I Will Try to Save My Dad - Chapter 104

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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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Chapter 104

“You’re asking if there are more of Julia’s things?”
I’d requested a private audience with Count Trabel through Jack Jack specifically to gather information about Countess Trabel’s box. I was curious why Uncle by Marriage was hiding it.
The best way to learn about it was to ask those who were there at the time!
I sat beside Count Trabel and asked brightly.
“Yes! That stone-like thing you gave me last time~”
“A stone-like thing, you say….”
Count Trabel seemed to ponder my words before letting out a soft snort.
“There isn’t any.”
“Huh?”
“What else would you do with something like a stone? Tell me the truth. What are you scheming this time?”
I flinched. It felt as though Count Trabel could see right through me.
Now that I thought about it, he hadn’t patted my head today…!
I glanced at where his hands were, and I saw Count Trabel gripping the decorative armrest of the sofa tightly with both hands. It was a rounded wooden carving.
“I’m not scheming anything….”
“Don’t play innocent. I can see exactly what’s going on in that little head of yours.”
“Gasp. My thoughts?”
“Yes. You were planning to put Baltar in the Crest Mine management position from the start, weren’t you? Since the Dwarves have a keen sense for finding minerals, you thought he’d discover new ore veins…. No, that doesn’t make sense either.”
Count Trabel finally couldn’t help himself and patted my head. Had I made his mind complicated?
Since he was clearly aiming for the cognitive improvement effect, I obediently offered my head. Count Trabel grumbled at me like he was making an excuse.
“Do you know how much you’ve been giving me headaches lately? How on earth did you manage to win over the Dwarves?”
“…Would you like me to tell you?”
“Never mind. It’s written that way in the contract. Hearing it from you would be cheating.”
I already knew from Jack Jack that Count Trabel was curious about the arrangement with Baltar and the Crest Mine.
He’d told me that when he asked Zena Chaser to report the details, she said she couldn’t disclose them.
‘Hmm. This is tricky.’
My strategy of starting with the stone and eventually bringing up Countess Trabel’s box had the disadvantage of taking time. Besides, Count Trabel wasn’t being cooperative right now.
I glanced at Count Trabel.
His hand patting my head obscured his expression, but he didn’t seem to be in a good mood.
‘Change of plans. I can’t just wheedle the box story out of Count Trabel.’
He wasn’t the type to do anything just because his granddaughter begged.
Then—.
‘Negotiation would be faster.’
I smiled faintly. I was far more confident in this approach than trying to manipulate Count Trabel with seven-year-old cuteness.
Since Count Trabel seemed to be thinking about the Dwarf matter and wasn’t speaking, I had plenty of time to think.
What did Count Trabel want right now?
‘The deal with the Dwarves went through because of Baron Oldman’s involvement, but Count Trabel must have felt unsatisfied. It wasn’t something he accomplished through his own power.’
Grandfather was the architect of the Trabel Count Family’s greatest prosperity. Thanks to him, it became common knowledge among others that “there is nothing the Count of Trabel cannot accomplish if he sets his mind to it.”
And yet, this very grandfather had extended an olive branch to the Dwarves for decades, only to be rebuffed time and again—
“I resolved it myself! I even hired Baltar at the Crest Mine. So you must be terribly curious, aren’t you? About how to broker a deal with the Dwarves.”
The reason he wasn’t asking me directly was painfully obvious.
He had already been refused once by Zena Chaser, who cited violations of the contract terms.
“As the Count of Trabel, I cannot break a contract’s terms—that’s what you’re thinking! Adults must set an example for children, after all!”
The Crest Mine contract was an employment agreement that had come about through Baltar’s grave robbery, but…
I couldn’t reveal that fact. Which left me with only one option!
“Grandfather.”
I grasped his hand with both of mine and tilted my head to the side.
“Would you like to make a deal? With Baron Oldman?”
Grandfather’s golden eyes looked down at me.
Others might have mistaken his expressionless face for displeasure, but there was a resemblance between Grandfather’s and Father’s features.
He was pouting. He was definitely sulking.
“…What sort of deal would I make with Baron Oldman?”
Grandfather asked me casually. I grinned and made my proposal.
“An exchange of information!”

