How to Replace Dad
I had never heard such words. Was she hiding something? I fell silent, pondering what was going on. The children took my silence as surprise at learning Carmen's identity and burst into giggles.
“Surprising, right? Yeah, Kuarion is where the Saint resides.”
“The one who protected her divinity most closely when the Saint revealed her true identity was Carmen's father.”
'Carmen is a liar.'
The vice-leader didn't go to the institution. He protected Kuarion in my place. But how could the children know who was protecting Kuarion when they didn't even live in Esgarot? They probably just guessed based on the institution.
At that time, the girl with black straight hair spoke up.
“Hey... even if that's the case, you should have figured it out sooner, right?”
She glanced outside the door. It seemed like she was thinking someone might come.
The children reluctantly let me go.
“Be careful from now on. Don't make Carmen any more upset.”
The children who said that looked down on me arrogantly as I was sitting there.
Carmen was the first to leave the room.
The children called out to Carmen in sweet voices and followed her out.
After that, the girl with black straight hair approached me.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Thanks for helping.”
“No big deal. I'm Rene.”
“Yustea.”
I stood up after saying that.
Rene hesitated and said.
“U-um, we have to clean the prayer hall.”
The prayer hall?
The prayer hall underground was enormously large.
Seeing my expression as if we had to clean such a place alone, Rene touched the tip of her chin.
“Normally, the kids all do it together... um.”
She passed the buck. She wanted me to clean it alone with her.
I brushed off the dust on my skirt and said.
“Let's go.”
“Sorry. Normally, on the first day, they don't make us do cleaning... .”
“It's fine. I clean well.”
I smiled brightly as I said that, and Rene's expression brightened.
While cleaning the prayer hall, I listened to various stories from Rene.
Rene was tying a trash bag at the door and said.
“Yustea, are there people in your group who did the faith sharing together?”
“Yeah.”
“They also work at Kuarion. Carmen was too embarrassed to approach them, but since you seem close to them, she must have been upset.”
'That wasn't it.'
I thought to myself.
I lied about being the illegitimate child of the Kuarion Knight Commander's son, and when the soldiers of Kuarion came in.
For Carmen, it must have been a blow to her pride.
So, she probably hoped no one would approach me, but since I seemed friendly with them, she was worried.
'So she was trying to intimidate me.'
If Carmen ordered them not to associate with me, they would follow.
Rene continued.
“Originally, the leader of the kids' group was Alice. Why, the one with short curly hair I saw earlier.”
“Carmen?”
“She hated the kids. She kept dumping work on herself. She often complained to me.”
There is a hierarchy in some groups. Especially among immature kids.
If she was the kind to dump work on Carmen, her rank must have been very low.
“Then why did Carmen become the leader? By revealing that she was the illegitimate child of the Kuarion Knight Commander?”
“Yeah. Two months ago. At first, no one believed it.”
Carmen had been here for six years.
If her father was such a great person, he would have come to take her, but he didn't show any signs of coming.
“But then Carmen started visiting the Archbishop's room.”
“...Archbishop?”
“Yeah. He's the one after the Church Leader, an amazing person.”
“I see.”
“She also brought various gifts for the Archbishop.”
The kids were confused when Carmen got the Archbishop's attention.
Was Carmen really the daughter of the Kuarion Knight Commander?
So the Archbishop was also interested.
That thought made me believe Carmen.
“Can the kids see the Archbishop?”
“No. The Archbishop is the one who oversees the church in place of the Church Leader who protects the world. We ordinary believers can't see him.”
“I see.”
“Overseeing the church.”
'Then the keys to the hunting and the warehouse are all in his hands?'
I can use Carmen.
After organizing my thoughts, I shook off my hands and said.
“Rene, let's go now.”
Rene, who was tying the trash bag at the door, turned to look at me.
“But the cleaning isn't done yet... huh?”
Rene's face was startled.
Because the messy prayer hall was cleaned in an instant.
When I worked as a maid in the old man's mansion, there were few people, so I did all the cleaning alone.
