After finishing our meal, I washed the dishes as Aria watched over from behind.
"Papa, Let's play hide and seek with me?" she asked, pulling my arm eagerly, and I chuckled at her desire.
"Okay, I will play. Go Hide somewhere in the house, and don't go outside, I will count up to ten, go and hide."
I strictly told her not to go outside, if anybody walking by saw her, they would lose their mind because of her extremely appealing beauty. She accepted without any reluctance.
"10-9-8..." I started to count. She immediately went to hide somewhere as her footsteps echoed.
"3-2-1, I'm coming to find you~" I spoke and searched for her in the house, judging by the sound, she might have been hiding in my room. I went straight there and used my senses to find her, I found her hiding under my desk. Her white hair and small body easily made her easy to notice from her surroundings.
"I found you!" I grabbed her body and pulled out from there.
"Ahh! Papa you found me so quickly." She clutched me back as her joy reached its peak, I could feel that she was having fun playing with me.
"Now, I will hide and you will find me."
"Okay, I will on up to 10! But I want a kiss after finding you!" She spoke adorably; however, I couldn't reply after her last sword.
"1-2-3!" Aria turned around and started counting while closing her.
Without standing in the same place, I went to the stairs and tried to find space to hide. However, my mind kept repeating the same word Aria spoke.
"If Aria finds me, she wants a kiss. But she is she couldn't find me then?" A smile appear on my face to avoid being kissed by my daughter.
"Illusion spell," I went to Erina's room and cast a spell to make my body invisible.
"8-9-10. Papa! I'm Coming!"
Aria spoke as I heard her footsteps becoming closer, she stopped at the stairs and examined her surroundings closely.
"Where is Papa? I can feel him, he is closer." Aria mused and smelled the trails that I left behind. She walked toward Erina's room and found it was empty, but she could sense I was there.
"Huh? How can she find me so fast? Did she see me coming here? No, I saw she was finished counting after she left my room."
Seeing Aria coming closer to me, my heart pounding loudly, She stood a few inches away from me and stared at the empty wall. Sweat from my eyebrows seeing her intensely staring at me.
"I found you, Papa!" Aria said as she jumped at me and clung to me tightly.
My invincible spell was gone and I could be seen again. "How did you find me? I was invisible."
"I followed your smell, Papa, there was no mistake you were hiding here."
"She followed my smell? Is she a wild animal that she track my smell to search me inside?" I pondered and found it very absurd behind her secret of finding me. However, I remember her reward for finding me.
Aria's cheeks blush, she moves her face toward me and our noise touches each other skin. She rested comfortably above my thighs, wrapping her hands around my neck looked at me and asked, "Papa, my kiss?"
"Aria, you need to understand that a father and daughter shouldn't kiss or do other things beyond. It's considered taboo in this world. If people find out, they will look at us with disgust" I tried to convince her, but she refused to listen and gave me annoyed looks.
"Papa, I don't care about anyone in this. They all are animals, especially men—those filthy creatures should vanish from the world. But I love you, Papa. You are the only one I love you most in the world." Aria's eyes turned dark pink as her face came closer. I saw the heart pupil size increase twice. Before I could have realized it, Aria had already touched my lips as she moved her tongue with passion.
"Slurp~ Slurp~ Slurp~ Slurp~"
Our noise of intimacy filled the room, Aria tightly held my body and kissed my lips. She enjoyed every second of our smooch, I couldn't stop her, my mind went blank, and her words still echoed of hating men.
"*Thug*! *Thug*! *Thug*!"
Our sweet kiss was abruptly interrupted by a loud knock on the door.
"Tck!" Aria moved her face toward the course of the sound and glared for disturbing her kiss.
"Why does someone have to disturb us only at this time when I'm enjoying with Papa? I won't forgive them!" She mused as the sound of the knocking became louder, and someone screamed from behind the door.
"I know you are there women, don't pretend that no one is at home. Come out and pay your rent!" A loud voice of a man travelled from behind the door and knocking turned loud.
