How to Replace Dad
It was suspicious from the start.
Antonio's squad was the type that would be called simple and brutal for their attack specialization.
But there are strong members in special forces too.
The one who led the girls today was one of them.
Her instincts were sharp, and she had talent for perimeter security and searches.
'If the girls had resisted the kidnapping, Chari would never have missed the sound.'
So, I assumed there might have been no resistance.
The girls stared at Nicola with bewildered faces.
'So, Nicola was the one leading the girls.'
Nicola's lips trembled.
But soon, she turned her head away with a resolute look and stared stubbornly at the floor.
She wouldn't say anything.
'That's a problem.'
The test I was taking wasn't because I really thought I could live as Aslan's adopted daughter.
After all, when Aslan saw his real child, I would naturally be discarded.
So, the true purpose of this test was different.
'Not as an adopted daughter, but as the top subordinate.'
I had to work really well so that I wouldn't be thrown away.
That way, when the protagonist's elite guard comes to steal my organs later, I can help them.
For that purpose, this test had to help 'drive out the ungrateful San Miguel.'
I stared stubbornly at Nicola, who was ignoring me.
"I understand. Money is important, so if you give me money, I might be able to sell my honor."
"...!"
A crack appeared on Nicola's expression.
Her straight eyebrows twitched.
"...What did you say?"
"Ah, I misunderstood. I wasn't blaming you."
I waved my hands in panic, and Nicola licked her lips.
"It's impossible to exchange a few coins for honor."
"But you did exchange it, didn't you?"
"...Hey."
Nicola's expression was boiling.
The other girls were looking at me with displeased faces.
'I didn't expect this from a proud nobleman.'
Even though I grew up under the shadow of the head of the Baul Merchant Guild.
I attended social gatherings as the eldest daughter of the Andres Marquisate.
After being exiled from the family, I had to act like a fierce market woman in my own home.
In other words, I was quite confident in what they call street smarts.
And...
'Nicola is the type to be stimulated like this.'
I knew from playing the game.
About the girl named Nicola Donati.
Nicola Donati, the eldest daughter of Baron Donati. The family became poor due to her younger brother's illness, but in her childhood, she received top-tier education in San Miguel.
She had a strong pride.
So, if she was stimulated like this...
"I didn't sell my honor for money...!"
She would definitely get angry like this.
I smiled faintly.
"Then, is the exchanged honor the life of her younger brother?"
"...!"
Bingo.
* * *
Nicola flinched.
She turned her head with a startled face and clenched her fist.
I bent my knee to meet her gaze.
"Your younger brother is in pain, right? For a very long time. So, you needed money."
"...I don't know what you're talking about."
"The other girls probably sacrificed their lives for something more precious than honor."
"What do you know? Since I have nothing to say, you're trying to dig deeper...!"
"I know."
"... ."
"I feel the same way."
Nicola and the girls looked at me with trembling eyes.
I smiled.
"I am Yustea Andres."
The girls looked at me with surprised eyes.
Some of them took a sharp breath.
Andres is a great noble family.
And someone who was exiled from such a family is in a position like a famous celebrity in the society page.
Most citizens of the empire know me.
What crime I committed.
And how I'm living now.
"It seems like I've done everything. I have people I need to protect."
"... ."
The girls lowered their heads or tightly closed their eyes.
Nicola's lips trembled.
After a while, she slowly opened her mouth, still holding both hands tightly.
"...It's Dia-nim. Your mother."
"You know my mother?"
"The legendary Dia-nim who single-handedly built the Baul Merchant Guild left a great impression on us."
Nicola stared at me with a neutral face.
"Is it funny that someone like us would idolize Dia-nim?"
"No."
"... ."
"My mother also knows someone who values something more precious than honor."
Nicola swallowed hard.
"I, no, we... ."
At that moment.
"Stop with the nonsense!"
Sharp voice, and Marina and her search team appeared.
They came much faster than expected.
Probably, the San Miguel Marquis or his subordinate was eagerly gathering information about the situation.
After all, it was urgent.
Because if the girls' abductor was revealed to be the San Miguel Marquis, it would be a big problem.
As evidence, Marina's face was flushed with anger.
"We came to take you. Come out."
Marina had a high-handed attitude.
The girls looked at Nicola as if asking what to do.
But Marina was fast.
"I said we came to take you. Me."
The emphasis on "me" meant "do as I promised."
