How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 206

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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 a Father
Chapter 206
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The Archipelago.
Clang—!
A sword drove into the earth, grazing a neck.
The man who had been stumbling away in panic turned pale, glancing back.
“This is troublesome, Marquis.”
The man spoke without inflection, watching the beautiful figure approaching him.
Though he had the beauty of a painting, his tall frame, broad shoulders, and heavy bone structure proved he was male.
“Y-Yuise…”
Yuise—no longer could anyone mistake him for a woman, so fully had he matured into manhood.
He withdrew his sword with deliberate slowness.
The blade grazed the pale man’s cheek, and a crimson line of blood welled up.
“Running won’t matter either way—you’ll be caught. Don’t waste your strength. Go quietly.”
“No, no—it’s a misunderstanding. Me, a strategist for the Reconstruction Council?”
“You should’ve said that before running like a lightning-struck foal.”
Yuise grabbed the man by the collar and hauled him up.
“Don’t mistake politeness for kindness. You bastard.”
But I wasn’t even polite…!
He dragged the man and hurled him into the transport carriage.
Antonio approached, rubbing his neck.
“Two more subdued.”
“What about the rest?”
“Abel’s unit is bringing them in on barriers.”
“We’re heading back.”
At Yuise’s words, Antonio let out a groan.
“We made it all the way to the marketplace, and now you’re just leaving?”
“The prisoners need interrogating, reports need filing, and documents need reviewing. We’ve got mountains of work.”
“Aaaagh, let me retire—!”
He cried out every office worker’s dream.
The members of Antonio’s unit nodded in agreement, their eyes glistening with moisture. “Yeah. Yeah.”
Four years since Yustea left the Empire.
The Irregulars had changed.
The Elite had received Knight Initiation and were now called “knights,” or new recruits had arrived in droves, and the organization now had the dignity of a full order.
And….
“Overtime after overtime after overtime. I actually miss the days when we hunted wild boar.”
“This is all because of those bastards from the Reconstruction Council who keep spawning like rabbits.”
“What, are they like Othello? They multiply wherever they touch?”
“I’m going insane….”
The unit members rubbed their faces raw, groaning in distress.
Four years ago, the Reconstruction Council had been a secret organization. Now they were a formidable enemy.
Everyone knew their name now.
The number of those following the Reconstruction Council had surged dramatically.
Word was that if you joined them, you’d gain power and could take revenge on the world.
To feed their swelling ranks, they stopped at nothing—raiding homes, co-opting nobles.
As a result, the Irregulars were suffering daily from exhaustion.
“Let’s go.”
Yuise spoke with a tired face.
When they arrived at the manor, other Irregulars were already making their report.
To their Clan Leader, Aslan, who was now called the Young Duke.
Aslan, having skimmed the report, nodded.
“Is there anything else I need to know?”
Antonio’s arm shot up quickly.
“A vacation is desperately needed!”
“There isn’t one.”
Aslan rose from his seat.
Antonio latched onto Aslan’s trouser leg.
Cesar, horrified, pounded Antonio’s back.
“This guy still thinks we’re in the assassination squad days.”
“I’m going to die. As the young lady taught us—this is a labor union!”
That’s not what she meant to teach you.
Aslan sighed.
“Support from the manor should arrive soon. Take a few days to rest—”
He was speaking when
the butler entered.
“Word from the Imperial Court. A Military Mobilization Order has been issued.”
The office fell silent.
Aslan continued quietly.
“That won’t work.”
The Irregular Elite went pale.
Abel muttered with his eyes half-closed.
“Damn….”
* * *
The military mobilization was for searching Monster Stones.
“Monster Stones?”
Antonio tilted his head, and Yuise kicked the back of his calf.
“I’ve told you a hundred times—a special resource you collect from monsters.”
“Like fuel?”
“Yeah. They’re needed to reinforce the barrier, apparently. Which means….”
Yuise spoke while glancing around.
“Orders went out to every family, not just us.”
The entrance to the plateau was swarming with soldiers from various houses.
Antonio looked annoyed, and Yuise spoke.
“We need to find them first, no matter what.”
“Why?”
“Monster Stones belong to the Imperial Court once discovered. But if we find them, we get thirty percent.”
“So what? Esgaroth doesn’t need money.”
“Because they can strengthen the barrier. Stronger barriers mean catching those Reconstruction Council bastards becomes much easier.”
The eyes of the Irregular unit members lit up.
Those who had been lazily gripping their weapons moments before quickly straightened their posture.
The Elite laughed at the sight.
Miliano smiled gently and spoke.
“The plateau teems with dangerous monsters. We must move with utmost care.”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
With a rousing chorus, everyone began moving.
The search commenced.
Each family searched with fierce intensity.
Which meant….
“This lizardman—we’re the ones who caught it!”
“We landed the killing blow.”
Such disputes broke out.
Families began arguing over who would be credited with defeating each monster.
Regardless, the Irregulars slaughtered monsters with wild ferocity.
Charlie held a pair of Cobolds, his bloodshot eyes wide.
“Split? Now?”
“Split!”
It was impossible to tell who was the monster.
Knights from the family that had defeated the high-risk Cockatrice sneered at the Irregulars, who were merely crushing low-level Cobolds.
“What vulgar brutes.”
“The pity of vulgar creatures is that they lack the wits to scheme.”
Knights from other families burst into laughter at those words.
The Irregulars stared at them with a flush of anger.
“Those damn—”
Military Mobilization Orders had become frequent over the past year or two.
The Irregulars often found themselves alongside knights from other families, and they were universally contemptuous.
Knight Initiation was not granted to just anyone.
One had to become a vassal, receive a family’s backing, undergo training, and pass the initiation ceremony.
