I Will Try to Save My Dad - Chapter 33

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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 33

‘Huh?’
It was a question that seemed to silence Jeffrey as if Theon had commanded it. I glanced at Theon. His handsome face showed little change in expression.
Jeffrey lowered his voice in response.
“Of course not. I haven’t told anyone. Anne doesn’t know either. She believes I recovered thanks to Reytan and the miracle of Aubaut.”
“…You didn’t tell Anne?”
“No, Berry.”
My tail wagged faster than before.
I felt relieved, though I remained curious about one thing. Jeffrey seemed to be sharing secrets with Theon.
“Why?”
At my question, Jeffrey looked silently at Theon. I followed his gaze, and unlike moments before, Theon’s expression had grown slightly rigid, his lips pressed firmly together.
“Theon is—”
“Don’t.”
“—going to let me join the Secret Society…!”
“…What?”
“Sister, you know the hero Mongble, right? The Secret Society from that story. Theon is part of it…!”
Jeffrey whispered to me with a serious face, barely containing his excitement.
“The Hero Mongble” was a famous picture book in the Heishal Empire, a story that drove boys from five to seven years old wild with enthusiasm.
In it, there was an organization created by Mongble—a secret society composed of children.
For ten-year-old Theon, it was childish nonsense.
“I was a little upset earlier because Theon lied, but it’s okay.”
“Lied?”
Now that I thought about it, when Jeffrey emerged from the carriage and looked at Theon, he had growled something about a liar, hadn’t he?
Jeffrey sighed before answering.
“He kept asking who the girl I came with was, and he said he didn’t know her. Then the other day with Anne, he said she was a Secret Society agent, so they don’t know each other’s identities.”
“…I see.”
“…”
I stole a glance at Theon. He wouldn’t meet my eyes. His head drooped slightly, and his face had turned redder than a strawberry.
“Actually, the reason I climbed into the carriage back in Hisport Town was because I smelled not just Anne’s scent, but your scent and his scent too. And he said they didn’t know each other’s identities. He lied to me.”
Jeffrey poured out his words without hesitation, looking satisfied with himself.
“But I understand. You’re a Secret Society agent too. I’m loyal, so I’ll keep the secret perfectly.”
The last line was a quote from the protagonist’s friend in the storybook. After staring blankly at Jeffrey, who had completely immersed himself in the world, I brought my pinky finger to Theon’s.
“…Huh!”
“Jeffrey, do you know why Theon lied? Because you haven’t joined the Secret Society yet.”
Jeffrey’s bottom wiggled with excitement, and Theon tried to say something to me. I nudged his arm with my elbow, giving him a hint.
“This is the sign of the Secret Society.”
“I know. I… want to… too…”
Jeffrey’s eyes gleamed as he looked at Theon’s pinky finger and mine—the same bright wonder he showed when gazing upon my Father, the Grand Master.
With his pinky raised and his gaze fixed intently, he resembled a puppy undergoing training, waiting obediently before a treat dangled just out of reach.
“I just have to touch my finger to yours…?”
“Do you want to join us, Jeffrey?”
“Yes…!”
“Then from now on, what we’ve called a secret stays between us three alone.”
“Of course. I’m a man of honor!”
Jeffrey immediately pressed his pinky against the tips of ours. His tail wagged with such vigor that it stirred the air itself.
“But Berry, that tastes absolutely horrible.”
He made a retching sound at the memory of the herbal flavor, then excused himself when Anne called for him.
Theon and I remained alone on the rock. He sat in embarrassed silence, mortified that I’d caught him participating in something so childish.
Hmm.
I tilted my upper body to the side and rested my head gently against Theon’s shoulder.
“Hehe.”
“…Why?”
“Thank you for keeping the secret.”

