NOVEL NEXT Chapter 69
“Ellie! Are you hurt anywhere? Is there an ache? Did you drink too much magic? I heard you might have some aftereffects from the battle. Are you feeling any better now? Wasn’t it scary? Why do you look so weak? Did you stop exercising? Are the aftereffects that severe?”
Bam!
Like handling a delicate glass craft that could shatter at any moment, my father carefully pulled me into a hug.
Then, flustered, he began checking my body for injuries, fussing over me.
“You lost weight in just that one month. Are you eating properly? Is the Academy’s food not to your taste? We should send the chef from the main house to the Academy. Is there anyone bullying you there? Is your bed uncomfortable? You might have nightmares. Since it’s your first encounter with a demon race, Ellie might develop a trauma.”
The scent of home that I had grown accustomed to drifted from my father. On top of that, it seemed he had hurried over, as a faint smell of dust and sweat lingered.
“Still, I’m relieved. So relieved…”
“Uh…”
I never expected him to worry this much.
So I felt very… flustered, and also…
My body felt oddly itchy.
After listening to my father’s concerns for a while, I noticed the broken door of the reception room, then glanced at Kerian who was smiling awkwardly…
“…O-Oh, it’s been a while.”
I gently lifted my arm and embraced my father, who was kneeling and holding me.
Then, he shivered. My father’s body trembled.
“I missed you, my daughter…”
“Hmm…”
It was a bit cheesy, sure. But still… he looked like he hadn’t slept at all, rushing straight over, so I gave his enormous back a pat-pat with my small hands.
“I… I missed you too.”
My father sniffled.
*
Thirty minutes later, my father finally calmed down a bit.
The broken door of the reception room… got fixed somehow.
My father, who had grumbled about how weak the door was and worried that the kids might get hurt, merely bent the hinges with his bare hands, tightened the bolts, and popped the bent door back into place.
Both Kerian and my father, and even the side branch members I had seen here…
It seemed like everyone in Yustetia was tall and big, so I didn’t get why I was so small.
But then again… it didn’t really matter.
Once I reach the 7th rank, I would transform my body into my most ideal form in my mind.
My gender wouldn’t change, but somehow, this damn short height and build would be solved.
Maybe I’ll end up resembling Arisa’s body?
She’s the strongest and most ideal martial artist after all.
…But until I reach the 7th rank.
I would have to live in this body for roughly two to three years.
Click-click – I rolled a Kaier candy in my mouth while glancing at my father sitting across from me.
Just a moment ago, he looked like he was on his last breath, but now he was all smiles.
“Should I get you another drink, Dad?”
“Hmm. I’m fine. Speaking of which, did you come straight here without sleeping? That far of a distance…?”
“If my daughter is in danger, how could I sleep? But don’t worry about me, I’m all good.”
“…Okay.”
I nodded but saw the dark circles under his eyes stretched long.
…Maybe there’s something busy going on in the family, just like Kerian and my father?
“How’s Mom doing?”
“She’s doing well. She was actually going to come with me, but with me away from home, she couldn’t leave too. So don’t feel too bad about it. She was worried about you a lot too.”
“Yes. I’m not upset. Rather… um…”
I was going to say something about my father needing to hold the fort, but I just kept it to myself.
After all, he rushed here without a wink of sleep, so it wouldn’t feel right.
“I’m glad to hear that.”
So I just nodded and changed the topic.
“I heard about the Forbidden Library.”
Without any surprise, my father and Kerian nodded along with the sudden subject change.
“You’re talking about one of our family members who got to go in, right?”
“Yes.”
I glanced at my father while rolling the candy in my mouth.
He still had a calm expression.
His calmness in response to the sudden question meant he was expecting it. So I just asked.
“Is that okay?”
“What part are you talking about?”
“…It’s the Royal Family, isn’t it? Wouldn’t it be a problem if you did something careless?”
A quiet smile appeared on my father’s face.
“As long as our Ellie is fine, what does it matter?”
Feeling no facade, falsehood, or negative emotions, only the sincerity of his feelings.
I… couldn’t say anything.
It was a very strange emotion.
Not exactly welcome, but not something I wanted to shove away either.
