The Dutiful Kid Who Saved the Villainous Family - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 19

Her bottom, which had hit the floor, throbbed with pain.

But it wasn’t just her body that hurt.

Along with the pitch-black mist, a scene too overwhelming for young Airi to bear came flooding in.

‘This must be the nightmare that Elder is having!’

At that moment, Cookie muttered as if devastated.

“Damn it… Did she unconsciously attempt magi purification?”

“…!”

She had only thought about wanting to fix Elder’s pained expression…

“It’s a purification failure side effect. ‘Nightmare sharing’ has begun!”

Cookie’s words gradually became blurred.

Before she knew it, countless corpses were piled up before Airi’s eyes.

In the massive mountain range formed by corpses, Declan stood tall.

“If you leave like this, people will resent Lord Ortejo. They’ll call him a man who didn’t even recover his wife’s body.”

“…”

“Even so, do you intend to keep Lady Olivia’s last words?”

Declan’s expression twisted with pain.

He was reading and rereading a note covered in blood.

[Declan, I have something to tell you.

If I die from being attacked by demons, leave my body behind.

Let the corpse that died from demons just rot away on the plain.

I worked hard to save people.

So I don’t want to return to the castle as a body tainted with magi.

Bodies soaked with magi emit a terrible stench and contaminate those around them.

I don’t want to cause harm to precious people.

Let me die honorably as a knight.]

He read and reread the note with bloodshot eyes.

It was a note she used to write playfully whenever they went to battle.

He stared at the note that had become a will as if to memorize it, then turned his head.

“…She was a great knight.”

“If you return like this, people will resent Lord Declan…”

Such things didn’t matter at all.

“Well, would they hate me as much as I hate myself?”

“…”

“Olivia was a knight who loved this world more than anyone else.”

“…”

“So I should honor her last words, shouldn’t I?”

Behind Declan’s back, a lonely sunset like blood was setting.

He looked down at the corpse presumed to be Olivia for a long time, then muttered reverently in a voice devoid of moisture.

“…So that you can rest in peace, I’ll protect our children. Even if it costs me my life.”

Airi held her breath tightly.

It looked exactly as if that scene was repeating infinitely in his mind.

Airi quietly watched Elder’s retreating figure as he left the plain behind.

She had only wanted to live happily with her grandmother.

But seeing Elder trapped in darkness made her heart ache.

‘Is it because of the magi?’

Cold sweat gradually trickled down Airi’s forehead.

And at that moment.

With a crackling noise, Airi returned to reality.

And what entered Airi’s sight was…

“What the.”

Elder’s face, which had somehow come right up close.

Had he seen Airi through his blurred vision?

Declan frantically grasped at empty air and moved his lips.

“…What kind of dream is this vivid?”

“It’s not a dream.”

As soon as those words ended, Declan quickly pulled away from Airi and went to the far end of the room.

It was an instinctive action.

Coming to her senses, Airi raised her arms toward him to show her pure white magi-blocking suit.

“Don’t worry! No magi here. I’m wearing protective clothing too.”

“It’s not… okay. Do you think magi-blocking suits are invincible or something… Never come close again, from now on.”

His voice was hoarse and murky from sleep.

Even so, he tried to get as far away from Airi as possible.

“It’s dangerous.”

Airi saw worry rise and then stop in Declan’s red eyes.

Her heart somehow ached, so she lowered her eyes.

Declan questioned her like a grim reaper, no, like a teacher seeing a child who had caused trouble.

“…But why are you here?”

“Huh.”

“Why did you sneak into my room? …I’ll let it slide this time. Go back. It’s dangerous if you get too close.”

“I, I didn’t sneak in. I, I came to give my thanks! For the gift you gave me!”

Declan rubbed his face dryly and whispered low.

“Ah, the gift. It was nothing special.”

His eyelids trembled and closed.

Airi saw that fragile movement and stopped breathing.

Actually, the reason she had tried to save Elder was simple.

To prevent the destruction of the Northern Region and save her grandmother.

So she could eat lots and lots of delicious food with grandmother and be happy for a long, long time.

But the sight of him she had witnessed earlier came to mind.

The place where countless corpses were piled up.

The lonely back standing upright alone.

And…

“…So that you can rest in peace, I’ll protect the children. Even if it costs me my life.”

Could Airi perhaps be one of his ‘our children’ too?

That couldn’t be.

Airi had never been ‘our child’ to any adult man.

But that voice formed a lump in her heart, and she kept thinking about it.

And gradually, she began to think this way.

The world’s destruction.

Grandmother’s death.

The hero…

Apart from all those things, she wished he wouldn’t be in pain.

Elder, who unlike Airi, was carrying the burden of ‘saving the world’ all alone, finding it so difficult and arduous.

Whether it was worry about him, pity, or something mixed and jumbled together that she couldn’t identify.

A very small emotion sprouted a tiny bud in her heart.

Just like a seed carefully germinating.

So Airi decided to be brave.

“I’ve made up my mind!”

“…You still haven’t left?”

Even at Declan’s questioning mixed with doubt, Airi was spirited.

“Yes! I really, really want to learn purification magic. I want to grow super-duper fast!”

When she boldly declared her aspirations, Declan furrowed his brow.

Looking at her sparkling eyes, Declan chuckled softly.

Airi didn’t possess any powerful abilities whatsoever.

Still, he liked her willingness to learn earnestly.

‘I don’t know why she’s trying so hard to learn, but.’

Thinking it was probably just a child’s typical enthusiasm, he spoke to Airi.

“How admirable. Yes, a Purification Mage will come soon, so study hard. Even if you’re 1-star level, you need to know how to handle purification power.”

“Admirable?”

“Yes, admirable.”

“Wow! The Elder praised me!”

Seeing Airi smile brightly, he felt that was enough.

In Airi’s mind, the image of a praise sticker being attached bloomed like fluffy clouds.

‘I got praised!’

But this was strange.

She hadn’t done anything particularly amazing, so why was she being praised?

The Elder wasn’t like Grandmother, who would praise Airi just for eating her meals well.

Airi became a little confused and wanted to ask why he was treating her this way, but she held back.

She had to act like a polite and mature child.

Then, Declan muttered in a hoarse voice.

“Before that, you agreed to stay in the Northern Region for two months. You need to get permission from your grandmother.”

Airi’s eyes widened.

“Oh my, that’s right! If I write a letter to Grandmother, will you deliver it?”

“Yes. I need to ask for permission too. Without your letter, your grandmother will think I kidnapped you.”

Our grandmother isn’t the type of person who thinks such bad thoughts.

“Then here’s my letter!”

“Huh?”

“I’ve been carrying it in my pocket every single day so I could give it to the mailman as soon as I saw him!”

“…”

With her lips slightly protruding, Airi held up the letters she had been writing every single day until now.

As he skimmed through the contents, he paused at the section that read [Grandmother! Do you know about the Elder?]

“You’re sending all of this?”

“Yes! Grandmother and Airi are really, really close, so we share everything with each other!”

“…Except for this one.”

Declan said as he pulled out one letter that had [Elder] written on it.

“I’ll send the news that your stay has been extended directly to the Southern Region.”

“Yes! Then I should also write that I’m going to the Mage Tower to learn purification magic!”

Airi whistled cheerfully, full of excitement.

So Airi had no idea.

About the incredibly powerful aftermath her letter would cause in the Southern Region…

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