A Secretly Capable Child Is Seeking For Her Dad - Chapter 253
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A Powerful Child Searches for Dad Episode 253
“It’s quite moving to see all your faces gathered in one place.”
Ardiana’s voice echoed through the wide space.
The murmuring Danzu fell silent.
Ardiana walked to the front of the platform.
“A total of 63 invitations were sent to you. And the number of people gathered here now is also 63.”
Ripper furrowed his brow.
‘Everyone who received invitations responded?’
Of course, the content of the invitations couldn’t be ignored.
The blood that mercenaries had shed for the Empire.
The past when they were hardly recognized despite this and had to hide in the shadows.
She said she understood the injustices they had suffered, that she would establish a new order for them.
‘What mercenary could refuse that.’
Elanes whispered from beside him.
“Ripper. What’s going on right now?”
“I’ll answer that, Lady Elanes.”
Someone from below the platform climbed up next to Ardiana.
Hair braided long into a single plait.
The woman who appeared in modest attire said,
“I’m Adelin Caldenbain. I’m the young lord of Caldenbain Ridge and the deputy supervisor of the new national commission you’ll be undertaking.”
“National commission?”
A rough-looking man with short-cropped red hair asked back.
“Aren’t national commissions something even upper-tier mercenary groups have difficulty securing? Recently Agavert handled one.”
“That’s right. The recent national commission was the siege of the Clock Tower at the Royal Palace.”
“I know about that too. But you’re saying you’ll give such a national commission to me, no, to everyone gathered here?”
“Because that commission…”
Adelin, who had been speaking, looked back at Ardiana.
Then Ardiana picked up where she left off.
“Cannot be carried out with a small number of people. The scale of the commission is also larger than anything we’ve had before.”
The warehouse fell into silence.
No matter how large the scale of a commission might be.
They couldn’t quite grasp why everyone gathered here would need to participate.
“…Don’t tell me.”
Ripper, who had been frowning, stared at Ardiana.
“The apocalypse, something like that?”
Ardiana’s gaze reached Ripper.
“Otherwise it doesn’t make sense. Unless some Mastone large enough to cover the entire sky sprouted somewhere in the Empire, there’s no reason to need this many people…”
“No. It’s not like that.”
Ardiana began speaking in a calm voice.
“It’s simple. The first stage of the mission is to secure the armory at the western end of Jedo.”
Elanes furrowed her brow.
“Second is cutting off the supply routes leading to the Imperial Palace.”
Ardiana stepped down from the platform.
“Third is inspecting and stopping the communication network within Jedo.”
The hall fell into silence.
Even those who had been whispering closed their mouths and stared at Ardiana.
In the silence, Ardiana continued speaking with an unperturbed expression.
“Finally, the fourth would be… occupying the Imperial Palace.”
The sound of wind rushed in through the broken windows of the abandoned warehouse.
“Your Highness the Princess.”
Elanes awkwardly pulled up one corner of her mouth and stepped forward.
“Didn’t you just say this was a national commission?”
Ardiana turned her head.
“How is cutting communication networks and occupying the Imperial Palace a national commission…”
“It is a national commission.”
Ardiana’s eyes became calm.
“The only difference is that the ‘nation’ doesn’t refer to the Empire.”
As Elanes’s eyes widened.
Ardiana moved her steps among the Danzu.
“Have you ever wondered? Why are there so few casualties from Mastone appearances inside the Boundary of the Old Gods, in Jedo alone?”
One of Elanes’s eyebrows twitched.
“Well, since the area inside the Boundary of the Old Gods is small, probabilistically…”
“Yet Jedo hasn’t suffered any notable attacks from demons for decades. Why is that?”
Ardiana, who had approached the very center of the Danzu, spun around.
Her gaze swept across each of their faces.
“Because the Paladins guard the Boundary of the Old Gods like an iron wall? Because the Imperial Palace is defended by the Imperial Army? Or perhaps because of the consecrations by clergy dispatched by the Church?”
“…”
“All wrong. Let me tell you, having spent my entire life as royalty.”
Clouds parted and sunlight streamed down through the hole in the ceiling.
In the center of the light, Ardiana spoke.