***

The next day.
We spent the night at an inn in a city along the road to the Grand Temple.
After dinner, I discreetly placed a newspaper featuring the Sillon Village Knight on the common room table, but by morning it had vanished.
Then we departed again by carriage.
We arrived at the Grand Temple just past noon.
“Reytan! Welcome after your long journey.”
The Grand Temple’s entrance doors—normally so massive and heavy that only one side opens—swung wide open.
The doors towered three times the height of a man, and their width could accommodate twenty people standing shoulder to shoulder.
Beyond them stretched a pristine white landscape. And approaching with hurried steps, leading a procession of priests, came an elderly man.
All of us except my Father gasped at the sight.
The High Priest—the highest authority of the Aubaut Order—had rushed out personally to welcome my Father’s arrival.
It was as though the Emperor himself had come to greet us in the Heishal Empire.
“The Grand Master truly is remarkable…,” one of the Knights murmured from behind.
My Father seemed unbothered by this extraordinary reception. He greeted the High Priest ahead of us with his usual composure, still holding my hand.
“It has been a long time.”
“Indeed. For six years I couldn’t find any trace of you, so I had to seek assistance from Count Trabel.”
“…Yes.”
My Father’s response was somewhat reluctant—the memory of the wanted posters evidently weighed on him. The High Priest chuckled warmly as my Father introduced us.
“This is my daughter.”
“Hello, High Priest! I’m Berry Quartz Trabel!”
“Hello, High Priest! I’m Berry Quartz Trabel!”
“My goodness, what spirit you have. How old are you?”
“I’m seven years old.”
“You remind me of my own granddaughter. You may call me Grandfather.”
A ripple of murmurs spread through the chamber.
At the High Priest’s final words, the Knights outside the entrance and the priests within stirred with visible reaction.
Could I refuse when the atmosphere felt so auspicious? This was an opportunity to befriend the leader of the Aubaut Order.
“Yes! Grandfather High Priest! Hehe.”
Father introduced Theon, who stood to his left.
“He is my disciple.”
“…Hello.”
The High Priest received Theon’s nervous greeting with a pleased expression.
“What a promising young man. He reminds me of Reytan Quartz Trabel in his youth.”
“And—”
Father turned to look behind him. Standing before the coachman and Anne, who lingered at a distance, were the Knights and Jeffrey, their eyes gleaming with anticipation as they gazed at Father.
‘Will you introduce us as well?’
‘Will you bring us inside too?’
‘The legendary Montblanc is a Sword Master…!’
Their eyes spoke volumes with such longing.
In truth, the Grand Temple was a place of reverence for Knights. Only those who reached the rank of Sword Master—a distinction earned by one in a thousand—could set foot within its halls to wield a Holy Sword.
Father turned his gaze forward once more and spoke.
“The rest will wait outside.”
A soft sigh of disappointment escaped from someone.

***

The Grand Temple was far more otherworldly than I had anticipated. The exterior walls of buildings constructed from white marble gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight, and the sound of an artificial waterfall cascading behind them was refreshing merely to hear.
The path from the entrance to the Main Holy Temple was paved with white gravel, and white birch trees were planted on both sides, making it feel as though I were walking through an enchanted forest.
“Isn’t it fascinating? Right?”
“Yes.”
Theon and I followed Father and the High Priest. Behind us, the priests trailed along.
Everyone looked exhausted with dark circles under their eyes, yet smiles never left their faces.
“Knowing that Reytan Quartz Trabel was coming, Windis has been unusually quiet since this morning.”
The High Priest let out a satisfied laugh.
“Indeed.”
“I cannot express how delighted we are that Reytan Quartz Trabel has expressed his willingness to return as Grand Master.”
“The final choice rests with the Holy Sword. If Windis refuses, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
At Father’s waist, there was nothing hanging.
Though the Grand Temple was a disarmed zone where no weapons other than the Holy Sword could be carried, his waist had been empty since we left the Trabel Estate.
‘He even left behind the sword he used to wear, afraid Windis might grow jealous~’
Father would occasionally get drunk and fall asleep about once a year, and each time he would place a photograph of Brown on the dining table and sit before it, muttering drunkenly.

“Brown, you’ll truly regret it. You have no idea how beautifully our Berry has grown…. Our daughter is so adorable, and only I get to see it…. Why don’t you see her…? I’ve even retired from being the Grand Master you were so proud of….”

I first witnessed Father like this when I was five years old. I had woken up by chance in the early morning and was heading downstairs to the first floor to find him.
Instinctively, I felt I shouldn’t speak to him. I sat on the stairs to the second floor and listened to the sound of Father’s sobbing.

“Windis…. Why won’t that one choose another master yet? Hmm? You know how great a sword that beast is, don’t you? Am I really the best after all? Is there no one else who satisfies it?”

That year. And the next year. There were always the same names in Father’s drunken mutterings.
Uncle Brown and Windis.
So Father must be incredibly looking forward to meeting Windis right now. When he’s happy, he always acts like this.
“Haha. How could it refuse? It made such a fuss demanding that Reytan Quartz Trabel be brought here.”
At the High Priest’s words, laughter flowed from behind me as well. The priests. They all laughed weakly, clearly having suffered greatly at Windis’s hands.
We were passing through the entrance of the Main Holy Temple. I glanced to the side. At some point, Theon had begun walking with his arms and legs extended in the same direction.
“Are you nervous? About seeing Windis?”
Theon nodded at my question. To ease his tension as well, I asked the High Priest a question.
“High Priest Grandfather. Is that statue the god Aubaut?”
“Indeed it is. How clever you are.”
I had read in a book at the Bonwell Village library that the first floor of the Main Holy Temple was designed to be twelve meters high to convey a sense of grandeur.
The statue, carved from layers of white marble, was so massive that its head nearly touched the ceiling.
The texture of the clothing and skin was rendered so softly that it seemed impossible it was solid marble—as if it might come alive and move at any moment.
Wow. Look at that. Those blue eyes just like Father’s seem to be moving….
“Eek!”
At the scream that escaped me unbidden, Father and Theon turned to look at me.

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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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