Youngest 221
by CristaeEpisode 221
Khalid stared impassively at the blocked cave exit.
“They’re taking too long.”
Leon muttered at his side.
They had questioned the villagers nearby and managed to find this alternate exit from the cliffside cave.
The problem was that this exit, too, was blocked by rocks—perhaps due to the earlier explosion.
They were running out of options.
“Hurry up!”
At Leon’s shout, the Zevert knights rushed to carry away rocks and stones.
Kal gripped the reins tightly.
‘If the Duke is safe, we should at least hear sounds of movement inside, someone shifting the rocks.’
But inside, there was nothing but silence. Even the link with the squirrel had been cut off for some time.
“Kal, by the way, have you tried to contact Rubian?”
Leon asked, and Kal shook his head briefly.
“We still don’t know her condition.”
Rubian had been so ill, she hadn’t been able to open her eyes for a week. Whenever Kal looked at her pale, limp form… well.
He battled an urge to kill everyone.
Not just the First Prince who’d done this to Rubian, but also Licht, who couldn’t protect her despite being with her, the physicians and maids who couldn’t even lower her fever by a single degree, even the Duke Zevert, driven half-mad by his daughter’s condition.
He wanted to kill all of them.
But most of all, he wanted to kill himself—for failing to protect Rubian.
Of course, he’d never let Rubian sense these destructive thoughts.
In any case, now that she’d finally begun to recover, what if he used communication magic and needlessly depleted her magic reserves?
‘And if she finds out something happened to Duke Zevert, she’ll insist on coming down here herself.’
Kal shook his head. It would be better to send a carrier pigeon letter to Rosetta Zevert instead.
“I suppose I should step away for a moment…”
He turned his horse, about to look for a place to cast the carrier pigeon spell.
Bzzzzt—
A familiar static echoed in his mind.
And then.
[ KAAAAAAAL! ]
Khalid almost fell off his horse.
[ Kal! Khalid! My friend! ]
His head throbbed with a shattering voice that seemed to jolt every dormant neuron awake.
Leon glanced at him, concerned.
“Khalid?”
“No, wait a moment…”
Kal hurriedly summoned his magic.
‘Ruby?!’
[ Wow, if you’d ignored me again, I might’ve had to cut you off. ]
‘I’d never do that… More importantly—are you all right? Can you even use magic like this?’
[ I’m in the north right now. But what about you? You’re in the south, right? How’s Father? What’s the situation? Is it really dark beasts? ]
With her words tumbling out, Kal felt his throat tightening.
It nagged at him that he had left before seeing her awake.
[ Why aren’t you saying anything again! ]
‘Because I’m happy…’
[ Huh? ]
‘I’m happy to hear your voice.’
Rubian fell into a long silence.
Then, hesitantly, she replied.
[ When are you going to correct yourself? ]
Kal let out a soft laugh.
That was his correction, after all.
Because he couldn’t bring himself to say, I like you…
‘I’ve always liked your voice.’
As if to seal his words, Rubian’s startled breath sounded through the link. Kal listened, savoring every bit of it.
[ My… my voice is all right, I guess. But tell me what’s going on there! ]
At her prompting, Kal nodded and shared the situation here.
Of course, he also asked why she was suddenly in the north, but didn’t hear the details.
[ Sorry, Kal. This… I want to tell Father first. ]
She added with a laugh,
[ Don’t worry! I’ll be right there—as in, thirty minutes! ]
‘You’ll get from the north to the south… in thirty minutes?’
By regular carriage, it took over a month, and even with speed-enhancing magic tools, it would take several days at least.
Sensing his doubt, Rubian gave a confident laugh. Kal could almost see her lips curling into a smug smile.
[ His Majesty the Emperor gave urgent permission to use the gate portal. ]
Kal was more mystified than ever.
‘How did you convince the Emperor all the way up north?’
But Rubian, saying there was no time, promised to explain in person.
[ Anyway, that’s how it is. ]
Kal didn’t press further, swinging the reins decisively. His sleek black horse charged toward the southern gate portal without hesitation.
[ I’m flying over right now! ]
I rode with my family to the location of the northern gate portal.
For the past eight years—ever since the “Fourth” used it during the Festival of Verdure—it had never been open.
“Are you sure you intend to activate this portal, Your Ladyship?”
“Yes. I brought the authorization.”
In the hand of the knight guarding the gate was the emperor’s permit, which I had handed him moments before.
“Is there a problem?”
“…N-no, ma’am.”
The knight replied sourly, stepping aside.
