I’m the Strong Youngest Daughter Here to Save My Family from Darkness - Chapter 16

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 16
‘Whoa, butterflies!’
Butterflies in dazzling white, pale gold, and blush pink fluttered all around Arienna. They were lovely, but black soot clung to their wings, lending them a strange, uneasy air.
The fierce deer was nowhere to be seen.
‘They’re sooo pretty!’
A butterfly drifted lightly toward Arienna, as if to brush the tip of her nose.
“Ahahaha!”
It tickles~
Arienna, who had been giggling, suddenly froze.
‘That was a terrifying deer. These aren’t just butterflies! I’m mistaken! They might attack.’
Arienna quickly hid her hands behind her back. Then she said firmly,
“I won’t catch you. Absolutely not!”
Just then—
With a ding, a message appeared before her eyes.
[※ Tuntuni, help the butterflies you can see. Your touch will reach even the real deer!]
“Hmm? I can touch them?”
Now that I think about it, Kyle was like that too.
When she gently hugged the little chick, Kyle really did get better!
“Then can I help the scary deer too, so it won’t be scary anymore?”
As if to answer yes, a butterfly spun with a flutter above Arienna’s head.
Now what do I do? How should I help those butterflies?
“Butterfly, s-special…”
I’ve seen butterflies before.
When was it? The day of Tuntuni’s funeral.
I had lost my body and become a baby spirit, and I watched Tuntuni’s funeral.
Daddy was releasing white butterflies into the sky, and he said,
“They say white butterflies are the souls of the dead. I wonder if our Tuntuni is one of them. Tuntuni, now that you’re free from pain, go on and fly freely, and…”
Fly, and then what did he say?
That he was sorry his useless daddy couldn’t protect you.
That now that you’re a spirit, you should live the sturdiest, most pain-free life in the world.
I think he said that, but I’m not sure.
All I can remember is how much Daddy cried. I can’t quite recall the details.
Still, Arienna gazed at the butterflies fluttering around her, one after another.
‘Butterflies are for letting them fly away into the sky!’
The moment she resolved to set the butterflies free, several of them landed on the tips of her fingers.
Flutter, flutter.
When Arienna broke into a bright, beaming smile, a butterfly fluttered right into the front of her clothes.
Just as she had patted the little chick Kyle, she gently hugged the butterfly.
“Huh? Hi, butterfly!”
At that moment, the black soot clinging to the white wings began to fade away, little by little, the instant the butterfly was held in her arms.
Then dozens of butterflies took off all at once. Their snow-white wings lit up the dark Wish Tree.
“Wow.”
Arienna gazed up at the butterflies, utterly captivated.
Higher, and higher still.
The butterflies were leaving the roots of the Wish Tree and rising into the sky.
[Thanks to Tuntuni’s warm touch, all the butterflies have been “healed”!]
Whoa, just like Tuntuni healed the little chick Kyle?
[The fierce deer has vanished too.]
Arienna’s eyes went wide, and she beamed.
“Wow. Butterflies, you’re sooo the best!”
Arienna shot her thumb up high. Then, grinning from ear to ear, she waved her hand.
The butterflies were sooo cute!
I hope I can see them again sometime!
But that cheerful smile lasted only a moment.
[Tuntuni, Danger Detected for a ‘friend’!]
Arienna’s eyes went round.
‘Kyle is in danger again!’
[The scrawny little chick Kyle is a little bit sick!]
Arienna hurriedly looked over at Kyle.
‘The butterflies aren’t what matter right now!’
Kyle the little chick was surely worrying about Arienna, and I had to run to him!
On her stubby legs, she pattered over to Kyle as fast as she could.
“Kyle!”
The moment she spotted him, she wrapped him up in a tight hug.
“Phew, thank goodness.”
No Rampage! If I stay like this for a bit, I’ll be fine, right?
But Kyle was acting strange.
His face was bright red, and his eyes were stretched wide open.
Kyle hurriedly pushed Arienna away.
“L-let go. I, I have a lot to think about!”
“…?!”
* * *
Kyle really did have a lot to think about.
