The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 67

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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 67
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“Over there.”
I muttered with a disgruntled expression.
“Excuse me.”
I pushed away the face that had latched onto me, stretching my arms out.
“Please let go.”
“Nnngh.”
The Mage King whined like a child and shook his head.
The gesture of pressing his cheek against mine while stroking my hair had continued relentlessly since our first meeting.
“It’s been so long since I felt this sensation.”
“….”
Sigh. I exhaled deeply. My head was spinning.
How could we be doing this now?!
“Asha Drucan.”
“Yes!”
Asha Drucan answered with a bright smile.
She was delighted….
Thud. The carriage jolted violently as it hit a stone.
“It’s nice to enjoy the joy of reunion, but we’ve been kidnapped!”
When I protested, Asha pressed her index finger to her lips with a “shh.” When had she freed her hands from their restraints?
“If they realize I’m awake, it’ll be troublesome. Stay quiet.”
Asha Drucan untied the bindings around my wrists. They had been tied so tightly that my skin was red and swollen.
Darkness surrounded us. The only light came from thin rays streaming through the misaligned windows.
‘Damn, I’ve been kidnapped.’
How pathetic, Rubian.
I’m furious, Rubian!
“I had no idea there were other groups targeting these young ladies as well.”
Asha Drucan muttered, dragging out her words. I steadied my churning stomach and surveyed the interior.
Titi and Lib, unconscious and collapsed, and Licht.
I carefully pieced together this absurd situation.
So, Titi and Lib had been targets of the noble kidnappers from the start.
‘They probably thought they were dressed plainly enough….’
Honestly, their disguise was so clumsy that they merely looked like children of lower-ranking nobles.
When the kidnappers cleverly lured the two into the Dark Alley, Asha Drucan happened to follow them, making her a target as well.
While Asha Drucan was momentarily bewildered by the young ladies’ sudden disappearance in the Dark Alley, I appeared.
And caught in the chain reaction like a string of beads was Licht….
‘Though everything happened in the blink of an eye and it’s all jumbled together.’
In any case, everyone was helpless against the sudden ambush and the anesthetic scent attack.
We couldn’t have withstood the sheer number of dark-clothed men who burst out from every corner of the Dark Alley as if they’d been waiting.
‘Seriously, didn’t you knights say you had them all caught!’
After all the praise and admiration I’ve given you, this is too much!
“Ugh, I’ve used up all my forced awakening magical devices….”
Asha Drucan pulled a small circular device from her bosom and tossed it aside. Thanks to that magical device, I’d somehow regained consciousness and woken up.
“So. How have you been? You came to Babylon but why didn’t you contact me?”
I rolled my wrists in circles while staring intently at Asha Drucan’s face.
The youthful face of a seventeen-year-old was no different from what I remembered.
Between her smiling lips, a small protruding tooth glimmered. Her short, curly bob hair gave her a cute yet somewhat vacant impression.
‘I never expected to reunite like this.’
I felt a strange sense of novelty wash over me.
Asha Drucan was a junior mage who used to create magical devices with me in the Mage Corps.
‘We weren’t close enough to call each other friends.’
So we’d never revealed our true feelings to one another.
Yet there was one time—sometime in the past—when we lay collapsed together from mana depletion, and Asha Drucan had asked me something tentatively.
“What will you do when this war ends?”
“…Of course I’ll return to the Kingdom. You’ll go back as a garrison mage. What else is there?”
“I see.”
Asha Drucan’s expression seemed regretful. She gazed clearly at my bare face, my collar having slipped down.
“For some reason, I thought you might make a different choice.”
“…Why would you think that?”
“My grandmother used to say that people unconsciously gaze toward the place they wish to return to.”
“….”
“On difficult days like today, you’d often look there? Babylon, somewhere to the north.”
That was our last conversation.
I’d deliberately avoided her because I felt unsettled at having my unconscious habit exposed, and afterward I’d been reassigned elsewhere and moved away.
So if I hadn’t happened to rescue a young mage bearing the Drucan name in Kanalan Gorge…
And if I hadn’t inadvertently become Asha Drucan’s one and only savior…
I would have simply forgotten about her.
“Hey, tell your older sister… Asha Drucan that grandmother’s words were right.”
Of course, I hadn’t conveyed those words that subtly hinted at my whereabouts.
But I never expected her to drop everything and come searching for me.
“Do you know how worried I was? I was so anxious hearing rumors that you’d been spotted by a tracking mage before me… But to meet you like this in one go, I’m so lucky….”
Asha Drucan pressed close to me again and whimpered. I snapped out of my reverie and narrowed my eyes slightly.
“Geez. That doesn’t mean you should just go around kidnapping girls!”
“K-kidnapping?! That’s not it! I was just talking to them to check if they had mana or not! What if you were in disguise and playing dumb? I prepared this as a token of gratitude, sharing bread and all….”
