How to Replace Your Dad - Chapter 97

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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 97

Stella flinched and looked at me.

Just then, First Prince Yohaël, who had been approaching Stella, also hesitated for a moment.

Even Luciano glanced at me sideways.

Well, he probably never saw such crude words come out of my mouth.

During the time we lived together at the Andres Estate, I aimed to be a flawless lady.

I had never used harsh language.

Even after reuniting as Father’s daughter, I generally avoided using crude words like that.

Stella looked at me with a bewildered expression.

“What… such words… I…”

“Did you think you came here to provide rear support?”

“We can’t all go in together…!”

“Then your side can enter after us, can’t it? Since you’re new to combat, it’s better for my experienced side to go in first.”

“You’re not experienced in combat either…!”

“Andres’s White Dragon, cult extermination, purifying the Holy Tower’s contaminated holy water.”

When I rattled off the battles I’d participated in, Stella flinched.

However, she soon became indignant and said,

“Pursuit and combat are different. The purpose is ultimately Gaspard…”

“Then it’s rescue, not pursuit.”

“What?”

“Pursuit is chasing and attacking from behind. That’s combat. Pursuit and combat are similar terms.”

They’re not different.

Stella looked at Yohaël and Luciano as if asking if this was true.

Yohaël only smiled without saying anything.

It meant I was right.

Luciano let out a quiet laugh.

Seeing the two princes’ reactions, Stella’s face flushed red.

“Th-that’s just nitpicking…!”

“If rescue is the purpose, then all the more reason for us to enter first. After we assess the Restoration Council’s stronghold, wouldn’t it be more appropriate for you to secretly rescue Gaspard?”

“That’s…”

“Or—”

I looked at Stella with an expressionless face.

“Is assessing the Restoration Council’s stronghold actually the priority, not rescue?”

“…What?”

“You mean saving your friend is just pretense, and you have other priorities.”

“…!”

Stella seemed at a loss for words and swallowed dryly.

Well, of course.

‘Because it’s true.’

If rescuing Gaspard was truly the biggest objective, there would be no need to argue with me.

Moving after we go in would indeed be the most efficient approach.

But the reason she’s being so stubborn is one thing.

‘She wants the credit.’

The task of identifying the Restoration Council’s stronghold and passing information to the Imperial Palace.

That would be unprecedented merit.

If both my team and Stella’s succeed, whoever reports first will be the winner.

Stella wouldn’t want to lose that opportunity.

Stella moved her lips with a flustered expression.

She looked around uncertainly at Yohaël, Luciano, and even the other soldiers.

Then she shouted with a panicked face.

“Of course rescuing Gaspard comes first. I’m not after credit, I’m just worried about my friend…!”

I smiled brightly.

‘You walked right into that, Stella.’

I noticed this while dealing with Stella during the Andres Estate incident.

That girl is extremely conscious of others’ opinions.

Having received public love for being kind, unselfish, and cheerful, she was desperate to maintain that image.

“Then it’s right for us to go in first. Come on, let’s go in.”

Stella flinched.

But regardless, I took my pursuit force and entered the cave.

Luciano chuckled as he passed by Yohaël.

Yohaël was smiling, but his gaze toward Luciano was sharp.

* * *

Stella glanced at Yohaël and muttered.

“Um… Yohaël, shouldn’t we go in soon?”

It had only been 10 minutes since Yustea’s pursuit force entered the cave.

Her impatience was obvious.

Stella’s pursuit force was hiding near the entrance, watching for other signs of activity.

She was worried about doing nothing and letting Yustea steal the credit.

Yohaël, who had been leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, smiled gently.

“Luciano is included on that side.”

“Huh?”

“His mana capacity is enormous. And the people you brought are all powerful mages too.”

“What does that mean…”

“If there’s someone among the enemy who can read mana, they’ll detect the intrusion.”

“But if we delay like this and Yustea’s side finds the stronghold first…”

“We can’t let them claim credit first, but what we should be most wary of is failing this mission, Stella.”

“Ah…”

Stella’s expression darkened.

