Youngest 113
by CristaeEpisode 113
It was the voices of Void and Liam.
Startled, I sprang up quickly.
“What are you doing? Are you awake?”
The door creaked open, revealing the faces of my two brothers.
Father sighed, as if he simply couldn’t deal with them.
“I told you not to rush over to Ruby’s room the moment you opened your eyes. Are you finished getting ready to leave?”
“We’re not bothering her, and it’s not even right after waking up, and besides, it’s already noon! Father!”
Void drew out his words mischievously as he bounded up. Behind him, Liam approached, cleaning his glasses.
“Ruby, let’s play!”
“Eek, yes!”
I hurriedly jumped off the sofa.
At that moment, Father gently grabbed the scruff of my neck.
“But Rubian Zevert.”
“Dad?”
For some reason, Father was looking down at me with his arms folded, wearing a strict expression…
A sense of foreboding washed over me.
“I told you not to run off from the manor as you pleased.”
Gasp.
“You broke that rule again.”
Right.
“But, you see, the circumstances were a little… special—”
“That’s no excuse.”
His voice was stern.
Sensing that something was amiss, Void and Liam stepped in front of me to block Father’s path.
“Uh, what’s wrong? What did Ruby do wrong?”
“Father, it would be better to at least hear Ruby’s side before making such a narrow judgment—”
The two boys were shielding me with their backs, but as Father stood up, their efforts were, of course, futile.
He fixed me with a very resolute expression.
“You broke a promise with me, so this time, you must face a punishment.”
“Your Excellency…”
The servants watched anxiously, but it was no use trying to intervene…
I had no choice but to raise both my hands high.
“Oooh… I’m reflecting.”
I guess I had to stand with my hands up. Should I go out into the hallway?
At that moment, hands suddenly slipped beneath my arms, and I was swept up into the air.
I blinked in surprise.
“Huh? Why are you hugging me?”
Strangely, Father looked even more bewildered.
“…Didn’t you just ask for a hug? You reached your arms out.”
Well… reaching out, yes, but…
“Why are you hugging me when I’m supposed to be punished?”
A look of sudden realization—Ah, that’s right—crossed his handsome features.
Father rolled his eyes thoughtfully, then, with a quick “hmm,” resumed his strict demeanor.
“Punishment. Three hours assisting me in my office.”
“Eeeeh.”
“…Is that too much? Then, thirty minutes.”
“Eeeeeeh.”
I was more surprised by how little of a punishment it was!
“Come on. Three seconds would be ridiculous.”
“Sigh. What am I to do with my parenting…”
So soft-hearted.
It couldn’t be helped…
At this rate, I have no choice but to become a fine person on my own.
So, in the end, after breakfast I was confined to Father’s office to serve out my “punishment.”
Whenever Father pointed to some spot on a document and said, “Stamp here,” my job was to hit it with a noisy thump of the seal.
“Here.”
Thump.
“This side.”
Thump.
“Once more.”
Thump-thump.
To be honest… it was so much fun that I could have done it all day.
Afterward, we visited the Emperor at the villa to bid our farewells.
“You’re returning to Zelox, are you? Take care, my lady. If you get bored, come visit the palace.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Do be sure to visit the palace.”
“…You just said that, Your Majesty.”
The Emperor only smiled softly.
No one mentioned yesterday’s events. The atmosphere was business as usual.
‘Frankly, a royal palace mage was killed in Babylon. I thought the Mage King would at least lodge a protest…’
But they remained quiet.
I didn’t know the reason, but earlier, I overheard Adolf the butler reporting to Father in his office—something about how the kingdom seemed to be restraining itself to avoid being expelled from the “Continental Alliance”.
‘Looks like things will be quiet for a while.’
Let’s not meet again for a long time—ptooey, ptooey!
Next, I met with Asha.
After all, she was one of the reasons I came to Ipsen!
“Asha! I’ll get straight to the point. Do you want to come to Zelox with me?”
“Oh, yes!”
“…”
She nodded so simply that I was momentarily at a loss.
“Uh… I suppose it’s strange for me to say this, but what about your little sister? Aren’t you worried about your home in the East?”
“She’s getting along fine with Grandma! I can come and go from time to time… More than anything, I just want to be by your side, Rubian!”
With that, she rubbed her cheek against mine for a while.
With my face mashed like a dumpling, I stammeringly explained the rest of the reason I was here.
I needed her blueprints, I was planning to construct a barrier, and so on…
Whether she actually followed all that or not, she just nodded obediently, “Yeah, yeah.”
