CHAPTER 71: CH 71- THE DOME OF WHITE - PART 3

"Master, this was so much fun. I feel so much better now... Can we run again? I want to run around again."

Fenrir told me not even a few seconds after he had stopped.

The puppy had too much energy, but unfortunately for him, I had none left. My lungs were hurting, and I huffed to get some air back into them.

"I... don’t... think I can... keep up with you... any longer... Sorry, but can you run around on your own for the next few minutes?"

I asked Fenrir, and he gave me a whine.

"But master, it’s fun running with you. Why are you so physically weak when you smell so strong? Is this some kind of test?"

Fenrir asked me, but I had no answer for him.

I had no idea what bullshit Fenrir was sprouting, and I did not want to know either. I just wanted to close my eyes and fall asleep for a few minutes.

So, I detached the leash holding Fenrir and allowed him to move around.

The traitor did not even wait a minute with me before he darted around.

"Freedom... I can finally run—"

"Don’t cause any trouble, Fenrir. And do not bite anyone either."

I warned the puppy, but Fenrir was long gone. Despite that, I knew he heard me.

Now that I was alone, I could close my eyes for a second and feel the burden of the day slipping away from my shoulders.

The sun was bright in the sky, and the warm rays caused me to start dozing off.

I was almost asleep when the system prompt startled me.

[Ding! You have 5 new faith points.]

"Huh—! Faith points? Where did I... no, never mind. It’s better if I do not question all this now."

I reminded myself as the sleep faded from my eyes and I sat back up.

It was then that I noticed I was being watched by someone, and I suddenly became alert. I looked toward the direction I felt that intense gaze from.

"You better come out now. If you keep looking at me like that, then I’ll be forced to take action."

I took out my cane with the shock gun, just in case I needed to defend myself against any danger.

But the "danger" I felt took me aback.

In front of me stood three children, and they looked to be around ten or eleven years old. All three gave me suspicious gazes before one of them stepped forward.

"Hey, you—! Who are you, and what are you doing here? This area is off-limits to others, don’t you know that?"

The child told me while the other two huddled behind him for safety.

Something about these children seemed... off to me. They looked like ordinary children, but I had a feeling they were not "whole."

My intense gaze made the kids even more suspicious and afraid. Their "leader" finally snapped and rushed toward me.

I was shocked by his sudden action and caught the flailing child before twisting his hands behind his back and holding him down.

"Hey, let go of me, you weak man!"

The kid yelled, twisting to break free. And the kid was strong enough to almost throw me off as well.

’Well, fuck—! Why the heck am I even weaker than a kid? What do I do now?’

At this rate, I was going to get thrown off no matter what. But my problem was resolved by an unexpected bark.

Fenrir came back and saw me struggling against a being more than half my age and almost half my size.

His snarl caused the kid in my grip to pause and become terrified, and the other two were no better.

"Master, do you want me to bite these kids?"

Fenrir asked, and he seemed to have no problem harming them.

I always knew that Fenrir had no morals, but this was too low, even for me. So I gestured for him to stay where he was so I could talk to the kids.

"No, it’s fine, Fenrir. Stay where you are. And you kids, there is no need to be afraid of me. I am not here to harm you—"

"A-As if we are afraid of a weakling like you, uncle. Y-You are weak—"

Now that hurt, especially since it was true.

’These kids sure have guts. Should I just let Fenrir bite them after all? I’ll patch them up once he’s done... No, let’s not think like that.’

I tried my best to remain professional. I really did.

But sometimes, it was a little too tough to do, and currently, it was that time for me.

Whether these kids realized how hard I was trying to hold back or not did not matter because I myself knew that these thoughts were too impulsive to act on.

So I took a deep breath and calmed myself down.

"Fenrir, you can let them go. These kids did not mean me any harm. As for us being here, I apologize if I startled you. I was not aware that this was a restricted area. No one told me about it."

The kids looked surprised at my soft tone, and their leader stepped back when I let him go.

"You... did not know? Did the barrier not stop you or something?"

He asked in a confused tone, and I gave him a blank look.

"Barrier? No, I don’t think I encountered any barrier when I entered here. But if you are feeling uncomfortable with me being here, I can head back now."

I told the kids, but they suddenly shared a look before turning back to me with slightly suspicious expressions.

"N-No, that’s fine. There’s no need for you to do that. If the barrier let you in, then I guess you are someone who can be trusted. You can stay here for now."

The kid told me, and I sat back down.

To be honest, I did not want to leave now, and Fenrir also had not had enough of running around.

"Alright, I will stay for a bit longer. But you all should stop trying to be afraid of me. Here, have some candy."

I took some modern candy out of the system and handed it to the kids. This was the only wasteful spending I ever did—buying modern chocolates and other sweets for cheap.

This world had no such sweets, and a single faith point got me a monthly pass of unlimited supply from... somewhere I did not know.

"What is it? Is it... sweets? Sorry, we cannot accept them. We cannot risk them having any egg or meat."

The leader told me, and I paused.

Now that... was something I had not considered.

I was used to eating whatever and trying different foods, but these kids had limitations on what they could eat.

And since it was for faith reasons, I did not want to force them either.

Luckily, most of the snacks my supplier gave me had no eggs or meat in them. And the chocolates were especially kind.

"Don’t worry. These sweets are safe for you to eat. I promise you nothing will happen even if you eat them."

The kids took the sweets, but they still looked suspicious. Finally, their leader spoke.

"I would still like to test them. Would you feel offended if I did?"