Chapter 12

After saying that, he immediately added,

"–Cool. But grandpa is even cooler."

I inwardly mocked the question.

Oh, really. What do you take me for?

Even though I look like this, I was known for being good at socializing in the previous world.

Originally, in such a situation, one should be talking about the person in front of them.

"Grandpa, I – love my job!"

Debussy laughed and looked at the old man.

"That's like you."

"Stop talking nonsense and get to work."

"Yes, yes, here's the report on the temple's recent activities. Recently in the imperial capital—"

"But, you know."

The old man continued as he flipped through the documents.

"Isn't there an ancient inscription on Hadeks Mountain written in an ancient language? Taking Erylott along would certainly help with the search."

He then coughed.

* * *

That night.

With the old man's permission, I was over the moon.

'I guess saying I love it wasn't that bad.'

Yeah, unless there's something unusual, who wouldn't like it if they said they loved it?

And I was quite helpful to the old man.

I hummed as I walked and ran into Conrad.

"Miss."

"Hi."

"Yes, you seem to be in a good mood."

"I'm going to the mountain with Father."

"I heard. That's great."

Conrad wished me a pleasant hike, and I nodded.

"Where are you going, Conrad?"

He wasn't wearing his usual adjutant's uniform.

"The viscount's territory urgently requested a healer, so I'm taking one there."

If they requested a healer, it must be a very serious situation.

When I widened my eyes, Conrad explained in detail.

"It's because of the youngest and only son of the Drafteau family."

"Is the child sick?"

"There's no need to worry too much."

"Why?"

"They need a healer just in case, but it seems he gets a fever when he manifests his blessing."

Ah.

I nodded.

Conrad greeted me and moved on.

'Blessing.'

I wish I had one too.

Not a fake one like 'Ancient Language Reading,' but a real blessing.

'Dalia has three, why don't I have any?'

I grumbled to myself and sighed.

If you don't have it, you just have to work harder.

So, tomorrow's Hadeks Mountain trip is important.

'I have to find the purification stone.'

I need to prove to Father that I'm useful!

I grinned.

* * *

The next day.

I followed Father on the mountain trip.

Father, after hearing from the old man to take me along,

"Damn old man."

–muttered, but brought me without much resistance.

At the entrance of Hadeks Mountain, a search command post was set up.

Father and the soldiers discussed the search method in the command post, and I sat quietly beside them.

The 3-meter-tall man raised his arm.

"Should we just collect all the stones from the mountain?"

'What?'

How could they possibly collect all the stones from such a large mountain?

It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Finding it would be a stroke of luck?

Even if they looked with all their eyes, they wouldn't find the purification stone.

'The purification stone is inside a tree.'

A crystal formed by a tree over a thousand years old. That's what the purification stone is.

So, no matter how many stones they collect, they'll never find it.

'This search will end up being a waste of time.'

I couldn't let that happen, so I looked at Enzo.

"What's a purification stone?"

Pretending not to know, I asked, and Enzo, who was looking at the map, said,

"Simply put, it's a stone that removes curses."

"How can a stone remove curses?"

"Because nature has given it special power."

"Nature is bad. It should make all stones into purification stones. It's discriminatory."

I spoke like a child, and the soldiers laughed.

"Do you even know what discrimination is?"

"I heard you can already write characters."

"How cute, so cute."

While they were talking, Father's gaze was fixed on the map.

"Whitebark tree…"

"Yes?"

When Enzo asked, Father said,

"The purification stone only appears in this mountain because of a 'discriminatory' condition."

"Condition?"

"The only special condition this mountain has is the whitebark tree."

'Right, that's it.'

Father ordered,

"Search the area near the whitebark tree."

"Yes!"

"Understood!"

Great!

I clapped my hands in my heart. The soldiers moved towards the whitebark tree on the mountain's mid-slope.

'Now I just need to hint that it might be inside the tree after a while.'

Thinking that, I followed Father and the soldiers.

"Since the hike will be tiring, why don't you stay in the tent?"

Enzo said that when the 3-meter-tall man who had asked about collecting all the stones said,

"Then, how about I carry you on my back?"

Great!

Better to ride on his back than not go at all.

'This uncle might be a bit slow, but he seems kind.'

When I said, "Okay!" the giant man lifted me onto his neck.

I giggled.

Sitting high up was fun.

The giant man's shoulders were very broad, giving me a sense of stability.

"Let's go. We need to find it before sunset!"

We set off towards the whitebark tree.

Since I was riding on the man's shoulders, the hike was very easy.

When the soldiers arrived at the whitebark tree, they started searching.

'It's noon now… Hmm, it won't seem strange if I tell them in about an hour.'

Deciding that, I really did move after exactly one hour.

I started knocking on the tree with a rock.

"Miss?"

The soldiers who saw my strange behavior approached.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm looking for something pretty to give Father."

"Hmm…"

"It's inside the tree. Water comes out, and when it hardens, it becomes pretty. It says so in the book."

"Oh, you're looking for amber?"

Someone else asked.

"Amber?"

"Don't you know? Amber is a stone formed from hardened pine resin… Wait, what?"

The man who was answering widened his eyes.

He ran to Father.

"General!"

When the man explained, Father's eyes narrowed.

"Right. The purification stone could have formed from the hardened resin of the whitebark tree. Bring an axe."

The soldiers hurriedly brought axes.

The whitebark tree was enormous, truly a thousand-year-old tree.

Even with the strong men gathered to chop it down, it didn't fall easily.

The strongest-looking giant man also joined in the chopping.

It took quite a while, so I played by digging the ground with a branch.

After some time,

Someone came towards where I was.

