Youngest 123
by CristaeEpisode 123
Because of the mana-restricting collar around my neck, this place felt even more oppressive.
Of course, it was thanks to that collar that I had managed to cross the border and reach the capital of Babylon without being exposed as a mage.
‘The Duke of Zevert is definitely here… I should take a look around first.’
Muttering to herself, the woman quickly left the Academy and slipped away into the crowd.
‘Seventh, you won’t escape me.’
Her green eyes glinted.
She was a mage known as the Mage King’s “Second.”
To be honest, the entrance ceremony was…
“Yaaaawn.”
Incredibly boring.
‘So Chancellor Odelli is just as talkative as His Majesty the Emperor.’
As expected, the real head of the Academy is something else.
I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes and set my luggage down.
As I flopped onto the dormitory bed, Sortie, who had been staring at me from across the room, finally spoke.
“Rubian, did you not sleep? Well, that’s what I want to ask, but… Actually, there’s something I’ve really wanted to say since earlier. You really…”
Her familiar sky-blue pigtails tilted to one side.
“Must have had an amazing summer…”
“Heh. I look kind of silly, don’t I?”
In the end, I buried my face in my hands.
“No, not silly… It’s just…”
Her eyes, fixed on me, were as clear as glass.
Unable to contain herself any longer, Sortie jumped up and sat right beside me.
“You’re like a totally different person! At first, I seriously almost didn’t recognize you.”
I gazed at my own reflection in those transparent eyes.
My hair, grown long enough to cradle my jaw.
My cheeks, round and a little plumper.
Eyes blue as the southern seas, and looking just like my father’s…
Just like Father’s and my brothers’…
Black hair.
“Ruby! Want to go to the harbor with Mom for a little trip? How about it?”
It all began with that sweet whisper from Mother.
“Oh… Who are you?”
“Darling, you’re too much.”
“Wow! It’s blue this time!”
“Took a little inspiration from the southern sea.”
“Wooooow!”
At the end of summer, I went on a vacation to southern Babylon with my family.
It all happened because Grandpa insisted that if I was to go to autumn camp for ten days, then the whole family must also go on camp together for ten days—a miraculous bit of logic.
‘There weren’t any tracking mages anyway… It was fun.’
And so I got to see it!
The first sea of my life!
“Me too! I want a disguise, too!”
“Hm? You want to dye your hair?”
“I really wanted to try it!”
I pestered Mother, enamored with her deep blue hair. There was something about the resort that just made people bolder!
“Oh. If Leviathan finds out, I’ll be in trouble.”
“Then… what if he doesn’t find out? Besides, if we wash it out, it should go back to normal anyway…”
Mother narrowed her eyes.
“Who are your parents, exactly? Such a clever child. All right, follow me!”
“Yes, Captain!”
And so, that’s how it happened…
“That’s what happened…”
With a sympathetic pout, Sortie gently toyed with the ends of my hair.
“So, the hair color won’t go back?”
“Yeah. Asha said it’s because she mixed in some weird maintenance mana. My hair isn’t very mana-friendly… I mean, it’s thin, so it absorbed it even more.”
Mother’s usual dye was susceptible to rain and humidity.
So Asha created a special, longer-lasting dye just for Mother. That, of course, became the problem…
If you washed with the special shampoo, the color would fade, and the new formula was gentle enough even for children to use, but… not in my case.
‘Maybe my mana fused with it and caused some strange effect.’
Ugh. That’s why I look like a crow.
Even nullification magic doesn’t really work; it seems the color had sunk deep into my hair already.
“But it’s fading little by little…”
The black had faded a bit compared to the beginning.
At least it wasn’t some outlandish color—wasn’t that a relief?
“But it really suits you… And, more than anything, you look just like the Duke Zevert! It’s amazing!”
“Gasp, really?”
That was the best thing I’d heard all day.
‘Father will like that even more.’
I recalled Father’s face when he first saw my hair, frozen in shock.
“Who are you?”
“Your daughter.”
“…”
He was silent for a hundred years.
Even for Father, who was usually oblivious to such things, my radical transformation must have been a shock.
“Goodness. Where is Rosetta Zevert? What on earth has she done to this child’s hair…”
“But Father, look.”
I crouched in front of the big mirror and watched our reflections.
“Don’t you think I look a little more like you now?”
“…”
At that, Father fell into another hundred years of silence.
Looking at us together in the mirror, I was genuinely impressed.
“Wow, it’s just hair color, but the resemblance is uncanny.”
“…Hmm. Where did my beloved Rose go?”
After that, Father said nothing more. Thanks to that, Mother, who’d been hiding behind the wardrobe, got out unscathed…
There were other incidents as well, but all in all, it was a wild summer!
