How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 260

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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 260
* * *
When consciousness returned, my whole body throbbed with dull ache.
My eyelids felt as heavy as if they’d been glued shut.
I groaned and forced my eyes open.
The first thing I saw was the ceiling.
A familiar ceiling at that…?!
“You’re awake?”
It was Charlie’s voice—from Antonio’s Unit.
When I turned my head, I saw Charlie coming in with a towel draped over a washbasin.
I asked him.
“What happened?”
By my calculations, I should have returned to the moment of regression.
That is, the moment I made contact with Count Andres.
At that time, I was in the Mines—trapped with the Princes inside the Reconstruction Council’s barrier.
But this place….
‘It’s the Esgaroth Estate.’
Charlie hurriedly set down the washbasin and approached.
“The Clan Leader—no, the Young Marquis led the forces personally to the Mines. He captured the imposters claiming to be Princes from the Reconstruction Council and brought back the Young Lady and her companions who were trapped in the barrier.”
So Father had moved while I was unconscious.
“What’s the time? What day is it now? What about Luciano? Count Andres…!”
“It’s been two days since you collapsed, ma’am. Prince Luciano, who was also unconscious, was transferred to the Imperial Palace, and Count Andres has been imprisoned.”
“Imprisoned?”
“Yes. Prince Luciano woke before you did and informed us that the Count had received funding from the Reconstruction Council.”
I stiffened.
Something didn’t add up.
‘Count Andres changed the past. So how did the future remain unchanged?’
“Communication Stone. Bring me a Communication Stone.”
“A Communication Stone?”
“Yes. I need to contact Luciano.”
Charlie brought the Communication Stone.
I reached out to Luciano.
After a moment of signal tone, Luciano’s voice came through.
[Yeah. Trouble-maker.]
“What’s going on?”
[That’s what I want to know. You dragged Count Andres into this without telling me?]
Luciano’s tone was a low growl of displeasure.
“Ah….”
He was referring to how I’d brought Count Andres in from the past to end the regression.
[You were discovered by Idel on purpose, weren’t you? You planned to activate the spell while the Count was busy dealing with Idel.]
“Of course. We were just children. There’s no way we could have faced Count Andres on our own.”
[You’ve got nerve.]
Luciano exhaled sharply.
“But what exactly happened?”
[The regression itself never occurred. I looked into it, but no one was affected by the events we created.]
“What do you mean…?”
[It wasn’t a regression at all. That world was something else entirely.]
“A different world….”
[Think about it, Yustea. That place—the Game Master didn’t exist there. It was an Impossible World to us.]
“…!”
I drew in a sharp breath.
Luciano’s voice dropped lower.
[I understand you’re shocked. All that suffering turned out to be meaningless, so you have every right to be—.]
“That’s amazing.”
[…What?]
Luciano fell silent for a moment, then spoke again.
“It’s confirmed now. The Game Master is a spiritual entity. You can’t destroy it physically. But if you seal it away in another world…”
So it can never return to this one…!
Luciano let out a hollow laugh at my words.
But I was thrilled.
[Admittedly positive…. Well, I’ve certainly gained something. The way to defeat the GM, and Idel.]
“Why Idel?”
[Mother explained it to me. The second trial task is to retrieve the Reverse Scale from a black dragon. And that dragon has black scales and bat-like wings.]
My face went rigid.
A dragon with black scales and bat wings.
I had seen that before.
“…Idel.”
[Correct.]
We had moved one step ahead in the second trial as well.
* * *
The First Trial had produced these victors.
Luciano.
Yohael.
Gaspard.
And….
“Wait, Prince Ludvico?”
I read the newspaper article with a bewildered expression.
Yuise nodded.
“Yohael didn’t even show up at the mines, it seems. Quietly went ahead and confirmed the construction of a new port in the East.”
The beginning of the eastern unrest had been over that very port.
He’d struck at exactly that pressure point.
“So what about Gaspard and Ludvico?”
“Gaspard captured one of the Reconstruction Council leaders while escaping.”
