NOVEL WEB Chapter 2
Chapter 2. Adel (2)
Tournai, the capital of the Benedict Kingdom.
In this vibrant place, bustling from the royal castle to the back alleys, a captivating procession was passing by.
This was because about 100 soldiers were busily moving to escort a carriage adorned with gold.
“Make way! The Finance Minister is passing!”
The residents of Tournai frowned and whispered softly.
“Tsk, what an unlucky pig-like fellow. Does he think he’s the king or something?”
“You can say that again. A golden carriage, just how much has he pocketed in bribes?”
“Shh, be quiet.”
However, their dark expressions quickly brightened upon seeing the woman at the very front of the procession.
“Wow, who is that woman?”
“Was there such a beauty in Tournai? Why is a woman wearing armor and even commanding soldiers?”
Someone asked back with an incredulous expression.
“Are you asking because you really don’t know? That’s Adel, the top scorer of this knight examination. Hero Frank’s daughter!”
Hearing that she was Hero Frank’s daughter, the residents wore expressions of realization.
“I knew she was no ordinary person. Like father, like daughter, as they say.”
“Since she’s the daughter Frank raised himself, the knight examination must have been a piece of cake. Still, top scorer? That’s amazing. She looks like she’s barely fifteen?”
“Rumor has it she even defeated Knight Commander Bern.”
A man across the street, startled, exclaimed.
“What? Knight Commander Bern? Does that even make sense?”
“Everyone’s keeping it quiet, but many saw it firsthand. With such talent, who would dare to threaten our kingdom?”
“Indeed. With Frank and now Adel. Even if the Demon tribe attacks again, it won’t be a problem anymore. Haha!”
The residents’ chatter reached the ears of Adel, the subject herself.
However, she rode her horse with an expressionless face, as if unconcerned.
No, it was a somewhat troubled face.
‘To think I’d be going back to that place.’
It was by no means the outcome she had hoped for.
What she had wanted was to be assigned to the Royal Knights of Tournai.
‘Why was I assigned to my hometown? It’s the kingdom’s farthest frontier. There’s hardly anything to do there.’
It was nothing more than a peaceful country village, and after her father defeated the Demon
King, even low-level monsters had vanished.
A huge dragon did live there, but everyone knew it was harmless.
‘Is it because I’m the hero’s daughter? But I didn’t choose to be his daughter.’
Adel bit her lower lip hard.
‘Father is certainly a great man. A hero no one can deny. But why do I feel suffocated every time
I see him? To think that I, who so desperately wanted his praise, now only want to run away.’
Memories from her childhood flashed by like a revolving lantern.
‘Adel! Is that all you’ve got!’
‘Adel! Get up, quick! The training isn’t over yet!’
‘Adel! You are the eldest daughter of our family! How can you uphold the family honor like this!’
That darn Adel, Adel, Adel.
Adel’s beautiful face turned pale.
As if noticing her state of mind, Alvarez, her childhood friend and the one who took second place in this knight examination, spoke to her.
“Are you okay?”
But Adel replied with a cold expression.
“This is an official setting. You’d do well not to forget that I am your superior, Alvarez.”
As unexpected tension filled the air between the commander and her adjutant, the surrounding atmosphere also grew heavy.
***
Alvarez, well aware of Adel’s rigid personality, gave a bitter smile and politely rephrased his words.
“I was out of line for a moment. Are you alright?”
“No problem.”
The soldiers, relieved, quickened their pace.
But Alvarez’s next words made the atmosphere freeze again.
“If you’re finding it difficult, you could slow down the marching speed a little…….”
At that moment, Adel’s sharp gaze fixed on him.
No words were exchanged between the two, but Alvarez could read the unspoken meaning in her eyes.
‘Does she mean we can’t delay any longer since news must have reached Rarc Village?’
Adel’s father, Frank, was like a living clock.
