Youngest 217
by CristaeEpisode 217
We gathered our heads together and immersed ourselves in conversation, like people piecing together a puzzle.
“Your mother was on her way to her family’s house in the West. She’d had a small quarrel with Leviathan that morning.”
“Wait, just a second. I have a question.”
Void raised his hand.
“You mean, Mother and Father fought?”
“Yes. Why?”
Mother tilted her head, wondering what was strange.
“Do you and Father… fight sometimes too?”
I asked, and Grandfather curled his lips in a snort.
“…Don’t even mention it. Do you have any idea how bad things were between them? Just watching them stress me out so much my beard turned white!”
So that was the secret behind Grandfather’s beard?
“Well, fighting is how you get closer, fall in love, marry, and all that…”
Ahem, as if embarrassed, Mother cleared her throat and continued.
“Anyway… At the time, I’d received word that my stepfather was ill, so I was headed west. While traveling through a gorge, I encountered an injured mage.”
That much was already known.
“But in the middle of the gorge, the mage said they were feeling unwell and made us stop the carriage. That’s when they attacked me with a spell.”
Mother added that it all happened so quickly, there was nothing she could do.
“When I came to, I was inside the overturned carriage, which had tumbled down a cliff. All the guards were dead.”
“But… how did you end up traveling with a fugitive mage? Even wounded, it seems strange.”
In response to Void’s question, Mother’s eyes turned solemn.
“She was pregnant.”
“……”
“Of course, I found out later even that was a lie. Void, could you have turned her away?”
“…Absolutely not.”
A brief silence fell.
Everyone had their own vulnerabilities. The Mage King specialized in exploiting them.
“It’s clear, then, that the Mage King planned it all from that accident onward.”
I spoke.
“Killing the guards and overturning the carriage… There’s no way a single fugitive mage could’ve done it alone.”
“Exactly. That’s why Leviathan said there had to be an accomplice, but there was no evidence. And with the war breaking out almost immediately afterward, there was no time to investigate further.”
Crack—the firewood split in the hearth, sending up hot, roaring heat as Mother gritted her teeth.
“To be honest, I never imagined then that the Mage King would be behind it all.”
“……”
“But now I know very well.”
I sat quietly, reflecting on the conversation.
I’d shared what truths I had uncovered, speculated on how the grave at the memorial garden had been disturbed, and heard directly from Mother what had happened in that carriage accident eighteen years ago.
“There’s only one thing I still want to know.”
“What’s that?”
“My body that… died back then.”
Void, sitting beside me, seized my hand in his large one. My brother’s eyes shone with unshed tears.
“How did I come back to life?”
I patted his hand, mulling it over.
‘They said I was already dead at birth… If something was done to me, the most likely time was during the accident.’
The mage’s power surging out of control, the carriage in chaos, overturned—a scene of total pandemonium.
Could something else have happened then, something even I can’t imagine?
‘If that’s the case…’
There must have been someone else at that place.
Sighing, I rose abruptly to my feet.
“We’ll have to feed ourselves.”
“What did you say, Ruby?”
“Just sitting around thinking won’t make the truth come to us, will it? All we can do is guess—so let’s go find out the direct way!”
“Well, aren’t you clever,” Mother exclaimed, pulling me into a tight embrace. At some point Grandfather had approached to pat my head, clenching his fists in excitement.
“So, what should we do?”
“Let’s catch the Mage King and ask in person. The expedition ship’s in the South, and Father’s troops are stationed there too.”
I smiled.
“Isn’t this the perfect time to launch an assault?”
As always, I wasn’t alone. I was surrounded by people strong enough to fight by my side.
‘So…’
A head-on attack it is. Rather than cowering in fear, I’ll move forward myself, uncover the buried truth, and willingly face the Mage King.
“Attack first, clean up the mess later…”
Grandfather bared his teeth with a deep growl.
“That’s my style!”
With flashing eyes, two people quickly rose to their feet. I also readied myself to reach out to Kal for news from the South when—
Void’s dry voice reached out to the back of my head as I moved as swift as the wind.
“But… aren’t we all…”
“Hm?”
“Isn’t there one family member everyone’s forgetting?”
Ah. Now that he mentioned it—
Mother and I locked eyes. Grandfather shook his head, as if Wondering what Void meant.
“…? Hazel?”
—Of course not.
