Sister-in-law of the Heroine in a Childcare Novel - Chapter 195

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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 195

“Wow, my attacks aren’t working at all.”
Lisianthus let out a hollow laugh. His entire body felt scorching hot. He’d never used his Fire Power so recklessly before, without thinking of the consequences.
Even after hurling the hottest flame he could summon, he watched it dissipate before it could even properly touch his opponent.
The Magic Beast that had just emerged was absurdly massive. At first glance it resembled a tortoise, but its limbs were far too long for any ordinary turtle, and vicious spines jutted from its tail.
“The Demon Stone Mine will have to be sealed off for a while. Don’t you think?”
Lisianthus tossed the words to Raymond while staring at the devastation before them.
What had begun as a pale, translucent form had grown steadily larger, denser, more vivid with each passing moment—as if drawing power from the earth itself. He could sense vast quantities of strength being siphoned from the underground depths into the creature.
Every Magic Beast in this entire region had been exterminated, and there wasn’t a single truly living specimen left—yet now enemies were somehow summoning one. Had they secretly stockpiled the corpses of dead Magic Beasts? A handful of grave robbers existed everywhere, but the hollow feeling that gripped him wouldn’t fade. The sheer scale suggested something far more deliberate.
“…You take the remaining forces and fall back.”
“What about you?”
Contact with the Main Castle had been severed. Bibi had replied, “I have a Crystal Ball with me, so I’ll reach out if needed.” The Northern Barrier would remain sealed until everything was resolved—everyone had agreed to this.
Titania, now unintentionally trapped inside, would surely find it absurd, but emergency supplies should be stockpiled. Besides, being trapped was infinitely safer than facing what lay outside.
‘So you’re just locking people up?!’
Well, of course Titania would be furious.
She’d argue that she could fight too, that she’d proven herself countless times. She’d demand why she should be reduced to a spectator in a safe place, forced to simply watch from afar.
But he could bear all of that—after this Magic Beast was defeated. If Titania remained safe, that alone was worth any burden.
“Father gave his final order. It’s you who must retreat.”
The beast’s toxins were so potent that most of the carefully cultivated forces the Castrain Family had assembled had already withdrawn. What Raymond and Lisianthus were doing now wasn’t exactly attacking the creature—
It was closer to pushing back the Demon Qi that roiled simply from the Magic Beast’s breathing and movement, observing the situation. Wherever it moved, the earth melted; wherever it went, life withered and water rotted. Watching it swell and grow without cessation, the future was easy to envision: if this reached the Main Castle, it would be catastrophe.
If they couldn’t stop it here, it would continue to swell, continue to expand, until it became a monster that consumed the entire Empire.
“Honestly, Father’s order doesn’t seem wrong. I don’t know how else to put it—this is nothing compared to anything we’ve faced or heard of before. When I think of Father holding these beasts back all this time, it’s genuinely terrifying.”
Lisianthus spoke while rubbing his flushed forearms. The Duke of Castrain stood alone, blocking the creature’s path.
Watching from a distance as the beast swelled and strengthened, yet could not advance past him, inspired nothing but awe.
Yet it was equally clear: the Duke alone could hold his ground, but killing the creature was impossible. Unless he threw away his own life and dragged it down with him—
“Lisianthus.”
“Hmm?”
“…Your fire can’t burn it away, is that what you’re saying?”
“…Yes.”
Lisianthus pressed his lips together firmly.
He understood it instinctively.
This ‘enemy’ was different from anything they’d faced before. Yes, the woman in the maid’s dress who had attacked them in the Southern Region—
She was undeniably strong, but the Duke himself could suppress her without much difficulty, he’d thought.
But this… this felt like a trap the other side had been laying for a very long time.
Even now, the earth near the Magic Beast was fading in color. It was ironic: the very land, steeped in the history of countless slain Magic Beasts, was now strengthening the enemy.
“Damn it, it’s humiliating enough to make me want to die—but unless I had Father’s years of experience, I can’t see how it’s possible. Would dying together help? …No, I don’t think so.”
Even to perish alongside such an opponent required sufficient power. To face something this tremendous demanded the willingness and ability to burn one’s entire body and soul like a candle wick.
Raymond watched his father and Lisianthus in turn, his expression unreadable.
“Then let’s find another way.”
“…You’re not giving up?”
Raymond suddenly recalled the image of Titania, chattering away cheerfully among the remains of the shattered sledge.
‘It was a crude method, admittedly, ahahaha…’
He’d wanted to let that small Divine One meet her parents before she fully awakened. He couldn’t think of any other way.
‘…Well, it might have turned out badly in the end, right? But when parents and child love and cherish each other, and parting looms—isn’t it natural to want to try any method at all?’
For someone who had severed all attachment to his own mother, the words were far too tender.
The Duke’s health was not good. Even if they weathered this crisis, no one knew how many more years he had.
The Duke had told Raymond of his condition precisely because he believed the Raymond he knew would not attempt anything reckless for his sake. Having understood the weight the Castrain Family carried, the burden of responsibility—
He had faith that Raymond would not gamble to overturn an already-decided fate.
That was how the Castrain Family lived: cutting away the present for the future, abandoning affection and attachment. Bibi had made small efforts to change this, but fundamentally, nothing had altered.
But Titania had said it wasn’t wrong to reach for the future while still grasping hold of the present.
“…Rather than give up without even trying.”
Raymond clenched his teeth hard.
“I’d rather be the unfilial son who saves his father.”
“Wow, then Father will grab the back of your head in anger either way.”
In a moment shorter than expected, the eldest son who had lived only as a dutiful child made the decision to become unfilial.
Of course, with the youngest already having had a change of heart, the Duke had already steeled himself to grab the back of both their heads in the future.

