Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: ZZ. SAVE point.
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A father's back looks like a mountain when you're a child, but once you grow up, it seems endlessly small.
I believe the moment you realize that is when you truly become an adult. My own father, who was a firefighter, was just like that.
And the reason I'm bringing this up now is...
"Daddy...!"
"Little one. I'm not your father..."
A black girl from head to toe, wearing a mage's hat, had latched onto me while calling me "Daddy."
"Licht, a married man?"
"No! Mardol! You know that's not true!"
"...You're right."
Standing beside her, Mardol—dressed as a wooden monster—was walking along with us, looking amused as he watched me and the child.
"...Little miss, what's your name?"
Thinking she might be a lost child separated from her parents, I asked for her name.
"I can't tell you!"
She covered her mouth and grinned mischievously. Her brown eyes stood out to me. With a hunch, I lifted the mage's hat off her head.
"Daddy, why are you teasing me...! Give me back my hat!"
The girl puffed out her cheeks in a pout. Now even her black hair was giving me resentful glances. Why did she keep reminding me of someone?
'No wolf ears... Her irises are the same. Just an ordinary human.'
I'd checked for any traits linking her to the Nameless Saintess, but disappointingly, there were none.
For a fleeting moment, I'd wondered if she was my daughter from the future. But even in a fusion fantasy game world like this, that was too improbable.
"I need to know your name to help find your real parents."
"...Clueless daddy, I hate you."
The child pointed accusingly at my Black Knight armor while scolding me. Who was the clueless one here? I felt dizzy and pressed a hand to the forehead of my helmet.
"Little one, what about your other family?"
"I came to the Empire with my brother, but we got separated in the crowd!"
She wasn't even startled by Mardol in his Kuer costume? I'd thought it looked pretty scary.
"Whoa, a Fox Slime? What a cute doll! Hehe."
"Thanks... for the praise."
She seemed to find the little dolls I'd attached adorable and was chatting casually with him. Thank goodness she wasn't calling him "Mommy."
"Little one, why do you think I'm your daddy?"
"Black helmet! Armor! Who else but Daddy would wear that!"
I asked the mysterious girl why she kept using that weird title for me, but her responses were like daggers to the heart. What was wrong with being a Black Knight?
'Maybe she's confusing me with someone else because of this armor.'
I looked down at the Black Knight armor I was wearing. It was the item the princess had just bought me.
If she'd called me "Daddy" upon seeing this, she must have thought I was someone connected to Mardol. The black hair fit, too.
'Well, she did say it was a popular item.'
She'd probably mistaken me for another NPC with the Black Knight class. In this vast world, I couldn't be the only one walking around in a black helmet and armor set.
'Am I just imagining things...?'
But even as I tried to calm myself, her presence kept drawing my eye.
Truth be told, black hair wasn't all that common in this world. It was mostly seen in imperial bloodlines or northern grand duchesses.
"Then let's head to where you last saw your brother. Where did you get separated?"
"The fountain! Clueless Daddy. You don't even know that?"
I'd told her from the start that I'd never met her before. At this point, was she innocently naive, or teasing me on purpose?
She must mean the fountain on the way to the academy. It wasn't far from here.
"Daddy! I want that one...!"
"...A Crystal Apple?"
Just then, the girl pointed at a sparkling apple in a fruit stall and grabbed my leg, stopping me in my tracks.
"No can do. For starters, I'm not your dad..."
"Hic. I'm gonna cry... Daddy..."
"Licht, buy her one."
Now she was even threatening to cry. Her parents must have a tough time. Even Mardol was egging me on to buy it.
I hated the sound of a child crying—I'd heard it too much back in the day. No helping it, I guess.
"Welcome! Oh, and that's your daughter?"
"Absolutely not."
As I stepped into the fruit stall to buy a Crystal Apple, a young woman was sitting at the counter.
"Heehee, what a cute little girl. Huh...?"
"Daddy, let's go somewhere else!"
When the woman—who seemed to be the shopkeeper—reached out toward the black-haired girl, the mysterious child leaped back like a startled cat.
"No ladies allowed...! Daddy!"
She hid behind my back, babbling about playboys or whatever. What was this? I wasn't her dad, and I was far from a playboy.
A pure-hearted guy who's loved one woman for fifteen years, accused of being a philanderer?
"No need to be scared. Here’s your Crystal Apple."
"Licht, playboy."
"Absolutely not, Mardol..."
Before any weird flags could pop up, I quickly paid and handed the glittering, jewel-like apple to the girl in the mage hat.
"Why did you say no ladies allowed?"
"...Mommy told me to protect Daddy from other women!"
She took a huge bite of the apple, finally smiling again as she mumbled through her mouthful—words that anyone could see were pure flag material.
'Now who's this mommy? I'm a lifelong singleton.'
If I ever got married, the only option was our Saintess. All other women looked the same to me, and they barely stirred any feelings at all.
"Eat it slowly."
"Hehe, but it's so yummy!"
Even with Mardol warning her, the mysterious girl devoured the apple in big, crunchy bites. It was an order from an imperial princess—could she really ignore it?