Stella, who had been fidgeting with her fingertips, glanced at Yohaël.

“But Yohaël…”

When Yohaël looked at her, Stella moved her lips hesitantly.

After hesitating for a while, she asked carefully.

“Are you perhaps angry with me…?”

Yohaël raised his eyebrows slightly.

Stella fidgeted.

“You haven’t been talking to me… so…”

Yohaël let out a thin laugh.

She missed the initiative because she was busy protecting her image, and now she wants comfort too?

‘How troublesome.’

She definitely has a troublesome personality for working together.

Yustea was the one whose work style was appropriate.

Quick assessment of Stella’s tendencies.

Cornering her to make her give up the initiative herself.

There was also a difference in how Stella and Yustea assembled their teams.

Stella’s pursuit force was entirely composed of powerful mages capable of strong magic.

They would be of no help whatsoever for covert tracking.

But even if they would help in combat, that wasn’t the case either.

Though they’re powerful mages, they’re few in number.

Since this is the Restoration Council’s stronghold, there will be plenty of strong fighters.

If a battle broke out, those mages might be able to buy some time, but defeat was a foregone conclusion.

‘I thought they brought them as disposable pawns.’

I expected they planned to sacrifice the mages and flee.

Andres probably thought the same when they handed over the mages.

But judging from Stella’s reaction, that wasn’t the case at all.

“Lady Stella, I sense a presence in the southeastern area, about 400 meters away.”

“Ah… Yes, don’t approach. My grandmother is alone there. She mustn’t get hurt.”

A sick grandmother alone, and so on – they all had desperate reasons to stay alive.

People who had reasons to betray when their lives were in danger.

When I asked why she brought such people, Stella said:

“These are knights I took special care of, so they really like me. I like the knights very much too. So we’ll work well together.”

She smiled so brightly as she said that.

In contrast, Yustea’s pursuit force had almost no detectable mana.

Though called a pursuit force, they had precisely calculated that their purpose was tracking.

Moreover, they all seemed to be experts in tracking.

You could tell just from the tools they carried.

After concluding that squad combat was impossible, they had formed a composition perfectly suited for tracking.

Yohaël had never worked with Stella before.

So he learned through this mission.

That endlessly cheerful personality could be popular only because Yustea was behind the scenes doing all sorts of dirty work to support her.

Stella, having finished talking with the mage, glanced at Yohaël.

“So what should we do…?”

“About what.”

“Well, they said they sense a presence, so it seems we can’t stay here like this.”

Yohaël looked at Stella’s wavering eyes.

“Were you always someone who left decisions to others?”

“Huh? Ah… Well, this kind of combat… no, rescue operation is my first time, so I thought it was important to hear opinions from experienced people…”

Stella answered with a flustered expression.

Yohaël glanced at the mages.

“Find out if they’re approaching the cave. If it’s a small group from the Restoration Council, capture them.”

“Yes.”

“Yes!”

The mages who answered departed, and Yohaël leaned his back against the wall again, looking into the cave.

Stella hung her head dejectedly.

‘What on earth is going on.’

She hadn’t been able to receive GM’s messages for several days now.

No matter how much she called, the only messages that appeared were…

[No response.]

[Synchronizing…]

[Time remaining: Unpredictable]

Only such words.

‘Is it because of what I did a few days ago.’

GM had asked for a body.

Stella had gathered what was needed according to his request, but from a certain point on, there was no answer.

‘If Yustea figures out the main base first at this rate…’

She would be throwing away the opportunity she had barely obtained.

Stella looked at the cave with an anxious expression.

Stella, who had been covering her lips with her fingertips, thought.

‘…I guess there’s no choice.’

She couldn’t let this opportunity slip away like this.

Stella’s eyes gleamed sharply.

* * *

No matter how much we walked, there was no end.

I looked at a unit member from Yuise’s team, one of the pursuit force.

“Is it still difficult to assess the interior with ‘sound’?”

This unit member had the ability to understand structure through sound.

The unit member furrowed his brow and looked around.

“Something seems strange.”

“Strange?”

