Chapter 26

"―So it's really possible?"

"Hrm... In theory. Although I don't actually know a thing about magic, nor have I ever actually seen the item used, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be possible. However, it sounds like it would be extremely difficult for you, emotionally speaking, no? Of course, I can take care of it, but... This isn't a thing you can take back. She looks up to you as her father. Are you sure you really want to leave her with me? Is that place so dangerous to sacrifice this once-in-a-lifetime experience?"

"It's not the danger I'm worried about. I have no doubts I could protect her in that place, but... It's just that... I want her to grow up normally."

"...In that place, it's impossible, hm?"

"Unfortunately."

"Like what you said before... I see. If that's the case then, Jae, I understand. I'll take her in. Just make sure to come and pick her up later down the line, okay? Haha. No one would want you to lose your chance, after all."

Jae smiled.

"Of course. Thank you very much, Gadeun."

"Oh, why of course. It might take a while to figure it out, but I'm confident it'll turn out alright. And, it's for a friend, so don't worry about it. I'll make sure she'll be able to live comfortably here, as if it's her own home. As a fellow father, I give you my word, hahaha."

Jae could only smile wryly at the chief's jab. He said when he first arrived that they weren't a father-daughter duo, but apparently, that seems to have changed at some point. Then, he felt a tug on his clothes.

"...Da...ddy...?"

He was surprised. Since when did she learn the Seronian version of that word? When Jae didn't respond, Gadeun pointed out.

"Hoh... It seems your daughter is an intelligent one, Jae. She probably picked up the word from hearing us talk; It could be that the words are similar in both languages. I will also try my best to teach her the language."

Is that so... 'Cognate', was it? I remember from when we did foreign languages... My daughter is smart, I see. Huhu.

After a moment of feeling slightly proud for no reason, Jae asked while noticing something.

Seems she finished the "meal". I definitely need to cook something before leaving.

[What's wrong, Rena?]

[Um, Daddy... When are we going to see Mama...?]

One could see a clearly anxious look on her face.

Uhhhh......

[...]

A wave of guilt and bitterness rushed over Jae.

Mama... huh... Y-yeah, it's to be expected that she wants to see her real parent after everything that has happened, but...

Taking a deep breath, Jae looked sincerely towards his daughter.

[...Rena.]

[Daddy...?]

She looked at Jae with curious eyes, innocently tilting her head. It caused Jae to hesitate.

[.........]

I...

It was the first way he felt this way since coming to this world. It was complicated; an incredibly bitter feeling.

I can't...

Jae lightly bit his lower lip while staying silent for a few moments. Meanwhile, Rena only continued staring with the same, innocent eyes. Eventually, He spoke out.

"...Gadeun."

Jae turned his head towards the old man with a desperate look.

"Yes?"

"Do you know if... A-are there any Demon race settlements anywhere in this forest? Or even, just anything―any place at all, where Rena could've been living prior to the kidnapping? Maybe, her mother was--"

"Jae.", he interrupted.

Jae's eyes―eyes that seemed to be glowing incandescently, and were suddenly an intense orange colour―glared an almost murderous gaze at Gadeun, who simply reached for his cup with a bead of cold sweat running down his neck. After a single, sad shake of his head, Gadeun took a sip of his tea, before Jae's eyes soon returned to normality.

He appeared agitated--No, Jae was very clearly frustrated now.

All these mixed feelings and not knowing what he should do; it all just pissed him off. As the saying goes, it felt like Jae was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"""........."""

The atmosphere was now completely dead. As if not a soul was present in the room, not a single sound could be heard other than the beating of one's own heart. It continued as so for a few minutes, until Rena's voice disrupted the room and entered their ears. Perhaps she sensed something weird from the room's atmosphere, as the girl began to cry.

"...D-daddy.... M-mamaaa.... kgh...*sniff*..."

Her voice was trembling, and tears began to form. Rena cried as she buried her face into Jae. Her actions shook him, and woke him up.

...Right. What am I doing? I'm not so weak as to get defeated by something like this. How stupid am I? Hah.

Jae called out in as gentle a voice as possible.

"Rena."

She responded by raising her head to meet his now calm and stable eyes. Fortunately, her name sounded the same even when spoken in a different language.

"...*sniff* ...Daddy...?"

Apparently, just this was enough to soothe her somewhat, causing a slight smile to appear on Jae's face. He continued in telepathy.

[Currently, I can't take you to where your mother is, as I don't know where she is right now. Can you tell me about your Mother? That way, I'll be able to take you home to her.]