She gazed dejectedly at a cream bread that lay on the ground, pathetically crushed.
“I was only trying to find you before the tracking mage and protect you….”
I let out a long sigh.
‘I really didn’t expect this.’
“They say you’re only targeting girls.”
“I heard they target noble children regardless of gender?”
There was a reason the rumors had split into two versions.
‘Because there really were two groups.’
Of course, Asha Drucan had acted alone.
The noble kidnappers who attacked us had indeed committed crimes for money.
But the rumor that they’d tried to capture and turn in a rogue mage was somewhat exaggerated….
‘It must be because Asha Drucan, who possesses magical artifacts, approached the girls.’
The actual kidnapping attempt and Asha Drucan’s arbitrary search had become intricately tangled, forming all sorts of wild rumors.
On top of that, because Asha Drucan had hidden her identity by throwing on a black robe and acting suspiciously, it had sparked even deeper misunderstandings….
“Children get scared! When strangers talk to them!”
“I, I greeted them politely! I didn’t act scary!”
Asha Drucan struck her chest indignantly. She looked me up and down, pouting her lips.
“I never dreamed you were disguising yourself as a boy….”
I closed my eyes that had been glaring and steadied my breathing. The carriage sickness was getting worse.
Asha Drucan pressed close again.
“But how did you even come up with the idea to cross-dress? You really are a mage who exceeds my expectations, Seventh!”
“Ugh, don’t call me that! Call me Rubian!”
“Does it matter? They’re all asleep.”
Asha Drucan rubbed her cheek against my head while staring to the side.
“Should we wake these three?”
I hesitated for a moment, then shook my head.
“Once I figure out how to escape.”
If they woke up, it would be noisy, so let’s keep them asleep for now.
“Sigh, what a mess this is.”
I pressed my ear against the dark carriage wall.
The driver’s voice was hard to hear over the carriage noise.
The carriage lurched again. Judging by the steep incline and violent movements, we seemed to be traveling on a mountain road.
“It seems like Ipson Mountain.”
It had turned out exactly as Titi and Olivia wished—to go study medicinal herbs—so I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.
“Rubian, your lips are pale.”
“I’m getting carsick….”
“How unfortunate. It would have been more pleasant if we’d ridden a blue horse.”
“We’re not here sightseeing, you know.”
The carriage’s speed gradually slowed, then came to a complete stop.
The surroundings were quiet, and a light drizzle continued. I saw Asha Drucan about to speak and pressed my index finger to my lips.
Men’s voices could be faintly heard from outside.
“Is, is this really okay? Touching even high-ranking nobles…. That blonde kid looks unusual somehow. I… I think I might have seen the Jebert Family crest….”
“Shut up and wake those brats! It’s all or nothing now!”
Footsteps drew closer—then the door suddenly flew open!
“What? There are some awake!”
“How did you break free from the restraints?”
“Hmm….”
The sudden flood of light caused the brows of the three sleeping figures to twitch restlessly. I pressed myself against Asha Drucan and whispered.
“Can you put those three back to sleep?”
“Of course.”
Asha Drucan surged her mana with a soft pulse.
The moment I confirmed their peaceful, sleeping faces, I spun around.
Simultaneously, an arm shot out roughly, trying to grab me.
“What are you whispering about? Get over here—aaaagh!”
But the man’s hand was firmly bound by shadows stretching from the ground.
“I won’t forgive anyone who torments my friend.”
Asha Drucan rose to her feet and spoke with resolve.
Though she was merely a low-ranking mage of the Kingdom, she was far from weak enough to be overpowered by ordinary people without a shred of mana.
“Asha Drucan, what about your mana?”
“Both nostrils feel completely clogged with thick mucus.”
“Did you really have to use such a filthy comparison?”
“Then should I say it’s like troll secretions clogging….”
“That’s even worse!”
“At least it’s better than Rubian, who doesn’t even have a nose.”
“Now you’re just being rude.”
Hmph, I’ve got plenty of ammunition from Kalid too!
Asha Drucan and I leaped out of the carriage together.
“Ugh, ungh!”
The man bound by Asha Drucan’s shadows thrashed about. The other kidnappers watching him hesitated and took a step back. Their hands gripped all manner of sinister weapons.
“You, you two—what are you? What kind of magical artifact are you using to do this…!”
“It’s not a magical artifact.”
Ten men in total, including the one waiting ahead. I assessed the mana within me and glanced back once more.
Three children still sleeping as if dead.
Deep, dense forest surrounding us. Rain falling with an eerie dreariness.
“And I happen to have some mana I’ve been saving up…?”
Well, this is perfect timing for a good fight.
I crouched down on the ground and without hesitation, pressed my palm against the earth.
“Hiyah.”

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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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