Chapter 15

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Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Basto remained silent.

Veil was right.

When she had first met Astie, the child had been exposed to every kind of danger.

Briowood, the forest where as many as three magic stones were stationed.

It was absolutely not a place where a child should be alone.

“For now, let’s not be certain of anything……”

“Look at this grand neutral party!”

Veil sneered, but Basto did not waver.

Instead, she turned around and walked over to Tie.

“Tie.”

Astie, still hugging the skull, looked somewhat cowed.

“First of all, thanks to your help, everyone survived. I owe you a debt I can never repay.”

“N-no, Tie just……”

“But I think it’d be better to keep your power a thorough secret for the time being.”

Tie closed her mouth.

Before long, her green eyes grew round.

“Why?”

Basto hesitated for a moment, but soon laid out a serious answer.

“You said you want to find your daddy.”

The child’s small lips parted.

“If your power is exposed, people who aim for it will definitely appear. Then the journey to find your daddy will only gain more obstacles. Do you understand what I mean?”

Tie’s head spun taut and fast.

She remembered something she had seen once in a Puppetmon movie.

With great power comes great responsibility.

And Tie had an amazing ability because she resembled Daddy.

But she still did not really know how to use that ability, and above all, she was four years old.

He was shorter than Mister Basto,

and he could not carry two weapons like Oppa Veil,

‘and I can’t even pitch a cool tent like Grandpa fortune teller……’

Tie’s expression grew more and more serious.

If Mister Basto and Veil were scary tigers and lions, Tie was an unimpressive rabbit.

No? She wasn’t even a rabbit.

She was a frog, a caterpillar, and a baby octopus.

With a frightened face, Tie muttered,

“M-mister. Tie can’t die before finding Daddy.”

Today, for the first time in her life, she had learned what it meant to almost die.

When she remembered the monster resembling a tyrannosaurus chasing her, it felt as if someone were poking at her spine, and it was terrifying.

“Th-then I guess Tie really should hide my identity, right?”

On the first day she came here, hadn’t Kkamangi said so too.

If you use magic that’s too strong, you’ll be tracked.

Then you might get chased out of here, and above all, your identity could be exposed!

Then who knew what might happen……!

“I-I have to hide my identity, I absolutely have to hide it!”

All by herself, she had already made up her mind.

But no matter how much she thought with her lips pursed, no method came to mind for how to do it.

‘How do I hide my identity?’

When rabbits are in danger, they run hard and hide in a burrow.

Tie could do that too, but the problem was that if she did, she would not be able to find Daddy.

Fear welled up in her heart in smoky clouds.

‘If only Tie could look scary like Mister Basto.’

If only, even with a smaller build, he could look like a skilled person hiding her power like Oppa Veil.

“……Huh?”

At that moment, something flashed through her mind.

‘A skilled person hiding power?’

Now that she thought about it, there was a way.

Even without hiding her appearance, what if she acted like she was some amazing something in that form?

In other words, what if she pretended to be strong?

Tie blankly looked down at both her hands.

They were small, short hands, but there was a way to make people stop looking down on Tie.

‘I’ll say I’m actually not four years old. I’ll say I transformed into being four.’

And then lie that if he undid the transformation, he’d be a huge, burly, hairy thing as big as Mister Basto.

‘……Gasp. Then I’m secretly strong.’

Among the animal friends, the octopus and the owl did that.

They were really strong, but pretended to be seaweed and trees.

“Astie?”

Basto called to Tie.

Tie jerked up her head with a somewhat excited face.

“Mister Basto!”

“Yes.”

“Tie is Mister Basto’s life saver, right? So you want to repay a life-saving grace and stuff, right?”

Basto hesitated.

He did not know what repay a life-saving grace meant, but from the context it seemed to mean paying off a debt, so he nodded.

“Yes. The debt I owe you, someday I will definitely repay it.”

“Then please appoint Tie as the hidden power behind the mercenary company!”

“The hidden power behind it?”

“Please make me the figurehead boss!”

Tie began explaining to Basto, who had frozen without understanding.

After setting down the skull with the loose jaw, she waved her arms around as usual.