‘Thank you, Liam.’
Earlier this morning, I received a magic carrier pigeon, sent with Asha’s help.
There, the emperor had written: “I grant full permission for House Zevert to use the gate portals across the Babylon Empire.”
And on the next page, which I had hidden…
< Young Lord Liam is slaughtering the nobles with his tongue. I’m asking sincerely: the next head of house—he’s not your eldest son, right? >
I decided to ignore the emperor’s heartfelt lament, written in thick, pressed script.
It seemed Liam had worked hard—perhaps a little too hard—beside the emperor to ensure the permit was quick and precise.
In any case,
Only a mage can operate the gate portals across the north, south, east, and west of the continent.
If magic is infused, civilians can use them for a set number of times, but naturally, there were no mages willing to do that in Babylon. Since the portals are used only with imperial permission, infusing them without authorization was forbidden.
‘Well, there’s no turning back now.’
As the knights around began whispering about how I would activate the portal, I started entering the coordinates into the archway’s wall.
Powerful blue magic flowed into the intricate runes, winding through every groove on the wall.
“Whoa…”
“Whoa, my foot! Everyone, shut your mouths and clear out!”
At that moment, Grandfather appeared, having forcibly silenced and evicted the gawking knights.
“So, Leviathan is trapped inside the cave?”
“Yes. He should’ve been out by now, but they say he’s still trapped inside…”
No sooner had I received the portal permit than I’d heard of the southern situation from Khalid. I had relayed the news to my family immediately.
“Hmm, inside, eh…”
Grandfather’s thick brows furrowed in a grave expression.
‘Oh dear. He quarrels with his son all the time, but he must be worried…’
“As if.”
Mm. Wishful thinking.
“Grandfather, maybe he discovered a gold mine or something?”
“Indeed! You’ve grown a bit smarter, haven’t you!”
“Ahem.”
To her secret delight, our family’s second child, who had doubled her wits from last year, puffed out her chest.
“It’s good that no one’s doubting Leviathan’s ability for even a moment…” Mother said, checking her quiver.
“Mom, is something on your mind?”
At my question, she shook her head.
“It’s probably nothing, but the mage I interrogated spoke as if Leviathan would be defeated in the south. At the time, I thought he was talking about the dark beasts…”
Her smooth brow furrowed with displeasure.
“Which makes me wonder—if it’s not the dark beasts, has something else happened?”
Grandfather and Void tilted their heads in unison, as if to say, What could possibly happen to your father?
“In any case, all we can do is go see for ourselves!”
I spoke, watching the portal shimmer with blue light, and Mother looked at me with concern.
“Right. But will you be all right, dear?”
“I’ll use some magic getting there, but the south is rich in mana. I’ll recover quickly.”
And honestly, I had a card up my sleeve.
‘Kal.’
I called briefly, and a deep voice answered.
[ Yes, I’m waiting. ]
My heart pounded.
Yes. I had Kal waiting for me. There was no need to worry.
“Oh, by the way, Ruby, you went with Mother to the memorial earlier, didn’t you? What did you do there?”
Void, still fearing his head and body might be separated from traveling, asked absent-mindedly.
The mention of the memorial cast a brief shadow, but I forced a bright smile.
“I had something to pick up.”
“Pick up?”
Void pressed, but I said nothing more. It was time to depart.
“All right, everyone hold hands! It’s a long trip—you might get a bit nauseous—ugh!”
“How do you make yourself sick just talking about it? And before we even depart.”
Liam, shaking his head, offered to carry me through the portal.
I barely managed to dissuade him, and I joined my family, stepping through the blue veil one by one.
‘Wait for me, Father!’
A surge of mana drained from within me.
I squeezed my stinging eyes shut, then opened them.
In truth, there was something I’d heard from Khalid that I hadn’t shared with my family.
[ The Duke’s last words were odd. He told me to tell you not to check anything for yourself—just wait. ]
It was a cryptic message.
Apparently, he had made that request after receiving a letter from the Mage King.
‘Could it be that Father…’
Did he realize something after reading the Mage King’s letter?
That he had touched some truth there?
My heart pounded with anxiety.
If so… if he had learned that I really might be his biological daughter…
Then perhaps he was wandering in the cave, unable to escape, crushed by sorrow—too overwhelmed to even raise his sword.
‘Father must be so scared and lonely right now.’
And perhaps I was the only one who could save him.
“Don’t worry, Father.”
I lifted my head, clenched my fist, and strode forward.
“I’m coming for you!”