How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 178

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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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How to Replace Father
Chapter 178
The wooden palisade, woven from logs, shattered in an instant, and several of those holding the defensive line were sent flying.
Bang!
“Noble Lady!”
“Esther!”
Other delegates turned pale as they checked on those who had been swept away.
Guinevere’s face drained of all color.
The situation was dire.
‘What kind of magic was that….’
That attack was no ordinary Wind Rupture.
Even those who hadn’t hit the wall had their heads shattered or bones twisted.
‘No, more than that….’
“Heal… we need to heal them….”
Guinevere murmured.
But the only holy user among them shook her head, her face ashen.
“I, I don’t have enough mana….”
Guinevere turned to Roji in panic.
“You have an Emergency Healing Artifact, don’t you?”
“….”
But Roji was in no state to answer.
It wasn’t just those swept away by the Wind Rupture who were in critical condition.
Even those who had barely clung to the palisade were sliding down.
Romevan Olbera’s condition was particularly grave.
To protect his younger sister Roji, a vital area had been left exposed to the Wind Rupture.
Part of his abdomen had been completely blown away.
Roji caught her brother as he collapsed, her hands trembling.
“Hey, Romevan… don’t joke around… this isn’t funny at all.”
“….”
“Brother….”
Guinevere rushed over.
Emergency Healing Artifact, healing—none of that mattered now.
Romevan was the center of their defense line.
“Roji, get ready. The enemy is coming.”
“Brother….”
“Roji Olbera—!”
Guinevere’s voice cut like a whip.
Roji looked up at her, startled.
Guinevere, terrified out of her mind, was crying—tears streaming down her face.
“Get up, quickly. If you stay like this, you’ll meet the same fate….”
“You….”
“Your brother became like this to protect you. So you can’t just die meaninglessly. Resist. You have to survive.”
“…We’re all going to die anyway.”
“No!”
Guinevere screamed.
Her whole body shaking uncontrollably.
Sobbing hopelessly even as she spoke.
Roji watched as she deployed a barrier—rough and crude as it was.
Logically speaking, Guinevere’s words were wrong.
Their only defense, the wooden palisade, was destroyed, and those capable of fighting were scattered.
How could she speak so decisively? On what basis?
Guinevere spoke haltingly.
“Yustea will come.”
“….”
“That girl will come to save us.”
“….”
“She’ll heal all of us with her Nullification Domain, and with that brilliant mind of hers, she’ll find a way out of this cursed port.”
“…That’s a delusion.”
“Everyone said the same thing about everything Yustea has ever done—!”
Guinevere, eyes squeezed shut, screamed with her whole body.
“From situations where victory seemed impossible, she has always carved out victory!”
“….”
“So we just have to hold on. When we hold on, she’s always reached out her hand….”
“….”
The Empire’s delegates and guards looked at Guinevere with trembling eyes.
One of the delegates muttered.
“B, but the Saint won’t even know where we are, and besides, she might already be captured….”
At these gloomy words, the younger delegates began to whimper.
Guinevere’s barrier was breached, and a Reconstruction Council soldier rushed at her.
The moment the soldier’s blade reached Guinevere’s neck.
Slice—!
The wrist holding the sword was severed, and blood sprayed like a fountain.
“Aaaaah!”
The soldier screamed.
The severed hand rolled across the ground.
Guinevere, her face stiffening, looked at Roji, who had blocked her.
“Form ranks! We hold on until the Saint arrives!”
“Roji….”
In her hand was the sword Romevan had dropped.
“If the Saint doesn’t come and you die, you’d better know I’ll kill you all over again in the next world.”
Guinevere rubbed her eyes roughly with her palms and spoke.
“She’ll come.”
She always has.
That’s why that girl was her hero.
‘I’ve always watched your back, Yustea.’
I’ve seen you never give up, no matter the moment.
So this time, it’s my turn to show you my back.
Guinevere reached out her hand again.
A barrier manifested—dense and refined, a high-level incantation this time.
[Pitiable and foolish ones.]
A chilling voice echoed.
The Empire’s delegates, guards, and the Iparam Delegation flinched.
From the exit, a figure emerged through billowing black fog—a gaunt man with sunken cheekbones.
[I am the ferryman who pulls the boat of dawn. I come to grant you rest.]
Roji swung her sword and gripped it firmly as she spoke.
“Still reading romance novels at that age?”
[I don’t mind a spirited youth.]
