I Will Try to Save My Dad - Chapter 50

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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 50

It was after Reytan Quartz Trabel had driven the Wild Dog Tribe away before my eyes.
He searched for his daughter with his gaze. Theon, whose eyes met his, pointed toward the Forest.
‘The Forest?’
Marshall always told Reytan to reflect on his own childhood whenever he was troubled by Berry Quartz Trabel’s antics.
Each time, Reytan would respond with confidence.

“I was rather well-behaved, actually.”

Had Brown heard such a claim, he would have been flabbergasted. Unfortunately, in Bonwell Village where no witnesses existed, his assertion was nothing short of a perfect crime.
Reytan rose to his feet. In truth, he hadn’t been able to calm himself since earlier.
Had he been even a moment late, Berry would have been in danger. It was only because he’d fastened that hairpin—the one that gleamed beneath moonlight—to her hair that she’d been spared.
“⋯⋯.”
As Reytan moved to enter the Forest, he stopped upon seeing figures emerging between the trees.
This time, he couldn’t even begin to fathom what was happening.
Berry was walking toward him alongside the Wild Dog Tribe’s chieftain and a young member of their kind.
“Father!”
Berry waved her hand.
Faced with her carefree, radiant expression devoid of any caution, Reytan made his decision.
‘I won’t give her an allowance this year.’
With Berry, that was the only way she’d understand the gravity of the situation.
“Coco’s father has something to tell you!”
“Coco?”
“Yes! This is Coco!”
Berry lifted Coco into her arms and introduced him to Reytan.
Shiver. The young Wild Dog’s body trembled like an aspen leaf as he faced the terrifying human.
“B-Berry, p-please… put me down…”
Finally, the quivering Coco leaped down and fled toward where his siblings were gathered.
He was accustomed to children fearing him, so it didn’t trouble him. Rather, Reytan’s business was with his daughter. He folded his arms and looked down at Berry.
“Then shall you and I have a talk, Berry?”
“Oh, but I’m worried about Coco, so I’ll be right back! Father, you talk with Coco’s father! He has something to tell you!”
“What? Berry, wait.”
“I’ll be back soon~!”
But Berry had already anticipated Reytan’s lecture. She swiftly disappeared after Coco, leaving only Reytan and Zikal behind.
Merely an hour ago, one had crawled upon the ground begging for his life, while the other had forced that plea from him.
An awkward silence hung between the two men.
It was Zikal who broke the stillness.
“Ahem, ahem. The moon is quite bright tonight.”
“What are you trying to say?”
Reytan Quartz Trabel dismissed him without bothering to listen.
Zikal smacked his lips. The words simply wouldn’t come out easily.

A short while ago. In the Forest.
The child Berry Quartz Trabel had asked all manner of questions about the barren land, her eyes suddenly gleaming with interest.

“A spring created by the Forest Spirit? And it’s dried up?”
“Yes. Our ancestors, betrayed by humans, wandered homeless for generations. The Forest Spirit took pity on us and created an eternal spring in the desolate Mountain. Our tribe has protected that spring for countless generations, ensuring no one could ever invade our land.”

It was a sacred spring whose very existence should have remained hidden.
Zikal had revealed it to this child because everything was over now.
There was nothing left to protect.
About a month ago, the spring dried up completely.
Without water, the plants withered and died, the animals fled. Only the Wild Dog Tribe remained, unable to abandon their ancestral land, forced to watch their world slowly perish.
Then they discovered that humans had released the Alchemists’ poison on their Mountain for land development purposes.
The Wild Dog Tribe raged.
Humans. Everything was because of humans.

“It’s the Alchemists’ poison. That’s what dried up our spring. Why do humans try to kill us when we do nothing? What is this land development? So we made our decision. We will capture the humans and stop the development. We will protect our Mountain.”
“That’s not it.”
“What? Little human. You are human too. How revolting—”
“It wasn’t the Alchemists’ poison.”
“We heard it clearly. They spread poison that kills the Mountain on the land. Those who secretly invaded our Mountain did it.”

Krung. Zikal growled quietly with rage.

“But that spring… it dried up gradually, didn’t it? It only completely dried up recently?”
“…How do you know that?”
“Hehe. Then I think I can fix it! Ninety percent sure!”

