How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 70
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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How to Replace Your Dad
Chapter 70
* * *
I earnestly explained the situation and cleared up Father’s misunderstanding.
Just moments ago, Father had lost not only his expression but seemed to have lost his soul as well, yet now a glimmer returned to his eyes.
And then, swish, he looked at Abel.
“You’d better speak properly. There won’t be a second warning.”
“I am speaking properly. Was there anything wrong with what I said?”
Dark energy rippled from Father’s body.
Black mist also began spreading slowly from beneath Abel’s feet.
I was sitting on the sofa when I startled and half-rose from my seat.
It was to stop the fight.
But Yuise grabbed my arm.
“Leave them be, this is interesting.”
Antonio also grinned and said.
“Clan Leader, that guy’s no pushover.”
Suddenly, with a sharp clang! sound, the two men’s mana clashed fiercely.
Seeing that spectacle, I drew in a sharp breath.
When Abel and Father’s mana collided, Abel’s mana was instantly repelled.
‘Wow.’
I know Abel’s abilities.
Even without going berserk, those who faced him often used expressions like ‘disaster.’
Yet he was pushed back so easily by Father.
Abel’s expression, which had been emotionless throughout, changed.
As I mentioned, Abel may seem emotionless, but he hates losing.
Just as his momentum was about to sharpen again, I quickly spoke up.
“But Abel, why did you come to Cuaron?”
Abel glared at Father while answering me.
“Because there’s something left to collect.”
“Ah.”
So he came to collect it diligently.
Yuise furrowed her brow.
“Something to collect?”
I answered with a benevolent face.
“Tiramisu. Cake.”
“….”
“….”
“….”
Father, the Vice Clan Leader, and Yuise looked at Abel with expressions asking what on earth that was about.
However, Abel just sat there with a languid expression, merely crossing his legs.
* * *
Yuise looked at Abel with a dumbfounded expression as he devoured the cake Yustea had made.
Should she call it shameless, or thoughtless.
Maybe it was both.
“Do enemy leaders normally come asking for snacks like this?”
She asked sarcastically, pretending to question the Vice Clan Leader.
The Vice Clan Leader must have been flabbergasted too.
“It wasn’t snacks, but the most troublesome enemy from the Colosseum destruction mission did come for a similar reason once.”
“…There was? Who?”
“Antonio. He asked for food.”
“….”
Yuise looked at Antonio, who was eating tiramisu with his hands, with disgusted eyes.
Antonio said with a bright expression.
“The Clan Leader caught a wild boar and grilled it for me.”
“….”
Having failed at being sarcastic, Yuise said with an irritated face.
“So what is it. What’s the real reason you came all the way here?”
If he really wanted to eat that, couldn’t he have asked for it at Yemyeongoe’s headquarters?
Abel finished two pieces of tiramisu in an instant and said.
“Because it’s rational.”
“What?”
“A place where I can eat snacks and there’s someone who can control my rampage. It’s rational to stay here.”
“If that’s the case, you should have gone to Matap. They would have treated you well as experimental material. They’d give you snacks and stop your rampage too.”
At the cold words, Abel looked at Yuise.
The corners of Yuise’s mouth curved in a sinister line.
She tensed the joints in her hands.
Ready to counterattack immediately if Abel attacked.
“I didn’t think that far.”
“…What?”
“That’s not a bad suggestion.”
Yuise gave up on picking a fight and held her forehead.
Her days were already dynamic enough with just the textbook-obsessed, brainless fool, and now another weirdo had been added.
Abel asked Yustea, “Are the beds at Matap decent?”
Yustea hummed and answered, “If you go as experimental material, they probably won’t give you a bed.”
Yuise finally exploded and shouted.
“Am I the only one who finds this situation strange!”
Why is everyone silent!
Antonio said.
“There’s nothing bad about it. I like it. Sparring should be fun.”
The Vice Clan Leader also nodded.
“It’s also appropriate talent coming when we need to strengthen our forces.”
Traitors.
Now the only one she could trust was Clan Leader Aslan.
‘The Clan Leader didn’t like that guy from the beginning, so he must be displeased….’
“Mine.”
“Yes, Father?”
“My portion.”
“You don’t really like sweet things, do you?”
…He had no interest in this topic at all.
Yuise was about to frown in frustration.
All the communication stones in the room rang simultaneously.
Something had happened.
Yuise, the leader of the Irregular Intelligence Unit, immediately connected the communication.
“What’s the matter.”
[Andres’s carriage has departed for Esgaroth.]
What?
Everyone focused on Yuise and the communication stone she held.
