The Baby Has No Strength to Hide! - Chapter 2

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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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Episode 2
Twenty years of the Human-Demon War had carved deep wounds into the Continent.
Everyone was treating the aftermath and rebuilding their lives. Five years had already passed since then.
After the war’s end, Zeronias had ostensibly remained in the Hayana Forest for rest.
She had disappeared, leaving word that no one should seek her out until she revealed herself.
Breaking that promise and coming here like this—why were there only children in this place?
“Come in, come in.”
The moment Calisto stepped into the cottage, his shoulders went slack without his knowing it. A familiar presence enveloped his body.
It was Zeronias’s aura—the one he had relied upon in the battlefield.
“So Zeronias truly stayed here.”
At the window, a floral curtain swayed gently, and atop the sill sat a small potted plant. On a low table in the corner, ceramic figurines were arranged in neat rows.
A small table held a cute bear figurine family huddled together, along with a tea set. Soft yellow wallpaper contributed warmth to the atmosphere.
She must have spent considerable time here tending to it all with her own hands.
Though Calisto was a knight versed in Aura, as a descendant bearing the blood of Zeronias, he was remarkably sensitive to Mana Detection.
He walked through the house freely and without hesitation.
“A gift! Where’s my gift?”
“A gift, you say.”
“Mari always said that it’s only proper to bring a gift when visiting someone else’s home.”
The child looked at Calisto with eyes that seemed to ask, “Don’t you even know that?”
“I came in such haste I didn’t bring one. I’ll make sure to bring you something next time, I promise. But your voice…”
“My voice?”
“Is your voice always like that?”
“Does Lili’s voice sound cool?”
At Calisto’s words, the child giggled. The little one’s laugh, which should have been clear and bright, sounded uncannily strange.
That was when it happened.
He felt a faint vibration running through the cottage. It was the moment he began to furrow his brow and look down at the floor.
[I told you to stop playing pranks!]
“Mari?”
It was unmistakably Zeronias’s voice. When he was young and used to run about or disobey, she would scold him exactly like this. Perhaps for that reason, the old name spilled from his lips before he could stop it.
“I wasn’t pranking!”
At the same moment, the child’s voice returned to normal. It was adorably small and delicate, just as he’d imagined.
[What did I tell you to give when my little one arrived?]
There was only one person in this world who could call him by that name. As Calisto felt a strange emotion rising within him, the child suddenly thrust something into his hands.
It was a Wax-Sealed Letter.
“Read it, read it.”
Aileyn bounced excitedly, urging Calisto to read the letter. As though bewitched, he carefully broke open the envelope.
Just as he’d suspected, it was a letter from Zeronias.
[Hello, my little one.
If you’re reading this letter, it means I am not there. But do not grieve. All of this is my choice, not the world’s natural course.
Ah, writing like this makes it seem as though I’ve already received the date of my death—but rest assured, that day is not imminent.
I told you, didn’t I? I must do what I must do.
To change everything, I need to rewrite the story itself.
To do that, I need more time. It seems the stars are hiding something from me.
But there is one thing that weighs on my heart. Yes, that small child right before your eyes. Her name is Aileyn, and as for her surname… I suppose you could say she doesn’t have one yet.
I entrust Aileyn to you until my return, my little one. She is a child I hold very dear.
All children should grow up as children should, yet I’ve learned this is harder than one might think.
You already know this well, but I love all of Rubentain.
I offer a blessing prayer for Kaiah every year, and I hope it reaches him.
I’ll close this now.
Return safely.
Zeronias.]
As Calisto finished reading the letter, his hands began to tremble. The name she bore before earning the title Zeronias was Zeronias—a woman who had transcended some distant peak of power. Her age was roughly that of his great-great-grandmother, yet her appearance seemed that of someone his own age.
“My little one, are you all right?”
Calisto clutched the letter tightly as he lowered himself to one knee, bringing his eyes level with Aileyn’s.
“Aileyn?”
Aileyn nodded.
