The Guardian Knight of Affection-Starved Young Ladies

102 – Laris (04)

103.

There are a few places in the Claire Empire that are hard to not know about, for anyone who has set foot there.

Like the Winter Isle, where Kallen went with a young noble lady.

Or right now, the massive waterfall before my eyes.

The Latia Falls.

The most beautiful, yet simultaneously the most dangerous, spectacle.

Anyone who knows even the tangled secrets surrounding this place likely wouldn’t readily say they’d head for Latia Falls.

They would simply observe from a distance, gauging it.

The waterfall’s sound, falling calmly yet grandly, invokes awe in itself.

The water spray that fills the lower reaches makes it impossible to see even an inch ahead.

The resulting rapids, along with the spray, threaten lives, and even if one reaches the end, its sheer size makes it impossible to take it all in at once.

From mouth to mouth.

Listening to the rumors passed down, the true nature of Latia Falls lies in the upstream,

that is, the view from atop the cliff.

Therefore, even reaching the bottom of the falls requires climbing the cliff.

Of course, there is no path or anything made to climb up the cliff.

Water spray that obstructs the view, and the steep rapids flowing beside it.

The dizzying height of the cliff, and the heavy waterfall crashing nearby.

Even the dark secrets, constantly reminding one of fear.

Many look from afar and gauge its beauty, but few dare to draw near.

Silent flowing mist.

And through it, the shadows of three figures fell.

*

“…”

“Mother? What’s wrong?”

Three people who broke through the mist of Latia Falls.

Among them, the woman, Velvet Plache, couldn’t believe it at all.

Velvet lowered her head and looked at her hand.

No matter how much she clenched and opened her fist, it didn’t feel familiar.

She takes her hand, touches the pearl of the necklace, and it’s not all that different.

The fact that they can be here, outside the cave.

It’s still like a dream.

“Mother… maybe…”

“Uh-huh. No, Laris. It’s just… just, it’s hard to believe.”

When the daughter and the boy, with the necklace, came here, she felt it instinctively.

That now, they could go outside the cave.

Having been trapped inside it for so long, Velvet faced the sunlight for the first time in ages.

How grateful she was for that brief moment.

Velvet gently stroked her daughter’s hand that she held.

What just happened, comes to mind.

-Let’s go out.

The boy who spat out blood as if it were nothing, and said so casually that they should leave.

Velvet lifted her head and looked forward.

There, the boy still stood.

The grateful boy who made it possible for Laris to bring the necklace, for Velvet herself to be able to meet her.

Even with just that, he was more than enough to be considered a benefactor to both of them.

But the boy didn’t stop there.

How he did it, she would never understand, even if she died.

Velvet guessed, the boy absorbed the incomplete phantom space that she had created.

Into a dark world, like hell itself, and made its power his own.

Thanks to that, the trapped phantom space was transferred to the boy, and if she’s beside him, she could live normally.

To say she was alive might be insufficient, strictly speaking, but what did it matter?

“If you feel anything strange, you have to tell me right away, Mother…”

“I will. Absolutely, Laris.”

She could be with her beloved daughter like this, facing the bright and warm sunlight.

Moreover, among the things the boy had said, was that they could still live even if they were apart, by overlaying the absorbed phantom space onto another location.

She could meet Laris, and her other precious daughter, Garis.

And even beyond that, the boy had escorted them out of the spray of water.

Velvet smiled brightly, from the bottom of her heart.

The long wait in the cave.

If this is the end result, she could wait ten years, a hundred.

With a smile, Velvit quietly turned her head to her daughter.

There, with her other hand clasped to her chest, was a girl staring intently at the back of the boy walking ahead.

A girl.

A girl, just like that.

And a girl in love.

Was there ever a time when Velvit was like that?

She didn’t particularly want to think about it.

She didn’t want to believe she ever wore that expression for a man who had abandoned their precious outcome, and both of his daughters at that.

A strange flush painted her cheeks, and her breath was shallow, seemingly unnoticed by her.

Her heart was probably trying to hide its rhythm unconsciously, but her eyes shone with a pure childlike innocence.

Meaning, she wasn’t even aware of it herself.

What was making her daughter hesitate?

She’d felt it in the cave, but now she couldn’t deny it.

Her daughter had brought home her son-in-law.

And a perfect man as a son-in-law, one who had greatly benefited them all.

As a mother, she only wished for one thing.