Yuise furrowed her brow and asked.
“Entry to the manor should require permission. Did the Citadel’s permission come through?”
[This matter doesn’t require permission. He received an imperial command.]
“An imperial decree? The Emperor issued a decree?”
[Yes. Large-scale contamination has occurred in Andres. It is a decree to have the Saint confirm whether purification of the contamination is possible.]
The Irregulars burst into hollow laughter.
“Contamination all of a sudden?”
“They’re talking nonsense.”
“We’ve never heard such information.”
The Clan Leader, Antonio, and Yuise spoke in turn.
Yustea frowned.
‘They deliberately triggered contamination.’
To bring me to Andres.
Even though the Marquise from the archipelago had contacted them so persistently, they completely ignored it, so they came out with this method.
Aslan said to Yustea.
“There’s no need to go.”
“I can’t do that…”
An imperial decree cannot be ignored.
If it appears that Esgaroth is trying to monopolize the Saint’s divine power, it would be a direct confrontation with the Emperor.
“I’ll do well and come back.”
Yustea spoke so spiritedly, but Aslan’s eyes burned quietly.
Even until then, the Imperial Palace and Andres didn’t know.
The flutter of a butterfly’s wings sometimes creates a storm.
The incident caused to temporarily bring Yustea to Andres later created a storm.
It made the father and son with a bad relationship join forces.
That would also spread as bad news to the Emperor’s neck.
* * *
…And so, the place where I am now was Andres.
Andres Castle.
Getting off the carriage, I looked up at the castle.
“Wow, I don’t want to go in.”
“Then why don’t you turn back even now?”
Yuise said with a displeased expression.
During my stay in Andres, Yuise would be in charge of my escort.
“The Clan Leader’s heart must be burning with worry…”
I quickly covered his mouth.
Yuise frowned.
What are you doing, he meant.
“There are tons of surveillance devices inside the castle.”
So absolutely no talk about the Clan Leader or Irregulars.
When I widened my eyes with that expression, Yuise sighed.
“This place really does all sorts of things.”
“I think so too.”
As we were having that conversation, we heard signs of people approaching.
The retainers of Andres Castle had come to greet us.
Which means…
“We greet the Saint. You must have had a hard journey coming such a long way.”
…Marquis Yopis had come.
“Where’s the contaminated area?”
When I spoke bluntly, the retainers standing behind Marquis Yopis looked displeased.
Yuise’s eyebrows twitched.
What are those things being so openly rude to a guest they invited?
‘Because they’re Stella’s Guard.’
With her sunny personality and extreme affability, she built tremendous connections.
Those things completely melted the ice-cold retainers.
It was something possible because she was the game’s protagonist.
Marquis Yopis smiled brightly.
“There’s no need to be in such a hurry. We’ve prepared lunch, so please rest from your travel fatigue first.”
“I don’t need lunch, just give me the contamination data.”
When I spoke curtly, Marquis Yopis’s smile deepened.
“Yes. Please come inside first.”
I entered the courtyard with them.
Nothing had changed from the scene in my memory.
There was another group of retainers in the courtyard.
If the retainers who first came to pick me up at the carriage station were young talented ones, those waiting in the courtyard were elderly veterans.
Marquis Rochette, the head of the Andres retainers, greeted me.
“It’s been a long time, Young Lady.”
“Long time no see, Marquis.”
“I’ve been hearing so much good news. Haha. My shoulders have been rising with pride.”
He laughed good-naturedly.
If Marquis Yopis is a snake, this man is a bear.
Not a gentle bear, but a beast that tears enemies apart with bare hands.
“Let’s go to the restaurant.”
Marquis Yopis said with a gentle smile.
“You seem tired. Since you appear to need rest, we should postpone the meal for later.”
“Is that so. How disappointing.”
The two men had that conversation.
Unlike them, the expressions of the other retainers became increasingly annoyed.
The gaunt Beudeungni retainer even clicked his tongue.
“You traveled by portal, so what could be so tiring?”
“You there.”
Marquis Rochette gave him a gentle hint.
But Beudeungni retainer’s attitude remained unchanged.
“Isn’t that right? What kind of tremendous fatigue would make you refuse the lunch that the Marquise carefully prepared?”
“I told you to stop.”
“No, I’m trying to say this isn’t proper etiquette—”
That’s when I opened my mouth.
“Food safety inspection, why aren’t you doing it?”
The retainers looked at me with bewildered expressions at the words that didn’t match the context.
I sighed deeply and pointed at Beudeungni.
“Black lines on the gums, nervousness, weight loss. Those are all mercury poisoning symptoms, so do a food safety inspection first.”