“That’s certainly a credit to his name. But Ludvico—why on earth?”
“Count Andres’s Divine Blessing ran out of control and nearly destroyed part of the eastern region. Capturing Count Andres was officially recognized as a merit.”
“Lucky bastard….”
In any case, there were four of them.
Yuise also seemed displeased with the roster for the second trial, and clicked her tongue sharply.
“Three out of the four are Luciano’s enemies. If those three band together, Luciano will be at a disadvantage.”
“But we have information. The dragon is Idel.”
Since I knew Idel’s nature well, I might be able to obtain the Reverse Scale without combat.
My eyes gleamed.
I needed to gather information quickly.
Yohael, Gaspard, and Ludvico would all be scrambling for intelligence as well.
“Where is the black dragon?”
“The South.”
I nodded.
And so, the next day.
I went to the Imperial Palace.
The palace was crowded with people.
Nobles wanting to back the Princes, no doubt.
As I headed toward Luciano’s palace, a bright voice called from behind me.
“Yustea.”
When I turned, Guinevere was waving with a cheerful face.
Beside her stood Roji, her expression listless.
I lifted my hand lightly in greeting.
“Are you here for the second trial?”
Guinevere asked with a smile.
“Yes. What about you two?”
“Much the same. We need to hedge our bets with the Princes.”
“The Princes?”
Roji spoke through a yawn.
“Three out of four are hostile to Prince Luciano. If he fails this trial, everyone who’s tied themselves to Luciano’s palace will be in a bind. So we’re just taking stock of the situation.”
“Your language….”
Guinevere let out an exasperated sigh.
But there was more than a grain of truth in what Roji had said.
Luciano’s palace was quiet.
By contrast, Yohael’s palace bustled with people.
Gaspard was Yohael’s younger brother, so of course he would rally to Yohael’s side.
Ludvico also fell out of Luciano’s favor in the First Trial, so he’ll be supporting Yohaël.
“How cowardly—three of you ganging up on one.”
I shook my head, and Roji stepped forward first.
“Well, I mean… I could help out a bit.”
Roji cleared her throat.
As I blinked, Guinevere spoke.
“The Olvera House, Roji’s family, are the leading power in the South, after all.”
“Ah.”
“That dragon is troublesome, but we haven’t touched it until now because there’s a way to reason with it. Conversation is possible, you see.”
Of course it is.
‘The truth is, that’s not a dragon—it’s Idel.’
While I was thinking that, Roji whispered.
“Father told me that dragon… only talks to women.”
“Women?”
“Yes. So it’d be better for you to go along.”
“I was planning to follow anyway, but now I want to even more. But why?”
“It hates the smell of men. When Father went, it whipped the soldiers with its tail.”
Did becoming a Chimera give me such unnaturally keen olfaction?
Does it sense hormones or something?
Perhaps there’s something fundamentally incompatible between myself and males.
‘Idel was never unable to talk to men in the first place.’
It spoke perfectly well with Count Andres.
“Hmm….”
I groaned uncertainly, and this time Guinevere leaned in to whisper.
“The other princes seem to know this information too. Prince Yohaël is apparently bringing Calypso, and Prince Ludvico is bringing the Sixth Princess.”
“Wait… if that’s the case….”
I narrowed my eyes.
Guinevere and Roji nodded.
“The Second Trial is ultimately a battle of partners.”
“It’s being broadcast to the Mirror World, so show the difference in caliber. Don’t lose to a foreign princess or that insufferable Sixth Princess.”
Guinevere grinned broadly, cheering me on.
Roji gave me a threatening pat on the shoulder.
I took a deep breath.
And clenched my fist.
‘If it’s a partner duel, I can’t afford to lose.’
It was the beginning of a partner war that would shake the Empire to its core.
But I didn’t know yet that there was one more mountain for me to overcome….
* * *
“You’re leaving me behind? Why!”
I hurried after Luciano.
Even as he gathered his luggage, Luciano declared firmly.
“Because I don’t know what you’ll do.”