The child had said something extraordinary.
Fix the spring? A little human?
It made no sense. That’s what he thought, but as the child’s persuasion continued, Zikal found himself nodding along as if enchanted.

“The Wild Dog Tribe has no way to revive the spring anyway! What’s the point of just sitting around? We have nothing to lose—”
“…Very well.”
“But Berry is only seven years old, so I can’t go without a guardian. Coco’s father needs to invite my father!”

And so it came to pass that Zikal stood before Reytan Quartz Trabel.
Reytan Quartz Trabel.
The vicious human who had brought a warrior of the Wild Dog Tribe to his knees.
But if he could revive Sam. If he could protect the Mountain—.
“What is it you want to say? I have my own business to attend to, so make it quick.”
Reytan pressed Zikal for an answer. Zikal swallowed his crumbling pride and spoke to him.
“Coco seems to have grown close to Berry… Would you perhaps… come visit our home…?”
“No.”
The desperate proposal from the Wild Dog Tribe warrior was rejected outright.
Unprepared for such a response, Zikal panicked and seized the hem of Reytan’s coat as he tried to leave.
Riiip.
Sharp claws tore through Reytan’s overcoat—one he had only recently had tailored.
“….”
“I-I’m sorry. But I really wish you would come. The view from the Mountain’s peak is beautiful. Humans value such things, don’t they?”
“…Enough.”
“Please, don’t be like that.”
“I said I’m not going.”
“Ah, come on! Why can’t you just come?! You’re our leader now!”
Zikal’s frustration erupted in a roar. It was a cry born of exasperation, but it planted suspicion in Reytan’s mind.
This happened often enough. Creatures who submitted beneath him, seeking to parasitize his strength.
“Now I understand. It was strange how you called me ‘leader’ when you claim to despise humans so. You’re trying to dump the tedious task of protecting your Mountain onto me, aren’t you?”
“What—.”
“Cough, cough!”
“Hack.”
“Gag.”
At Reytan’s words, Zikal was taken aback, and the four Wild Dog Tribe members eating meat choked.
Reytan’s eyes sharpened.
“So that was your intention.”
“N-no. I never had such thoughts.”
Zikal waved his hands frantically. Reytan paid him no mind.
I watched the Wild Dog Tribe members avert their gaze from me, and twisted my lips. Creatures seeking power who submit beneath me—I can accept them.
“You’ll prove useful.”
But I’ll work them accordingly.

***

“Baron Voltman! Baron Voltman!”
It was early morning.
Thomas, a young man from Leaf Village, burst into Baron Voltman’s house without so much as a knock.
“….”
Baron Voltman was in the kitchen.
There had been a meat thief the night before. Having risen to prepare meat stew again today, Baron Voltman turned to Thomas with a look of utter bewilderment.
“Was it you?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Did you steal my meat?”
It was the kind of greeting one would normally never receive without proper salutation.
To be accused of theft so bluntly, without preamble—Thomas flinched at the sinister glint in Baron Voltman’s eyes.
“Baron Voltman! This is hardly the time for senility!”
“What have you contributed to my senility? Then when would be the time?”
“Young Master of the Trabel Estate! Reytan! Aren’t you here?!”
Baron Voltman turned his head toward the direction of the guest room and Theon’s chamber.
“They haven’t woken yet, it seems.”
It was that ambiguous hour between dawn and morning.
The Baroness entered the kitchen and shook her head at her husband’s words.
“No. They’re all away from the house.”
“Away from the house?”
“Yes, their rooms are empty. Theon isn’t here either…, and Anne left just a moment ago to visit Marshall.”
A sigh escaped from between the two speakers. It was Thomas.
The burly young man had gone pale.
“Then what do we do?! The Wild Dog Tribe is attacking the village!”
“The Wild Dog Tribe?!”
Baron Voltman shouted.
“What are you saying! The promised deadline is midnight today, is it not!”
“I, I don’t know. But Hans saw the Wild Dog Tribe running together across the Mountain Ridge when he came out of the Mill at dawn…! What should we do? Baron Voltman, sir? What are we to do?!”
There was nothing more to hear.
Baron Voltman seized his sword and burst from the cottage.

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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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