“Well, I can’t stand the stench of an old man.”
Roji charged straight at him.
Her blade found its mark perfectly in his neck.
‘Good, if I can just—!’
The moment Guinevere and the delegates saw the blade enter at the ideal spot, their faces lit with hope.
But only for a moment.
Roji immediately retreated, startled.
“Why, why—!”
Guinevere asked.
Roji, without time to answer, stepped back and gripped the hilt with both hands.
‘There was no sensation of cutting.’
She’d aimed precisely at the neck, but the blade had passed through as if piercing smoke—no resistance at all.
“Guinevere, pull Romevan back—.”
As she spoke, the man’s hood slipped away, revealing what lay beneath.
Where Roji’s blade had slashed the neck, it split open—and what erupted were hands, woven together like rope.
“…!”
Roji gasped.
Guinevere screamed.
“Dodge—!”
Her desperate cry was useless.
The hands seized Roji’s neck in an instant.
“Gah!”
Delegates, guards, and the delegation all went pale.
Roji was their strongest in combat.
And she had been seized in a heartbeat.
Crack….
The sound of her neck breaking was sickeningly clear.
“Roji…!”
Roji thought to herself.
‘Ah, I shouldn’t have screamed so confidently.’
It’d be embarrassing to die this quickly.
Just as Roji’s eyes were about to close.
A strange vibration.
She felt it.
A vibration any citizen of the Empire would recognize.
Roji’s eyes flew open.
And what she saw was a sword flying toward her.
The blade severed the rope-like hands.
Thud.
The enemy’s severed hand fell to the ground.
When Roji saw who had thrown the sword, her face twisted.
“You idiot….”
“Talking big while you were getting caught—that’s some nerve.”
It was Romevan.
He gritted his teeth and pushed himself up.
He, who had been lying helpless, recovered instantly—enough to throw a sword.
Only one person could do that.
Guinevere whimpered as she muttered.
“See… she’s here….”
Everyone’s gaze turned outward at once.
A line of mana stretching in a straight line from behind the Reconstruction Council soldiers.
And the one creating that line….
“Yustea—!”
Roji and Guinevere cried out simultaneously.
The protagonist had arrived.
* * *
‘God, my heart.’
I gasped for breath.
The moment I learned the delegation, delegates, and guards had been cornered by the Reconstruction Council, how I’d trembled.
Even the Saint’s healing cannot revive the dead.
I had to arrive before the worst happened.
And fortunately, I found them before it was too late.
‘I couldn’t fully heal them from this distance, but I managed to keep them breathing.’
I withdrew my mana.
Now I needed to drive back the Reconstruction Council soldiers.
‘First, I need to get these people out of there.’
I couldn’t leave them cornered in a dead end.
I needed to secure an escape route.
I shouted at the Reconstruction Council soldiers.
“The Saint you’re looking for is here! You fools!”
Jumping and shouting, the Reconstruction Council soldiers rushed toward me like hornets.
I bolted outside.
The sound of soldiers rushing in pursuit echoed behind me.
‘What about the one who was fighting Roji?’
I glanced back and saw him chasing right behind me.
If he unleashed those rope-like hands from his throat the way he’d done to Roji, he might catch me.
Sure enough, his neck opened and hands began to stretch out.
“Ugh!”
I crouched down instantly.
The rope-like hands reached to wrap around me just as I did.
Another cutting sound split the air, and my body shot upward.
Someone from a tree above had pulled me up with a Mana String.
My body felt no impact at all.
Stable mana control and precision aim.
‘Worthy of a prince of a magical empire.’
That was it.
It was Terriars who had pulled me up.
My flying body landed perfectly in his arms with a soft thud.
“Are you hurt?”
“As you can see.”
“Then so be it.”
Terriars, still holding me, leaped down from the tree.
“Why are you jumping down? Are you trying to get caught?”
“One Wind Rupture and the tree comes down with us. Better to have solid ground. As for me, high-level Levitation Magic like the Reconstruction Council’s masters employ is beyond my reach.”
It was a reasonable explanation.
I nodded, and Terriars set me down.
He stood before me, smiling.
Behind the pursuing Reconstruction Council soldiers, the delegates, guards, and delegation who had rushed to join us opened their eyes wide.
Especially the Iparam delegates.
Terriars smiled broadly and held out his hand as if to support the sky.
“My subordinates owe you quite a debt.”
The delegation cried out.
“Your Highness~!!”