“The reason this place inside the Boundary of the Old Gods is safe is because only here has been chosen.”
“…Chosen?”
“Mastones are corrupted forms of certain spiritual beings. The one who corrupted them is Pope Luciano of the Central Continent.”
Short gasps erupted from various places.
“Around the time Mastones began appearing. The Emperor of that era made a contract with the Pope. It was a promise that Mastones would not sprout around the land where the Imperial Palace was built.”
“Wait, wait a minute.”
Elanes approached Ardiana as if she couldn’t believe it.
She roughly loosened the tight collar of her top and said.
“Then you’re saying that all the people who died outside Jedo, that the damage inside Jedo was incomparably minimal compared to outside, was all planned? The royalty knew about this?”
“Not the royalty. Only the Emperor knew.”
Ardiana corrected.
She received something from Adelin and placed it on the broken marble fragment in the center of the warehouse.
“After the last national commission was completed. This is a contract found in the underground passages of the Royal Palace.”
Two old and worn sheets of paper.
Elanes was the first to pick up the papers.
When she flipped over what looked like a ceremonial document cover, the hidden writing inside was revealed.
[The seat of the sun shall not be stained by the footsteps of sacred beasts.]
Ardiana’s eyes darkened as she looked at the first sentence.
At first, she too didn’t know what that sentence meant.
But she realized it after Astie met the World Tree and learned of the Pope’s plan.
“Luciano has intentionally not caused Mastones to appear around the Imperial Palace until now.”
Elanes looked back at her in disbelief.
“B-but occasionally, Mastones did sprout inside the Boundary of the Old Gods…”
“Did anyone get hurt because of that? Were innocent lives sacrificed? Was there ever a single instance of noble children or royalty being harmed by demons?”
Elanes’s mouth closed.
There hadn’t been.
Those who were injured and died in battles within Jedo were always mercenaries or Paladins.
Among the imperial family, there had never been a single casualty, and the same was true for the nobles.
Of course, there were a few who had unluckily encountered monsters outside The Order and died…
“You have all been nothing more than marks carved on the Emperor’s dice until now.”
“…”
“A single stone dropped from the fortress wall. That’s all you amounted to.”
Elanes staggered from her seat.
Someone picked up the paper she had dropped, and other lords gathered around it.
Ardiana waited while they all read through the contract.
And only after a long while did she speak again in a low voice.
“Choose.”
Everyone looked at Ardiana.
“Will you die nameless once more in the shadow of a ruined nation, or…”
“…”
“Will you become the founding flame that rises by trampling the Empire’s ashes.”
The silence that settled over the warehouse continued for a while.
Meanwhile.
“Uweeeeek-!”
At the side railing of a large ship heading toward the Central Continent.
“Ugh, uweeek!”
“Veil, are you okay?”
Tie patted Veil’s bottom repeatedly.
“Child, ugh! You need to pat higher up! Uwek!”
“Huh!”
Tie quickly stood on her tiptoes.
Then she patted Veil’s lower back, barely able to reach it.
The child let out a sigh.
“Veil, you get seasick?”
“Huff… I don’t think so, but why is this happening? I haven’t eaten anything except one piece of bread…”
“What do you mean you haven’t eaten anything?”
At that moment, someone approached with lively steps from the athlete’s area.
“You ate the bread I gave you this morning, didn’t you?”
It was Livia.
Veil’s eyes widened as he glared at her.
“Come to think of it, that’s right. You witch, what did you put in there! Huh? Ugh, uwek!”
“…I didn’t put anything special in it? I didn’t know what spices to use, so I just sprinkled about seventeen different kinds evenly.”
“Seventeen kinds?”
Basto, who was standing nearby, stared at Livia in disbelief.
Livia quickly waved her hands.
“Hey, no! I gave it to both Aleric and this guy, but only this guy is acting like this. It’s not my bread’s fault, okay? Aleric is perfectly fine…”
“Danzu!”
Victor came running from the stern.
“This is bad. Aleric has collapsed!”
Tie’s eyes widened.
When she looked at Livia, she was blinking while holding a cocktail in her hand that had appeared from nowhere.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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