I Will Try to Save My Dad - Chapter 79

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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 79

Reading the newspaper was harder than training.
“I… can’t… this is so boring…”
Jeffrey forced the minuscule characters into his eyes, but unable to bear the dizzying sensation any longer, he collapsed onto the armrest of the sofa.
Berry, seated beside him, was absorbed in the newspaper.
It was a column about investment opportunities currently in vogue.
Though Berry, who had only recently begun to read, found the terminology challenging, what mattered to Theon was something else entirely.
‘She seems to find it interesting because it’s about money.’
Berry read the newspaper with gleaming eyes. Theon found watching her far more entertaining. Strangely, whenever I looked at Berry, I lost all sense of time.
“Hmm. So this is what’s trending?”
Berry shifted her gaze after finishing the column. Theon was startled and quickly redirected his attention to the newspaper he had been reading.
In the black-and-white photograph, a man raised his hand in greeting toward the crowd.
A smiling face. It was Emperor Frederick Karl Igselona.

———-
Will the Igselona Royal Family’s bloodline end like this?
Emperor Frederick Karl Igselona has reached his eighth anniversary of ascension to the throne.
Yet the Igselona Royal Family has still not received the blessing of the next generation…
———-

In contrast to the benevolent photograph of the Emperor, the article contained provocative content on topics that made the Emperor sensitive.
Theon skimmed the article once, then shifted his gaze to the photograph.
The golden-maned lion emblem on the flag standing beside the Emperor was identical to the one on Father’s pocket watch.
Could I truly be of Igselona Royal Family blood? Theon tugged gently at my own hair.
‘I heard His Majesty the Emperor has black hair and black eyes too.’
“What are you doing?”
Just then Berry called out to me. Startled, Theon lifted my head.
Berry’s eyes met mine, and she grinned before coming to sit beside Theon. Jeffrey, left alone on the opposite sofa, had already fallen fast asleep.
“Found any interesting articles? Let me see too!”
“Sure.”
Theon readily showed her the newspaper. Berry read through the article in her clear, measured voice.
“Emperor Igselona has reigned for eight years without fathering a child.”
It was a lengthy article, but Berry read all the way to the final sentence.
“What the Emperor needs most urgently now is clearly an heir to continue his line!”
Her voice grew louder at the end, and Theon assumed she was pleased with herself for reading the entire article.
Berry turned to Theon with bright, sparkling eyes.
“You know what, Theon? Father told me that if you want to survive in an environment where you have no allies, you must understand what matters most in that environment.”
Theon blinked. Berry sometimes said things he couldn’t quite grasp, and this was one of those moments.
Still, he had no desire to interrupt her. Theon nodded.
“See? What His Majesty the Emperor wants here is an heir, right?”
“Right.”
“So the Emperor’s child will be the most important thing to the Igselona Royal Family right now. But sometimes wicked people appear. They’ll try to diminish the child’s value through improper means. They think that if they do, they can control that important thing as they please.”
I understood it vaguely, but it wasn’t something I could fully comprehend.
Yet because it was Berry speaking, the meaning came through clearly in Theon’s mind.
“So no matter what anyone else says, you mustn’t let it bother you.”
“…Are you talking to me?”
“What? I was talking about the article.”
It had seemed like Berry was speaking to me. So I was mistaken.
Theon pressed my lips together in embarrassment. Berry didn’t miss that reaction.
“Hehe. I have something else I want to say to Theon~”
“…What is it?”
“Tie my hair for me!”
Berry showed the side of her hair where the ribbon had come half undone and laughed like a mischievous child.
Realizing he was being teased, Theon’s ears flushed red.

