kscans

Chapter 60 - Little One and the Kodoku Curse, Part Four

"Nii-ni, look at that."

"Ah, it’s beautiful."

The twins were having fun, kyakkya, holding hands. The battle for Little One seemed to have been won by Chihaya. The cave, which was steadily getting wider and larger, had changed its appearance since the area where the frenzied monsters appeared. The rugged rock walls were now dotted with ore.

Fragments of gold and silver, and exposed loose gems. What had started as a few scattered specks were now peeking out from all over the walls, reflecting the lantern light and sparkling brightly. The children were overjoyed by the starry sky glowing faintly in the dark cave.

"It’s a magnificent sight. Are the other mine shafts like this?"

At Dorfen’s sigh of admiration, Prince Marcello shook his head as if in denial.

"No. Iron and silver are one thing, but it’s rare for gems to be exposed like this. There are crystals and such, but that one over there looks like a ruby, doesn’t it? They don’t look like that until a gem expert finds a rough stone and cuts it."

At his words, Little One also thought about it. On Earth too, gems start as rough stones. It’s rare to see the stone so clearly visible before it’s even mined, though you might see inside through a tiny crack.

"But it’s beautiful. Don’t you think they closed this mine too soon?"

A soldier from Bastok answered the girl’s casual murmur.

"A bad wind blew. People died, so the mine shaft was sealed."

"A bad wind?"

At Little One’s tilted head, Prince Marcello explained as if just remembering.

"Sometimes, a wind that can kill people blows in the mine shafts. You can’t see the wind. To prevent more casualties, any mine shaft where a death occurs is sealed."

Is he talking about gas? They had that on Earth too, right?

To prevent people from unknowingly stepping into a pocket of gas and becoming victims, they used to take a bird in a cage with them. Since the small bird would start to suffer before a human would, it was used as a method to avoid gas for a long time.

She hadn’t known it was such a dangerous place.

Little One hurriedly called out to the spiders and Pochiko-san leading the way.

"Are you alright, Pochiko-san and friends? You don’t feel anything strange?"

The monsters looked back at Little One and nodded slightly. Seeing this, Prince Marcello’s eyes narrowed gently.

"It’s fine for now. I can see the changes in the rock."

Little One blinked her eyes. When she asked for details, he explained that the color of the rock looks different in places where the air is stagnant. After studying abroad in Frontier, colors started appearing on rocks and the earth like that from time to time, and upon investigation, they were all places with some kind of anomaly.

"This may also be a blessing from gaining magic. I am truly grateful."

The Crown Prince’s words were filled with deep emotion. Little One sucked on her finger and fell deep in thought. Her innocent appearance drew the eyes of those around her.

Children who have grown past being toddlers rarely suck their fingers. However, since Little One was smaller than a normal seven-year-old, the sight didn’t seem out of place. Her overwhelming cuteness made hearts around her go kyun kyun.

My child was like this once. So cute.

What is this cute creature? I want to cherish it, take it home.

Ugh, is it okay to let her walk? Someone pick her up. What if she falls!

As mysterious stares from the surroundings gathered on her, Chihaya noticed and grabbed Chihiro’s arm, pulling her finger away.

"Hiro, you mustn’t."

Realizing she had been sucking her finger, Little One’s face turned red.

I thought I had grown out of it.

Chihiro, who was born as a child but hadn’t been able to spend much time being one, acted younger than her mental age. She was fine when she was conscious of it, but when she was not, she acted as innocently as a baby, with a dazed look on her face. The finger-sucking just now was one of those things. She would plop down and stare into space, or unconsciously cling to someone if they were nearby. The number of men and women who had been captivated by her small hand gripping the hem of their pants or skirt was as numerous as the stars. Aided by her adorable appearance, everyone wanted to cherish and hold Little One, so Chihaya had a hard time fending them off.

Are you going to do that here too? Stop it. See, the way everyone is looking at you has changed.

It was a change that you wouldn’t notice unless you spent a long time with her. But being together like this, people inevitably began to sense it.

Little One’s blushing face only stoked their desire to protect her even more.

"The footing is getting rough. It would be my honor to carry you, if I may?"

A knight from Flowers knelt and smiled brightly. Little One shook her head and clung to Chihaya’s arm.

"Nii-ni is here, so I’m okay. Thank you."

The little girl smiled softly.

Instantly, the people around her also smiled warmly.

That’s the part I’m talking about!!

While chewing on a bitter bug, Chihaya couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from turning up into a grin. Romel and Dorfen watched him with lukewarm expressions.

Ah, right. Chihiro, try not to provoke Chihaya too much. I’m seriously begging you.

They really do get along so well. I’m quite envious.

Dorfen, who apparently had some family issues, and Romel, who knew Chihaya’s personality all too well, sighed with considerably different temperatures.

After that, there were no more magical beast attacks, and Little One’s party proceeded smoothly. They noticed a light in the direction they were heading.

A strong, brilliant light was shining in.

"What’s that?"

"It’s awfully bright, isn’t it?"

They advanced cautiously and entered the path from which the gleam of light was shining. People looked up in astonishment.

