Youngest 120
by Cristae120
Cal pressed his lips tightly together in silence.
At that moment, Allen, who had been feeling along the shackle, narrowed one eye.
“Huh? The inside here’s kind of rough. Cal, shine some light here, will you? Maybe there’s some precious gem embedded inside. Ha, so that’s why you wanted to come here, huh?”
“Move.”
Cal quickly snatched the shackle and directed the light inside.
A shackle meant for wrists and ankles.
While bound, there was no way anyone could have seen the inside.
“…This is…”
“What is it! What is it?!”
Allen rushed forward, nearly frantic.
‘The World Tree, a dragon coiling around and ascending…’
As far as Cal knew, there was only one place that used this kind of crest.
The Mage Kingdom.
‘Was it the kingdom that imprisoned me here? As punishment for breaking a taboo?’
But he had been an unregistered mage from Arcadia. Even now, the Mage King had no knowledge of his existence.
‘That worm of a king wouldn’t pretend ignorance if he knew I existed.’
The boy’s eyes narrowed.
Then, next to the crest of the kingdom, he noticed a small inscription.
‘What’s this?’
It didn’t look like the imperial script. Nor the continent’s common tongue.
Cal read the letters in order, one by one.
“Nagre…”
“What?”
“Me… rof?”
What is that supposed to mean?
Cal scowled in confusion.
“What are you mumbling to yourself for?”
“Do you know what ‘Nagre me rof’ means?”
Instead of replying, Allen only shrugged. With a quick, “Let’s see here,” he slung an arm over Cal and peered closely.
“Never heard anything like it. Maybe you’re reading it all wrong? Who knows… Can you find out?”
When Cal nodded, Allen pulled out his notebook and carefully copied down the script.
“Guess I’ll be seeing Yuliophe again.”
“Yuliophe?”
Somehow, that name rang a bell.
“Oh, a professor of linguistics. I got to know him after a little incident at a tavern once. Of course, he doesn’t know my real identity.”
“…A professor? At the Academy?”
“That’s right. Where was it…?”
“Rieta?”
“Oh, you know him?”
Cal stared absently at the air, lost in thought.
“After so long, maybe I’ll finally get to have a drink with him… Wait, why are you taking my notebook?”
Without a word, the boy tore the page Allen had written on from the book.
“I’ll look into it myself.”
He put the slip of paper in his pocket and rose to his feet, leaving without hesitation.
‘I won’t ask Rubian about this.’
Rubian might figure it out right away, but that’s precisely why Cal didn’t want to ask.
‘What if it turns out to be something bad?’
He decided he’d better get a sense of what it meant on his own first.
Allen whined at the abrupt change,
“Yeah, yeah. Your Majesty, of course. Whatever you say, do as you please.”
He bowed exaggeratedly from behind.
For some reason, Cal felt the urge to kick him, but let it be.
The two stepped outside.
“So where to now?” Allen asked, brushing dust from his clothes.
Khalid looked out over the dry mountain wind toward the valley below. Allen thought his face looked oddly tense.
“The western Babylon.”
“What do you mean…? Hey, you little punk! That’s all the way across the empire! When the hell are we supposed to—!”
But the protest trailed off into a long sigh of surrender.
Fine. Who could ever stop such a stubborn brat anyway?
“Where in the west?!”
“Trappista. The Baidel Gorge.”
For a moment, Allen went rigid.
“…You mean that place.”
“Yes.”
Those gray-blue eyes moved slowly.
He met Allen’s gaze, speaking in a deceptively casual tone.
“The place where the Duchess of Zevert’s carriage accident happened.”
A peaceful afternoon.
I was at the mini training yard with Rosetta, my mother.
She’d returned to her pink, cotton-candy hair. After startling the people of Zelox with her black hair that day, she seemed genuinely refreshed.
“When is Dad coming back, do you think?”
“Soon, I’d imagine.”
“Cal should hurry up and come back, too…”
“He said he was going to his hometown, right? It’s already been two weeks.”
“Yes…”
Mom pinched my nose lightly and let go.
