As Sien had guessed, people secretly infiltrated Rochern Forest under the instruction of Delphia’s close associates.

They were a trio of human traffickers whose main activities included kidnapping infants, murder, and blackmail.

They weren’t incredibly powerful in magic, but they were quite skilled at hiding their presence and pinpointing coordinates for abductions.

“We could make a decent profit by selling this one.”

“No.”

“Didn’t they say they’d pay more than the bounty if we brought her right away?”

“What on earth do they want with such a young child?”

While the one-eyed man and the archer were exchanging tasteless jokes, the magician on the far left, who had been drawing a magic circle with his eyes closed, muttered:

“This target abduction isn’t working.”

“Why not?”

The man with the bow on his back, one of the one-eyed twins, asked roughly. Usually, kidnapping a child took only ten minutes, but today things weren’t going smoothly, and he was in an irritated state.

“Something is constantly blocking my magic.”

The archer frowned and muttered gruffly.

“Looks like the ‘Outcast’ Matthias put up a barrier around the platform. Common for nobles.”

“This has become troublesome. Is there no way to lure her over here?”

“That’s easy.”

For a family like the Mirmods, child abductions were rampant. So putting up a barrier around the platform wasn’t unexpected.

He clicked his tongue and muttered.

“We either take the risk and approach directly, or use bait to lure that little one down. Which do you want to do?”

As he pondered and was about to string an arrow as a test, he suddenly felt something off. The face of the one-eyed man holding the magic telescope beside him had contorted.

“…The little one disappeared from the platform?”

“Where is she now?”

The one-eyed man muttered as he moved the telescope around several times.

“Seems to be coming towards the forest. Not certain though.”

“I’ll draw a magic circle right away.”

Just as the magician had almost finished drawing the magic circle again after a short while.

They heard a rustling sound from the bushes near them.

The sharp gazes of the two, excluding the magician, turned towards the inside of the bushes.

“Ah.”

The one-eyed man let out a dry laugh.

What they discovered was the tiny little child they had been looking for to kidnap, Sien Mirmod.

Flushed cheeks, hair neatly braided into two plaits, small fists like unripe dumplings, blinking eyes as if oblivious to everything…

It was certainly the very child they had been watching to kidnap all this time.

“Little one, what are you doing here?”

Including the archer who asked slyly, the three revealed their yellow canine teeth in a grin all at once.

Good. Little Red Riding Hood had entered the wolf’s den.

“Um…”

Sien looked up at them with innocent eyes and said,

“I got lost.”

What a windfall.

They exchanged glances and grinned fiercely, their lips stretched to the breaking point.

“I came down because I was bored. Misters, can you take me home?”

For being Matthias’s daughter, she was quite a stupid little girl.

To think she would come down from the platform that was protecting her on her own.

Everything was all set, the prey already caught.

They quickly checked the child’s body and saw she wasn’t even wearing armor.

The archer stepped forward towards Sien and spoke in a coaxing tone.

“Hey, don’t you have any friends?”

He was trying to gauge the situation for the kidnapping.

Clearly, until just now, there had been scary knights in dresses by the child’s side. They looked like physical mercenaries.

He had thought dealing with those individuals would be quite difficult, but to think they would separate on their own.

“Nope. I lost them!”

“Oh.”

“…This got interesting, you stupid little girl.”

“Huh? Stupid little girl?”

Seeing Sien tilt her head, he took out a kidnapping candy from his pocket.

Children who eat this candy fall into a coma or death-like sleep. Of course, their brains become completely useless.

But had he ever worried about such things before?

No, he hadn’t.

“Yes, why did you get lost of all things.”

“Why, didn’t she make our job easier? We should be thankful.”

They looked at each other and laughed merrily.

Except for the seemingly bewildered Sien, the boisterous laughter spread through the forest and faded away.

“Let’s finish this quickly and go. You never know.”

“Ah, shall we?”

The archer shrugged his shoulders leisurely.

“Aah… But why are you misters here?”

At my question, they smirked and ran their hands through their hair, trying to look cool.

“A great person hired us.”

“Wow, is he a really cool mister?”

“…A beautiful person. Would you like to meet them?”

Sien tilted her head. And for a fleeting moment, when no one could see, she smiled like a true villain.

An ordinary person might have noticed that this situation was a trap.

But isn’t Sien Mirmod just an ordinary very young child? Even the child’s father, who once had an incredibly high notoriety, was different now.

With rumors spreading that Matthias would lose power and fall from grace, there was no need to be particularly cautious.

Of course, Matthias was still a fearsome existence. But they had heard that this young child, Matthias’s daughter, was certainly powerless and sickly.

The spies were optimistic instead of suspecting the unnatural situation. The one-eyed man who approached Sien most closely held an anesthetic in his hand and smiled with satisfaction.

“Little one, want some candy?”

Sien smiled.

Like a child, her soft cheeks puffed up as if about to burst.

“No, mister.”

Thinking that it was praiseworthy for her to be so confident even in this situation, the spy grinned.

After all, there were three of them. No matter how confident this little girl was, it didn’t matter. They had to kidnap her to make money, didn’t they?

“Even if you don’t want to-”

“I’ll give it to you.”

But Sien cut off his words.

Sien threw the small gourd she was holding towards them.

“Here, candy.”

Bang!

The artifact exploded with a loud noise before they could even check what was flying towards them.

Birds perched on tree branches scattered with a fluttering sound.

***

Actually, my next plan was simple.

It was to tie up the injured ones tightly and take them to the villa.

However, they quickly disappeared despite looking as if they had been beaten nearly to death by the maid sisters who had appeared after lying in ambush nearby.

It seemed they had used magic with their last bit of strength, prepared to die.