And so, today—
“Wow, I’ve never seen an unregistered mage before.”
A historic day dawned, as three (wayward) mages gathered in one place.
A fugitive mage (me), an unregistered mage (Khalid), and, in spirit, a base mage who had betrayed her kingdom (Asha)…
“Was this the girl who helped Rubian from behind on the battlefield? Impressive…”
Asha eyed Khalid up and down in her typically vague manner.
Bothered by her persistent gaze, Khalid clicked his tongue. Her gaze was so piercing that Asha shrank back with a start.
“Don’t bite her, Khalid. We don’t bite people.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Eek. So you do bite? I see…”
Just what exactly had she accepted?
With a helpless laugh, I secured the knot.
Outside, there was a commotion as they loaded luggage onto the carriage. My sword’s decorations were now perfectly practiced!
“By the way… how did Khalid end up as an unregistered mage?”
Asha asked as she worked another knot with me.
“Ah. A mage hid her pregnancy and fled the kingdom, then gave birth to him.”
“Gasp, a fugitive mage’s child? And she’s dead now?”
“Mm.”
“Amazing…”
“That’s just what we suspect.”
“What?”
“Actually, neither Khalid nor I really know.”
I shrugged.
There was no way Khalid just spontaneously appeared in that cave… so I concocted a likely scenario.
I didn’t bother telling her he’d been confined there, but Asha’s eyes lit up.
“A boy with a secret birth… That’s mysterious.”
“By the way, why were you there yesterday?”
I asked Asha about the events of the previous day.
“I was summoned by the ‘Fourth’… What else.”
“Oh dear. Did His Majesty the Emperor bother you afterward?”
“His Majesty told me he wouldn’t demand anything from me, so I was to pretend I hadn’t heard a thing. I agreed.”
“I see.”
I got the gist.
Asha could hardly go to bat for me, proclaiming, “A royal mage from Arcadia tried to attack a Babylonian noble! I heard it myself!”
Anyway, on the surface, she was still a mage of ‘Arcadia’.
‘If she did that, it would be tantamount to declaring war on the Mage Kingdom.’
Keeping a neutral stance was the tacit rule among base mages. The Emperor understood that.
“Whew. In any case, you went through quite an ordeal.”
“You too, Rubian…”
Asha petted my cheek with a teary face.
Khalid gave a brief glance, then neatly packed my knotted items into the luggage bag.
“But… does Duke Zevert really allow Asha Drucan to go to Zelox?”
Khalid asked offhandedly.
Asha gasped, her face full of sudden anxiety.
Just what is she trusting in to come with us?
Well, it all worked out.
I grinned broadly.
“Of course.”
To be honest, winning over Father was even easier than getting breakfast down. Liam was on my side!
“Liam, you know—I’m thinking of introducing you to the original author of the Magical Beast Compendium…”
“What?”
“To be precise, the part on ‘magical beast subjugation weapons’.”
Asha was quite knowledgeable about magical beasts.
She seemed to have accumulated knowledge after becoming a base mage.
In particular, as a descendant of dwarves, she researched several magical beast subjugation weapons. Some of her work was published in the Magical Beast Compendium.
Knowing how she shunned the spotlight, I’m sure she hid her name with some cunning twist.
“Incredible, if that’s true.”
Liam immediately barged into Father’s office, dragging me by the elbow.
“Father, I have found my private tutor.”
“When did Ruby become your tutor?”
“That’s not it…”
After hearing the explanation, Father simply raised his eyebrow.
“Well, do as you wish.”
“Yes. I was going to, regardless of what you said. Also, could you button this up for me?”
“But there won’t be much for a base mage to do in Zelox. What excuse will you give the palace…?”
“Oh! I’ll make an announcement!”
I shot my hand up and jumped in.
“We’ll hire her! At our magic stone shop!”
And just like that, Asha Drucan became my employee.
“Wow. Me, an employee at a shop…”
“How about it? You’ll get to research magical devices while working with magic stones. There’s even a forge next door, owned by an incredibly unique and fascinating neighbor. Isn’t it great?”
“Yes… I’m excited, Rubian.”
A good neighbor? Khalid shot me a sharp glare, but I pretended not to notice.
Just then, footsteps approached.
Liam opened my door and appeared.
“Mentor.”
He approached Asha with a beaming face and bowed deeply.
“W-w-what is this?”
Her short bobbed hair shook violently. Liam offered a mechanical smile as he straightened.
“This disciple has been waiting. Let’s proceed to my study at once.”
Creak, creak—the cart he was dragging along.
It seemed he had come to escort (?) Asha.