How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 192

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

How to Replace Father
Episode 192
Luciano spoke.
“Leave Ain and Olbera behind.”
Leaving the two of them was for my benefit.
Both were heirs of the Fourth Prince and the Noble Families respectively.
When the Marquise tried to pressure me, they would serve as a good shield.
Of course, regardless of what the two of them wanted….
“I don’t know how you knew the Great Drought was coming, but if it truly arrives, shouldn’t I head to the Archipelago as well, brother?”
“Same here. Ha ha….”
Luciano turned to face them with a bland expression.
“Does the Fourth Prince, mad as he is, have anything to do at the Imperial Palace? Does the Olbera Count Family have only one heir?”
The two men’s faces crumpled.
Yet they could not counter.
Luciano’s words were true, after all….
Ain had been feigning madness until now.
Though he had stopped the act, there were still those who distrusted him, so he could not assume any official duties.
The Olbera Count Family had Roji, Romeban’s younger sister.
With that, Luciano turned and left.
Ain and Romeban, suddenly abandoned in a place with no connections, narrowed their eyes.
“Why do I have to be stuck in the North because of your brother’s love affair?”
“And I’m not even family, so why….”
I laughed awkwardly.
“Shall we have a meal first?”
* * *
The Great Drought is special enough to be assigned as its own episode within the game.
Once the Great Drought begins, it takes less than two weeks for the village wells to run dry.
Crops wither in an instant.
Human bodies are easily affected too—spend even half a day outside and your mouth becomes parched and cracked.
An intensely powerful desertification takes hold.
One week after the Great Drought episode begins.
The common people, who had wondered if this was merely capricious weather, started to grasp the severity of the situation.
“The Market is in chaos every day.”
“Not just noble families, but commoners too have begun hoarding.”
By the eighth day.
“Small wells are starting to run dry.”
“The issue of drinking water shortages is coming to the surface.”
By the ninth day.
“Compared to ten days ago, the price of drinking water has become astronomical. It has increased more than thirtyfold.”
By the tenth day.
“Livestock are dying.”
“Human bodies are suffering severe effects as well. Hospitals cannot even accommodate the patients.”
…Such was the progression of the Great Drought.
Eleven days after the Great Drought begins.
The Empire was turned upside down.
Javid watched the vassals moving busily outside the window.
He smiled wickedly and spoke.
“There’s chaos everywhere. Everyone is so desperate.”
Cackling, he turned his head.
Toward his mother, lying in bed.
“The Emperor himself contacted you directly, they say. After treating us as a joke, how fitting that things have turned out this way.”
“….”
“What news from Father? Surely he’s not clinging to you, crying and carrying on? Ahahaha!”
“….”
“Mother, really. If you had such a card, you should have played it long ago. Then I would never have suffered such humiliation—.”
“Do you… truly believe… it was an easy card… to play?”
The Marquise whispered hoarsely.
In merely eleven days, her hair had turned completely white.
Her face, once carefully maintained with all manner of cosmetics and magic, was now lined with wrinkles.
Her hands bore large age spots.
The Divine Power she had inherited from the late Emperor was extraordinarily special.
Because its influence was so enormously wide-ranging, it carried severe side effects even for the one who wielded it.
This is how youth and vitality were lost in such a short span of time.
The Marquise, gazing at her reflection in the mirror mounted on the wall, clenched her teeth.
Aaaaagh—!
Crash!
She hurled the water glass sitting on the nightstand.
Then, with trembling hands, she touched her parched, cracked cheeks.
“What is this hideous appearance….”
The sagging skin looked just like a monster wearing flayed flesh.
‘I never wanted to use it. I thought I would never need to wield this power, even in death…!’
The late Emperor had said to her.
“My beloved Aurellia. You are my breath.”
“Yes, Father.”
“The power I leave to you is a lever. It is to be displayed, but there should never come a moment when you draw the bowstring.”
“I shall never threaten the fate of the Empire.”
“No.”
“…Yes?”
