You don't have permission to observe this soul

Sariel was confused.

The lady wasn't looking at him when he heard System's voice, so it couldn't have been her.

Who could have soul read him?

He felt his energy somewhat restored and scanned every corner of the room, but there was no one hiding. Even if there were, he doubted he would have been able to see them...

“Despite being a human who doesn’t know them, you helped them… I don't know why, but thank you.”

He tried to focus on the potential threat that could be approaching, but her teary-eyed gratitude drew his attention.

He was stunned. Even if he had a few allies, finding someone friendly was incredibly rare. Most people would react like Mein, not like this.

Tears streamed down her face. “Thank you... so much… truly, thank you.”

His heart was pounding. A warm feeling spread through him. His actions were being appreciated. How could that not make him happy?

He tried to keep a strong front, but it was difficult. A few tears escaped down his cheeks.

He felt he should be the one thanking her, for treating him like a person.

She noticed his tears and moved closer, concerned. “Did I say something wrong? Why are you crying?”

She reached out to him but hesitated, remembering that he had made it clear before he didn't want to be touched.

Instead, she handed him a handkerchief. “Here.”

He wiped his tears with it.

She then asked, her expression curious, “Uh… are you from some elite family?”

What an odd question. Why would she ask that? “No, why?”

She pointed at his head. “Well, you have a special hat… and it seems impossible to remove. It had a lot of blood on it, so I tried to take it off, but it wouldn’t budge. It was like it was stuck.”

The knit hat... He didn’t know it had that feature, but he was relieved. Neil and Natasha had warned him that no one should find out about his hair.

Compared to the issues revealing his hair could cause, the soul-read immunity seemed minor.

He responded, “No, I’m not. This was a gift from a slayer—someone who helped me a lot.” Natasha had given it to him.

Creak.

The door creaked open.

“Hi, stranger.” A big man stood there, clad in steel and leather armor. A pelt from a white bear-like creature hung over his shoulder.

His outline was yellow.

“You came home early. How was work?” the woman asked, smiling.

Her husband?

The man greeted her. “It was busy, as always…” He raised a cloth bag. “I got the ingredients for your medicine. I can make it now. Want to help? I'm quite tired.”

She walked over. “Sure, I know how to make most of it already. I could do it myself.”

“Most of it. I’m not taking a risk with you messing up the process.”

She sighed. “Whatever…” She then gestured toward Sariel. “He helped Lilan and Kai with a thief. He got injured, and they found him, so that's why he's here.”

The man's eyes widened, his outline shifting to white.

“Oh. I saw him when I was coming home… and noticed something different.”

He had been the one who soul-read Sariel a few minutes earlier.

The woman turned to Sariel. "I'll be going now."

"Yes, take care," Sariel replied.

The man turned and walked out with the woman.

The door closed.

Sariel stood up, but his balance was still shaky. He felt like most of his energy had returned, but moving was a struggle. After several minutes of trying to steady himself, he gave up and sat back on the bed.

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“We’re back!” the kids announced. The boy was carrying a bowl of soup.

It was filled with a brown-yellow liquid, with what looked like some kind of ground provisions. The aroma was rich with herbs, spices, and meat.

“Thanks for the food,” he said, “but I’m not hungry.” The bread he’d eaten earlier had left him feeling full.

“Huh.” Lilan looked surprised.

“But Mom worked hard on it!” the boy said angrily.

“I’m just not hungry.”

“You…” Kai set the bowl roughly on the table.

His sister seemed embarrassed by his behavior. “Kai, being a coward is bad enough, but being so emotional is shameful.”

“I am not a coward!”

“Yes, you are.” She wasn’t referring to the incident with Irish but to a core trait of Kai.

“Maybe you shouldn't call your brother a coward. It seems like he’s trying to be brave,” Sariel said, avoiding eye contact. “That’s what I think, anyway.”

There was a moment of silence until Lilan broke it with a question. "What's your name?"

“Sariel.”

Kai’s eyes darted to his sister to gauge her reaction, then back to him.

Kai burst out laughing. “Haha! Wow! Mister is a little girl dressed as a man, for sure! Girly, girly name!”

Sariel instantly regretted stopping Lilan from mocking him earlier.

Lilan looked a bit baffled. “Huh… You aren’t from around here, are you? That’s a really weird name. Even weirder than the naming culture of my mom’s home.”

“Mom’s home country isn’t that weird. It’s just a tiny bit different,” Kai muttered, rolling his eyes.

“I guess.”

"Hm, where are you from?" Lilan asked, trying to piece together his identity.

“I’m from a distant village. That’s all,” Sariel replied.

Kai said, "That's kinda secretive."

"That's the point."

The two stared at eachother.

After a few minutes, Kai checked the time on a pocket watch. “It’s our bedtime. We should go.”

“Right,” Lilan agreed, standing up and walking out with him.