* * *

Right after my conversation with Bibi ended, I collapsed onto the ground like a wet rag. Jemina pecked at me with her beak repeatedly.
“Squawk.”

“No way… I hate it, I hate it when trouble breaks out wherever I go…>”
-I’m terribly sorry, Contractor. (›´ω`‹ )
“You’re not the one who should apologize, though…”
I peeked at what was happening outside where the Magic Beast raged, my mind churning.
After the ground began trembling and I grasped the seriousness of the situation, the Priest who had brought me here and cheered me on had come rushing back in, hastily pointing out where the Emergency Supplies were stored—dried meat, sealed water bottles and the like—before heading back out again.
Since then, this place had become something like a completely sealed fortress where no one could enter or leave. I was utterly bewildered when Bibi transmitted the situation through the Crystal Ball.
But knowing didn’t give me any way to solve it.
I rolled across the floor toward the door I’d come through and tried pounding on it.
Bang! Bang! Even pushing with all my strength, it didn’t budge an inch.
“The door really won’t open.”
-Well… it’s in lockdown mode for emergencies, so…
“Weren’t you saying that only royal bloodlines with Light Power awakening can control Barriers?! Why does the Castrain Family have something like this?!”
-Well, AC repairs require a technician, but anyone can operate a simple remote control…?
“That analogy is too perfect and now I’m annoyed!”
Once the Ceremony is complete, I’ll have final authority over the Northern Barrier, so of course I could open a single door. I hid my unease and asked the sword.
“…Can they win?”
-Based on what I’m sensing… (｡•́︿•̀｡)
“Based on what you’re sensing?”
-…It seems impossible in the current state. To put it another way, this world is only level 10 and only beginner dungeons have opened, but suddenly a high-tier dungeon boss from level 30 has appeared. It’s quite an impossible situation.
“Why do they get to cheat but we don’t?! Give us a level 30 too!”
-Once you complete the Ceremony, Contractor will also reach level 30… maybe. And, well, even in the current state, it’s not entirely impossible. But the Castrain Family would suffer considerable damage…
“How considerable is ‘considerable’?”
-………
I tapped on the side of the sword as it fell silent.
“What’s wrong? I get anxious when you go quiet now.”
-…If all Divine Power awakeners drain themselves to the point of Rampage, we might be able to Seal the enemy.
“…Don’t you die if you Rampage wrong?”
-……So with Fire Power and Water Power awakeners present, maybe luck would balance it out and they wouldn’t? ヾ(｡ꏿ﹏ꏿ)ﾉﾞ
“And if luck doesn’t hold?”
-Then, well, both might die? (｡•́︿•̀｡)
Is that even supposed to be an answer?!

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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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