HDOVAML Chapter 6 – Moonlight Novels

Perion’s body stiffened as he listened in on their conversation from a distance.

Why…?

Perion stared at Ariel who had on an unintelligible smile with trembling eyes.
“….That’s….what? she…ran away?”
Roberick’s voice, which seemed to have lost his soul, rang hollowly.
“….Siorn Archaitz Bastevan!”

Soon the murmur turned into a cry filled with violent anger.
Oh, Roberick has learned the truth about everything.

Perion couldn’t look away from the King of the Wing Spirits as he looked down at the angry Roberick with a relaxed smile.

Why would he intervene?

If the Spirit of Wind had not intervened, there would have been no problem.
Perion’s plan was perfect, and although Roberick had unexpectedly lost his mind, it would’ve been over after a spurt.
Roberick would have never found out the truth of the matter.
How did the Spirit of the Wind know about Siorn Bastevan and his Granddaughter’s escape?

Was he watching them all alone?
Why is that?
That Great Spirit king was watching over an old man and a little child?

It was impossible for him to understand as questions continued to flood his mind.
“!”
At that moment, a fierce gaze the color of the sky turned to Perion.
Perion trembled like a helpless child in front of the unruly presence.
The corners of Ariel’s mouth drew an arc.

His laugh was filled with coldness.
[You can find where they went on your own.]

Ariel dispersed into a strong wind, leaving behind only those words. Only Perion and Roberick were left behind in the ruins in silence.
Roberick, looking down at the disastrously scattered ashes, clenched his lips.

“Ha.”
His breath blew out.
“Ha, hahaha!”

At first, it was like letting go of a breath he’d been holding back, but soon it turned into a laughter of madness.
“…Perion.”
Perion knelt as he looked at the scene in a daze.
“Call the Knights.”
Perion’s fingertips grazed the dry earth.
“Yes.”

All he could say was a word of obedience.

***

“So, you’re Aaron Hate…and the little one next to you, is it a boy or a girl? Take off the robe first.”
“It’s my grandchild, can’t you tell at first glance?”

The checkpoint in the middle of the journey was supposed to be a quiet village.
My grandfather and the inspection official are currently caught up in a dispute.
I chewed my lips.

Two weeks ago in the middle of the night, my grandfather and I made a fresh start.
The moment I stepped on the boundary of the small village that I had never taken a step away from since I was born, the freedom I felt was beyond words.

I could see the brilliant cities that I had only encountered in the words of the novel with my eyes, and though I could not properly tour because the main objective was running away, I saw famous canyons, ancient ruins, and snow-covered snow mountains from a distance.
Everything went smoothly.
Until I heard the name of that damn Roberick.

‘Grand Duke Haelian is looking for an old man in his late 60s and a little girl who looks to be around 5 or 6 years old.’
The wanted posters on the streets described my grandfather and my appearances in great detail.
There was no option left for grandfather and me who’d become wanted fugitives of the Imperial family.
The run had already begun.
Now we had to reach the end no matter how it turned out.

‘It can’t be helped…we’ll dye your hair and apply light makeup to change your appearance. It’s fairly easy for a child to disguise their gender.’
So we urgently used the plan put forward by Perion’s subordinate who accompanied us in the name of escorting.
“You must have read the wanted paper, too. Do you know how much pressure there is in these small cities these days? Oh, anyway, who is that old man and little girl anyway? For the gentle duke Haelian to come forward so aggressively.”
“…….”
Whenever the official’s words of praise for Grand Duke Haelian came out of his mouth, a tendon sprang up from his grandfather’s hand.
“Anyway, let me see its face.”
Damn it! As expected, I should have touched up my face like a grandfather!

‘No! If you put this cheap makeup on Edith’s fragile skin and she gets scarred, will you be responsible?!’

Because of my grandfather’s overprotectiveness, I compromised by wearing boy’s clothes and covering my face with a robe without touching the face.

