Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Introducing My Smart Friends!
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Good idea: bring them straight to our mansion.
Of course, there was a bit of a disagreement on the way while hauling the entire Sheraph Merchant Group to our mansion.
‘Are we really allowed to live here?’
‘Yeah. But our mansion has a ton of gears.’
‘Pardon? Gears? What do you mean?’
‘I mean the gearwheels! The ones on the mansion walls that spin around, and suddenly black magic manifests and you could die, so be careful.’
After that warning, they all huddled up in their rooms.
‘Black magic, big deal. They’re such weaklings!’
After assigning them rooms, I headed to Dad’s office where he was.
I absolutely needed Dad’s help for this.
Sure, my dad had the delicate heart of a baby, but he had one terrifying connection!
Back when we lived in the countryside.
I remembered one guy Dad introduced as a ‘farm tool maker’ who was actually a mage who’d modified illegal magic devices.
The one who’d been messing around in our barn making farm tools, got caught by me, and got kicked out.
‘That guy was a mage from the duchy!’
I worried Dad might get scammed again, but now that our position had changed, maybe we could put a leash on that guy.
‘To find him, I need a duchy mage.’
We weren’t countryside villagers anymore; we were part of the Mirmod family.
I narrowed my eyes and glared confidently at Dad.
‘Remember when you got scammed before?’
‘Huh? Dad’s been scammed so many times...’
Seeing Dad look at me with those gentle eyes made my heart ache.
‘I’ll catch that magic device maker who scammed my dad and make him my slave.’
I clenched my fist and said,
‘Hand over that illegal magic device maker’s contact info!’
‘Uh, uh...? Who?’
‘Remember? Back when we lived in the countryside!’
‘Uh, yeah...’
‘The guy who did scary experiments in the barn and caused a fire!’
‘That... yeah, there was. You remember that, Sien...’
Dad’s gaze shook like a sailboat caught in a storm.
I pressed my lips tight and looked at Dad as I said,
‘Give me that guy’s contact! Our lives depend on it!’
At the word ‘lives,’ Dad’s hands even started trembling.
‘With his fragile heart, how worried must he be about our future?’
Feeling bad, I poked Dad’s shoulder and said,
‘And I brought some scary friends who’ll help us?!’
The Sheraph Merchant Group folks from the duchy!
But at ‘scary friends,’ Dad’s face went pale again.
‘Oops, Dad hates hanging out with scary people!’
I quickly opened my mouth to turn things around.
‘No, smart—real—smart! Friends!’
The kind who’d turn around our feud with the temple, make Dad the properly recognized heir of the family, and solidify my position!
I bared my bunny front teeth and grinned widely.
Then, Dad, who’d been staring at me, ground his teeth and said,
‘Sien, our baby.’
‘Yeah?’
‘What’s wrong?’
I widened my eyes in a glare.
‘No, Dad! I’m not a baby. I’m a grown-up!’
Dad murmured in a low voice.
‘Yeah, our grown-up daughter.’
‘Why?’
For a moment, a strangely chilling smile crept onto his lips.
‘Where are those “smart” friends right now?’
‘...Huh?’
Why did Dad suddenly feel so terrifying?
My worry was brief as Dad smiled with a gentle expression again.
‘Just, Dad wants to meet those friends.’
‘Sure, they’re at our house, so you wanna see Dad’s friends too, right?’
‘Of course, of course.’
But why did I feel this chill?
***
‘You must be Sien’s dear friends.’
At the table.
I smiled faintly as Dad and I sat with the gathered Sheraph Merchant Group members. They looked extremely happy, though for some unknowable reason, they also seemed half-mad.
‘Are they that thrilled?’
It was a bit suspicious. Sure, Dad had a great face and build, but they didn’t need to grin ear-to-ear like that.
‘Oh, they must be excited thinking they’ll get investment from Dad!’
How had I not thought of this before?
I slapped my knee, making a loud noise. Everyone around turned to me at once.
‘What’s up, Sien?’
‘We’re gonna talk about what we’ll do going forward.’
‘What are we doing, daughter?’
Dad was the first to look at me attentively.
‘We’re gonna take down Count Yoter, the Crown Prince, and the Princess all at once with the paternity test incident!’
I cupped my hand by my mouth and smirked slyly. Dad tilted his head watching me.
‘Develop a paternity test kit and take down the Crown Prince too?’
‘Yup!’
A vague look crossed Dad’s face.
‘How does our child plan to do that?’
‘First, the Sheraph Merchant Group will help!’
