The Baby Raising A Devil - Chapter 202

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 202

After finishing my conversation with the Grand Lady, I hurried back to the mansion. Then I rushed into Father’s room.

“Father! Father!!”

When I shouted, Father, who had been reading documents while wearing glasses, looked up.

He took off his glasses, set them down, and looked at me.

“What’s the matter?”

“Father, a turtle ship. Please make me a turtle ship.”

“A turtle… what?”

Johan, Henri, and Isaac, who were with Father, looked at me as if asking what I was talking about.

“If it’s a ship, you mean a boat? Why a turtle of all things? Kid, sharks are much stronger than turtles. Why not make it a whale instead?”

“I know that. But it has to be a turtle ship.”

I don’t know why, but that’s what Cheolsu said.

At my words, my family members exchanged puzzled glances.

Father was the first to speak.

“Why do you suddenly need a ship?”

“I need to win the Grand Lady’s favor. To do that, I have to fulfill her wish, right?”

Just like how I always granted demons’ wishes and extracted their special abilities.

“The Grand Lady’s wish is to restore her honor. So I want to help her win the war against Westria.”

“It would be difficult enough to put her in the vanguard, but you want to make her win? Leblaine, the Grand Lady is well over sixty years old. She’s not a knight, and she’s lived gracefully as an imperial princess. Who would allow such a person to lead the vanguard? Moreover, we don’t even know when a ship built now could participate in the war against Westria.”

Henri spoke to me soothingly.

Father tapped the table with his fingers.

“If we modify Valois’s warships, it wouldn’t take too long. If we deploy several skilled mages including Veronica, we could shorten the time even more.”

When I exclaimed “Wow!” with a bright expression, Father stared at me intently.

“But war is no joke. A general is responsible for hundreds, thousands of lives. We can’t risk the lives of soldiers just for honor.”

This was the difference between Duke Amitie and Father.

Duke Amitie prioritized justice, great causes, and honor above all else, but Father was someone who thoroughly calculated the numbers.

If asked who was the better person, everyone would choose Duke Amitie. But if asked under whom they’d want to live, that would be different.

‘Even I would want to be Father’s subject.’

I brought some parchment from Father’s office and drew something crooked with a pen.

“What’s this weird thing?”

Isaac, who had been resting his chin on his hand, frowned.

“It’s called the Crane Wing Formation. According to Cheolsu… I mean, my new familiar, it’s an excellent military strategy.”

“Circular encirclement?”

At Isaac’s words, I asked foolishly, “What’s that?”

Isaac made an incredulous expression.

“You want to use it as a tactic without even knowing it properly? Circular encirclement means surrounding the enemy in a circle. It’s quite commonly used in local battles. But it can never be easily used in naval warfare.”

Isaac, the future commander of the Dubbled Knight Order, explained the weaknesses of circular encirclement. Then he turned to Zachary, who was waiting outside the door, and asked, “Isn’t that right?”

Zachary, who had seen my drawing, nodded his head.

“That’s correct. Circular formation is difficult to use in vast open spaces. If the enemy’s reinforcements break through even one point, it takes time to reorganize the formation. During that time, we’d become a disorganized rabble. Moreover, unless our forces outnumber the enemy, it would be difficult to even encircle them.”

[Then─]

“What about this place!”

Etoile glowed brightly as Cheolsu burst out with an excited expression.

My family members frowned at the sight of the black-haired, black-eyed man snorting with excitement.

Cheolsu paid no attention and pulled out the map from my hand, pointing to one location.

“This place is remarkably similar to the terrain during the Battle of Hansan Island. And the important thing is artillery! Fighting by bringing ships close to the enemy side in naval warfare? That’s a no-no. You need to make the enemies panic with swift, accurate, and thorough artillery fire. And the important thing is…!”

“What is this crazy guy?”

Cheolsu lifted his chin and spoke solemnly.

“I’m a historical drama enthusiast.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Everyone in the room stared at Cheolsu as if he were insane.

* * *

However, Cheolsu’s words weren’t entirely useless. The very idea of using the Crane Wing Formation in naval warfare seemed to be a surprising concept, as Zachary and Isaac nodded thoughtfully.

I immediately informed the Grand Lady about Dubbled’s support. And when I had a private meeting with the Grand Lady…

“Please give me money.”

When I stretched out both hands and spoke, the Grand Lady furrowed her brow.

“What?”

