The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 301

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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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Side Story Episode 27
Ch. 3 Rosetta and Leviathan, Age 20, Autumn
Whirrrr, whirrrr!
[Announcement] We will arrive at our destination shortly.
Please be careful during landing!
Static crackle. Good afternoon, this is your captain speaking. We thank all our passengers for choosing Time Airline today…
Ugh, enough with the spiel already!
“I’m faaaalllling!”
Rubian plummeted from a great height once more.
Yet this time felt different from before.
Instead of crashing onto hard ground, I landed in a place far more comfortable….
“Soft landing… AHHHHH!”
“AHHHHH!”
A tremendous roar erupted.
“What, what is this?!”
A gruff voice.
A massive physique.
‘This person is…!’
The thick neck upon which Rubian had landed whipped around frantically.
“A beast? Is it a beast? Where! We’re barely at the entrance to the Hunting Ground—what’s happening here? Someone! This is serious! I’ve been bitten! A beast cub just sank its teeth into my neck!”
“No, that’s not it….”
Blue eyes spun wildly.
Kalid, who had tumbled into the nearby grass, rushed over quickly. At the same moment, a hand the size of a cauldron lid snatched Rubian by the scruff of the neck.
“What. It’s not a beast?”
“…Ha.”
Black hair!
The black-haired grandfather himself!
Ballock, clad in impressive armor, set the child down on the ground with a soft thud.
The way he bent his neck to look down felt strangely familiar.
“Hmm….”
Eyes narrowing to slits.
Lips twitching.
‘Something feels… ominous?’
Watching the shape of his mouth form a perfect circle, Rubian was certain.
“What’s with this little….”
“I’m not a snot-nosed brat!”
The moment I shouted, Ballock’s eyes widened in surprise.
Preemptive strike—complete success!
“Huh? I was about to call you a little squirt?”
…?
“Hmm. Now that I think about it, boogers suit you even better! They stick right to your mouth!”
“….”
Rubian felt Kalid glance over at her from beside.
‘Oh no.’
It couldn’t be, right? No, it definitely wasn’t.
I couldn’t possibly have pioneered the path of boogers myself, could I?
I couldn’t have condemned Kalid and my brothers to eternal booger suffering….
“Hey, just forget what I said,”
“Shhhh!”
Just then, Ballock suddenly scooped both children into his massive arms and crouched down.
“They’re coming. Stay quiet! Don’t….”
A glance.
“A talking booger!”
“We’re done for!”
He was cunningly hidden in the tall grass, staring intently at something ahead.
“But what are you two doing here?”
“Ah, we’re errand runners for @#%#, but we took a wrong turn….”
“Errand runners, you say? Tsk, anyway, I’ll take you outside in a bit, so just stay put.”
Rubian looked straight ahead.
‘Now that I think about it, this is a forest.’
Based on what Ballock had just said, it seemed to be the Hunting Ground.
‘Could he be looking for game?’
But since this was near the entrance of the Hunting Ground, there shouldn’t be any decent prey around.
Just then, Kalid murmured softly beside her.
“That’s… Zebert Duke?”
Indeed, Leviathan was strolling about in hunting attire before their eyes.
‘What? Is he trying to hunt his own son right now?’
Of course not.
“Is that guy alright….”
Ballock let out a sigh.
“Why?”
“His eyes are completely off. Yet he insists on going hunting in the upper zones.”
“Huh? You were following him because you were worried? Then why didn’t you just tell him directly….”
Ballock’s lips trembled before he burst out.
“If I show concern upfront, he’ll despise me! And that, what is it! I’m getting restless too!”
Rubian quietly pressed her lips together.
It seemed Ballock and Leviathan were in an awkward phase at this time. Now they bicker constantly, saying things they should and shouldn’t (mostly things they shouldn’t), but back then it was different.
“But… why is he lingering like that?”
Kalid whispered.
“Right? Strange, isn’t it?”
Ballock rested his chin on Kalid’s soft crown and clicked his tongue.
Kalid naturally tried to move his head away, but if he did, Rubian’s head would get squashed, so he simply endured it.
“It’s strange how he dresses so flamboyantly. What’s the difference between that and lying on his back with his belly exposed, inviting an attack?”
“That’s true… His combat uniform and the Allied Forces military uniform were both monochromatic.”
Rubian murmured.
“Ha! Where did you read that? The Allied Forces—how amusing!”
