How to Replace Dad 6
While running the Irregular guild, Mom had something to tell me.
“Cute Yustea, listen carefully. Life is unfair, so if you live easily, you’ll end up living even harder.”
“Did Mom try to avoid taxes and get beaten like by the tax collector?”
“…That’s failing to evade taxes. The tax office’s kids clung to me like a leech with that one sentence of regulation that was tampered with… I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”
Ah, that’s not it.
“But there’s an unwritten law that doesn’t make life harder.”
“What’s that?”
Mom smiled like sunshine.
“If someone hits your cheek, hit them so hard their skull fractures.”
That way they won’t think of hitting back.
People’s hearts are like paper; once ink is splashed, it spreads.
Marina thought I forgave one hit, so she hit three times.
So I…
“Are you trying to bite my tongue?”
“What?”
“I can bite your tongue too.”
I grabbed her by the collar and threw her away.
Splat!
Maria lying flat on her back burst into tears.
* * *
I watched Marina running away while crying.
Since the threat didn’t work, she ran off without calling anyone.
I picked up the fallen assignments and muttered.
“Blackmail, huh…”
“Probably.”
“…!”
I turned around in surprise.
The vice-leader was standing with arms crossed, looking at me.
I quickly stood up and bowed my head.
“Hello.”
“I’m fine, but you don’t look like it.”
“Eh?”
“You think you’ll be safe after throwing the emperor’s niece?”
Did you see that?
From where?
I swallowed hard as he slowly approached me.
“If I say I saw the emperor’s niece first, will that help with the situation?”
“…You knew I brought in a brainwasher?”
“Nothing in this castle is unknown to me.”
A sigh escaped me unknowingly.
From the beginning, he had anticipated Marina bringing in the brainwasher and was monitoring.
Indeed, a skill worthy of being called the vice-leader’s right hand.
“You think because you have me in your sights, you’re treating the emperor’s niece lightly?”
The vice-leader asked, and I tilted my head.
“No?”
“Then what confidence did you have to throw the emperor’s niece? You seem to know that you can’t use bringing in the brainwasher as a threat.”
“Yes, because there’s no evidence.”
The brainwasher ran away.
So I have no evidence to frame Marina.
“But Marina wouldn’t think that far.”
“Why?”
“If someone could think that far, they wouldn’t have been scared in the first place.”
“…”
“Even if someone tells you the truth that I’m in a disadvantageous position, I won’t go to the emperor and tattle. Marina also has no evidence that I framed her.”
The vice-leader stared at me intently.
Then…
Click.
A smile appeared from the corner of his mouth.
“Correct.”
“But don’t you think you should tell the leader that the brainwashing specialist came to the castle soon?”
There are three elite members in this castle.
The leader, the vice-leader, and Antonio.
The remaining elites are out on other business.
“So the one Marina wants to brainwash is the leader.”
His adopted daughter.
He wouldn’t hesitate to use any means to become the leader’s adopted daughter.
The vice-leader swept his hair back and sighed.
“You don’t need to tell the leader.”
“Why…?”
“Because the one who wanted to brainwash the emperor’s niece is me.”
What kind of nonsense is this.
Why brainwash the vice-leader instead of the leader?
“Could it be…?”
The puzzle pieces clicked in my head.
The vice-leader decides the leader’s adopted daughter.
That means his influence is enormous.
“Wait a minute. Then…?”
I quickly scanned the vice-leader from head to toe.
When I looked carefully, the vice-leader flinched.
“…What are you doing?”
“Any spots? Feeling sick? Brainwashing isn’t something you can only cast by touching. You can even poison with scent.”
The leader’s barrier is as strong as the emperor’s barrier managed by the tower and shrine together.
Of course, other elites are also very strong, but the leader is on another level.
If he targeted the vice-leader, he might have succeeded.
“Should I lift my bangs a bit? I need to check for spots on the forehead…”
“What kind of person are you?”
“Eh?”
The vice-leader removed my hand and took a step back.
Then he said with a puzzled expression.
“When I first saw you, I realized I was too cold to you. But why…?”
“…?”
“If you were that cruel, you should be reluctant. Why are you worrying about me?”
Me?
I was worrying about my future, not the vice-leader’s.
Imagine if the vice-leader was brainwashed and picked Marina as the adopted daughter.
I would be kicked out by Marina immediately.
I was about to say I’m not, but the vice-leader spoke first.
