The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 9

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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 9
“What?”
“What do you mean, what?”
“…Hell?”
“It’s my domain.”
Leviathan poked my forehead with his finger.
I gazed down at the vast, desolate expanse stretching endlessly before me.
The bitter wind of the Northern Region tousled my short hair in wispy strands.
“There’s nothing but rocks?”
“I told you.”
Wisps of ashen dust tumbled across the barren landscape.
His domain, filled with gray stone walls, honestly looked like the ruins of a fallen kingdom.
Of course, it would be rude to say so to those who lived here…
Stone mountains, flushed crimson by the setting sun, encircled everything like a fortress, and from within came the ominous cries of beasts.
The dark chasm stretching endlessly seemed like a black hole from which, once you stepped in, you could never escape.
“Somehow the weather feels even colder here.”
“This is actually the warm season. In the dead of winter, snow piles up as high as you are tall.”
“Ugh. That’s insane.”
“Bundle up well.”
He chuckled and draped his cloak’s hood over my head.
“Did you make that salve yesterday too?”
“Salve? Yes!”
I had gathered Abelita herbs whenever I spotted them on the way here.
I upgraded the salves for each of the Knight Order members with them, and it was quite well-received!
“How on earth did you even recognize that grass as Abelita herb?”
He narrowed his eyes as he asked.
I fumbled through my small pouch, feigning ignorance.
“My mother was a healer in Iosia.”
“…”
His body went rigid.
“So I just picked up a few pharmaceutical techniques by watching over her shoulder. I’ve read a lot of herb books too…”
“You’re actually using what you learned casually like that?”
As the atmosphere grew heavier, I stole glances to gauge his mood.
“…Why? Did I do something wrong?”
Iosia was a small nation where medicine and pharmaceuticals had flourished.
For someone from there, picking up various skills from childhood wouldn’t be unusual, right?
“Surprisingly…”
He crossed his arms and lifted his chin. His cheeks seemed to twitch slightly.
“You might be a genius.”
“Huh?”
“This is making my head spin.”
His face bore the genuine weight of serious contemplation.
It was the expression of a parent who had just discovered their child was a prodigy… but why was he the one troubled?
More than that—’unexpected’?
What exactly does he take me for!
“In any case, absolutely!”
He added a mischievous remark.
I windmilled my fists and punished his sturdy leg for his presumption.
“Your massage technique is even professional-grade. Our clever little troublemaker.”
The man lifted me up with what seemed like genuine pride on his face (but why was he the proud one?) and hoisted me into the air.
At that same moment, a familiar horse approached.
“Your Excellency.”
It was Sir Leon. Fortunately, his injuries seemed fully healed—his shoulder moved just as freely as before.
“Sir Leon, Uncle!”
I reached out my hand eagerly.
Sir Leon seemed to hesitate for a moment, but greeted me with a subtle nod.
‘His expression is still rigid, though.’
I understand. Sir Leon simply struggles to express himself!
He hadn’t threatened me to go back anymore, after all.
“Your Excellency, if I may take a moment.”
Sir Leon spoke straightforwardly and approached me.
“Hm?”
A white fur scarf tumbled into my arms.
“Wow, what is this? So soft!”
“Always up to something, Leon.”
The man raised his eyebrows and wrapped me up in it. My breath caught suddenly.
Control your strength! Uncle! Control it!
I exhaled a soft breath over the white fur and poked my head out.
“Thank you, Sir Leon, Uncle!”
It seemed a bit excessive as repayment for his kindness.
Well, it would be ruder to refuse a gift!
Sir Leon gazed down at me without a flicker of expression. He turned his horse’s head and spoke in passing.
“Not uncle…”
“Hm?”
“Call me senior.”
“…What?”
“Goodness! Sir Leon has permitted that form of address!”
The knight uncles watching from the side made a fuss.
What’s the significance of that title, anyway?
“Now that you’ve set foot in the Northern Region, the land of knights, joining our Zebert Knight Order is only the natural progression.”
“….”
“I’ll be waiting at the Knight Order. Consider this an early welcome to becoming the youngest knight.”
But I’m a mage, though?
Regardless, Sir Leon simply vanished with a flourish of his cloak toward the setting sun, moving with unhurried grace….
How dramatic.
I turned back to Uncle Leviathan with a bewildered expression.
“Is that really what’s happening?”
“Well… I suppose so?”
In truth, it was merely his way of saying he’d help me build my physical stamina…. But I didn’t understand his meaning back then.
I made a face as though the world had crumbled around me.
Wait, I said I wanted to become the youngest of that family.
I absolutely did not sign up to be the youngest among those dark-clad knight uncles!
* * *
We arrived at Zelocks, the northern city where Zebert Castle stood.
The moment we passed through the city gates, solid stone buildings came into view.
From a distance it had seemed desolate, but the atmosphere was surprisingly vibrant.
“Waaah!”
The faces of those greeting the returning victorious knights were bright with joy.
I remained hidden in Uncle Leviathan’s cloak out of embarrassment, yet I could keenly feel the excitement radiating from the crowd.
“My lord, we shall take our leave.”
Zebert Castle sat like a fortress atop a somewhat elevated hill.
Before reaching the main keep, Sir Leon and the other knights bowed respectfully.
