Will You Cry for Me If I Die? - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 12

“Do you know where that baby is?”

Becky bowed at the waist before the Grand Duke and answered.

“Yes. It seems like they’re not using magic… but I can’t see them anywhere.”

“If they’re not using magic, they probably aren’t crawling around on the ceiling.”

Demian smiled slightly and tilted his head. His fingers slowly tapped the spine of a book before stopping.

“Since it’s a baby, it would be difficult to detect their presence during the day at once.”

“Yes. That’s why I wanted to ask for Demian’s help…”

Demian Ikaros was more sensitive to magic than ordinary people.

All living things carry magic within them, even if just minutely. The younger they are, the less they have, and the stronger they are, the denser and thicker it becomes. For most people, it’s just like air—background noise that flows by meaninglessly.

But for Demian, it wasn’t like that.

This sensitivity inherited from his saintly ancestor sometimes made him aware of things he didn’t want to know. Anxieties from places too far away, emotions it would have been better to ignore. That’s why he didn’t particularly like this trait.

But now he couldn’t help but step forward.

“Alright. I’ll look for them.”

“Thank you!”

After Becky left, Demian closed the book he had been reading with a snap.

He walked to the window and stood there for a moment. Outside the window, evening was settling over Ikaros. Purple darkness accumulating from the horizon’s edge, with snow-white light breaking above it. He gazed beyond it briefly, then slowly closed his eyes.

Concentrating wasn’t difficult.

Reading the grain of magic was similar to feeling small ripples in water. Picking out just one ripple among countless waves around you. Even non-mages live carrying magic within them, so the more people there are, the denser and more complex those ripples become.

Moreover, finding the presence of a baby who isn’t even using magic is a difficult task.

But.

After a moment, Demian opened his eyes.

Instead of the book he had been reading, he picked up a thin book suitable for reading to Theo and went outside. With steps that weren’t particularly hurried.

Not far from his room.

He headed toward the end of the corridor, to a corner where columns stood densely, a place untouched by human footsteps but close to windows where light streamed well throughout the afternoon.

As he walked, he first surveyed that spot with his eyes.

Finding such a corner was quite an ability.

He had confirmed that the child’s presence was up there. According to his original plan, he should have gone straight back to Becky to inform her of the location.

He stopped right below the column and looked up once more.

There was no sound.

There was no trace of magic either.

The child wasn’t moving at all from the position where their presence could be felt. Demian raised his head and quietly traced the outline of that presence, then slowly lowered his gaze.

He looked at the floor below the column.

There were very small droplet marks there.

The spacing wasn’t even.

As if they had flowed, stopped, then flowed again. They were already mostly dried, traces that would be hard to notice without looking carefully.

Demian looked down at them and let out a low sigh.

The right thing to do was to find Becky and inform her of the location.

When the child was found, they should take them to a warm room, prepare dinner for them, and light a fire.

‘That would be doing my duty.’

Even if it’s a baby, they’re still an invader. The situation is ambiguous to handle.

He turned around as he was.

Then he hesitated and soon let out a small sigh.

Eventually, in the opposite direction from the people searching for the baby, Demian slowly began walking.

Stroking the cover of the thin book in his arms once with his fingertips.

* * *

“He was an amazing kid.”

A bit strange, but a child he liked.

Theodor was grinning broadly, showing his white teeth, with a cast on his fractured arm.

It was an arm injured from fighting, but the excitement of meeting a worthy opponent was much more clearly written on his face than the injury.

The possibility that he might make a friend made him purely happy.

Then click, the door opened.

“Who is it… brother?”

His brother paused at the part where the baby had introduced himself as ‘No. 1’.

It was brief. He lowered his eyes once as if swallowing something, then raised them again, and soon smiled while listening to Theodor’s story throughout.

Then he said.

“Go apologize.”

“Huh? Why?”

“You called him a monster.”

“Was calling him a monster wrong?”

Theodor was genuinely puzzled. That baby had called himself a monster too.

“Since we’re not certain, those words are premature.”

Demian was always gentle with his youngest brother, but when he had done something wrong, his tone became even more gentle.

It was the kind of gentleness that made your head bow naturally even though it wasn’t a scolding voice.

“And the opponent is too young to call it a duel.”

“Hmm. But he’s really strong.”

Theodor fidgeted with his mouth for a moment before finally asking.

“But, brother. Then do I have to wait until he gets older to duel again?”

“…You must have really liked him.”

“Yeah!”

In that gentle tone he loved, his brother said.

“Let’s think about that after you apologize first.”

Theodor nodded.

A little later, Theodor went to the place Demian had told him about.

On the way, he saw people going back and forth in the corridors looking for that baby. Theodor watched them for a moment, then deliberately avoided eye contact and quietly turned his steps in the opposite direction.

‘As quietly as possible, without making the other party wary.’

If he startled them, there wouldn’t be time to apologize. Theodor knew well from experience how fast that baby could run away.

‘But why is he in a place like that?’

What a strange baby anyway. Strange but strong. Strong, and somehow odd. It was strange how he was hiding up on the column, and it was strange how he proudly said his name was No. 1.

The more he thought about it, the more strange parts there were.

But he still liked him.

Anyway, he had to approach that strange baby. Theodor pondered for a moment, then soon grinned and wrapped magic around one hand.

He had never tried crawling on the ceiling before. But it wasn’t impossible!

‘Oh, this is harder than I thought. Whoa.’

When he concentrated magic in his palm, it first clumped together, then gradually began to cover his entire palm more precisely. Theodor frowned deeply and stuck his tongue out slightly as he concentrated.

‘Wow. He’s been doing this continuously? Really a monster… Oops! Take that back!’

Crawling on the ceiling right away seemed impossible after all.

The delicacy of his magic control couldn’t compare to that baby’s. Theodor acknowledged this fact with some frustration and changed his method to climbing up from below the column.

As he ran toward the base of the column, he was already planning what to do after the apology in his head.

He’d hurry over and apologize, then praise him lots as a sign of apology. Since that baby was young, he’d be happy to hear praise. He’d praise him so much that he’d be very embarrassed. Then they’d become friends.

His brother had told him to apologize first, but what came after was up to Theodor.

He was full of such aspirations.

But when he arrived at the spot with an excited smile, Theodor was suddenly hit by something on his cheek.

It was something small and cold.

“Huh? What’s this?”

A water drop?

Why indoors.

Theodor tilted his head and looked down at what had fallen on his palm. It was water. It didn’t seem to be leaking from the ceiling. The column wasn’t wet either.

Then at some point, the boy froze completely still.

Rather than intuiting something, it was closer to stopping because he was afraid to intuit it.

After standing there looking at the floor for several minutes, he slowly raised his head.

For a moment, the baby’s cheek came into view.

A half-visible, gaunt cheek. Tightly closed eyes.

Without any thought of wiping them away, just like carelessly throwing out trash, letting them flow as they came, leaving them as they were—droplets that just streamed down.

Some of them were falling to the floor.

Without any sniffling sounds. Quietly.

Just how long had he been like that?

‘What’s wrong with that baby?’

Theodor slowly lowered the hand he had been holding up. The magic power scattered from his palm.

The child said nothing and just stood there in that spot.

Then he frowned, hissed, and quickly pressed himself against the wall.

Right now, right now he had to apologize and wipe that baby monster’s cheek!

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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