A Secretly Capable Child Is Seeking For Her Dad - Chapter 379

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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 379

“…What kind of village doesn’t have a single bird sound?”

Veil muttered as he looked over the fields bathed in the low glow of sunset.

As he said, the atmosphere in Norveldt had been unsettling from the river estuary that circled the domain.

Completely collapsed embankments everywhere.

Only traces remained of attempts to restore them by piling up soil, left unfinished.

That wasn’t all.

As if human footsteps had ceased long ago, weeds grew thick in puddles that had turned black from stagnant rainwater.

“Brother Veil! There are houses inside there!”

Just then, Tie, who was holding Livia’s hand, pointed somewhere and shouted.

When they turned their gaze, they could see collapsed houses inside the village.

Whether from typhoon damage, the houses were all abandoned with their roofs blown away.

Broken windows and shattered window frames were roughly blocked with planks.

“Not just a few weeks, but months. With that much support funding, reconstruction should have been completed with time to spare….”

Basto furrowed his brow.

Livia looked back at Veil with a half-doubting expression.

“Hey. This is the right place, isn’t it?”

Veil alternately looked at the map and surrounding terrain and nodded.

“I told you it’s right? The first village across the river.”

However, looking again, there wasn’t a single human shadow visible in the village.

It was so quiet that not even bird sounds or distant dog barking could be heard.

“Let’s go in further first.”

Under Basto’s decision, the carriage headed a bit further inside, toward the domain’s center where the Lord’s Castle was visible.

“Oh?! There are people!”

Tie, who was looking outside the window, shouted.

As Tie said, once they entered the center, human presence finally began to appear sporadically.

However, half the shops on the street had their doors closed, with only signs barely hanging while the interiors were dark and gloomy.

“Uncle Basto! There’s a square inside that alley over there!”

At that moment, Tie discovered a narrow passage between buildings.

Getting off the carriage and passing through the passage, a fairly wide square was revealed.

Unlike the village entrance, the square had quite a crowd and temporary barracks lined up.

“…What’s this, a place where disaster victims are temporarily staying?”

It was as Veil said.

In front of the barracks, people were gathered together, sitting around campfires they had lit.

“We should first ask about the whereabouts of the reconstruction workers.”

Aleric muttered.

“They would know best how much reconstruction has been completed and why damaged houses are still left as they are.”

Livia nodded.

She took out the entry pass she had received from Marishan.

“Excuse me.”

Then she stopped a woman who was passing by.

Livia asked with a calm smile.

“I’m sorry, but where are the reconstruction workers here? I’m looking for someone.”

The woman flinched and turned her head.

For a moment their eyes met, but the woman just lowered her head with eyes full of distrust and quickly left the spot.

“What’s that about?”

Confused, Livia made an expression as if bewildered.

She soon stopped another man who was passing by and asked the same thing, but,

“…I don’t know about such things.”

The man’s reaction was similarly the same.

He left the spot as if fleeing without properly making eye contact with Livia.

“Why is everyone acting like that?”

Aleric furrowed his brow.

“What’s so strange about looking for reconstruction workers….”

“Mister.”

That’s when it happened.

Nearby.

A man who was sitting alone in front of a temporary barracks sipping alcohol looked at the members and burst into laughter.

“Why are you looking for workers? Even carrying an entry pass. Did you also come to work?”

Basto’s pupils dilated slightly.

He looked around at the members then walked briskly toward the man.

“There’s someone I’m looking for.”

The man made a “huh” sound.

He let out a sneer and tossed the wooden stick he was holding.

“I don’t know who you’re looking for, but the workers aren’t here.”

He poured alcohol into the cup he was holding.

Then drank it all down in one gulp.

“When they first came, they just roughly set up temporary barracks and all went into the baron’s castle.”

“Into the baron’s castle?”

Aleric asked back with a suspicious expression.

The man glared at the ground as if displeased.

“Yeah. Workers we hired by scraping together funds with difficulty, and we can’t even see their noses….”

Tie and Livia’s gazes met.

Scraping together funds with difficulty.

Apparently, the money used to hire workers wasn’t support funding sent from the Imperial Palace or the baron’s personal funds.

“Damn it. It’s already frustrating enough that we lost all our crops from a year’s farming due to the typhoon, but we wasted the worker hiring fees too. Those guys didn’t even properly finish their work and went into the baron’s castle….”

The man made an “Agh!” sound and threw his cup to the ground.

“These barracks here, we all fixed them ourselves too. When it rains, water leaks through, and they get blown away by the wind at the slightest breeze!”

That’s when it happened.

“Master. Soldiers are coming!”

Marbas, who was hiding in Tie’s arms, whispered softly.

Livia heard Ppupppu in her backpack also make a barely audible “Kyet!” sound.

The members quickly turned their bodies.

Then, confirming the soldiers approaching from afar, they hid behind the barracks.

The man just shrugged his shoulders as if it was nothing special upon seeing them.

“Yeah. That’s a wise choice if you don’t want to get dragged away.”

Muttering something puzzling.

And soon Tie was able to understand the meaning of those words.

“Heave-ho! Alright! Everyone put them down over here!”

The approaching soldiers set down the food sacks and boxes they had brought to the open field in front of the barracks.

“Wait! Distribution isn’t yet!”

Then they began dividing the supplies while pushing back the people who had gathered.

The other two soldiers stacked empty boxes neatly and carried them into the barracks right next to where Tie’s group was located.

“Damn it, where are we supposed to find another mage?”

Their grumbling was transmitted with only a thin tent between them.

Tie looked up at the members while covering her mouth tightly with one hand.

The members were all also holding their breath and keeping low.

“Mages who were rare even in the Mastone era, how are we supposed to find so many in this northern countryside?”

“Shh, lower your voice.”

Through the tent’s shadow, the silhouette of another soldier raising his index finger toward the grumbling tall soldier was visible.

“Don’t you know your head will fly off if this reaches the Marquis’s ears?”

The tall soldier clamped his mouth shut.

Soon after, he threw down an empty wooden crate onto the ground and sat on it.

“No, but this is going too far. We’ve already found all the mages in this area. No one comes even when we post more notices…”

“…”

“Bring them whether they have skill or not. Will he only withdraw the order after another fire breaks out in the Marquis Castle’s basement like yesterday?”

“You’re still better off.”

The relatively short soldier who had been restraining the other muttered.

“I’m dying because the workers keep clinging to me asking when they’ll be allowed to go home.”

“What?”

The tall soldier asked back.

“Go home? Absolutely not! We’re already dying from lack of manpower.”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Without the workers, who’s going to catch those escaped ‘things’? We’re already going crazy dealing with the mages’ mess, and if other work gets piled on top of this…”

Silence fell.

The soldiers could be seen getting up from their seats and turning around.

The short soldier lowered his voice even further.

“…What can we do about it? When those above tell us to do something, we have to do it. Besides, it’s not like we can pull out now.”

He sighed and added.

“Think about it. If it’s revealed that all those ‘things’ rampaging in this area came from the Marquis Castle…”

Then he added, ‘Ugh, I don’t even want to imagine it. Obviously all our heads will be cut off too,’ as he left the barracks.

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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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