[...Mn.]

Rena nodded while wiping away tears.

[Mama... is really kind... and strong.]

That isn't exactly what I was asking, but strong? That explains why the daughter's Soul State is quite high for her age. If the Soul Level is the same as the Status' Level, then that means she is Level 1, with a cap of Level 600? That's a really insane growth capacity, right? Even the limit of the strongest wyverns in the dungeon was only about 500. Unfortunately, I couldn't look at Aphy's though. Why is「Envy」so useless when it comes to things like this? Ah, maybe now that it's Level 5 it could work? Or is it because she's the Dungeon Boss? Anyway, I still need to test out the「Power Imitation」System too―I forgot about it because I got distracted. Well, that can wait for later. Let's see...

[So, Rena, do you know where she is currently?]

[M-maybe... Normally, Mama is at home, unless a bad thing happens.]

[Can you tell me where that is exactly, or aren't you sure?]

To this question, Rena put her hand on her chin, tilted her head slightly, and looked upwards, to make a rather adorable thinking expression.

[Ummm... Home is the big castle!]

Rena said with a bright smile on her face. Meanwhile, Jae was losing hope.

...The what now?

[Castle...?]

......Don't tell me... Is Rena... royalty? Demon... royalty?

He then closed his eyes and covered his face with a hand, as if in pain.

"Daddy?"

Taking his hand away and patting Rena's head, Jae thought while looking at her joyful expression.

...This..... might be a bigger issue than I first thought...

[Rena, can you tell me more about the castle?]

While Gadeun was only watching the situation, amused, Rena's expression lit up as she gladly elaborated.

[Mn! There's Me, Mama, Older Sister Jiera, Brother Jiyeru―lots of people!]

Those names... are familiar, right...? Where did I hear them before...?

[Are those all the people you live with?]

Argh, just where the hell did I hear them from? Shit, it's almost on the tip of my tongue... I know that Aphy said it, right, but just who were they again...?

[Um, no, I don't think so. They are all the family members, though. There were lots of other people that lived in the castle too, and there were also lots of regular visitors.]

Damn it, this is irritating. I need more information; then I might remember.

[Does your mother hold an important position within the castle?]

[Mama is... Uhhhhmmm... The top person, I think?]

[......So, your mother is the Queen... Right.]

This is just getting ridiculous now...

[Um, maybe...? I saw Mama bossing around other people all the time, but never saw anyone bossing Mama around. Ah, Mama's also the strongest person in the castle! She's really really strong! And Brother and Sister are really strong too, but not as strong as Mama!]

[I... see.]

The Queen, Prince, and Princess, huh. Tsk. Damn, well, this is a difficult situation, isn't it? Like this, it's even possible that I could be labelled as the kidnapper; although Rena would probably help with that, so it might not be a problem.

[Brother has a lot of fluffy pets and Sister is really really smart!]

From what Rena has said, is it possible that the king or queen is decided based on pure strength?

[Really? That's good. Do they love you a lot too?]

I've heard of such methods before, but then, that brings another question to the table...

[Mn! Everyone is really nice to me!]

【How did Rena get kidnapped in the first place?】

If there were so many strong people in the castle to protect her, then a mere kidnapper wouldn't be able to do fuck all to a Princess like Rena, right?

[Yes, how could they not? You are very adorable. Can you tell me more about your home, Rena? It sounds interesting.]

―That could only mean it was an inside job, huh. Someone within the castle plotted Rena's disappearance? It couldn't be her mother, could it...? No, there's no real reason for her to do such a thing, is there...?

[Ahehehe. Of course! When Daddy comes home, everyone will be really happy! I need to tell you so you are prepared for it!]

―Indeed, money isn't an issue for a Queen, and if she simply wanted to get rid of her child, there are plenty of other and less horrific ways to do so. In the first place, it's obvious that Rena's mother showered her with plenty of love and affection, so of course it wasn't her.

[Haha, indeed, I should be prepared. Is there anything else?]

―Therefore, it must be someone else. Well, that love could've been an act, but I highly doubt it. Betrayal, then. A Rebellion?

[Um, Sister is really smart but serious all the time.]

―If someone within the castle planned a coup against the Queen, then it'd make sense to remove Rena first in order to weaken the Queen's heart, and it'd be especially effective if the Queen planned to use troops to investigate for Rena's location.

[I see. Is she kind too?]

―Sending out troops would reduce the Queen's forces, and if the rebel has been plotting for a while, then they would have prepared sufficient forces.

[Mn, very!]

