[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 473

Melissa had become younger.

Putting that absurd situation aside, I immediately headed to the room where Elpiria was.

Melissa’s situation was important too, but it wasn’t something that threatened her life right now.

Elpiria, likewise, wasn’t in immediate life-threatening danger.

However, her condition—suffering periodic bouts of pain—made her situation just as critical.

At least it was a relief that she wasn’t wheezing in agony 24 hours a day.

There were times when she stabilized periodically, and during those moments, Elpiria would simply sleep as if she had fainted.

When awake, she suffered from a high fever, and sleep was her only form of rest.

Even if it didn’t endanger her life, this was far too cruel a situation for a child.

To let her endure this for months?

That was nonsense.

The moment I stepped in, Luna—who had been watching Elpiria with concern—shot up from her seat.

“Leon!”

“I brought it.”

I immediately opened the lid of the baby bottle I had prepared in advance and poured nectar into it.

As the shimmering liquid filled the bottle, I raised its temperature with magic, warming it to a level suitable for a child to drink.

I dropped a single drop of nectar onto the back of my hand to check the temperature, and I could clearly feel it.

“Elpiria can really drink that, right?”

Melissa, still larger than Elpiria but much smaller than usual, followed behind me and asked.

“Lucifer said it should be fine.”

“C-Can we really trust that?”

“Yeah. I think we can trust it for now.”

Lucifer hadn’t said a single word after that, only leaving behind the remark that the nectar could be used as is.

“More importantly, can I ask why you look like that later?”

“It’s just a simple side effect. Don’t worry. The effectiveness has been confirmed. If you fail, we’ll have no choice but to use this artifact.”

I don’t know what that thing is, but…

Carefully lifting Elpiria, she woke from her sleep and let out weak, wheezing breaths.

She struggled to open her eyes, trying desperately to bring me into her vision.

When I brought the bottle to her lips, she turned her head back and forth, refusing it.

Understandable, in a way.

Her body hurt so much she felt like she might die—how could she have any appetite?

Perhaps because I kept trying to force-feed her despite her refusal, Elpiria let out a weak cry in a half-ruined voice.

Luna, as if her heart were breaking, silently shed tears, her expression collapsing.

The method I chose was simpler than expected.

“A humidifier. Bring a humidifier.”

At my cold tone, a maid who had been watching the situation rushed off and quickly brought a mana humidifier.

Afterward, I emptied all the water inside and poured all the nectar from the bottle into it.

If she didn’t want to drink it, then I had no choice but to make it enter her through her breathing.

As long as the nectar was absorbed into the body, it would work.

The problem was that the efficiency would drop somewhat.

“Shouldn’t you have done that from the start?”

“This is all the nectar there is in the world. What if we wasted it with lower efficiency and it didn’t work?”

Melissa, having nothing to say, shrugged her shoulders.

I adjusted the direction so it would face Elpiria, who was breathing roughly, and activated the magic tool.

Tiny golden particles began to seep into her.

By concentrating the flow toward Elpiria so that the nectar wouldn’t leak out into the surroundings, I was able to prevent the typical waste of a humidifier.

Thus, under everyone’s watchful eyes, Elpiria absorbed all the nectar and fell asleep as if she had fainted.

“She’s stabilized.”

The results weren’t out yet, but it was certain that there was an immediate effect.

Nectar was almost like a deadly poison to ordinary beings, but to Elpiria, it was no different from a divine medicine.

That much had already been confirmed.

Elpiria’s expression looked quite peaceful.

Hopefully, it would be resolved while she slept.

After leaving the humidifier running so that the remaining nectar would be fully absorbed, I left the child and stepped outside.

I even felt as though my strength was draining away from an unknown sense of exhaustion and relief.

“So. Why do you look like that?”

When I asked Melissa, she pulled out the strange artifact she was holding, her expression bitter.

“The archangels brought it. They said it’s something that stabilizes the body.”

“If it stabilizes the body, why does it make you younger?”

“Th-that’s… apparently a side effect. It returns to normal over time.”

If it’s something that can cause rejuvenation in the first place, isn’t that an incredible item?

That question came to mind.

“It requires quite a lot of the archangels’ power to use even once.”

Ah.

So it’s not something you can use freely?

“But Elpiria is a newborn. If we use this on her, wouldn’t the situation get worse?”

“I don’t know either. That’s why I was holding off on using it. But now that you’ve brought this nectar, we probably won’t need it anymore.”

She hadn’t expected her body to transform in the first place.

Without a word, I looked her up and down, then reached out and placed my hand on her head.

And then—

“Gyaaaaack!”

As if grinding a millstone, I spun her head around playfully.

Naturally, Melissa exploded in rage.

“You bastard!”

She tried to attack me with her short limbs, but perhaps because she hadn’t gotten used to her body yet—or simply because of the gap in our abilities—it posed no real threat.

So she raised the artifact and pointed it straight at me.

“What, you’re going to shoot me with that?”

“I can! I can shoot it!”

Fuming, she glared at me for a long moment, threatening me.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

But in my eyes, Melissa looked no older than about five.

Rather than threatening, she reminded me of Melissa from when she was younger and always brimming with anger.

Not a bad artifact.

Even if only for a fleeting moment, it had a way of bringing back memories.

No matter how much Melissa and I bickered and fought, it didn’t sit right with me to play a nasty prank on her while she looked like that.

Besides, compared to the sharp-tongued, squid-like younger sister she was now, the small-animal-like younger version of her, bristling with wariness, felt cuter.

Memories I hadn’t cherished much in the past.

It felt like I was being reminded of them again—a strangely pleasant feeling.

