Translator: Nox

Chapter 69

 

 

"Mugwort rice cakes! Rainbow rice cakes too! And super duper yummy Grandma's sikhye!"

Watching Iri count off on her fingers one by one, he said,

"......I don't know what those are, but I'll have the head chef prepare them."

"Yessir! Elder, come eat with me too-mida! Oh! And there are friends who helped with this time too-mida!"

"They found out? Your identity."

"Karhen helped so no one found out-mida! Karhen is super smart!"

"......"

"......Super smart-mida!"

Iri was still bright and pure as ever. She seemed to think his silence came from not using polite speech.

*'Should I call this fortunate or not.'*

"Alright, I get it. Who are those friends. Do they need anything?"

"Gasp, yes-mida! A whole lot! I have a request too!"

Iri smartly pulled out the note she'd prepared from her pocket.

 

Belze, Dinan: Good with spears and swords.

Sual, Lirid: Let them live in green places (with friends, animal friends too!)

Karhen: Dreams of becoming a super cool knight!

 

"That's not hard. I'll send Belze, Dinan, and Karhen to the knight order to start as squires. With pay too."

"G-Gasp!"

"For Sual and Lirid....... I'll let them tend the gardens. There's hardly any nature in the North, but if some appears later, I'll send it over."

"What about Seraphin?"

"Seraphin."

"Praise Seraphin secretly lots and lots!"

"......Yeah, gotta praise him."

"Whoa! That's super hard! Thank you-mida!"

The truly hard part was elsewhere.

The adult world this child didn't know about.

"With the White Knight Order revived, people are super curious about you. And some want to use you."

Iri's eyes widened hugely.

"So I prepared a plan to make sure they can never find you. Wanna hear it?"

Declan's lips curved into a rare gentle smile.

 

* * *

 

A day later.

The monster hybrid friends gathered again in Iri's room!

These kids who'd grown super close during the secret grand operation.

"Whoa! The knight order suddenly scouted us!"

"We watched the knight order every day! Practiced swords and spears all day yesterday!"

"XX it was awesome, the best!"

"We're playing with people, and surprisingly everyone likes us! They even like us eating with hands!"

They were chatting so happily when the kid totally obsessed with the 'great purification sorcerer who saved the North,' Seraphin, came running in panting.

"I heard huge news! Everyone's going crazy right now!"

"Karhen, you heard too, right? Iri, you're the only one who doesn't know?"

"I don't know either."

"The identity of that great one who gave us a grand mission has been revealed!"

Iri thought of Declan.

*'Ah, said they'd keep it hidden!'*

Iri's eyes blazed with betrayal.

"This is supposedly that person's portrait! I got the latest gazette!"

Seraphin unfolded the precious gazette he'd tucked in his pocket.

Iri felt like her heart might burst out.

*'D-Did they really find out about me?!'

If it got widely known she was the purification sorcerer.

Then would Seraphin become her pedestal from now on?

 

"I pay respects to the great purification sorcerer Iri-nim. From now on, I'll make delicious rainbow rice cakes with my own hands!"

 

......Hmm, this might not be so bad?

With a bit of curiosity and doubt, Iri took the portrait Seraphin handed her.

"Th-this is moji."

Iri's expression went blank.

"......G-Grandpa?"

"Of course, someone with that level of skill would be a grandpa."

Iri's eyes shook wildly.

Such a thing in the world!

The grand magus wasn't a grandpa though......

With the child in the midst of her life's greatest shock at age five, Karhen read the gazette.

"Either a grandpa or a genius youth in his early twenties, it says."

There was another portrait too.

A very handsome man in his early to mid-twenties with red hair and green eyes.

*'Man, grandpa! Totally different from me!'*

Anyway, none of their purification sorcerer candidates was a little kid.

*'Th-that's a relief, right?'*

But for some reason, a huge cloud of frustration rolled in.

Iri flopped face-down on the table.

Seraphin's nonstop chatter rang out for a while.

"If it's a grandpa, he must have a ton of mustache! What was it like seeing him in person?!"

At those words, Iri decided her position toward Declan.

*'A super duper mean elder!'*

......Elder, I hate you!

 

* * *

 

With the White Knight Order back alive, and the veil subtly lifting on the identity of the purification sorcerer saving the North.

Ortejo Castle's festive mood continued nonstop.

But amid it all, completely detached from the festivities was one person—no, existence.

Iri's summon, the hand-sized ginger cookie, Cookie.

"What the heck!"

Cookie clenched its round fists and ranted.

"Why doesn't anyone know what you did! Why!!"

"Because I'm a 'power hider' hero-mida!"

"Still, it's upsetting that they don't know at all! You used up your purification power to make food and deliver it! Jeez, the king's ears aren't donkey ears!"

"C-Calm down. Cookie."

"Everyone should know, why don't theyyy!!"

Iri tucked Cookie into her bosom and slipped out of the room.

Like a puppy, taking it for a walk might improve its mood!

But it was when she reached the first floor of the castle.

Little kids and women filled the space before the main castle gates.

Wondering at the crowd in the usually quiet place, White Knight Order members in uniform gathered beside them.

Iri stood blankly watching them.

"Daddy, you're back alive!"

"Dada!"

A child riding on White Knight Order Captain Belkuan's shoulders smiled brightly.

"I love you, Daddy!"

Ghost Castle, where sunlight rarely reached.

Yet somehow, warm sunshine seemed to shine between the child and dad.

And not just that.

The vice-captain wiped sweat from his brow before a white-haired old woman.

"W-Well, sorry for worrying you, but not really sorry."

"My son with perfect northern manners, no need to apologize, you unfilial brat....... Hey you, how long I waited!"

"But you're back."

"Yeah, so let's drown our sorrows in drink today."

It felt a bit like a different kind of reunion, but love was visible anyway.

"It's fine if no one knows what I did!"

"......"

"Everyone's super duper happy now, that's what matters!"

Cookie sent telepathy from her bosom.

[Still, it's touching. Looks like we saved them well.]

Iri nodded.

After brief greetings with their families, the White Knight Order members stepped forward to officially confirm they'd escaped magi completely.

Thus, Iri slyly drew closer to them.

But then, something unexpected happened.

The White Knight Order members and even their families were smiling brightly at Iri.