The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 231

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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 231
“…!”
“You mentioned you were searching for a route to the Mage Kingdom. This was created back when problems arose with the Southern Region portal. Though the portal was repaired before I could complete it, rendering it unnecessary… with this, you should be able to navigate toward the Mage Kingdom without becoming lost in its barriers….”
The Mage hesitated for a moment before his head drooped heavily. The hand gripping his staff trembled faintly.
“I apologize, Marquis. This old man has been hiding all this time, afraid of going to war.”
“Benjamin….”
“When the recall order came a few years ago, I had a vague sense that war was coming… but finding the resolve to betray the Kingdom was so terribly difficult….”
The Marquis’s eyebrows tilted with sympathy as he grasped the old man’s staff-holding hand.
“But you know, Marquis, how hard I worked in my youth for the Weber Marquis House and for this Southern Region….”
Thick tears rolled down the Mage’s wrinkled face.
The Marquis comforted him quietly, then turned his head slightly toward Leviathan, who had been silently observing everything from the start.
‘That’s enough, Duke!’
Undisguised joy flickered across her face.
But Leviathan didn’t so much as twitch.
As Leviathan fixed an unwavering gaze upon the elderly Mage, the Mage felt that stare and slowly turned his body to bow to the Duke.
“Zebert Duke, I greet you. My apologies for the late introduction.”
“Introductions are unnecessary. Rather, how can you prove the safety of this magical artifact? What grounds do I have to trust you?”
“Ha, do you suspect an old man merely waiting for death?”
Cough, cough! The Mage’s entire body convulsed with hacking coughs. The Marquis let out a sympathetic groan, but Leviathan didn’t blink once.
“If you remain so uneasy, you could always summon a Mage from the Capital to verify it.”
Leviathan stared at him intently while stroking his chin. At first glance, he appeared lost in serious thought, but in reality….
‘My daughter truly is a genius.’
He was desperately suppressing the corners of his mouth from rising like a wildfire.
“Father. I do need the Southern Base Mage, but the order matters.”
“Order? What do you mean?”
“The order in which we meet. It’s not that I go find him, but if he were to find me first instead… that would be….”
Whisper, whisper. My daughter’s adorable voice seemed to linger in his ears.
“I understand what you’re saying.”
Leviathan finally finished composing his expression and called over an Adjutant nearby.
With a brief glance toward the Adjutant, the man placed the magical artifact in a box and carried it away somewhere.
“Then I’m afraid you’ll need to stay in a location I designate until the artifact’s verification is complete.”
At Leviathan’s words, the Mage nodded obediently.
“As you wish.”
* * *
While Father was at the Harbor.
Before departing for the Mage Kingdom, I decided to handle something very important first.
Since my family members were busy with their own tasks, I arrived at the fourth-floor Reception Room of the Marquis Residence today as well, using Kalid as my means of transport.
“So it’s you lot.”
Those glossy eyes staring up at me.
They were the Young Mages who had come secretly to the Southern Region under orders from the Mage King.
‘They’re really quite young.’
The thought struck me anew. Children barely ten to thirteen years old at most. Needless to say, they were simply children.
‘That bastard Mage King.’
I cursed inwardly and raised my hand slightly.
“Hello.”
Since I was somewhat shy myself, my greeting came across awkwardly, and the children immediately huddled together and began whispering among themselves.
“Is she the Mage Princess?”
“What are you asking? Of course she’s a princess—she must have arrived cradled in her attendant’s arms.”
“She said hello. She seems like a kind person.”
“But why is the attendant oppa so incredibly handsome?”
“I guess since the princess is pretty, they picked the attendant based on his looks too.”
Whisper, whisper.
“This is completely embarrassing. Hey, could you maybe put me down on that chair over there….”
“I’m afraid I cannot, my lady.”
Kalid, who had finished morning training and washed up cleanly with a radiant glow to his face, laughed playfully and held me even more firmly.
“I have some points I need to earn.”
It was as good as silent pressure to put him on the advance team.
Wow, the children clapped their hands for some reason I couldn’t fathom. I grew even more uncomfortable and turned my head away with a cough.
At that same moment, my eyes fell upon a girl huddled in the corner.