Wake up at 5 AM, breakfast at 7 AM, training from 8 AM, lunch at 12 PM.
Training again from 1 PM, and a relentless routine until 6 PM.
After dinner, etiquette lessons and academic studies continued from 7 PM until midnight.
‘If he couldn’t teach them himself, he even brought renowned scholars from other countries as tutors.’
Did his daughters ever have time to wash, read books, or even chat?
At this point, it was enough to make one suspect he was an enemy, not a father.
Knowing that tardiness was unacceptable to someone of his nature, Alvarez understood why Adel was in a hurry.
He nodded and urged the soldiers to quicken their march.
“It’s a fortnight’s journey to Rarc Village even if we go quickly. Pick up the pace!”
“Yes, sir!”
Alvarez continued to think about Frank.
Originally, Frank hadn’t been like this.
He had been a kind and considerate man, but,
‘Around the time he took them in as daughters, something drastically changed.’
No one knew the reason.
Even after the threat of the Demon tribe disappeared, he forced harsh training upon his Daughters.
When the villagers advised him to take it easy, he was resolute.
“Do not interfere in my family’s affairs. This is your only warning.”
Although he had lost his strength due to the Demon King’s curse, he was a former hero.
The vicious killing intent emanating from his body had left a great trauma even on the young Alvarez.
‘He was once the person I respected the most…….’
Frank, like himself, was a commoner from a poor country village.
When he became a hero, it felt as if Alvarez himself had become a hero, and
when he heard the news that Frank and his party had defeated the Demon King, he felt like he could give his life for him.
If not for Frank, not just the village, but all of humanity might have perished.
But not anymore.
The last vestiges of respect had long since shattered into pieces and blown away in the wind.
It must have been from that time.
The moment he resolved that he had to save Adel from Frank.
It was also an extension of the reason he had followed Adel to take the knight examination.
Suddenly, however, there was a commotion from the direction of the carriage.
“You crazy bastards! Why are you rushing like this! Go a bit slower! I’m getting dizzy!”
Alvarez’s brow furrowed.
‘That disgustingly fat pig bastard.’
Finance Minister Jorge was notorious as the most corrupt noble in the kingdom.
Originally, only he and Adel were supposed to return to their hometown with the soldiers, but,
‘He unexpectedly offered to accompany us. What on earth is he scheming?’
Excluding the advisor and the chief justice, he was the highest-ranking official in the kingdom.
His title was also formidable, a Count no less.
Only bad rumors surrounded him.
‘To think that my very first mission after becoming a knight is to escort such a person. This is an unbearable humiliation.’
If only he wouldn’t cause trouble in their hometown.
Nevertheless.
For Alvarez, the priority was Adel, not some corrupt noble.
He pressed forward, not slowing the march despite Jorge’s yelling.
If they were even slightly late, Adel would have to face Frank’s wrath.
That was something he would rather die than see happen.
***
Exactly 15 days after Adel’s party left Tournai.
They safely arrived at their destination, Rarc Village, which was also Adel and Alvarez’s hometown.
The thought of seeing her father made Adel’s mind go blank, but on the other hand, she was glad to be back in her hometown.
‘There’s truly no place like this.’
Even the rugged Elburz Mountains, which surrounded Rarc Village like a folding screen, felt comforting.
Furthermore, despite the continuous forced marches.
She was simply grateful to the soldiers who had followed her this far without complaint.
There was one person who soured Adel’s wistful sentiment.
It was Jorge.
He seemed thoroughly angered by the continuous forced marches, as he started swearing as soon as he got out of the carriage.
“Damn it! Why did I have to come to this damn country village? If that fellow wasn’t a hero, I would never have come to such a crappy village!”
He seemed quite displeased that her father lived here.
“How many times did I tell him! Live comfortably in the capital. What’s there to see in a backwater like this, making people go through such trouble?”
Afterward, he continuously spewed curses about her father.
At that moment.
Two conflicting emotions intersected in Adel’s mind.