“Well done. You’ve earned your rest.”
Once the commander gave his permission, the knights moved with perfect coordination. I poked my head out and waved to them.
“Safe travels, Senior. And all of you seniors too.”
After spending several weeks together, I felt a pang of reluctance to see them go.
“Come visit if you get bored.”
“Come visit even if you don’t get bored!”
The other knight uncles I’d grown close to waved back at me.
“Um, but… do your family members know I’m coming?”
“Well, they should?”
His answer sounded somehow uncertain.
As the entrance to the main keep drew steadily closer, I found myself recalling Leviathan Zebert’s family relationships.
‘First, the old Duke Zebert.’
Ballock Zebert. The previous Duke of Zebert and Leviathan’s father.
‘He wasn’t given much narrative weight in the original story.’
A distinguished soldier, he had been wounded in battle and subsequently discharged from active service.
After that, the only detail provided was that he spent his remaining years quietly in his domain.
‘As for who else might be at the castle….’
Perhaps Leviathan’s second son, Void Zebert. The eldest was said to be in the Southern Region with the Duchess.
“Welcome home, my lord.”
Numerous servants lined the castle entrance.
Butlers, attendants, maids, and valets alike.
Their faces flushed with excitement at the return of their master after so long.
‘Northern folk are all so… rugged.’
Among them, the maidservants with their imposing frames stood out most distinctly.
They all seemed to tower well over 170 centimeters.
Is that the minimum height required just to survive here?
Truly, Zebert is a land of survival of the fittest—a domain built by its master through slaying monsters….
“You must have endured much hardship, my lord.”
“Indeed. You’ve all worked hard as well.”
“Um, could that be…?”
A flurry of burning gazes suddenly fixed upon me.
Caught off guard by the sudden attention, I buried my head back into the man’s embrace.
I felt like prey that had stumbled into the territory of a carnivore….
‘No, don’t shrink back!’
I’ve already stamped my seal on this!
I slowly turned my head and looked forward.
“I’m R-Rubian.”
The man let out an amused huff and ruffled my hair.
“Lady Rubian….”
The maidservants broke into broad smiles and seemed to whisper something among themselves.
“So small…. So fluffy….”
“She seems far smaller than when Lord Void first arrived.”
Then, a maidservant with reddish-brown hair who stood at the very front stepped forward.
“Lady Rubian, how do you do?”
“Yes.”
“How old are you this year, Lady Rubian? Six?”
I was in the process of dismounting from the horse with the man’s help, dangling in mid-air as I kicked my feet.
“I’m eight years old!”
At my sudden outburst, the maidservant’s eyes widened in surprise.
Leviathan chuckled softly and set me down on the ground.
“Be careful, all of you. She bites.”
Eight years old, she says.
What? Eight?
Is that even possible?
Whispers rippled through the crowd like waves.
Their reaction was exactly the same as the man’s when he first learned my age!
“…By the way, how old are you?”
Before we departed for the Northern Region, the man had suddenly asked me.
“Really? You’re asking that now?”
“Better late than never.”
“I’m… eight years old.”
“…”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Weren’t you… six?”
“Are you insane?!”
In truth, this body was ten years old. But now that information about the fugitive mage had been revealed, it was safer to lie about my age as well to conceal my identity more thoroughly.
Since I was smaller than my peers, lying about my age wouldn’t pose much of a problem.
Still, reducing it by two years pricked my conscience, but six years old?!
Why, it’s as if I was just born yesterday, isn’t it?
I straightened my posture as much as possible and puffed out my chest.
Once I stood firmly on the ground, the height difference became all the more apparent.
The feeling of being a tiny creature surrounded by towering boulders… ugh, how infuriating.
That was when a furry ball came rolling toward us from far away.
“Fa-ther-!”
The furry ball spread itself out like a flying squirrel before landing right in front of us.
“Void.”
“It’s been so long since I’ve seen you!”
A child with lustrous black hair brightened their moist eyes. Their plump cheeks were flushed a becoming shade of pink.
‘So that’s how it is.’
The furry ball’s true identity was the second son of this household—Void Zebert.
“How was the Capital? The victory parade?”
‘An adopted child from a cadet branch, if I recall.’
The book’s account of how he lost his parents to war as a child came to mind.
With his characteristically bright disposition and having received abundant love from Leviathan and Rosetta after his adoption, he was a boy without a trace of bitterness.
…Though he did seem rather large for his age.
Of course, even that made him look like a whimpering newborn pup standing before the mountain-like Leviathan.
“You’ve grown quite a bit. Have you been well?”
“Yes! I haven’t skipped my sword training, I’ve finished all my meals, and my studies…”
In that moment, our eyes met.
The child’s pupils trembled without mercy.
“Who is that…?”
Void fixed me with a wary gaze.
“Introduce yourself. You’ll be living with us for a while.”
“…”
Void adjusted his furry clothes and approached me. Then, without preamble, he said:
“I’m eleven years old.”
“…?”
I tilted my head in confusion.
“But what?”
“But… that’s not it. How old are you?”
“I’m eight.”
At that, a subtle sense of triumph settled across Void’s youthful features.
“Finally, someone younger than me…!”
Huh?
“Come here, little one.”
Didn’t he just say I was younger than him?

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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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