"It's the landlord! He might be here to have his rent, Aria hid in my room. Never come out until I return to you." I stood up and transformed back to my human appearance.
"Papa, are you going somewhere? Why did you say never come out? What if you—"
"I be back I promise. I won't leave you alone, now go." I petted Aria's head and comforted her from having negative thoughts. She smiled and immediately calmed the stairs to my room.
I opened the door and saw four men in front of my house. One was middle-aged, whom I recognized as the landlord, while the others were muscular and stood behind him.
The middle-aged man glared at me and spoke with an unfriendly voice. "Huh? You are Erina's son, Evan, aren't you? I heard you went missing in a recent monster attack without any clue. When did you come back without any hurt?"
"I returned yesterday, but more importantly, are you here to collect this month's rent?" I kept my voice clear and low as I asked the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man was surprised to see me, I wasn't scared and looking into his eyes with determination. "This kid is not afraid of me? I remember he used to cry boy and hide behind his mama. However, his eyes seem like he has seen more of the world than me."
He pondered and felt disliked being looked at by me. His expression turned into annoyance, and he moved closer to scare me; I stood without flinching and looked into his eyes. "Huh? This month? Your mother hasn't paid the rent for the past four months. Your total rent is now 10 Lakh(12 thousand dollars)."
"What 10 lakh!" I instnatly became shocked and my eyes widened when I heard the amount.
"My mom hardly earns 500 rupees(5 dollars) in a single day; how could she pay 10 lakh, even including household expresses?"
The middle-aged man grinned at my reaction after telling me the amount, but he wasn't satisfied yet, so he continued to speak. "I want my money now if you can't pay. Leave the house now and don't think you will be free from rent; I have a legal prospectus to calm my rent, including how long you have been living in my house. I won't leave you until I get my all the money."
I clenched my fist and tried to calm myself, leaking out my anxiety; I looked at the middle-aged and spoke, "Do you have the slightest idea how little that narrows it down?"
"What?"
"How could the rent be exceeded that much?"
"You naive kid, you still have no idea what's going on in this world. Since the last monster attack, commodity prices have increased sharply, even in the health sector. The housing market has especially been affected, many homes were destroyed in the attacks, leaving people without anywhere to live."
He explained, leaving me speechless, I found his words reasonable but the amount he had spoken, I don't think I and Erina would be able to pay off In my current situation.
The middle-aged smiled and found a good opportunity to fulfil his lecherous desire. "But since you are a child and couldn't live outside, I could let you and your mother live in the house. Tell Erina to come to the house at night. Hehehe!"
The middle-aged man's words put a halt in my thoughts, I raised my face and looked at his with cold eyes. "What did you say?"
His dream wonderland stopped, raising his head, he asked "What was that? Are you thinking of fighting me, Kid?"
His men stepped forward, and with disdainful demeanour, they glared. "Listen here you brat, if I see that look on your face again—"
"*Slam*"
Before the man could complete his phrase, I punched his face, the immediate fist caused him to fall as the blood-soaked in his shirt.
The middle-aged man and two others were shocked, witnessing the scene unfolding before them.
"What, when did he do that? I didn't see that coming. It was too fast. Wait this kid... He is an arcane fighter!" He thought as became startled thinking about the possessed the power.
"You f#cking brat!"
"You are gonna pay for that!"
The two men charged at me, seeking to avenge their fallen comrade.
"Wait, both of you idiots, stop!" Shouted the middle-aged man in an attempt to halt them, but it was too late.
One of them grabbed me from behind while the other grinned and kicked me in the stomach.
However, I twisted my body in time and switched positions with the man behind me. The kick hit as he let out a painful scream.
"Ahhhhh! You asshole!"
"Huh, when did he?"
While both of them lose their focus, I soar in the air ignoring human limits and crash into them.
"Aaahh!" He groaned as he lost consciousness; I looked at the remaining who avoided me in time. Sweat appeared on his cheeks, seeing his friends had fallen. He realized he needed to escape.
