DKWSVF Chapter 03

 Episode 3

***

Breaking through the powerful maids and skillfully making her way to the grand room of the Ortezo Castle, Airi had boldly arrived.  

However, contrary to her grand aspiration of 'becoming a hero to save the world,' she found herself trapped for over ten hours in a 'Magic Barrier Suit,' which resembled a white, fluffy bread.  

“To ensure you are not consumed by magic, we have wrapped you tightly.”

“…......?”

“Also, we’ve attached magical artifacts all over your body…”  

Looking like a round snowman, with only her eyes darting around, she was surrounded by muscular maids who fumbled to adjust her appearance.  

“It’s too small,” and, “Ugh, I don’t even know how to handle this,” they mumbled as a bonus.  

At that moment, the head maid, the only one who could communicate with Airi in this place, knelt down on one knee and spoke with an apologetic tone.

“Your immune system is too weak, so we had no choice. We’re sorry, young miss. If we had been better prepared, we would have brought a more suitable magical artifact…”  

Wait a second.  

Airi looked at her opponent with trembling eyes.  

'I’m weak? I even went to National Taekwondo Academy!'

Recognized by her Taekwondo master as the best among nine-year-olds with a black belt, she declared, 

“I-I’m strong.”  

But it seemed her outcry fell on deaf ears.  

And so, Airi’s body was completely bundled up in a white, round suit.  

Her arms and legs were firmly tied, leaving only her face sticking out.  

At that moment, as she looked into the mirror alongside one of the maids, the maid suddenly tore her blouse open and roared.

“Damn it! You’re too adorable! So round and cute!”  

….....?  

'Is she calling me round and cute?'

Airi rolled her eyes toward the maid.  

The maid thumped her chest like a gorilla, seemingly unaware of what she was doing.  

Glancing at such maids with a somewhat sour look, Airi then turned her gaze to the mirror.  

'I know what this is.'

It looked like the white rice cakes her grandmother used to make so diligently in her past life!  

Indeed.  

Airi had become a round rice cake.  

“Umm, could you please untie this?”  

“No, we cannot.”  

Thud.  

Airi’s pupils shook with great shock.  

“Why…?”  

“None of the others have to wear this rice cake suit.”  

“Ri-Rice cake suit…?”  

“Yes.”  

Airi had just coined the term 'rice cake suit,' a combination of the words bread and rice cake.  

Though the maids didn’t realize it, children inherently possess the ability to freely combine and create new words.  

Airi spoke seriously.

“Why do I have to wear it when nobody else does?”  

“Well…”  

Was she perhaps being bullied here?  

The textbooks always said not to exclude friends…

Airi clenched her fists tightly and muttered softly.

“Please be honest with me. I am not a weak child who gets hurt over such things.”

She spoke seriously, but the expressions of the maids around her turned strangely awkward.

Regardless of that, she stood firmly, channeling all her strength.

The head maid, who had been staring at Airi intently, took a deep breath and carefully explained.

“It’s because young miss Airi are not an immune person.”

“Immune person…?”

“Yes, an immune person.”

The maids gazed at Airi with pity.

Airi blinked her eyelashes and listened to the explanation of what an 'immune person' was.

“I see. It’s because I am not an immune person that I have to wear this rice cake-like suit and leave after a week…”

Finally, everything made sense to her.

Airi was different from the northern people.

That’s why, unlike a hero, she had to be bundled up like a newborn baby in this round wrap.

Curling herself into an even rounder ball, Airi muttered.

“Got it. I’m fine.”

Because a great hero doesn’t give up over such trivial matters.

She wasn’t five years old but nine.

She didn’t want to appear weak.

“So, everyone can leave now.”

The maids and attendants, who had been trying to console Airi, sighed heavily and left, closing the door behind them.

It seemed they thought Airi would be discouraged.

‘I won’t be discouraged! I’m a second-degree black belt!’

She was a cool, undaunted black belt who wouldn’t falter over such small things!

Airi sharpened her gaze and stared into space.

Then, she took out the notepad where she had written down what she needed to do in Ortezo Castle.

