# Chapter 18
Levi looked around while listening to Ion’s excited chattering.
Green grass had sprouted across a fairly wide area around the pond. Levi slowly walked along it.
The range influenced even slightly by the purified pond water was quite extensive. The last short green grass he discovered was found roughly halfway between the pond and the entrance to the Black Forest.
The purified pond—Ion—was transforming this forest. The barren forest where no life except for Levi and the thorny trees could survive was gradually becoming a beautiful green forest full of vibrant flowers.
“What do you think? If things continue like this, this place will become a truly beautiful forest.”
Ion spoke in an excited voice while circling around Levi, who stood still.
“Yes… I like it.”
At Levi’s words, Ion stopped with a surprised expression.
“The forest is changing, and it seems Levi is changing too.”
“Me?”
Ion stood in front of Levi with a bright smile.
It had been less than a month—a short period—but Ion’s height had grown quite rapidly while staying by Levi’s side. When they first met, Ion only reached Levi’s solar plexus, but now he was tall enough that if he just leaned against him while standing, he could hear his heartbeat directly.
Ion nodded emphatically with a satisfied smile.
“You never used to express your emotions verbally. ‘Like,’ ‘dislike,’ ‘fun,’ ‘boring’—you couldn’t say any of those things.”
“Expressing emotions…”
Levi, who seemed lost in thought for a moment, looked straight at Ion and said:
“I like Ion too.”
Startled by the sudden declaration, Ion took a step back. A red flush spread across his round eyes and his chubby cheeks.
‘How can you just say that without any warning!’
He should at least give him time to prepare.
Ion, feeling his heart pounding abnormally loud, cleared his throat awkwardly like the old soul he was.
“I-I like Levi too. We’ve spent time together, so of course I’d like you. And… Ah!”
Ion, who had been trying to respond casually, flinched when a cold drop of liquid fell on the bridge of his nose and quickly wiped it away. No sooner had he done so than several more droplets hit his face.
“Looks like it’s going to rain. It’s been raining a lot lately.”
Ion muttered as if annoyed and grabbed Levi’s hand firmly.
“Let’s go back before it pours. This place gets too cold when it rains, and if we get wet too, we might actually freeze to death.”
“We won’t die from getting wet.”
“I know, we’re both ve-ry strong. It’s just a figure of speech, just a figure of speech.”
As the raindrops increased, Ion quickly pulled Levi’s hand. Belatedly realizing that ‘he was holding Levi’s hand,’ Ion’s face flushed so hot that the raindrops felt even colder, though he pretended not to notice and stretched his legs. In his mind, he made all sorts of excuses and deliberately squeezed Levi’s hand even tighter.
By the time they reached the tent, running half the way, the amount of falling raindrops had increased considerably. Ion quickly pulled out a towel and dried Levi’s hair first, even before his own. Then Levi grabbed the drooping end of the towel and clumsily rubbed Ion’s face. Ion found this cute too, and his lips twitched as he tried to suppress a smile.
‘Why is he so cute all the time.’
He was older than Ion. Moreover, though he looked like he was in his early twenties, considering his connection with Ion’s mother and his inability to die, he had probably lived much longer than his appearance suggested.
Yet he kept seeming cute. These actions that seemed to imitate Ion were cute, the way he munched on flowers was cute, just making eye contact was cute, and even just standing still was cute.
Being still young, Ion couldn’t understand what kind of emotion this was or how it had developed. But he decided not to think about it too seriously. He arbitrarily defined it as just finding Levi cute because he acted so much like a child.
After wiping the moisture from their hair, Ion sat side by side with Levi inside the tent and admired the rain outside.
In the past, the surroundings had been so black and dark that the rain looked like black ink pouring down. Now, various grasses and flowers had bloomed from the pond to here, and even the thorny trees had green leaves. With the change in background color, even the dreary rainwater seemed to shine gently.
Perhaps that’s why Ion quite liked the rain now.
