Chapter 2
“Yeah, I don’t need one.”
And just like that, I was cleanly rejected.
So cleanly, in fact, that I was left completely speechless.
“Th—thh….”
“Th?”
Leviathan flicked my lips lightly.
“I thought you were the quiet type, but turns out you’re a foul-mouthed kid. Fooled me.”
Those deep violet eyes looked straight at me. When I stuck my lips out in protest, he must’ve interpreted it as displeasure, because he deliberately softened his gaze.
“And I have no idea what you suddenly mean by ‘youngest.’”
“Hah….”
Well, I had been a bit hasty.
To Leviathan, I was probably just some random kid he’d met a few hours ago.
I guess rereading the original in my head made me act without thinking.
I smiled awkwardly and looked ahead. The horse carrying us was steadily heading toward the capital of the Vamillon Empire.
But I didn’t really have a choice. If I dawdled and ran into pursuers, everything would be ruined.
Because, truth be told, I had one secret… no, actually, quite a few.
“By the way, you really are Eosian, right?”
Ack. A straight punch to the gut.
I tilted my head in a vague motion—somewhere between shaking it and nodding.
My chest stung slightly. Probably from lying.
Of course I wasn’t Eosian.
“So you are Eosian. And now you clam up again.”
“Ah!”
Thunk. A light punishment landed.
“I told you not to just nod your head when someone asks you something.”
“Th— that hurts!”
“‘Th’ again?”
Clutching the back of my head, I whipped around. Our eyes met, and the cold-looking handsome man let out a quiet snort of laughter.
“A boy making a fuss over something like that…”
“…?”
Hold on. Freeze right there.
I think there’s been a major misunderstanding.
“Mist—?”
But the moment I tried to speak, my words caught in my throat.
Why does it feel like…
Breathing was getting harder.
Glancing around, I quickly realized what the sensation was.
“…Looks like we’re getting close to the Empire.”
The rapidly thinning magical energy in the air was proof.
The imperial capital of Vamillon was a place with barely any mana to speak of.
“You’ve been to the Empire before?”
“Nope.”
“Then how do you know we’re getting close?”
“J-just… feels like we’ve been riding for a long time…”
The truth was that I could read the flow of mana—but there was no way I could say that outright.
I was a mage.
A mage from the Mage Kingdom, Arcadia, sent to this war at the command of the Mage King.
As long as someone had mana, the Mage King didn’t hesitate to send even half-grown children like me to the battlefield.
Back then, the other allied nations harshly criticized Arcadia, calling it child soldier exploitation and worse—but the Mage King, the true villain and rotten core of the original story, didn’t even bother listening.
Of course, thanks to that, I’d been assigned to rear support roles like managing magical tools… but as the war dragged on, even that issue was swept under the rug.
Anyway, I’d been deployed two years ago.
I realized this was the world of a novel after spending a full year on the battlefield.
After all that suffering, you expect me to just die with everyone else?
No way. I’d be too resentful to rest in peace!
So I decided to cling to this man like a cicada stuck to an old tree.
To do that… I have to hide my secrets well.
First: the fact that I’m a mage.
The Mage Kingdom was extremely closed-off and did not allow mages to relocate freely.
If discovered, I’d be forcibly sent back.
And Leviathan absolutely despises mages…
Because of an incident ten years ago, he loathed them to the bone. There was no way he’d keep a mage by his side.
Next: my past.
I was also a deserter who had abandoned my mage unit before the war even ended.
And the reason I ran?
Obviously—to meet Leviathan in that village.
They probably think I died in a black-monster attack.
Which made revealing my identity even more impossible.
To summarize:
A former child soldier mage who fled the Mage Kingdom.
…There’s not a single normal thing about that, is there?!
And on top of that—
“A boy making a fuss over something like that…”
Of course…
I mean, I did pick up and wear Eosian boys’ clothes.
And yeah, my hair looks like this too.
But I didn’t mean to fake my gender!
I briefly considered clearing up the misunderstanding, but decided to let it be.
Given that I was hiding and on the run, it was probably better this way.
Anyway, thanks to this dense hero, I’d ended up with even more things to hide.
“Hng.”
I’ll manage… right?
My shoulders drooped at the thought of the road ahead.
Maybe from thinking too much—or maybe because the surrounding mana was so thin—but it felt like my stamina was draining even while sitting still.
I’m tired.
I rubbed my drowsy eyes with the back of my hand.
I’ll rest for now and think later!
Leviathan looked down at the child’s bobbing crown.
At some point, the kid had fallen asleep against his chest.
Chattered themselves out, huh.
They’d been on guard at first, too.
A faint smile slipped out.
Once the wall between them came down, the kid had peppered him with questions, one after another, in a chirpy voice like a baby chick.
“Mister, where do we go first when we reach the capital?”
“The Imperial Protection Facility.”
“Ugh… can’t you just take me with you?”
They want me to take them?
Leviathan laughed in disbelief.
From the start, the very fact that the child had followed him made no sense.
Children were supposed to be afraid of him.
After ten years on the battlefield, he carried the dark, feral aura of someone steeped in blood—something children sensed instinctively.
This is troublesome.
Raking a rough hand through his black hair, he guided the horse along the flattest path he could find.
I shouldn’t get any more attached.