‘Then I’ll cut her hair short.’

Perion’s subordinate held up a pair of scissors with a fed-up look.

“You can’t!”

However, the opposition flew from grandfather again.

‘How can you cut off this pretty hair so brutally!’
‘……but it’s a situation where we have to disguise her as a boy.’

Perion’s subordinate said in bewilderment.
It was a bit of a waste for me to cut all the hair that came down to my waist, but I couldn’t help it since it made for a perfect camouflage.
I opened my mouth to calm my grandfather down.
The gold eyes filled with tears looked down at me pitifully.

‘Ou…we’re going to have cut my pretty granddaughter’s hair off because of that damn prick, Roberick Arne Haelian!’

And my grandfather’s eyes were irresistible to me.

‘I don’t want to cut it.’

Yes, there’s no need to cut my hair when grandfather’s grieving like that.

“But!”
‘Boys grow out their hair, too. I’ll tie it back and move on. Wouldn’t it look neutral?’

Why did I do that?
I regretted my past judgments as I looked at the big hand slowly coming down before my eyes.
The management looked rough at first glance, but of course he’d be suspicious of my pretty appearance, right? Damn it.

“Ugh, Ugh!”

It was then that the glittering blade crossed my line of sight.
Before I knew it, the official was struggling with his gagged mouth.

What?

When I tilted my head in wonder, Perion’s now familiar subordinate was staring at my grandfather with a sword blade tightly clinging to his neck.

“……Wouldn’t it be a disaster to kill him here?”
“I’m not going to kill him. I’m just going to knock him out and lock him up somewhere.”

As the official said just now, this place, only a small rural city, happened to have no passers-by.
“Go ahead. I’ll follow you shortly.”

“…I see. Let’s go, Edith.”
I was lucky.
I held my grandfather’s hand and passed through the checkpoint.

…I got over the hurdle this time, but I won’t be so lucky next time.
How the hell did Perion handle this? Did Roberick already notice?
I took a measured step toward the carriage in the distance, cursing out the incompetent original second-male lead.

The city of Therma.
It was the last city of the Empire, built closest to the border of the Rothan Empire.

“Edith, if it’s hard to walk, I’ll carry you on my back.”
After a hard struggle, we finally reached here.

“I can walk by myself.”

If you get over here, you will be completely free from Roberick’s pursuit.

“Have you contacted your friend yet?”
Perion’s subordinate, who was walking behind us, asked.

“I’m going to send him a letter. He reigns over all the spirits of the wind and will receive my correspondence within a day.”

I don’t know who my grandfather’s friend is, but he seemed to be a great spirit master.
The original work advocated spirits, but since it was used only as an element to highlight the strength of the male lead Roberick, there were no main pension spirits except for Roberick and Perion.

…No, there was one I forgot.

Mariette too… she was described as a spirit master in a passing description.

[Chastia heaved a faint breath, recalling the princess who was beautiful like a glacier in the majestic frozen North Sea.
She was a noblewoman who was different from a vulgar soul like herself.
She was revered just by status and pedigree, and even had the power of a powerful spirit…!]

Oh, I forgot about this!
It was mentioned that Mariette was definitely a spirit master.
The harmful effects of fast-reading while focusing on the emotional lines of the characters are revealed here…

I pressed my innocent fingertips in frustration.

“Edith, let’s go in.”
“Oh, yes.”

As I desperately recalled the setting of Mariette described in the original work, my grandfather’s call came.
When I looked up, I noticed a fairly large sign of an inn.

[Inn, Terra Popo]
That’s a weird name.

“Let’s rest here until we leave.”
I grabbed my grandfather’s hand and stepped on the stairs at the entrance of the inn.

My grandfather wrote a letter to his friend as soon as he got a room.

“Silfeed.”
The shape of a small bird made of wind appeared in the air with a chirp.
“Deliver it to Mekaila.”
Peep, Peep.

