"...Actually"
Caliph hesitated for a moment and opened his lips.
Alseid's ash-colored eyes shone in the moonlight as he looked across at his son.
"The night my father was investigating the Meridy Castle Lord's room, I saw a trained hunting falcon."
"...Hunting Falcon?"
"There were black feathers and a handful of flesh caught in their claws."
Alseid replied silently.
"I thought it might be the reason why the crow didn't return, but that's just my guess."
What does the royal family want to do to create such a big mess?
Alseid sighed and pulled the reins.
"Oh no!"
He was glad that the moon was bright.
Otherwise, he would have risked his life on a slope where he couldn't even see out.
The Grand Duke and his eldest son were followed by scouts.
No one spoke out, so that one side of the sky became softer.
Before they knew it, they were in front of Halias Castle.
The closer he got to the castle, the stranger and noisier he felt, so he was suspicious.
Alseid paused for a moment and closed his eyes.
When the ash-colored eyes flashed again under his eyelids, he spat them out.
"The protective spell is broken."
"Yes?"
Caliph asked, but did not receive an answer.
The Dark Horse of Chatara Castle slammed into the ground with the last of its strength.
The castle was placed close by, but the watchmen did not lower the drawbridge even though the lord arrived.
Alseid stopped the scouting captain from shouting at him and glanced at the wall.
The ladder that the enemy would have climbed was leaning at an angle.
The scout leader gave his chin, and the soldiers quickly climbed up the wall.
The Halias barrier, which was as unobstructed as an ordinary castle, surprised everyone.
Alseid also threw away his words on the spot. He couldn't wait to open the gate and lower the drawbridge.
"We will also go over."
The Grand Duke's eyes flashed bluish as he climbed over the walls of the castle.
As he jumped straight down the wall, he saw broken glass bottles near the fallen soldiers.
"They used poison."
There was no time to look back.
There was a fierce battle here and there, but the moment Alseid drew his sword, the air changed.
A white light shone around the sword he was holding, and it spread like a comb.
Every time he threw out his sword, the enemy fell with a loud sound.
"Shion..."
Caliph muttered his brother's name and headed straight for the underground passage.
Alseid swung his furious sword and commanded him to do so.
"Cover it."
***
The shelter existed between the basement and the basement, and in peacetime, no one except the Halias blood and a few users would have known of its existence.
However, the moment he opened the secret door, the place that should have been as dark as darkness turned out to be as bright as day.
At the same time, hot air rushed in.
Surprised, Caliph unknowingly slowed down and soon started running.
"Seek Shion."
As soon as the blade was drawn to a faint blue light, there was a presence on the other side. A star flew into the middle of the cramped corridor.
As he managed to dodge, a sword master with a blue sword pounced on him.
It was a man wearing a long-beaked crow mask.
The sound of a crack, a crack, a sharp collision continued.
However, Caliph's sword was a little faster.
Caliph pressed the blade against the man's neck and raised his hand to remove the mask.
"Are you Edipa Sischel?"
Instead of answering, the man thrust a dagger with his other hand.
"I can see why your name is missing from the master list."
As he dodged and sneered, the man pushed his sword away and struck a blow.
Zeng!
Caliph, who managed to block it, swung his sword widely.
The blade grazed the opponent's shoulder.
Boom, chang!
As they were competing urgently, they heard a voice behind them.
"Baby! Baby, are you okay?"
It was the scout captain who came down with him.
The man did not miss the moment when Caliph's attention was distracted.
He smashed the blade and began to walk backwards.
Theodore, who was thinner than him, had already missed him once.
Caliph gritted his teeth and rushed at him, but his voice repeated.
"Baby! Princess!"
Puck! When he hesitated again, a dagger slammed into his thigh.
"...Hah."
When he pulled the sword out of the handle, blood dripped down his feet.
He couldn't help but untie the scarf around his neck and tie his thighs.
He hopes it's not poisoned.
The man ran away for three or four steps, but when he went to the surface, he would find his father anyway.
Then he will never see the sky again.
"Baby!"
Caliph finally turned away at the screaming shout of the scout leader.