“Hm.”
Rubian clamped her mouth shut. Now that she thought about it, the Human-Beast War hadn’t occurred yet, so she needed to be careful with her words.
Leviathan’s attire was extravagant.
Over his hunting clothes, he wore a magnificent cloak adorned with gold trim, and he’d even chosen boots that jingled with ornamental sounds.
Since there were beast-type species sensitive to colors and sounds, such an outfit was typically avoided in mountain hunts like this.
“…Does that man actually want to be hunted?”
Rubian pondered for a moment before asking Ballock.
“By the way, what happened during this time? About his girlfriend—I mean, that man’s lover?”
She had gathered information she hadn’t been able to see from the spiral pillar.
“Hm? How do you know about that young lady?”
Rubian made an excuse that she’d picked it up here and there.
It was common knowledge that the Northern Region’s young master had a secret lover he kept hidden to himself.
“Sigh…. The young lady is.”
Ballock’s eyes widened. Then suddenly, he began to weep.
“The young lady has… left…!”
“What?”
Ballock dabbed his tears onto Kalid’s sleeve.
“Leviathan was so insufferably tedious that she ran away after the summer banquet!”
“Huh?”
What was this about?
‘So Father has spent nearly a year searching for Mother alone?’
“What on earth happened!”
“Well, you see… that girl Leviathan was desperately searching for turned out to be that young lady.”
That much she already knew.
“I should have noticed from the start when he was doing all those strange things like a fake romance or whatever….”
A fake romance?
Rubian blinked.
‘Oh, Father, oh my. How impressive.’
He had actually used that advanced skill!
“But the problem is, the young lady ran off the moment she recognized Leviathan!”
“Ah….”
“Did Leviathan bother her too much when she was young? Did he poke her cheeks so often that he made her lose her temper?”
“No, that was Grandfather….”
“Sigh. In any case, ever since then, that bastard Leviathan has gone mad, lurking about in all sorts of conflict zones and hunting grounds. How could I not be worried?”
“….”
“That wretched child. …leaving only this old man behind, what kind of nonsense is this?”
Ballock watched Leviathan’s back as he trudged deeper into the forest, then sighed. A moment later, his frustration flared.
“I went through all the trouble of arranging those sharp, handsome features perfectly, and I should have used a beauty trap to keep him from leaving!”
Rubian stared quietly at the spot where Leviathan had vanished.
‘Grandfather seems confused because he doesn’t know Mother is an assassin for hire. But the reason Mother left is probably….’
Because she couldn’t bring herself to kill the boy she’d met in childhood, perhaps.
‘And if she’d become aware that she’d grown fond of Father, all the more so.’
Unable to do either one thing or the other, she may have simply chosen to leave out of guilt.
“She was such a lovely child… clumsy, but a good one.”
“Did you… care for that young lady very much?”
“Of course! She was a child I couldn’t hate! Our weapons talk flowed so naturally, and her dynamic vision was so keen that she caught flies and mice with ease—she was the maids’ hero, and on top of that, she ranked first in the Knight Order’s physical training!”
Rosetta had surely brought the Duke’s Residence to heel with a single fist.
“I should have just adopted her! Or adopted myself instead!”
“N-no thank you!”
“What are you to refuse, hmph?”
“W-well, such things exist!”
Regardless, Ballock merely snorted dryly.
“I just wanted to become family with her somehow….”
“….”
“I don’t know what it was, but that girl had something fragile about her!”
Rubian patted her Grandfather’s shoulder gently.
Before long, the two children had each claimed one of his broad knees and settled down.
“Everything will work out fine. Don’t worry.”
It wasn’t mere empty words.
Rubian truly believed everything would be all right.
‘Because… my body is this vivid and clear, isn’t it?’
Rubian had somehow become the living proof of her parents’ affection.
If Rosetta and Leviathan’s relationship had fractured beyond repair, her body would have long since faded to transparency.
Then, patter, patter.
A transparent raindrop fell upon her smooth forehead.
Kalid’s head snapped upward.
“It’s raining.”
“Oh no, tsk!”
Ballock covered both children’s heads with his large hand. The rain was falling quite heavily, as if preparing for a downpour.
“Your fluffy hair will get soaked!”
“Do it again, please….”
“Of course!”
Rubian and Kalid exchanged a glance.
They’d grasped everything that had happened so far—now it was time to make their move.

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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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