The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 241

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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 241
* * *
The chapel was shrouded in darkness.
I sat in a daze, gazing up at the statue of the Goddess.
Moonlight streamed through the shattered windows, casting pale beams across the Goddess’s face. It felt sacred somehow, yet also not—I couldn’t quite decide.
“It feels different from the one I saw at the Babylon Church during the New Leaf Festival prayer gathering.”
Perhaps it was because this one was larger.
In truth, the face of a deity was always drawn arbitrarily by human imagination.
I clasped my hands together and prayed respectfully.
“You appear younger, more graceful, and more merciful than the statue I saw at the Babylon Church.”
So please let Father return safely without a single scratch. Amen.
While I’m asking, please let me open the portal without being late. Amen.
“Oh, I forgot something.”
Please protect my family and my friends so that not even a hair on their heads is harmed. Amen.
“Just one more thing.”
Please make the Mage King fall forward and crack his skull so he dies. Amen.
Ah, since you’re already granting wishes, there’s also…
Whoooosh.
At that moment, wind rushed through the gaping window and thoroughly messed up my hair. I suppose that was her way of telling me to stop.
“Ah, yes. Still, please grant all my wishes.”
I couldn’t bear to glare at such a petty goddess, so I glared at the window instead, when my gaze suddenly drifted to the ceiling fresco.
Elaborate paintings inspired by mythology were visible. Though the paint had peeled away in places from lack of restoration, it was still magnificent.
“This was once the most beautiful of all the temples in Arcadia.”
I heard the sound of a staff tapping from a distance, and then Idelaine approached. She sat beside me and gazed up at the ceiling together with me.
“Especially this ceiling fresco was exquisite. Do you know of it? The ancient mythology.”
“Ah, I studied it at the Academy. We even created a play about it.”
I boasted with quiet pride, and Idelaine laughed while patting my head. Her touch felt like a grandmother’s, and somehow it made me feel good.
She spoke in a hushed voice.
“It would become Arcadia’s founding myth. After the war between the Goddess and the Dragon God, the Dragon God emerged victorious, came to this place, and became the First Mage King.”
Idelaine quietly shifted her gaze to the emblem of the Mage Kingdom carved into the pillar.
The World Tree. A dragon ascending and coiling around it.
Each symbolized wisdom and strength respectively, and the dragon’s form was modeled after the founding deity of Arcadia and the first king.
My head tilted involuntarily.
“But isn’t that a bit strange? They fought a war and the Dragon God won, yet the chief deity became the Goddess?”
“It was the Goddess who distributed wisdom in the form of language and symbols—that is, magical circles—to humanity, thereby quelling the ancient chaos. The First Mage King later came to acknowledge this point and commanded that the Goddess’s will be respected and revered. That is what has become religion in our time.”
An age of endless chaos.
Humans lacking the strength to stand against the growing demonic beasts.
The Goddess, taking pity on them, insisted on directly intervening in human affairs to save them, while the Dragon God believed that divine intervention in mortal affairs was forbidden, and that destruction too was humanity’s fate.
Thus the two deities clashed until one ceased to exist.
After the fierce war, the victor was the Dragon God, the symbol of strength.
‘In the end, the Goddess flees to Babylon and meets her final fate.’
Therefore, the Goddess appears in the founding myth of the Babylon Empire.
After she escaped the Dragon God’s curse and met Rin Babylon, she poured her remaining strength into laying the foundation for Babylon’s establishment.
‘Then did the Dragon God eventually come to regret his confrontation with the Goddess?’
Left alone, he established Arcadia according to the Goddess’s will and bestowed upon his followers a power called mana. This was the origin of mages.
“But is that truly all there is…?”
I gazed at the two figures—a man and woman locked in confrontation within the painting—their eyes fixed upon each other. The humanized deities rendered through the painter’s imagination felt both strange and strangely familiar.
“What do you mean?”
“According to an ancient manuscript I recently discovered at the Academy, there is a record stating that the two loved each other deeply.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes. It was a record left by the first Emperor of Babylon.”
“Ah. The first Emperor of Babylon…. His name was Rin Babylon, was it not?”
“Yes. They hated each other while loving each other. For some reason, it seems neither realized the other held them in their heart….”
“Hatred and love are emotions that seem entirely different, yet bear a striking resemblance.”
Idelaine spoke in a low, almost groaning voice.
“They may not have dared to even guess at the other’s true feelings.”
As I nodded, my gaze suddenly caught upon a small drawing in one corner. A potted plant in a tiny vase…. Or perhaps a seedling?
‘A sapling of a tree?’
“If that record is true, what became of the Dragon God after the Goddess died?”
Idelaine murmured, and I turned my eyes from the ceiling fresco to look at her.
“After he brought his beloved to death.”
“If he loved her, would he have regretted it?”
“He must have suffered immensely.”
The records of the First Mage King abruptly ceased after the establishment of Arcadia, as if they had never existed. Thus, nothing was known of his remaining life and death.
Well, that is precisely why it remains a myth.
“Setting everything else aside, if it’s simply a love story, both of them seem rather pitiful.”
At least Romeo and Juliet confirmed their feelings for each other.
I found myself sniffling quietly.
* * *
Idelaine watched as Rubian began to nod off repeatedly.
After chattering on about mythology for quite some time, her round forehead suddenly drooped between her knees.
Rubian lay curled on the long chapel bench, her cheeks pressed against her knees as she slept, and Idelaine unfastened her cloak and draped it over her.
“She must be exhausted.”
Having erased the marks of all the mages hiding in this place, her mana depletion must have been considerable.
‘Truly….’
She touched her neck. The salve had worn away slightly, but it mattered not.
‘This was possible after all.’
She could not be certain how much longer this life could continue.
It felt as though a savior had appeared.
In truth, everyone in the prayer room likely felt similarly to her.
The mages freed from the stigma initially wore expressions of confusion, unable to comprehend what had just transpired.
But it was only momentary. Soon, hot tears streamed down their faces. Some let out cheers of joy, while others murmured incomprehensible words in prayer.
They embraced their families and pressed kisses upon the places where their stigmas had been. Then they prostrated themselves before Rubian, who stood looking bewildered.
“We shall never forget the grace you have bestowed upon us, freeing us from our chains!”
“No, no… you needn’t remember it…”
“We will remember it forever! Merciful savior!”
“Please… don’t call me by such a burdensome title…”
‘She seemed unaccustomed to attention.’
No, that wasn’t quite right.
‘She seemed practiced at evading the flood of attention directed her way.’
Idelaine chuckled softly, picturing Rubian hiding behind her older brother. That must be why she had fled all the way here.
“Well then… I suppose I should prove worthy of this grace.”
She rose to her feet, intending to go repair the portal’s magical circle.
But just as she was thinking it felt awkward to leave the sleeping Rubian alone—
“Gasp, you startled me…!”
“Shh.”
She nearly stopped breathing at the sight of those grayish-blue eyes gleaming faintly in the darkness.
‘An Unregistered Mage…’
And one possessing tremendous mana at that.
When had he even entered?
The Mysterious Man paid no heed to Idelaine’s wary gaze and, with practiced ease, draped a blanket over Rubian.
Then he settled into an awkward crouch beside the sleeping Rubian, allowing her to rest comfortably against his body.
“Is there something else you need?”
His tone made it clear: I will protect her now, so leave.

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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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