“Yes. Even though it’s a cave, the sound doesn’t accumulate. It seems like there’s a passage somewhere that the wind escapes through…”

Then the unit members furrowed their brows and looked around.

Luciano also tapped and examined the walls.

The unit member tilted his head this way and that.

Taking off his gloves, he rubbed his fingertips and raised his index finger.

“It seems to be escaping this way…”

He felt along the wall where Luciano was.

The other unit members also gathered and thoroughly examined the wall, but no passage appeared.

I groaned “Hmm…” and narrowed my eyes.

But this is strange.

I can sense a mysterious divine presence.

‘Ah, could it be!’

Is this place like a dungeon from the game?

In games, places like this often appeared as dungeons.

Come to think of it, there were conditions similar to dungeon gates.

1. Divine presence should be felt.

2. Plants should be lush.

3. It should be made of granite with high mana conductivity.

Dungeons only open their doors when entry conditions are met.

‘And the entry conditions are usually…’

“Prince Luciano.”

When I spoke, Luciano, who had been examining the wall, looked at me.

“Please pour some mana into the wall.”

“Do you want the enemy to detect us?”

“If the conditions I’m thinking of are correct, pouring mana into the wall won’t get us detected.”

When a dungeon gate opens, a tremendous energy spreads that’s far greater than individual mana.

It would be such a powerful flow that human mana couldn’t be detected.

Luciano placed his hand on the wall.

And when he poured mana into it…

Grrrrrr!

The ground vibrated, and a strangely shaped glowing formation was created.

‘As I thought, it’s a dungeon gate!’

“Come this way.”

Our tracking team gathered at the center of the formation.

“Your Highness, please pour mana once more.”

Luciano channeled mana into the formation.

The light forming the formation turned red, starting from his feet.

Then amazingly…

“…!”

“…?!!”

The unit members gasped in surprise and looked around.

In the blink of an eye, the interior of the cave had changed.

No, this was more like taking a portal.

The formation had become a portal and led us inside the dungeon.

Luciano furrowed his brow and said.

“A dungeon?”

“It seems so.”

“Using a dungeon as a base?”

Luciano let out a bitter laugh.

This meant they weren’t wary of monsters at all.

It was tremendous confidence.

This space was like some castle interior.

A very old castle at that.

I furrowed my brow.

‘It’s not maintained at all.’

Even what appeared to be decorative stands were all corroded.

As I was frowning, a Unit Member of Yuis Troop spoke.

“The passage is that way, Young Lady.”

It seemed they had grasped the dungeon’s interior through wind and sound.

We walked down the corridor guided by the Unit Member of Yuis Troop.

‘What? Why are there no people here?’

I couldn’t sense any presence at all.

“Is this really their base?”

At Luciano’s words, I shook my head.

“I don’t know.”

“Despite being a dungeon, there are no monsters visible, so it does seem to be used as a base.”

The more we walked, the stranger it became.

Not only were there no monsters or people…

‘A strange elation is rising.’

Elation?

No, this could also be felt as a sense of crisis.

It felt like all the hair on my body was standing on end, as if instinctively warning me.

But then it happened.

“Kyaah!”

A scream came from somewhere.

I turned my head in surprise.

The other Unit Members did the same.

Even Luciano’s expression hardened.

Of course… of course this was…!

“It’s Stella’s voice.”

“Why is someone who should be in front of the cave here?”

I don’t know.

But this is definitely Stella’s scream.

“Don’t do this, I don’t like it…! Kyaah, Father! Brother!”

The screaming became increasingly intense.

This wasn’t the time for this.

We hurriedly turned the corner and headed toward where the screaming was coming from.

But what we encountered was…

“Who are you?”

It was Stella wearing a luxurious dress with her hair braided.

What was pecking at Stella’s head was a white dove.

Stella looked at me in surprise.

“You, how did you get here…”

That’s what I should be asking.

“What on earth happened? You should be in front of the cave.”

“That’s… rather than that, get rid of this. This dove, I mean.”

“You’re this afraid of just a dove?”

Stella said tearfully.

“This dove turned Yohaël into a statue!”

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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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