―But then, even if troops have been prepared, the Queen is the strongest in the castle. If I assume that the brother and sister are second and third strongest, then how would they be beat by a mere rebellion?

[Well then, that's good. How about your brother's pets?]

―No, no, if there really was a rebellion, then the plotter should know the full strength of the Queen's forces. He would have anticipated even all of that as an enemy. After all, the Queen's forces may be stronger, but numbers are one of the most important factors when deciding who wins a battle.

[Ah, the really big dogs are super cute! Brother lets them go around the whole castle and outside! He even got me a puppy!]

―But then, how come no one has figured it out? The sister is smart, and the Queen should be as well, obviously. Are they pretending not to notice, and are fooling the rebels? Or do they really not know?

[Oh, and there are lots and lots of really fun magic toys too! When we go home, Daddy has to play with me and see it!]

―Thinking about it, it'd make no sense for them to not know. After all, I figured it out that easily. But then, wouldn't the rebel side know that they've figured it out? The people in the castle probably know much more about the situation than I do too, because they know each other.

[Haha, of course, of course. I would never miss out on that for anything. I look forward to it; I'm sure everyone back home is missing you too, and will be pleasantly surprised when we return.]

―Rena knows nothing about the whole situation either, considering she's only a child. The Queen likely has some kind of an idea who the rebel is, so the situation should settle itself, without me being needed. In the end, nothing concrete can be concluded, and I have nothing to go off.

[Mn! I'm really excited too!]

―Well, there's nothing that can be done about it right now, so I probably shouldn't worry too much about it. All I have to do is return Rena home once the case has been resolved and it's safe for her. She doesn't know where home is though, so I'll need to find it. In any case...

*sigh*

Finishing his thoughts and the short conversation with Rena, Jae stood up from his chair.

"Gadeun, I think it's getting late. Sorry for the inconvenience; I'll leave some gifts before going."

Surprised, Gadeun asked in a sad tone.

"Oh...? And here I was hoping you might stay the night... Are you really departing already? You don't need to rest? She would enjoy spending more time with you, too, no?"

His eyes could be seen glancing towards Rena. Jae, too, looked at the girl who simply sat there innocently staring, with adorable eyes, at who she believed to be her father.

"..."

Jae felt his heart sting a little when he saw her gaze.

...Is this really the right thing to do? It's not like there're any problems taking her with me, but...

Something felt off about this, though Jae couldn't quite name what it was. Either way, it was bad to start doubting himself at this point.

Yeah... It's probably fine. This way, she'll be able to grow up nice and proper, and with friends, after all. It'd be better than living with a savage me, who lives by hunting and eating monsters all the time. She'd pick up too many bad habits, and she needs a proper education too. I can't provide that for her, so staying here, for the foreseeable future at least, is definitely the best place. Since Gadeun already has experience raising a child, he should be a much better father than I.

Jae spoke with a wry smile.

"...If I stick around for too long, then I really won't be able to leave. I'm sorry"

In any case, Gadeun would be able to take care of the most important matter, which was her thinking she'd be abandoned―apparently, there existed a magical relic that can erase memories.

"Are you sure you don't want to use it while you're still here? Just in case it doesn't work, or something goes wrong?"

"You have my faith, Gadeun."

"..."

Everything'll be just fine, Jae thought. After making a quick trip back to the dungeon and informing Aphy about the situation, I'll come back and return to the village once I've found her mother.

"That's a lot of pressure for an ordinary chief like me.", Gadeun chuckled.

"But, thank you. I will try my best."

This way, there'd be little to no regrets. Even if there were some, it would only be something along the lines of, 'I wish I could've watched her grow up with my own two eyes', but that's a necessary sacrifice. In the end, it may not even take that long to find her mother, so who really knows.

Jae knew it was terribly irresponsible of him to do this, but he just couldn't think of a more suitable choice.

"My apologies for leaving at such an awkward time, but I need to go."

The middle-aged village chief wore a bitter smile and nodded.

"I understand..."

"I'm very grateful for your hospitality and kindness, and, for taking up my request... Thank you."

A sincere thanks.

"Oh, you'll make this old man tear up if you say things like that. I haven't done anything worthy of such praise... If you so wish, thank me when you return."

Jae smiled.

"Of course. Though, you're not old. You can't just die on me, yeah?"

"Haha."

They both walked over to a door leading to the kitchen, followed in short yet hasty steps by a curious Rena. After showing off his cooking skills for a bit, Jae stored the food in storage cooled with ice magic, and the three walked to the house's entrance. Taking a step outside, Jae turned around to see Rena pulling on his coat, staring up at him.