“Somehow…”
Liam lifted his head.
“I feel like I’m being left out.”
What was this odd premonition?
Just then, a man next to him, wearing an eyepatch over one eye, spoke.
“You need friends to be left out… And you haven’t got any. Takes after His Excellency.”
“A competent aide, aren’t you? With just one comment, you’ve managed to send two people packing.”
Hmm. Ignoring Allen, Liam started walking again.
“I really feel like I’ve been excluded from something very important.”
“It’s just a feeling, I’m sure. But… did you hear my report? What should we do? Send a letter to the Duke, or will you write it yourself? Where are you going, anyway?”
Transformed into a walking question mark, Allen trailed after him.
He had just returned from checking the mood at the imperial palace and said to Liam,
“Rumor has it the princess might be a mage. Word’s spreading quietly. It’s probably that boatman who’s blabbing—maybe the First Prince started it before he was imprisoned…”
Upon hearing that, Liam moved instantly. In fact, he seemed ready to act even before hearing the report.
‘When the young lady was ailing, he dried up as if he himself were in pain.’
Now, a hint of color had returned to the young master’s pale face.
‘Honestly, I thought, like Void, he’d stick close and follow her north. Unexpected.’
Once assured of his sister’s safety, he chose to remain at the ducal residence.
“Ah, where are you going?”
“The Magitech Foundry.”
“Huh? Why there?”
The outpost mages settled in Babylon were producing vital magitech for the Empire.
More advanced and reliable than what the Mage Kingdom exported, their wares enjoyed glowing praise from all.
“Oh, right—is that a new blueprint in your hand? Another of Asha Drukan’s designs?”
“You really know nothing.”
“Oho, but there’s one thing I’m sure of: you’re lost, milord.”
Allen cackled, spinning Liam around in the opposite direction.
“Most of the magitech from the current foundry is made by the youngest sylph. Our master only lent her name, really. Honestly… what a fairy. So clever. So precious. But truly, you’re not all doing something and leaving me out, are you? It scares me.”
“If anything, you’re the scariest here, turning your back on the building right in front of you.”
Liam unrolled the magitech blueprint with a flourish. At one end was a peculiar little drawing.
^o^/
“See? The youngest sylph’s signature.”
“Wow. Killer of all tension.”
“She insists on doodling this trivial, adorable thing on every blueprint. Now all the magitech engineers think it’s some kind of artisan’s logo and engrave it onto every product…”
“Oh. So nearly every piece has this mark, huh? And what of it? Why bring it up now?”
Liam came to a halt.
Under his clear glasses, the young master’s eyes flashed coldly.
“This is what will protect our house, and the youngest sylph.”
Liam knew exactly what he needed to do.
‘The truth about Ruby’s identity will soon come into the open.’
With open war against the Mage Kingdom looming, it was inevitable.
Just harboring a mage from an enemy nation would send the nobility into chaos, and might even draw condemnation from the Allied Forces.
The Emperor would wield absolute power to shield Ruby—but, well.
Liam preferred more concrete, visible measures.
‘Perhaps now these fools will realize, after all these years of enjoying their peace, whose efforts allowed them to live without fear of magic.’
All those magitech devices the nobles savored—
‘Each one forged at the cost of someone’s dedication.’
Just see them glare at our precious youngest, when their praise should be endless.
Adjusting his glasses, he gazed out toward the distant capital.
He then gathered up all the remaining blueprints from the foundry and headed for the imperial palace. If nothing else, Liam was supremely confident in verbally thrashing the nobility.
Ssshhh—
Leviathan swept his blade in a long arc.
The charging monsters fell in an instant, spraying dark red blood in their wake.
That was the last of them.
“Tch.”
He clicked his tongue in irritation. He poked the filthy beast corpses with his sword and foot, but failed to find the traces he sought.
“These aren’t Dark Beasts.”
He cast the monster he’d just slain down into the black, endless depths of the gorge.
Nearby, a small mountain of monster bodies formed an ominous backdrop.
“What on earth are the southerners doing…”
Word had come that packs of monsters infesting the gorge leading south were growing by the day.
Hearing they might soon threaten nearby villages, he couldn’t sit still.
‘Ruby should be awake by now.’
Rosetta should have met the princess by now.
‘I’ll be hearing from them soon.’
A peculiar tension gripped him, and he swallowed dryly.