“It is for you, my beloved Aurellia, that I say this.”
The Divine Power of the Imperial Family was merely a tool of pressure, never to be used.
“…It is because of that girl and Aslan.”
Her fists, twisted into the sheets, trembled violently.
“It is Augusto’s fault for ignoring me, and Duran Esgaroth’s for never looking back at me—!”
Aaaaaaagh!
A piercing shriek echoed through the bedroom.
Javid flinched and approached his mother.
“Please, don’t excite yourself so, Mother.”
“How can you speak such words after seeing your mother like this…!”
“Isn’t everything working out beautifully? Not only the Imperial Court, but Father as well, that despicable Aslan, and even the Saint will soon have no choice but to surrender completely.”
“…Yes, they won’t be able to endure.”
“In the end, they will bow and scrape at our feet. Deaths have already begun in my jurisdiction.”
“You must maintain strict control of the surrounding areas.”
“Of course.”
Javid handed her a water glass.
Only after replenishing her fluids did the Marquise sigh.
Javid’s lips curved upward.
“I’m thinking of heading to Cuaron soon.”
“To see what wretched state that despicable Aslan and the Saint are dying in.”
“Of course.”
Javid rose with a satisfied expression.
Leaving the chamber, Javid immediately set out for Cuaron Castle.
Several vassals of his faction accompanied him, including Marquis Dennis, the leader of the faction.
The carriage carrying Javid and his faction was filled with laughter.
“Who could have predicted the Marquise possessed such power?”
“Even her own son didn’t know she was holding such a joker. How prudent our mother is.”
As Javid chuckled, a vassal of his faction grinned and asked.
“There’s been no word from Cuaron yet, is there?”
“That’s right.”
Another vassal snorted with derision and answered.
“To lose something so great just to preserve pride.”
“Ha ha. They must be too frazzled. Running about the Trading Post day and night trying to solve the water and food shortage, no doubt.”
“Even in our jurisdiction, we can barely manage. Our family is giving up everything just to survive….”
“I’m the same. But when I think of the brilliant future ahead, this much loss is worth bearing.”
Ahahaha!
Javid and the vassals burst into laughter once more.
Even Marquis Dennis, the leader of the faction, bore a smirk.
Before long, the carriage approached Cuaron Castle.
The Carriage Waiting Area of Cuaron Castle was packed with carriages.
There were so many that not all could fit, and the line extended all the way to the Gate.
The vassals of Javid’s faction grinned wickedly as they gazed at the procession of carriages stretching to the Gate.
“They’re certainly desperate. How many merchants did they let in?”
“I can see several noble family carriages too. They must be trying to borrow money.”
“How dire things must be for them to open the jurisdiction to this extent.”
Javid arrogantly raised his chin.
“They were thrashing about unable to see what was right in front of them. How pathetic.”
Speaking such things, they entered through the Gate.
As they were about to enter the Inner Palace.
Knights blocked their path.
“Please wait your turn.”
Javid’s faction responded with incredulous laughter.
One of the faction’s vassals bellowed.
“Do you not know who this is?!”
But the knight remained unmoved.
“Whoever you are, you must respect the order.”
“What?!”
As the vassal grew agitated.
Another vassal stopped him with “Now, now.”
“They seem too busy extending favors everywhere.”
“But….”
“Never mind. All we need do is make it known that Javid has arrived. They’ll come running in an instant.”
“Ah.”
Smiles returned to the faces of Javid’s faction.
The agitated vassal waved his hand and spoke.
“Tell them Javid has arrived. What are you doing? Hurry—.”
It was at that very moment.
“My apologies.”
Other knights emerged from the Inner Palace.
All wore armbands, suggesting they outranked the knight guarding the entrance.
One of the vassals recognized them.
“Those are the knights who served as knights in the Family Tournament with the Saint.”
It was Yuise and Antonio.
Yuise spoke with a gentle smile.
“We’ll correct this at once.”
“Yes, finally someone who understands—.”
In that instant, Antonio seized the foremost vassal by the scruff of the neck and hurled him aside.