It was hard for a commoner, even one who labored his whole life, to raise a single knight.
So those seeking knighthood were the children of wealthy families.
Or else they showed exceptional talent from childhood, were recognized, entered a family, and received elite education.
Knights from other families did not acknowledge the Irregular Elite, who had clawed their way from the streets.
So they looked down even on the soldiers beneath them.
“I’ll rip your mouths open!”
Antonio fumed, and Yuise stepped in to block him.
“Stop.”
“But those bastards—!”
“Our conduct reflects directly on the Young Duke’s honor. We discussed this before you received your initiation.”
Antonio’s face was full of discontent.
But he only clicked his tongue, not charging forward.
Miliano tried to soothe the unit members.
“Once we find the Monster Stones, they’ll have nothing to say. Let’s focus on the search.”
Still, the unit members’ faces remained dispirited.
Among the knights who had just mocked them appeared their superiors.
The heirs of their families.
The heirs had brought magic tools to aid in Monster Stone detection.
Every other family had their heirs present as well.
From the Nevarro Family, with whom they held joint training often, and the Olbera Count Family, their young ladies came along.
The Irregular unit members groaned.
“If only our young lady were here, she’d find these things in a snap.”
“Just deploy her Nullification Field. Monsters’ attacks mean nothing—she’d smash them all.”
Four years since Yustea left.
The Irregulars missed their protector….
Then it happened.
“Skeleton Knight—!”
A booming shout echoed from the distance.
A Skeleton Knight?!
The Irregulars who had been butchering Cobolds shot to their feet.
The Elite’s eyes grew sharp.
“Monster Stones are found on high-risk creatures.”
Yuise muttered.
The Irregulars immediately charged toward the report.
But when they got there….
“Damn!”
Knights from other families clicked their tongues.
“What happened? Where’s the Skeleton Knight?”
Antonio asked.
A knight answered irritably.
“Don’t you see it escaped?”
At that, Yuise, Cesar, and Miliano exchanged glances and spoke.
“A Skeleton Knight would hide in darkness.”
“It prefers places with strong dark energy….”
Cesar checked the map.
“The Sealed Temple.”
They rushed toward the temple.
The temple entrance was crowded with people.
“We must establish an order. If everyone enters at once, the being sealed within the temple may absorb the life force and awaken.”
“A sound idea.”
“How shall we decide the order?”
The heirs were determining who would enter first.
The Irregulars were about to join the deliberation when
“Stop.”
Knights blocked their path.
Not just one or two.
Even Cesar’s brow furrowed.
“What are you doing?”
“The heirs are deliberating. This isn’t a place for the likes of you.”
Cesar let out a hollow laugh.
“Afraid we’ll steal the Skeleton Knight if we go in first?”
“Remember your station.”
“Our home is Esgaroth. Do you challenge the prestige of Esgaroth?”
Knights from other families burst into laughter.
“You don’t understand the meaning of station?”
“It means filth like slaves and test subjects shouldn’t even approach our young master.”
“Dirty wretches shouldn’t come near our noble lady.”
The Irregulars’ faces turned cold as ice.
Antonio clenched his fists.
“And we’re supposed to take this?”
He looked at Yuise, stung.
Yuise had his fists clenched tight.
The veins bulged, trembling with barely restrained force.
Looking back, four years ago Yuise had been quick to anger.
He’d lose his temper easier than even Cesar.
He’d grown composed only after receiving his Knight Initiation.
“Why have you changed so much?” the Clan Leader had once asked with amusement.
Yuise had answered: “Since our protector is gone, I must become the protector now.”
He was restraining himself desperately.
Antonio gritted his teeth.
“Once this Monster Stone search is done, I’m throwing so many gloves in your face you’ll—”
“Gloves? You know what throwing a glove means?”
Pfft!
Laughter erupted again.
Antonio shouted.
“Throwing a glove means beating someone to death, that’s what our young lady said—!”
Then it happened.
[Shrieeeeek—!]
A bizarre cry echoed from inside the temple.
It wasn’t the sound of a Skeleton Knight.
This chilling howl was….
Knights, heirs, all of them tensed.
“D-Did the being sealed in the temple wake up?”
“Could someone have snuck in?”
“W-We can’t handle this ourselves.”
They had to flee.
All the scattered soldiers needed to be gathered.
“Run! Get out of here!”
Roji from the Olbera Family screamed.
Mage-swordsmen were especially vulnerable to that thing.
Roji was the first to flee.
The others scattered in panic.
The Irregulars also prepared to withdraw when
Knights from other families shoved the Irregular unit members forward.
Toward the temple.
The Elite spotted this and shouted.
“What are you doing!”
“You lot buy us time to escape.”
“What?”
“Hold it off with your bodies so the heirs don’t get hurt!”
Unable to hold back anymore, Antonio lunged at a knight.
“You damn—!”
The knight whose collar he seized spoke.
“Don’t you know that giving your worthless life meaning is your only value? Let go!”
[Shrieeeeek—!]
That thing’s voice drew closer.
Knights from other families quickly cast magic, creating a barrier to trap the Irregular unit members.
“Damn this—!”
Antonio drove his fist forward, and cracks spread through the barrier.
Breaking a barrier was nothing.
But fury burned too hot to contain.
“Hell…!”
If he’d known his comrades would be treated like this, he’d never have become a knight.
Then, in that moment,
“You’re doing interesting things to my people.”
…that very familiar voice.
The unit members’ eyes widened instantly.
The Elite also stiffened, turning toward the source of the sound.
Not just the Irregulars stared.
The fleeing heirs and knights from other families gasped sharply.
How could anyone not know that voice?
The Irregulars cried out.
“Young lady—!!”

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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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