The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 261
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 261
* * *
The Mage King harbored ambitions of continental conquest, yet Leviathan Zebert repeatedly thwarted his designs.
Consumed by malice, he devised a plan to seize Leviathan’s child.
Using a pregnant Dark Mage Priestess, he ambushed Rosetta Zebert.
Rosetta, heavy with child and struck in the belly, could not mount a proper defense.
The remaining guards were slaughtered by First, who had been lying in wait nearby.
The Mage King overturned the carriage, then disguised Third and Fifth as witnesses so that she would give premature birth in a nearby village.
He had planned to swap the newborn with another child already dead—but fate intervened.
An unexpected attack thwarted his scheme in that moment.
Kalid’s intervention to protect the child marked the instant when the future diverged from what had been before the regression.
Yet the Mage King had witnessed it.
The luminous essence of a soul that had slipped from the carriage and vanished somewhere.
.
.
Upon returning to the Royal Palace, the Mage King commanded Third and Fifth to deploy demonic beasts and assault the Zebert Memorial.
The body is merely a vessel for the soul.
Should it ever return, it would surely return to this form.
He could not allow that soul’s formidable power—which he had glimpsed then—to fall to Leviathan.
.
.
In those days, dark magic was born, fed by the malice that saturated the world.
It was a corruption born not only of the Mage King’s wickedness, but also of the despair and resentment of a parent who had lost their child and come to curse all existence.
The Continent was engulfed in the flames of war.
.
.
Three years into the Human-Beast War.
The departed soul returned to its vessel not long after.
When the infant first opened its eyes through its own power, they gleamed a vivid ruby red.
Unaware that Wizeria had woven this as a protective mechanism, the Mage King laughed with delight at those blood-crimson eyes.
Until then, he had often accelerated the child’s growth with his own magic.
How delightful it would be to raise it well and send it to Leviathan.
With such thoughts, he stroked the child’s snow-white hair.
.
.
Seven years into the Human-Beast War.
The child had grown like a doll missing something essential.
Yet within that form dwelt an extraordinary power.
The child drew every magic circle the Mage King desired.
Wizeria’s wisdom.
He attempted to inscribe a mark to claim it as his own, but failed. In the end, he inscribed a mark that would slowly erode over time.
.
.
Year 8 of the Human-Beast War.
The Dark Mage’s power grew ever stronger, and the Mage King grew anxious.
At this rate, it seemed the world would be dominated not by him, but by dark magic itself.
He ultimately ordered the Dark Mage captured alive, sending the child to the Battlefield.
Unaware that this would become his greatest mistake.
.
.
Year 9 of the Human-Beast War.
The child gave herself a name for the first time.
Soon now….
The power within me that occasionally stirred.
Rubian began observing the world with clear eyes.
Only after distancing herself from the Mage King.
The child began to develop a sense of self.
.
.
Year 9 of the Human-Beast War.
Rubian lost her way wandering until she met Kalid.
It was the result of Wizeria actively intervening in Rubian’s life to prevent the same tragic ending as her previous life.
The moment she saw him for the first time, Rubian unknowingly broke free from her shackles and saved him.
Kalid dedicated a binding oath to Rubian as if by fate.
And he heard her name.
.
.
Year 9 of the Human-Beast War.
Responding to Kalid’s magical power, Rubian fully recovered her memories from the life she had lived in modern times.
Wizeria kept her promise with Kalid.
To protect the child, she converted some memories from before the regression into the form of a ‘book’ and added appropriate modifications.
So the young child would not be confused by heavy truths.
The child’s memories were to be gradually released as she grew.
With her sense of self fully restored, Rubian resolved to flee the Mage Kingdom unlike her previous life, and together with Kalid, she traversed the Battlefield while secretly aiding Leviathan.
.
.
Year 10 of the Human-Beast War.
The long war came to an end.
Rubian returned home.
Ch. 28
The ‘hidden time’ had been revealed.
So the story went: I killed Father, wandered the Forest, met Kalid, and he emerged from the Cave to regress and change everything.
By my standards, that was no different from Part 2 of 【The Sword Planted Upon Ruins】.
The first thing I thought of after witnessing that ending and opening my eyes was.
‘Wow, my life’s genre….’
Not a reincarnation story.
‘It was a regression story….’
A hollow thought.
Whoooosh—
A harsh wind blew.
People who had collapsed from the Dragon God’s overwhelming mana were unsteadily rising to their feet.
Probably only those connected to me had regained their memories from before the regression, while the rest seemed to have merely lost consciousness momentarily from the Dragon God’s power.
As I pushed myself up from the ground, someone suddenly embraced me from behind.
“Kalid…?”
Kalid buried his face in my neck and remained silent for a moment.
“I….”
For some reason, my eyes stung and I couldn’t say anything more.
Recalling everything he had endured for me, I felt as though I were being swallowed by a massive tidal wave. No words could…. fully express this feeling.
So I simply patted the forearm of Kalid, who held me from behind. Like wounded beasts, we shared our warmth for a moment.
“Rubian, what on earth is this….”
Nearby, Mother and Father were also rising to their feet. Their faces looked utterly bewildered.
‘Mother and Father must have witnessed their lives before the regression too….’
Ah…. Now that I think about it.
‘The scene where grown-up me came to kill Father.’
Father would have seen that scene as well.
It was deeply painful, but….
Those were events from a world that no longer existed.
Even when I was young and believed that to be the truth within the original work, I lived recognizing myself as ‘Rubian Zebert’ rather than ‘Seventh’.
‘This place where I stand is the real one.’
Father seemed to think the same way, for he was now gazing at me with eyes that had grown firm.
Do you remember the regression magic circle?
Then, an unfamiliar whisper reached my ears.
In the center of the Royal Palace.
It was the Dragon God’s power, clumped together and swirling.
Offer it to me at once. Turn back time!
With Kalid’s support, I rose slowly to my feet.
….
Why do you just stand there? Hurry!
Kalid moved to shield me, but I stopped him instead.
“Rubian.”
“Kalid, that power….”
“….”
“It’s already reached its limit.”
At my words, Kalid quietly gazed at the power steadily diminishing before us.
The Dragon God’s power was fading away.
That power, now severed from Kalid’s body, no longer possessed any justification to remain in this realm.
And since we had forcibly exposed the ‘hidden time’ we all carried, the depletion of power accelerated even faster.
Please. Send me back to when the Goddess was still alive. I beg you.
Impossible as it was, the voice seemed to plead with desperation.
Let me convey my words to her…. Just one phrase….
“….”
I silently watched the vortex of that power.
But….
That voice was the end.
The power grew smaller, and smaller, and smaller still….
Finally, with a soft pop, it scattered into the air like something released.
“…It’s gone.”
Just as my legs gave way and I was about to collapse, Kalid urgently caught me.
“Haaa.”
A long, drawn-out breath escaped me.
I felt so incredibly exhausted….
‘Huh?’
That was when I sensed something amiss.
Dark clouds still hung oppressively overhead, and as I gazed at the quiet surroundings, I suddenly lifted my head.
‘Wait a moment.’
I narrowed my eyes to slits.
‘Just as I witnessed the past and returned.’
Here too, there was someone who had witnessed another past and returned….
The moment that thought struck me, I shuddered as if doused in ice water.
“No!”
Then the Mage King, who had been lying unconscious, suddenly snapped his eyes open.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————