That he wouldn’t discard what’s his by justifying himself like some pathetic man.

In that sense, the boy, Kallen, was perfect.

He’d already proven it.

He headed for the Latia Falls just because her daughter had asked him.

There, he had thrown himself in front of Velvit herself to protect her daughter.

His looks were needless to mention, perfect.

Handsome, strong, and above all, a man who could protect her daughter.

As if she herself had returned to childhood, Velvit smiled innocently and moved closer to Laris.

“Daughter.”

“U-uh? Oh, Mother…?”

Then, she whispered softly in her ear.

In a voice so small that Kallen couldn’t hear.

“I like Kalen, Mom does.”

“…Huh?”

“Just saying. That’s all.”

Belvet leaned back, smiling kindly.

Her pure smile even held a hint of playfulness.

This should be enough for now.

She only hoped that when Laris truly faced her own heart, it would be a great source of strength.

Belvet smiled at Laris, who was still tilting her head in confusion, and then looked back at Kalen’s back.

A handsome boy, definitely enough to make her fall for him if she were a girl Laris’s age.

The perfect match for her daughter, but there was one thing that made her uneasy…

“It’s impossible for women not to be drawn to him…”

A voice too quiet for even Kalen, let alone Laris standing right beside her, to hear.

*

“Let’s stop for a moment.”

At Kalen’s words from ahead, everyone halted.

“Kalen?”

“My lady. Just a moment.”

They had left Latia Falls a long time ago.

Initially, Laris and Belvet had intended to leave the Plache family forever.

Laris, from the start, had secretly come out with the resolve to abandon the family. No matter if the Ryle Merchant Guild knew of their whereabouts.

What had changed that was what Kalen had said while absorbing the phantom space before exiting the cave.

Why not take revenge, he’d asked.

Go and show that man, who had abandoned his wife and daughters, what they were worth.

There was power in his words.

Why not, indeed.

Laris had seen with her own eyes what kind of man Kalen was.

She could now understand the confidence Kalen had shown. This, she thought, was something worth doing.

Going to her father and the old men of the Ryle Merchant Guild.

How satisfying it would be to finally unleash all the words she’d been holding back.

The only reason it’s possible is this:

Kalen is protecting her.

“…Looks like we have a guest.”

Following Kalen’s words, Laris turned towards her family one last time.

And now, on the way back to the family, Kalen suddenly stopped.

“A guest?”

“Yes. And what you said was also right.”

Kalen slowly wrapped himself around the mother and daughter, gathering ice.

Not around himself though, but into the dark alley ahead.

It was the same sensation he had felt when he absorbed the crystal cave.

Probably 5th tier, or close to it.

Kalen could now manifest magic at a desired location, not just around himself.

And the instant he unleashed 3rd tier combat magic on the seemingly empty path–

*Whoosh-*

Kalen naturally ducked, and Laris and Velvet looked at him questioningly.

In the empty air where nothing had been a moment before, a figure began to shimmer.

Soon it solidified into a perfect human form.

The face that was revealed was one Laris knew well.

“…Nadil? How are you…”

A loyal hunter of the Lyle Merchant Guild.

One of the ‘children’ of that crazy old man who trusted no one, who valued even his own family only by their usefulness.

A card they hadn’t used even when they were keeping Laris in check at the family.

Laris was shocked that Nadil himself was here.

But it was Nadil who was more shocked.

The gap that the boy hadn’t noticed.

Nadil remembered that gap from in front of the water spray.

He had prepared his trap based on that very gap.

But somehow, that memory had all turned out to be a delusion.

The boy’s senses were much sharper, and the ice spears that had suddenly appeared had rendered all of his ambushing subordinates combat-incapacitated.

These subordinates were combat prodigies who had undergone the same harsh training as Nadil himself.

They don’t understand its strength.

He’s just a boy, barely Nadil’s age.

Yet, this very moment, despite employing a transparent magic that could be called a decisive blow.

The boy dodged it as if it were nothing.

Meeting the dark eyes visible beyond his bowed upper body, Nadil froze, his dagger drawn.

The Lylle Guild’s training is rigorous.

Nadil, who has assassinated countless people on orders, wasn’t so weak as to be frightened by mere eyes.

So, for a fleeting moment.

The freeze was just a fleeting moment, but.

It was more than enough time for the boy before him.

“…Lylle Guild. Right.”

*clink*

At the same moment, the boy’s monocle chain moved.