The Duke Dad I Chose Can’t (Really) See Well - Chapter 20

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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 20

I could only blink in confusion, and behind me, the thugs continued their conversation.

“What’s with calling a kid a melting snowflake? We should use something better.”

“Geez. Then what should we call her?”

“Well… maybe like a baby icicle hanging from the roof edge…”

“Ha, what sense. Just like a guy who makes his subordinates run sock errands every day. How could anyone consider you a proper blacksmith?”

“What’s wrong with my sense! And you were the one who started the sock errands!”

The story that started with snowflakes suddenly turned into an argument about sock errands.

‘So, from what I heard, these people are…’

They’re Stukkyia’s craftsmen, right?

More precisely, the blacksmiths who make Stukkyia’s weapons.

Why did these people come looking for me?

“Anyway.”

That’s when the man with the eyepatch looked back at me again.

“So this kid is the Duke’s new daughter? The one who blew away that annoying Count.”

He muttered slowly, then hardened his expression.

“…Good.”

Let’s start the initiation.

Then, with an ominous voice, he put his hand into his coat.

I swallowed my dry saliva.

I tensed my body, ready to quickly escape if necessary. His thick hand slowly emerged from his coat. And what was held in that thick hand was…

“Huh?”

A small piece of bread.

“Being so tiny like a bean, how could you become a big snowflake?”

The thug lightly tossed the bread with those words. I reflexively held out my hand, and the bread dropped into it with a soft thud.

It hadn’t been made long ago, as the bread was still warm.

“Weak children cannot survive in Stukkyia. That would be a huge burden on Stukkyia.”

The burly thugs with him nodded solemnly in agreement.

‘This was what they wanted to give me…?’

As I just blinked quietly, the thug who had suggested ‘baby icicle’ clicked his tongue and said.

“Come to think of it, baby icicle. What is your name?”

“H-Hanisha.”

“Right, baby icicle Hanisha. Have you toured the inside of Stukkyia Castle?”

“Well… I haven’t been here long, so I haven’t seen the inside yet…”

“What?!”

Then he scrunched up his face as if he couldn’t believe it.

“A child who will become the Duke’s daughter is leisurely taking her time. How arrogant. Follow me right now!”

“Y-yes…!”

At those words, I hurriedly followed him out, clutching the bread in my hand.

A little while later.

With bread in my mouth, my hands and pockets were filled with candy, cookies, jelly, and chocolate. All of it had been stuffed in by the fierce-looking thugs.

“Are you observing the interior well? The atmosphere looks different depending on the weather, so open those big eyes even wider and observe carefully.”

The thug who had tucked me under his arm like a bag of bread spoke with a fierce expression.

Originally, we had walked side by side. But while walking, I stepped on a glass shard buried in the snow.

I had only made an “ah” sound, but my body was instantly lifted and stored under his arm.

“Are you uncomfortable, baby snowflake?”

It wasn’t exactly a comfortable position.

“No. I’m comfortable!”

But different words came out than what I was thinking. I even spoke them spiritedly. I had learned this from watching these thugs.

“You give refreshingly good answers, baby icicle.”

Someone lifted me up again.

He was Ralt, the head blacksmith of the Stukkyia Blacksmith.

The blacksmiths here were originally from the Northern Frontlines, making a living by alternating between mercenary work and blacksmithing.

During that time, they happened to meet the current Duke Stukkyia, Paterre, who was hunting Marsu on the battlefield.

Unlike others who only followed given orders, they fell for Paterre’s refreshing and bold swordsmanship, and served Paterre as their lord.

After that, when the previous duke Enril Stukkyia died and Paterre inherited the dukedom, the mercenaries also came to Stukkyia Castle.

This rough speech and behavior are habits from their time as mercenaries.

“Well, mercenary sounds nice, but we just helped each other out between villages that lacked manpower. It’s an embarrassing title.”

Ralt snorted as if it was nothing special.

But I know.

The Northern Choseon where they lived was a place where monster waves occurred periodically, and only those with considerable skill could survive.

The fact that they survived there by making their own weapons to hunt Marsu and selling the byproducts proved just how amazing their skills were.

