Chapter 151
Chapter 151
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 151
Chapter Title: 15. Adding Insult to Injury? (12)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Just a little while earlier.
I had definitely made up with my adorable daughter, and thanks to that, I fell asleep with her hugged tightly in my arms.
That was around 10 p.m.
Considering her usual summer bedtime was 8 p.m., 10 p.m. made sense.
And naturally, I woke up at dawn.
That was roughly 4 a.m.
With my life as a farmer who had to wake up early in the morning, plus my training schedule, my body had adjusted to rising at 4 a.m.
So, from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., I had slept about six hours.
But during those six hours, something had happened.
I first realized it because of a lumpy sensation.
It was weird. Really weird.
There was definitely no one beside me except my daughter.
So what was this soft, squishy feeling?
The moment I felt that texture, all sorts of thoughts flooded my mind.
Had my daughter gained weight?
Had her face swollen up overnight, giving her this puffiness?
Or was it like that scenario I mentioned before—waking up to find the imperial princess grinning and asking if I'd woken up?
Had I become so dull that I didn't even notice someone breaking into my house?!
After all those thoughts, I finally let everything go and decided to open my eyes.
What I saw was a stunningly curvaceous woman I'd never seen before, hugging me in her sleep.
She was really a complete stranger.
Yet she felt familiar.
Her long pink hair gave me a sense of déjà vu, like I'd seen it somewhere.
Her face, eyes closed as she slept hugging me, seemed new but oddly familiar.
Even the voice mumbling "Daddy, Daddy" from her lips was unfamiliar, yet rang a bell.
"Stop denying reality."
As I agonized over it, Ar's voice started chiming in.
"My master and I are one! I know what you're thinking!"
"No way, that can't be..."
"Hmph, jumping to conclusions and denying reality already.
Sure, she looks familiar, but she's a stranger.
That's gotta be it.
This person, this person!
"There's no way she's my daughter!"
With trembling hands, I slightly lifted the blanket.
I saw pajamas with several buttons popped off due to an extremely large certain area.
Very familiar pajamas.
And since they weren't affected by the Gomu Gomu fruit's effects, the size was exactly the same.
Lately, I'd been sewing my daughter's clothes a lot because they kept stretching— was this foreshadowing?
"Then..."
First hypothesis: My daughter was a spy all along.
But that was...
"Impossible."
If she was a spy pretending to be a child to lower my guard, she would've been caught at our first meeting.
No one can maintain an illusion under Ar's attacks.
Unless...
"It's a dragon or something..."
The only ones who can perfectly transform into humans are beastkin nobles or dragons capable of polymorph.
But beastkin can only shift between animal and human forms—they can't go from child to adult.
So, second hypothesis: My daughter was a dragon!
Does that mean my skin will improve, my eyesight and hair too?
And I'll grow taller and more handsome!
"Even then, Master's in his forties. A few years and it'll be fifties."
"Ugh."
My chest ached at Ar's blunt fact.
"Plus, if Master gets younger, your big sisters will love it even more, right?"
"No, it's already beyond 'like'."
There was definitely a time when Siana the imperial princess liked me.
But over time, it turned into possessiveness, then obsession.
Her obsession with me now feels similar to the crown princes vying for the throne.
"She'll be even worse?"
The imperial princess who kicked away the throne of the continent's strongest nation, Karan Empire, and Sia, who seems to have something on par with that.
Compared to them, the empire's crown princes are cute.
"Huh? Doesn't Master have a high elf who likes him too? What about that big sis?"
"That fatalist is obsessive in a different way."
Logically, that crazy elf seems the least scary, but in some ways, she's more terrifying than the princess or Sia.
Musubi's already squeezed dry, and she doesn't even know it.
Typical unchanging elf.
"Anyway, the story's veering off. You think little sis is a dragon?"
"It's not impossible."
Yeah, not impossible.
I could've coincidentally picked up a dragon wounded in some big incident, amnesiac.
"It's nonsense, but with Master, it's possible."
"Right? Even I think it's bullshit, but somehow it could be?"
I nodded along with Ar's nod.
It's ridiculous, but reality always throws ridiculous situations at me.
"But even if she's a dragon, there's no reason for her to grow this suddenly. And this appearance..."
"Appearance?"
"I saw a description of this exact race back when I was in the empire."
Besides the obviously grown body, there were two more distinctive features.
Small but definite horns protruding from her head.
And something long twitching under her pants!
"No way, little sis has reproductive organs there!"
"You idiot, what crazy race has genitals popping out of their butt! It's obviously a tail, a tail!"
I yelled at Ar so loud I almost forgot my daughter was sleeping.
What, I don't know about butt-genital monsters either!
"This is definitely... succubus traits."
Succubus.
Even in my previous life, they were a common female monster stimulating men's fetishes.
And they existed here too.
One of the demon tribes living on the Demon Continent, not human lands—a dream-manipulating race.
