Raising the Daughters to Overcome My Failure

Chapter 3. Adel (3)

Adel was Adel, but first, I needed to deal with Jorge.

Though a worthless character, Jorge was a high-ranking official of the kingdom.

Moreover, he was our family's source of money.

‘If I get on his bad side, our child support will be slashed.’

That was why I couldn't be negligent in his reception.

So, I presented the best banquet I could prepare.

Elburz mullet, wapiti deer, truffles, and even caviar.

Jorge wore a satisfied smile as he tasted the food.

“Haha, good. This neighborhood may be a backwater, but the ingredients are top-notch.”

When I added the finest wine, the corners of his mouth curled up to their fullest.

But Adel didn't touch the food laid out before her.

‘Her expression is still sour. Is this an aftereffect of setting her upbringing goal to MAX?’

I had played countless times, but this was the first time I saw Adel looking so cold.

I, too, lost my appetite.

‘Who would have thought it would turn out like this?’

In PP, a total of 10 years of in-game time is given.

The first five years are a tutorial-like phase with no major events to worry about.

But the latter five years are different.

‘Starting with the last desperate struggle of the old Demon King's forces, the new Demon King's forces rise, and each nation begins to wage war.’

The difficulty skyrockets from this point on.

It becomes hard to clear the game with martial prowess alone; politics, diplomacy, and even trade become necessary.

Depending on the situation, there were even times when one had to use their charm to seduce an opponent.

In other words, if you didn't create a well-rounded, all-powerful character, it was an immediate game over.

But who was I?

The veteran player who was the first to clear all of PP’s endings.

If I could strengthen the bonds with my daughters and resume their upbringing, no mission would be daunting.

Besides, I was quite enjoying myself right now.

‘Because Adel, whom I had only seen on a monitor, is right before my eyes.’

Until now, I was confused whether this world was a daughter-raising simulation game or a dark fantasy, but now it was clear.

‘To even place first in the knight examination at fifteen.’

To beat Bern and take first place was something I could have never imagined.

Bern was the kingdom's strongest knight and one of the most renowned warriors on the continent.

To defeat him was an unbelievable achievement.

‘Even if I raised her myself, this is impossible. Her martial prowess stat must be at least over 90.’

I looked at Adel with a fatherly smile and slowly opened my mouth.

“You don't seem to have an appetite. If it’s because you’re tired from the long journey, you may be excused.”

“Thank you for your consideration, Father. Then, I will take my leave.”

Adel bowed politely to me and Jorge and left the room.

Only then did Jorge begin to speak about her.

“You've raised her well. To think she would defeat the kingdom's guardian deity. His Majesty also spared no praise.”

“I am glad she has found favor in His Majesty's eyes.”

Jorge spoke with a meaningful smile.

“However.”

Stroking his kaiser mustache, Jorge drew out his words.

But I already knew what he was going to say.

“Now that Adel has been appointed to an official post, she'll be receiving a salary. How about we reduce the child support by half? As you well know, the nation's finances are not in good shape.”

Behind me, Elliot's face rapidly darkened.

This place was the northernmost border region within the Benedict Kingdom, which was already located in the far north of the continent.

With no proper jobs, we were barely getting by on the kingdom's subsidies.

Besides, my title was Baron.

As the only noble here, I had 10 servants in this household alone.

Their wages were not insignificant.

My hands trembled, but I nodded without a single change in my expression.

“I understand. Let's do that.”

Jorge laughed heartily and raised his wine glass.

“Haha! You’re a man who understands. I will speak well of you to His Majesty. You are a model of a nobleman who worries for his country!”

A model of a nobleman, my foot.

There was no way Jorge would put that money into the kingdom's coffers.

It was obvious it would all go into his own pocket.

‘Just seeing that pig-like bastard eating his fill and laughing makes my stomach turn. But I have to endure it for now.’

If I rejected his proposal right here and now, it could potentially harm everyone in the village.

If he decided to cut the child support for my other daughters as well, it would be difficult to manage in this place where we had nothing.

Besides, I had an ace up my sleeve.

That was precisely why I had so readily accepted his proposal.

‘There's an undeveloped gold mine near the Elburz Mountains.’

The ancient dragon that ruled that place had no interest in gold, so that gold mine would soon become a solid financial source for our family.