Follow Marina's words.
That promise.
The girls' shoulders twitched at the threatening voice.
"Nicola-ya... ."
The girls looked at Nicola as if asking what to do.
Nicola stood up.
It meant she would follow Marina.
'I thought she would definitely lose from the start.'
Before the test started, I had expected Marina and the Marquis to do something to the girls.
Perhaps bound by contract, or maybe not.
'Using Geum-sul to bind them.'
They will follow Marina's orders in exchange for the price. If not, they will have to pay the price.
Like this.
My search team asked with bewildered expressions.
"What did you do to the young ladies over there?"
"Little teacher, is there no way?"
I sighed.
"I'm sorry for you all."
When our search team was grinding their teeth with angry expressions, I continued with a sad face.
"It would be tough to carry them."
"Eh?"
"What?"
The surprise wasn't only on our side.
Marina and her search team, and even the girls, stared at me with wide eyes.
I clapped once neatly.
"Well, let's kidnap them."
Only the Marquis knows how to kidnap?
We can kidnap too.
"...!"
"...!!"
Marina froze, and Marina's search team was bewildered.
In the meantime, our search team started carrying the girls and running.
"I'm glad the little teacher is cool."
"Good, let's go."
The search team burst into hearty laughter.
* * *
"Waaaaaaa─!"
Antonio's squad, who was watching the scene, shouted in excitement.
Marina and her search team were shocked.
But Yustea's search team was carrying the girls as if it was nothing and running.
Some were leaping over rocks, and others were climbing the cliff with the girls on their backs using both hands.
The cliff was hard to climb with the bodies of fifteen girls, so Yustea was also hanging on the search team's back.
But it was strange.
"What is the little teacher doing?"
She stretched her hand and groped the rock.
And...
Thud!
Ah!
She threw it at the search team members of Marina who were chasing and reaching out wildly.
The search team members of Marina fell and groaned while holding their foreheads.
"Fuhak...!"
The subordinate under the deputy leader, who couldn't help but laugh, hurriedly covered his mouth.
It was because the squad members under the deputy leader gave him a look.
The subordinate who had laughed let out a cough.
"It wasn't just me who laughed."
"You laughed."
"Everyone is twitching their lips."
"... ."
Actually, it was understandable.
Those search team members of Marina were soldiers planted by the San Miguel Marquis.
Or, we thought they were secretly hidden, but their identity had long been revealed.
They were serious elite soldiers who couldn't hide their backing.
Missing training.
Stealing military operation funds.
Ignoring superiors, etc.
They made the squad members boil with all sorts of petty behaviors.
Seeing those petty people in a situation they couldn't imagine was really...
'Fun.'
Yustea had a talent for making the opponent's blood boil.
While pushing Marina's search team member with her toes,
"Sorry if the wig comes off. But baldness isn't embarrassing."
She said pitifully.
But it wasn't only Yustea who had a way to turn people inside out.
Yustea's search team also had similar talent.
They giggled while adding,
"Baldness is black bean."
They added words that didn't need to be said, making Marina's baldness team sad.
The squad members under the deputy leader lowered their heads and trembled.
"Uha hak!"
Antonio and his squad members were rolling on the ground, holding their stomachs.
In the scene, Marina shouted with a mix of anger.
Thanks to that, Marina and her search team were completely enraged.
"Stop it! Come down right now!"
Yustea glanced at her.
"You came up."
"Kidnapping the young ladies. Are you out of your mind?"
"You did it too, so why can't I?"
"This...!"
She didn't support one word.
Antonio smiled broadly and looked at the deputy leader.
"You can laugh openly. Why are you pretending?"
"It's noisy."
"It's fun? I thought something was up when they chose only the big ones before the test started, but I didn't think you'd think this."
"You were the one who doubted the choice."
"Anyway, amazing."
"It's not all."
"Eh?"
The deputy leader looked at the pale San Miguel Marquis.
The San Miguel Marquis was trembling with both fists clenched.
As Yustea expected, the girls had been bound.
The conditions were as follows.
Until the test ends, follow the words of Marina and the San Miguel Marquis. Do not testify about any facts related to the incident.
But if they carry the girls and run away?
Since it has nothing to do with the girls' will, they have to leave their bodies to the situation.
The binding itself becomes useless.
Moreover.
"Nicola-ya, you don't have to say the contents of the incident. If it's wrong, you can refute it."