He suspected she might be one of the orphans who had lost their parents in the long war.
Touched by this thought, he gently stroked the child’s head.
“Did Zeronias leave you here and depart?”
……
“Were you here all alone?”
Aileyn nodded at Calisto’s first question, then shook her head at the second. She felt a small measure of relief at that. The girl seemed precocious for her age, but even so, the idea that such a small child had been here by herself didn’t make sense.
“Kiki was here, and Didi too, right?”
“Kiki? Didi?”
The names sounded almost comical. But then she remembered that this child’s own nickname was Lili, and the oddness settled into something that made sense. Still—where exactly were those two?
***
Aileyn gazed blankly at the enormous man standing before her.
It was strange to finally meet the “son of Zeronias” she’d heard of only in stories. He did seem like someone who doesn’t listen well, just as Zeronias had said.
‘He doesn’t seem particularly cute.’
Though she’d been told it wasn’t good to hold prejudices.
Aileyn scanned him from crown to toe, searching for any trace of cuteness. It took a moment just to take in how tall he was.
“It’s gotten late.”
Then Calisto pulled something from his pocket and frowned slightly, looking troubled. Sensing he was about to leave, Aileyn straightened up attentively.
“I should get going now.”
“Mm. Safe travels.”
Calisto looked at her with something like bewilderment at her flat farewell.
‘Was something wrong with that?’
She’d practiced that goodbye thousands of times since then. There was nothing strange about it.
“Well, Aileyn. I think you’ll need to come with me after all.”
“Where is Lili going?”
“Let’s head to Rubentain Castle together for now. You can’t stay here alone like this.”
Aileyn merely blinked at his words, as if she’d never expected to hear such a thing.
“Lili eats well alone. Lili sleeps well alone too.”
“Impressive.”
“And, and Lili isn’t actually alone.”
“That’s right—Kiki and Didi were here with you, you said.”
“And Lili has to guard this place.”
It was somewhat amusing to think of such a small frame protecting anything, but Aileyn looked so serious about it that he couldn’t bring himself to laugh.
Suddenly, Zeronias’s letter came to mind.
Let the child be a child.
“But the Hayana Forest has been protecting itself quite well all this time.”
“But then there’s the blade, and also…….”
“Also? Has someone else come here before?”
Aileyn scratched at her nose, her expression suggesting she didn’t want to answer. Calisto let out a long sigh.
“But Zeronias told me to take you with me.”
“To the blade-wielder to bring Lili…….”
With narrowed eyes fixed on Calisto, Aileyn clapped her hands sharply together.
“Then we should go. Come on.”
Calisto felt oddly deflated at how quickly and readily she’d consented. He found himself wondering what sorts of things were going on in that small head of hers.
“Listen.”
Before he could finish telling her to pack everything she needed, Aileyn seized his collar. Her fist was so small he wondered if she could even grip a fork. It looked as soft and fragile as easily-crushed whipped cream.
“Can we bring Kiki and Didi too?”
“Kiki and Didi?”
Now that he thought about it, why hadn’t those two shown themselves yet?
“Three more mouths to feed might be a problem, though?”
At that moment, a black cat and a white flying squirrel with touches of gray fur crept cautiously toward the tense Aileyn. The cat yawned and wrapped its tail around the child’s leg, while the flying squirrel scurried up her body in a blur and perched on her shoulder.
So Zeronias had left, and the ones who’d stayed behind with Aileyn to guard the cottage—Kiki and Didi—they were…….
A cat and a flying squirrel.
What was more startling was that the two small creatures were looking at Aileyn with an expression of solemn devotion, as if they could never bear to be parted from her.
“Is it because of food costs?”
He found himself switching his gaze between the cat and the flying squirrel, his mood strangely muddled, when Aileyn spoke urgently.
“Kiki and Didi will only eat just a tiny bit instead of Lili!”
“…….”
“So please take us with you……sir.”
So she did know how to speak formally after all.
It was utterly absurd.

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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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