How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 253

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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
253
Luciano and his companions scattered at once.
Yuise, her trembling body barely responsive, retreated from the Marquis.
With her nervous system shattered, she forced herself to cast sorcery.
She succeeded in pinning down Count Andres.
In that instant, Yustea inside the Mirror World hurled what looked like a pouch.
“Is it poison?”
“A weapon?”
“Could be a magical device.”
The Reconstruction Council leadership, watching the Mirror World, murmured among themselves.
[Miliano!]
A dagger flew toward the pouch Yustea had thrown.
Whishhh—!
The blade sliced through the air with a sharp cry, embedding itself precisely in the pouch.
What burst forth was nothing the Council leadership had anticipated.
[What, what is that?!]
[Wha—?]
Even the Imperial Family members inside the Mirror World stared at it in shock.
Because it was… just ordinary powder.
To be precise, it was the dust from leaves Yustea had collected near the Barracks, dried thoroughly, and ground into powder.
Of course, Yustea’s original intent had been consumption.
Without vegetables, there was risk of scurvy or anemia.
And in a situation where blood might be spilled in combat at any moment—
Since refrigeration was impossible and leafy greens spoiled easily, she’d dried and ground them instead.
By mixing this powder with water and eating it, though not as effective as fresh consumption, she could still absorb some vitamins.
The survival technique of the King of Survival, who had lived through worse beneath a bridge.
But now this powder was being used for something else entirely.
[Abel, now!]
The moment the powder dispersed, Abel generated a barrier.
Abel’s barrier enveloped the powder and contracted toward the Marquis.
“Hm… is this to obscure vision?”
“Foolish.”
“Indeed. Obscuring vision will prove useless, sir.”
“You forget I can deploy Divine Protection across a wide area.”
One burst of electricity would suffice.
To shatter that barrier.
The Reconstruction Council leadership’s lips curled upward.
Kaboom—!
A tremendous explosion tore through the barrier’s interior.
“What, what is this?!”
“What just—!”
“Did he just—?!”
In Oscar’s eyes, watching the Mirror World, delight suddenly blazed.
Fine powder was dispersing through the air.
Count Andres had generated electricity within it.
In such circumstances, the suspended particles became an ignition medium.
Creating an explosion in mere moments.
‘The principle of a bomb.’
Abel’s barrier had not been meant to confine the Marquis.
It was a wall to prevent the surrounding area from being caught in the blast and flames.
Which meant…
“So, what of Count Andres?”
“What has become of him?”
The Reconstruction Council leadership jumped to their feet, shouting.
[The, the Count?]
[He won’t feel pain in a Berserker State. Isn’t he going to attack again?]
The Imperial Family women inside the Mirror World looked anxious.
The smoke within the barrier cleared.
And what appeared was…
“…!”
“…?!”
[…!!!]
…it was Count Andres, collapsed on the ground.
Yustea swept her hair back and approached the Marquis.
‘Not feeling pain doesn’t make you invincible.’
It only means you can’t read your body’s danger signals.
In other words, once the body reaches its limit, you’re combat-ineffective.
She kicked him with her foot to confirm the Marquis was unconscious, then spoke.
[Troublesome lot.]
Dealt with.
Even the Irregulars’ elite, even the knights tasked with protecting the Imperial Family when they swarmed in together—none of it had mattered against her.
And Yustea turned her gaze elsewhere.
What she was looking at was a bird.
She picked up the bow and arrows scattered on the ground and immediately aimed at the bird.
Whoosh!
Thwack!
The bird fell, and the image from the Mirror World cut out.
The last thing heard was a soft, mocking laugh.
[What kind of bird doesn’t flee in all this commotion?]
It was Yustea’s voice—she’d cleanly eliminated even the broadcaster sending the signal to the Reconstruction Council’s Mirror World.
The Reconstruction Council Leadership gnashed their teeth.
“This… this wretched—!”
“What on earth is that woman thinking?!”
While the executives fumed, a thin laugh rippled from the head of the table.
“Certainly not an easy opponent.”
Archduke Arcunterra’s eyes gleamed coldly as he chuckled.
* * *
Count Andres, bound with rope, was wrapped thoroughly in bark.