‘W-what is this?’
The moment he slipped out of Arienna’s arms, a cold sweat trickled all the way down his spine.
‘This kid. What on earth is she?’
The surroundings were dead silent, quiet as a mouse. And no wonder.
‘At some point the villagers had been roused from their sleep, and they’d witnessed a bloody, life-threatening battle!’
The fight between Arienna and the deer monster had been fierce, and it had gone on for a long time.
Perhaps because of that, the villagers had been stirred one by one from their hibernation-like slumber midway through the battle.
The villagers’ jaws dropped open.
“W-what did I just see?”
“Is this a dream?”
“That, that tiny child!”
The deer that had burst out from beneath the Wish Altar was a Calamity-class monster. Even a seasoned knight would struggle to take one down, yet that little one…
‘H-she killed it.’
And without a hint of fear!
“Butterfly! Butterfly!”
Humming her little tune all the while, she grabbed the deer’s antlers and smashed its enormous head straight into the ground.
Crash!
The ear-splitting racket came as a bonus.
“Bye-bye now!”
With a swing of her sausage-plump arm, the hulking deer’s body went sailing as if it weighed nothing.
And at the very end…
“Byeee!”
She grinned brightly and even waved.
Had she just waved it off to hell?
How could that possibly make sense?
A Calamity-class monster simply vanishing without a trace?
Kyle’s jaw slowly fell open.
A monster that had simply ‘vanished,’ leaving no corpse, no Magic Stone, not even a drop of blood behind.
‘I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.’
Without realizing it, Kyle moved his lips soundlessly.
“Y-you.”
“Yeah?”
Arienna politely folded her hands in front of her.
Then she declared with great vigor:
“Patrol’s a success!”
To Kyle’s eyes, Arienna had become a terrifying force. She had not only crushed the maddened deer monster, dozens of times his own size, with one hand, but had erased its very existence.
‘No wonder! That’s why she called me a chick!’
Not only could she rein in his Rampage, she could also take down a beast as powerful as he was!
He was staring at Arienna in a daze when it happened.
The twisted roots of the tree straightened upright.
The leaves of the Wish Tree slowly, ever so slowly, regained their lush green vitality.
Then a breeze swept between the two of them.
Within the wind, the Spirit of the Wish Tree whispered.
“Thank you, little one. Thank you.”
* * *
“You’ve done it. All of you.”
The withered Wish Tree sprouted new leaves once more, and the Spirit returned.
Jeremy, who had been watching the whole scene, muttered as if he could hardly believe it.
Jeremy’s grandson, John, was also standing with his mouth hanging open.
A few of the villagers were clutching sickles and axes.
They must have woken from hibernation and rushed out ready to fight the monster the moment they saw it. But there was no need for that at all.
“The Wish Tree is back to normal, so the monster won’t come anymore!”
Only then did a sigh of relief ripple through the villagers.
Some pressed their hands to their faces, and others were even moved to tears.
Just as the emotion was spilling over, Kyle cut in, perfectly composed.
“Grandpa, the reward.”
“…?”
“You said you’d give us a reward if we fixed the Wish Tree.”
Unlike the naive Arienna, Kyle was sharp as a blade when it came to matters like this.
Jeremy let out a booming laugh and nodded.
“Ahaha! Right. I did say I’d give you anything you wanted.”
Jeremy hesitated for a moment, then jerked his chin at a young man from the village standing beside him.
“Why don’t you give them that?”
“That one, sir?”
“Go and fetch it. Isn’t it meant as a gift for the one who saved our village?”
The young man fell silent for a moment, then nodded as if he’d made up his mind.
“Yes. I’ll be right back.”
About ten minutes later.
The young man returned, sweat beading on his forehead, carrying a small clay jar.
“This is a jar where we’ve carefully kept the treasures that came out of the Wish Tree. If you put your hand inside, you’ll grasp exactly the treasure you need. Would you like to try reaching in?”
“Mm-hm.”
Shoop, Arienna slipped her hand into the jar.
In that instant, her eyes went wide.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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