“Be a little kind too. Don’t make people feel uneasy.”
With that, the vice-leader strode away.
“…?”
I was worried about my situation?
I wanted to say that, but the vice-leader had already left the place.
* * *
The vice-leader stared at the papers on his desk.
Some had gotten wet once, but the papers that were dried well were easy to read.
Yes.
The assignments that Yustea had given, and the members including Antonio had written with pen tips dipped in saliva.
“Even if you work… you work too well.”
The vice-leader muttered, and his aide, a member, showed a puzzled expression.
“What do you mean?”
“These assignments.”
“Ah, they all improved a lot.”
The member smiled.
Excluding the leader, the six elites each lead their own squad.
And conveniently, the squad members had personalities similar to their leaders.
The ones currently guarding the castle are Antonio’s squad.
Their attack power is the strongest among the six squads.
But the problem is…
“Using your head is like poison.”
The vice-leader had Antonio’s squad nearby because he was worried about that aspect.
The member looked at the crooked handwriting of the assignments from Antonio’s squad and said.
“You’ve learned to write too. The whole squad has been positively affected.”
“That’s all you see?”
“Eh?”
Upon closer look, something else was there.
[Someone approached the castle gate]
[Antonio-nim ate my meat for 3 days and didn’t stop eating]
“…!”
The member looked at the vice-leader in surprise.
“Isn’t this internal information?”
Antonio’s squad was responsible for guarding the castle.
With just this diary, Yustea could collect information.
The member’s face hardened.
“What are you thinking?”
“Clearly, the purpose of learning. What I want from Antonio’s squad is just reporting.”
And this serves as a sufficient report.
“It’s not to steal information from other forces, right?”
“Every day they report to me about the castle. If they were thinking of stealing information, they wouldn’t have done it.”
“Amazing kid…”
“Not just that.”
The vice-leader tapped one member’s diary with his finger.
[Antonio-nim ate my meat for 3 days and didn’t stop eating]
The diary that was just read, complaining.
The member frowned.
“Could it be that Antonio-nim’s squad is being provided with insufficient food?”
“It might be that the San Miguel baron took away the military operation funds.”
Reducing expensive ingredients like meat.
The vice-leader didn’t skimp on the members’ meals.
He couldn’t feed them as luxuriously as a great family, but he made sure to include meat once a day for growth and mission rewards.
The members who didn’t know the vice-leader’s thoughts probably didn’t think much of it.
But Yustea noticed.
That the food provided to the vice-leader’s members and Antonio’s squad members was different.
“But if I raise a problem about something not confirmed, it would only make my position difficult.”
So, if food was really the issue, using the diary to make the vice-leader notice it.
The member clicked his tongue.
“You’re too smart…”
But too smart people are reluctant to control. Because betrayal also has a big impact.
“So, are you thinking of kicking him out?”
The member looked cautiously, and the vice-leader frowned deeply.
“But you’re kind too.”
“…Eh?”
The vice-leader sighed deeply.
Yustea is from the Andres duchy family.
Abandoned, but if her real father calls her back, she’ll go.
Which fool would give up a position in a great noble family?
But…
“I’m envious.”
The vice-leader sighed.
* * *
A few days later.
I was looking at the military mess menu and smiled happily.
It seemed the vice-leader had immediately taken action after seeing the members’ assignments.
And with this, the members of Antonio’s squad naturally…
“By working hard on the assignments, meat comes out every day.”
“That’s what I said. I told you to just believe what the little teacher says.”
They liked it a lot.
“Good people.”
I divided my meat to the members grabbing each other’s hair over one piece of meat and smiled benevolently.
But something was strange.
“Why are only two grabbing each other’s hair?”
Usually three surround.
And then one is missing.
I asked with a puzzled expression.
“Charye?”
“He’ll be here soon. He went to pick up some girls.”
“Girls?”
“Yeah. Those girls are going to take the test today.”
Test?
Only girls?
I was pondering what was going on when I found the answer.
“There’s a test for the adopted daughter today.”
The leader wants to bring in an adopted daughter to infiltrate Esgarot.
The reason not to bring a son but a daughter is to avoid problems in succession.
This empire still follows primogeniture as principle, except for special cases.
But then.
“Antonio-nim!”
A member rushed into the dining hall.
The member said to Antonio with a pale face.
“Charye has been arrested!”
