How to Replace Dad
The arrow came from the direction of the slope.
The bandits weren't just the men in front of us. They were coming from the slope, behind, and even from both sides. We were surrounded by dozens of bandits.
Yuis stood close to me and sighed. It was because of Stella.
'Coming secretly after being told not to come, and getting caught like that.'
Onel hardened his face and glared at the bandit holding Stella's neck with one arm.
"If you let us go quietly, I'll spare your lives."
Then the bandit leader burst into a big laugh.
"Hahaha!"
With dozens of armed men, only four of us, and only two with weapons. It would be funny.
"Capture them!"
The one-eyed man, who seemed to be the leader of the bandits, shouted.
The bandits approached slowly, aiming with axes, old crossbows, and corroded swords.
But the first attack was Onel's.
Onel lowered his body's center and stabbed the first bandit in front, cutting his throat.
In an instant, one bandit fell.
The bandits who saw their comrade fall with a neck grab hesitated.
Most bandits stared at the fallen comrade with grim faces or seemed about to run.
'What? They're all a bunch of idiots?'
The bandit leader shouted.
"What are you doing!"
"Hah, but Koni..."
The huge-built bandit, over 2 meters, stuttered.
The bandit leader roared.
"Don't think useless things, capture them!"
At that moment, the bandits were about to charge at us.
"Wait."
I lightly raised my hand.
The bandit who was about to swing the axe at Onel stopped.
Other bandits looked at me.
"Let's make a deal."
Yuis, Onel, and Stella looked at me with surprised faces.
"If you capture us, you can't earn big money. At best, it'll be labor exploitation or human trafficking. But if you help us, you can earn even more money peacefully."
Then the bandit leader spat out a fake laugh "Ha ha!"
"I know you're in a hurry. You're good at talking."
"You didn't ask me. My conversation partner is all of you except that one-eyed guy."
"What?!"
A spark flew from the bandit leader's eyes.
I ignored that and looked around at the bandits.
"You guys think that guy over there is skilled?"
Then Onel, who was pointed at, narrowed his brows.
I continued without caring.
"If you charge, several of you will definitely die. But can you follow a leader who keeps pushing despite that?"
"..."
"..."
The bandits glanced at the bandit leader.
'Good.'
As expected, a bunch of idiots.
From my perspective, there weren't many real bandits here.
Probably just those surrounding Stella with the leader.
From their momentum and weapons, it was clear.
Other bandits were people who didn't even know how to manage weapons.
Axes, old crossbows, corroded swords.
Weapons are life lines. How could they be managed like that.
Probably villagers who were struggling to survive joined.
Originally, commoners are people who live day by day.
But with this corruption, they had to dispose of even what little they had.
"It's simple. Just drop your weapons. Then I'll save the fallen and give you money."
When I said that, the bandit leader cried out in frustration.
"Don't fall for empty talk and attack..."
"Will you really save Koni?"
The bandit with the old weapon asked.
The bandit leader hesitated.
I smiled.
"Of course."
At that moment.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip....
The old weapons fell to the ground.
The real bandits' faces turned pale.
***
The real bandits were tied with Yuis's ropes and thrown near the rocks.
Onel supported Stella.
"What happened."
"I heard that the origin is a beast. I couldn't purify without catching all the origins."
"So."
"Since our soldiers are also corrupted, I couldn't stay still because I was worried about my brother."
"How did you get here."
"I was told I couldn't enter because it was blocked, so an outsider from Namia jurisdiction told me. There's a shortcut from Namia jurisdiction to here."
"Shortcut?"
"A shortcut by going down the river."
Onel sighed.
"Don't do that again."
"Sorry, brother..."
Yuis, watching that, whispered to me.
"Is this the end?"
"It will be."
I answered casually and asked the fake bandits.
"It was because of family that you became bandits?"
"Yeah, because my sick mother was starving..."
"The kids were corrupted and I couldn't get money for medicine..."
"My master..."
"My wife..."
I nodded and turned my eyes to Koni, the man who was hit by Onel's sword.