Currently, the demon race's only endangered species.
"Why is such an ultra-rare race our daughter?"
I recalled from books that succubi were on the brink of extinction.
Their race is all female, no males.
They intermarry with other races, but once they do the deed, the male usually falls to their unique charm, drained of life essence and dies.
So even among demons, succubi are avoided, and with no abilities beyond charm and dream manipulation, they've weakened to near extinction—famous enough for humans to know.
So why is one here?
"Why? Because Master's here."
"Stop with the convincingly bullshit excuses! It makes it seem like all this is really my fault!"
I gripped my head with trembling hands.
This is absurd.
How absurd? Like a polar bear, endangered Arctic animal, opening my fridge and chugging Pepsi.
Utterly impossible.
"Unless it's not a pure succubus?"
Succubi, born to devour men, supposedly mature into adult form by age 12 past 10.
But I'd slept with my daughter through winter, and this was the first time seeing her grown.
So, my daughter isn't a normal succubus...
"A half-breed?!"
Do half-succubi even exist?
I thought their strong genes and traits override the father's completely.
"How strong was our little girl's real dad to break through a succubus's power and pass on his genes!"
"So. What are you gonna do with little sis, Master?"
"Hmm... Dump her?"
"Wow, look at Master's personality..."
Ar's gaze turned ice-cold.
The occasional human trash stare she gives me.
"No, even I can't take down the Demon King for my daughter—I'm not that strong!"
"...Master, even if our souls are linked and I can read your thoughts roughly, sudden bullshit is hard to handle."
Hah, sudden bullshit? I'm stating the obvious.
"Listen up. If a new family member suddenly turns out to be a demon, high chance they're tied to the Demon King."
"First time hearing that logic?"
Ar tilted her head, frustrating me.
How obvious a cliché is this?
If there's a demon nearby, assume at least Demon King's subordinate, right?
No, subordinates would be lucky—more often it's the Demon King's daughter or the King themselves.
"No, how many Demon Kings are there for every kid you pick up to be one?"
But Ar didn't get the obvious.
Time for a simple explanation.
"Simple explanation."
"Okay."
I pointed at the wall.
Precisely, toward the Sword Saint grandpa next door.
"How many previous Sword Saints?"
"One."
"Where does he live?"
"...Next door."
Now, I pointed at the dragon curled up sleeping near my daughter.
"Dragons common?"
"Uh... rare?"
"But where'd this come from?"
"Bought the egg at the next village market for 7 silver..."
"You can buy dragon eggs for 7 silver?"
"No way?"
With my perfect logic and Ar increasingly convinced, I finally pointed at my daughter... Ellis, now too voluptuous to call little girl.
"Rare race hard to see even on Demon Continent right here? Can't be Demon King?"
"Ga, guess it could..."
Trembling, Ar admitted defeat.
"What is this dump? Legendary hero could pop out any second and it wouldn't be weird!"
"I don't know! I'm scared too! What is this?!"
Ar's words left me clutching my head and groaning.
But I couldn't move vigorously—waking her now would cause chaos seeing her sudden change.
Even if she sleeps soundly once out, caution was needed.
"Ugh... Damn, what to do?"
Back then—no, anytime with those backstabbing disciples, I'd ditch and run.
But this is Ellis. My adorable daughter.
Proud possessor of cuteness and charm beyond those nuisances.
"Master's personality, hesitating to ditch such a daughter on the spot."
"Ah, stop killing the mood."
She ruined my 'To raise or not to raise, that is the question!' moment.
"Seriously, give up?"
"Hmm..."
Looking down, I saw her pleasant expression as she hugged me.
Damn. Already lethally cute and alluring, now sexy too—my daughter, but worrying how many guys will swarm her later.
"Nice. Dad charms continent's women, daughter hooks continent's men—world peace."
"Faster to beat you for world peace."
"Awesome, do it!"
Sighing at Ar's glee over my offhand remark.
"Seriously, what to do with daughter."
Naturally, I reached out and stroked her hair like always.
Head a bit bigger, hair longer, but texture the same.
Oh, right.
"No hero's really gonna pop out, right?"
Nah, no way...
#15 Their Circumstances: Some Hero's Circumstances.
"Achoo!"
"Hero?"
I waved off Hill's worried gaze.
"No, no, not a cold."
"Even in summer, the weather's chilly—be careful."
"Yeah."
I nodded to the concerned Hill.
She said casual speech was fine since it's inconvenient, but insists on polite—priestess through and through.
"When will the rain stop?"
Following the oracle to Belselk Kingdom was good, but no more oracles since.
Even for a small kingdom, without knowing the oracle's will precisely, we travel on—but this rain.
"Still, not bad, right?"
Better than old Evil Organization days or fighting siblings over family succession—peaceful travels with comrades.
But.
"Why so uneasy..."
Staring at the rainy window, growing anxiety— just my imagination?
Probably.