The Baby Has No Strength to Hide! - Chapter 8

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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 8
“Why are you smiling?”
Ailien turned at the sound of laughter behind her.
“Chirp!”
“Didi, not you too.”
At Didi’s cry—as if pleading for some mercy—Ailien’s face fell as though she’d been betrayed.
It made sense, really. Kiki was the one who usually fussed, and Didi had always been on Ailien’s side.
So if even Didi was chirping, things must be urgent.
“All right, all right. I’ll run without making a sound, so you hold yours too…….”
“Screech, chirp.”
Didi responded gravely to Ailien’s words. Kiki, watching them both with evident exasperation, urged them forward again.
“Come on.”
Despite their pledge to each other, Ailien—who’d been eagerly chasing the light—stopped in her tracks once more.
Portraits hanging on the Corridor wall had caught her attention.
And among them, what truly seized Ailien’s gaze was—
“Marlin!”
A portrait of Marlin Zeronias herself.
Unlike the warm, playful Marlin that lived in Ailien’s memory, this one wore her pale purple hair pinned up and an austere expression on her face.
“So beautiful…….”
She was beautiful enough to make a small chest tighten.
While Ailien lingered before Marlin’s portrait, Kiki and Didi said nothing.
It was one of those moments when a child’s blue eyes sparkled like transparent glass marbles.
“Hmm?”
Did Marlin just smile?
Her mouth corners were definitely moving, twitching side to side like that?
Can a painting smile?
[How much longer are you going to stand there?]
“……Huh?”
[Aren’t you coming?]
“Hmm?”
The Marlin in the portrait was speaking to Ailien!
Gasp!
Startled, Ailien stepped back.
[Hmm? So you really do have a gift for seeing things, I hear. Seems it’s true.]
“Marlin? Marlin?”
Ailien’s voice wavered. Kiki approached carefully and brushed her head, while Didi gently stroked the child’s soft cheek.
But Marlin’s portrait kept only her eyes and mouth busy, moving rapidly.
[I am Marlin, yet I am not Marlin! I am merely one of countless Fragments of her.]
“Countless Fragments……?”
[Marlin carries vast memories within this world. She cannot forget them. So she scattered pieces of her memory here and there.]
“Then you’re not the real Marlin?”
[…….]
“Hehe, Ailien thought Marlin was…….”
As Ailien whispered in a voice noticeably lower than before, the eyes of the Marlin in the portrait—which had been moving left and right—suddenly stilled.
Even in those painted pupils, a faint warmth somehow bloomed.
[I hear you’re quite beloved.]
“That’s true. Ailien is a bit like that.”
[I also heard you’re a rather troublesome child. So it’s true, then.]
“Hehe.”
[Not a compliment, mind you.]
“But why doesn’t Marlin’s Fragment know Ailien?”
Ailien thrust out her lower lip as she spoke. No matter that this was merely one of countless Fragments of Marlin—Ailien was still her most precious person.
There was no way these Fragments wouldn’t know her!
[Because I exist before the moment you and I met.]
“Before?”
[So you’ve finally made it here. I am very glad.]
Though the tone carried no inflection, there was something unmistakably sincere in it.
“You’re glad that Ailien came here?”
[Yes. I’ll be even gladder when you safely find the treasure.]
“Ailien, can Ailien come see Marlin’s Fragments again sometimes?”
‘Not too often.’
“Why?”
‘Did Marlin, who shared time with you, tell you about the stars?’
“Sparkle-sparkle gleam!”
Ailien’s eyes shone just like stars.
“So the stars in the sky are Fragments, just like how Marlin’s Fragment is Marlin’s Fragment!”
‘Yes, she told you that.’
“Uh-huh! But why?”
‘Wait a moment.’
“Hmm?”
‘The rats have arrived.’
Her gaze turned toward the Corridor, and it was the look of someone utterly fed up.
Just then, as if on cue, a troop of them scurried hastily past the Corridor.
‘Those creatures, past or present, never change.’
“Squeak.”
Didi protested with a cry.
“Didi, you shouldn’t say things like that.”