The side where the sound came from was closer to the hiding place.
As he ran without feeling any pain, he saw the heat in the hallway where there should have been.
Beyond that strange sea of fire, Caliph saw.
"..."
Merdy's baby stretched out her short arms toward the flames and muttered in disbelief.
Whorr!
Every time the child finished speaking, the flames stretched out as if they had come to life.
"Princess! Stop it! It's dangerous!"
She didn't seem to hear the scout leader begging at all.
The baby's red eyes were blankly open, and her hair was even redder than fire.
"..."
Flame, grow...
Caliph thought she couldn't even pronounce his name correctly, but she recited the spell in perfect ancient language.
She looked like a completely different person.
"Did a three-year-old stop an intruder by herself?"
It was when a strange awe that he had never felt in his life warmed his heart.
The child slowly began to fall apart.
Shion jumped out from behind and shouted.
"Liana! Liana!"
"Shion, it's dangerous!"
As soon as Calip shouted like that, an Inexplicable light exploded around the children.
***
"Cough!"
I was so thirsty
I twisted my head around in a burning pain, and something lukewarm touched my lips.
I felt moist and moist, so I tapped it with the tip of my tongue and sucked on the other side.
Then someone burst into tears.
"Baby... Please wake up, this nanny did something wrong. I didn't leave you there alone... I was fooled by Baby's trick."
...It's Dorian.
Dorian is safe.
I was happy, but I didn't have the energy, so I just laughed inside.
Someone else quickly saw through my true situation.
"Tsk, if you wake up, please listen. How could you do such a hard thing with such a small body... Wasn't this old man so hot, Baby..."
"You're awake, Garcia? Did you wake up? Liana, are you awake?"
Hearing Shion's voice as he argued gave me a headache.
'Oh, I want to go back to sleep...'
Garcia continued to bite her tongue.
"It must be hard. But you can't sleep all the time. The old body is also weak, so I have to go and lie down. So now you have to eat."
I twitched my heavy eyelids at the words.
I saw the faint light and the unexpected bright eyes.
'Who's that...'
Is Theodore back?
The people in this family all look alike...
As I nervously lowered and raised my eyelids, the person in front of me smiled faintly.
I felt goosebumps for a moment.
There is no way for that person to laugh.
Am I dead again?
Did we end up in hell this time?
The envoy guarding the gates of hell looked down at me with gray eyes.
"Thank you, the youngest."
What...?
Then, a large, cool hand gently stroked my cheek.
'Ugh!'
He looked down at me when I wanted to scream and laughed again.
"Thank you for protecting everyone."
His eyes, full of worries, sparkled in the sunlight.
"Thank you for coming back to us."
I don't know why he kept laughing, but I was almost crying with fear.
Mom, Dad, Ancestors, look at this.
Caliph Halias is back.
***
Dorian continued to cry even though she was scolding me.
"You will never do such a dangerous thing again, Baby. Don't do that again. It means that you will never have to do it again, again, again... Ugh."
Instead of my having no energy to make excuses, Shion intervened.
"Still, Dorian, wasn't Liana really cool? I thought she was a baby who couldn't even speak properly, but Meridy's magic was really cool. The escort knight who was there that day had formed a group of followers of Liana."
George who was down?
I guess I'm glad he didn't die.
Caliph also spoke.
"Strangely, the pronunciation didn't leak when you cast the spell."
Why are you still there...?
I glanced at Caliph and quickly averted my gaze.
He may have gone crazy for a while, but when he gets his senses back, he will try to persecute me again.
Dorian rattled down the spoon and got angry.
"Masters, are you sane? Baby came to her senses in a week! In a week! If Garcia hadn't been there, she might not have woken up so well!"
Shion grumbled.
"Well, I'll tell you for sure what kind of protective spell Garcia has applied. Where is the shaman who secretly hangs something like Valley of Light' on a doll the size of a baby's forearm?"
I interrupted with a cranky voice.
"Witte picking?"
The words I made were utterly absurd, and Calip laughed again.
Hey, don't laugh because you're creepy...
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