Chapter 187
Chapter 187
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 187
Chapter Title: Life is a Series of Escapes (11)
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A small cabin came into view in the distance.
According to what the princess had told me, there should be a carriage prepared there.
"You're here?"
Sure enough, things were going according to plan. The cat was waiting for me and came rushing over right away.
"Where's the young miss?"
"If you mean your benefactor, she's sleeping inside the carriage."
"Yeah?"
As expected of our little lady.
They say beauties are heavy sleepers—how much more beautiful does she plan to become?
Our little lady already exudes so much charm it's practically exploding!
At this rate, every man on the continent might come running after her.
Raising such a cute, pretty, lovable daughter is tough work.
I'd have to turn more than half the continent into enemies!
- Until then, we gotta raise that dragon hard. If it's a dragon, no one'll dare approach your little sister no matter how cute she is, right?
- She's only one year old. To raise her properly, it'd take a thousand years.
- If she can breathe fire at one year old, that's genius training success, isn't it? Let's make her the youngest dragon lord while we're at it!
- You're so scary because I think you'd actually do it.
- The master has to make her, right?
No way.
What's the point of creating something that dangerous?
No, even before that, I'd die in the process of making it.
For the rest of my life, I just want to live peacefully raising my daughter.
Kkoko will stick with her master, the little lady, once she's raised properly.
Dragons have consciences too—they'll repay the favor of being saved from the fate of fried egg.
- If we're talking favors, the master who almost turned a dragon into fried egg is basically the dragons' archenemy, isn't he?
- No one knows, so just keep your mouth shut.
It was just a one-time mistake almost turning a dragon into fried egg, but since no one knows, it's fine.
Ignorance isn't a crime!
- As expected of a villain's thinking...
Hey, I'm a full-time farmer now.
Villainy's a former job. Former.
The twin-horse carriage, though meant for cargo, had a surprisingly decent interior.
The floor was piled with plenty of straw, making it look soft and cushy. On top slept our little lady, radiating intense charm even without a blue filter.
"As expected of our little lady."
"She's my little sister, but she's a bit dangerous."
"You're the dangerous one."
I grabbed the hazardous element—now in human form, drooling over her with heavy breaths—and tossed him away.
"Kyaaang!"
"Eek!"
Thanks to the incoming iron bat, the cat let out a scream, but he'll understand it's for the little lady's sake.
Probably.
"Hmm..."
"Mommy..."
I turned to the cat as I gazed at our little lady and Kkoko, curled up together under several blankets.
"We need to travel as much as possible overnight, so hop on quick."
"Got it."
I smirked at the iron bat eyeing him warily, then carefully climbed into the carriage. I tidied up the windbreak on the carriage, tying it securely so no wind got inside.
The little lady's bed was important, after all.
"Alright, let's get going?"
I wrapped a few remaining blankets around myself and started whipping the horses' backs.
"So cold..."
Winter in the north is cold and swift.
In this perfect winter, the north was freezing enough to make you sleep eternally if you dozed off.
The little lady was fine, sleeping in the royal carriage sharing warmth with Kkoko, but I was exposed to the icy winter wind just to drive!
This wind was pure midwinter.
The bleak feeling of sitting on the frozen tail end of Two Pennies!
"Even a royal carriage can't help this..."
The seat was somewhat warm, probably from magic extending from inside, but the wind still chilled me.
At least they could've added a wind-blocking spell for the driver's side.
"You can do that?"
"The Empire could."
"As expected of that cheat empire!"
In the Empire, what the emperor or princess said became reality.
Not "just do it," but "peel it off" in action!
Magicians, wizards, artisans, soldiers—they all turned my nonsense into reality. Amazing experiences.
If it were there, they'd have definitely added wind protection to the carriage.
"That great Empire? We could head back right now!"
"Shut up."
"Come on, if it were Princess Sis, she'd round up death row inmates for me to iron-bat every day."
"Uh..."
The princess could definitely offer that as a reward for capturing me.
Strict laws mean few criminals, but with evil organizations like Howling everywhere, the Empire had plenty.
"You don't mean..."
If this guy really betrayed me, the moment I faced the princess, I'd be done.
End of my life.
"Master, you think I'd really abandon you?"
"Yeah."
"Th-that instant answer?"
The iron bat staggered, seemingly shocked, and started fake-sobbing.
"I've worked so hard for you! Did everything you asked! And this is how you treat me! I'm sad... sob sob."
"Sob sob? Where'd you learn that crap..."
"Eek! Don't you trust me at all? That's too much! I'm such a good boy!"
The iron bat switched from fake cries to whining the moment he was caught.
"Where's your conscience?"
"Never had one since birth? Conscience? What's that?"
"Heh."
Maybe I had nothing to say because I created this shameless guy.
I couldn't even respond to the iron bat puffing out his chest proudly—I just kept whipping the horses.
Hiiiing!
"Poor horses taking out master's anger."