"W-what are you?" He mumbles in fear as he steps back and his entire body trembles.
"If you go now, I will let you leave but never come back here!"
He nodded and left while carrying his unconscious friends with him. The land was in disbelief and found him alone. He tried to leave but suddenly I stopped him.
"Hold on." My cold voice sent a shiver down his spine, turning his face in shaking. He stood at the same.
"Listen here, if you, hurt me, you and your mother will regrate, it for sure. I will file a legal crime against you for not paying me all the rent." He shouted and used to last attempt to scare me.
"Listen here you old geezer, I don't care about your warning. Your money, I will pay you soon, I promise. However, if you had done anything to my mom. You will experience something worse in life that no human would have made alive yet, except me. Do you understand?"
He looked into my eyes and saw a pink heart pupil. Sensing his body turning hot, he nodded like an obedient dog as I sigh leave him. He immediately came back to his senses and started to run away.
"Bastard! How could he think of doing something like that to my mom? I will kill him if he even dares to touch her hair." I mused and kept cursing him inwardly. However, I found myself in another burden to pay off the debt.
"If I had the gold I earned from empire as a hero in my previous life, I could provide a much better life for Mom and Erina. Since I don't have that now, I must find a way to make money and pay off our debts."
After standing in the same place for a long time, I didn't realise how much time had passed. I went inside the house to check on Aria.
"Aria?" I called her name, but I didn't get a response. My anxiety escalated after I went to my room and found she wasn't there.
—————————————
"Huh... Huh... Huh..., that kid, how could we have been defeated by a school kid." The man asked his comrade, who was woken up from unconsciousness. They rested on the ground filled with many children, but they soon left, seeing their beaten-up faces.
"Damn, that kid was an arcane fighter. How didn't the guild take him in during the awakening? I thought all the arcane fighters were taken by the military or guild."
"How do I know F#cker, I'm gonna take my revenge on that kid, bring all the guns, I'm going to kill him tonight, since he is not in guild or the military."
They talked with each other and soon decided to kill Evan at night, the landlord soon joined, walking slowly in fear.
"What happened there, what did the kid say to you?" The man asked looking in his dazed face.
"That kid, we have to wait for something, we can't act in a rush. Who knows what kind of power he holds? I need to inform the guild and military about him... What was that?" The middle-aged man suddenly stopped and saw something strange behind the men.
They turn behind and nothing is seen, there is a wall and an empty place. "What are you talking about? I don't see anything."
"I sure, I witness a white hair flowing and a girl there for a mare second?" He pondered and checked once again to ensure.
"*Ruf!* *Ruf!*"
Suddenly a strange noise echoed from the surroundings, they turned their head to see what was it.
"I-I saw a little girl!"
"I-I was that with my own eyes."
"She went there!"
They all saw glimpses of a little girl for a second the moment she vanished, and followed her trail like a mindless freak.
"Why are we following the little girl."
"I don't know. But I saw a glimpse of her, I want to see her, I want to see her now."
All of them followed the trail of the little girl, even though they knew something was wrong.
They soon reach an empty dark valley and stop in front of a dead end. Their eyes were fixed on the white hair little girl, her pure white skin and pink eyes instantly pounded their heart as their manhood became hard.
"Am I dreaming or I'm seeing is a fairy."
"No, she is real... Her beauty, I can't believe something like that does exist."
"I want her, I want to play with her body."
"Get off fucker, She is mine!"
"F$ck you all, I come here first, I will play with her."
They lose their mind as went toward Aria like wild dags while saliva drips from their mouth. She looked at them coldly and her expression turned into disgust. "Filthy creatures, Die!"
A surge of air pressure passes the men's body, and before they know it, their muscles are scattered in the air leaving the naked skeleton standing.
"You hurt my Papa, this is what you deserve. I will never forgive anyone who dares hurt my Papa." She glared at the skeletons and flew toward the home.
(End note: I decided to add a slice-of-life time in the story.)