The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 146

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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 146
“Ow.”
“What’s wrong all of a sudden?”
Kalid furrowed his brow and grabbed my wrist.
A limp strand of black hair hung limply in my grasp.
“Just watch.”
I held the hair firmly and channeled my mana. The air around me vibrated once.
Will it work?
“Hup.”
A blue magic circle materialized, and I felt both my internal mana and the surrounding mana flow into its intricate equations.
The drooping black hair suddenly stood on end. And then….
‘The inscription on this monument contains magic that freezes time.’
So what about a variation of it? In other words….
‘Reversing time.’
In that instant, I felt a chunk of power drain from within me.
‘Huh? This is a bit….’
The moment I realized something had gone wrong.
“Rubian!”
The black hair clutched in my hand gradually began to tint silver.
“…What…is this….”
“Gasp, gasp.”
The magic circle rapidly dissipated.
My vision spun, and nausea surged from within. It was a classic sign of mana depletion.
“Rubian! Are you alright?”
Kalid quickly grasped my hand and infused his mana into me.
It seemed this magic was too demanding even with ambient mana available.
“But this…it actually works….”
I lay flat on my back and lifted the hair I’d been gripping tightly in my hand.
A slightly shortened length and hair half-transformed to silver.
As if…it had reverted to before the dye job.
“It actually works.”
But manipulating time proved to be an extraordinary feat—my entire mana reserves were drained just from changing two strands of hair, and I hadn’t even completed the transformation.
Without the high-purity mana of the Sealing Water, I might have suffered severe damage to my mana core.
‘It’s a dangerous magic circle.’
I thought to myself.
But I reached another conclusion as well.
‘I can use this time magic.’
I became certain of it.
My hand instinctively moved to my lower back.
‘If I can use this…to halt the growth of my stigma.’
Even if I can’t completely free myself from this mark right now, wouldn’t that give me time?
‘Time to cultivate the strength to stand against the Mage King.’
My eyes flooded with crimson light.
‘Wizeria.’
With my eyes closed, I called out desperately to the sea within my mind.
‘Please. Help me use my own mana to stop the time of this mark.’
The sea of wisdom that holds all the magical circuits of the world. In that moment, its waves surged violently.
Of course.
Ripples spreading like a gentle voice. Great waves undulated, and the knowledge buried within them all rose at once.
Everything I have exists for you.
* * *
“Wow, I’m so tired.”
I spoke as I emerged from the back path of the library.
“That’s what happens when you overdo it.”
Kalid clicked his tongue disapprovingly and caught hold of me. Apparently deciding this wouldn’t do, he unfastened a bracelet despite my protests.
“Still, it was worth the effort.”
“What effort exactly? Your hair hasn’t even turned completely silver.”
“Well, there are things like that.”
Kalid doesn’t know that my mark is growing.
So it seemed he thought I was just trying to reverse my hair color with time magic.
‘Wizeria created a magic circle for me.’
Now, once my mana fully recovers, I’ll be able to stop the time of the mark.
If I borrow Wizeria’s knowledge, I’ll be able to activate the magic circle with optimal mana efficiency without my mana draining away like before.
Yet despite my hopeful heart, my footsteps trembled like a newborn fawn.
Perhaps because I’d lost so much mana so suddenly. It wasn’t recovering easily.
“Ugh.”
Eventually, I stumbled to the side of the path and collapsed.
I felt like a drunk who couldn’t control their own body.
“…I really can’t just watch this.”
A dark back suddenly appeared before my eyes.
“Get on.”
“What? Our brother?”
“Why would you say something so terrible?”
Terrible?
Well, it’s a bit embarrassing to show off, but our brothers are actually quite decent!
“At this rate, you won’t even make it back to the dormitory. I’ll have to keep giving you mana the whole way back.”
Kalid murmured calmly.
Hurry.
I noticed his voice urging me forward had suddenly become a bit lower.
“…W-well, then maybe I could just hold your hand…”
“It’s not enough.”
“….”
“More contact is better.”
In that instant, the tiny creatures living in my heart began to leap and bound.
“You…!”
My ears flushed crimson in an instant, and I burst out in anger.