In the terrifyingly wide cavern was something familiar to the twins and Romel.

"Is this!"

"A Magic Circulation Device? Why is it here?!"

The giant sphere sitting there was identical to the device in the Tower of David. The twins and Romel rushed over without hesitation. The Flowers party was frozen in shock at the unexpected discovery. The Frontier group spread out, on guard, in battle formation.

Meanwhile, Romel, who was inspecting the device, opened his eyes wide in astonishment.

"No way... It’s alive? It’s running, this thing."

Flowers was supposed to have run out of magic. There was no way they could operate this device.

What is happening?

A single bead of sweat trickled down his cheek, and he shivered. From the device before him, one he was so familiar with from the Tower of David, he felt an indescribable dread and unconsciously took a few steps back. Romel’s eyes were as if he were looking at a monster. Seeing this, Prince Marcello was flustered by the unusual atmosphere, but then he noticed Little One rustling around, and her business-as-usual behavior took the wind out of his sails. He watched her with a curious gaze. Many instruments were placed behind the device, and the little girl was rummaging through desks and bookshelves, her eyes scanning documents and literature.

"Hoh. I see."

"Chihiro?"

Catching her small murmur, Romel also noticed what Little One was doing.

"It seems this place has been here since the age of the gods. ...No, since before humans were born."

Romel also checked the pile of literature Little One had pulled out. However, he couldn’t read most of it. But from what he could read, Romel shivered.

With joy.

Many of those documents contained detailed information about spirits, and research on magic and magical power modeled after them. This was lost knowledge in Frontier, where the existence of spirits itself was a confidential matter. It probably existed somewhere if one searched, but for now, it was gone.

"This is a treasure trove! They were researching spirits and related matters here!!"

Little One cast a cool glance at the excitedly chattering Romel and sighed deeply.

It’s not something so lukewarm. What is this?

Many of the documents were about spirits. During the chaotic period when magic was lost, the mages of Bastok visited Legion in the borderlands and begged for mercy. At this rate, the device would stop. A great deal of research would be for naught. They pleaded for the mercy of the Lord of the Forest.

In response, Legion established the magical beast graveyard near Bastok. Supported by the corpses of magical beasts for many long years, the device here had survived.

What in the world.

Romel, still unable to cool his excitement, held out a book he couldn’t read to Little One with a sparkling expression.

"What language could this be? I hear there are unique scripts for each tribe apart from the common tongue, is this one of them?"

Watching Romel flip through the pages, para para, Little One couldn’t stop sighing.

It’s the language of the gods. The official version, different from what was taught to humans.

Thanks to her language translation skill, Little One could read the ancient literature.

And then it hit her.

Who taught this to humans?

Merda and the others had said that the language of the gods was difficult and roundabout, so they had remade it into a simpler language that humans could understand. Indeed, even the knowledgeable Romel couldn’t read it. But the fact that it existed here as a written work meant that someone who understood this language and wrote it down must have existed.

It must have been a long, long time ago.

But was that really the case? Was there any guarantee they weren’t alive in the present? Was it possible that it was being passed down to the present day by someone’s hand?

Little One, who was born in Japan, a country said to have continued since the age of the gods, was well-versed in such things and couldn’t deny the possibility.

I don’t know. Something is on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t grasp it.

Behind the agonizing Little One, a cheer suddenly went up. When Little One turned around to see what was happening, her eyes fell upon the Magic Circulation Device, opened like a lotus flower, and a Gnome hopping in its center. And Prince Marcello, frozen with tears in his eyes.

Unlike Little One’s gray-clothed Gnome, Prince Marcello held a brown-clothed Gnome in his palm, his face crumpled as he looked down.

"Gods. I thank you...!"

A sentiment full of emotion, squeezed out. The Gnome patted his trembling head, pon pon.

Good for you.

The something that had been on the tip of her tongue melted away. Next, Romel and Chihaya also acquired Gnomes. The other Frontier knights tried, but perhaps due to a lack of magical power, no one else could manifest a Gnome.

"So, you didn’t want me to disturb the magical beast graveyard because you wanted to keep this device alive, right, Pockle?"

‘Hou!’

Pockle nodded while dancing with its new friend. She knew that this device required a massive amount of magic. It made sense that magical beasts would spring up in a cave filled with immense magical power. And the same kodoku curse as in Frontier had been performed here as well.

Little One took out the blackish-purple stone she had received from Pockle and stared at it intently. A mysterious stone whose attribute even Romel didn’t know. But despite its small size, it seemed to contain a considerable amount of magical power.

Maybe I should investigate this. I might learn something.

As Little One stared at the small stone between her fingers, homi.

In a forest far to the east, a small mountain was crying. An enormous oni, tears spilling hota hota, looked up at the heavens.

《My Lord. I... O King, please, my Lord...》

Around the sobbing Legion, small oni looked up worriedly.

As their respective feelings intersected, the night deepened, and Little One’s party returned to Bastok, subjugating the frenzied magical beasts along the way.

Laughing, being surprised, breaking down in tears. There are many things every day, but Little One is still doing great today♪