Chapter : 06
An amount of time passed that she could no longer even tell how many days it had been.
It was when Ari barely managed to kill a single crow-shaped magical beast.
[The trait Magical Beast Slayer has been unlocked.]
Kraa—! Kraa—!
The crows, which had been screeching with piercing cries like screams, scattered and flew away.
[Magical Beast Slayer — Magical beasts are frightened by your overwhelming presence and cannot approach you.]
In an instant, all traces of magical beasts vanished from the surroundings.
There was nothing left to hunt.
And so time simply continued to pass. Ari was slowly reaching her limit.
Her breathing grew shallow, her mouth became completely dry, and her consciousness gradually blurred.
[Warning! Life Preservation — Danger level reached.]
[Automatic protection procedure activated — To maintain life, a large portion of memories related to the “promise” will be deleted.]
[Processing data.]
‘No, don’t.’
[Proceeding according to the preset priority.]
[Checking priority — Incompatible.]
[Command rejected. Resuming process.]
It absolutely could not happen.
She couldn’t forget the promise, and she couldn’t leave this place.
‘Then Dad won’t be able to find me…’
Ari thought as she tried to lift her increasingly heavy eyelids.
But her eyes closed helplessly.
[Requesting help from the nearest person to preserve life.]
And then, from far away, she heard a faint voice.
“──! ──Team Leader Kim, there’s a child here!”
[Processing complete.]
No, I can’t leave this place.
Repeating that to herself, Ari lost consciousness.
When she opened her eyes, everything felt unfamiliar.
Strange machines, unknown people, a place she had never seen before.
Right beside the bed where Ari was lying, unfamiliar adults were murmuring among themselves.
“That child… it looks like abuse—. Those aren’t injuries, she was beaten by someone—.”
“Bastards. Abusing a kid wasn’t enough, they even threw her into a dungeon. I could kill—.”
“This is already the eleventh one. ──What a crazy era we’re living in.”
“Then we should report it to the police—.”
“The Hunter Headquarters has jurisdiction first—.”
At that moment, a woman in a white coat noticed that Ari had woken up.
The woman turned toward Ari and spoke to the others.
“Let’s talk about this later.”
As the woman approached, Ari asked,
“Where… am I?”
“This is a hospital. Does anything hurt? Are you okay?”
“…Yeah. I’m fine.”
“Then, can you remember something like your name?”
“My name… Ari.”
“Ari? That’s a cute name. Do you remember your last name?”
“…I don’t know.”
Buzz—.
All she could remember was the hollow sound of the wind she had heard in the dungeon.
“Do you know your mom’s or dad’s name?”
‘…What was it?’
She couldn’t remember.
“…I don’t remember.”
“Is there really nothing you remember about your mom or dad?”
“Mom, Dad…”
Ari frowned. Her head felt hazy, as if she were submerged in deep water.
“Mom and Dad are…”
It felt like something was about to come back to her.
“──They protect people, and Dad is──.”
But that was as far as the memory went.
Beep—!
“Ah!”
Pain surged in before she could stop it.
It felt like her head was splitting apart.
Ari clutched her head tightly with both hands, letting out a painful groan.
After checking her condition, a doctor shouted,
“This is a mana fluctuation! Call a healer. Team Leader Kim is on the first floor, right? Call him immediately too!”
“Yes!”
She heard people moving hurriedly.
An unknown buzzing sound kept echoing inside her head.
“──They protect people, and Dad is──.”
Buzz—.
The voice faded away into the depths of her memories.
‘I need to remember… something…’
Her mind was foggy. She couldn’t even tell what it was she was supposed to remember.
People rushed into the hospital room.
Overwhelming mana swirled within Ari’s eyes, dyeing them gold.
The healer who met the child’s gaze turned pale in shock.
“Team Leader! This child possesses Mana Eyes!”
“What?”
Team Leader Kim rushed over and checked the child’s eyes.
Golden mana sparkled like a cluster of stars within her pupils.
Mana Eyes—when an uncontrollable amount of mana fills the body and manifests through the eyes.
It was a trait seen only in S-rank Hunters or those on a similar level.
And a mere nine-year-old child was showing such a trait?
Team Leader Kim and the healer were horrified.
“My god…”
Team Leader Kim urgently spoke into his communicator.
“There’s an S-rank Awakener here. Prepare support immediately—we need to move her!”
The healer began treating Ari quickly as she gasped for breath.
Buzz—.
Once again, her head felt like it was splitting apart.
Ari clutched her head. It felt like she had forgotten something incredibly important, yet she couldn’t remember what it was.
A promise she had made with someone, the dark surroundings, her own hands turning bright red as they were soaked in blood—unknown scenes filled her mind, only to be swept away like a receding tide.
“I need to remember…”
From the memories that were disappearing completely, she managed to grasp onto one final thing.
Her father’s hand pulling away, and the promise that he would come find her if she waited here.
