Chapter 49: [49] Perfect Crime
"Hmmmm..." Ark cocked his head to the side.
"It’s... it’s not that bad right?" Cracker’s voice trembled as she spoke.
"I can’t even tell what you were cooking..." Ark muttered in a dry tone as he stared into the pot.
The entire thing was charcoal black, and if he was not a skeleton, he would have been on the verge of coughing out his lungs.
A drop of sweat slid down Cracker’s face. "Maybe we should move out?"
"We? When did this become a ’we’ situation?"
"Huh?" Cracker paled further. "I wouldn’t have burned the food if you didn’t sneak into the living room like a thief! Actually, this is all your fault!"
"Ha! Did you really think I would fall for your scam? The food is way too burned to have been caused by me, this pot has been toasting for a long time."
Ark folded his hands across his chest and began walking away.
"Let me guess... you took a nap on your new bird perch didn’t you?" He glanced at her over his shoulder.
Her mouth was open, but she was struggling to find the right words.
Bingo, he had hit the nail right on its head.
"I’m going to take a shower, good luck with handling Bronya—"
"Wait!" Cracker immediately grabbed his hoodie, her eyes blurred with tears. "Alright, I admit it, I did fall asleep...."
"Help me please..."
"For free?"
Ark had no choice but to help her, because it didn’t matter who cashed the problem, Bronya would unload a week’s worth of work stress on them both.
But Cracker didn’t need to know that.
"Well, I’m your little sister," Cracker made her cutest face, trying to coax him to help her. Ark had to admit, it was cute, it was the type of look a parrot would give you while begging for a cracker.
It had worked on him many times in the past. But Ark was a skeleton now, his emotions were dampened.
"Are you really going to ask your sister for payment?"
"Yes."
Ark unhooked her hand from his hoodie, but she latched onto it right away.
"Okay, okay! I’ll... I’ll do anything you want for... for one day!" She smiled wryly.
Ark made a clicking sound. "What can you do that will benefit me? You even burned dinner."
"Then what do you want from me?!"
"The premium crackers you hide under your bed."
Cracker nearly collapsed out of shock. She stumbled back a few steps, and held her head with both hands like she was about to have a nervous breakdown.
"Don’t be dramatic..."
She had an entire carton with about fifty packs inside it, but she horded them like a dragon.
"C-can’t you ask for anything else?"
"No."
"One cracker..."
"One pack."
"Two crackers!"
"One pack."
"Three crackers!!" She shouted at the top of her voice, her face blushed pink. "Three crackers, that is my final offer."
"Tsk." Ark would have frowned if he could, instead, he gave her a blank, annoyed stare. "You should have been born a dragon, you greedy little bird."
"Hehehe..." Cracker wiped the sweat that had accumulated on her face, happy to have gotten away with her one sided deal.
Ark then looked at the room, his shoulders slacking.
"I’ll clean up the living room and get rid of the center table. You crack open a window to get rid of the smoke, and get a wire brush to clean the pot."
Cracker was a fire bird, she could be set on fire and it would feel like a hot tub to her. To her the smoke was nothing.
He on the other hand was an undead monster, he had no lungs in the first place.
But Bronya was human, and the only normal one among them. The very first thing she would notice was the smoke.
He stared at the clock. It was 9 PM. They probably had less than thirty minutes before she would arrive.
It was more than enough time...
"Get moving, I don’t plan on getting killed by Bronya today!"
Cracker straightened and saluted him. "Aye aye captain!" She said, just before she rushed into the kitchen.
But just as she got there, she froze. "B-but what about dinner?? Bronya will know something happened!"
Ark waved his hands dismissively in the air. "We are eating out today, the association must have paid me by now."
Crackers face brightened at the mention of eating out. They could count the number of times they had eaten out on one hand and would still have fingers left...
"Mmn!"
Ark smiled as he watched her get to work, a serious expression on her face as she scrubbed the thick black pot...
He could still remember the day they met. Their parents had both been players that would periodically visit Eden.
They were not particularly notable, but they were not terrible either. Even moderate work as a player was more than enough to live a comfortable life, so everything was great.
That was until they vanished...
Ark had been four back then, and Bronya eight. But since he was a reincarnator, he was vividly aware of everything that was happening.
Back then it was not unusual for their parents to go into Eden for more than a month, leaving them in the care of family. But this time, two months went by without a word...
Six months went by...
Two years went by...
And then on a rainy day, one of their party members came bringing news of their deaths, as well as a newborn baby.
A child born within Eden, a Nephilim.
She didn’t even have a name. He came up with her name himself.
Eden was more than a simple game, most players realised this from the moment they stepped into the world, everything was too real.
And it seemed it was the same when it came to conception. If a player was to conceive a child with another player while in human form, then their child would be human.
There was a higher chance of the child becoming a player and awakening a similar race, but it was not always the case.
Ark watched Cracker let out an exasperated breath as she struggled to return the simmering silver colour of the pot.
...But if a player was to conceive a child while in their other form, like if two elven players were to have a child, then the child would be born an elf.
These children did not have a human form, they were a hundred percent whatever race they were born in, possessing whatever magical power their race innately had, without ever awakening.
That was why Cracker could manipulate fire (although she hadn’t been able to do that before he left...)
The only reason she even had a human form was because fire birds, like dragons, could shift from their human form to their beast form.
Since these children were far from normal, the government decided to give them a title to separate them from others, and the term that had been decided was Nephlim...
Everything about Cracker’s existence was a mystery.
It was obvious that they weren’t related by blood. Although they shared the same icy blue eyes, Firebirds were transcendental creatures, neither of their parents had been remotely close to that level.
Then why did the player claim she was with their parents before they vanished?
Who were her real parents?
Why were their parents with a baby inside the tower?
Ark was sure that one day, those answers would come knocking at their door. And for whatever reason, the thought of it filled him with dread.
After all, ignorance was bliss.
"Ark! Why are you just standing there? I’ll reduce your payment to two crackers!"
"Hey, we already had a deal!"