"Meeting Daddy in a place like this is the best! I honestly thought I'd never see you!"
Now she was holding one of my hands, acting just like a father-daughter pair. The more I looked at her, the more familiar she felt.
'...Maybe her parents told her not to share personal info to prevent kidnappings.'
I vaguely remembered a TV PSA from back in the day advising kids to write their name and number in hidden spots inside their bags.
"We're here."
How long had we walked? The fountain came into view. From afar, I could see a boy anxiously searching for someone.
"You...! I've been looking everywhere for you!"
"Hehe, sorry, big bro. I met Daddy!"
A boy with a sword at his waist like a knight came running up to me and Mardol. He had brown hair and matching brown eyes.
Oh no, he wasn't going to call me "Daddy" too, was he?
"Daddy...?"
"Yeah! He looks just like Daddy!"
At his sister's words—the girl in the mage hat—the boy looked up at me suspiciously.
"..."
"W-What's wrong, big bro...?"
He furrowed his brow for a split second, then his face paled. Was this the "oh no" I was thinking of?
Was I going to marry a brown-haired woman in the future? My imagination was running wild when...
"...Sorry about this! She's such a tomboy!"
"Huh? He's not our daddy?"
The brown-haired boy wrapped things up. Looked like she wasn't my future daughter after all. Phew.
"Of course not! Just because he wears knight armor doesn't make him our dad—half the Imperial Knights are our cousins!"
"But his scent..."
The boy pushed down his sister's head—the one wearing the mage hat—and bowed in apology. He said she was just playful and clueless.
"I'm Iferit. And this is Lin."
"Mmph! Big bro...! My name...!"
"Quiet, Lin. We caused trouble for these two."
So she did have a name. Not "Nameless" like someone. Iferit muffled his struggling sister Lin to keep her in check.
"...Glad it was just a misunderstanding. I nearly became a married man with kids."
"She didn't look like anyone in particular, but she was cute."
I let out a sigh of relief. With both of them having brown eyes, I'd thought it was some flag or route event.
"That was aimed at me, right, Mardol?"
"...Who knows."
Just a random encounter, then. Mardol seemed to be smiling behind his hand. The wooden monster costume made him look pretty intimidating.
"Sorry for the inconvenience."
"See ya! Bye!"
She was polite with honorifics despite looking so young. Who did she take after? Just as our brief meeting at the fountain was wrapping up...
"Daddy. Take good care of the Mana Rose."
"...What?"
Lin—the girl in the black mage hat—trotted up to me, whispered in my ear, and ran back to her group.
"Wait, how do you know about—?!"
"Hehe, it's a secret!"
How did you know that? Even if she'd seen my grade exam results, mentioning it now was too suspicious.
It was as if she was saying I'd need it later. With that, the girl took her brother's hand and vanished into the crowd.
A good distance away from Licht and Mardol, in a quiet alley with no people around...
"Eve, even if you're in a hurry, you can't mess around here without properly using disguise magic."
The boy sighed deeply, as if the ground might cave in, and spoke to the black-haired girl.
"But I hid the wolf ears...!"
"Shh, quiet. Eve. We don't want 'Omniscient' hearing us."
"Okay. Got it."
With that, the girl removed her black mage hat. Eve—who'd used the alias Lin—placed her palm on her head and dispelled the disguise magic.
"But Sei bro, what was that back there? Lying like that isn't like you...! He is our daddy!"
Soft, small wolf ears sprouted back atop her head, twitching as she vented her frustration at her brother.
"Eve. Mom and Dad don't know about us yet..."
"Oh. Yeah, we can't do that."
Sei looked at her disapprovingly. They'd barely come up with the aliases Iferit and Lin to fool the man in Black Knight garb.
"You're ridiculous. How did we even run into Mom and Dad in that short time...?"
"Hehe, if you're jealous, just say so! Sei bro!"
"Mom was right there with him. You should've been more careful."
Following Eve's lead, Sei dispelled his magic too. Identical wolf ears popped up on his head, and his brown hair shifted to black.
"...Huh? Mom was there? All I saw was a pretty wooden monster decorated with flowers."
"How are you so clueless, just like Dad...?"
Seeing her tail shoot up like a startled rabbit, Sei shook his head and revealed the truth to his sister.
"Golden wolf eyes. There's only one person who walks with our dad who has those."
"I only smelled dirt..."
"My eyes are sharper than yours. Makes sense you missed it."
The boy's brown eyes glinted faintly, emphasizing his special sight—like someone else's exceptional vision.
"Then why didn't you tell me! Sei bro!"
"Too risky. You know how powerful the Demon Kings' authorities are."
Eve stomped her feet in frustration, glaring at Sei with resentful eyes.
"...True enough."
"At least it seems we weren't found out."
Sei flipped open a slightly worn book, scanning rows of text.
"...Dad's memo hasn't changed."
How much time passed? Wiping cold sweat from his brow, the boy spoke to his sister.
"Time to head back, Eve. You got everything done?"
"Yeah, bro... But is this really gonna work? Can we actually change the route?"
"We have to hope so."
With bitter smiles, the black-haired boy and girl vanished in a swirl of light, heading somewhere far away.