“Stop making trouble and get out. The guests are uncomfortable.”
‘Wh-what…?!’
Javid’s faction froze.
So “correcting this” meant throwing them out?
Javid’s expression hardened.
He deliberately shouted loudly.
“Your master still has some pride left, I see!”
At his aggressive display, those queued before the Inner Palace turned to look with confusion.
“Tell your master this: the one you should grovel to is not those fools.”
Twisting his lips, he continued.
“If the Saint marries the one my mother has chosen and Aslan swears fealty to me, I will ease your suffering even now—.”
It was then.
“Well, if you came to Cuaron seeking help, you’d think you’d lower your voice a bit.”
“Still don’t understand the situation?”
Those queued before the Inner Palace began to murmur.
…Speaking words that made no sense.
‘I came to Cuaron seeking help?’
Had he misspoken?
Yet those queued before him were regarding him with eyes of reproach.
As Javid’s faction displayed confused expressions while reading the atmosphere.
A man who appeared to be a merchant emerged from the Inner Palace….
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
…bowing repeatedly.
His manner was unlike that of a merchant come to borrow money.
Rather, it seemed he had truly received help from Cuaron.
“Next. Bellot Trading Company, please.”
As the Butler of the Inner Palace called out the name, the man in the front of the line entered with a face full of joy.
Marquis Dennis, leader of Javid’s faction, furrowed his brows.
This was certainly strange.
“You there.”
He pointed at a merchant waiting his turn, his tone uncertain.
The merchant’s eyes widened.
“Me, sir?”
“What brings you to Cuaron?”
“Pardon? Why, naturally….”
The merchant furrowed his brows as if baffled by such a question.
“To purchase water and food, of course.”
“…What?”
“Cuaron is the only place in this North where one can buy water and food.”
At those words, Javid jolted.
“What on earth are you saying—!”
As Javid raised his voice in protest.
Another figure emerged from the Inner Palace.
The knights, and all those queued before the castle, immediately bowed their heads.
The one who emerged from within the castle spoke.
“Have you come to stock up on provisions, Uncle?”
Yustea—that girl—faced Javid’s faction with an unbothered expression.
* * *
I looked at the petrified Javid and his men.
Javid’s mouth hung open.
“How… how is this….”
He still hadn’t grasped what was happening.
I spoke with my arms crossed.
“We’re selling water and food. The people in other regions need to survive too, after all.”
“Wh-what? You’re selling water and food during the Great Drought?”
“We have so much surplus.”
Most of the large sum Mother had brought was spent purchasing water and food.
The trading companies that had sold us provisions were now buying them back at thirty times the price once the Great Drought struck.
In other words….
“Thanks to the Marquise, we’ve made quite a profit. I’m grateful, really~!”
I clasped my hands together, my expression brimming with joy.
The profit was enormous.
We had already doubled the money Mother gave us.
Seeing me flush with satisfaction, Javid’s expression darkened considerably.
“You know how long the Great Drought will last…!”
“Mm, probably another month or two?”
“You think we’d give up after that?”
“Not by choice, but it’s bound to happen that way, isn’t it?”
I opened my eyes wide.
“Nonsense! We will never—!”
“Because that’s about how long the Marquise can endure.”
“…What?”
“Using such an enormous amount of power must have a cost. You must be suffering terribly already, no?”
Javid and his vassals fell silent.
I smiled faintly.
“By now, she’s probably wasting away. Even if she holds on, two months at most. And we can manage for two months.”
“Th-that’s…!”
I stepped closer to Javid, hands clasped behind my back.
“So which of us do you think will break first, ‘Uncle’?”
“….”
“Isn’t your jurisdiction already seeing riots?”
“…!”
Javid’s face went pale.
I tapped his shoulder lightly and spoke.
“If you need water or food, get in line at the back.”
Then I turned to address Javid’s entire faction.
“You too.”
It won’t last another two months.
The whereabouts of the Key of Water’s Path are beginning to become clear.

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