Chapter 36

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 36

Chapter Title: The Voice Awakens

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At those words, the pro-Duke nobles raised their voices.

"Your Grace, mind your words!"

"The Little One is the Child of Destiny verified by the temple!"

The elders' faction didn't back down and spoke up as well.

"But why have we never seen her use holy power even once?"

"Has any of you lords witnessed the Little One's holy power?"

"Especially as a child, she wouldn't be able to control it and it would shine through unintentionally."

This must have been their second goal.

To strip away my credibility from the pro-Duke nobles.

At that moment, the Duke, who had been pressing his temple with his eyes closed, spoke up.

"You're all playing around."

It was a low, quiet voice, yet so intimidating it made my spine shiver.

As he slowly lifted his eyelids, a sharp glint appeared in his icy blue eyes.

The vassals from the elders' side and their allies swallowed dryly under his piercing gaze that squeezed their lungs.

The elders, along with the vassals advocating for Cattleya's adoption, all dropped to their knees at once.

"Please look after the territory's people. Everything is for the glory of Duvered."

"For the glory of Duvered!"

"For the glory!"

Most of the vassals gathered in the audience chamber echoed the cry for Duvered's glory together.

I was going mad, jumping up and down inside.

'Don't do it, you idiots!'

They seemed to think they could force the Duke's hand with numbers alone, but they were dead wrong.

In the future, there had been an incident where the vassals used a joint petition, the council elders' highest authority.

Over half the nobles of the vast Duvered territory had banded together to petition the Duke.

At that time, Duke Duvered had buried every single one of those petitioning nobles alive.

If they all died now, the temple would snatch me back, claiming the Duke wasn't a suitable father to raise me.

'No choice now.'

I shouted "Wow!" and ran toward the box containing the mineral.

"Is this Leblain's?"

Playing innocent, Viscount Dubos stammered in panic, "Ah, Little One."

The elder narrowed his eyes and said,

"If the Little One can dispel the barrier, then yes."

"Then Leblain will give it a try!"

The lips of those advocating for Cattleya's adoption twisted.

Their faces screamed, You think you can?

Cattleya said in a pitiful tone, "I... "

"If you don't have enough holy power to dispel the barrier, it could be dangerous."

Even Nos, Viscount Dubos, and the young masters seemed to think I couldn't do it.

"Leblain, it's dangerous. Let it go."

"Yeah, I'll buy you a better toy!"

I knew it would be dangerous too.

I probably couldn't. No, I definitely couldn't.

I could feel it the moment I picked up the mineral.

It was beyond my level to dispel.

A triple-layered barrier surrounded it, and an eerie, unknown energy emanated from within the mineral.

'But maybe I can at least appraise what the mineral is.'

Appraisal didn't require strong holy power.

All you needed was to slip a thread-thin strand of power through the gaps.

Then calculate the quality of the inherent power inside to identify the element.

In fact, it was something only the weak in holy power could do.

The strong could just brute-force the barrier, so the weak developed skills like this.

'I just need to confirm if it can really summon a water spirit.'

If it couldn't, there was no point fighting over Cattleya dispelling the barrier.

I carefully infused holy power into the mineral.

That was the moment.

Kwaaang-!!

A brilliant red light burst from the mineral, and the castle shook violently as if an earthquake had struck.

Bam!

Kwang!

Cracks ran through the walls and ceiling, debris crashing down.

"Wh-what is this?"

Everyone panicked, scrambling in chaos.

The Duke shot to his feet.

"Leblain!"

"Kid!"

Henri and Ishak hurriedly unleashed their mana. Identical runes formed in their hands and floated above my head.

But the ones blocking the wall debris soon shattered with a sharp cracking sound.

"What the—why isn't my power...?"

Ishak muttered in disbelief.

Just then, my vision blurred white, and a voice flowed into my ear.

[Finally, I meet the baby.]

It was the first time the voice, always crackling with noise, rang clear.

But before I could assess the situation, chaos erupted around me.

Black circles formed in the air, and figures in black hoods appeared.

The one in a gold-embroidered hood hastily removed his hat and shouted,

"This massive holy power—is it a temple raid?!"

The others raised their staves and declared,

"Thousands of battle priests mean nothing. The Duvered mages will annihilate you!"

"Thousands? Tens of thousands!?"

They whipped around, scanning the area.

'Oh god, someone knock me out.'

The mages stared at me in bewilderment.

Their faces practically said, 'Why is the surge coming from the child...?'

I was just as clueless. I'd only tried to appraise the mineral, but suddenly a voice spoke, and powerful holy power erupted.

"Isn't that the Little One?"

