Youngest 118
by CristaeEpisode 118
‘Mister Maddix?’
“I’m heading home for the day!”
She darted out the shop’s back door with a whoosh. At the same moment—bang! The door flew open.
“Asha!”
The blacksmith, his long green hair tied back anyhow, flexed his impressive, sinewy muscles as always.
“Mister Maddix!”
It had been a while since I’d seen him. I hurried over to greet him.
His bushy eyebrows danced.
“Miss Ruby? Long time no see.”
“What brings you here… Ack!”
Suddenly, my body was lifting off the ground.
Not only did Mister Maddix hoist me straight into the air, but he spun me around this way and that.
“No wonder… I’ve felt the urge to keep gifting you shiny bits of metal. Indeed, hmm.”
He muttered mysteriously.
Ah, that’s right… word was now out all around Zelox that I was a girl.
Feeling a bit embarrassed, I changed the subject.
“Isn’t Grandfather coming?”
Mister Maddix and I locked eyes.
“Ah, Lord Balok has been banned from our forge.”
“Huh? Why?”
I hesitated with my sleeve halfway to his sooty brow.
“Because his excessive doting drove everybody to the verge of breakdown.”
“…”
“He brags about his granddaughter a little too much. I wanted to shove bars of iron in my ears and get to work.”
How mortifying…
“I… I can apologize on his behalf…”
“Come, let’s go.”
Once again, my body rose up.
Then I landed on his thick neck.
“Aack! Wh-why are you doing this?!”
With a perfectly calm face, Mister Maddix gave me a piggyback ride and glanced up at me.
“Well, it seems my body’s acting on its own after being brainwashed by Lord Balok. So just be my helmet for a while. I’ll even forgive you if you make little horns with your fingers.”
“I don’t want to be a helmet!”
Absolutely not! How embarrassing!
But falling was far scarier, so I clung tightly to a lock of his deep green hair. At which, a satisfied hum rumbled in his throat.
I glanced at Khalid for help, but he only flicked an eyebrow and mouthed, “Looks comfy.”
Traitor!
“Oh, right, right! You came here to see Asha, didn’t you?”
“Ah.”
He halted mid-step on his way out the door.
Maddix swept his gaze rapidly around the shop.
Yikes, his eyes are spinning.
“But she doesn’t seem to be here… Strange. Why does she always hurry off whenever I come by?”
He continued muttering.
I remembered the way Mister Maddix had earlier rushed over, nostrils flaring.
Come to think of it, there’s no way that blueprint maniac would leave Asha alone.
‘…Asha, I’m sorry.’
I knew it, and still let it slide…
Regardless, with me slung across his shoulders, Mister Maddix made his way to the smithy.
I was mortified, feeling all eyes on me as I passed.
In frustration, I wound his long hair into a sharp little horn.
Finally, after a brief and mortifying parade, we arrived at the smithy.
“So, what’ll we do for fun tod—”
I jumped down to the floor.
“Mister, I brought you a new blueprint! I actually got it in advance from Asha!”
The muscular man with the pointed hair-horn pressed a hand to his left chest, overcome.
“…I must make Rubyism my religion.”
“No thank you.”
Honestly, everyone is so, so troublesome!
“Phew, all done. At last!”
I wiped my brow lightly.
The blue glow of the magic circle soon faded.
Khalid shared his magic with me as I finalized the artifact, placing the finished device in a corner.
The bell for the watchtower would need repairs eventually, and Khalid would take it up and install it!
“Huh, what’s that?”
I was idly watching Khalid move when I noticed something poking out of his coat pocket.
The colorful pattern was somehow familiar.
“Oh, I thought I’d thrown that out… No doubt it’s Sir Oberon’s doing.”
Khalid took out an academy pamphlet and tossed it aside.
Again, the words emblazoned on the cover hit my eyes.
‘Heart…’
That word had bugged me for some time.
“Aim for the heart. Don’t miss. Everything you want is at the center.”
It was like something snagging at me just below my fingernail.
‘Come to think of it, isn’t that an odd thing to say? It’s awfully elaborate, considering it’s addressed to someone sent to kill you.’
Pursing my lips, I fell into thought.
“…Everything you want…”
‘What you want?’
The seventh in the original story.
What had she wanted?
Reflecting on it, I let out a hollow laugh.
‘That… that’s obvious.’
I wasn’t the seventh from the original story, but after dreaming that dream, some things became instinctively clear.
Like her emotions, or her wishes.
‘The seventh’s desire… that is…’
Perhaps. Or perhaps obviously.
‘She too must have wished to escape the Crest, just as I do.’
Though she ultimately failed.
If so, what if I interpret Leviathan’s words differently?
