Chapter 3
***
Airi, who had bravely broken through the strong maids of the Ortezo Castle, finally made it into one of the biggest rooms!
But despite her huge dream — “I’ll become a hero and save the world!” —
she was currently stuck inside a thick, white, bread-like outfit called the “anti-magi suit” for more than ten hours.
“Wrap her up tightly so the magi doesn’t corrupt her.”
“…?”
“And attach all the magic tools to her body.”
Before she knew it, Airi looked like a snowman — all round and puffy, with only her eyes rolling around.
Muscular maids stood around her, awkwardly trying to fix her clothes.
They whispered things like,
“She’s too small.”
“Ugh, I don’t even know where to grab.”
Then, the head maid — the only one who could actually talk properly — knelt beside her and said apologetically,
“You have a weak resistance to magi, my lady. I’m so sorry. If we had more time, we could have prepared a better magic suit for you…”
Wait.
Airi blinked hard, confused.
Weak? Me?
I trained at the Taekwondo gym, you know! The instructor himself said I was the best of all the nine-year-old black belts!
“I—I’m strong!”
But no one seemed to hear her protest.
Soon, Airi was completely wrapped up in the thick, white, round outfit.
Her arms and legs were pinned down.
Only her face was sticking out.
Then, one of the muscular maids looked at her reflection in the mirror and screamed dramatically,
“Damn it! She’s too cute! So round! So fluffy!”
…Huh?
Wait, “roundie”… are they talking about me?
Airi rolled her eyes toward the maid — who was now pounding her chest like a gorilla, completely unaware of what she had just said.
Airi looked at her reflection again.
I know what this looks like.
It looked exactly like the white rice cakes her grandmother used to make in her past life.
Yes.
Airi had officially turned into a rice cake.
“Um… can you please take this off?”
“No, my lady, we cannot.”
Thud.
Airi’s eyes widened in shock.
Why not…?
“No one else wears this bread-rice outfit.”
“B-bread-rice… outfit?”
“Yes.”
“Bread-rice” was a new word Airi had just made up — a mix of bread and rice cake.
The maids didn’t realize it, but kids are naturally great at making up words.
“Why do I have to wear it if no one else does?”
“Well…”
Airi’s eyes narrowed.
Wait… am I being bullied?
The textbooks clearly said bullying was bad!
She clenched her tiny fists and said seriously,
“Please tell me honestly. I’m not a weak child who gets hurt by the truth.”
The maids all exchanged awkward looks.
Finally, the head maid sighed and carefully said,
“It’s because you’re not an immune.”
“An immune…?”
“Yes. People who can resist magi are called immunes.”
The maids looked at her with pity.
After listening to the explanation, Airi nodded seriously.
“I see. So because I’m not an immune, I have to wear this bread-rice outfit, and I must go back home after one week.”
Now everything made sense.
Airi was different from the northern people.
That’s why, unlike a hero, she had to be wrapped up like a newborn baby.
Curling herself even tighter inside the puffy suit, Airi whispered,
“It’s okay. I’ll be fine.”
Because — a true hero doesn’t give up over something small like this!
She wasn’t really five years old — in her mind, she was nine.
She couldn’t show weakness.
“So everyone can leave now.”
The maids hesitated, but after a deep sigh, they left the room and shut the door.
They probably thought Airi would cry or give up.
I won’t give up! I’m a black belt!
A brave, second-degree black belt who never cries over small things!
Airi stared fiercely into the air, then took out a small notepad — her plan for her stay in the castle.
[Airi’s Final Goal]
Eat lots of yummy food with Grandma!
※ Super happy!
※ Lots of veggies! Lots of herbs! Tons of turkey meat!
[To do that…]
I have to save the world.
So Grandma — the person I love most — won’t die.
[How?]
Get rid of the bad magi in the North!
[Method?]
Not sure. But I heard you just have to touch it!
Airi tried to raise her fist high —
But it didn’t move.
Ugh, my hand…
She was so tightly wrapped up that her brain started feeling dizzy.
Airi sighed.
Still, she was inside the Ortezo Castle now.
Her heart thumped with nervous excitement.
She snuggled under the soft blankets, curling up tightly.
I miss Grandma…
In her past life, whenever she curled up to sleep, her grandma always hugged her.
But tonight, for the first time ever — no Grandma.
Not from her past life. Not in this life.
The bed felt cold, and her heart felt hollow.
But a hero must endure.
Airi pulled the blanket around her like a cocoon and fell asleep.
That was her first night in the Ortezo Castle.
***
The Next Day — The Northern Frontlines
News of Airi’s arrival reached even the monster front.
“Congratulations, Your Grace!”
“What? Did the monsters all die? Can I go home now?”
“No, sir. There are still monsters right in front of you!”
“Ah.”
The Grand Duke Declan Ortezo sliced through a massive elephant-shaped monster with ease.
Standing beside him, his chief aide — Viscount Raspen — smiled energetically.
“Lady Airi has arrived in the North! I don’t know why, but shouldn’t you go see her?”
Normally, a father would be overjoyed to hear his daughter had come.
But Declan’s face darkened.
“My daughter came here?”
“Yes, she said she’s preparing to meet you, sir.”
“Why would she come to this cursed land?”
“W-well, she insists on seeing Your Grace personally…”
Declan waved his arm carelessly, annoyed.
“Tell her to go home. Go back to her grandmother. I’m not seeing her.”
His daughter had been raised lovingly by her grandmother in the South.
Declan himself, however, was drowning in magi.
He was at Level 5 — the worst and most dangerous level of magi corruption.
A normal person dies at Level 3.
Even powerful immunes turn monstrous by Level 4.
At Level 5, one becomes magi itself.
Just being near him could kill a non-immune child instantly.
So he stayed away.
He couldn’t touch her. He couldn’t even look at her.
Even the letters he wrote every night — he never sent them, because his hands were soaked in magi.
“Contact the South. Tell them to keep her hidden away — like a small, precious bean.”
“Uh… like a what?”
“And in one week — 168 hours — roll her all the way back home.”
“…Roll her?”
“Yes.”
Raspen blinked, puzzled, as he wrote that down.
But Declan was firm.
He didn’t even know what his daughter looked like anymore.
The last time he saw her, she was just a round, swaddled baby.
So to him, she was still a tiny bean.
But Raspen frowned.
“Um, sir… rolling a child might be against child protection laws.”
“Just keep her far from me. I don’t want to see her.”
Declan turned away again.
She said she’s leaving in a week… Then I’ll just finish killing monsters for one more week and come back later.
He didn’t care what her face looked like now.
How tall she’d gotten.
How she laughed or spoke.
He wasn’t curious.
He would never know.
At least — that’s what he thought.
Unless the little “bean” caused a huge accident first.