"Daddy...?"

Jae froze for a moment before recovering. He crouched down, placing his hand on Rena's small head. Then, Jae pulled Rena in for a hug. She responded in kind, gladly hugging Jae back with a big smile on her face. They stayed like this for a while as Jae stroked Rena's head.

"Daddy?"

Rena began to sense that something was off. Her heart rise was rising, and she was becoming anxious.

Jae said nothing in response to her calling. He stopped stroking her hair, and only hugged Rena with both arms.

Of course, she didn't resist, but was very confused, and soon, Rena even began to shed tears again.

As if Rena instinctively knew that something terrible was happening, she cried. Rena herself had no clue why she was crying, and yet she was still sad, her tears just wouldn't stop―all she did was tighten the hold of her arms around Jae.

The father and daughter were sharing a heart-warming hug. It should've been a good atmosphere, but even Gadeun, who watched the heart-breaking and emotional scene, was on the verge of tears.

[Daddy...!]

Jae was warm.

His warmth was being transferred to Rena, and it felt comfortable.

So...

Why was she crying?

Rena didn't know.

After a certain amount of time had passed, the hug had ended, and Rena was already fast asleep in Jae's arms. All that crying must've been exhausting, especially when considering how confusing the rest of the day was for her, is what Jae thought.

Slowly, he stood up. Jae wrapped Rena in the white blanket, handed her over to Gadeun, as well as his entire trust and faith, too. That he would uphold his promise, Jae was not doubtful.

"......Then, I will take my leave, Gadeun. You should catch some sleep yourself; I've heard that relics are exhausting to use, after all."

Jae grabbed hold of the greatsword he left by the door and set it on his back. Turning to Gadeun, he spoke his parting words.

Especially one that can do something insane like erase memories.

It was something Aphy once mentioned.

"Ah... Indeed. Thank you, Jae. I shall do that at the nearest opportunity.", he spoke with the same bitter smile, "Well then... Farewell."

"Yes. See you next time."

[Sleep, you say!? Oh, yes, please! Give me sleep, too! I beg thee! It's been years! You, host―Why the hell have you not slept a wink since leaving that dreadful place! Huh!? Are you really not a monster!? Why don't you try taking a note from that girl! Crazy bastard who doesn't sleep!]

Ignoring the unusually energetic voice, that sounded awful like something metallic scraping on a blackboard, Jae walked out of the large wooden house, alone.

*click*, the door closed behind him. Looking up towards the sky, Jae thought to himself.

...From the looks of it, I spent more time than planned. It's almost morning.

The sky was turning lighter by the second, but the sun couldn't yet be spotted on the horizon due to the trees blocking its rays.

Well, I guess it's time to go back. Quite some days would've already passed in the dungeon, after all. I wonder how Aphy's been doing. I also need to prepare some things before heading out to search for Rena's mother...

And so, Jae left Bahgwud Village to return home.

Alone.

The unfathomably large, and rather murky, forest, was silently bathing in the dim light of the otherworldly moon. It seems to have rained recently, as the green leaves were moist and the ground, muddy.

The ominous, yet beautiful moonlight, revealed the icy mist that blanketed the early morning sky from end to end, like a boundless sea of cold hovering just above the ground.

Quietly making his way through this forest was Jae.

While he headed directly towards a certain location, not a single creature dared disturb him. The monsters could all sense an aura of 'death' around Jae. Instinctually, they knew―were they to make light of him, this terrifying man would eliminate them in a heartbeat. It was something he did on purpose so he could concentrate without disruptions.

"Fuuu..."

A visibly frosty breath exited Jae's mouth. The early morning air was cold, but his mana shroud shielded him from such things, so he thought nothing of it.

Then, an icicle appeared in the air just ahead of him, and it floated with him as he walked. Next, numerous icicles of varying shapes and sizes began to form in the air, out of what seemed like nothing. Suddenly, they all vaporised in an instant. Before even a moment had passed, more had formed, and then consequently, they disappeared.

Like this, a constant cycle was happening.

This cycle had been going on for a short while now, and it wasn't a lengthy amount of time later that Jae stopped. He thought to himself.

That should be enough for ice. It's basically the same as water, fire and earth, so it didn't take as long as I'd initially assumed it would. Opposite attributes are more closely linked than I imagined. Aphy was right.

"Well then, next, let's do... how about lightning? It'll be good for combat, and from what Aphy said, it's more versatile than you'd think."