‘Moreover, these people helped the Duke create the first gun imbued with magic power.’

Right now, the Empire was in a period when abilities were disappearing. Abilities were not just individual power, but the Empire’s national prestige.

People who feared the disappearance of abilities wanted stronger weapons.

However, most existing weapons were swords, and people used them by infusing them with aura. Those born with strong aura had a different starting line.

In other words, people without aura could never defeat aura users no matter how hard they tried.

And half of the people without aura were those who had lost their abilities. People who hadn’t particularly needed aura.

They had suddenly become people worse than commoners.

Just as demand for lighter and sharper swords was increasing, a new weapon appeared.

It was a gun imbued with magic power.

Firearms had existed before, but they were too long and after firing once, you had to load gunpowder and pull again. They took too much time and effort to boast of their power.

But Stukkyia’s guns were different.

They were small enough to carry at your thigh, and the bullets themselves contained magic power, so you just had to pull the trigger. No innate conditions like aura were needed.

‘The destructive power was also beyond words.’

Stukkyia’s guns sold like hotcakes.

But that didn’t mean fame.

The Empire was a country with strong Temple influence, and they said life was precious enough to manage even street orphans.

So they couldn’t look favorably upon Stukkyia, which had become the center of the military industry.

Eventually, the more money they made, the more Stukkyia was treated as the Empire’s greatest villain.

‘Even while saying that, Stukkyia guns sold like wildfire.’

Precisely until ‘that incident.’

Anyway, hearing such terrifying rumors, I used to wonder just how dangerous these people must be to create those guns.

Surely fierce people without blood or tears.

I definitely thought that way, but…

Dangling.

Right now, I was being carried tucked under the arm of that terrifying person.

‘They’re a bit rough, but maybe they’re not as bad as I thought?’

If so…

Maybe I could get these people’s signatures.

“Um, Ralt sir. Is the blacksmith far from here?”

“Why are you asking about the blacksmith?”

“I just wanted to see where Ralt sir works…”

At my words, Ralt hardened his expression.

“How dare a baby icicle already try to come to where we work?”

His exhaled breath became white steam and fluttered away.

“I’ll show you what’s what. Follow me!”

At the same time, Ralt readjusted his hold on me. My body, which seemed to have slipped down a bit, settled perfectly and stably under his arm.

‘Uh, we’re moving like this…?’

And so I moved along, tucked under the arms of the bear-like thugs like a bread bag once again.

* * *

The blacksmith where cold wind blew.

To be precise, we arrived at a wide open yard next to it.

“Now. What are you curious about? Such opportunities are rare, so answer carefully but quickly.”

Well, of course—

“I’m curious about the weapons you guys made!”

“Ha. How dare a little icicle like you be curious about our work.”

Ralt laughed as if he found it absurd.

“But… not bad. We happened to be short on test subjects.”

With those words, Ralt handed me a gun.

‘So this is the gun called Stukkyia’s curse.’

Though I had asked to see it, this was my first time holding a gun.

But if I showed fear, it would reveal that I knew what kind of power this possessed.

I gripped the gun while hiding my tension.

“Wrap your whole hand around here and hook your index finger here. Done?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now try shooting at that target.”

I hesitated for a moment.

When I didn’t shoot right away, Ralt said.

“If you’re scared, you don’t have to force yourself…”

Bang—!

At the enormous sound that filled my ears, Ralt’s large muscles flinched.

A colleague near the target checked and shouted loudly.

“7 points. It hit 7 points!”

“It went inside the target on the first shot?”

“And 7 points at that?”

The fellow blacksmiths who heard the sound muttered in surprise.

“Little snowflake, don’t tell me you’ve used this before?”

“Uh… N-no.”

“Amazing. For a child like you to not be pushed back by the recoil and even hit the target. Even my granddaughter couldn’t do this well.”

Ralt, who had been looking with surprised eyes, muttered “Little icicle, you really do resemble him, don’t you?”

“Yes… just like the Duke.”

“Ah, that kind of praise is a bit embarrassing.”

I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment.

“Isn’t that right, Your Grace?”

At the words that followed, I flinched and turned around.

From who knows when, Duke Stukkyia was standing behind me.

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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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