He was healed superficially, but he was panting because he couldn't recover his stamina.
It seemed the problem was being starved and overworked under the real bandits for a while.
"Yuis, divide our emergency rations."
"Okay."
Then Onel looked at me with a frown.
"You’ll give food too?"
"Yeah."
"Even if the reason is whatever, those who broke the rules set by nature."
"That's for Andres to punish on their own. For now, I'll use you as slaves, so I need to recover my stamina."
Yuis, Onel, and Stella looked at me as if asking what that meant.
I looked at the fake bandits.
The fake bandits who were eating the emergency rations Yuis gave or putting them in pockets carefully glanced at my eyes.
"Do you know this mountain well?"
Asked, Koni said.
"Yeah, we lived in this lower village before becoming bandits."
"A beast with black body and aura seeping out. Have you seen it?"
"Yeah."
"Do you know where it is?"
"Yeah. We drove it away."
I smiled as if I knew it would be like that, and Onel and Yuis hesitated.
Isn't that strange.
This chestnut mountain is where the origin boar had its territory.
The corruption here should be the worst, but they were doing banditry fine.
Their bodies were thin from severe malnutrition, but not corrupted.
"Will you take us there?"
"Yeah."
"But you won't eat the food?"
"Because the kids are starving..."
In this state of low stamina, climbing the mountain is dangerous.
I looked at Yuis.
Yuis flinched and narrowed his brows.
"Why. ...that."
"Give it."
"..."
"You brought it."
"..."
Yuis clicked his tongue and took out a pouch from his pocket.
Inside the pouch were snacks like chocolate.
The fake bandits' eyes widened at the expensive snacks that ordinary people don't see.
The bandits excitedly stuffed the snacks into their pockets haphazardly.
"Don't think about taking it, eat it. You'll need sugar to climb the mountain."
"The kids will like it..."
"My mother..."
"My wife..."
"Eat."
When I said firmly, the fake bandits looked dejected.
But soon, after eating the snacks, they had ecstatic expressions.
After confirming they were eating, I stood up.
And with the guidance of the fake bandits, I headed to the place where animals were.
The place we arrived was a cave.
At the entrance, Onel said.
"Is this the place where they drove the animals."
"Yeah."
Even after hearing the fake bandits, Onel had a suspicious expression.
Because he didn't feel any aura coming from the corrupted animals.
We entered the cave as is.
The entrance was small, so we didn't notice, but inside it was incredibly spacious.
Inside, there was a stream of water. It seemed the river had seeped in here.
We crossed the land made of sharp rocks and went inside.
And we reached a place like a cliff.
The water flowed down through a strangely sparkling stone.
"There."
The place the bandit pointed was below the cliff.
Below the cliff, water pooled, and animals were scattered there.
Besides boars, there were many other kinds of animals.
All seemed dead, quiet.
But it was strange.
Their skin wasn't as black as boars.
Other people also thought it was strange and looked at the bandits.
Onel asked.
"They are not origins."
"Origins...? Ah, because they're not black? If we drive them here, they'll become like that soon."
"...What?"
Yustea and Yuis looked at each other and exchanged glances.
'They've been purified?'
Yuis and Onel immediately went down the cliff.
The cliff was too steep and high, so Stella and I couldn't go down.
Since if they were corrupted, we could escape immediately and I would purify, there was no big problem.
The two people inspected the dead animals.
Even when touched, they weren't corrupted.
"...!"
"...!!"
They were definitely purified.
The fake bandits shouted.
"How is it? Any problem?"
"Should we eat? I couldn't eat because it was suspicious!"
While that was happening, I approached Stella.
And quietly said while looking at Onel and Yuis inspecting the animals below the cliff.
"You didn't come because you were worried about Onel."
Stella flinched and looked at me.
I glanced at her.
"I came to find the Purification Stone."
"What..."
"GM told you?"
"...!"
Stella's face hardened.
'As expected, it was with Stella.'
That damn GM.
***
Stella looked at Yustea with trembling eyes.
'How... how do you know friends?'