The fallout from having trampled through the Impossible World was taking its toll.
I bent down to follow Luciano as he hunched over to check his bags, and spoke.
“That dragon only talks to women, or so I heard.”
“I know.”
“If you know, then why—!”
“I’m bringing female knights. It’s enough to have them handle the conversation instead.”
“That’s working through intermediaries. This is a race of speed. I’d be genuinely useful if I came along.”
“….”
Luciano snapped his bag shut and turned to face me.
His eyes narrowed.
“Who would take their lover to a place where injury is all but guaranteed?”
“If your lover is all but guaranteed to get hurt, wouldn’t any of them go?”
“Troublemaker.”
“Control freak.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Absolutely yes.”
Luciano raised his hand.
It was his signal for me to come along with him.
The adjutant, who had been waiting at the doorway, shuffled forward hesitantly.
“Young Lady, perhaps we should—”
“Luciano.”
Luciano shook his head.
“Stay quietly at the manor.”
Then he pressed a small box into my hands.
It contained matches and incense.
The dried incense smelled wonderful—a soft, soothing fragrance that eased the mind.
“A gift. Use it well.”
“…”
“I’ll be back soon.”
He stroked my head and gestured to the adjutant.
The adjutant led me away.
Once we reached the corridor, he spoke.
“He worries about you, Young Lady…”
“I know.”
“He’s adamant about not taking you this time. Please try to understand.”
“…”
“I’ll see you to your quarters.”
The adjutant offered an awkward smile and led me on.
I glanced back at Luciano’s door.
But I kept walking.
* * *
Several days later.
Before the Southern Cave.
The princes had gathered.
Each prince spoke to their partner.
Yohael went first.
“Since it dislikes fire, we won’t be able to light anything inside the cave. Somehow we need to lure it out and examine the form of its Reverse Scale.”
Ludvico, his expression uneasy, addressed Ujina.
“Don’t cause another incident. Be respectful.”
“I understand…”
Gaspard, having neither a fiancée nor a proper partner, had brought along a group of female priests.
“Move faster than those women.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
Gaspard clicked his tongue in frustration.
“If only I had Maria…”
That was when—
Ignis, the chief of the priests Gaspard had brought, lifted his head.
“Maria… did you say?”
“You know Maria?”
“No, that’s not quite it…”
I dream.
Childhood dreams, of things I don’t remember, replaying endlessly in sleep.
“Maria!”
A girl, veiled, calling out that name.
A girl whose hands moved as swift as if blessed by a laborer’s blessing…
‘She was kind.’
When the children wept from exhaustion over their work, her heart ached so deeply that she alone handled all those tasks.
And she never boasted of it.
‘Maria, then…’
Ignis fell silent.
The princes’ partners entered the cave.
But then—
[It won’t answer no matter what I say!]
[It seems… it has no intention of conversing with us…]
[Your Highness, the dragon refuses to engage in dialogue.]
Such responses came back.
Gaspard, arms crossed, furrowed his brow.
I’d expected to resolve this peacefully, without combat, since they said Ignis possessed reason.
‘But if he won’t engage in conversation, there’s no way to draw him out.’
The other Princes were frowning as well.
Ludvico spoke up.
“Try tempting him—offer jewels, offerings, that sort of thing.”
[I tried that. I did, but…!]
Calypso’s voice carried the same note of distress.
[He says if anyone disturbs his sleep, they’ll pay the price. I… I don’t think conversation is possible… Would it be all right if we just… stayed like this…?]
Hearing Calypso’s wavering voice, Yohaël’s group let out sighs.
The Princes clicked their tongues.
“This is becoming problematic.”
“First we need to confirm what form the Reverse Scale takes, then we can decide whether to take it or not.”
That was when it happened.
Boom—!
A tremendous explosion erupted, and the mouth of the cave burst into flames.
The Princes flinched.
“What’s happening!”
“What on earth—!”
Luciano’s expression hardened.
‘He hates fire, so they’re setting it ablaze to force him out?’
Wait.
There was only one person mad enough to do something this reckless….

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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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