‘Do other families spend their vacations in such chaos?’
Hmm. Not that I’d know.
“By the way, why didn’t the Duke come to the entrance ceremony?”
Sortie asked innocently.
“Oh, he had to leave for a sudden audience with His Majesty. Mother and Grandfather are holding down the house in the north.”
On the way to the palace, Father looked like a criminal on his way to the gallows. As if the end had come.
‘Well… He did come to the capital because of me.’
I still remembered how, upon receiving the Emperor’s letter, Father nearly flung it into the fire.
But when he heard mention of the “Continental Alliance,” it seemed he couldn’t entirely ignore it.
“But Sir Leon and the other knight seniors came to see you! Didn’t you see?”
“I did, but I thought they were seeing Khalid off.”
Sortie pulled cookies out of her bag, stuffing one in her mouth and giving one to me.
“So that’s why no one recognized you in the assembly hall earlier. True! I heard you kept your face hidden during the Green Festival?”
The situation was just funny!
Her giggles rang clear and bright.
Because I wasn’t a regular student, I didn’t get a nameplate outside my dorm, or belongings engraved with my name, or anything of the sort.
‘Hmm.’
I chewed the cookie and looked up at the ceiling with a faint sense of distaste.
Suddenly, a fundamental question struck me.
‘Why is it that I always…’
…end up hiding something?
Is it my fate? Munch, munch.
“But hey!”
I laughed off the thought.
“It’s only ten days, after all!”
“Hehe. That’s true. Besides, on the final night, your parents will be visiting too!”
Beaming, Sortie started braiding a lock of my hair. Over the summer, we’d been writing letters and started speaking more casually, which made us all the closer.
While we chattered on about this and that, there was a knock at the door.
Both of us answered in unison, “Yes!”
A maid assigned to each room poked her head inside.
“Lunch will be brought up soon. Let me help you get ready.”
“Oh, all right!”
Sortie quickly tidied up the room.
“Since it’s the first day, you’ll be dining in your room. Starting tomorrow, though, breakfast and dinner will be in your room, and lunch will be in the student dining hall like everyone else!”
The cheerful maid winked.
“The Academy’s new dining hall has just been renovated. It’s absolutely splendid!”
‘Wow, the Academy must be loaded.’
I thought little of it, helping set up the table.
Before long, dinner arrived, and it was absolutely sumptuous. No joke, I thought the table legs might give out under the weight.
‘The Academy must really have a ton of money!’
I absentmindedly nibbled at the melt-in-your-mouth food.
‘Now that I think of it, even the bedding was out of this world.’
As a bedding fanatic, I can confirm—that was the finest of the finest quality. To have that laid out in every dorm room?
‘They must have an obscene amount of money here…’
At that moment, my fork stopped.
“Ruby? What’s wrong? Is it that good?”
I started to wonder… but then quickly shook my head.
“No way!”
“Huh?”
“It’s nothing! Wow, this is really delicious! May I have another serving, please?”
I stabbed another piece of meat and chewed with gusto. It was so tender it melted in my mouth!
Still, the sauce tasted strangely familiar, just like the flavors from home…
‘No, no. It’s only ten days.’
Impossible!
“Phew… Ten days, of all things.”
Leviathan ran a hand through his hair. The click of his heels on the palace floor sounded testy.
“Your Excellency, as you instructed, everything has been prepared.”
His adjutant hurried after him, reporting in a quick, precise voice.
“Bedding changed, dining hall renovated, extra chefs brought in, new food suppliers contracted, buildings underwent additional safety inspections, increased security force deployments… Ah.”
That was flawless management, even by his own standards. The adjutant grinned broadly as he added,
“And as you requested, Lady Camellan has been assigned as her roommate.”
“Yes, good work.”
Ten whole days.
His precious youngest daughter, not even grown, daring to spend ten days away from home in a harsh, unfamiliar place!
‘With all the things Ruby is picky about…’
She’s surprisingly particular about food, and openly finicky about sleeping arrangements. What if she can’t eat or sleep and loses those precious few ounces she’d managed to gain?
‘And she’s so shy with strangers, too.’
If he could, he’d watch over her by her side every single day.
‘Damn this palace. Damn that Emperor even more.’
Leviathan swore silently as he climbed the stairs. The Emperor’s audience chamber was coming into view.
“Headmaster Odelli was grinning ear to ear, saying arranging a roommate would be no problem… But, E-excellency…”
“What.”
“Your expression is a bit frightening. You are heading to… an audience right now, sir.”
You know? Not a battle.
At his adjutant’s remark, Leviathan clucked his tongue.
Missing even his one and only daughter’s camp entrance for some so-called “battle”? Let the worst come—so be it.
He was in a thoroughly ill-humored mood.