Until now, no one had dared to insult her father, who had saved the world, but, ‘No matter how high a noble he is, Father is the hero who defeated the Demon King.
How can he insult him like that? Is it because he’s a noble and Father is a commoner? Or is it simply because this is the kingdom’s farthest frontier region?’
While feeling a sense of relief somewhere, on the other hand, a strong animosity towards him welled up.
‘No one can diminish the great achievements Father has made. Only us, his daughters, can criticize him.’
Adel clenched her fists and approached Jorge.
Although she had passed the knight examination as the top scorer, a knight was the lowest-ranking noble.
Legally, they weren't even considered nobility.
Alvarez, who saw her belatedly, tried to stop her, but Adel was already within arm’s reach of Jorge.
Jorge tilted his head, looking at Adel.
“Why are you looking at me with that expression?”
Adel thought to herself.
‘I have to endure it. Now is not the time to deal with this man. I can’t make things worse before Father appears.’
However, in a corner of her heart, an urge to grab him by the collar surged.
Adel’s lips trembled slightly.
Just as her hand was about to reach for Jorge’s neck.
“Haha. Who do we have here? Isn’t it the Count?”
A savior appeared.
The only noble in Rarc Village, and the hero who saved the world.
Frank.
For Alvarez, it must have been a moment where he felt, for once, grateful for Frank’s presence.
***
‘Why the hell did this bastard come here?’
I was talking about Finance Minister Jorge.
In the world of PP, Jorge was a supporting character A who couldn’t even be considered a villain.
He was a person who filled his personal coffers through all sorts of corruption and injustice, but,
‘He’s not a villain capable of changing the world. He’s just a corrupt official, common in fantasy games.’
He was merely a one-off character who appeared whenever the protagonist failed to raise their daughters properly or failed a royal quest, threatening to cut their funding.
A gag character, perhaps?
An NPC who, dragging his obese body to the point his belly button showed, just kept repeating that he would have to cut the funding.
So the nickname users gave him was Dwaemusae.
Because he looked like a pig and kept repeating the same words.
I placated Jorge appropriately and approached Adel.
Because the person I really wanted to meet wasn’t Dwaemusae, but Adel.
“Congratulations, Adel. I heard you passed the knight examination as the top scorer. Well done, truly well done.”
“Ah, Father?”
I grabbed Adel’s hand and tried to hug her.
At that, she instantly pulled back, her expression openly disgusted.
“Why… Why are you doing this?”
Adel, shuddering with an expression close to contempt.
What on earth was wrong?
This was a side of her I had never seen in the PP world.
‘Why has Adel become so cold? The Adel in my memory was always a child who tried hard to get my praise.’
For a moment, I felt a pang of guilt.
‘No. I never properly acted as a father from the beginning. It’s perhaps natural for her to avoid me like this.’
However, she was so different from how I remembered her in the game that I could hardly open my mouth.
If anything had changed, it was that I had raised 3 of them simultaneously instead of 1.
And that I had skipped 5 years. Those were the only differences…….
No, wait.
‘Could it be?’
Only then did it suddenly occur to me.
That I had set the upbringing target to MAX.
The warning message that had appeared in the pop-up window flashed through my mind.
[※ Warning. Doing this will increase stats, but the daughters’ favorability will drop to its lowest. Do you really wish to proceed like this?]
Back then, I had pressed the YES button without much thought.
To think that simple action would lead to such a result.
‘Did Adel change like this because of me? Damn it.’
Was it because of my greed to raise my daughters stronger?
Or was it because of the complacent thought that it would be fine since it was just a game?
The Adel before my eyes now was not the daughter I knew.
Adel’s gaze, so cold it was chilling.
A part of my chest ached sharply.
‘I need to win back Adel’s heart, somehow.’
That would be the immediate task at hand, for Adel’s sake.
And for my sake as well.
I strode purposefully towards Adel.