"Not your place to say."
"Bad master who loses to horses and bullies them!"
Heh, what a rhyme.
He's so good, he could join our team.
"What team?"
"The Escape Team."
"Sigh, my fault for expecting anything."
Hiiiing!
I whipped the horses again to break the weird silence.
"Oh, snow."
"Not the first snow of the year, but... it's weirdly memorable."
"Yeah. First snow you've seen while running this year."
"Saying 'this year' feels off somehow. Am I imagining it?"
"Nope. Probably exactly what you're thinking."
"Meaning lots more running ahead?"
"The princess sis already knows, right?"
"The informant hero's in the princess's hands."
"And that hero's your disciple. A disciple who's survived dodging the Empire should at least outrun a kingdom, don't you think?"
"Whoa... what is this persuasive power?"
It felt like the hero could charge in any second.
I pulled the blanket tighter over my head to block the cold!
My feet got colder from losing some blanket territory, but I trusted my body's priorities and sacrificed.
"Run fast and it's colder, slow and it's cold longer."
"Stop and the hero catches us!"
"Ugh..."
"Regretting your life won't help now. Just focus on escaping well."
"True, but coming from you, it feels like a trap."
"Just your imagination."
It felt like imagination, but also like there was more.
"That's 'cause you already know what's coming, right?"
"Run! Run for your life!"
Hiiiing!
I smacked the two horses to pick up speed.
If snow piled up, the horses would slow; by morning, sun-melted snow refreezing could force us to abandon the carriage—worst case.
So we had to reach our destination, the Lübella City Union, as fast as possible.
"Master, even if the City Union has strong military power, the Empire's their biggest backer, right?"
The Lübella City Union was formed by generals and nobles from various countries to fight the demon tribe.
Thanks to that, it had military strength to rival one or two great powers, though not the Empire!
They had abnormally strong forces for their territory but lacked resources and food to sustain them.
Everything went into the military.
Normally, they'd starve, but churches hating demons pressured nations to support the union guarding the human-demon border.
Nations agreed, sending aid, allowing Lübella to survive as an independent union with backing from many countries.
Meaning no one messes with Lübella lightly, but Lübella can't ignore diplomacy either!
And the continent's strongest, Karan Empire, gives them top support—they can't ignore the Empire.
Especially for just catching one fugitive; Lübella would negotiate and hand me over!
Especially with my half-human, half-demon daughter!
"So the little sis is in danger too?"
"Yep."
"You jerk! Endangering your sister for your escape!"
The iron bat started kicking my calf.
As I said before, even if I don't feel others' horrific pain, pure physical force hurts me too.
"Ow!"
"I hit you to hurt! Taking my sister to such a dangerous place! Evil master!"
"No, I said we're going to Lübella City Union, not living there?"
"Huh? What're you talking about?"
I pushed away his kicking foot and proudly explained our real goal for Lübella.
"What did I say is Lübella's feature?"
"Alliance of cities with their own rules, strong military, even Empire can't send troops lightly."
I nodded at the iron bat who'd listened well.
"Right. And?"
"What's more?"
I made the head-tilting iron bat remember the key point.
"Why was Lübella created?"
"To fight demons, obvi—huh?"
I'd blocked him from reading my thoughts max, building curiosity to peak. The moment he got it, his silver eyes widened as he yelled.
"You're insane?"
"Hahaha, gotta do some crazy shit to escape that crazy princess's clutches!"
"I knew you were nuts, but this much!"
I smiled warmly at the rarely shocked iron bat.
"No, that smile? You really wanna die? You know their border hates humans as much as this one?"
"Hey, it's still a place with living beings. Demons live on the human continent; no rule says humans can't live on the demon continent."
"No rule. 'Cause no sane person would try!"
Hey, where I served had a cool legend.
Well, one of many cool legends.
That place full of legends.
One about a private cutting barbed wire and defecting at insane speed fully armed; another about no one noticing VIP guests knocking from above.
And one more: a civilian serving there successfully cut wire and crossed north!
I'd guarded that exact spot—had to admit, that guy's legendary.
Who'd actually climb up here!
And now, I'm putting that realization into action.
"Even the crazy princess wouldn't expect me to flee to demon territory!"
"Yeah. Even princess sis wouldn't think you're this crazy!"
"Hahaha, but I've prepared."
I pulled out my secret weapon for this day from my bosom.
"...What's that?"
"What else? Horns."
A demon horn headband gleaming dark red!
Made by dwarf hands, no less!
"You think that'll fool demons?"
"It's a dwarf product—trustworthy, right?"
"...So you got it made when you met the dwarves. When exactly?"
I answered the suspiciously eyeing iron bat matter-of-factly.
"Obviously, back in the organization days."
"As expected, master! You're thrillingly deranged! Planning to bolt to the demon continent from back then!"
I whipped the carriage again as the excitedly yelling iron bat went wild.
Snow falling on a white night.
Today, too, I was running hard.