The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success - Chapter 144

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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 144
A small plot of land in front of the Minister’s Hall Garden.
A magnificent gazebo had been set up alongside several members of the Red Knight Order. The gazebo bore the emblem of a dragon symbolizing Polariud—a sign that the Emperor was present.
Kiaros walked toward it, carrying Cedric on his back.
“Kiaros!”
The Emperor, who had been bickering with the Tower Master, shot to his feet.
“You’re safe!”
It would have been easy to demolish the Grand Temple using the dragon’s power. However, the Emperor had held back, deploying the Red Knight Order while waiting—all for the sake of Kiaros and Namia’s safety.
“My son, you’re unharmed!”
At that, the Tower Master waved his staff and grumbled.
“Hmph, boasting before this old man who knows nothing of his daughter’s, son-in-law’s, and granddaughter’s fates!”
The Emperor clicked his tongue and shook his head, then whispered to Kiaros.
“Such a disagreeable temperament, unwilling to see even a father and son reunite… No wonder his daughter turned out the same way. Wouldn’t you agree, Kiaros?”
“Yet it was precisely that wretched disposition that allowed us to escape.”
Kiaros shrugged once and spoke toward the Tower Master.
“I’ve brought your son-in-law back.”
“Huh?”
The Tower Master furrowed his brow and stood abruptly.
“You rescued the most useless one! Let me see his face!”
At the same moment, a massive, shaggy creature beside the Tower Master also rose and barked.
“Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!”
Kiaros was startled as he handed Cedric over to the Tower Master.
Until now, he had assumed a large white couch had been placed beside the Tower Master.
But that couch was actually a colossal, shaggy dog.
‘No… can that really be called a dog?’
The creature was larger than a wolf.
It was easily large enough for Kiaros to ride. When their eyes met, the dog regarded Kiaros with displeasure and growled.
“Grrrrrrr…”
“I heard it’s an experimental subject. Its size grew due to the experiments,” the Emperor explained.
The Emperor provided the explanation.
“It appeared suddenly and went to the Tower Master’s side. According to the Tower Master, it’s a dog that Namia raises.”
“…Excuse me? Who’s raising what?”
“I didn’t hear the details. It seems even he doesn’t know much about it.”
Meanwhile, the Tower Master took Cedric and began slapping his cheeks repeatedly.
“So it’s you. The wretch who tricked our beautiful Aran into a fraudulent marriage and raised dear Namia alone with such diligence.”
Watching this, the Emperor leaned close to Kiaros’s ear and whispered.
“After Namia fled following your abduction and imprisonment, we’ve been chasing after her like madmen. I didn’t tell the Tower Master the details—I feared he’d cause a commotion.”
“Even if you had explained it that way, I suspect the Tower Master—or any ordinary grandfather for that matter—would still cause a commotion.”
Kiaros clicked his tongue in sympathy.
Meanwhile, Cedric remained unconscious. The Tower Master clicked his tongue with an “ugh” and laid Cedric down at his feet as if tossing him aside.
“You look perfectly fine, yet you still haven’t come to your senses. It seems some mutt beat you senseless.”
Some mutt—Kiaros decided to keep his mouth shut for now. Then he asked the Emperor.
“What about Namia?”
“No word yet… Only that dog came rushing over just now.”
Kiaros’s expression grew complicated. Not that it mattered what the dog knew.
When she fled the Imperial Palace, he’d felt like he was losing his mind. Even breathing had become agonizing, and there was nothing he could do about it.
‘I miss you already, Namia.’
He’d confessed with complete sincerity that it didn’t matter what she was—surely she wouldn’t run away again.
He hadn’t heard her response. And Namia wasn’t the type to leave things unresolved and simply disappear.
Yet despite his reasoning, the anxiety that welled up inside made him think of something else.
‘What should I say to Namia when I see her?’
He thought something like “I kept my promise, Namia” might work well.
After all, she had always longed for her father.