She appeared to be that Young Mage Girl who had delivered the Mage King’s note to Father.
When I cautiously approached and spoke to her, the girl burst into tears.
“I really thought I could become a Royal Palace Mage…. I’m sorry. I apologize.”
The child seemed to be suffering from guilt over the fact that what she had received was a self-destructing magical artifact, and that it had dragged Father into the situation.
I hurried down from Kalid’s arms and embraced the girl tightly.
And at the same moment, I sensed her magical power.
‘The traces of the Mage King’s control through the mark….’
My eyes narrowed.
‘There don’t seem to be any.’
Had the Mage King’s magical power not recovered perfectly enough to freely manipulate the mage’s mark?
Or contrary to my expectations, was he still holding back, or had he moved in an entirely different direction?
“Don’t cry. It’s not your fault.”
“I’m sorry, sister…. I’ll do anything. If you tell me to become your attendant, I can do it. I can even compete with that handsome oppa and win.”
“Hmm, I don’t think anyone would welcome that. Ah, then how about you lend me some of your strength from now on?”
The child, who had roughly wiped away her tears, spoke.
“What do I need to do?”
“I’m curious about the current situation in the Mage Kingdom. What schemes the Mage King is hiding as well.”
“It’s terrible there!”
A scream-like voice burst out from the back.
“Stop it, Demian! You’ll get yourself killed like that!”
A voice restraining the child came as well. The girl wept again with soft sobs.
“Sister, I’m sorry. I really, really want to tell you.”
“A seal has been placed on you.”
“Ugh….”
As I grasped the child’s hand, tears streaming down like chicken droppings, the warmth of their damp palm transferred to mine.
So, what should I do?
I could strip away these children’s cores and free them from the Mage King’s bondage.
Just as I had once helped Young Mages of my age escape back in Kanalan Gorge.
But that was like a last resort—gambling with a mage’s very life. The truly optimal solution was….
‘Simply erase the mark that binds these children.’
“Rubian! What are you doing here alone? You’re covered in dirt from head to toe! Good heavens!”
“Mother. It was this.”
Before I headed south.
I stopped by my grave in the Memorial Garden.
“Rubian, your eyes are red….”
“In the end, I had to excavate this grave to get what I wanted.”
“….”
“So even without Sebelena’s potion, I would have discovered the truth of my birth while searching for the Destruction Formula.”
And there, I discovered the magical formula needed to erase my mark—the Destruction Formula.
‘The mana I felt from the monument back then wasn’t a mistake.’
Everything seemed excessively well-orchestrated. Was this destiny?
In any case, with a complicated heart, I sifted through the raw, crimson-exposed earth that Mother had excavated. What I found buried between the overturned soil was….
The final formula, torn to shreds and seeping into the dirt.
I used Wizeria’s power to gather the crumbled formula and complete it in recognizable magical language.
“Hmm. Good.”
My spine straightened as I finished reminiscing.
“Kalid! Hand!”
As I extended my arm to the side, a large hand settled firmly into my palm.
“Full power!”
Then a torrent of mana surged in without hesitation.
“Excellent. You lot. Form a line.”
“Yes? What for?”
“I’m going to give you all something sweet and refreshing.”
As I grinned, the children shuffled into line before me, their expressions bewildered.
“Something sweet and refreshing? Like that fruit soda we had earlier?”
I laughed, sweeping my other hand through my hair.
“Heh. Far better than that.”
“There’s something like that?”
“Of course. The taste of freedom, you might say?”
“Huh?”
The children’s heads tilted in unison.
“Ah!”
The young girl’s mouth fell open like a chick’s, as if she’d just realized something.
“Could it be… Sister…?!”
Shh. I winked slightly and brought my index finger to her lips.
“It’s still a secret.”
The girl nodded as if entranced, then suddenly scrunched up her face.
“Sister, but your hand is salty…”
“Shh. That’s the taste of your tears. Since you won’t have reason to shed them anymore, savor it while you can.”
“Mmm.”
Watching her youthful face bloom with laughter, I cast my spell.
The magic I had spent years searching for—the incantation that would erase the stigma that had bound the mages of the Mage Kingdom.

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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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