Fidgeting in silence made my body itch again, so I popped another candy into my mouth.
With two candies in my mouth, my cheeks puffed up.
“…I have something I kept secret.”
I thought about saying what I knew and experienced.
Of course, as a vice-captain of Muyeong, I might know most information, but still, sharing is better than keeping quiet.
Family.
I don’t want the family that worries about me to get hurt…
“Two days before entering the Academy, there was a battle with some Dark Mages.”
My father’s expression hardened, and Kerian’s gaze turned sharp.
“I haven’t heard about that from Sara.”
“I asked her to keep it a secret. I didn’t want anyone to worry… I’m sorry.”
My father, who had momentarily sealed his lips, bumped the table with his massive fingers, then cautiously asked.
“…Ellie. Did you fight yourself?”
“Yes. Stella… um, I have a friend I got close to during the entrance exam, and she almost died. So, I had no choice but to step in…”
“What about Sara and Yurasia?”
“I told Sara to stay in the dorm, and I sent Yurasia away. So please don’t scold them. I acted on my own.”
I wanted to find out personally about what secrets the Behrhaigen family holds, whether they’ve partnered with Dark Mages, and so on.
But if Sara and Yurasia were together, I wouldn’t be able to carry out such an interrogation anyway. After all, there was no need for an interrogation since Stella almost died.
Whatever the case, while I was contemplating how to explain why I sent Sara and Yurasia away…
“So, what happened?”
My father only wanted to know the outcome of that incident.
“I killed one and the other fled.”
For a moment, both Kerian and my father held their breaths.
Thanks to that, a chilling silence descended in the cozy atmosphere of the reception room.
Though the atmosphere had suddenly changed, I didn’t feel uncomfortable as it was an expected result.
So, I casually continued speaking.
About how I helped Stella to the temple after she got hurt, how we returned to that spot to pass the corpse to the Knight Order.
And how a snake devoured that corpse.
When I finished speaking, the expressions of my father and Kerian were very stiff.
Whether they were shocked by my killing someone, or if they thought this incident was related to the labyrinth event, or if it was something I couldn’t even anticipate.
I couldn’t tell, but I opened my mouth again.
“And… I heard something is hidden underground while battling the demons in the labyrinth.”
However, I decided to keep the source of the information a secret.
Whether it was about the spirit or Pina, I thought it would be better to stay quiet.
Even if it was 400 years ago, as far as I knew, spirits were exceedingly rare and important beings in today’s world. So, for Pina, the king of the beastman, to communicate with such spirits, she must be someone even more significant.
Leona must also know it, hence the secrecy around it.
And Pina… likely didn’t want to expose herself either.
Therefore, I thought it best to keep it hidden.
No matter how much family means, I’d rather not take actions that might bring harm to Pina or perhaps Leona as well.
“…underground?”
My father still wore a rigid expression, while Kerian looked somewhat dazed but challenged me with a question.
“Yeah. In the system’s underground… I’m not sure if it’s the sewage system or what, but I overheard mumblings about something being there.”
That was the information Flora had told me.
Now, there was an ominous something underground in the Empire that I couldn’t handle.
So I spoke openly.
I wasn’t sure if they would all believe me, but it would still decrease the risk of someone like Kerian wandering off alone to get killed.
At the very least, they would exercise some caution.
“Is… that true?”
“Yes. Well… I don’t know what they are looking for in Muyeong, but if you go underground, you might find some clues.”
And perhaps…
The Dark Mage who had attacked Stella could be linked to the ‘snake’.
“So, don’t let Uncle go alone, and don’t send the Muyeong members off by themselves either. It would be better to prepare as much as possible.”
I still had things to say, but for now, I decided to stop.
Both my father’s increasingly serious expression and Kerian’s complex look seemed to require some time for contemplation.
After a brief moment, Kerian exhaled a troubled sigh and shook his head as he looked at me.
No, to be precise, he was looking behind me.
Who’s back there?
“How will you proceed?”
I turned my head to follow his gaze.
There stood someone clad in black robes and overcoats…
Wearing a pure white mask.
“Captain.”
The captain of Muyeong stood there.