Black Killer Whale Baby - Chapter 174

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 174
I lowered my eyes to conceal my true thoughts.
“However, I’ve just returned from a long journey and am exhausted. Would it be acceptable if I gave it more thought before responding?”
I was enjoying watching those Black Panthers humiliate themselves.
I had already obtained everything I needed from this trip to the City of Dragons.
This old woman would never know that what she found so amusing was merely a byproduct to me.
“You want time?”
As expected, the tyrannical Matriarch frowned the moment her goodwill wasn’t immediately accepted.
Yet she seemed to be in such a good mood that she let it pass without complaint.
“Fine. Think it over.”
The Orca Family Matriarch nodded, and I bowed respectfully once more.
Since I had work waiting for me back home, I intended to keep today’s audience brief.
“The stories coming from the City of Dragons are quite amusing and surprising. Most intriguing.”
“Thank you.”
“Was all of it your doing?”
Her eyes seemed to ask whether Pierre—my Father—had orchestrated it instead.
I stifled a laugh internally.
“…Father grants me whatever I wish for, Grandmother.”
“….”
“But Father rarely desires anything for himself.”
Certainly, if I hadn’t asked, Father would never have gone to the City of Dragons, nor would he have accomplished all of that.
“Though you would know this better than anyone, Grandmother.”
The Matriarch surely understood this as well.
Indeed, she furrowed her brow as if considering my answer, but that was all.
“It wouldn’t be proper to answer your questions with a clouded mind. Would it be acceptable if I took my leave for today?”
“Yes, you must be tired. Return once you’ve recovered.”
The Matriarch had no intention of detaining me further and allowed me to depart.
Yet for some reason, just as I turned to leave, she called me back once more and said something unexpected.
“Move into this Building.”
“…Pardon?”
“I understand you still live in that shabby place. Is that your home?”
…What is she saying? This is the woman who sent me away the moment I was born?
Rather than show irritation, I regarded the Matriarch calmly.
“If you move in, Pierre will follow suit.”
“No, Grandmother. Father won’t change his residence. You know well why he lives there.”
Father disliked people who spoke carelessly and approached him uninvited.
He found those who pitied him of their own accord even more unbearable. The Matriarch surely understood this.
“Tsk, what a weak man. Then at least you should move in.”
“….”
“After all, you were always the objective.”
I fell silent for a moment, then broke into a beautiful smile.
“Yes, I will. Thank you.”
We faced each other with expressions that betrayed nothing of our thoughts.
“I have long desired to have a daughter.”
“….”
“A daughter who resembles me—one with a healthy body and formidable strength.”
Of course. The Orcas were an ancient and wise matriarchal society where the strongest female led the pod.
It was not difficult to discern that this had been the Matriarch’s deepest wish.
The one thing the Matriarch, who possessed everything, had ultimately failed to obtain was that very ‘daughter.’
“So I thought how wonderful it would be to at least have a granddaughter. But what happened? All three sons kept producing only sons. Worthless creatures.”
The three sons had indeed fathered only sons.
“The granddaughter they finally bore was born with defects or was frail from the start.”
Lirivel, the granddaughter who barely survived birth, suffered from the same illness as my Father.
“It won’t be long before what transpired in the City of Dragons spreads far across this land. Now that it has come to this, you surely understand well what position you will ascend to.”
The Matriarch tapped her temple thoughtfully. A conqueror’s smile played at her lips.
“Do you desire my position?”
It was the face of an arrogant ruler.
“Yes, I do desire it. Grandmother.”
I need not what you pass down to me—I held these words delicately on my tongue.
“I hear you have placed Bellu at the forefront and possess hidden cards I have quietly released, one by one?”
She also knew that I was recruiting weaker Beastkin through Illia.
Well then, I should know at least this much.
If I didn’t even know this, what would be the point of seizing the Matriarch’s throne?
Though renowned for her might, the Matriarch lacked cooperation and despised the weak, but she was far from unintelligent.
“Good. Try becoming an unrivaled successor. This too shall be my entertainment.”
Instead of answering, I bowed my head.
“Calypso Aquasiadel.”
When the Matriarch spoke my name once more, a thrill coursed through me.
What had I yearned for?
Had I wished for her to call me this way in my past life?
Amusement briefly consumed me.
‘Recognition is something the weak receive from the strong. Now it is I who should decline it.’
I waited for the Matriarch’s next words.
“Next time, enter this Building as my successor.”
The City of Dragons had granted me countless victories.
Along with a precious title.
I smiled with the satisfaction of a victor and bowed once more.
* * *
“What? So you’re moving, little sister?!”
The next day, Agenor burst into Father’s Manor like an arrow, only just learning of my return.
I shrugged my shoulders.
“No, I’m not moving.”
At that, not only Agenor who had asked me, but also Atlant, who had been snorting at Levai’s words from the side, looked at me in great surprise.