And then she realized it.
Her father had abandoned her.
That promise… was a lie!
Boom—!
At that moment, a powerful tremor shook the entire hospital, and everyone inside heard a bizarre sound at the same time.
Like the cry of a ferocious beast—it was Ari’s mana howling.
‘You said you’d come find me… You promised…’
And so Ari cried, and cried again.
As if desperately searching for someone, like a wolf howling in sorrow, like a lion roaring, like a tiger screaming.
She kept crying like that.
I’m right here…
Please come find me again…
Crying in such utter desperation.
When she opened her eyes again, Rael’s face came into view, and the sensation of her body returned to reality.
One corner of her heart felt a little empty, but she didn’t feel depressed or like she might cry.
It was simply a story from far too long ago to react to so emotionally.
‘If I had turned off the Magical Beast Slayer trait back then, I wouldn’t have almost starved to death.’
[Don’t even talk about that incompetent idiot! I’m angry! ٩(๑•̀o•́๑)و]
[Nonamed.v.1.2.1 is a complete idiot!]
[The current Bixsiri.v.8.7.2 is the best!]
‘Yeah, sure. Let’s go with that.’
“Then the results are…?”
Ariša was about to ask again when—
At some point, the Archduke had approached and was holding Ariša’s hand tightly.
Ariša’s eyes widened.
“Daughter, are you okay? Do you feel unwell or anything?”
“Sweets. I want sweets.”
Egail quickly stepped forward and gently tugged Ariša’s hand. Wrapped chocolates tumbled down into her open palm.
“When you feel bad, sweets are the answer, sis.”
Ariša just stared at them blankly. Without hesitation, Egail unwrapped one and popped it straight into her mouth.
“Hurry and eat.”
Roll.
The chocolate Egail gave her rolled around inside her mouth.
The sweet flavor melted softly against her tongue.
“Goodness, whenever I do a mana verification, I still see the memory of falling out of a tree when I was seven! Just thinking about it makes me feel awful.”
“Isn’t that because you insisted you could fly without using mana, Father?”
“…Son, do you know the despair of having your childhood innocence shattered?!”
“Please remember that I am closer to the age of childhood innocence than you are, Father.”
“Hm. Son, how about switching roles with me? I want to return to my innocence too.”
Roll.
Another piece of chocolate rolled around in her mouth.
Ariša carefully rolled the remaining chocolates in her hand, as if they were precious treasures.
She looked utterly serious.
She cautiously unwrapped a new chocolate and put it into her mouth.
‘…Why is this so good?’
It seemed like the same chocolate she always ate, yet it tasted unbelievably good.
‘Bixsiri, analyze the ingredients.’
[It’s just a normal chocolate!]
‘Really…?’
[Yes! The cocoa content is 70%! Bixsiri prefers 30%, though!]
It was hard to believe. No matter how she looked at it, it felt like something had been added.
‘At least it feels like there’s drugs in it.’
But since Bixsiri said there was nothing special, it had to be the same kind she always ate.
“How is it? Sweets are the best, right?”
The Archduke looked fondly at his daughter, who was rolling chocolates around in her palm like a little girl.
Smiling, he placed a hand on Ariša’s head.
After gently patting her head, his hand moved down to warmly wrap around her shoulders.
“I told you. When you eat sweets, bad feelings disappear completely.”
“I’m the one who gave them to her. Why are you taking the credit, sir?”
“Hmph. I was the one who suggested it.”
“Either way, I’m the one who gave them.”
With Ariša between them, the two started bickering again.
It was an ordinary, truly ordinary, sweet piece of chocolate.
Ariša clenched the remaining chocolates tightly.
Even if they melted and disappeared from the warmth of her hand, she still held on tightly.
So she wouldn’t lose them.
So she wouldn’t let this small piece of chocolate rolling around in her palm slip away.
After some time, Rael—who had been waiting for the right moment to speak—carefully asked Ariša,
“Archduchess, are you feeling unwell anywhere?”
But something was off about Rael.
His forehead was drenched in sweat.
“Archduchess, the mana verification has concluded successfully. There are no abnormalities in the results. There are no contaminated areas at all.”
As he spoke, his face grew increasingly pale. Finally, the Archduke couldn’t stand it any longer and spoke.
“What’s wrong with you? Why does your face look like that?”
“Pardon? Ah—no, it’s just that I’m sweating so much for some reason…”
Rael wiped away the sweat with a flustered expression, his complexion so pale it looked like he might collapse at any moment.
‘Don’t tell me…’
Ariša opened the system window.
She recalled Bixsiri’s messages that had appeared while she was unconscious.
[BURNOUT status abnormality — partial loss of adjustment capability.]
[The target directly receives a portion of your hierarchy.]
[The target’s body is overloaded, unable to withstand the higher hierarchy.]
[Remaining time — 00:01]
Thud.
Rael collapsed, unconscious.