***

“I’ll tell you how to befriend the Dwarves! In exchange, I’d like to know about Countess Trabel’s box.”

A few hours earlier, Laksek Iron Trabel felt as though he’d been struck from behind.
His granddaughter had seen right through him. Worse still, she had pinpointed the source of his discomfort—something even I hadn’t fully understood.
Befriending the Dwarves? The moment I heard those words, something absurd happened: my chest felt lighter.
‘This is why growing old is terrifying. To be bothered by something so childish.’
Business was about results.
Baron Oldman winning the Dwarves’ favor was merely one step in that process. Not only had I felt slighted at my own failure to do so, but I’d let that resentment show to my granddaughter.
“Pathetic.”
“…What do you mean, sir?”
“Never mind.”
Laksek Iron Trabel waved his hand dismissively at Callet, who had reacted to my muttering.
Callet closed his mouth and turned his gaze back to the documents he’d been reading. From his seat at the desk, Laksek Iron Trabel studied his aide’s profile.
‘That one’s showing it too.’
For some time now, he’d seemed subtly listless. Perhaps the work was wearing on him.
The man came to the Main Estate even on weekends. He worked overtime as casually as eating meals. Though he did so willingly, my aide was still human. He needed rest, even if only out of obligation.
“Callet.”
“Yes, sir.”
“From now on, don’t come to the Main Estate on weekends. And don’t stay past nine in the evening.”
Thud.
Yet when my aide turned to acknowledge this kindness, his eyes held the look of someone whose world had crumbled. Laksek Iron Trabel was baffled.
“Why do you look like you’re about to die? I’m telling you to rest.”
“…I…”
“People need rest. Keep working like this and you’ll fall ill.”
“…I must still come on weekends. There are duties that need—”
“If there’s that much work, what should I do? Hire additional staff?”
“…”
Callet pressed his lips firmly shut.
So he disliked it. What young man loved work so much? From what I could see, my aide had no prospect of marriage—or even romance.
Laksek Iron Trabel clicked his tongue and folded the letter, its ink now dry, neatly in half.

“Please praise me lavishly!”

So this was how to win the Dwarves’ favor—by respecting their race and praising their abilities.
It was far too simple, so pure that no adult would have conceived of it. I had to admit it.
My mind, worn down by the world, could never have thought of such a method.
‘What do I do about this?’
Separate from the transaction of information exchange, I had been soundly defeated. Since I had lost to my granddaughter, I would have to pay the price.

“Julia’s box?”
“Yes! A box about this size! Sherry said Countess Trabel put jewels inside it.”
“Julia’s jewelry box… Yes, we did have something like that. Why? Do you want the jewelry box?”
“The stone Grandfather gave me belonged to Grandmother Julia, didn’t it? I’m curious if it’s inside that jewelry box! And I want to see the real thing too…”

I couldn’t fathom what scheme was brewing in that little head.
It was clear my granddaughter wanted something. I folded the letter, slipped it into an envelope, and dripped melted wax to impress the family seal.
The outer envelope bore the inscription: “To the esteemed and remarkably talented craftsman, Baltar.”
“Callet.”
“Yes. We won’t need additional personnel.”
“Handle that yourself. After you send this to the Dwarf Village, I need you to retrieve something.”
“…What item, sir?”
Callet asked, and I answered.
“Julia’s jewelry box.”
“Yes. I’ll check the room where we keep heirlooms.”
She wants to see the real thing, does she.
‘That’s what she’s really after.’
I chuckled quietly, seeing right through my granddaughter’s transparent desires.

***

Mariane frowned.
“…What are you doing?”
“Ah, dear.”
Edgar paced back and forth in front of me like a dog desperate to relieve itself.

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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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