The gold-robed mage reached out toward me.

[How dare you—!]

The voice shrieked sharply. And before I could stop it, an even stronger surge of holy power burst forth.

'Don't!'

I desperately thought to rein it in.

But in that instant—

"Gah!"

Cattleya collapsed, clutching her mouth. Fresh blood dripped between her fingers.

'What the hell did that voice do...?'

The surroundings descended into utter pandemonium.

"Kyaaah—!"

Screams echoed beyond the audience chamber.

Bam! Bam! Vassals groaned loudly as debris struck them.

As the chaos peaked, the gold-robe shouted, "Formation!" The robed mages immediately surrounded me and deployed a defensive array.

[Who dares threaten my baby!]

The voice grew even angrier, and I became utterly terrified.

I didn't want to attack anyone, but the power wouldn't subside. No, it intensified with my rising tension and fear.

It seemed the voice had lost all reason.

The relentless sharp attacks pushed the mages back. Finally, the gold-robe raised his wand—the signal for an offensive spell.

That was when.

"Enough!"

It was the Duke's voice.

"But to block the holy power, we must separate that stone from the Little One...!"

The flustered gold-robe protested, but the Duke silently approached me.

With each step closer, waves of holy power blocked his path. Yet they shattered against his mana.

This repeated several times. Waves impeded him, broke, and reformed.

They shattered with a sharp explosion, raining down like glass shards.

Blood trickled unceasingly down his arm, dark red, yet he stood before me to the end.

"It's okay."

"......"

"It's alright, Leblain."

He placed his hand over mine.

The moment I felt its warmth, the power drained away, and the stone clinging to my hand dropped to the floor with a clunk.

And I collapsed into the Duke's arms.

Afterward, I was carried to my room.

The doctor examined me and said there was nothing wrong with my body. Even to me, my physical condition felt fine.

I was okay, but the castle was in total disarray.

When I left the audience chamber earlier, the vassals' gazes toward me were pure terror.

'How do I even begin to clean this up...?'

But that wasn't the only problem.

[Baby, you okay? Huh?]

This thing chattering nonstop in my head.

This voice was the biggest issue.

Every time it spoke, strength drained from my whole body. I kept getting hungry and sleepy.

And tears welled up unbidden, making it harder to maintain adult reasoning.

'Let's sort out the situation first.'

In my previous three lives, I'd never heard a voice like this.

I'd never known my holy power was this strong either.

'Did something change with this regression? No, if so, the priests would have noticed before I came to Duvered.'

My holy power had grown stronger because of the voice, it seemed.

And the voice started when I touched the Nyuite.

'Right. It was in the records of the founding Emperor. Nyuite is the key.'

The key had awakened me.

That explained the sudden surge in holy power.

'Does that mean I'm really the Child of Destiny?! ...No way.'

There were three conditions for the Child of Destiny.

1. Born on February 29th.

2. Possess holy power.

3. Manifest the Mark of God.

These were the prerequisites to seal the evil god.

Mina met all three and succeeded in the sealing. As the sacrificial lamb of the seal, I knew it best.

'In this life, I'll never entertain such foolish dreams.'

In my first life, I was truly too young and naive, but not this time. Never.

'Wait, come to think of it, how have I maintained and used adult reasoning so well in this life?'

It would have been impossible in my second or third lives.

I'd thought it was just from eating and sleeping well, but apparently not.

'This is because my power awakened too.'

[Baby, you alright? Huh?]

The voice came again, and I thought,

'Who the hell are you? No, who are you?'

[I can't tell you that until you earn the qualification.]

It sounded dejected.

'How do I earn that qualification?'

[That I can't reveal either. Only after you qualify can we converse properly. But you already know where the qualification is. So... urk!]

The voice let out a small cry and muttered,

[Even this isn't allowed. I have nothing more I can say to you, baby.]

Though it said that, I'd gotten a hint from "where it is."

'It means an object.'

If it was special enough to be called a qualification, there was only one possibility.

'The second Etwal.'

[But is your body okay? Baby. Does it drain you so much you can't even reply? Ah, if only he were here right now...! Maybe I shouldn't have been the first. This hurts my heart. You need to get the qualification soon, so he can...]

'I have it.'

I thought weakly, and the voice quickly replied, [Yes!]

'Could you be quiet? I feel like I might wet the bed.'

Every time the voice spoke, my adult mind faded, and the child in me bubbled up.

The fact I'd even thought "wet the bed" meant it had already emerged.

Imagining peeing the bed gave me chills.

'I need to find the Etwal before I fully turn into a baby.'

I jumped out of bed.