The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 64

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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 64
The forest was so thick with vegetation and trees that it seemed like a place where fairies had hidden away. There, I kicked my legs through the water and laughed.
“Hehehehe.”
Milky-white water splashed and rippled.
“That laugh sounds weird.”
Kalid, hidden behind a tree, grumbled irritably.
“Do I need to keep watch properly?”
“Got it.”
I gauged the depth and plunged in, my body wrapped in thin cloth just in case.
“Wow. So this is what they mean by melting….”
I almost missed out on something this wonderful!
‘Duchess, thank you.’
Thanks to you, I’m enjoying paradise.
“Kalid! This is amazing! My face is cold but my body is so warm. Why don’t you just come in with me!”
“…Please don’t say things like that.”
Leaves rustled down. Kalid must have covered his face again.
“I’m wearing clothes anyway…. We’ve even bathed together in the stream before.”
“That’s not the same as…. Ugh. Let’s not talk about this.”
Eventually, Kalid couldn’t take it anymore and stood up abruptly.
“I’ll be nearby, so call me when you’re done.”
Listening to his footsteps fade as he went to patrol the area, I pouted slightly.
I missed having someone to talk to, but I was already so completely absorbed in the milky-white hot spring water that I couldn’t hold onto him.
‘It’s so warm…. So drowsy….’
As I leaned my head against the rock, all the tension drained from my body.
The steam descending in a pale haze felt like wandering through a distant dream.
Trees rustling softly. The scent of steam brushing against my nose. Water droplets falling from my short hair….
‘One nice thing about having short hair is that it dries so quickly.’
My hazy consciousness rambled on aimlessly.
Of course, magic could dry it in an instant….
Long hair too, magic could handle it….
Right, there were times like that….
Times like that….
My eyes grew heavy and closed.
* * *
“Ugh, so bothersome.”
I shoved the long silver hair swaying across my chest haphazardly into my hood.
My underdeveloped, tiny fingers had no talent for tying hair, so this was the best I could manage.
In such oppressive summer heat, wearing the Kingdom’s Priest robes that reached below my eyes made me feel unbearably cumbersome.
‘I want to bathe so badly!’
After hesitating briefly, I slipped out of the Barracks without anyone noticing.
I ran toward the nearby Forest, using the moonlight as my guide.
“Ugh, this is exhausting.”
After catching my breath for a moment, I drew up my mana and cast a protective barrier around the area. The abundant mana surrounding me moved in concert, lending me strength.
Then, from somewhere, came the sound of dry leaves being crushed as something approached rapidly.
The instant I turned my body toward that direction.
“I’m here.”
“Eek!”
My vision darkened, and a familiar mana surged through me.
I rubbed my bean-shaped head against Kalid’s shoulder.
“You’re always so slow to react.”
“That’s because you always appear so suddenly!”
I’ll get my revenge someday!
I shouted indignantly, but Kalid only laughed. His face was brightly illuminated by the enormous full moon.
I relaxed and lowered the hood and collar of my priest’s robes. My long hair, draped down in the gentle breeze, fluttered softly.
“No matter how many times I see it, it’s like silver thread…”
In that moment, Kalid’s face went rigid.
“What’s wrong with this?”
Kalid extended a hand hidden beneath his cloak, pointing to the area near my cheek.
“Oh, I got scratched. I was wandering through a cave that had traces of a Dark Mage today.”
“…”
I stared into his grayish-blue eyes, which appeared oddly vacant.
But a quietly enraged Kalid was far more dangerous than an openly furious one. There was no telling what he might do.
Knowing this, I quickly clung to the Young Boy’s arm.
“Hey, Kalid. Don’t worry. I applied medicine. The Mage Kingdom’s miraculous wound-healing salve.”
Kalid pressed his lips together and slowly calmed his emotions. I hastily changed the subject.
“But I’m so uncomfortable! I still haven’t washed up… all grimy and sticky. You know what happens when those combine? My mood is absolutely terrible!”
At that, the Young Boy let out a low sigh and led me along as if he had no choice.
“Come here.”
As I moved in quick steps, animals followed along, one after another. They parted the dense undergrowth, creating a path for us.