So I was confident in cleaning.
I smiled and said.
“When is the meal?”
“Now, go to the dining hall. It's at the end of the west corridor on the first floor.”
Rene said that after seeing the cleaning finished by the priest, she would go, so I should go ahead.
I went up the stairs to the first floor.
And when I entered the west corridor as Rene said.
Someone pulled me into an empty corner.
“Miss, big trouble.”
They were the members.
I was startled and asked.
“What's the matter?”
Was something happening to Antonio?
Was there some huge secret in the church?
Their faces were stiff, so the members swallowed dryly.
“The vice-leader has a kid...!”
“... .”
I had to save the child.
***
The dining hall.
Carmen was biting her lips tightly and staring at the table in the corner.
“Yustea, that damned girl is with the Kuarion soldiers again.”
I deliberately paired her with Rene to make her feel uncomfortable.
'Did Rene not tell her?'
No way.
Rene was a hypocrite who pretended to be nice to everyone.
So she must have told her to watch out and reveal her true feelings.
“Carmen, the meal doesn't suit your taste?”
“Then I'll eat your eggs?”
The kids were serving delicious food on plates with playful expressions.
Carmen pushed away the plates.
“Enough.”
The kids rolled their eyes and looked at Carmen's cue.
“Have you heard what that girl is talking about?”
Then the big boy nodded vigorously.
“Yeah. I was pretending to look for the table and eavesdropping.”
“What did she say?”
Was she asking about the knight commander?
Carmen gripped the collar under the table.
The big boy said.
“It's fine if you're healthy. Eat your meal.”
“...what?”
“She said that.”
I didn't know what it meant, but it didn't seem like she was talking about the knight commander.
Carmen frowned.
'Why did the Saint come out in Kuarion of all places.'
This was all because of Rene.
The kids usually came to the dawn prayer with their parents.
Carmen did too.
She came holding her mom's hand.
Although they lived separately according to the rule that parents and children don't stay together.
But Rene was different.
“I came because I had nowhere to go.”
“Why would you have nowhere to go?”
“I lived with my dad alone, and one day I lost his hand on the street and got separated.”
“Then go to an orphanage.”
“If I go to the orphanage, it's said to be in the mountains and sold, so I stayed here until I find my dad.”
Carmen laughed, saying she was telling her because she was her best friend.
After that, I often heard stories about Rene's dad.
Although I don't remember because I was young, it seemed my dad was a captain.
So he gave me a badge shaped like an anchor.
Every time I saw the silver anchor badge, my heart ached.
It seemed she was acting high and mighty, which made me nervous.
That's why.
Two months ago, while cleaning the prayer hall, she said that...
“I only tell you this, my dad is the knight commander of Kuarion. I'm an illegitimate child, and my mom raised me.”
At that time, Kuarion was the hottest topic.
The merged territory of San Miguel, which was poor and remote, and Valboron, the estate of the expelled Saminro.
The lord and his soldiers were said to be very cool.
Someone among the kids overheard my casual remark.
Later, I was lucky to help with the Archbishop's work, and because of that, the kids believed I was the illegitimate child of the Kuarion Knight Commander.
The kids' attitude changed drastically.
Moreover, recently...
“Oh my, Carmen. You can't eat your meal.”
“You should be healthy. Your father would be worried.”
Passing adults smiled and approached.
The priests also secretly put fruits in.
Because they were people who came to the fake church, their wall of suspicion was low.
An elderly woman with a bent back approached hesitantly.
“Carmen, you can't eat?”
She placed a precious sweet potato she was holding in her wrinkled hands on Carmen's plate.
“Tomorrow is the day I go on missionary work, what do you want me to buy?”
“Old lady, what you buy would be shabby.”
Carmen replied coldly.
The elderly woman shrank back in defeat.
But she couldn't leave and muttered.
“Have you heard any news from my father? My grandmother's wish is to see the Saint before I die.”
“You want me to call my busy father just to fulfill one of grandma's wishes?”
“... .”
“Why is a person so heartless?”
