Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: The Missing Kyle
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Like a coin always having two sides, everything in the world comes with both strengths and weaknesses.
The Shelter for a Single Night was an unstable power that couldn't endure even twenty-four hours before vanishing. Yet that very instability could sometimes be a boon.
When you needed to hide right in the heart of enemy territory.
"Ah...!"
Roca, who had been walking with a face as sour as if she'd chewed on a blade of grass, suddenly cried out. Her eyes lost their light in an instant, as if she'd just heard the sky would fall tomorrow.
"I can't smell Master anymore."
Suddenly, Kyle's scent had vanished. It wasn't as if it had rained or fog had rolled in.
It hadn't faded—it was just gone. The wolf girl had a keen nose and was sensitive to changes in scent. Of course, the princess, who wasn't a wolf, let out a sigh and looked at Roca.
"Kiddo. I know you don't like me."
The princess replied, accustomed to seeing the faces of those who disliked her. In any case, that was personal business, and what she was about to do now was official.
She hadn't brought Roca along to pick on her; she'd come with genuine intent to teach. If things started off like this, the girl who already disliked her would only hate her more.
"If you don't like me, just say it outright—tell me you're pissed. I'll hear you out. How far do you think we've gone from the saint? We haven't even moved five meters from the cabin."
Roca didn't reply, didn't react,
and simply lifted her lightless eyes to stare blankly at the princess. Ardein, who had seen the face of the displaced, was at a loss for words.
"Master's gone."
"Well, he's not gone... What the—!"
Ardein whipped around reflexively and shouted in shock. The cabin that had clearly been right there moments ago was nowhere to be seen. The two exchanged glances for a moment, then turned and ran back without a word.
"Damn it, what the hell is going on...?"
"We have to check. Someone might have kidnapped Master."
"Who? Without tripping my senses?"
But no matter how frantically they carried on as if the world were ending,
the spot where the cabin should have been remained empty. They walked a bit farther, and suddenly the cabin popped into existence, with Kyle's scent mingling with the aroma of cooking and wafting toward them.
The two stood there dumbfounded, at a complete loss. When they entered the kitchen, Kyle, holding a ladle, asked in confusion.
"You're back already? The food's still got a ways to go."
"Uh, no... You've been here the whole time?"
"Master...!"
Before the princess could even respond, the sniffling wolf lunged forward.
The priest looked at the princess with bewildered eyes as Roca buried her face in him, wailing pitifully. Ardein denied it reflexively.
"No. Whatever you're thinking, it's not that."
"Did you scold Roca? This delicate little thing? What on earth did you do to make her cry like this...?"
"I really didn't do anything!"
If she had actually bullied her, she wouldn't feel so wronged. She didn't want to torment a child just to save face as an adult, but what kind of mess was this? If she'd known it would turn out like this, she should have given the girl a proper scolding.
However, it didn't seem like Roca was crying on purpose just to spite her. The girl finally stopped sobbing as she rubbed her tear-streaked face against him and hugged Kyle tightly.
"I thought... Master was gone."
"Me? No. It's not time for the Lord to take me yet."
Realizing the situation at last, the priest gently stroked Roca's head to reassure her and slowly began to explain.
The Shelter for a Single Night was inherently like that. It wasn't a deliberate effect, but once you strayed a little from the cabin, its presence simply erased itself from perception. As if it didn't exist in this world.
But it didn't actually vanish. When you returned, the cabin and the hot spring came back into view, perceivable by your senses. Yet if you moved too far away, not even your physical senses could detect it.
Unless you already remembered that a cabin was supposed to be there.
"I don't know why it works that way. It wasn't something I intended."
It wasn't as if he'd crafted the power with this in mind; it was a side effect that came with creation.
Kyle didn't know the exact reason either. He only knew from experience that this effect existed. It was a result of not yet fully comprehending his own power.
Seeing something might seem simple, but it's actually a complex process.