I said, stomping my feet on the ground:

“I think I need to learn teleportation.”

One of the maid sisters clenched her fist and palm together with a bang and muttered ominously.

“…Huh, don’t worry. If they appear again, I’ll turn them into skeletons.”

“Sigh…”

“Ah, they’ll probably die soon anyway at that state.”

“Those guys, when I saw their faces, weren’t they those notorious infant kidnappers and murderers? I saw them on wanted posters. They better die well. Ugh.”

…I had guessed, but they were even more trashy than I thought.

If I hadn’t been heavily armed with artifacts, I might have been kidnapped too and who knows what would have happened.

That thought made anger well up inside me.

I clenched my tiny fists tightly and said solemnly:

“These bad guys…”

I was going to ask about their intentions to bully my weak father after dealing with the spies so coolly, but I decided to be satisfied with the fact that I had punished the bad guys for now.

If the villain hiding behind them is targeting me, they will appear again.

By then, I will be stronger, so I definitely won’t be caught off guard like this.

I snorted and put the artifact back in my pocket.

‘Well, at least I got to test it out. It’s effective.’

There are pros and cons to everything.

I seriously tapped the hairpin on my head.

As a sign of a job well done.

‘I must tell Dad that there were definitely spies. Dad, who thinks the world is a flower garden, needs to be careful too!’

“Ah, the hunting competition will be ending soon, Lady Sien.”

“What should we do since you couldn’t enjoy it properly? Should I go crunch those guys right now-”

I opened my eyes wide.

I hadn’t realized that while I was dealing with the spies, everyone including Dad was already galloping back on their horses.

‘Dad seems to be coming back!’

I guess I overlooked the fact that the hunting competition doesn’t last for a long time.

“Let’s go quickly!”

Dad shouldn’t notice that I was away.

I quickly climbed back up to the platform, excited and nervous about what kind of prey Dad and his close associates might have brought back.

They might have brought some pretty good animals!

But…

On the platform I arrived at, I couldn’t help but be surprised.

‘What is this…?’

Dad, holding something large in his hands, looked at me with an expectant face that seemed to be throbbing with excitement.

And the rough-looking men surrounding me were also glaring at me with sparkling eyes!

Before I could be flustered by their majestic appearance, fireworks signaling the end of the hunting competition went off.

Soon after, a grand banquet celebrating the hunting competition began, with Dad, me, and all his closest associates together.

Inside the huge banquet hall, on top of the enormous dining table.

At the very top sat Dad with a warm face that didn’t look like he had been hunting at all, to the right I sat, and then the men with bad impressions sat down in order.

‘What on earth have those men been doing all this time?’

I, being thorough, still didn’t let go of my suspicions and looked at them.

All the close associate uncles had placed their hunting trophies on the floor from the competition. Of course, there were some uncles who came back empty-handed.

I tapped the ferocious man right next to me and looked with a horrified face at something in front of him.

“What is this?”

He smiled from ear to ear and said.

“It’s a cute pet. It’s a, a goblin!”

But goblins are scary.

“Goblins are a nutritionally complete food.”

It was something I had never heard before in my life.

In the small rural village where I lived, there was even a saying that went, “Don’t touch a sleeping goblin’s nose hair.”

‘Aren’t goblins scarier than wild boars in the back mountain?’

Well, these uncles looked like they could catch goblins barehanded.

‘This uncle seems quite strong. He must be stronger than our dad.’

Number 1 person to watch out for!

I raised my eyebrows slightly and said.

“I don’t like goblins. They’re scary. So-”

So I was going to flatter him by saying the uncle who hunted the scary-looking goblin is really cool, but.

As soon as I finished speaking, his expression crumbled as if he had lost the world.

At that moment, Dad spoke in a gentle voice next to me.

“…Scary, goblins.”

I looked at Dad for a moment.

I could see Dad’s hand holding the knife trembling slightly.

‘Dad seems to be afraid of goblins.’

I raised my short arms with all my might and slightly covered Dad’s eyes.

Seeing my action, the uncle quietly put down the box containing the goblin. He seemed to have lost his confidence completely.

“Dad, don’t worry! It might just look scary.”

“I see, Sien.”

I glanced at the uncle and removed my hand from Dad’s eyes.

As soon as I finished my action, the uncles started flattering incessantly.

“Goblins look hideous.”

“That’s right. Phew, a goblin.”

“To bring such a scary thing, it seems the sky might fall soon.”

The uncle sitting next to me looked wronged. He clearly seemed wronged but looked even more ferocious.

“That’s right. Sien.”

Dad, glancing at him, looked at me with satisfaction and showed me the cage he was holding.

“Dad brought something cuter.”

Dad said gently.

I opened my eyes in curiosity about what Dad had brought.

The guard behind Dad placed a small bird cage he was holding onto the large dining table.

“It’s a bird, a bird!”

“Yes, it’s called a sparrow. Isn’t it cute and pretty like a snowball?”

I quickly looked around.

The sparrow Dad caught.

And the big uncle was struggling with a rabbit he had caught.

There was also a parrot, and cute cats were wandering around on the floor.

The uncle who caught the goblin looked the strongest, but…

They all caught only weak animals.

‘This won’t do. Usually in hunting competitions, everyone catches impressive things to show off their strength.’

Even from the vision orb, I saw that these uncles seem… unlike their appearance, they seem weak.

“They all caught only cute things…”

Hearing my trembling voice, Dad said proudly.

“That’s right, because there are many cute things in the world.”

As Dad spoke, the uncles started clapping wildly.

“Indeed, scary and dangerous things like goblins shouldn’t exist in the world!”

“After all, cute things are the best.”

“Cuteness rules the world!”

I looked around with puzzled eyes.

‘Why is everyone in a festive mood?’