---------------
Brought to you ‌‌by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------

Chapter 30
Chesa's ‌‌‌face drained of all color.
A tumultuous life as a fox spirit.
I ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌had navigated countless brushes with death, yet this crisis was unlike anything I'd faced before.
The memory of cooing and whimpering ‌‌like an infant before Hailon flowed through my mind like a wave of horror.
Setting aside the consequences of my identity being exposed—
If Hailon discovered the truth...
It would be so mortifying that I'd tear ‌at my own hair and scream even on my deathbed.
'Absolutely not!'
I raced through my thoughts faster than ever before.
Unfortunately, my body's transformation outpaced my scheming mind.
'No, no, no!'
Just ‌‌as a delicate blush began to bloom across my skin—
I summoned my power with desperate force.
Flowers and butterflies erupted like fireworks as the Illusion Realm unfurled around ‌‌us.
My fox spirit's power shattered the chains of condemnation in an instant.
Freed from her bonds, Hata tumbled onto a massive blossom. ‌‌‌‌
Before I could even confirm Hata's ‌‌‌safety, I immediately buried Hailon beneath a mountain of flowers.
Caught off guard by the sudden cascade, Hailon seemed momentarily bewildered.
But there was no other choice.
'That was far too close...'
While Hailon's vision was obscured, I rapidly shifted from my infant form to my adult body.
The ability to change my appearance freely within the Illusion Realm felt like a blessing from the heavens today. ‌
Hata, whose ‌‌ears and tail had shot straight up in shock, watched me complete my transformation safely and collapsed onto the flowers with a relieved sigh.
'But why did I suddenly revert to my infant form?'
Perhaps the potion hadn't been properly brewed after all.
I would need to ask Hata to understand what had truly happened.
As I steadied my breathing, Hailon emerged from the flowers, slicing ‌‌‌through them with his Holy Sword, and brushed ‌‌‌the petals from his uniform.
"I'm not sure what you're thinking."
Not that I had any particular plan—I was simply terrified of being caught in my infant form.
Unable to speak the truth, I could ‌only dart my eyes about.
Chains of condemnation extended from Hailon.
The pristine white chains bound everything within the Illusion Realm.
Torn dolls and broken toys, even the colossal chess pieces.
With the entire Illusion Realm encircled by chains, Hailon declared ‌‌coldly:
"You won't be escaping today, fox spirit."
Hata leaped down from the flowers and rushed to my side.
She huddled behind me, barking defiantly.
"Don't bully Lichesia!"
She looked ‌‌‌‌‌exactly like a small dog protecting its master.
Hailon watched the scene unfold in silence, his eyes ‌‌‌narrowing with displeasure.
He fixed his gaze upon Hata, who clung to Chesa like a burr.
As if to spite him, Hata pressed herself even more firmly against Chesa and let out a pleased whimper.
"You white-haired fool! Hata is the precious little companion that Lichesia treasures most!"
Chesa reached out and gently stroked Hata's head.
At the gesture meant to signal restraint, Hata huffed and clamped her mouth shut.
Part of me wanted to rebuke Hailon as well.
But my circumstances were ‌‌‌far too precarious.
'Once ‌‌‌the Illusion Realm lifts, my true form will be exposed.'
I had to resolve this matter before that happened. ‌‌‌
"Listen, Hailon."
"...."
"I have some ‌‌‌pressing matters today. How about we part on good terms?"
A sharp sound cut through the air.
Rather than answer, Hailon slashed at the thorny vines creeping up toward ‌him with ‌‌‌his holy blade.
The vines shrieked in agony and retreated, thoroughly cowed, into the shadows.
I offered a sympathetic nod to my poor plant companion, then ‌‌turned my attention back to Hailon.
'Clearly, ‌‌‌dialogue won't resolve this.'
Reluctantly, ‌‌‌‌I played my trump card.
"I'll return Rubeus's Spear."
At my words, Hata behind me flinched in surprise.
Rubeus's Spear was a sacred relic of the Holy Empire.
It was something the witch Lichesia had once stolen.
Or rather, to be precise, I ‌‌had found it.
I had simply dealt with the Holy Knight Order's ‌‌‌‌commander who came to ‌‌kill me, and since he happened to be carrying a spear that turned out to ‌‌‌‌be a sacred relic, I took it.
The Holy King fell into an absolute fury upon learning that a sacred relic had fallen into heretical hands.
He raged and ‌immediately ordered the relic's recovery.
It was also ‌‌‌the catalyst for the astronomical bounty placed on the witch Lichesia.
But there was no way a human could retrieve something I had placed within a fairy's Illusion Realm.
I occasionally ‌‌retrieved the sacred relic and made excellent use of it to taunt the Holy Knights. ‌‌‌
In any case, Rubeus's Spear was a treasure beyond price....