An expression of deep focus arose on Jae's face. Less than a minute passed like this, when a single spark appeared for a split-second in the air in front of him.

*zzt!*

More sparks continued to appear erratically in the space around Jae, each one flashing ever so slightly brighter than the last, and lasting a tiny bit longer.

*zzt, zzt, zzt!*

And, exactly like he had done with the ice previously, Jae was repeatedly creating a countless number of electrical sparks. As more and more sparks appeared, each became bigger, brighter, and more stable than the one before. Eventually, the sparks transformed; all of the properties changed, and what soon became an astounding sight was seen.

The sparks, which were now more like flashes of light and energy rather than mere sparks, appeared in a myriad of colours and forms―bright orange flashes, light blue flashes, brown flashes, black flashes, white flashes―a truly mystical sight illuminated the naturally murky forest, almost completely erasing the ominous atmosphere, and instead inspired a feeling of wonder.

......This is getting a bit boring now.

Of course, Jae simply retained his somewhat apathetic and bored look through this truly magical sight.

Let's see, can I make it more interesting? How about this...

The flashes began to 'move' in the air.

During the split-second they existed, one might be able to see it if they concentrated hard enough―the direction of the light was bending. The flashes started to link and connect with one another, and soon what looked to be countless miniature lightning bolts, were flickering constantly in the immediate space surrounding Jae, like a protective barrier.

The forest was lit up by the enchanting spectacle.

Okay, that seems good enough for practise.

―Within an instant, the thunderbolts all simultaneously burnt out and fizzled.

Now, let's test out the firepower.

Briefly stopping his advance forward, Jae stuck out his right hand. While this isn't absolutely necessary, it was to guarantee that the correct target would be hit, as he still wasn't entirely sure of his aiming accuracy.

It'd also be convenient if other people thought that I couldn't use magic without sticking out my arm. Some sort of fake weakness like this is necessary to get enemies to lower their guard. Well, anyway.

"Hmm...... Let's start with a classic."

Then, he fired.

"Thunderbolt."

*―BOOM!*

The deafening sound of thunder occurred at the same time as the blinding flash of light that shot out from Jae's outstretched hand to illuminate the forest. Once the light dissipated, Jae observed the potency of what was effectively a lightning strike emitted from the space just centimeters in front of his hand.

"..."

Ahead of Jae was a trail of felled trees, all with black scorch marks lining the edges of the broken stumps. The ground beneath the trail had also been completely scorched black, and all the grass on it had been incinerated.

However, even with this, Jae was not pleased.

"Hmm... Inefficient. It seems that replicating a lightning strike completely is good for appearance's sake, but for it to be actually useful in combat, it'll require some adjustments, or else the available mana in the air will run dry too quickly. It takes some charging up time as well, which could easily be shortened."

Of course, if he really wanted to, Jae could fire off as many as he wanted without worrying about the mana cost, however, since this magic required the mana that belonged to nature, Jae didn't want to purposely used overpriced magic and incur its wrath―this, too, was a practice Aphy taught him.

For starters, I suppose lowering the noise and brightness would decrease the amount of wasted energy through light and sound transfers. Though it's not like I can completely get rid of the light or sound―especially light, since it is lightning, after all―I can probably sacrifice a decent amount of it for more power efficiency.

Then, just increase the heat and speed, since it's rather slow. As is it, such an attack couldn't even hit an adult wyvern if it tried to dodge. Maybe I could add a secondary attribute too? Fire and air both have the closest affinity to lightning on the attribute chart, so those will probably work the best, though I could certainly try other combinations too. Blended magic needs some testing too I guess.

"...Well, all that can wait for later. I'm close now, so I'll just use「Sloth」to get back quickly."

It didn't take long at all for Jae to blink through the forest and arrive at his desired location. The location in question was, of course, the place Jae appeared at after leaving the Pride Dungeon.

Ahh, this trip certainly achieved its original goal of refreshing my mind, didn't it? Although I now have to look for Rena's mother, so after explaining the situation, I'll prepare some things and head out to search for her. Haha, I hope Aphy's not too lonely; I suppose I'll need to feed her as well since she doesn't eat unless I cook, and she'll be spending more time without me. Though maybe she wants some alone time...?

Recalling all the fun time they spent together, Jae chuckled to himself.

"Ahaha--......wait."

―But then.

"...Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait."

Jae belatedly noticed.

"Where's...... the portal...? Haha.... Hahahaha, no, it's here, somewhere. It's.... definitely..... not gone...."

...Right?

――He noticed, and was struck with a feeling of great loss and despair.