With no rubber available, the bark would cut off his power.
And they moved immediately.
‘The Reconstruction Council will come after us.’
The Council’s scheme to use Count Andres to eliminate us had failed.
That meant they would move directly.
Antonio, carrying Count Andres over his shoulder, grumbled.
“Why do we have to haul this bastard along?”
Cesar agreed sarcastically.
“Do you think your own father would repay kindness?”
The man had cast out even his own daughter—why would he show gratitude to those who saved him?
I lifted my chin sharply and spoke.
“What are you talking about? Absolutely not!”
At my swift denial, Cesar stared at me with a bewildered expression.
Antonio spoke up.
“Then why do we have to take him with us?”
“The Imperial Family saw him. If we leave him behind and he ends up in the Reconstruction Council’s hands again, that’s on us. And if he goes berserk and blows up everything around him, same thing.”
“This is unbearably annoying.”
We walked for a long while like that.
Every time a bird circled the area, I shot it down with arrows or magic.
In case it was another broadcaster for the Reconstruction Council.
It was tedious, but at least we could secure protein.
‘…though I’m the one stuck doing the cooking.’
As sunset fell.
I tapped the bird’s neck with my blade, then glanced aside as I stripped the feathers and cleaned the innards.
“…!”
“Ahem….”
“….”
The Imperial Family and their knights quickly averted their eyes.
I’d been looking at them as though they were utterly useless.
“Can’t even dress a bird. Can’t help in combat. …Well, I suppose the Imperial Family can’t be helped, but why can’t the knights do this?”
“….”
“….”
The Imperial Family’s knights stiffened.
Since they were tasked with protecting the Imperial Family, these knights came from distinguished households.
Not damaging their dignity had been a key criterion in their selection.
They received training and participated in battles, but never served as common soldiers.
In any actual combat, the lower ranks handled everything.
I shook my head with a slight smile and handed the cleaned game bird to the Irregular.
By contrast, the Irregular worked like a butcher at a slaughterhouse.
He carved away bones and joints with swift, efficient motions.
Wiping away the blood took mere seconds.
One person would dress the meat, and another would thread it onto skewers in a flash.
I seasoned the birds once they were skewered.
These people were useless as help, yet their taste and smell were dreadfully picky.
‘Maybe I should just abandon them and leave.’
If I wiped them all out, there’d be no witnesses—I could slip away with some excuse.
At that expression, the Imperial Family’s knights quickly brought over a tree stump.
“Please, sit!”
“Yes!”
The imperial princesses swallowed hard and spoke up.
“Should we… tie up your hair?”
“Oh, I have a wonderful comb!”
Ceserin, the youngest of the imperial princesses, snatched an ornate comb from Ujina and thrust it at me eagerly.
I clicked my tongue in annoyance.
“I don’t need a comb. Just sit down.”
The Imperial Family members and knights sat down quickly.
Ain, watching from a short distance away, let out a bitter laugh.
“You’ve made them into dogs.”
His voice held disbelief.
I spoke to Ain.
“You’re not eating, I see.”
“….”
Ain immediately sat down.
Luciano, who had been the first to sit, burst into laughter this time.
We ate like that and took a brief rest.
Of course….
“I’m hungry….”
“Be quiet.”
…I didn’t share the food with Ludvico and his wife, who had been stingy with provisions.
* * *
Right after the meal, we moved on.
We had to escape somehow before the battle with the Reconstruction Council began.
‘I fed them, but they’re all exhausted.’
That was only natural after facing Count Andres, who possessed such formidable divine protection.
At least their nervous systems had recovered from the damage they’d sustained before the meal.
But there were other injuries.
‘So this is what it feels like—this helplessness—not being able to heal.’
And besides….
I glanced at the Marquis that Antonio was carrying on his back.
‘His condition is critical from the explosion.’
He looked as though his breath might stop at any moment.
To be honest, I didn’t think his death would grieve me.
The man I’d known as my father had been dead to me for a long time.
‘Still, thinking of the trouble that would arise after he dies, I hope he can hold on until we reach the Imperial Palace.’
I walked forward with a sigh.
We arrived at the northwest.
As though this was the boundary of the domain, a barrier spread across this place, blocking our path forward.