Leviathan tightened his grip on the reins and forced his gaze forward.
They’d part ways soon anyway.
He didn’t want to develop pointless feelings.
And yet, his eyes kept drifting to the softly bouncing head in front of him.
The cowlick curled to the right.
He could swear he’d never seen a cowlick that small before.
His hand clenched around the reins.
Damn it.
That’s… kind of cute.
After a solid nap, I felt much better.
Hmm. Looks like my body’s adapting to the low-mana environment! Nice!
Since earlier, mister had been strangely fixated on my head, urging the horse on even more.
“What am I, a newborn? Sleeping all day like this…”
—Gasp.
Suddenly, my head snapped around on its own.
This mana!
“Mister!”
At the same time as my shout, black monsters burst out of the bushes.
“Ah!”
“Don’t move. Don’t open your eyes.”
Almost instantly, a solid hand reached out and covered my eyelids.
Pulling me tightly into his chest, he controlled the horse and swung his sword.
I didn’t even see when he’d drawn it—his speed was terrifying.
Slash.
Through the gaps between his fingers, I blankly watched the black monsters scatter like fallen leaves.
It really hits me now…
The greatest swordsman on the continent.
The man closest to the legendary Sword God.
Head of House Gevert, the prestigious northern sword clan.
A perfect overpowered protagonist with strength, wealth, fame, and looks—all right in front of me.
“Are you okay?”
Mister asked, flicking blood off his blade.
“Eugh… blood…”
It splattered, you know…
Black-monster blood stains are hard to wash out. Ugh. I’m so depressed…
The horse stopped, and he carefully lifted me down to the ground.
“We’re a mess.”
We were both soaked in monster blood.
“Ughhh…”
“The imperial border’s close. Hang in there.”
He found the cleanest part of his clothes he could and roughly scrubbed my face.
“That hurts! I said it hurts!”
“It doesn’t hurt.”
At the rate he was going, it felt like he might spit on it and scrub harder, so I hurriedly escaped.
Vinegar water and moonflower herb soap work best for monster blood, though…
I really am a total mess.
Sniffing my own smell with a sigh, I felt eyes on me.
“Why are you staring?”
“…You.”
When I turned around, I met the gaze of mister sitting heavily on the ground, watching me.
Maybe because of the blood on his face, his violet eyes looked darker than usual—and there was something unfamiliar in them.
“Why don’t you cry?”
I just blinked, confused, as he rested his chin on his arm.
“Come to think of it, you haven’t cried once.”
Even when you saw me.
Oh no.
It felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over my head.
Now that I thought about it, the original story did mention that every child who first saw him burst into tears.
Crap.
I mean, I had almost cried when I saw Leviathan.
Because I was so relieved.
But I’d never felt afraid of him. He was the protagonist—the hero who saved the world.
Did that make me seem abnormal?
“Earlier too… you didn’t seem very scared.”
“Well…”
“Well?”
“Honestly, I was scared. But crying wouldn’t really change anything, so…”
I mixed truth and lies just enough.
Do I remember crying much? Not really.
If crying solved things, I would’ve cried—but most problems don’t get fixed that way.
Not in my past life. Not in this one.
Isn’t it better to wipe your tears, get up, and solve the problem instead?
But Leviathan looked dissatisfied.
“Who told you that?”
“Huh?”
“That crying doesn’t change anything.”
“Um… my mom?”
I didn’t have anyone I could really call that in either life, but I brushed it off.
Leviathan’s throat bobbed as he swallowed words he didn’t say.
“If you keep holding things in, it turns into an illness.”
“Ah.”
He tapped my nose lightly.
“Tsk. Turns red so easily.”
Rub, rub. An awkward, clumsy touch followed.
The warmth spread like ripples.
I felt something I couldn’t quite name.
This was the first adult who’d ever told me not to endure everything alone.
“Let’s go. We’re almost there.”
After wiping ourselves down as best we could, we mounted the horse again.
Clop, clop. The horse moved at a faster trot than before.
Not knowing when another monster might appear, mister held me even tighter. The inside of his solid arms felt like a safe zone.
The wind brushed past my cheeks.
A red sunset spread overhead.
Saaah, saaah. Trees brushed by. Somewhere, a bird fluttered into the air.
The stench of blood was still thick, but suddenly—just suddenly—
It felt peaceful.
Covered in blood, thinking about peace. Funny, isn’t it?
“Hey… there won’t be any more monsters now, right?”
“Yeah. I killed them all.”
“Mister, you’re really strong.”
Leviathan—the man who brought this peace.
Ten years must’ve been hard. I could barely endure two…
“Thank you for saving me.”
“……”
“And… good job. For the war. It must’ve been tough.”
So please—don’t die.
“Thanks to you, it’s peaceful.”
You deserve to enjoy this peace longer than anyone.
And I deserve it too!
“Hey! It’s so loud! Give me back my peace!”
I clamped my hands over my ears.
“What’s with you? Don’t act like a country bumpkin.”
The imperial capital was like a birthday cake!
Boom! Bang! Bang!
Celebratory cannons went off nonstop.
Chattering crowds, musicians pouring out frantic melodies, children laughing and running around, merchants shouting at the top of their lungs…
My head was spinning. Absolutely spinning.