The deputy leader chuckled.
That smart girl probably guessed the binding details from the short conversation with Nicola.
So, if you can't testify, it means testify to not doing it.
"This is not a kidnapping, is it?"
At Yustea's words, Nicola tightly closed her eyes.
She agreed.
"The Chari who came to protect you has nothing to do with this incident."
"...."
"You got into the carriage because of coercion."
"...."
"And the person who coerced you is─."
Nicola looked at Yustea with eyes filled with tears.
The words that they idolized Yustea's mother Dia were not false.
Especially Nicola.
She had scraped and carefully kept Dia's knights.
Her poor family, sick younger brother, deepening parents' worries.
All of it, she opened the scrapbook to gain strength against her oppressors.
I was wrong.
My way of life is similar to this strong woman.
She said that even when pain eats away at the body beyond the heart.
But if you don't give in, it will become an opportunity.
I admire her. I will become a person like her.
I thought that over and over.
But the one who resembled her the most was...
'After all, your daughter.'
Like you, your daughter also gives me courage.
So, I could shout.
"The San Miguel Lord! He bound us with Geum-sul and made us follow his orders!"
Nicola shouted in anger.
"I received the younger brother's medicine fee! I didn't want to, but he said that if I didn't, he would make all the doctors in San Miguel not treat my younger brother!"
Nicola glared at the relay magic device floating around Yustea.
"I didn't sell my honor for money...!"
Kyaak!
Nicola screamed.
It was because the Geum-sul spell's energy rose over her body and attacked her.
A powerful Geum-sul made by hiring a skilled Geum-sul master.
The vicious power flashed as if it would burn away the breath of anyone who breaks the contract without leaving a trace.
Kw aang─!
Because of the lightning strike, the squad member surrounding Nicola missed her.
"Nicola-ya!"
"Nicola-nim!"
The girls screamed while crying.
But Nicola didn't fall.
Yustea quickly received the falling Nicola from the squad member she was hanging on.
Wherever her body touched Nicola's, it trembled with pain.
Yustea's face distorted mercilessly from the severe pain.
But she never let go of Nicola.
"Little teacher!"
The search team shouted, but Yustea stubbornly hugged Nicola.
Antonio, who was watching the scene, flinched and stood up.
It wasn't just him.
Antonio's squad, all the squad members under the deputy leader.
And the deputy leader stood up in a hurry.
"Let go, little teacher! You'll die together!"
At that moment.
Ki i i ─.
A strange cry came from somewhere.
Two giant eagles appeared cutting through the sky and circled above Yustea who was holding Nicola.
"Eagles... ."
Antonio muttered as if mesmerized, and someone shouted.
"Sunlight, Abyss...!"
"The Marquis's eagles!"
Sunlight and Abyss.
Two guardian beasts raised by the Marquis himself.
They descended to Yustea's feet with strange trajectories.
Then, a formation was completed in the air following the trajectory made by Sunlight and Abyss.
The Geum-sul formation surrounding Nicola cracked with a cracking sound.
And finally...
Crack.
"Waaaaaaa─!"
It completely cracked and disappeared without a trace.
Antonio sat on the stairs with a dazed smile.
"As expected, it ends at the perfect timing."
Yustea's search team ran towards her.
"Little teacher, are you okay?"
"Look. How is it? Huh?"
Yustea nodded with a dazed face.
The squad members let out a sigh of relief.
In the scene, only Marina had a completely dead, dark face like a corpse.
And another person in the relay station.
The San Miguel Marquis also sat on the floor in shock.
The Marquis's mouth twitched.
"T, the Marquis... why... ."
"You were watching, right?"
The answer came from the deputy leader Lorenzo.
He strode towards the Marquis.
Behind the deputy leader, Antonio, who was massaging his neck, was with him.
The two looked down at the Marquis, who was sitting and trembling.
"Since all these people have witnessed the evidence of the Geum-sul, there is no escape hole."
"Escape?"
Antonio, with his knees bent, grabbed the Marquis's collar and smiled.
"Instead of doing that to Chari, taste this."
The Marquis pushed his body back with his palm and looked at deputy leader Lorenzo.
"L, listen to me. I... so I... ."
"I'm sorry, but."
"D, deputy leader... ."
"We are always faster with actions than words."
His neck was cut off by the deputy leader's sword in front of him.