But I was willing to abandon it entirely to conclude this matter and safely extract Hata.
"Take this and leave the Underworld. And just so you don't make a foolish ‌‌‌‌decision, I've already informed your adjutant beforehand."
I had sent a letter via butterfly to Hailon's adjutant proposing a trade involving him and the sacred relic.
"I also included a message saying I'd destroy the relic if you don't accept the deal."
The Holy King would never stand to see Rubeus's Spear ‌‌vanish so pathetically.
I had already committed the enormous transgression of bringing Holy Knights into the Underworld.
If I were to go so far as to damage a sacred relic on top of that, even someone like Hailon would find himself in considerable difficulty.
I was confident he would have no choice but to accept the trade....
Yet Hailon's reaction was not what I had anticipated.
For some reason, he regarded Chesa with eyes that seemed to be contemplating something intently.
Chesa barely restrained herself from wiping her cheek with the back of her hand.
'Is it because ‌‌I'm acting differently than usual?'
If I had behaved as the witch Lichesia normally would.
I would have destroyed Hailon and the Warehouse entirely, shattered the Illusion Realm into fragments, and fought until the bitter end.
Attempting to resolve things through dialogue, offering to surrender the sacred relic to end this——.
'It's completely unfamiliar, isn't it.' ‌‌‌‌
As expected, Hailon offered a brief assessment.
"You're acting out of character."
"Well... I've been having a difficult time lately."
Playing the role of a child had indeed been exhausting.
In that ‌‌‌instant, Hailon's eyes sharpened.
"You're being hunted."
"What?"
"So you're running and hiding." ‌‌
While Chesa was out of sight, he seemed to have constructed a solid misunderstanding all on his own.
Unable to find words, Chesa could not respond.
He ‌‌‌appeared to ‌‌accept her silence as confirmation.
Following his master's agitation, the chains trembled finely.
Clink, clink—the sound of chains assaulted her ears.
"Who would dare hunt you."
Hailon's voice dropped low.
A keen, piercing light gleamed above his blue eyes.
"Only I am permitted to capture and confine you, witch."
At his ominous warning, Chesa found herself laughing without thinking.
I took pity on him for the futile effort he would waste searching for me and offered him counsel.
"Don't look for me for a while."
Hailon finally posed the question.
"Does it have something to do with your child?"
"...."
He still clung to that utterly absurd misunderstanding.
Chesa exhaled a deep sigh.
Now I truly had to return home. ‌‌‌‌
There was no time to exchange pointless words in order to clarify the situation.
"Don't entertain strange thoughts. Let's end this here, Hailon."
Chesa detonated all the flowers in the Illusion Realm.
The petals scattered in a rush, and the chains that had stretched in all directions like a spider's web shattered into fragments.
The crumbling chains and petals scattered in every direction.
At her unilateral declaration, Hailon's face contorted.
He, ‌who rarely expressed emotion, cried out her name in a ‌‌‌fierce voice.
"Lichesia!"
The Illusion Realm shattered.
Hailon reached out his hand, but fragments of illusion obscured his vision.
Chesa hurled Rubeus's spear toward him.
And before Hailon could discover himself transformed back into an infant. ‌‌‌
She immediately relocated to Hata's Hat Shop.
"Wahhhhh, Lichesia...."
The moment we arrived at the Hat Shop, Hata burst into tears.
"Because of Hata, Ru, Rubeus's spear.... Sniff, Hata is such a bad puppy...."
Hata drooped her large ears and sobbed.
"It's fine. That thing was useless anyway."
My gentle reassurance made Hata whimper ‌‌and burrow into me.
I ‌‌‌‌‌patted Hata's back soothingly.
In this infant body, it was somewhat difficult to manage.
As I stretched my arms wide to embrace her, I ultimately tumbled backward with a soft thud.
"Oof."
Once I settled onto my back, Hata finally came to her senses.
She quickly wiped away the tears streaming ‌‌down like pearls and stared at me with wide eyes.
"Huh...."
She lifted ‌‌‌me up with both hands and tilted her head curiously.
"But why did you turn back into a baby?"
"I have no idea."
"Did you drink a strange potion? Hata labeled the growth potion, saying ‌it was for the baby fairy...."
"I drank it and ‌‌ended up like this."
"What.... Why would that happen?" ‌‌‌
Hata spoke in bewilderment, at a complete loss.
"Hata made the potion correctly...?"
At Hata's words, I too was greatly alarmed.
'It wasn't ‌‌‌incomplete?'
I had drunk a properly completed potion, yet I had reverted to this infant form.

---------------
Brought to you ‌by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please ‌‌‌‌read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------