The Irregulars examining the barrier spoke up.
“This seems to be the weakest barrier we’ve encountered.”
“Can we break through it?”
Everyone looked toward Abel.
Among them, Abel possessed the greatest destructive power.
Wasn’t it Abel who shattered the barrier when we first arrived?
Abel tapped against the barrier’s surface with his fingers, then shook his head.
“The mana I spent getting inside hasn’t recovered yet, and fighting with ‘that one’ drained a lot more. Breaking through it in one go is asking too much.”
“That one” referred to Count Andres.
“What if we did it in several stages?”
The youngest princess, Ceserin, asked.
“Then the enemy would sense the barrier’s disturbance and swarm us.”
That would be announcing our presence here.
I let out a long breath and turned to Luciano.
“I think it would be better to camp nearby while Abel recovers his strength, then break through in one effort.”
“Find a place to camp.”
At Luciano’s command, the Imperial Family’s knights moved with perfect coordination.
We discovered a place that at least offered shelter from the night dew.
It looked like an abandoned miners’ quarters.
We set up watch rotations and settled in for the night.
We secured Count Andres in one of the rooms.
I entered to change his bandages.
Luciano came with me.
“I’ll do it.”
“That’s all right.”
“You’d find it revolting to touch him, wouldn’t you? I certainly would.”
He laughed softly.
“I’ll do it.”
He patted my head and took the bandages and salve from my hands.
First, he removed the bark wrappings we’d secured around him.
And as he undressed him….
“Hmm?”
I stiffened.
Luciano glanced at me, wondering what was wrong.
“There’s a pattern on his chest. He didn’t have one before.”
“A pattern?”
“Yes.”
Could the Reconstruction Council have used this pattern to drive the Marquis into a berserker state?
If so, erasing the pattern should do it.
I crouched down and examined the pattern closely.
I sent mana into the air to display a diagram, then checked the calculation.
But something was wrong.
“…What is this?”
As I stared at the diagram with trembling eyes, Luciano asked.
“What’s the matter?”
This is not the Reconstruction Council’s formula.
This is… this is….
“It’s a unique formula developed by Andres.”
Advanced sorcery employing the Epsilon Formula.
This was a formula developed in Andres that I’d learned since childhood.
A formula so familiar that I could calculate it completely the moment I saw the diagram.
“It wasn’t the Reconstruction Council. The Council didn’t cause the berserker state!”
“…What did you say?”
Luciano’s face went rigid.
I drew in a sharp breath.
It was a formula for amplifying all his mana.
He’d made it clash with his divine protection to drive himself into a berserker state.
“Why? …Could it be that his capture by the Reconstruction Council was deliberate as well?”
I hurriedly examined the Marquis’s body.
I rolled him over to inspect his back.
Near his shoulder blade, a strange stone-like object was embedded.
“A mana stone!”
It wasn’t a mana stone bearing the Imperial authentication mark.
It was definitely one belonging to the Reconstruction Council.
Inserting Mana Stones into the body—such advanced alchemy was unmistakably the Reconstruction Council’s technique.
“They implanted Mana Stones to push my mana capacity to its absolute limit. Did I let myself be captured by the Reconstruction Council on purpose to receive this? But why would I…?”
The moment my hand touched the Mana Stone.
A deep hum resonated through the air.
A sensation as though my entire body were being pulled into a vortex swept across me with the vibration.
“Yustea!”
Luciano grabbed hold of me.
But it was useless.
My vision had already begun to blur.
As if I’d been struck by some spell.
Consciousness slipped away.
And then came darkness.
* * *
When I opened my eyes again….
“What…?”
I pushed myself up groggily.
But what was this slurred speech?
‘Wait… could it be…?’
My face went pale as I looked down at myself immediately.
Hands like autumn leaves and arms that looked as though two sausages had been bound together.
Legs shorter than an adult’s forearm.
I frantically ran my hands over my entire body.
Everything felt plump and stubby.
“You’ve awakened, Young Lady?”
The door opened and a Maid entered.
It was the Head Maid of Andres.
And this room was….
‘My bedroom in Andres.’
I hurried to glance at the mirror on the wall.
‘I’ve become younger?’

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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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