‘Once I get my hands on that, I won't have to grovel before that pig bastard anymore.’

After Jorge left, I muttered with a heavy face.

“I think that’s enough of that pig bastard, now it's time to regain Adel's trust.”

I suspected that Adel's favorability toward me was currently converging on zero.

In the game, in cases like this, the daughter would either run away or, in severe cases, commit patricide by killing her father.

‘That must never happen.’

I swallowed dryly without thinking.

Patricide aside, if I couldn't regain her trust, I wouldn't be able to overcome the crises to come.

The demon tribe's invasion would begin in earnest soon, and I had no time to be squabbling with my daughters here.

‘Whew. Now it’s finally sinking in that this is reality, not a game.’

In the game, I could check favorability through a status window.

So if favorability dropped, I could just give a gift, but it was a pity that I couldn't see such things anymore.

I pondered how to win Adel's heart back.

‘It would be best to start with a gift offensive. In the game, gifts were the easiest way to raise a daughter's favorability.’

And I already knew exactly what Adel liked.

Because I am a veteran player of PP, and a father who cherishes Adel more than anyone.

***

After her bath, Adel lay on her bed, lost in thought.

A complex mix of emotions crossed her face.

Placing first in the knight examination hadn't been that difficult.

Defeating the Knight Commander wasn't easy, but compared to the training with her father, it was much, much easier.

‘What is he up to? There's no way Father would praise me for something like this, right?’

It was the first time in her life she had heard her father's praise.

He even tried to grab her hand and hug her.

There was never a memory of such a thing.

‘He even smiled fondly while looking at my face.’

Just thinking about it gave her goosebumps all over her body.

Adel ruffled her hair and shuddered.

‘He's definitely plotting something. I can't let my guard down. A more terrible training might be waiting for me.’

While she was screaming internally,

someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

As she composed her face, a familiar person entered.

It was her nanny, Belita.

The only person in this household she could trust and rely on.

“Nanny!”

Adel jumped out of bed and hugged Belita tightly.

“Huhu, it’s only been a month, why are you acting like this? Congratulations, I heard you passed with the top score.”

“It’s all thanks to you, Nanny.”

“Not at all. That’s my role.”

If it weren't for Belita, Adel would not have been able to endure life in this house.

Thanks to her, who had always taken care of her warmly, she could endure even in the midst of suffering.

The two caught up, chatting affectionately.

Then, Adel asked a question.

“Nanny, did something happen to Father?”

“Hm? What do you mean all of a sudden?”

“It's strange. He tried to hold my hand and hug me, and it was the first time I’d ever seen him smile so gently. He wasn't like that before, was he?”

Belita chuckled and shook her head.

“The Master was originally that kind of person.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“You may not know, Young Lady, but the Master is a warm-hearted person. Elliot and I, who have been here for a long time, know that well.”

Adel stared at Belita with a disbelieving face.

“That’s impossible!”

“The Master only changed after you young ladies came to the house.”

Adel's eyebrows rose slightly.

“Why?”

Belita hesitated for a moment before speaking carefully.

“In my opinion, I think the Master is wary that the demon tribe might invade again.”

“The demon tribe? Haven't they already been defeated?”

“No. The demon tribe will soon enthrone a new king. It's something that has been repeated throughout long history, hasn't it?”

Adel could only nod.

The fight with the demon tribe never ended even after defeating a Demon King.

They would soon crown a new Demon King and once again declare war on humanity.

“Then, does that mean Father trained us so harshly to protect everyone?”

“Probably. And he must have been very lonely after you young ladies left the house.”

Adel nodded bitterly.

“I heard. Iris ran away as soon as I left, and Noemi disappeared again? I just don't understand why they do that……”

“I don't know the true intentions of those two either. But I'm sure they each have their reasons. The second Young Lady is more headstrong than anyone, and as for the youngest Young Lady, it’s a regular occurrence, you know.”

Adel thought about Iris and Noemi.

The two were the same age as her, but their seniority was divided according to the order of their descent.

She, who descended first, became the eldest. Iris was the second. Noemi was the youngest.

Adel revealed her inner thoughts with a worried face.

“As you well know, Nanny. We are not ordinary people. In public, we are revered as the Children of God, but we are just unfortunate people who cannot even remember who we were before the age of ten.”

