The Quack Lady - Chapter 89

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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 89

* * *

Whooooosh—

The wind atop the cliff was harsh, contrary to my expectation that it would be refreshing.

“Why did we even come to a place like this!”

Mr. Hanel grumbled incessantly.

“When did I say we should come? You’re the one who said you had to follow along.”

“Then was I supposed to let you go to such a dangerous place alone?”

I silently gestured toward Liv and Hetia who were beside me.

Mr. Hanel looked like he had a lot to say, but soon hung his head low.

Then he muttered quietly.

“Really, sending a kid to such a dangerous place again, what if something happens…”

“What did you say? I can’t hear you.”

I deliberately brought my ear close to him.

Mr. Hanel said never mind and started walking ahead.

“Never mind, I know this place well, so just follow me.”

Contrary to his confident attitude, we soon arrived at a dead end.

“I thought you knew this place well?”

“…That’s strange, there was definitely a path if you went this way?”

He began feeling around a rock wall like someone possessed.

Just when I was thinking something was odd.

“The place you mentioned earlier doesn’t seem to be here. I think it’s that cliff over there.”

Hetia pointed to another cliff beside the large peak.

It was a somewhat smaller cliff though.

‘The shape is somehow…’

It was similar to the shape Mr. Pairon had described.

The sharp protrusions jutting out fiercely below the cliff looked dangerous just from looking at them.

‘If someone really fell from there…’

I gulped nervously.

It looked to be at least five stories high.

“I want to go up there and take a look.”

“What?”

Mr. Hanel, who had been feeling around the rocks, immediately exclaimed and crossed both arms. But no one was listening to him.

“Then we’ll go first. There might be something dangerous.”

Unlike me, Liv and Hetia, who were in better physical condition, walked ahead.

But.

Just as I was about to take a step, Mr. Hanel blocked my path.

“This won’t do. Something’s strange today.”

“You’re the strange one. Why have you been so restless since earlier?”

Mr. Hanel had definitely said he wasn’t at the scene of the incident.

Nevertheless, seeing him fidgeting like a dog that needed to pee was making me feel scattered too.

He even sent Liv and Hetia away, telling them to go ahead.

“Really, why are you acting like this!”

“Ah! Never mind, just don’t go!”

“I don’t want to! I came here because there’s something I want to check, so why are you stopping me!”

I growled and confronted him.

“No! It’s dangerous!”

“But we’re on solid ground, what’s dangerous about it!”

“Up there is…!”

That’s when it happened.

Suddenly there was a rumbling sound and from atop the cliff, rocks…

“Oh my, rocks are falling!”

“Damn it!”

Mr. Hanel immediately cursed and scooped me up in his arms. Then.

‘Huh? What’s this?’

Soon my body floated up into the air.

It was different from the feeling I had when I fell into the lake before.

No, it was exactly the opposite.

‘I’m really floating up!’

If before it was a feeling of falling, this time it was a feeling of rising against gravity.

“Were you a mage?”

“Ugh!”

Instead of answering, he gently set me down on top of the cliff.

Thanks to that, I reached the cliff top in an instant, which should have taken a long walk.

“To think the day would come when the cliff top is the safe place.”

He was still grumbling.

I looked up at him.

“Really… are you a mage?”

I could tell without looking in a mirror.

My eyes were definitely sparkling.

“Hey, why are you suddenly acting like that.”

“Well, people just floating up like that… How is that even possible?”

Having only seen magic that squeezed potion pouches for me, seeing someone actually use it directly was more than just amazing.

‘Is this a dream?’

I immediately slapped my cheek hard.

Seeing this, he flinched.

“Hey! What are you doing right now!”

“Oh, I thought it might be a dream.”

“Ugh!”

He shouted at the air again as if frustrated. Then he scratched his head and after a long while, spoke as if confessing.

“I’m a mage. One of the few in the Empire.”

“Oh my!”

It was more shocking than anything else.

To think that Mr. Hanel, who I thought was just tactless and spoke incomprehensibly, was a mage!

“But why did you hide your identity? Don’t mages receive great treatment at the Imperial Palace?”

I immediately bombarded him with questions.

However, he just narrowed his eyes and turned his head away sharply.

Mages.

The profession of mage emerged when some skilled in alchemy became able to use magic. However.

The Temple began to reject mages.

“Magic is an evil force disguised as trickery. It can never replace the power of God.”

The Temple, based on divine power, refused to acknowledge magic.

Looking at it this way, I could understand why the Temple acted that way. Maybe it was because they couldn’t believe it even seeing it with their own eyes.

When I looked at him with a grin, he seemed a bit embarrassed and turned his head away again.

“So don’t tell Pairon…”

“Oh my! Mr. Pairon doesn’t know either?”

“…”

When I asked back in obvious surprise, he pressed his lips tightly together.

“I guess you really can’t trust people too much.”

“It’s not my place to say, but anyway, that’s better…”

“So that’s why you told me not to go up on the cliff too?”

I fidgeted, rubbing the ground with one foot as I pointed down at it.

“Well, of course it’s dangerous…!”

“Mr. Pairon, you know something.”

I looked straight at him as I asked.

In an instant, his eyes grew calm and settled.

And so I finally found myself standing on the cliff, meeting his gaze directly.

It was the moment I took one step closer to the truth.

* * *

Hanel gazed down at the small child standing before him.

‘…’

Despite his quiet appearance, his mind was endlessly complicated.

He worried about how this child would think of him when he told her everything.

But on the other hand, a small glimmer of hope seemed to emerge.

The embarrassing thought that ‘maybe this child could solve it.’

But there was no need to share that burden.

Having thought that far, Hanel spoke playfully as usual.

“Hiding things! I even told you I’m a magician, so there’s nothing more for me to hide from you…”

“Then why did you say Amela would come back?”

“What?”

Hanel doubted his own ears.

‘How did she know the name Amela in the first place?’

Mr. Pairon couldn’t have told her first, could he?

“When I thought about it, it seemed strange. Usually when parents lose a daughter, they often break down from being unable to bear the grief. Especially if she’s an only child. It’s like losing everything in the world.”

“…”

“But Mr. Pairon seemed frozen at a specific point in time. In a state where hope and despair were chaotically mixed together – the possibility of finding his missing daughter.”

Hanel couldn’t say anything.

Then, as if she’d been waiting, Rtemeia’s gaze turned toward him.

“So I thought about it. Why didn’t Mr. Hanel let Mr. Pairon give up on the child?”

“Wh-what do you mean…”

“You said you shouldn’t give certainty in matters involving life, so why did you give Mr. Pairon certainty?”

Rtemeia wiggled her legs as she said this.

Hanel squeezed his eyes shut.

“Kid, you shouldn’t carelessly give certainty in matters involving life!”

His past self was holding back his present self.

“…So?”

At this point, he became curious. Just how much did this child know?

Even under Hanel’s steady gaze, Rtemeia didn’t back down.

Like someone who couldn’t afford to back down.

“When I thought about it that way, there was only one answer. Amela is with Mr. Hanel.”

“…!”

“And Amela’s condition must be very poor.”

Hanel quickly covered his mouth with one hand, afraid his gaping mouth would give him away.

“Right? Mr. Kidnapper?”

Rtemeia smiled brightly as she looked at him.

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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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