At my words, the guild members nodded vigorously, heads practically falling off.
‘Yes, exactly! Of course we have to, have to help!’
I grinned broadly and clapped.
‘The Sheraph Merchant Group knows paternity testing perfectly! So after getting tested by them...’
‘But Sien.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Think about it, daughter. Count Yoter might find out we bought off the Sheraph Merchant Group. Maybe leave this to Dad...’
‘Yeah?’
As expected, Dad was smart. Sharp in all ways except his gullible, pushover side. But I raised my chin and said,
‘Dad, great point. But.’
I nodded toward the muscle maid sisters and smiled.
‘On the carriage ride here, our maid sisters handled it all! So Count Yoter won’t know we bought off the Sheraph Merchant Group!’
He’d even stuck spies on my tail.
But who are our maid sisters?
On the way bringing the Sheraph folks, the sisters slit the throats of those shady spies.
At that, Dad’s face twisted again.
‘They slit throats... and our baby saw it all?’
‘Yup! Super cool! Way more fun than goblin hunting games!’
Dad’s face darkened instantly. I grabbed his hand tight and said,
‘So Dad, no more worries for us!’
‘...R-Right.’
Dad looked at the Sheraph arrivals with a face full of worry and concern. They stared back at me and Dad in bewilderment.
‘S-So, what do we do next? We’re still making paternity kits, still looking for kit specialists, but is there more...’
I rested my chin on my hand and looked at them.
‘I plan to use the duchy-empire relations! And the Emperor-Crown Prince relationship too.’
Perfect timing—there was something in [Melodia’s Life] about it.
The current Crown Prince was named heir but hadn’t gotten proper recognition from the Emperor, so he was off to conquest wars and managing diplomacy and reputation.
I planned to smash the Crown Prince’s reputation with this ‘paternity test’ incident.
And to do that...
‘Alright, big sis, big bro!’
I clapped playfully and looked around at them.
Dad watched me suspiciously.
But Dad would have to get used to my devilish side soon enough.
‘Will I ever be able to tell Dad I’m reincarnated?’
Dad loved me tons, but I wasn’t sure he’d still after knowing I reincarnated.
I bit my lip and lifted my chin haughtily.
Right now, focus was on dealing with the Crown Prince, not revealing I’m reincarnated.
‘The answer is protests!’
‘Pardon?’
‘You two big sis and big bro here will do it!’
***
Biem and Teras from the Sheraph Merchant Group had been doing a one-person—no, two-person—protest near the palace since earlier.
Protesting under the scorching sun was tough, but recalling Sien’s words made their mouths water with motivation.
‘She said our paternity kits will soon dominate the continent.’
She hadn’t shared the method directly. But her oddly trustworthy tone had them enchanted into protesting.
‘But how long do we keep protesting?’
‘W-We do what the baby says, so keep going, right?’
‘She was so cute, though.’
Their faces lit up instantly.
The baby called ‘Sien’ was adorably cute like a tiny steamed bun, and her presence was a ray of comfort to them who’d lost everything.
‘Yeah, truly a ray of comfort and light.’
Holding their one-person protest signs high defiantly, they tilted their heads at the passing cargo carriages.
Would the ambassador and Crown Prince’s carriage pass on this quiet road with no guards?
Nothing was certain, but they straightened up holding signs reading [Major guilds stealing Everlasting Guild’s achievements, awaken!] [Awaken, you thieves of ideas!]
Just then, a suspiciously shady cargo carriage passed nearby.
***
‘Hmm... What’s that?’
Duchy high noble and empire ambassador Heinrich slightly lifted the carriage curtain, looking puzzled.
Curious by nature, he wanted to see everyday imperial life, so he rode a plain cargo carriage instead of a fancy palace one, with minimal guards.
The Crown Prince, riding with him and gazing out, followed Heinrich’s fingertip.
In their view were commoners—looking like plebs—boldly protesting outside the palace.
‘Ah, that. No need for the ambassador to worry.’
‘Hmm, I see.’
At Heinrich’s words, the prince’s face twisted slightly as he looked outside.
The duchy ambassador, watching him puzzled, leaned deeper into the carriage backrest and said,
‘More importantly, I want to get inside the palace soon and explain the Michel Mine to the empire’s nobles.’
At ‘Michel Mine,’ the Crown Prince brightened.
Truthfully, it was rare for the empire’s Crown Prince to meet a mere duchy ambassador, chat diplomacy, and host him personally.
But the reason this rare event was happening now was precisely the ‘Michel Mine.’