Chapter 14

===================

Translated by Sylph

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

Veil watched Tie whine while fixing the skull’s jaw, and furrowed his brow.

Why in the world had the proverb blood is thicker than water come up here?

But he soon understood why.

“Actually, my daddy.”

The child whispered, then added.

“is super strong.”

As if it were some tremendous secret, the child was constantly watching the surroundings.

“He said he’s the strongest in the world. A super strong holy knight!”

Basto’s face hardened.

Because she remembered what Tie had said on the day they first met, that her daddy was in the imperial capital.

At first he had thought the child had become separated from her family near the gate.

But somehow,

“It looks like Tie has an amazing ability because I inherited Daddy’s blood! Like father, like daughter!”

hearing the story, the thought flashed through his mind that maybe it was not such a simple situation.

Meanwhile, Veil’s face darkened just the same.

‘If the brat’s daddy really is the strongest holy knight……’

There was a part that did not fit.

There are broadly two kinds of abilities that can awaken in this world.

Holy power and magical power.

Holy knights awaken holy power and wield swords with that strength.

But Tie had just awakened magical power.

‘Of course, I know that sort of thing happens from time to time.’

Cases like a mage being born from parents who awakened holy power, or a child awakening holy power being born in a mage family.

But those cases were so rare they belonged in legends or folktales, and above all, they were viewed badly.

There was even a superstition that a child born with a power opposite from the parents’ ruined and destroyed the people around them.

‘Besides……’

The part where Tie said “the strongest holy knight” also bothered her.

If there was a family in the Empire that would have people worthy of being called “the strongest holy knight,” there was only one.

House Luminen.

The people said to produce knights with high-purity holy power generation after generation, and whose noses were held so high they seemed to pierce the sky.

They were, literally, a noble house that had never once experienced rock bottom.

Apparently thinking the same thing, Veil and Basto’s eyes met.

Basto, after nodding, quickly lowered himself to Tie’s eye level.

“What you said about your daddy being a holy knight, are you sure about that?”

“Yes! A super strong holy knight! The strongest in the world!”

The two men’s expressions darkened even more.

Assuming the child’s words were true, there was only one conclusion they could draw.

House Luminen, which had produced holy knights generation after generation.

And from that house, Astie was born with magical power strong enough to set necromancy in motion.

“Actually, I wasn’t going to say this……”

Just then, Astie opened her lips with a downcast expression.

“Tie actually lived with Daddy until a little while ago, in a small but cozy house, but……”

“The house was small?”

Tie nodded at Veil, who cut in.

“Mm! It was about this biiig~.”

Tie indicated a space barely large enough for two adult men to lie down in.

“And there was a toilet at this end, but, uuuh.”

Tie suddenly shrank up.

When he looked at her as if asking what, the child hesitated, then answered.

“It was super cold in winter. Warm water didn’t come out very well……”

Veil’s eyebrow twitched, but Tie kept talking.

“But Tie liked it a lot. Even though it was just me and Daddy, it really, really felt like we had a hundred family members.”

But soon a faint wetness gathered in the eyes that had been only bright.

“……But Daddy left.”

Basto and Veil both flinched.

“So that’s why Tie was alone. In the forest, with Kkamangi……”

“Kkamangi?”

Tie opened her bag and showed it.

The black stone inside could be seen.

“He’s sleeping in here, but Kkamangi is super strong? So if we’re together, we can find Daddy.”

Veil and Basto’s eyes met once again.

The being Tie called “Kkamangi,” while she set necromancy in motion.

And the black stone in which that being slept.

‘At a glance, that’s clearly a permanent familiar.’

It seemed Tie had somehow summoned a familiar in the past without realizing it, and did not know what it was.

“If only Kkamangi wakes up, Tie can find Daddy! If Mister Basto takes Tie to the imperial capital. Of course Daddy won’t remember Tie, but……”

“He won’t remember you? What do you mean by that.”

Veil cut in again.

Tie rolled her eyes.

“It’s hard to explain that……”

Then after hesitating and thinking for a bit, she went on.

“There are reasons that make it like that……”

“What are you talking about, that makes no sense. What father doesn’t remember his own daughter?”

Tie’s expression became downcast once more.

And this time, it even became far sadder than before.

Before long, a dispirited voice slipped out of her small mouth.

“……It’s not that Daddy wants to do that.”

“……”

“Daddy will miss Tie too. But because of magic, Tie got erased from inside Daddy’s head……”

Veil froze.

Basto and Nordix were the same.

What Tie meant was Kkamangi’s time magic.

Since they had gone back to the past before she was born, Daddy would not recognize her.

But absurdly enough, those words sounded completely different to Basto and Veil.

‘That means someone erased the brat from her daddy’s head with magic, right?’

‘To do something that vicious……’

In the minds of the three men, this situation became more and more certain.

Luminen, the noble, lofty, great house of holy knights.

And a small child born within it, carrying a great amount of magical power.

‘Tie actually lived with Daddy until a little while ago, in a somewhat small but cozy house.’

The child’s father probably escaped the house with little Tie.

Judging by the fact they hid and lived in a tiny house fit for livestock, he had probably been trying to hide the child and raise her.

But,

‘Because of magic, Tie got erased from inside Daddy’s head……’

Someone erased Tie from that father’s mind.

And four-year-old Astie was left alone in the forest.

Silence continued inside the cave.

Before long, a low curse slipped out of Veil’s mouth.

“These bastards are worse than animals……?”

* * *

“Is that possible? Erasing some person’s existence from inside someone else’s head?”

Veil’s whisper rang out among the three men.

Basto was clenching his fists in silence, and the fortune teller Nordix remained silent with a solemn expression.

“It’s obvious no matter how you look at it! They must’ve been trying to get rid of the brat because she was a thorn in their eye!”

Once, while working as an assassin, he had thought he had seen every kind of trash in the world.

But taking a child away from her father?

And even erasing the child’s existence from the father’s mind?

“Those lunatics in Luminen. Is money and power all that matters? Does it mean you can do filth even beasts wouldn’t do?”

“Calm down, Veil.”

Basto cut off Veil’s words.

He continued calmly to the fuming Veil.

“Nothing is certain yet. We can’t decide the whole situation from only what she just said. There may be a misunderstanding, and above all, Tie is still young.”

“What’s this about deciding things too fast! Even imperial folktales brand a mage born into a holy knight family as an ominous being! The circumstances fit perfectly!”

“Veil. Basto is right. First, calm yourself a little.”

When even Nordix stepped in, Veil shut his mouth, though he still fumed as if resentful.

Seeing the brat some distance away only made her angrier.

For some reason the brat looked even more pitiable and pathetic than before!

“For now, we’ll have to meet a member of House Luminen.”

At that moment Basto sorted out the situation.

“And in case House Luminen really has done something like that, it’d be best to hide Tie’s identity for the time being.”

“What do you mean, saying the obvious like it’s new? Those bastards definitely tried to kill the brat before. She said she was alone in the forest when you first met her!”