There has to be a light source, light rays, which collide with an object, reflect, and enter the eye before you can say you've "seen" it. But the Shelter for a Single Night was fundamentally unstable, losing its possibility of existing in reality the farther you got from its epicenter, collapsing back into nothingness.
In other words, the information about the cabin carried by the reflected light from it ceases to exist the moment it travels beyond a certain distance from the cabin.
When that light reaches a person's eye, all they see is the natural landscape without cabin or hot spring. It was a phenomenon more mysterious than any illusion.
The same went for smell. Molecules from inside the shelter drift through the air and must reach the nasal mucosa for a scent to be detected.
Of course, those molecules, too, collapse into illusion once they stray too far from the cabin's center. The instant they flow beyond the shelter's boundary, they vanish completely.
No matter how incredible one's detection abilities, finding the cabin was impossible.
Unless they had the power to meticulously track down what had already decomposed into mere possibilities and discern its former shape—but where in the world would such a being exist?
"Still, it's actually a good thing. Even if the demonkin search ever so thoroughly, they won't find it unless they stumble right onto it."
Even if they cast detection spells, unleashed tracking beasts, or sent sharp-eyed demonkin to comb the mountains and fields,
unless coincidences upon coincidences led them right up to the cabin, there was zero chance of perceiving it. It was the epitome of an absolutely safe shelter from all forms of pursuit.
Only then did the princess and Roca realize their misunderstanding, and they walked out silently once more. They didn't exchange a single word until they reached a fairly large clearing, both embarrassed.
"Auntie."
"I'm not old enough to be called that yet."
"Auntie who's lived twice as long as me. You're going to teach me mana?"
It was Roca who finally broke the silence a little later. The princess affirmed it.
They'd only clashed briefly at the inn in Camel, but she believed the girl's talent was exceptionally outstanding. Of course, the child had met Kyle first and likely used the Lineage Sapling.
Even accounting for that, she was impressive.
She was a gem worth polishing, at the very least.
"If you just emit mana without even shaping it, you'll never escape the third-rate level your whole life. No one but Grimudo himself can bulldoze through every crisis with raw power alone."
"Unless your mana is on the level of an ancient demon king or a dragon, you have to learn and master techniques to draw out its true might."
Both were beings of legend—one secluded, the other having left this world.
Only entities of that caliber could rely solely on brute force, but did they actually do so? She wasn't sure about Grimudo, but dragons were definitely not like that.
Even for beings of that level, technique was truly vital.
"If you just live by your natural talents, you'll always be prey to be hunted someday, never a hunter. If you want to be a hunter, you ought to know how to advance. Objectively speaking, kid—you're weak."
"I know."
The girl didn't deny it,
nor did she run away.
Instead, she straightened her tail and met the princess's gaze.
"Then teach me. I want to get stronger."
"Alright, then..."
"Strong enough that even the god Master serves can't take him away from me."
The princess was stunned into silence by Roca's ambition. She'd always thought her own aspirations were grand, her greed immense.
She'd rated herself as someone with big dreams, but here was a wolf whose ambitions dwarfed her own.
It was more absurd than declaring she'd fight the heavens if they oppressed her.
She was too floored to even get annoyed. They said ignorance breeds courage, and this kid was already plotting to battle a god—and not just any god, but one presumed to be an Ancient God.
The princess had been absolutely certain ever since seeing the Lineage Sapling.
Who else but an Ancient God could bestow such a miracle!
The kid was saying she wanted to grow strong enough to defeat the universe itself. She probably didn't even grasp the profundity of her own words.
"Sorry, but I have zero confidence in that."
Fighting an Ancient God, let alone one of the Three Main Gods, was utterly ridiculous and far-fetched. If Ardein had the skill to lead this child that far, would she have lived shackled by leprosy?
"So let's set a more realistic goal. At least enough to protect yourself."
"And Master too."
"Yeah, enough to protect the saint too."
The princess let out a deep sigh.
"Alright, let's start with mana shaping."
She wondered what would have happened if she hadn't come.
The saint would have been devoured by the wolf before he even knew it.
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