As Ion silently appreciated the rain, he felt something gently touch his shoulder. Looking to the side, he saw that Levi had fallen asleep leaning on his shoulder.
“You’re sleeping again…”
Surely he hadn’t secretly taken some strong sleeping pill somewhere.
Ion carefully brushed Levi’s bangs as he leaned on his shoulder.
‘Maybe I’ll grill some meat today.’
A few days ago, Hest had dropped off quite a heavy sack even though it wasn’t time to bring clothes. Ion had wondered how many clothes he had packed to make it so heavy, but when he opened it, it contained a substantial amount of food supplies. There were various vegetables, expensive seasonings, and even premium quality meat.
As Ion stared at it in amazement, Hest turned away with an irritating comment.
“I didn’t bring this because I like you, so just eat it up and take the hint.”
He never knew how to speak nicely.
Still, Ion was grateful to Hest in his heart.
With the people from the shantytown having left, Levi had no way to obtain food supplies. Of course, the villagers had given them potatoes, cabbage, and a handful of dried freshwater fish before leaving, but it was difficult to last long on just that.
In that situation, Hest bringing a sack filled with various foodstuffs and seasonings was truly something to be thankful for. With seasonings included, Ion, who had cooking skills but hadn’t been able to show off his abilities, was ready to roll up his sleeves.
Ion looked at the sleeping Levi and smiled warmly.
Hest had surely brought all that food at Levi’s request, and the reason was Ion.
Around the time when they could no longer receive food from the shantytown.
From about that time, Levi ate flowers instead of filling his stomach with potatoes and onions. He said that since he didn’t feel hunger, there was no need to fill his stomach. He added that flowers tasted better than vegetables. Having tried eating flowers himself following Levi’s example, Ion found this statement completely unbelievable.
As a result, Ion had almost monopolized the food supplies owned by Levi, but even those were running low. Seeing Ion’s food gradually diminishing, Levi must have asked Hest for help.
‘From now on, I’ll make you many things much tastier than flowers.’
No big deal, if the ingredients ran out, Hest would probably bring more.
Despite his grumbling, Hest was Levi’s sucker.
However, Hest did not visit the tent again after that.
Perhaps because it had been raining often lately, the entire forest seemed filled with moisture. Of course, this wasn’t a recent issue, as the dense thorny trees had always prevented proper sunlight from entering.
“Wow… Hurray for rain…”
Ion’s eyes sparkled as he looked around the forest alone.
The moisture flowing deep into the ground from the pond imbued with Ion’s power spread faster and wider when it met the rainwater. As a result, an astonishing amount of grass could be seen growing the day after it rained, and even the terrifyingly black thorny trees regained their original color and bloomed with lush green leaves.
Consequently, most of the forest, except for the outskirts, had become brilliantly clear and green. It was hard to believe that this was the original appearance of what had been called the gloomy and eerie Forest of Death, or Black Forest.
As Ion scanned the forest admiringly, he suddenly noticed something very small moving on the ground. Looking closely, he saw they were black ants that had appeared at some point, moving very actively.
Ion smiled broadly at the ants.
Not only plants but now insects had started to live here too. At this rate, they might soon hear crickets or cicadas or encounter small animals.
‘Birds would be nice.’
If possible, he’d like a pretty, small bird to fly in.
For Levi, his two years of memories consisted only of the Black Forest—where all living things except thorny trees had disappeared—Hest, and the shantytown and its people. He said he had never even seen animals, so showing him a creature that suited him well might leave a lasting impression.
‘A lark or a sparrow would be perfect.’
What would Levi’s reaction be when seeing a small bird no bigger than his palm for the first time? He would probably stare at it for a long time, like he had done with everything else so far. He might even try to eat it.
‘The habit of putting anything interesting into his mouth is just like a baby’s.’
Ion laughed softly. He still vividly remembered when Levi first saw the power in Ion’s left hand and put his finger in his mouth to suck or bite it gently.
Thinking that Levi might really start by putting an animal or bird in his mouth, Ion shrugged his shoulders.