“I hope they both come back soon. More importantly, Ruby dear, you seem so listless today. Did you not sleep well last night?”
“It’s not that…”
To tell the truth, I’d felt a bit unwell last night.
I’d been sleeping soundly when suddenly there was a burning sensation on my back.
It only lasted a moment, and the pain faded quickly—but it startled me.
‘The crest grew.’
Sure enough, when I checked my lower back, a branch had spread out a little more.
‘I’d never actually felt the crest growing before.’
Suddenly, I remembered what Dad once said about often having terrible nightmares. Was it that the crest had always grown a little more every time?
‘I suppose some of those were really nightmares…’
Either way, it left me feeling anxious for no reason.
“Ruby? If you’re not feeling well…”
“No! All the more reason to exercise!”
I puffed out my cheeks with resolve and shook my head.
‘It’s not like I didn’t know the crest was growing!’
I just have to find a way to get rid of it myself.
Be brave, Rubian Zevert!
There’s no point wallowing in uncertainty—I’d only be consumed by my own feelings!
Throwing my arms confidently toward the sky, I shouted,
“I’m going to get stronger!”
Steeling myself, I fixed my shoes and, off in the distance, saw Grandpa hurrying toward us.
“Oh, my! My precious granddaughter’s at the training yard again!”
After learning I was a girl, Grandpa had been vehemently opposed to my wearing the knights’ uniform. Dad was the same way…
In the north, they say daughters don’t become knights?
Judging by their regrets over putting me in the order’s ranks, I suppose they wished they’d never done it, but it was far too late.
I’d already fallen in love with the charm of these functional clothes and the joys of a knight’s life…
“Today… four laps!”
Calling out my new record, I spun around the training grounds once more.
For now, this was all I could do—giving my all to what was right in front of me!
Allen shivered.
“It’s still so unsettling here.”
Western Babylon, Trappista—the Baidel Gorge.
He rubbed his arms as he gazed up at the dizzying cliffs.
“Sheesh. Gives me the creeps.”
Despite the warm spring, there was a chill crawling up his spine.
Perhaps it was because this was the very place of that accident ten years ago.
Compared to even that cave they’d visited days before, this place felt far more oppressive.
Allen pointed ahead.
“Is it there? Where the accident happened?”
Cal nodded, his expression unreadable.
The deep gorge let in almost no light.
“The Duchess, she really was ill-fated,” Allen muttered, pressing a hand to the barren, grassless ground.
“She tried to help a fugitive mage out of kindness, and look what happened to her…”
There weren’t many people who knew the full details of the accident involving the Duchess of Zevert ten years prior. But Allen, an old hand at gathering information and as an underworld mercenary, knew enough.
“So what are we… Seriously, Cal.”
Allen frowned.
“Why are you shaking? Are you cold?”
He gripped the boy’s shoulder with a rough hand.
Cal brushed it off lightly.
“…Get out of the way.”
Right on top of the site of the accident.
Cal knelt and tried to reconstruct what had happened here.
A mage fleeing the Mage Kingdom, wounded and collapsing.
The Duchess’s carriage, passing through the gorge, finding the wounded mage.
The mage, his face desperate and pitiable, pleading to be helped just across the gorge.
The Duchess, moved by the sight, granting him company on the journey.
And finally, here.
When she’d reached this deep place, out of reach of anyone’s help—
“He attacked her without warning…”
Cal dug his fingers hard into the earth. Damp soil clumped between his hands.
Caught off guard by a sudden magical attack, Rosetta Zevert was badly wounded and lost the child she’d been carrying.
So that’s how trust and kindness get repaid.
‘No wonder people don’t trust mages…’
Cal pressed his lips together once more.
“Cal? What are you doing?”
Then, gathering his resolve, the boy unfastened the bracelet from his arm.
Forcibly controlling his swirling magic, he reached out to sense the tangled traces of power soaked into this land.
‘Just like Rubian… showed me…’
Cal focused, exploring the magic lingering here.
After a while—
“…”
His stubbornly closed eyes opened, slow and deliberate.