“Gasp! There was a lake here!”
A small lakeside, where moonlight shimmered softly.
The only sound there was the chirping of summer insects.
I eagerly splashed my feet in the water. I carelessly threw off my heavy outer garment and dove straight in.
“Phew! So refreshing!”
“Don’t go into the deep part.”
“You’re underestimating a mage who can control gravity. And this isn’t even deep at all!”
I thoroughly washed away the dirt and grime clinging to my body and hair.
Kalid, who alone remained pristine, sat on a flat rock and kept watch over the surroundings. Even though the situation was such that a Dark Mage could appear at any moment, he sat facing away while never leaving my side.
“Ah, that felt wonderful!”
After drying myself completely with magic and sitting on the rock, the Young Boy, who had been silently contemplating something the whole time, finally turned to look at me.
“…I just.”
“Hm?”
“Can’t I just keep staying with you like this?”
His gaze was fixed on the bruised area of my cheek.
“Even if my identity as a mage is exposed, even if we end up going to the Kingdom together, I’d rather….”
“Don’t say that.”
I shook my head with a faint smile.
“….”
“…That’s not why I freed you in the first place.”
I knew that Kalid had his own path to walk, his own destiny to fulfill.
‘If I hadn’t continued to realize that this was all happening within a novel, I could never have said such things.’
My breaking Kalid’s seal and him swearing a vow of gratitude to me—none of that existed in the original story.
Thanks to it, I’d gained magical power and it was tremendously reassuring, but…honestly, it worried me since I’d fundamentally altered the nature of the Part 2 protagonist, Kalid.
I wanted Kalid to live his own life.
After all, this war would end soon anyway.
‘So…I should do a bit more to help find the Dark Mage’s traces easily.’
In that moment, a low sigh beside me interrupted my thoughts.
“I don’t understand you at all.”
“Oh!”
Kalid, looking somehow indignant, plunged into the Lake with a splash. Glittering droplets scattered across my face.
“Hey! Why are you playing alone!”
I quickly followed him in.
“Let’s race, Kalid!”
“You can’t even swim.”
“A mage can…wait, you’re getting a head start!”
We cut through the pristine waters, laughing with abandon. The full moon, bright as midday in the short summer night, quietly watched over us.
‘Now that I think about it, who was it?’
Who did I want to easily find the Dark Mage’s traces?
Who did I hope would become a hero….
Ah, that’s right.
Of course that would be….
“…ahh.”
Mmm. I smacked my lips and slowly opened my eyes.
As a cold raindrop fell with a tap onto my cheek, I jolted back to awareness.
“Ack! You startled me!”
Milky Hot Spring water cascaded down my body in a torrent. My vision rapidly cleared.
‘Wow, I was completely asleep!’
And to think I’d even dreamed of the past like that?
I wiped away the water droplets on my cheek and looked up at the sky.
The sun hidden behind the clouds had barely moved at all.
My eyes had barely fluttered shut for a moment.
‘Hmph, this is all because Kalid left me behind.’
With nothing to do, I’d simply played around in my dreams….
“But….”
Why was the weather like this?
I gazed up at the sky once more.
The way those heavy, dark clouds were rolling in felt strangely ominous.
A few drops had been falling since earlier, and it seemed they would soon pour down in earnest.
“Ugh, what a shame.”
I stretched luxuriously in the warm water.
As the saying goes, the day you leave is market day.
Since this was an open-air Hot Spring, it was rather unfortunate.
‘Still, it’s so wonderful, this Hot Spring…. This cozy warmth that even guarantees the sweetest sleep…. I truly wish I could stay longer, but I suppose I should start getting up soon….’
Rustle.
“Hm?”
I stopped wringing out the towel I’d placed on my head and turned to look. The nearby bushes had trembled violently.
“Kalid?”
What was this? Had he returned?
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
“…?!”
I instinctively gripped the cloth covering my body.
There was only one entrance to this place. Kalid was guarding it, and there was no way he would let an intruder slip through.
‘Could it be an animal?’
Before I could even finish the thought, something burst through the dense foliage.
A round, blue mass.
No, not a mass, but rather….
“A…butt…?”

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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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