But Belita told her that wasn't true at all and gently stroked her hair.

“Don't think like that. The young ladies are the representatives of the Goddess and the most precious people in this world.”

“Nanny……”

She continued with a bright smile.

“Show the Master your true feelings, Young Lady. If you reach out your hand first, the Master will open his heart too.”

Adel was at a loss for words for a moment.

True feelings, she said. She didn't even know her own heart, but what on earth were her father's true feelings?

Although she knew her words were right, a corner of her heart was filled with doubt.

Adel thought of her father as she rested her head on Belita's knee.

‘To think Father was originally that kind of person……. I just can't believe it.’

If what Belita said was true, the image of her father she had held all this time might have been a fabricated one.

Perhaps his harshness was also for the purpose of protecting humanity.

After all, the Children of God possessed far greater potential than ordinary people.

‘I don't know what kind of face I should show Father from now on. He was such a scary and fearsome person……. Can I do it?’

Adel's thoughts grew fainter.

‘I'm so sleepy. I shouldn't fall asleep looking like this…….’

Was it because she was exhausted from the forced march?

Adel fell into a deep sleep, held in her nanny's arms.

The quiet night of the north deepened.

***

Meanwhile, at that same time.

In a certain southern city that boasted a style completely different from the Benedict Kingdom, a one-sided massacre was taking place.

“S-Save… Keuk!”

“Wh-Who are you? Just who sent you?”

The last surviving man asked for a reason, trembling in fear,

but the killer before him simply swung a hand without a word.

Thump.

Soon, the man's head fell to the floor.

The killer, covered from head to toe in black clothes and a mask, casually looked around.

Amid the reek of blood, nearly twenty corpses were scattered about.

Under the moonlight, on a street where the collapsed roofs of buildings were exposed, it was as if an old stench was rising from the ground.

A short while later, a white person, a rare sight here,

a woman with red hair at that, entered the alley.

Her face was not clearly visible as she stood with the moonlight at her back,

but she wore clothes that clearly revealed her figure, showing off a seductive form.

The woman walked among the corpses and asked nonchalantly.

“Is it all taken care of?”

“It is. Keep your promise.”

“Hmph. A merchant who has lost trust has no place to stand. Don't worry about that.”

The woman leisurely passed the line of corpses and lightly kicked the head of the man who had been decapitated last.

Thud, thud-thud.

The head, bouncing like a ball, soon hit a pile of corpses and stopped moving.

“Hmph. Drugs aren't even a necessary evil. They're like cockroaches that must be thoroughly exterminated.”

The fallen were members of this city's drug syndicate.

Existences that, like the woman said, parasitized the city like cockroaches and sucked the lifeblood of the residents.

Just then.

Someone dressed like the killer popped out of the shadows as if by magic and whispered in the woman's ear.

A scene that was unbelievable even when seeing it with one's own eyes.

But what surprised the woman wasn't his sudden appearance, but the words he delivered.

The woman's eyes widened as she retorted.

“Is that really true?”

“It is. We are everywhere, and nowhere. Do you not trust us?”

“No. I was just surprised. My sister is one thing, but for that man to react like that.”

“Do you wish for us to dispose of him?”

The woman got angry, as if asking what kind of nonsense that was.

“The only one who can kill that man is me! You are never to lay a hand on him! Are you trying to turn my plans to dust?”

“……”

The woman barely suppressed her anger and added.

“But I never liked that pig-like bastard. You can take care of him.”

A cold smile spread across the woman's face.

“If the pig bastard dies, it will deal a blow to that man as well. He's been living comfortably on the kingdom's subsidies, so it's time he paid the price.”

“The payment?”

“I'll give you the same amount as for this job.”

“Good.”

The man vanished into the shadows as quickly as he had appeared.

A few days after that.

The body of a high-ranking noble was discovered in the bushes.

He was none other than Finance Minister Jorge of the Benedict Kingdom.

The story was that he had been robbed by bandits, or something of the sort.

But no one mourned his death or questioned it.

Jorge was a hated figure in the kingdom, and bandit attacks outside the capital were a common occurrence.

The refreshing breeze that had blown through the kingdom soon vanished.

But there was also no guarantee that such a wind would not blow again.

The atmosphere that something was about to happen, one way or another, was gradually building.