“Sometimes you really say the strangest things!”
“What exactly?”
“…Ugh. I’m heavy.”
“Understood. I’ll verify it, so hurry. The guards will be here at this rate.”
In the end, I clung to Kalid’s back like a cicada.
As his sturdy arms held my legs firmly, a refreshing surge of mana poured through my entire body as if on cue. It felt like being embraced by a gentle strength.
‘I really have gotten heavier.’
Autumn was the season when one plumped up, after all.
“….”
“….”
Footsteps echoed through my silent anguish.
We were two people, yet there was only one set of footsteps.
Seeing the Walking Path bathed in the gentle blue moonlight, it felt as though we were walking through a dream.
“Kalid…. You’re the one stumbling more?”
“Hey, could you stop playing with my hair? I can’t concentrate on walking.”
I laughed softly. The exposed nape of my neck felt slightly warm.
“Your hair is really beautiful. How does it feel to be born with everything?”
“…Please.”
Kalid murmured like a groan, then let out a long, weary sigh.
“Born with everything? I don’t even remember anything.”
“Ugh…. No self-deprecation allowed.”
I replied languidly, resting my cheek against his back.
My heart beat pleasantly, feeling like a lullaby somehow.
“You really are amazing….”
The protagonist of a novel, no less.
“The most amazing protagonist in the world….”
You don’t know it yet, though.
At that, Kalid fell silent for a long time.
I stifled a yawn and added whatever came to mind.
“Though I did think Father was a bit more amazing.”
“…Do you really have to add such unnecessary remarks?”
“Hehe.”
I laughed briefly, slowly closing and opening my eyes.
“Yawn. What do I do? I’m getting sleepy.”
“Come on. I’ll wake you up.”
The person driving… no, riding a horse… wait, that’s not right. I shouldn’t be sleeping while someone’s carrying me.
But I was so exhausted.
Cool mana flowed into me without pause, yet my weary body felt pleasantly loose because of it.
“I’m sorry. I was supposed to take a night walk…”
“It’s fine.”
Kalid smiled slightly.
“This is enough.”
His soft voice was the last thing I heard.
* * *
Late at night.
Ballock couldn’t fall asleep.
He gulped down drink after drink, but his thoughts only grew heavier.
“…A battlefield?”
A hollow laugh escaped him. That didn’t make sense, did it?
“What? The youngest runt mentioned something like that in the Ancient Manuscript Archive?”
“Yes. …Grandfather, you haven’t heard anything about it?”
“Of course not. Was that why you were so gloomy?”
“Well…”
“What, what is it! Wasn’t he just talking about what happened when our village was attacked by dark creatures?”
“I suppose that’s it…”
Liam nodded reluctantly, though he was mature for his age, still just a boy.
When Ballock spoke with such conviction, Liam seemed to dismiss his own excessive worries.
“…”
Of course, Ballock ended up carrying the full weight of the concern Liam had shed.
“Ugh, I can’t stand this anymore.”
He finally set down his cup with a sharp clink.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he slipped out of the mansion and headed toward the Academy.
Morris would have a fit if he found out, but Ballock was the type who had to do what he set his mind to, even if it killed him.
Especially when his mind was this restless.
The strictly controlled rear entrance of the Academy.
The night guards spotted Ballock and their eyes widened like lanterns.
“G-g-g-gah…!”
“I’m not going anywhere, so zip it. Got it?”
He casually showed his credentials and strode confidently toward the Dormitory.
He breached the Dormitory guards just as easily. It was somewhat tedious, but thanks to the recent special reinforcements from Zebert, the security was quite satisfactory.
It had to be at this level.
This was where our precious youngest was.
“Sigh. Sigh. It’s been so long.”
Ballock carefully opened the door and stepped inside.
In the quiet, peaceful room, I could hear the soft breathing of two sleeping children.
“They’re not even beans sprouting legs.”
I chuckled, though a pang of tenderness stirred within me.
While Sortie slept sprawled out in a starfish position, kicking her blanket away, Rubian was curled up tightly, wrapped entirely in her bedding.
Ballock draped a blanket over Sortie and then crouched beside Rubian’s bed.

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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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