Black-Haired Dad Isn’t Something You Reap - Chapter 234

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 234. What? Just Like This, All of a Sudden? (4)
Once Nanakda uttered words of concession, the others gathered in the conference hall wasted no time deliberating—they immediately discussed how to properly integrate me into the family.
Choco volunteered to prepare the ancestral rites, Madam Listo began drafting documents to induct me as the family’s advisory legal counsel, and Yupi Grandmother declared she would take the Jailers to Lorowi’s Workshop to persuade Lorowi himself to officially recognize me as an alchemist.
“Wait, there’s no need to rush like this. We can take our time….”
Suddenly anxious about the mounting responsibilities, I tried to dissuade them, only to have every talented person in the conference room glare at me. They bellowed that if this wasn’t urgent, then nothing in the world deserved urgency, and the Chief Attendant Grandmother seized my neck in a stranglehold as their representative.
“Gack! Kack!”
“Ugh, this is infuriating! If only I’d never known you from the start, I wouldn’t be so upset!”
“Better to die unseen! No, don’t die!”
“To be honest, Pisha is mostly at fault here.”
After thoroughly beating and cursing me, they declared the plan was set and rushed out of the conference room. Nanakda said he would arrange a meeting with Shirley and Croa first, then prepare bribes to tempt them….
Something about his demeanor reminded me of a groom preparing to meet his in-laws, and the feeling was peculiar. Shirley and Croa would probably sense my unease too. I hoped this wouldn’t snowball into a major commotion….
“….”
“….”
Everyone vanished, leaving only Father and me in the conference hall. Father withdrew a cigarette case from his inner pocket and offered me one.
“About time you craved one, wouldn’t you say?”
“No….”
I don’t smoke. But after being beaten and cursed by everyone, facing a busy future and mounting responsibilities pressing down on my shoulders, my chest felt suffocatingly tight. Could a cigarette possibly relieve this sense of helplessness?
“Sigh… Well then, just one.”
“Good thinking.”
Father and I went to the parking lot near the back exit of the conference hall, placed cigarettes between our lips, and lit them. Father drew on his cigarette with obvious pleasure, so I inhaled the smoke deeply as well.
“Cack! Kack! Cough!”
“Haha, you shouldn’t strain yourself like that from the start.”
Under the guidance of an experienced instructor, I began by simply holding the smoke in my mouth. I couldn’t swallow it down my throat, but exhaling it with a soft breath felt refreshingly soothing. So this is why people smoke.
“…I won’t have any freedom for a while, will I?”
“Probably not.”
I still had to prepare for the coronation ceremony—how many ceremonies would I have to conduct in total? Regardless, this culture of holding events and ceremonies needed to be curtailed. Take the ancestral rites held on Halloween, for instance. In the old days, people simply prepared a few modest dishes their ancestor spirits enjoyed, but now families and nations had transformed it into extravagant displays of wealth and power.
I believed this was a harmful tradition that needed to be abolished. When I boldly stated this to Father, he exhaled pale smoke and smiled at me with amusement.
“Why don’t you tell those people that again?”
“Because I can’t, so I’m smoking instead!”
“Haha.”
There he goes again! Always watching me and finding entertainment in it! I kicked Father’s shin and tried to toss my finished cigarette to the ground, but he quickly produced a portable ashtray and opened it for me.
“Father actually has decent common sense and manners.”
“I have nothing but common sense and manners.”
“Yeah… that’s true.”
I didn’t want to argue further, so I gave a brief reply and returned to the Princess Palace. As expected, starting the next day, a rush of ceremonies and events began.

✦ ✦ ✦
The moment the clock struck 6 AM, I was dragged out of bed and had to prepare the ritual ceremony with Choco. Normally, they said we needed to inform not only our ancestors but also the celestial deities of our master-disciple relationship. Since only the Four Great Creator Deities were worthy of such a title, it was deemed appropriate to conduct the ceremony at the Hour of the Rabbit to honor them.
“Now, offer the incense.”
“Huh? Incense? Offer? What does that even mean?”
“Light the stick and place it here.”
“Why, why do I have to do this?”
“I wouldn’t know—you’d have to ask the Southern Region deities about that.”
When Netcha arrives, maybe I’ll ask while we’re at it. Choco and I offered incense together, poured wine, bowed toward the four directions, then offered wine and tea to Netcha’s ancestral tablet and bowed again.
The Immortal Sect’s initiation procedure is incredibly complicated. In martial arts novels, nine bows and you’re done.