Could it be that the secret of the Crest, which the seventh wanted so much, lies in the ‘heart’ or ‘the center’?
‘If “aim for the heart” isn’t meant literally, but as some sort of metaphor…’
My hand, hanging slack, clenched hard.
Of course, it could just be wishful thinking.
But there weren’t any better clues, either.
“Khalid.”
I gathered the scattered pamphlets from the floor.
“What are you doing? Don’t tell me… you want to go to the capital?”
Khalid’s brows drew together in a scowl.
“That’s about right.”
“Is there a clue there to break your Crest? Did you figure something out?”
“I don’t know.”
“…?”
“But this keeps weighing on me. I want to go check for myself.”
I tapped the academy pamphlet to emphasize my point.
Khalid, flipping through the hastily added ‘autumn camp’ section, looked distinctly unenthusiastic.
“But shouldn’t the capital’s magic deficiency be solved first…?”
He spoke in a low murmur just as heavy footsteps sounded in the basement stairwell.
In an instant, Maddix stepped in, flinging wide the workshop door.
“Um, Miss Ruby?”
He looked rather uncomfortable, quite unlike his usual self.
‘What’s this about?’
Normally, he’d rush over, eyes bright with excitement and curiosity. Strange.
Now that I think about it, he’d spent more time than usual poring over the blueprints.
“What’s wrong?”
“This blueprint is intriguing, but a bit rough. Like something’s missing… Was it only this one page?”
I looked at the piece of parchment in his stone-like hand and nodded.
“Yes. That’s all there was…”
“Hmm. I see.”
He looked dissatisfied, smacking his lips a bit. Watching him, I suddenly recalled that Asha had been the one who made this blueprint.
“Oh! Maybe it needs a magic stone? Since a mage made the blueprint!”
As soon as I said that, a look of delight returned to Mister Maddix’s face.
“Indeed!”
With a whir, he rolled out the scroll wide on the big table.
Eyes wide, we scoured the design for where a magic stone might fit.
Honestly, I didn’t really know how to read a weapon blueprint… but if there’s a magic stone, it’s halfway to being a magic device.
“I have a feeling it should go… around here…”
“Hmmmm.”
‘This blueprint…’
I ran my gaze over the whole diagram. I’d been so focused on getting it here; I hadn’t even checked what it was for.
“Is this a shield design?”
Mister Maddix nodded.
“That’s right. The shape is ordinary, but the internal structure is very unusual.”
“Oh…”
“But the materials specified aren’t for shields, which puzzled me… but of course! If you use a magic stone, the lack of strength is offset by the constant energy circulation!”
I fell silent.
‘No, that’s not it.’
My gaze restlessly circled the blueprint.
‘This… it’s a shield weapon that stores force from an attack, then releases it!’
A weapon, perhaps, for facing giant magical beasts? Like Ougona, or Tribellops…
A chapter from Liam’s beast encyclopedia—infamously drilled into me—flashed through my mind.
‘That force-storing component must be the magic stone…’
And then, a spark went off in my mind.
“Ah!”
I jerked my head up and locked eyes with Khalid, who was quietly standing beside me.
“…What is it?”
“Absorption—release!”
“What?”
Magic power!
I clutched Khalid’s arm and hissed. His shoulder flinched in alarm.
“What now?!”
“Khalid, I’ve found a way to get to the capital!”
“What?”
There might be a key at the capital academy to unlocking the secret of the Crest.
But that land is virtually devoid of magic.
“Absorption—release!”
That could be the answer, couldn’t it?
Grinning, I felt the cool touch of the bracelet around his wrist.
“Oh-ho! Interesting idea. I’ll research it!”
I remembered Asha’s eyes, all a-sparkle.
As soon as she heard about my new artifact, she’d locked herself away in her dark laboratory.
‘If magic could be stored in advance and released as needed… it might hold out even where there’s no ambient magic.’
With the right tuning, I might function in the capital as well as I do in Ipsen.
‘The autumn camp will last about ten days.’
It’s a short time; truthfully, I could probably get by even if there wasn’t any ambient magic.
I had, after all, managed to stay several days in the capital when I first met Father.
‘But it was so hard, then. And now, I’ll have to thoroughly investigate the academy as well.’
Stamina and magic—neither must run dry.
Now all that’s left is convincing my family…
Father dislikes the capital as much as I do, which worries me a little.
‘I’ll have to talk to him as soon as he’s back!’
According to Butler Adolf, the campaign was progressing much faster than expected. They would probably return in less than a month.
“Miss, a letter from the capital!”
Just then, Hazel came in carrying a tray.
“A letter? From whom?”
I tilted my head, pausing my glass of milk. She placed a dazzling, gold-embossed letter before me.