The members including Antonio’s faces hardened.
Antonio threw down his spoon and stood up abruptly.
“What are you talking about? Why Charye.”
“Charye, the girls he was guarding were all kidnapped. The San Miguel baron arrested Charye for that crime.”
“…!”
The atmosphere in the dining hall froze instantly.
“This can’t be.”
This wouldn’t happen in the game.
The girls would safely arrive at the castle and take the test.
And it wouldn’t be Marina who becomes the adopted daughter.
“But why suddenly?”
Antonio immediately ran out of the dining hall.
The members and I chased after him quickly.
* * *
The courtyard of San Miguel Castle.
The place where Charye was arrested was already bustling with people.
Charye was lying flat on the ground, suppressed.
And the ones watching the scene were the San Miguel baron and Marina.
Antonio shouted.
“Charye!”
“Le, leader…”
Charye looked at Antonio with a pale face.
Antonio’s expression was cold after confirming the boy’s face.
His lips were split and his cheeks were swollen.
The San Miguel baron, who was carrying Charye’s burden, spoke.
“It couldn’t be helped. He wouldn’t open his mouth.”
With those words, I understood.
Charye being like that wasn’t because of a fight during guarding.
The San Miguel baron had done it.
The members of Antonio’s squad all had fierce expressions.
Veins bulged on Antonio’s fist.
“This…”
At that moment.
“Step back.”
A group passed between the people and arrived.
It was the vice-leader and his subordinates.
Even though the vice-leader appeared, Antonio’s momentum didn’t subside.
It was the moment Antonio slammed the ground.
The vice-leader quickly blocked Antonio.
“Move.”
“This is a territory. I can’t lay a hand on the emperor’s body.”
There were not only members but also other employees here.
At least to others, Antonio was the baron’s knight.
The moment a knight sworn to others lays a hand on his lord, he would be executed for treason.
The baron had gathered people to target that.
The baron’s lips curved up.
“The girls disappeared without a trace while I was looking away for a moment. I can’t believe it.”
Then Antonio retorted fiercely.
“You think Charye sold those kids?”
“That’s something I need to check. But what to do. The princes are coming soon, and without the girls, the test can’t be held.”
The baron looked troubled.
But behind him, Marina was different. She was smiling arrogantly.
With that reaction, I was sure.
“I did this because I was afraid another kid would be picked instead of Marina in the adopted daughter test.”
And there, tying Charye from Antonio’s squad.
Charye, unable to withstand torture, gave the answer the baron wanted.
Probably to point at Antonio.
“Then even if the vice-leader wants to protect Antonio, he can’t oppose Marina becoming the adopted daughter.”
The members and others looked at each other with puzzled expressions.
“Test? What test?”
“Are you trying to select the girls to send to the princes’ inspection?”
Amid the commotion, the vice-leader’s expression was icy cold.
It seemed he was guessing the baron’s scheme.
The baron shrugged.
“It can’t be helped. Marina, you’re the only candidate, so you need to prepare to go to Esgarot.”
“I’ll do my best as the responsibility is heavy.”
Marina smiled smugly and looked at me.
But I ignored her and approached Charye.
“Little teacher…”
Charye was a kind kid.
One of the few girls in Antonio’s squad.
Also around my age.
So he took care of me.
“I bought it because I had to go to the market, but, well, it might not be to a noble lady’s taste… but it looked pretty to me… ah, forget it. Little teacher, take this.”
Since I was wearing a pretty dress, I needed a pretty hairpin.
The little teacher said it’s good to learn to write.
He said it shyly.
I wrapped Charye’s cheek with a handkerchief and spoke.
“You can take the test.”
Then Marina let out a fake laugh.
“There is no candidate, what test is that. More importantly, you’re not the one to interfere, so get out.”
“There is a candidate.”
“…What?”
This time, the one who asked was the San Miguel baron.
I looked at him straight and said.
“Born noble enough to be adopted as a daughter. Educated to the level of becoming a prince’s inspection.”
Everyone in the courtyard took a sharp breath.
Because they understood my meaning.
I told them as expected.
“I will be the candidate.”
—said.
Antonio and the vice-leader looked at me in disbelief.
Antonio had an excited expression.
And the vice-leader…
“I, Lorenzo Worth, recommend Yustea from the Andres family as a candidate.”
He declared.
I looked at the baron and Marina and thought.
“Adopted daughter test, I’m in.”