“What Tie is thinking is, if Tie becomes the real power of the mercenary company, then like this, like this……”

At the plausible words that followed, Veil’s eyes grew round.

Nordix and Basto were the same.

* * *

A few days later.

Imperial capital gate, Checkpoint Office No. 1.

“Three? This isn’t conquering a magic stone. You just caught a couple of monsters wandering around at night.”

At the words of the holy knight in charge of the registration office, the mercenary hopefuls John and Tim made disappointed faces.

“Go back. If you want an identification number, come back after doing a proper conquest.”

So you really couldn’t become a mercenary with only three magic stones after all.

The two turned away weakly.

It was disappointing, but there was nothing especially wrong in what the holy knight said.

To become an official mercenary, you had to perfectly conquer a single magic stone.

Just like the strange combination waiting their turn behind them.

“Here. Why don’t you slowly count how many there are.”

At the confident voice from the team behind them, John and Tim stopped just as they were leaving the registration office.

And with curious eyes, they stared at the group setting down a rather large sack on the board.

One big, bearded man.

One pretty-faced girl who looked like she had just come of age.

One old man whose back was so bent it was hard to tell if he could even walk properly,

“……A kid?”

And lastly, one little brat standing with arms folded, wearing a solemn expression and leaning on one leg.

Because it was such a bizarre combination, even the holy knight looked doubtful.

But the moment he opened the sack, he stiffened.

“What is this? Don’t tell me, are these Rikelops magic stones?”

The young woman standing at the very front of the four slightly lifted her chin and said,

“That’s right. Three Rikelops. Eighteen Velios. And enough magic stones for two Inferno Winds.”

John thought he had heard wrong.

Inferno Wind? Wasn’t that that insane flying monster that shot fireballs?

His gaze went again to the old man, the girl, and the little kid.

The big man was one thing, but he could not understand how those three had caught Inferno Winds.

Apparently the holy knight was thinking the same, because he lowered his voice and asked,

“What exactly are you people?”

Naturally, he had asked the big man who looked like the leader.

“Uh-heheong! ‘You people,’ was that it!”

But the answer came from far below.

The holy knight’s gaze dropped downward.

Wide green eyes.

Hair braided carelessly, with stray strands sticking up everywhere.

The little kid, dressed sloppily, frowned fiercely as she looked at the holy knight.

“How rudeee! To the great archmage and necromancer that is this body, will you not show proper respect!”

At the same time, something never before seen appeared on the dirt floor of the registration office.

Holy knight Kaut went stiff with his eyes wide open, then drew his sword with a deathly pale face.

“Wh-what are you-!”

A skeletal frame resembling a human.

A skull with empty eye sockets and sharp, distinct teeth.

A cobweb caught between the spread ribs fluttered in the wind, and on its shoulder dangled the remnants of shattered armor.

“A s-skeleton?!”

People gathered, and murmuring began all around.

“I-it’s a being of darkness. Wh-who in the world summoned something like that……”

When it moved grotesquely, the dirt stuck to its surface fell away in little bursts.

Screams and murmuring burst out from among the spectators.

Kaut tightened his grip on the sword with a tense face, but

“Come behind me, creature.”

At the command that rang out, the bones immediately stepped back one pace.

Then, walking like a living person, it went behind the one who had called it.

Behind the child who had shouted at the holy knight just moments before.

“……Impossible.”

Kaut froze at the sight of the skeleton standing straight as if protecting the child.

His lips went dry, and his gaze dropped.

There was no longer any trace on his face of mockery or curiosity.

“You, who in the world are you……?”

The huge man standing at the child’s side made a ferocious expression.

“To dare ask my lord’s name, how insolent.”

He cut between the child and Kaut as if blocking them, holding a giant war hammer.

Even more bewilderment spread across Kaut’s face.

Who in the world was that little kid?

Who was it that even a giant mercenary like this one served as a subordinate?

And what was that creature of darkness she had summoned!

“……Eheu.”

At that moment, a small sigh was heard.

The child who had summoned the skeleton was shaking her head while standing with one leg cocked.

She slightly tilted up her chin and said with a magnanimous air,

“Enough, Basto. Just let it go.”