It was Father.

I jumped up.

"Father."

"…You're still following me without getting tired."

"Father, are you annoyed…?"

Father looked at me silently.

I fidgeted with my clothes, trying to read his expression.

"Then, how about once a day…"

"…"

"I'll secretly watch without bothering you."

"…"

"I'll just take a quick look and then leave."

Just don't tell me not to come at all.

I had no choice but to rely on Father.

I'm only three years old, I don't have a blessing, and misfortune is predetermined.

Even with the old man's help now, I don't know how long it will last.

Sometimes, the child's heart would think, 'Just in case, the old man seems to like me quite a bit.'

Others also like me.

I was helpful.

But every time I thought that, I would close my eyes and shake my head.

My stepfather was the same. At first, he treated me like a daughter and was kind to me, but when my younger brother was born, he changed completely.

It will be different when Dalia comes.

I've seen it in novels. How much the old man loves her.

Once I'm out of the old man's attention, people around me will torment and hurt me.

'I don't want to die like this.'

I had died of illness.

I begged every day to live, to be saved, while on my sickbed.

I said I didn't want to be reborn, but in fact, life was incredibly precious to me.

I really wanted to live.

So, I desperately needed Father's help.

Father frowned. The man who had been looking at me with a stern face opened his mouth.

"I, you…"

"Found it! There's a stone inside the tree!"

The soldiers shouted.

They hurriedly ran to Father with the stone they found.

The red-haired soldier showed Father the purification stone on his palm.

I thought it would be yellow and pretty like amber, but it looked like a common stone.

'No wonder they didn't know it came from a tree.'

At least we found it, which is fortunate.

With this, I won't have to worry about Father being cursed and what might happen to him.

Just then,

Whoosh!

A sharp wind blew.

The soldiers looked in the direction of the wind. A few seconds later,

"Monsters—!!"

Monsters appeared in the sky.

'What's going on? This mountain is famous for not having monsters!'

Wait a minute.

I turned my head and looked at the fallen whitebark tree.

Could it be that the reason this mountain didn't have monsters was because of the whitebark tree?

A tree with the sacred power to create purification stones.

It would be the perfect condition to act as a barrier against monsters.

'They're not just a few.'

The monsters, with sharp teeth and bat-like wings, were five in number.

Squawk!!

The pack of monsters flew towards us.

"Prepare for battle!"

Enzo shouted urgently.

Clang!

The soldiers drew their swords, spears, and axes.

Fortunately, they were the elite soldiers of the Western Army, the best in Astra.

The 3-meter-tall man grabbed the neck of a charging monster and leaped onto its back.

He struck the monster's wing with his axe, and a screech echoed through the mountains.

Enzo threw a giant spear at the falling monster.

Boom!

The monster tumbled to the ground.

"Miss."

Enzo hurriedly approached me.

Just as he was about to embrace me, the remaining monsters charged.

'Ah!'

I covered my head with my arms.

I was trembling, but I didn't feel any pain.

I peeked and saw the monster's flesh splattered.

'Ah…'

It was Father's blessing, <Dissolution>.

The strongest offensive blessing that dissolves everything it touches.

The monster, whose body was torn apart, fell to the ground, revealing Father behind it.

His golden hair, like molten gold, fluttered in the wind.

His red eyes, like coagulated blood, glowed coldly.

Father, with his gaze fixed on the monsters, said,

"Protect Erylott."

"Understood."

Enzo stuck close behind me.

He couldn't hug me.

He needed both hands free to fight the monsters.

I ran hurriedly under Enzo's protection.

Just as we were about to descend, the monsters attacked again.

The red-haired soldier swung his sword to block the monsters.

At that moment,

Thud.

The purification stone in the soldier's hand fell to the ground and started rolling.

'Father's purification stone!'

Without it, Father might be cursed and die.

I ran hurriedly towards the purification stone.

"Miss— Oof!"

Enzo tried to grab me but was pushed back by a charging monster.

I ran hard, but my short legs couldn't catch the rolling stone quickly enough.

Fortunately, the purification stone stopped at the edge of a cliff, caught by some weeds.

'It would have been a disaster if it fell.'

Just as I thought that and reached for the stone,

Flap!

A shadow fell over me as a monster broke away from the pack and hovered above me.

'No!'

I dived over the purification stone and curled into a ball.

Flap!

Flap!

'Ouch!'

It hurt when the monster stepped on me, but I didn't back down.

"Miss Erylott!"

"Miss!"

The soldiers ran towards me.

The soldiers who arrived attacked the remaining monster.

With a whoosh, an axe sliced through the monster's wing.

A chain was thrown at the monster, which was staggering with one damaged wing.

After a while, the monster was pulled down by the soldiers.

Crunch!

With a loud noise, the monster was shredded into pieces.

Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief.

'I, I'm alive.'

The cliff was right behind me, and a giant monster was above. I was terrified of dying.

Enzo quickly helped me up.

"Are you okay?"

Father strode over, his face hard.

"You, what—!"

I held out the purification stone with my trembling hands.

"I, I got it."

"…"

"I, I got it for Father."

"…"

"Will you not be annoyed with me now…?"

I laughed nervously, my face pale.

"…"

"…"

"…"

The people couldn't say anything and just looked at me, whose body and face were a mess.

Father's eyes slowly distorted.

Gritting his teeth, he knelt and reached out his hand.

I extended my hand to make it easier for him to take the purification stone.

But, what he pulled into his arms was,

"You fool."

–me.

I was so surprised that I just blinked.

No one had ever hugged me like this, not even in my life as Yoo Hye-min, where it was a distant memory.

So,

"Sniff…"

I cried.