‘Saving Cedric Loapi was Namia’s greatest life goal.’
She’d endured that wretched Baron Family for him, faced Imperial duties with an apathetic expression for him, and come this far knowing she was an experimental subject—all for him.
So leading with the fact that he’d saved Cedric was a good strategy.
‘Even after that, nothing will be easy.’
Namia still hadn’t adapted to the discrepancy between Kiaros and Kibon.
Because Namia cherished the time she’d spent with Kibon.
‘Kibon must be the only existence for her.’
Well, since Kiaros was Kibon, that fact wasn’t so bad.
If the order had been reversed, it might have been easier, but at least it was better than Namia loving another man.
Kiaros lowered his gaze and thought.
‘Kibon is irreplaceable by any other being. That’s why she called for Kibon even in that desperate moment.’
The name “Kibon” she’d cried out in the collapsing Underground Prison had been sweet to his ears.
He was the one she’d expressed her feelings to—the one for whom that usually expressionless girl had even written a love report.
Though Kibon no longer existed, wasn’t he the only one who could take Kibon’s place?
That was when it happened.
“Hm?”
The Emperor’s eyes narrowed.
“Isn’t that Namia over there?”
A small figure was walking toward them from a distance. Both Kiaros and the Tower Master followed the Emperor’s gaze.
A woman with silver hair approached slowly, then paused for a moment.
She looked intently toward the gazebo, then began running toward it.
At the same time, she cried out loudly.
“Kibooooooon!”
Hearing how much longing and joy were woven into that voice, Kiaros felt his throat tighten.
She recognized him even from that distance,
and without thinking, she called out Kibon’s name.
In any case, Namia had completely synchronized herself with both him and Kibon…
“Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!”
Then, from beside him, the white dog that had been at the Tower Master’s side bolted forward.
Its tail wagging furiously, it leaped directly into Namia’s arms.
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
“Kibon! You’re safe! Thank goodness! I was so worried you wouldn’t be able to escape!”
Namia embraced the white dog and beamed with radiance.
“My dear Kibon, you’ve been through so much!”
Kiaros was struck by an enormous shock.
A replacement for Kibon Altes had emerged in the interim.
It was that dog.
‘Surely not.’
Kiaros suddenly grasped a single truth.
‘When the underground collapsed and I called out so desperately, was it not me she was calling for, but that dog?’
* * *
“Kibon!”
I held Kibon tightly in my embrace. Truthfully, I had been deeply worried.
I had sent him along with Mother, but I feared he might not be able to escape.
“Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!”
Kibon’s tail wagged wildly as he showered me with affection. He was indeed a remarkably intelligent dog.
“Kibon, you arrived before me?”
After using the teleportation scroll and emerging into the opposite garden, I had spent time questioning the Red Knight Order to locate the gazebo where the Emperor was staying.
[His Majesty the Emperor and the Tower Master are together there. You need only go in that direction.]
[I see. Thank you.]
[Ah, there is apparently a very large white dog with the Tower Master as well. His Majesty suggested killing it as an experimental subject, but the Tower Master dissuaded him.]
[I understand!]
After emerging outside, Kibon had apparently positioned himself beside my Grandfather, whom he recognized.
It was a truly clever choice. As long as he remained at Grandfather’s side, there was no risk of being killed as an experimental subject.
“You’re truly clever.”
I stroked the nape of Kibon’s neck, now brimming with affection, and whispered softly.
“And you listen to me so well.”
“Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof!”
Kibon’s tail wagged with delight.
That was when it happened.
“…Huff, gasp.”
Hearing labored breathing that seemed quite strained, I startled and lifted my head.
It was Kiaros, looking somewhat exhausted. He smiled wryly and spoke.
“I kept my promise, Namia.”
“…What? And why do you look so tired….”
Suddenly uncertain what he meant, I blinked, and Kiaros gestured behind him.
“There—your father. I carried him here myself.”

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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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