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Chapter 12 – Intruders Appear!
“Homeland” can have many different meanings, but in our country, it refers to the area within the barrier that Mama put up for us.
It’s a bit strange, but let’s just say that for now.
I walk towards the house.
I can see a row of pebbles surrounding the house.
Those pebbles are barrier stones.
Looking closely, I see that each of the pebbles is connected by white lines of magical power.
By connecting the circles, they exert a resistance, and a cylindrical barrier is activated from the ground.
Mama told me how high it was by jumping.
About the same as a thirty-story building in my past life?
I’m not sure though.
It’s quite high, so sometimes magical birds and the like crash into the barrier and fall.
My younger brother ate them with pleasure.
If the space between the stones becomes too wide, the barrier’s power weakens or dissolves completely.
On the other hand, if you can just make a circle, you can create a barrier of a reasonable size.
Mama says that it took her five or six jumps at most.
…
I feel like Mama can jump over a pretty high mountain in one jump…
Well, for now, I think it’s okay to just enclose the area where she lives.
Honestly, even a child could defeat the monsters and animals around here.
The only thing you need to be careful about is if someone breaks into your house while you’re away.
Even though they grow in an instant, you don’t want them to steal the fruits you’ve grown.
Making a barrier stone isn’t that difficult.
Imagine gathering magical power in your right hand and making a stone.
My hand glows white, and when I open it, a small stone is created.
This is the barrier stone.
All you have to do is line it up next to the other stones.
Then it will connect automatically.
When you pick up a line of barrier stones, the lines of magical power between them turn into a pale blue light.
If you pull it outwards, the other stones are pulled along as if they were connected by a string.
If it doesn’t seem like it will spread any further, place a newly made barrier stone between the stones.
This will increase the width of the spread.
And that’s about it.
This work is surprisingly nerve-wracking.
If you do it carelessly, the barrier will break.
There have been several times when the barrier broke while I was helping to set up the barrier around the cave.
It seems that about a meter is the limit.
This is also why we cut down the trees before expanding the border, because their trunks were in the way.
Incidentally, while I can easily pick up these barrier stones, no one can touch them except Mama’s family.
If they could, it would mean they had magical power equal to or greater than Mama’s.
…A few years ago, a mischievous dragon tried to forcefully break the barrier and blew off its front leg.
That’s scary~
By the way, it’s easy to make a barrier stone, but it’s hard to cast a barrier.
At least, I can’t do it.
Right now, it’s effective because my mom has a barrier seal written in the basement of the house, but if it disappears, I can’t cast it again.
I can’t move the barrier seal either.
I was thinking of sitting down and learning about this, but…
I was suddenly blown away.
I wish she’d at least told me beforehand!
Mom’s mean!
Or maybe she thought the barrier was too powerful and wouldn’t be a test for me?
Well, whatever the case may be, there’s nothing I can do.
Let’s start by expanding the barrier we have now!
—
After expanding our borders, eating lunch and taking a smoke break, a sense of loneliness started to rise up in me.
The house is nice and has everything we need to live there, but the whole family is gone.
Unable to bear it any longer, I ran outside and howled,
“Mommy!
Big brother!
Big sister!”
My howl echoed far away, but of course there was no reply.
I felt lonely.
As I was standing in front of the house, tearing up, I noticed something flying.
It was a butterfly.
What?
A butterfly!?
Mommy’s barrier magic usually doesn’t let anyone but us in.
Things rot, so I think that’s why bacteria and the like get in.
But monsters and animals can’t get in here either.
Of course, that doesn’t apply to insects either.
And yet, there it was, fluttering around in front of my eyes.
Was it there before I put up the barrier?
Is that so?
It was a butterfly that strangely caught people’s attention.
The swallowtail butterfly I’d seen on TV in my previous life seemed three sizes larger than that.
It had a blue pattern on a black background, and it seemed interested in the roses from yesterday, circling around them.
…Well, whatever.
It didn’t seem to do any harm.
Besides, while you can’t get into the barrier from the outside, you can get out from the inside.
It would leave after a while.
As I was thinking this, the butterfly in question suddenly appeared in front of me.
“Whoa!” I couldn’t help but cry out.
Please stop appearing so suddenly.
However, as if it didn’t notice my feelings or didn’t care, the butterfly flew around in front of my eyes.
Huh?
This isn’t a butterfly.
The body in the center of the large wings wasn’t the typical insect shape, but a human.
He had straight blonde hair, a white jacket and pants with gold embroidery, and a fluffy shabotai? Was that what it was?
To put it simply, he looked like a typical aristocrat.
A fairy… maybe?
He was small and cute, but he had a slightly arrogant attitude, and was puffing out his chest while saying something.
I just couldn’t understand what he was saying.
It looked like he was just opening and closing his mouth.
To start with, I tried to convey that I didn’t understand something by shrugging my shoulders like Westerners often do.
Just when I thought he was sticking to my head, he hit me.
It was actually pretty painful.
When I reflexively brushed it away, he got even more angry and started attacking again.
“Ouch!
Stop it!
Stop it!”
I shook my head to avoid it.
After a while, he seemed to get tired and stopped in the air.
Even then, her anger didn’t subside, and she glared at me while breathing heavily.
What’s with this child?
While I was confused, she pointed at the rose and yelled something.
That’s why we can’t communicate!
I explained it to her in human language, Fenrir’s language.
For some reason, I ended up saying something like “I don’t understand what you’re saying” like a foreigner with broken Japanese.
I also thought I’d try speaking Japanese, but I couldn’t get it out properly, so it didn’t work out.
Well, it’s fine, but it was a little lonely.
I made lots of gestures, and the fairy must have figured it out because she nodded.
Then she grabbed my sleeve and led me towards the rose.
Ah, I see.
So you want this rose.
To be honest, I didn’t particularly need a rose.
They don’t look all that appetizing, though.
Also, remembering my exchange with the ant, I was thinking that maybe she would trade it for something else.
So I said, “Sure, you can take it,” and picked up a rose stem.
Being careful of the thorns, the moment I tried to break it, the fairy slapped my hand.
“Ouch!” I cried out, and looked at my right hand, and it was red.
I was pissed, so I roared.
[What are you doing?!]
Whoaaaaaaah! I roared, and waved my hand.
I swung my right hand, trying to knock the fairy down, but she dodged it easily.
How annoying!
I’m the daughter of Fenrir, so I won’t just take it for granted!
I crouched down, growled, and showed my gums in a menacing manner.
Perhaps noticing my anger, the fairy hurriedly waved her hand and said something.
But I couldn’t understand what she was saying.
Actually, that’s enough!
[Go home!
Go home!]
I waved my hands down in front of the fairy repeatedly, and it ran away upwards, saying something.
But when I crouched down to jump up, it ran away outside at a speed faster than I expected.
What on earth is that thing!?
I let out a howl filled with anger.
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