As if to answer, the chattering bird flew out of the window with grandfather’s letter in its beak.
When I looked at the strange scene in amazement, my grandfather looked back at me with a friendly smile.
“It’s amazing, right?”
“…Yes.”

I nodded a couple of times.

“Two years ago, we were still talking about the stories of spirits, but how did you stop some time ago?”
I asked with probing eyes.
“…because you said you were tired of it.”
“Oh, I see. Yes, I remember now.”

I’m felt sorry to my grandfather who sat by the bedside and told me about the beginning of the world, the birth of spirits, and their names, but it was a terrible ordeal to hear the same story over and over every day.

As a result, it is a good thing that I got to know the setting of the world that was not featured in the original.

“Then shall we talk about spirits after a long time? There’s nothing to do.”
Grandfather’s love for spirits could not be stopped.

I was silent, but my grandfather’s story had already begun.
“In ancient times, this universe was filled with endless darkness…”

The innkeeper sat at the counter and swallowed a yawn.

This year, at the age of 30, the man who suddenly took over the inn due to his father’s sudden illness was endlessly pessimistic about his situation.
His love was thwarted by his father; he led a thorough unemployed life and ate at his parents’ spine*, but fell in love with an extreme actress who abandoned everything and ran away at night, under the pretext of their economic conditions.
And so he was forced to take on the inn that his father loved.

“If there was hell, it would be here.”
He thought, muttering lamentably.
If only I had the money.
You will be able to confidently tell your lover, who was crying sadly, to come back and leave together.
With money…

“…an old man and a young girl, where do you find such a combination?”
So he complained, looking down at Grand Duke Haelian’s wanted poster, which had huge compensation.
He looked at the faces of the guests who’d come in, but…
Oh, come to think of it, there was one.

Squeak!
“!”
Speaking of which, that man definitely said something about a King of the Spirit of the Wind coming, and a small child was often walking out of the room with the creaks of its door’s hinges.
Yeah, it was that kid.

A strange boy who wears a robe to the top of his head, sandwiched between a fierce-looking old man like an old beast and a young man like a wooden stone.
…Is it even a boy?

He couldn’t tell because he’d only guessed from the clothes and had never seen his face.
The age group looked about the same, and the voice was as high as a glass egg rolling. As written on the wanted paper.
The appearance of the accompanying party was against the wanted paper, but it seems quite possible if the gender issue is cleared…

“Oh!”
Then, a small scream burst from the child’s mouth.
The innkeeper’s eyes, who casually raised his head, grew calm.
The hem of the robe, which the child was wearing, was caught on a protruding corner and pulled tightly, and the hood covering the child’s head flowed down as soon as the child turned his head urgently.

This is an opportunity.

The innkeeper stared closely at the child’s appearance that was momentarily revealed.
“……!”

And he was captivated by the illusion of a deep scent of flowers at the tip of his nose.
The child’s hair had a vivid lavender color.

“Damn, why won’t it come out…”
The dense features that filled the white and small face were harmonious enough to make an exclamation flow out.
“…….”
He was just a child, but enough to make him speechless.

“!”

Then, the child’s bright red eyes headed toward the counter.
The innkeeper threw himself from the chair at a surprisingly fast pace and curled himself up on the floor.
“…no one…”
The child murmured quietly and seemed to be looking around for a while.
After a long time, there was silence, with the sound of a hinge spinning.

“…….”

The innkeeper crept up his upper body.
The child’s appearance had disappeared, perhaps it was back in the room.
He faltered out of the counter and walked to the spot where the child was standing.

“…. don’t tell me.”
A faint suspicion sprouted from his mind, which was mumbling in a daze.

Hello there! this is the translator, Ami! I haven’t updated recently since my laptop broke down but I’m back! I do have exams very soon the updates will be slow but I’ll try to post a chapter at least once a week. Thank you for reading!

*leeching off of one’s parents.