Chapter 60

Chapter 60

“Ahaha! Cadel, what the hell did you say? What did you say that made my father approve of my adventure? I can't imagine! What did you say? Huh? Cadel!”

“Noisy.......”

It didn't seem like they'd talked that long, and with his physical and mental fatigue at its peak, Cadel felt ten years older. Cadel rubbed the corners of his eyes and sagged his shoulders, and Lydon hugged him tightly, rubbing his cheek against the top of Cadel’s head.

Cadel didn't even have the energy to shake off Lydon, who was bothering him. With a sigh, he took a heavy step as he rolled his eyes at the weight on top of him.

“But are you sure you don't want to say goodbye to your father? I don't know about your friends and other relatives, but I think you need to talk to him.”

“Hmm, not really. I don't need it? Saying goodbye isn't fun. It's boring.”

“......Are you his real son?”

Loud laughter rang in his ears. Shaking his head, Cadel remembered Hyron's last words.

‘Take care of my precious son, Cadel.’

That precious son didn't even bother to say goodbye to him, saying it was boring. Cadel felt sorry for Hyron.

‘Well, there's no need to interfere in other people's household affairs. Because I have achieved my goal!’

There were no obstacles standing in their way out of the forest. Recalling that fact, his fatigue went away and his whole body felt refreshed.

‘The barrier still remains, but that's because Hyron said he would release it right before leaving.’

It would be impossible to convince all of the Fairy Tribe in such a short time. So Hyron decided to get Lydon and Cadel out of the forest safely first and then took his time trying to convince his people.

Whatever the outcome, it was after the escape, which was fortunate for Cadel.

‘I also got a bunch of unexpected gifts.’

Worried about his precious son's travels, Hyron granted Cadel guardianship of his son and packed him with a variety of supplies.

Rare herbs that could be sold for a fortune outside, artifacts imbued with special powers, and even magic books ― stolen from humans trespassing in the forest! The rewards were well worth the effort.

‘Let's start by pulling out the artifacts we need to use right away.’

Pushing away Lydon who stuck to him like gum, Cadel pulled a necklace from his bosom.

A wing-shaped pendant with a red jewel in the center. The name of the necklace was [Wings of Illusion]. If you infuse mana into this pendant and wear it on yourself or others, the wearer's appearance changes.

Once the wearer's appearance has been altered to the wielder's liking, it can only be reversed by the wielder's mana. Of course, it is possible for the wearer to remove the necklace on their own, but it is said to take a considerable amount of mana to do so.

“Sca, scary human.......”

“You're supposed to be protecting the forest, you idiot! Elder Melphis is scarier than that human!”

He knew. He had the duty to maintain this barrier, and the duty to completely block the invasion of menacing outsiders. However, he hadn't seen such a scary human with the intention to kill in a long time.

‘Bad memories keep coming back.’

Unlike their youthful appearance, Bornu and Norbu were fairies who had lived for a long time, before this forest was called the ‘Forbidden Forest’. They were of a generation that remembered the intense pain of when their homes collapsed to humans. The more he did, the more fiercely he knew he had to block uninvited visitors, but the trauma at that time became shackled and grabbed his ankle.

And while Bornu was haunted by the past.

“Wh, what? Why is the barrier.......”

Norbu watched as the barrier that covered the sky slowly dissipated. He discovered a hole in the sky and belatedly poured out his mana, but there was not enough left to restore the fast-depleting barrier.

“Bornu! Wake up!”

“Uh uh? The, the barrier is.......”

Even Bornu's combined efforts could not keep up with the pace at which the barrier was crumbling. The twin fairies tried their best to draw on their mana, but the barrier had been built by half of the elders in the first place.

Here, right now, they only had two people. Even rebuilding the barrier was impossible with the mana exhausted through repeated restoration work.

In front of the barrier that completely disappeared like that, they saw two humans with glaring eyes.

“We can finally get in. I thought we'd be drilling holes in the barrier all day.”

“Shut up. Get them quickly. We need to find out where Commander is.”

It was a rare aura user. Besides, there were two of them. He didn't feel good. With his mana exhausted like this, he wouldn't be able to completely block them.

He needed to ask for help!

With that judgment, Bornu began to flap his wings.

“Let's get rid of those pesky wings first.”

The new black-haired man disappeared before his eyes. An eerie voice, accompanied by creepy killing intent, rang in his ears. The moment Bornu belatedly realized that something was wrong.

“Stop, stop! Don't do anything, both of you!”

Unannounced flames wrapped around Bornu's back.