After pouring tea into the tablet’s cup with the entire kettle, dividing wine into three cups, and performing several more Southern Region-style bows, Netcha descended into the Mortal Realm in a semi-transparent state.
-Wow, Choco really went all out this time, didn’t she? There’s only my favorite foods here.
“I went downtown and brought back a Southern Region chef.”
-Kidnapping people without rhyme or reason—that’s pure Immortal Realm style. I like it.
Did everyone in the Immortal Realm where Netcha lived just abduct people? When I asked with a hint of unease, mini Choco with her dumpling-shaped head answered while devouring a giant dumpling.
-Of course. Time flows differently between the Immortal Realm and the mortal world, so by the time you finish training, your family and everything else will be long dead. Usually, they just grab friends who have Immortal Bones without asking permission.
Ancient science fiction is terrifying. Anything with “ancient” attached to it isn’t not terrifying.
-Well then, having enjoyed a full meal, we should begin the ceremony.
Now we’re starting? Then what was all of that until now? Preparation for the start? I’m convinced the best approach is to avoid getting entangled with the Southern Region. Why is every ritual so complicated?
-First, Choco and Pisha, exchange bows with each other.
Exchange bows? That’s when you bow while looking at each other, right? But why would a master and disciple exchange bows? Isn’t that a bit odd?
Anyway, since Netcha commanded it, Choco and I bowed together. After three bows, Netcha poured wine into a single cup and told us to share it.
“You mean we drink from the same cup together?”
“If it’s Choco, it doesn’t matter, but if it’s someone I don’t know well, I’d feel uncomfortable.”
We exchanged bewildered glances and shared the wine. Then Netcha cleared her throat with a loud cough and pulled out a paper from her pants pocket covered in an incredibly long passage of text, which she began to read.
-Ahem. Well then, on this auspicious day, I, as a senior in life, shall offer a few words to these two young people who have entered into a hundred years of harmony together.
“Do people use the phrase ‘hundred years of harmony’ between master and disciple?”
“Who knows?”
-First, bride Pisha, do you promise to protect Choco from the torment of Ende Chiron and Croa for the rest of your life?
“What?!”
Wait! Hold on—why am I the bride?! Both Choco and I were baffled and demanded to know what kind of situation this was. Netcha’s eyes widened in surprise, and she said something strange.
-Didn’t you come to officiate the wedding?
“It’s a master-disciple bond ceremony! Not a wedding! A master-disciple ceremony!”
-Eh? When you form a master-disciple bond, don’t people usually get married?
“No! What kind of world does masters marrying disciples become normal in?!”
-Since ‘The Immortal Sect Romance’ onwards.
“Stop watching martial arts novels!”
Choco, fed up, grabbed Netcha’s ancestral tablet and hurled it far away. Netcha disappeared with a fading sound, but soon returned with the tablet carefully retrieved and picked up the wine bottle.
-Well, can’t be helped then. Here, each of you give a drop of blood and share the drink.
This made me uncomfortable in its own way. But since an ancestral deity commanded it, we had no choice but to pour the wine, and after downing the strong liquor in one shot, we successfully formed our master-disciple bond.
Of course, Choco, having overindulged, passed out cold right after.
The priest’s bonding ceremony had concluded, yet the succession of events demanding my attendance showed no signs of abating. I was invited to the Risto Family Estate to preside over the inauguration of the hereditary torture consultant—a position filled by one member per generation—and summoned by Lorowi to receive an official alchemist’s staff and a palanquin of my own. With nowhere to place the palanquin, I’d simply set it in my bedroom, but it was absolutely dreadful from an interior design perspective, and I desperately wanted to establish a separate alchemy workshop soon.
After that, I was dragged along to Genie Teacher, where I inscribed my name on the disciple roster and received alum for divination work. I also found myself promising to attend star-divination lessons once a week.
Having rushed about in all directions, I met Nanakda to obtain permission from Shirley and Croa before entering the Dharma Religion. The man was laden with gift boxes in both hands and a fruit basket piled high.
“Phew, I’m nervous.”
Ever since last time, isn’t it strange how meeting my prospective bridegroom and life partner feels less like that and more like meeting my future in-laws?
I was about to point this out, but the moment the largest reception room door in the Princess Palace swung open, Nanakda clamped his mouth shut, convinced he’d done nothing wrong.
Croa and Shirley, seated at the head of the reception room, looked exactly like in-laws who’d come prepared to find fault with a prospective son-in-law.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————