[Airi’s Ultimate Goal]

Eat lots of delicious food with Grandma!  

※ Super Happy!

※ Lots of greens! Herbs! Plenty of turkey!  

[For That to Happen?]

I must save the world. So that the person I love most, Grandma, won’t die.  

[How?]

Destroy the evil 'magic energy' in the north!  

[Method?]

I don’t know exactly. But I think I just need to touch it!  

Airi tried to clench her fists.

But… swoosh.

‘Oh no, my hands.’

Being trapped in the rice cake suit made her head feel woozy.

Airi let out a big sigh.

Still, she had entered Ortezo Castle.

For some reason, her heart fluttered a little.

Wrapping herself in the fluffy blankets, Airi curled up a bit.

‘I miss Grandma.’

When she curled up in bed, her grandmother used to always hug her tightly.

But today was her first time sleeping without Grandma.

Neither her past-life grandmother nor her current-life grandmother was there.

As she lay down on the cold bed, she felt like an empty tin can.

‘But a hero must endure.’

Airi bravely rolled herself up in the blanket.

And so, a night in Ortezo Castle passed.

***

The news of Airi’s arrival had reached the monster frontline as well.

“Your Grace, congratulations!”

“What, all the monsters are dead? Can I go home now?”

“That’s not it! Aren’t there still monsters right in front of us?”

“Oh.”

Grand Duke Declan Ortezo swiftly struck down the elephant-shaped monster that had approached him.

The man, who had been observing his master with an indifferent expression, was none other than Grand Duke Ortezo’s chief aide, Viscount Raspin, who managed the grand duke's affairs. He let out a lively laugh once more.

“Young miss Airi has arrived in the North! I don’t know why she’s here, but shouldn’t you go see her?”

A typical father would likely be overjoyed to hear that his daughter had arrived.

However, Grand Duke Ortezo was different. His expression twisted.

“My daughter is here?”

“Yes, she’s preparing to meet Your Grace as we speak!”

“What is she doing here in this godforsaken place?”

“Well, that… it seems she’s insistent on meeting Your Grace…”

With a face full of irritation, he waved his arm dismissively.

“Send her back. Tell her to go to her grandmother. I’m not meeting her.”

The child had been raised dearly in her maternal grandmother’s care.

Meanwhile, Declan’s body had been accumulating an immense amount of dark energy.

Out of the five levels of contamination, he had reached the fifth, the most severe.

Ordinary humans would lose control and die upon reaching level three.

Even those with exceptional resistance would start exuding an aura similar to that of monsters at level four.

And at level five…

They would be entirely consumed by the dark energy, becoming one with it. In essence, the human ceases to exist, replaced by pure malevolence.

Even those resistant to the dark energy found it difficult to stay near someone like him. It was only thanks to his immense magical power and explosive abilities that he managed to stay alive.

If a non-resistant child were to encounter him…

They would undoubtedly perish.

Thus, he could not, would not touch or even glance at her.

Since the child was born and sent to the South, the letters he had written every night…

Had never been delivered, as he had refused to allow his tainted hands to reach her.

They were to remain as if they never existed in each other’s lives.

“...Contact the South and find out why she came. Tell her to stay tucked away like a small, precious bean.”

“Huh? Tucked away like a small, precious bean? What does that even mean?”

“And in a week, no, exactly 168 hours, roll her back to the South.”

“Roll her back?”

“Yes.”

Raspin, who had been writing down 'roll her back,' looked puzzled.

But Declan was adamant.

He didn’t know her face.

The only thing he remembered was catching a fleeting glimpse of her wrapped up like a small, round bean right after she was born.

To him, she was just a round bean.

But for Raspin, it was different.

“Rolling a child around would violate child protection laws.”

“...Just make sure that bean doesn’t appear before me.”

After casually issuing his command, he turned his head away.

‘She said she’d leave in a week. That gives me a week to finish off the remaining monsters and return.’

The thought of how much the child’s face might have changed as she grew to five years old…

Or how her once round body might have stretched out…

Didn’t concern him.

He had no intention of finding out either.

Unless, of course, she caused some massive trouble.

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