Friends were beings known only to herself.
Stella swallowed dryly.
"What... I don't know who GM is..."
"If you really didn't know, you should say 'what' instead of 'who'. I never called him a person."
"...!"
GM: Don't act stupid and calm down.
'How do you know me.'
What is it...!
Yustea had a calm face.
I had guessed early that GM was with Stella.
Aslan's future with Yustea and Dia.
GM was there.
From the context, it was clearly attached to Yustea.
'Because of mom, GM couldn't attach to me in this life.'
Then there's only one place to go.
The protagonist of the game, Stella.
"You came to find the Purification Stone to purify it?"
"..."
"Then you can lower the saint's authority."
"I..."
"Sorry, but."
Yustea moved briskly.
And stepped on the strangely sparkling stone between the water falling from the cliff.
Stella flinched and shouted.
"What are you...!"
At that moment.
Yustea kicked the stone and dropped it below the cliff.
Boom!
"...!!!"
With a dull sound, the stone cracked.
Stella's face turned pale.
"No! You knew what that was and did that?"
"It's the Purification Stone, of course."
A black almond-shaped stone narrowing up and down, sparkling in colors.
It was exactly the same as the Purification Stone I saw in the game.
"That's a treasure of humanity!"
"It's a weapon to oppress me."
"You did that for just one of you?"
"You came to find the Purification Stone for just yourself, so let's call it the same trash."
"Such...!"
"And this can't be taken out to the world. You idiot."
"What?"
"Ask your father."
Yustea shouted.
"Onel, that's the Purification Stone."
"...What?"
Onel looked up with a hardened face.
Yustea sighed.
"Since Stella came to find the Purification Stone, the two of you talk exactly."
Onel's gaze went to Stella.
Stella had a face that didn't understand the situation.
Yustea looked down at the bottom of the cliff.
"Even if it breaks, it should be usable for five days. Since I don't need the origins to be purified, I'll go. Yuis, come up."
Yuis immediately climbed the cliff.
Yustea left the cave as is.
Stella and Onel's gazes met.
Stella said with trembling eyes.
"Why... brother, why with that look..."
Onel closed his eyes tightly.
***
Inside the tent.
When Onel entered the tent, Stella hurriedly chased him.
"Brother, why are you like that. Huh?"
"What were you trying to do by finding the Purification Stone."
Onel's atmosphere was strange.
His voice, his eyes, everything.
Stella said.
"I was trying to help with the corruption..."
"Stay still."
"..."
"If it was revealed that the Purification Stone is in Andres, what would you have gone through?"
"You have to explain so that I..."
"That's evidence that the first lord of Andres stole the sanctity of the imperial family and the temple."
"What does that mean..."
At that time, Baron Yopis and Viscount Rochet rushed into the tent.
Baron Yopis asked.
"Is it true that the Purification Stone exists."
Viscount Rochet also said with a hardened face.
"Is there anyone else who knows about the existence of the Purification Stone."
Stella had been listening to everyone's conversation with a constantly bewildered face.
Onel closed his eyes and turned his head.
With his attitude, Baron Yopis and Viscount Rochet, who realized that the story of the Purification Stone was true, frowned.
"Why are you like that...?"
Stella asked, and Viscount Rochet said.
"That's evidence that the first lords of the seven families stole the sanctity of the imperial family and the temple."
"What...?"
"The Purification Stone is not just purifying corruption. It purifies magic power and divine power too."
"Then...?"
"Yes, it means you can't use magic."
The first lords of the seven families were on guard because they thought the imperial family and temple were colluding to erase magic and divine power from the world.
So, they stole the Purification Stone owned by the imperial family and temple.
It was similar to evidence of treason.
If it becomes known, the seven families will lose their status as meritorious subjects.
Stella, who heard the explanation, flinched.
"I didn't know..."
Baron Yopis said in a cold voice.
"If you had studied history even a little, it wouldn't have happened. The story reached the Marquis's ears too."
"What?"
At that moment, the communication stone rang.
The recipient was the Marquis Andres.