Ch#15
Basto fell silent.
Veil was right.
When he’d first met Astie, the child had been exposed to all sorts of dangers.
Briowood forest, with three Mana Stones.
It was no place for a child to be alone.
“For now, let’s not assume anything……”
“Look at you, Mr. Neutral!”
Veil sneered, but Basto didn’t waver.
Instead, he turned and walked toward Tiye.
“Tiye.”
Astie, still holding the skull, looked somewhat dejected.
“First off, thanks to your help, we all survived. I owe you a debt I can’t repay.”
“N-no, Tiye just……”
“But it’d be best to keep your power a strict secret for the time being.”
Tiye clamped her mouth shut.
Soon, her green eyes widened round.
“Why?”
Basto hesitated briefly but gave a serious answer.
“You want to find your dad, right?”
The child’s small lips parted.
“If your power gets exposed, people will surely come after it. That’ll just create obstacles in your journey to find your dad. Do you understand what I mean?”
Tiye’s head spun furiously.
She recalled a line from a Puppetmon movie once.
Great power comes great responsibility.
And Tiye had an amazing ability like Dad.
But she didn’t know how to use it well yet, and above all, she was only four.
Smaller than Uncle Basto,
couldn’t wield two weapons like Veil oppa,
‘Can’t pitch a cool tent like Diviner Grandpa…….’
Tiye’s expression grew more serious by the second.
If Basto and Veil were scary tigers and lions, Tiye was a pathetic rabbit.
No? Not even a rabbit.
A frog, a larva, a baby octopus.
Tiye muttered with a frightened face.
“U-Uncle. Tiye can’t die before finding Dad.”
Today, she’d learned for the first time what it meant to nearly die.
Recalling the T-Rex-like mana beast chasing her made her spine prickle like someone poking it.
“Y-yeah, Tiye really needs to hide her identity, right?”
Didn’t Kkamangi say that on the first day here too?
Using too strong magic gets you tracked.
Then you could get chased out, and above all, your identity could be exposed!
Who knows what would happen then……!
“Y-yeah, gotta hide identity, absolutely gotta hide it!”
She resolved it on her own.
But pursing her lips and thinking as hard as she could, no method came to mind.
‘How do I hide my identity?’
Rabbits flee hard and hide in burrows when in danger.
Tiye could do that too, but the problem was it wouldn’t let her find Dad.
Fear clouded her mind.
‘If only Tiye could look as scary as Uncle Basto.’
Even if small, how great if she could look like a hidden powerhouse like Veil oppa!
“……Huh?”
Just then, something flashed through her mind.
‘Hidden powerhouse?’
There was a way.
Without hiding her appearance, if she acted super impressive in that state?
In other words, pretend to be strong?
Tiye blankly looked down at her own hands.
Small and short, but there was a way to make people not dismiss Tiye.
‘Say I’m not really four. Say I transformed into four.’
Pretend to undo the transformation and say she’s a huge burly bearded brute like Uncle Basto.
‘……Gasp. Then I’m a hidden powerhouse.’
Among animal friends, octopuses and owls did that.
Pretended to be seaweed or trees despite being super strong.
“Astie?”
Basto called Tiye.
Tiye snapped her head up with an excited face.
“Uncle Basto!”
“Yeah.”
“Tiye’s Uncle Basto’s lifesaver, right? You wanna repay that debt, right?”
Basto paused.
He didn’t know what “geolcho bo-eun” meant, but from context, it seemed like repaying a debt, so he nodded.
“Yeah. I’ll definitely repay the debt I owe you someday.”
“Then make Tiye the mercenary corps’ hidden powerhouse!”
“Hidden powerhouse?”
“Make me the puppet boss!”
Tiye began explaining to frozen Basto, who didn’t get it.
Setting down the jawless skull and waving her arms around like usual.
“What Tiye’s thinking is, if Tiye becomes the mercenary corps’ powerhouse, then like this, like this……”
Veil’s eyes widened at the plausible words that followed.
Nordix did too, and so did Basto.
* * *
A few days later.
Capital Gate, Checkpoint 1.
“Three? This isn’t sieging a Mana Stone. It’s just catching a couple mana beasts wandering at night.”
At the Holy Knight overseeing the registry’s words, mercenary hopefuls Jon and Team looked disappointed.
“Go back. If you want an ID number, come back after a proper siege.”
As expected, three Mana Stones weren’t enough to become mercenaries.
The two turned away listlessly.
Regrettable, but the Holy Knight wasn’t wrong.
To become official mercenaries, you had to perfectly siege one Mana Stone.
Like the odd group waiting behind them.
“Go on. Count them slowly.”
Jon and Team paused while leaving the registry and looked back curiously at the group setting down a fairly large sack on the table.
One huge bearded man.
One pretty-faced young woman who looked just of age.
One hunched old man questionable if he could walk straight,
“……A kid?”
And finally, a little one standing with arms crossed, a stern expression, and legs spread wide.
The combination was so bizarre even the Holy Knight looked skeptical.
But upon opening the sack, he froze in shock.
“What’s this? No way, Rikellops Mana Stones?”
The young woman at the front among the four tilted her chin up slightly and said.
“That’s right. Three Rikellops. Eighteen Belios. Mana Stones equivalent to two Inferno Winds.”
Jon doubted his ears.
Inferno Wind—that crazy flying mana beast shooting fireballs, right?
His gaze shifted back to the old man, young woman, and kid.
The huge man made sense, but how did those three take down Inferno Winds?
The Holy Knight seemed to think the same, lowering his voice to ask.
“What exactly are you lot?”
A natural question to the obvious leader, the huge man.
“Hey now—! ‘You lot’?!”
The answer came from far below.
The Holy Knight’s gaze dropped.
Vivid green eyes.
Messy hair in haphazard braids with stray strands sticking up.
The poorly dressed kid scowled at the Holy Knight.
“How rude! Do you not show respect to this great archmage and Necromancer?!”
At the same time, something unseen before appeared on the registry’s dirt floor.
Holy Knight Kaut widened his eyes, froze, then paled and drew his sword.
“Wh-what are you—!”
A skeleton mimicking a human.
Hollow eye sockets in the skull, sharp and clear teeth.
Webs caught between spread ribs fluttered in the wind, and broken armor remnants dangled from the shoulders.
“S-Skeleton?!”
People gathered, murmurs rising.
“D-dark being. Wh-who summoned such a creature……”
As it moved grotesquely, dirt clinging to its surface crumbled off.
Screams and clamor burst from the crowd.
Kaut gripped his sword tighter tensely, but
“Come behind me, creation.”
At the command, the bones immediately stepped back.
Then walked like a living person to stand behind the summoner.
Behind the child who’d just scolded the Holy Knight moments ago.
“……Impossible.”
Kaut froze at the sight of the Skeleton standing protectively before the child.
His lips dried, gaze dropped.
No trace of amusement or curiosity remained on his face.
“You, who the hell are you……?”
The huge man beside the child scowled fiercely.
“How dare you ask my liege’s name, you insolent fool.”
He stepped between the child and Kaut, hefting his massive War Hammer.
Even greater bewilderment spread across Kaut’s face.
Who the hell was this kid?
Who had such a hulking mercenary as a subordinate?
And what was the summoned dark creation!
“……Sigh.”
Just then, a small sigh sounded.
The child who summoned the Skeleton shook her head while standing with legs spread.
The child lifted her chin slightly and said graciously.
“Enough, Basto. Just say it’s Nada.”
