Translator: Nox

Ch#11

Tremble, tremble.

Tiye was trembling all over as she plastered herself flat against Basto’s back.

Before her eyes loomed a cave entrance exuding an eerie aura.

This cave not far from the checkpoint was called ‘Tenebraum.’

“It used to be a food storage depot. But a Mana Stone sprouted inside, turning it into a mana beast lair.”

At Veil’s added explanation, Tiye gulped hard.

Right now, Tiye’s mind was filled with just one thought.

The thought of a T-Rex roaring as it burst out from the cave.

Opening its massive jaws to reveal a hundred jagged teeth inside……

“S-scary……”

Her body instinctively shrank back.

Tiye glanced at Basto and Veil.

In the end, Tiye was sitting out this siege.

Even a small Mana Stone was dangerous, and Basto had stubbornly refused.

At first, she’d tried pleading with Uncle Basto.

But after hearing about the T-Rex, she couldn’t push any further.

‘Maybe…… sieging a Mana Stone isn’t as easy as I thought.’

Thinking back, Dad had said something similar.

‘Mana beasts come in tons of varieties. Makes their attacks hard to predict.’

Flying mana beasts, ones that looked almost human, even ones with five legs.

‘That’s why you can’t let your guard down sieging a Mana Stone. Slack off even a little, and you get badly hurt. Honestly, up till now, Dad’s been sugarcoating it so you wouldn’t get scared? Remember this: mana beasts are terrifyingly scary.’

She had no choice but to admit it.

‘Tiye’s been too careless.’

She’d only heard about them, never actually seen one.

Heading out blindly with Uncle Basto and Veil oppa in that state?

‘Can’t be a spoiled brat!’

Uncle Basto must have told her to wait outside for that reason.

“Then, Tiye.”

Right on cue, Basto knelt on one knee to the ground.

As she slid off his broad back, he spoke seriously.

“Wait outside with Grandpa Nordix. We’ll be back before dawn.”

Tiye turned her head.

A few paces away, an old man in gray robes smiled kindly.

“Don’t worry too much, little one. Mana beasts have never come out of the cave even once so far.”

The old man they’d met at the checkpoint and come here with was named Nordix.

He was the innkeeper grandpa’s longtime friend, and his job was something about reading stars to predict the future? A divi…… di……?

“Diviner, dummy.”

As if reading her mind, Veil cut in.

Veil smirked with a raised corner of his mouth.

“All that talk about being smart was a lie, huh?”

Tiye froze in shock, then bristled.

“N-no it wasn’t! Tiye’s really smart, okay? Teacher and friends all say Tiye’s smart, I just blanked for a sec there……!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Veil ruffled Tiye’s crown while cutting her off.

“Just sit tight and behave while we’re gone~? No crying without me.”

“Tiye won’t cry! Not a baby!”

Veil’s eyes widened round, then his face lit up with mischief.

“You’re a baby though, right? Cried snot and tears when you first met Basto, begging to be saved?”

“Eek……!”

Tiye’s eyes blazed as she puffed out her chest and stomped her foot.

“Tiye’s a child! Not a baby, a chiiild!”

Veil tilted his head.

“……What’s the difference between child and baby?”

“Different! Child is, no, baby is……”

Her head spun round and round.

Baby’s what grown-ups called her when they wanted to dismiss her.

Child was what they used when they respected her!

But trying to explain tangled her tongue.

“B-baby’s for spoiled babies! And child is……”

“Pfft, then what about kid? Tot? Little one’s different from baby too? Old man and geezer different? Why not say young man and youth are different too, squirt.”

“Th-that’s!”

The moment Veil clutched his stomach seeing Tiye’s eyes spin—

“Enough.”

Basto sighed and stepped between them.

Unlike fuming Tiye who clamped her mouth shut, Veil stuck his tongue out at her one last time.

Basto bowed to Nordix.

“Please look after Tiye.”

“Good luck.”

The forest had grown dark before they knew it.

Meaning it was nearly time for the mana beasts to stir.

Tenebraum was a fairly deep and large cave.

Labyrinthine passages inside held scattered small Mana Stones.

Basto and Veil planned to siege one of them, but

‘Honestly kinda nervous.’

Veil knew Basto was skilled.

He’d even bought info on him from the black market last night just in case.

Surprisingly, Basto Paerix really had an impressive background.

He’d lost his family in Ban-Anra Village and become a drifter, but before that he’d been Death Hound’s vice-leader.

‘Sad for him personally, but good for me?’

In this line of work, there was a realm only those who’d lost something precious could reach.

When a warrior finally let go of themselves.

Excluding emotions, surrendering solely to primal instincts like vengeance or rage—that realm.

Veil told Basto offhandedly.

“Just so you know, I’ll be giving it my all.”

“Same here.”

The two gave Tiye one last look before entering the cave.

Tiye stared at Basto with a sullen face.

“Uncle Basto, be safe……”

Seeing her worried-to-death expression, Veil bristled.

“Hey! What about me!”

Only then did Tiye turn to Veil.

And waved half-heartedly.

“……Oppa be safe too.”

Veil suppressed a smile tugging at his lips and stepped inside.

‘Whatever.’

They couldn’t dawdle at the checkpoint anyway.

As they ventured deeper, Veil lit a mana stone-powered lantern.

In the distance, an unsettling wail echoed.

* * *

Tiye settled under an elm tree about five minutes from the cave.

Grandpa Nordix, despite his hunched back, pitched a tent as neatly as Basto.

“Jax gave us jerky.”

For dinner, she ate two pieces of the jerky from the innkeeper grandpa.

It was incredibly salty and savory.

When night blanketed the surroundings and stars dotted the sky.

The diviner grandpa began dozing off with nods.

Tiye, meanwhile, couldn’t fall asleep easily.

She knew Uncle Basto and Veil oppa were super strong, but……

For some reason, worry gnawed at her, so she hugged her kindergarten bag with Kkamangi tight.

It had been a week since Kkamangi returned to stone form.

‘Thought he’d come out quick at first.’

The longer Kkamangi slept, the more anxious Tiye grew.

Opening the bag secretly from grandpa revealed the black, glossy stone.

“Kkamangi, wake up already.”

She had tons to tell him.

She’d been staring at the stone for a while when—

Rumble—

Suddenly, the earth shook.

Tiye startled and stuffed Kkamangi back in the bag, looking up.

A red light flashed from over there.

As she fixated on the light like hypnotized—

“Little one!”

Suddenly, Grandpa Nordix yanked Tiye’s nape.

Tiye tumbled backward without time to be shocked, rolling on the ground.

Boom—!

And the next instant, a massive fireball crashed right in front of her.

Tiye froze in place, too shocked to even breathe.

The spot ablaze from the fallen fireball

was exactly where she and grandpa had been moments ago.