‘Ah, I apologize.’
She offered the apology with an expression that showed no apology whatsoever, and the eyes and mouth of Marlin in the portrait found their way back into place.
“Marlin’s Fragment froze!”
Despite Ailien’s urging, the portrait remained still. It held the same resolute and icy expression as before. There was no trace of doubt in her eyes about her own abilities, and her hand gripping the Wand was firm.
It was no stretch to call it the portrait of a hero who had saved this world.
‘All I want…’
She simply wished to become another hero—one who could give rest, even for a moment, to a hero who had described the time she’d lived through as an abyss.
“I’ll find Riri’s treasure.”
Ailien spoke like a vow to Marlin in the portrait, then moved forward once more.
The light wasn’t far from the portrait at all.
She eased the door open, and what greeted her was a vast room lined with shelves.
“Wow.”
Ailien stepped slowly into the room. Kiki and Didi followed quietly behind, their presence muted to near silence.
It seemed to be a Warehouse for things no longer in use.
“A doll!”
On her tiptoes, Ailien let out a delighted gasp when she spotted a rabbit dressed in an adorable dress.
“Look at that show-off—and here she was playing with toys like this.”
Ailien spoke words that would have turned Kaius inside out had he been there, yet she couldn’t tear her eyes from the Rabbit Doll.
Despite its place in the Warehouse, the toy was impeccably clean and well-maintained.
“It’s a Princess Rabbit, a Princess Rabbit! There’s a Prince Rabbit too. Wow, there’s a Table and a Teapot as well!”
“Meow!”
Kiki gave a stern warning, as if she’d known this would happen.
“Fine, fine. I know.”
Ailien set the doll down with a show of compliance, though her eyes remained wistful.
“But is this really Kaius’s? Could I ask for it?”
“Squeak.”
In the moment she clicked her tongue and turned her gaze away, something caught her eye.
“Huh?”
Something gleamed between the shadows.
Ailien craned her neck to make out what it was.
“A Wooden Horse!”
What had glimmered moments before turned out to be a shabby Wooden Horse carved from raw timber.
“But is this really Marlin’s hidden treasure for Riri?”
Ailien whispered softly after staring at the Wooden Horse for some time.
Kiki and Didi, who had urged her forward so eagerly to reach this place, exchanged glances with Ailien.
To be honest, it was rather worn and faded to be called treasure.
Ailien must have been expecting something grand, given that Marlin had hidden it.
“Riri, I’ve never seen anything like this before!”
Yet Ailien’s mouth opened wide in genuine delight.
With her small hands, she eagerly stroked the Wooden Horse.
“Could I ride this, Riri?”
As Didi gave a cautious nod, Ailien beamed with excitement and climbed onto the Wooden Horse.
Grasping the handle attached near the horse’s neck, Ailien swayed her body back and forth with abandon.
“Wheee!”
Ailien descended slowly from the Wooden Horse, laughing freely despite riding alone, as though she’d discovered some secret joy in it.
“Hmm, it’s not quite as thrilling as all that. Kaius and the other little ones would probably love it, though.”
Ailien came down sheepishly, then thrust her belly forward with grave importance.
Some lingering reluctance remained — her small hands still caressed the Wooden Horse tenderly.
That was when it happened.
“Huh?”
Ailien felt something amiss and pulled her hand away from the Wooden Horse, tilting her head.
“Wait, the wood here is a different kind!”
Didi came bounding over at her words, examined that section, and tilted her head in confusion.
“Don’t you see? Look here — a grape-dark shimmer clings to this part!”
The back of the Wooden Horse had a subtly different hue. It glowed darker than the rest.
“I’ve seen this somewhere before.”
Ailien closed her eyes and crossed her arms, lost in thought.
Then her eyes snapped open.
“Marlin’s Wand!”
The legendary Yew of Stars — Stelia, it was called, wood that grew only where meteors had fallen — fashioned into a Wand.
It was the object Ailien admired most in all the world.
“It’s the same wood as Marlin’s Wand!”
The Wooden Horse was no ordinary thing.

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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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