“…!”
“Not doing your job. That’s what’s really improper etiquette.”
“…!!”
Beudeungni’s face turned bright red.
The retainers’ eyes widened as if their eyeballs would pop out as they stared at me.
Regardless, I spoke to the employee standing in formation along the wall.
“Guide me to my room.”
“…Yes.”
The employee who glanced at the retainers approached me.
I followed the employee walking ahead up the stairs.
* * *
After Yustea went up the stairs, a commotion broke out in the courtyard.
“How did you immediately recognize Duke Namia’s condition?”
“I told you I recognized it from the black lines on his gums, hypersensitivity, and weight loss.”
“Even though I see Duke Namia every day, I didn’t know there were black lines. Look. Even when I look closely, I’m not sure.”
Those who rose to become vassals after Yustea was expelled.
Those who hadn’t advanced enough to meet the direct line when Yustea was in the family.
The commotion began mainly among such people.
“Who is that person?”
The vassals who had known Yustea since childhood cleared their throats awkwardly.
“What’s so great about that. She just got lucky recognizing it…”
“There’s mercury in the food! Mercury poisoning doesn’t only occur from ingestion. Yet she guessed it accurately.”
“It could be a mistake.”
“No. Food safety inspections weren’t conducted only in the Namia Domain. That’s why only Duke Namia got mercury poisoning!”
When the young vassal got excited, the grumbling vassal cleared his throat once more.
Talk arose from another side as well.
“Don’t praise her too much. Lady Stella might feel hurt.”
“Speaking of which, it’s actually difficult to compare Lady Yustea and Lady Stella…”
“What?”
“I heard this time she also wiped out the heretical sect that was troubling the North. In just three days, no less.”
“That’s…”
“Lady Stella actually pitied the heretical sect and has a history of bringing them into the village…”
“Hey now, you!”
When the elderly vassal scolded him, the young vassal made an awkward expression.
Even without saying more, everyone was thinking the same thing.
They hadn’t realized it when she was here, but now that she’d fallen into someone else’s hands, there was no one more regrettable.
“Moreover, the Saint…”
The young man who became a vassal in place of his mother who passed away late last year muttered.
“Why on earth did they drive out such a person?”
“Ah, you say that because you haven’t met Lady Stella! If you knew how lovely and kind she is…!”
That’s when it happened.
Someone said.
“Does knowing that help the family?”
The vassals fell silent.
Some found that open personality charming, but most of the time it led to trouble.
They hadn’t realized it when Yustea was there.
Because she handled all the duties a noble lady of the family should do perfectly.
But after Yustea disappeared and only Stella remained, it began to show.
That Stella was charming, but lacking as the family’s heir.
The vassals let out sighs.
Marquis Rochette, who had been watching this scene, chuckled quietly.
And he spoke to Marquis Yopis, who had been silently observing the situation.
“She’s still as clever as ever.”
“Are you referring to her recognizing the mercury poisoning?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know. You can’t possibly be unaware that the young lady guided this situation while pretending to inform them about mercury poisoning.”
“…”
That was right.
The vassals’ commotion was something Yustea had orchestrated.
Otherwise, why would she inform someone who rudely criticized her about the illness?
If she wanted to silence them, establishing the Saint’s authority would have been sufficient.
“What do you think she’s aiming for?”
“Well. But what’s certain is…”
Marquis Yopis smiled slightly.
“If our lord knows about this situation, he’ll find Lady Yustea increasingly precious.”
* * *
I looked out the window.
The vassals were gathered in small groups, chattering away.
I smiled brightly and looked at Yuise.
“They’re talking about the mercury poisoning, right?”
“Probably. But why did you tell that guy about mercury poisoning?”
“Because I need the vassals’ favor.”
“Favor?”
“One of them has the 【Essence of Joy】.”
Essence of Joy
Increases mana.
(MP+200)
‘Since I came to Andres anyway, it’s good to take some profit, right?’
Mana was always a headache anyway.
However, the problem was not knowing who had it.
Stella accidentally discovers the 【Essence of Joy】 in a pouch a vassal left behind in the castle.
When I told her this story, Yuise looked fed up.
“What kind of luck stat is that?”
Well, it’s a crazy game that only the protagonist knows about.
Yuise made an incredulous expression.
Then soon she opened her mouth with an “Ah.”
“Should I ask them to look into it?”
“Do you have an information broker?”
“There’s an Elite infiltrated in Andres.”
“Who is that—”
Just as I was saying that.
Knock knock.
The sound of knocking was heard.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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