She quickly asked, giving an innocent smile like she had no clue she was annoying me.

“Fine…” I spun back around. “I need you to make something for me. I’m going to need to treat the fabric, so you can make the solution.”

“Okay!” She declared excitedly.

I looked at her from the side. Could I trust her to make it properly? The solution was quite a bit easier than the embroidery work. If she messed that up, the ingredients were easy enough to replace and I could try again. After coming to a decision, I sighed.

“Grab the mortar and pestle. No, that thing! Yeah… alright, you’re going to need to add five drops of this bottle. Exactly five!”

I started to direct Maya in the ways of artifact creation, and the night went surprisingly quick.