***

“You’ve confirmed everything thoroughly, haven’t you? Any issues?”
“None at all.”
“Then I’ll be going.”
Jack Jack looped the drawstring of the pouch I handed him around his neck and sprang nimbly onto the windowsill.
Inside the pouch lay genuine pearl earrings from the Shusubia Archipelago.
“Oh, that’s right. Jack Jack.”
As I watched Jack Jack depart, I relaxed the tension I’d been holding in my shoulders. There was actually something I needed to say before sending him off.
“What is it?”
“The pearl earrings—the temporary proxy is supposed to deliver them to the Dwarves, correct?”
“That’s right. Is there a problem?”
“Hmm…”
The Trang Costume Atelier designer’s point made sense.
Pearls—gems born in perfect form, the only jewels requiring no craftsmanship to achieve their beauty.
‘But will the Dwarves acknowledge them?’
When Grandfather first brought up the Dwarves, I’d been filled with nothing but determination to succeed. But once Aunt Mariane became involved, my perspective shifted.
‘What if I fail and Aunt Mariane succeeds instead?’

– Listen here. You should be grateful to the Trabel Family. Reytan is dead, and yet they continue to keep you here despite not knowing whose blood runs through your veins. Make yourself useful. Don’t just stand there like a fool—go and bring me something that will add to my accomplishments.

Aunt Mariane building her own achievements… I couldn’t let that slide.
Missing out on the diamond mines would be regrettable, but—
‘I have to win this decisively.’
A smile spread across my lips. I spoke to Jack Jack.
“Then please write down what I’m about to tell you and deliver it to the Dwarves as well!”

***

Clang! Clang!
The sound of a hammer striking iron upon an anvil echoed through the air. Heat radiating from the furnace shimmered across the ground, sending waves of heat haze dancing upward—a mundane sight in the Dwarf Village.
Baltar, the chieftain of the Dwarves, had just finished seeing off the last of the outsiders.
He strode away from the blacksmith toward the residential quarters.
Upon opening the door to the Clay House, he found a short, elderly figure with pointed ears sitting at the table reading a newspaper. It was Marshall.
“Lucky you. Because of you, outsiders keep coming and going through our village.”
“Baltar, you do complain a lot. A girl like my granddaughter simply asked me to deliver a letter. Is that so offensive? Whether it’s Oldman or Mariane—the outsiders came because you wrote such a lengthy response in the first place.”
“Hah, hah!”
It was a pointless argument neither could win.
Marshall regarded the speechless Baltar over the rim of her spectacles.
A sturdy blacksmith dwarf, his entire frame taut with muscle. His stubbornness ran as deep as the pronounced furrow etched across his brow.
The white of his eyebrows spoke to the long years he had lived.
“The most perfect jewel, he says.”
Marshall chuckled softly.
“As if he wouldn’t find fault with any gem brought before him. His temperament truly is disagreeable.”
The average lifespan of the Dwarves was one hundred and seventy years. A century ago, it was Baltar himself who had suffered at the hands of Count Trabel’s mineral scheming.
“Hmph. The very man responsible stands here with eyes wide open. What deal? I cannot forgive the Trabel Family.”
Baltar exhaled sharply through his nose.
The humiliation the Dwarves had endured was beyond description.
Though it was an era when the rights of other races were poor, Count Trabel of that time had treated the Dwarves as though they were livestock, unworthy of basic dignity.
He looked down upon them as a diminutive race, refused to sit at the same table claiming their stench was unbearable, and withheld payment even after they delivered their work.
The mineral incident was merely the eruption of grievances accumulated long before.
“Those who insulted the craftsmanship of dwarves.”
His anger remained unresolved.
Thud! Baltar set down the leather pouch he held with a rough gesture.
A heavy, solid object struck the table with a dull sound.
That old man and his temperament. Marshall retrieved the leather pouch and untied the cord at its opening. A jewelry box finished in velvet and a smooth wooden jewelry box emerged from within.
“Still, that reckless son from that household is somewhat better. Are these the jewels? Sent by that house’s eldest daughter and some baron?”
“The velvet one was sent by the eldest daughter. From the place where a practitioner who walked the path of discipline for a lifetime attained enlightenment…. The words are flowery, but that’s all there is to it.”
Why such elaborate preamble? It was like watching a theatrical performance. The attendants Mariane had brought even shed tears.

“Ah! At that moment, the practitioner achieved enlightenment! I have endured a lifetime of hardship in discipline for the sake of witnessing this very sight…!”

Baltar was at a loss for words. Only a single sentence occupied his mind.
‘What nonsense.’

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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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