“We need to modify the ships. And it’s Valois’s fleet, no less. Father said he can’t give it away for free. Because Dubbled worked tremendously hard to take control of Valois.”

The Grand Lady let out a scoff and looked at me with sparkling eyes.

But truly, Dubbled couldn’t cover all the war funds. No matter how much it was for making Cecilia the Imperial Consort, that would be putting the cart before the horse.

‘My money, I can’t give it away for free.’

When I, the embodiment of materialism, earnestly waved both hands up and down, the Grand Lady shook her head.

However, she soon instructed an attendant to bring something out. It was documents and a small pouch.

“Land deeds? Can this solve all the war funding…?”

“It’s vast land covering 30,000 square kilometers. Though it’s contaminated land, the purification will be complete in 10 years.”

“But it’s still empty land.”

“Empty land means you can do anything with it, doesn’t it? Open the pouch.”

When I opened the pouch, it was full of gems.

Having received a jewelry storage as last year’s birthday gift, I blinked with an unimpressed expression, and the Grand Lady spoke.

“Those are very special gems. They’ve been passed down through generations to the eldest sons of the Ruerg Imperial Family.”

‘Really?’

They were certainly high-quality and unusual gems. I fondled one of the gems inside the pouch.

The Grand Lady who saw me like that frowned.

“Are you not pleased with it? Then I shall look through my personal inventory…”

“No! I love it! This is perfect! Thank you!”

I quickly hugged the pouch and bowed deeply several times.

The Grand Lady looked at me with puzzlement as I changed my attitude like flipping my palm, but nodded saying “I’m glad you’re pleased with it.”

“Is that all you have to convey?”

“…”

“Hey, Lady Dubbled.”

“…”

“Little One.”

“…Yes?!”

I had been distracted touching the gems and only raised my head with a start after being called several times.

“You seem to like them very much.”

“Yes…”

“Good. You may go.”

“Yes!”

I quickly answered and left the Imperial Palace. And the place I headed to was Hope Trading Company.

Seria, the chairman, and Trigon, who had been gathered in the office talking, stood up when they saw me.

“Miss? My goodness, your face is so red. Did you catch a cold…”

Seria touched my forehead with a worried expression.

I said while tightly hugging the pouch of gems.

“Seria…”

“Yes.”

“You know those gems I told you to collect for finding the Devil’s Passage? Sell them all. We don’t need to struggle anymore.”

“What do you mean…? Don’t tell me you found it?”

I suddenly held out the pouch the Grand Lady had given me to Seria.

The chairman and Trigon spoke as if pleased.

“That’s fortunate. We needed to find the passage before the Temple did.”

“Yes. So which one among these is the Devil’s Passage?”

At the chairman’s words, I said with a blank expression.

“All of them.”

“…?”

“Pardon?”

“What?”

I hugged the pouch preciously to my chest and answered again with emphasis.

“All of these are Devil’s Passages.”

I hit the jackpot.

No, I won the lottery.

‘No. It’s even more than that. What do you call this?’

Then Etoile glowed and Cheolsu spoke.

[Powerball! You’ve won the Powerball!]

‘Is that better than the lottery?’

[Much better.]

Then it’s Powerball!

I won the Powerball.

“Long live the Grand Lady!!”

* * *

With the pouch of gems placed on the table, I sat around with the chairman, Seria, Trigon, and Zachary who had finished inspecting the carriage.

The chairman asked.

“How much divine power do you have right now?”

“I think I can summon about one.”

Then Seria quickly took out a mana stone.

“We have quite a few mana stones secured. If you absorb mana in advance, couldn’t you summon one more?”

“Good.”

When I absorbed all the mana from the mana stone Seria gave me, my body became filled with hot energy.

Seria nodded.

“According to the records, there are demons that can help, but there are also those that don’t. Since we don’t need assassination or war-type demons right now, we should consider them eliminated too.”

“Like Paimon who gives information, or Bune who lets us meet the dead would be good. Even better if it’s the Demon of Time.”

Everyone sitting around nodded.

I rubbed my palms together and said.

“What should we open first.”

“Let’s go with the most expensive one.”

Trigon solemnly pointed to a palm-sized diamond.

Come out, Bune.

Or the Demon of Time.

I swallowed nervously and grabbed the diamond.

And very carefully let divine power flow into it.

Kugugugugung─!

The ground vibrated faintly and a pillar of light appeared before my eyes.

‘Now, who are you.’

I looked with sparkling eyes at the figure that appeared with the pillar of light.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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