Carmen slammed the table and stood up.
The elderly woman lowered her head with a pale face.
The believers pitied the woman, but couldn't scold Carmen.
The name tag of being the daughter of the Kuarion Knight Commander was so good.
No matter what gang they used, it was accepted.
All kinds of precious things came into her hands.
'If this much commotion reached the ears of the high priests.'
Even so, no regulation, perhaps the Archbishop ordered silence.
So, it would be enough to deal with Yustea and the Kuarion soldiers.
'This time, I'll pick a priest.'
If I become a priest and rise up, even if the believers find out about my lie, they won't say anything.
I just need to hold on until then.
***
“Really, the vice-leader has no kids?”
“Yeah.”
“Is it not a lewd person who gives birth to an illegitimate child...?”
“Yeah. The vice-leader is kind.”
I answered the 31st question with an innocent expression.
I was asked in the dining hall, but when I said to ask in a place without people, I got the question baptism in the backyard.
'I also told them that the vice-leader might be watching through the Demon Realm.'
First, it seems curiosity was resolved.
The vice-leader would be grabbing my neck.
“Anyway, have you figured out the Church Leader's location and return date?”
That was the task I gave to the members.
“The priests don't seem to know the Church Leader's location, and the return date is in four days.”
Four days.
Good.
There's still plenty of time.
'If I return tomorrow, it would be ruined.'
I must never face the Church Leader.
The dawn prayer is a group that appears in game episodes.
Even so, the reason I couldn't figure out the number and location of the believers is because...
'The only character who appears in the episode is the Church Leader.'
One person, the Church Leader, comes out and devastates the nearby estates.
Such a person must never be faced.
“Continue to investigate the Church Leader's movements. If you find out anything, tell me.”
“Yes.”
“But what about Antonio-nim?”
I couldn't see him no matter how hard I looked in the dining hall.
“They took him away.”
“Really?”
“They were shouting the three muscles, biceps, forearms, and spitting saliva?”
“Really?!”
There was a similar incident in the institution...
I tilted my head, but soon organized my thoughts.
If Antonio was taken because he liked it, he would eat well.
I stood up.
“Then I'll go.”
“Yes.”
After hearing the answer, I went out to the backyard.
It was to prepare for the afternoon duties.
When I was cleaning the prayer hall, I heard from Rene that the kids gather in the afternoon to study.
I also heard the location of the study room.
When I entered the study room, the kids were already there.
Rene and Carmen too.
Rene said with a pale face.
“Run!”
At that moment, the door slammed shut, and two big kids blocked the door.
In an instant, I was locked in the room.
“Carmen, please don't do this... that kid isn't that bad.”
“Rene, you have to think. Deciding good and bad is not your place.”
“What...?”
“Those things are always decided by the upper class, right.”
Carmen, who was sitting on the windowsill, nodded towards me.
Then the kids approached.
Their eyes were sharp as if trying to make me kneel like before.
Just as the boy's hand was about to reach me.
I twisted my body, dodged the hand, and immediately kicked the ground.
And the direction I was facing was the window.
The one where Carmen was.
“What are you...!”
Carmen couldn't continue.
Because I grabbed her hair.
“Kya!”
“Carmen!”
The kids shouted in surprise.
“This is...!”
Just as the boys were about to rush at me again, I said first.
“If you come, I'll drop this.”
“...?!”
I opened the window and pulled Carmen's hair.
Carmen was startled and looked up at me.
“You...!”
“See. I only endure once.”
“What?”
“But you are the second time.”
I looked down at Carmen and said.
“Want to throw the name of your great father?”
“Wh-what... .”
“Why? I don't know?”
“...!”
You don't know.
Not a noble, not a commoner.
Moreover, not even an Esgarot territory resident.
The vice-leader was not a famous noble known to others.
There was no way they would know the name.
Carmen glanced at the kids' eyes and said hesitantly.
“G-Gonzales...”
“Wrong. It's Lorenzo.”
Slap!
I slapped Carmen's cheek.