The Baby Has No Strength to Hide! - Chapter 6

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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 6
Even Evangelline, spirited and resolute as she was, would fall silent without reason the moment she stepped into that room.
‘Better than I expected.’
The instant Calisto saw Ailyen in that space, a peculiar sense of calm settled over him—as if he’d found the final piece of a puzzle.
His footsteps toward the Study carried an unusually light quality.
“Your Grace!”
Yet that brief peace could not hold.
Dorian, his adjutant, burst through the door with breath caught at his throat, urgent and breathless.
From that single cry alone, Calisto’s sharp gaze darkened as he grasped the gravity of the matter, his voice dropping low.
“What is it.”
“You must depart for Jedo with all speed, Your Grace. An urgent summons has come from the Imperial Palace.”
“Jedo. So His Majesty has finally seen fit to open his ears this time, has he.”
Calisto’s tone turned cutting, unbecoming of a Duke.
And with reason. Whenever suspicious fluctuations in Magical Energy had been detected at the northern border, Calisto had petitioned the Emperor countless times, only to have the Imperial Palace repeatedly dismiss his reports with transparent excuses. It was precisely for this reason that he had sought out Zeronias and ventured into the Hayana Forest.
“But what are we to do with Grand Mage Zeronias absent?”
“Send word to Count Huyato. He is to monitor the Barrier Sealing Stone’s condition with greater vigilance than ever before. The moment even the faintest abnormality in Magical Energy is detected, he is to cast aside all formality and dispatch a magical messenger at once. And see that patrol cycles are doubled as well.”
“…Understood, Your Grace.”
Dorian bowed his head, his face grave.
Calisto crossed his arms and let his gaze drift toward the window. As for the North—its subjects and knights—he had absolute confidence he could maintain perfect control and protection, even at the cost of his life.
But he could make no such promise for the regions beyond the North’s sturdy barriers. Those lands were ruled by cowards who, even during the brutal days of the Human-Demon War, had shrunk from the front lines, preoccupied only with their own survival.
Calisto was no mere hero of the North. He was a war hero who had protected the entire Empire, yet the great wall of an Emperor consumed by jealousy—one who sent that hero into the jaws of ruin to line his own pockets—still hung like a curtain before him, barring the way forward.
***
Left alone in the lovely room, Ailyen could scarcely contain her joy, bouncing about with unbridled delight. Didi scampered after her in equal enthusiasm, while Kiki settled primly before the sunlit window and groomed her front paws with elegant composure.
“Look! It fits Liri perfectly!”
The comfortable chair seemed tailored precisely for Ailyen. Nestled into its plush embrace, the girl kicked her legs with boundless glee.
Didi scrambled rapidly up the armrest. The sky squirrel’s large eyes blinked, and Ailyen spoke to her in bright tones.
“How is it? Does Liri look good?”
Ailyen struck a series of poses before Didi—arm raised to her head, other hand on her hip, expression grave and measured. Didi, finding everything splendid, clapped her little paws together with fervent approval.
“Sigh. It seems Liri was born to be a noble, after all.”
With a satisfied breath, Ailyen let her body go limp. The long journey since morning had worn her out considerably. Her bouncing legs gradually began to slow.
Kiki, who had paid no mind to Ailyen and Didi’s foolish antics, stirred slowly at those words and padded near with unhurried steps.
Then, as before, she nudged Ailyen gently with her nose. There was clearly something she wished to convey.
“Why do you keep doing that? If you have something to say, just say it! Are you nervous because his name carries such weight? Liri will protect you! Liri would never abandon you!”
It was reassuring language, incongruous with the girl who, moments earlier, had sworn she would go alone if Calisto left without her.
Kiki nimbly leaped onto Ailyen’s lap. Then, raising her front paw, she tapped gently at the child’s neck.
“Huh? Oh, that!”
Ailyen understood at last and withdrew the necklace she had hidden within her clothes. Suspended from the chain hung a ruby that gleamed with a soft, ember-like radiance.
As she tapped the ruby, a clear chime rang out, and it burst forth with an intense crimson wave.
Like a tiny flame awakening within the jewel, the ruby’s center flashed, scattering pink luminescence across the entire room. In an instant, a Magic Circle unfurled centered on Ailyen.
Brilliant fragments of light, like flower petals, spiraled through the air and coalesced, and from within the ruby rose a sleek staff adorned with a heart-shaped crystal. The shaft shone in pale rose, and small white wings fluttered gently at the grip.
Ailyen caught the staff with practiced ease.
“Liri’s Wand!”
Observing Ailyen’s delight, Kiki and Didi exchanged glances.
Both recalled simultaneously the day Merlin had given her this gift.
‘Liri, I want to steal that.’
‘…What?’
Merlin, who had been carefully casting spells throughout the house with her wand in hand, could only laugh weakly at the child’s blunt confession.
Not realizing whose fault all of this was.
When Merlin’s strength finally gave out and she ceased her work, settling into her chair, Ailyen rushed over and nestled against her side.
Merlin pinched the child’s soft, round cheek gently.
‘Ow!’
Ailyen lifted her small hand to her cheek. The pinch was far too light to cause any real pain, yet she complained theatrically. Still, Merlin couldn’t help but smile at the antics.
‘What’s so special about this wooden stick.’
Merlin waved the wand she held with casual indifference, muttering to herself. It was a remark that would horrify others to overhear. For that wooden stick was fashioned from Stelia, the legendary starwood that grows only where meteors have fallen.
All mages possessed their own wands, but Merlin’s was singular among them. The staff, dark as night with violet luminescence threading through it and lightning-bolt patterns etched in silver thread, was beautiful by any measure. Yet to Ailyen, whose eyes saw only brilliance in everything Merlin did, even a wand carved from common wood would have seemed the most magnificent thing in the world.
‘Then why not just give it to Liri?’
‘Little one, this is mine.’
‘If Merlin gives it to Liri, then it’s Liri’s, isn’t it?’
‘What am I to do? Merlin has no intention of giving it away.’
‘But you really won’t give it? Liri only thought about stealing it. I didn’t want to actually do it. Only the most wicked do such things, you said.’
Ailyen’s brows dipped with evident regret—she’d been taught that stealing was wrong. She desperately wanted Merlin’s Wand, yet she knew better than to take it without permission.
Merlin, adopting a sympathetic expression to match, mirrored the girl’s disappointment.
‘Does she not realize that pestering people for their belongings isn’t acceptable either?’
‘Really? Then I won’t do it again from now on…… But just this once—will you give it to me? Please?’
Ailyen stretched out her small hands in supplication toward Merlin, who suddenly found the entire situation absurd and burst into hearty laughter.
‘Fine. It’s about time you had it anyway.’
‘Had what?’
As she spoke, Merlin swept her wand in a broad arc. A staff topped with a heart-shaped crystal materialized before Ailyen with a soft pop.
‘Wow!’
‘This is what I prepared for you.’
‘It’s absolutely adorable! But wouldn’t it be better if you kept that one and I got yours instead?’
‘No, it wouldn’t.’
Merlin’s refusal was firm. She pressed the peculiar wand into Ailyen’s hands, and though the girl’s lower lip protruded slightly in protest, she accepted it.
‘Yes, it suits you perfectly. This is what you might call mise-en-scene.’
Merlin smiled with satisfaction, speaking in a manner that made little sense. But the smile didn’t linger long.
At some point, sadness had begun to settle in Merlin’s gaze whenever it fell upon Ailyen.
‘When I leave, this wand will guide you in what you must do.’
‘What I must do?’
‘Yes, you know, don’t you?’
‘I do! Treasure! I’m going to find treasure!’

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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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