Just before leaving, Kai turned back to Sariel. “Make sure to eat the soup… It’s healthy for you.”

Sariel sighed. “Sure, I will. Thank you.”

Kai gave a small smile. As he closed the door, he added, “Thanks again for helping us earlier.”

Sariel smiled back.

Sariel approached the table, took a seat, and stared down at the bowl of soup.

Did he really have to force himself to eat?

A confident voice interrupted his thoughts. “The special kid whose soul can’t be read.”

Startled, Sariel turned to see the speaker: the man from earlier—the husband.

Somehow, he had managed to slip into the chair beside him.

Sariel’s breath caught in his throat, his body tensing with sudden fear. The man’s outline being white didn't dispel Sariel fears.

The man raised a hand in a calming gesture. “No need to be alarmed. I just wanted to chat with the rumored kid.”

“About what? I’m pretty boring.”

The man laughed softly. “I heard you were with Natasha and William, and even Neil defended you. And even Louis was seen interacting with you a while back. You must be someone interesting.”

Sariel’s pulse quickened. He understood the intent behind the man’s question and where the conversation was heading.

“Well, thanks for helping my children. I appreciate it greatly,” the man continued, his tone softening.

Sariel hesitated, unsure if the man had been leading up to something or if there was another reason for his approach.

Then the man’s voice hardened. “But be careful who you associate with. No one likes Neil. William is stubborn, driven by revenge, and Natasha… well, she’s not right in the head. It’s strange she helped you, but perhaps she saw something familiar in you.”

Sariel frowned. The mention that no one liked Neil caught his attention. He considered Neil odd but better than most. Neil seemed happy—always smiling, calm, confident, and doing humorous things.

When William wanted to kill Sariel, suspecting he was a monster or an imposer, Neil protected him—because he felt like it. Natasha initially helped him because he was strange and mysterious, saying she wanted to see what kind of person he would become.

So, he knew they weren’t entirely 'good' people. They didn’t help him randomly; each had their own odd reason, and it all boiled down to what Sariel is. But in the end, if it weren’t for them, he would be dead. (William was an exception. He only became nice to Sariel because Neil practically commanded it.)

Deciding to use the opportunity, Sariel asked, “Does Neil have a bad history?”

“Oh, he does. The ruling clan he belonged to kicked him out. Deemed him useless, unfit to inherit his natural-born right. And that playful, yet smug demeanor? It’s unnerving.”

The mention of a ruling clan piqued Sariel’s curiosity. He began to wonder how many such clans there were, and what Neil might have done to get expelled. And what about Natasha—did she have another reason for helping him?

“Who did you mean by something familiar when you talked about Natasha?” he asked.

The man grimaced slightly. “Her younger brother. He died. I don’t know much about it, but their mother was part of some dark lord cult. She sacrificed him.”

The explanation surprised Sariel.

“There are some old Slayers who knew her mother,” the man continued. “They said you look a bit like Natasha's younger brother.”

So, she helped him because of that...?

Sariel’s appetite vanished completely. “I see,” he muttered, rising from his seat. “Thanks for the information, but I should be going now.”

The man nodded. “Sure. Just be careful—there are rumors of amateur hunters disappearing outside the city.”

“Right,” Sariel replied. “Can you show me out?”

“Of course.” The man placed his hands on the table to push himself up, and Sariel noticed deep scratches on both his arms. They didn’t look like claw marks, but Sariel couldn’t quite place what they reminded him of.

He decided it was better not to dwell on it.

***

In the home of Kai

The next morning, the children rushed to check if Sariel was still in their room. They had slept in their parents’ room to give him space, but there was no sign of him.

Kai searched every corner, his heart sinking with each empty space. His frustration grew when he saw the untouched bowl of soup.

“Why… is the soup still here?” he muttered, his arms trembling with anger. “Of course, he didn’t eat it. We Reserios are too filthy for a full-blooded human, huh?”

Lilan, his sister, tried to remain positive. “Maybe he just forgot,” she suggested.

“Stop making excuses for him,” Kai snapped.

“But why would he help us if he thought we were beneath him?” Lilan protested.

“Who knows? And it doesn’t matter. What matters is that Mom spent time making that soup. The least he could have done was eat it...” Kai grunted.

“Kai...” Lilan began, but their mother's violent coughing interrupted them.

“Cough, cough!” The sound filled the house, dark blood speckling her lips.

The children rushed to her side. “Mom! Did you take your medicine?!”

Her coughing fits were frequent, worsening and then subsiding, but this seemed particularly severe.

Kai frantically searched through the cabinet. “Where is the medicine?!”

Lilan finally found a small vial. “There’s only a little left...”

She hurriedly gave the medicine to their mother, whose coughing eased, though the pain remained visible in her eyes.

“Your father went to get more…” she muttered.