TJTPBFB 12

Chapter 12

The Magician

“What do you even mean by protect him?

Protect him from what, exactly?

Well, I guess since you’ve all been thrown into another world,
it makes sense that you’d need to be careful—
there’s bound to be danger,”
Ruri said, tilting her head.

The fairies did the same, puzzled.
None of them knew what kind of country this was,
and it was their first time in this world too.

Could Grandmother have foreseen
that the prince would be sent here?
She was said to be a famous fortune teller, after all…

Wait—hold on.
If that’s true, then did she also know
that the fairies would come here?

Was that why she was so insistent
on leaving this house specifically to me?

Ruri stared at the prince and the cheeky little fairies.

“Phew…”

She let out a small sigh and spoke.

“You all said you’d protect him,
but with bodies that tiny, how exactly do you plan to do that?

The prince might stand out a little here,
but he’s not going to get killed just for being different.
My grandmother and father lived here just fine, after all…”

Ruri paused, thinking.

If there’s a problem, it’s that—
unlike in the past—you can’t fake family registries anymore.
There are investigations now into people without records…

That could be very bad.
If he grows too fast, people might start asking questions.

What if… they ended up experimenting on him like some test subject?

Haha… no way. Surely not.

But Grandmother and Father grew up just like normal humans.
So maybe this child will grow normally too
after reaching a certain size?

—!!

Ruri suddenly remembered the letter
her grandmother had left behind.
She hurriedly pulled it out of her bag.

She’d stuffed it in there earlier thinking she’d read it later,
then completely forgotten about it.

Ruri opened the envelope and took out its contents.
But what came out was only a necklace—
and a single sheet of completely blank stationery.

“What… is this?”

As she stared at it intently,
the green-haired fairy gasped.

“Oh! That’s Lady Eris’s crest—on a necklace!”

Ruri squinted at the paper against the light.
No matter how she looked, there wasn’t a single word on it.

“What’s going on…?”

As she frowned in confusion,
the yellow-haired girl spoke up.

“You won’t be able to read it unless you use magic
to make the letters appear.”

“Magic? I don’t have that kind of power.
Oh—wait, you all can use magic, right?
Then read it for me!”

“That’s impossible.”

“What? Why not?” Ruri asked, turning to the boy
with the reddish-purple hair.

“Because it can only be read
by those of Lady Eris’s bloodline.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?”

As she said that, she looked down
at the little prince sitting on her lap.

“He’s part of that bloodline too, right?
He’ll grow up quickly anyway.
Then we can have him read it.”

Ruri looked around at the faces of the fairies.

“I’m not sure,” said the pink-haired boy.
“Even if he’s related, the blood’s pretty distant,
so it might not work.
Besides, he won’t be able to use magic
for years yet.”

Ruri sighed.
“Then what should we—”

At that moment—