However, perhaps my expression displeased her, as Melissa’s eyes widened.

“That look in your eyes!! Don’t look down on me with that kind of expression, you deep-sea monster bastard!”

“Oops.”

At that moment, the faint remaining power within the artifact completely disappeared.

Surprisingly, the artifact had exerted some effect on me as well.

Originally, the artifact stabilized the state of its target.

Melissa’s physical transformation was merely a side effect.

However, there was no reason that side effect couldn’t apply to me as well.

The sensation that I had suddenly become younger wasn’t an illusion.

“Pfft… ngh….”

The look in Melissa’s eyes as she burst into laughter at me was utterly irritating.

I silently looked down at my now smaller hands and let out a chuckle.

And then—

Ping!!!

I pulled the pin on an item taken from subspace and tossed it in front of her.

“Wha—?! You crazy—”

Paaaang!!!!!

An intense flash exploded with a deafening roar.

However, the sound was confined only around her and me, trapped inside for an instant before disappearing.

“Aaagh!! My eyes! Aagh! My ears!”

Watching her roll noisily on the floor, I pulled the pin on another “gift” and threw it in front of her.

“Huh?! You insane—”

Pssshhhhhhh!!!

Tear gas burst out in an instant, and she covered her nose and mouth with both hands, trying to suppress it.

Ever since becoming a Sword Master, things like this hadn’t affected her—but due to the unknown archangel artifact’s side effects, she had reverted to a younger state and couldn’t properly use her current strength, nor the innate power of a Sword Master.

On top of that, because I had once again sealed the gas so it wouldn’t spread, its concentration was much denser than usual.

Only after seeing her roll around on the floor in panic did I feel a sense of relief.

Leaving behind Melissa, who was screaming at the top of her lungs, I exited the area.

“Leon. I heard some noise—oh my.”

At that moment, Lispa, who had noticed the commotion, and Isna, who was wearing animal clothes, widened their eyes upon seeing me.

“Why do you look like that now?”

Regardless of Isna’s question, I felt like asking her the same thing.

You haven’t been pulling stunts like that lately.

Wasn’t that just a disguise?

As I stared at her bear outfit, she avoided my gaze.

“Ahem. How should I put it… It feels like I’m free again after a long time. So I just… indulged in a hobby.”

Ah, so she’s doing things now that she couldn’t because of the Outer God before?

She said that after I left, she had completely severed the Outer God’s influence.

In truth, there wasn’t much for me to do in that process.

With Isna, Kamael to control the heavenly energy, and Gabriel to coordinate everything, it had been enough.

Thanks to that, now fully freed from the Outer God, she had resumed her hobbies after a long time.

It was hard to believe that those hobbies amounted to such bizarre behavior.

Honestly, it would’ve been more believable to think it had all been an act to shake off suspicions of being the head of the Moon Watchers.

Meanwhile, Lispa Elde rushed over like lightning and scooped me up.

“Oh my! So cute! Leon! Is it okay for you to be this cute?!”

I tried to stop Lispa as she held me in her arms and shook me around, but she looked so delighted that I let it be.

Without a moment’s hesitation, she rubbed her cheek against mine, unable to contain herself.

“At this rate… why don’t you just live with me? I’ll raise you—”

“It’s a temporary side effect. I’ll return to normal soon.”

“Tch.”

She clicked her tongue in disappointment, but that was it.

She already knew about Melissa’s condition. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

After that, I did see quite a few people in the mansion reacting with surprise or finding me cute.

My current appearance was that of a five- to seven-year-old child.

To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure if I really looked like such a cute kid.

However, unexpectedly, Arsha and Ashuria’s reactions were particularly strong.

Ashuria, in particular, didn’t show it openly, but she hardly left my side.

On the other hand, Arsha held me in her arms and refused to let go for even a moment.

“Brother. I’ll hold you.”

The fact that I had become small enough for even little Arsha to carry me with ease felt oddly amusing.

The spirits’ reactions weren’t much different.

Of course, Grivy, saying I had become similar to her, kept pestering me to play house, but the other spirits didn’t show much of a reaction.

“Ah, this is driving me crazy.”

That was when Melissa approached in the form of a child and spoke.

“What is it?”

“We got a summons from the royal palace. There’s a regular international conference. This time, the Cascadia ducal house is supposed to attend while assisting Her Highness the Princess.”

The problem was that both Melissa and I looked like this.

“Unlike you, I can’t properly use my strength right now.”

At Melissa’s words, I nodded.

“You want me to go instead?”

“Even if it’s not an official title, you’re still the Guardian of Bata. And you belong to Cascadia. There’s enough justification.”

At her words, I nodded.

What does appearance matter?

Even though I now looked like a five-year-old, it wasn’t an entirely unpleasant feeling—it even brought back childhood memories.

“Alright. I’ll go.”

It might have been because a few hours had passed since my transformation, and Elpiria’s condition had visibly improved, that I felt a bit more at ease.

And so, I set off toward the Bata royal palace first.

And upon arriving at the palace, I met Duke Berli—who had ties with my father—and his son, Farell.

“Huh?”

“Mm?”

Seeing me walking toward them down the royal corridor, the two father and son wore expressions of confusion.

“Leon… brother?”

“Yeah, Farell. Long time no see. It’s been a while, Your Grace.”

“Young Master Leon… what happened—”

“Ah. I used an artifact incorrectly. I’ve temporarily become smaller.”

I didn’t need to see it to know what they were thinking.

They had to attend an international conference.

And the one escorting the princess was a small child with the appearance of a five-year-old?

How on earth were they supposed to take that?

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]