Some of them wept with relief.
[Do you truly believe you alone can turn this situation around?]
The fog-shrouded figure spoke.
[The Saint’s mana is not infinite. You may heal them momentarily, but you cannot shield them forever from our strikes.]
True words.
‘Unless Terriars has power equal to Father, it’s hard to tip the scales.’
With the arrival of the prince and saint, the Iparam delegates’ faces, which had brightened with hope, darkened again.
Terriars laughed.
“I never intended to win alone. I’m not foolish enough for that.”
The Reconstruction Council soldiers narrowed their brows.
What did he mean by that?
Then, from Terriars’s opposite side, that voice rang out.
“This is what I mean.”
At the familiar voice, the delegates and guards’ faces suddenly brightened.
They cried out.
“Your Highness—!!”
An enormous surge of mana burst forth from Prince Luciano’s feet.
The ground flashed brightly with mana extending sharply outward.
In that instant, the ground beneath the Reconstruction Council collapsed.
A tremendous shockwave, as though an earthquake had struck.
I shouted.
“Split into groups of three! We have to hide until dawn! Move!”
“W, what?”
“What did you say?”
“Huh?!”
Everyone looked confused, but once I, the Prince, and the prince began to run, they scrambled after us.
‘There are so many Reconstruction Council soldiers stationed in the port. While we’re dealing with them, reinforcements will arrive.’
So capture was only a matter of time.
Scattering into small groups increased survival chances.
Most groups formed with those already nearby.
I ran with Guinevere and Roji.
Roji shouted.
“Shouldn’t you be with the Prince?!”
“Considering my abilities, I’m better off with those most likely to be injured.”
“Are you saying I’m likely to be injured?”
Roji protested loudly.
“Apparently.”
When I answered curtly, her indignation only grew.
Guinevere said.
“Stop arguing and run!”
“She’s disrespecting me. And why the casual speech?”
Roji snapped at me with a growl.
“Since you speak casually, I figured it was fine.”
“I’m your senior. Two years older than you both!”
“Isn’t your brother also two years older than you?”
“I hate people who talk smoothly.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
Behind us, Reconstruction Council soldiers rushed in pursuit.
About seventy percent of the total force we’d seen earlier.
“I made the wrong group assignment.”
Roji grumbled.
I glanced at her.
“If you get hurt, I’ll heal you as much as you want. Fight freely.”
“But I’m the only one who can fight. Damn.”
The good news was that Luciano seemed to be holding back the strongest fog-shrouded man.
“This way!”
I pointed at a building with my finger and shouted loudly.
Then Roji, Guinevere, and I ran—no, into a different building instead.
“I thought you said that way?”
“That was for the pursuers to hear.”
“…Ugh.”
Roji looked exasperated.
“What in the world is this.”
“Yustea’s always like this!”
Guinevere laughed brightly, while Roji clutched her head, saying she’d go mad.
She gritted her teeth and spoke.
“Doesn’t even feel like a deception.”
“That’s because deception is about trying once for every ten attempts.”
I quickly locked the building’s door.
Then I looked around.
Guinevere muttered from beside me.
“Is this the Harbor Shipping Guild Building?”
Ships were depicted on the walls, and various notice boards were posted.
I nodded.
Roji folded her arms and spoke.
“Even if you lock the door, they’ll break in soon. Naturally.”
“Yeah.”
“So why hide in another building? It’ll be harder to secure an escape route.”
“We’re not hiding. We came here looking for something.”
“What?”
Roji and Guinevere looked at me as if asking what I meant.
I said.
“Help me. It’s here.”
The surroundings were silent.
Roji looked at me like I’d gone mad, while Guinevere looked worried.
But I spoke again.
“Prince Luciano said so. He said he met you here and received your help. That you helped him find me.”
Still silence.
Now both Roji and Guinevere looked genuinely concerned.
“Are you really okay? Is something wrong?”
“Yustea, did you hit your head…?”
That was the moment.
“…Will you talk so loudly outside can hear?”
A sigh, and a figure emerged.
“As you wish. Then I could take you back again.”
There is one reinforcement.
I smiled brightly.
“Oscar.”
“Don’t smile. You’re getting to me.”
“But you already heard.”
“…You’re driving me insane. You know that?”
Oscar removed his hood.
But something was strange.
Hiccup.
Guinevere, upon seeing Oscar, suddenly began hiccupping, her whole body rigid.
“…?”

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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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