Even Father, who had been sitting quietly, stared at me with a slightly startled expression.
“Wh-what? But, but Sister. Doesn’t that mean if I enter, I’ll be treated as the official successor?”
“That would be the case.”
“Then why?”
“Yeah, let me ask too. Why? What are you thinking? It doesn’t seem like you’ve taken a blow to the head.”
I tilted my head curiously.
“You all look so shocked. Is it really that surprising?”
My voice was calm.
“It doesn’t matter. The Matriarch’s words simply mean she’ll treat me as the successor even if I don’t enter that building.”
The Orca Family Matriarch said that when I enter the Main Residence next time, I would enter as the successor.
Which means.
“Right now, I’m already the successor. At least in the Matriarch’s mind, she’s already acknowledged it.”
“…Indeed, that’s true.”
Father, who knew the Orca Family Matriarch better than anyone, just like me, nodded his head.
I laughed and rushed over to sit beside Father.
“And if I go to the Main Residence, it’ll be such a hassle because it’s too far to come here, right? What if Father cries because he misses me so much?”
“That’s true too.”
“…Huh?”
I flinched for a moment, not expecting him to agree so readily. To accept it with such a calm expression, no less.
Father’s changed demeanor sometimes surprises me. Of course, I don’t dislike it.
I examined Father’s face carefully, then frowned slightly.
Why was it that Father looked a bit tired?
“Father, are you hurt somewhere?”
“Not at all.”
Did I see it wrong? Looking again, he seemed fine.
‘Maybe I should ask Whale for permission soon and request another diagnosis.’
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Anyway. Even if it weren’t for this reason, I have no intention of moving.”
“What if the Matriarch retracts what she said about recognizing you as the successor?”
“Let her try.”
I laughed with confidence.
“Do you think there’s a better successor than me?”
“….”
Third Brother wore an expression of agreement.
“Even if I don’t become the successor, no matter who she makes the successor. I don’t care. In the end, I’ll be the Matriarch anyway.”
Agenor looked at me with eyes so bright and sparkling they were almost dangerously so, as if to say ‘that’s incredibly cool.’
Feeling the need for ventilation, I turned my head away.
‘Moreover, Ekion, Whale, and now even Lili are all here.’
Everything precious and valuable has been gathered in this place—where else would I go?
This was my home.
Not that place which that Matriarch recognized.
“Levai, did you organize the materials well?”
“Yes, Noble Lady. I’ve hidden them safely in the place Pierre gave me.”
“Good.”
I looked at the material list Levai handed me. The thick document made me want to sigh just looking at it again.
“Now, about those first-grade rare materials we couldn’t obtain this time.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll request those from the Matriarch as compensation for my contributions. Come with me to receive them.”
“Yes…?”
“Why do you look so bewildered? You need to verify whether they’re genuine and fresh yourself, don’t you?”
“No, that’s not it. How do you plan to introduce me to her?”
I tilted my head in confusion.
“Of course as my strategist—or rather, my Retainer.”
“Pardon?”
As if anyone but this man could serve as my Retainer.
“Why are you looking at me like a newly hatched fry now? You’re my strategist.”
“…You didn’t even give me a chance to consider following you, yet I didn’t realize employment had already been finalized without my knowledge.”
I laughed out loud at those words.
Because this man had said something similar in the third loop as well.
“In this difficult job market, I’m truly grateful that you’ve employed me without my knowing?”
Levai stared at me blankly. As if seeing me smile so brightly for the first time.
“Well, let’s consider this settled then.”
“Wait, I never said I would accept—”
“Yes, I’m counting on you from now on. My Retainer?”
Levai looked exasperated, but in the end, he didn’t refuse.
“The Matriarch probably has many materials.”
And even if I asked, she would likely think it was to treat Father’s illness, or simply not care.
Because at first, the Matriarch was also earnest about treating Father’s disease.
Until it was revealed to be incurable.
“The problem is, these are materials we can’t obtain now…”
The ones that frustrated and angered me the most last time.
Animals and plants that are now extinct from this world.
‘Like the tail feathers of a blue bird.’
“What do we do about materials that are absolutely impossible to obtain now?”
“First, I’ll try to obtain a list of famous collectors. I’ve already begun investigating some of them.”
“Ah, good. Tell me if you need anything. Father will assign people for you. Father, that’s alright, isn’t it?”
Father nodded slightly.
Whether it was just my imagination or not, Father’s complexion seemed to have grown even worse.
I really should ask Whale to examine him once more.
Or perhaps call for a physician, though Father would likely be reluctant about that.
‘Rayla will have her hands full.’
I recalled her after a long time—she served as Father’s Retainer.
‘I’ll need Illia’s help as well.’
And so we decided to devote ourselves entirely to procuring the remaining materials.

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