Chapter 16
The story goes back about twenty years.
Volfrout had grievances against his own brother becoming king and thus instigated a rebellion.
However, the rebellion failed. Every single person involved in the rebellion, along with their families, were executed without exception, leaving Volfrout to hear the news from his prison tower.
But there was one sole survivor who managed to escape the purge—his concubine, who was pregnant with Volfrout’s child at the time.
“I heard she fled into the slums, but after that, all traces disappeared. I assumed she’d died. Naturally, I also thought her child would never be born.”
Having given up on everything, Volfrout lost hope in life and spent his days languishing in the prison tower.
That was until recently, when he saw Lucy’s name in the newspaper he bribed the guards for daily.
“When I read about a girl from the slums possessing superior magical power than any noble, I immediately knew. My daughter was alive.”
Of course, confirmation was necessary. So he used some hidden assets to hire the Shadowmoon Assassins to bring Lucy to him.
“Though I didn’t expect that an SR-ranked assassin team would be wiped out so easily…”
Thus, he came himself, to confirm if Lucy was truly his daughter.
And that confirmation just ended moments ago.
The magic that nullified his <Lineage Magic: Corruption> was exactly the same.
“Come here, my daughter. I shall make you queen.”
He planned to kill the current King Robert of Barfulus and his entire family.
There might be some confusion, but luckily Lucy had two cards to justify potential imperial intervention.
Even though Barfulus is known as the land of strong knights, it’s still a small kingdom.
If a great empire decided to intervene with justification, there’s no way Barfulus could resist without going to war.
“With the backing of the Empire and the title of the last royal bloodline, you can become queen. So hurry…!”
Volfrout’s words, filled with ecstasy and madness, were cut short.
Because Lucy attacked him with <Lineage Magic: Corruption>.
“What?!?”
Clearly not expecting to be attacked, Volfrout was flustered but quickly countered the magic. Despite this, Lucy spat out her venomous words.
“You tried to kill Adam. You deserve to die ten thousand times.”
“…What?”
Lucy wasn’t really doubting that he was her father.
It’s just… “Whatever.”
“Wait! I don’t have much time left…!”
“I don’t care! I don’t give a damn! Just die already…!”
Despite her stuttering words, Lucy’s magical assault was absolutely ruthless.
She relentlessly pressured Volfrout with various elemental magics and occasionally used corrosion magic, clearly intending to kill him.
Naturally. To Lucy, her long-lost father, whose face and name she didn’t even know until just now, meant absolutely nothing.
The only person important to her was Adam.
To Lucy, Adam was her whole world, the reason for her existence, love itself, and salvation incarnate.
In extreme terms, Lucy wouldn’t care if the world ended as long as she could stay with Adam.
Unless, of course, the end of the world separated them.
Volfrout couldn’t understand this.
“Why?! Why do you want to live an ordinary life when you possess such immense power?!”
As he defended against the barrage of magic Lucy was using to kill him, Volfrout screamed.
He could see it. The talent his daughter possessed surpassed even his own.
With that alone, she could achieve anything. And by her side was the strongest gacha character imaginable.
She truly could accomplish anything.
“This power could overturn the world! You could destroy nations or build your own! If you wished, you could annihilate everything! But why…!”
By now, Volfrout was almost pleading. Lucy responded with disdain.
“I already said I don’t care! All I need is to live with Adam!”
“Foolish!”
It was a grievous miscalculation. More accurately, the unconscious desire he harbored turned out to be wrong.
His daughter wasn’t like him.
“Haha…”
With a feeble laugh, Volfrout’s hand dropped. His magical energy was rapidly fading.
The witch’s prophecy had come true.
‘What an ironic punishment, Brother. To die at the hands of your own daughter.’
Feeling the massive surge of magic, Volfrout closed his eyes quietly.
Then his body crumbled into dust.
—
She really killed her dad.
No, I’m not blaming Lucy. If anything, I should blame myself for standing there doing nothing.
Still, something feels off. Lucy seems unfamiliar somehow, which makes me uneasy.
When Lucy tried to kill Volfrout, her magical prowess skyrocketed in an abnormal way.
Even I, someone who knows nothing about magic, could tell that her methods were gradually becoming more “rational” in how she aimed to kill.
At that moment, Lucy was definitely learning.
She was honing her skills on how to use her powers more efficiently to rationally eliminate her enemy.
Like a predator sharpening its hunting techniques through practice.
“A-Adam! Did I do well? I killed the person who wanted to kill you!”
The moment she reduced her father to ashes, Lucy turned around, shining with excitement as she looked up at me.
Her eyes were asking for praise.
But is it right to praise her?
“Um… Adam? Did I do something wrong…?”
Tears welled up in her impossibly pure eyes, making it hard to believe she had just turned someone into ash.
After a brief moment of hesitation—I who did nothing to stop her—I realized I had no right to criticize her.
“No, you did well.”
“R-really!? I did well? It’s really okay, right? Right?”
“Yeah.”
Only then did Lucy smile brightly, and I nodded in agreement. Then, looking at the confused King of Barfulus and his family watching us silently, I spoke.
“There’s probably a lot to talk about, but let’s leave it for tomorrow. We all need some time to think.”
“Huh, yeah. Agreed. Let’s meet tomorrow.”
On the way home, we picked up some dinner and stopped by the blacksmith to grab a decent sword before heading back.
After eating, we cleaned up and gathered around the table again.
So, what now?
“First, let’s explain our situation. Lucy has been revealed as royalty, so things are about to get extremely uncomfortable with the current Barfulus royal family.”
Normally, she’d be a prime candidate for execution.
But since I’m here and Lucy herself killed Volfrout, it probably won’t go that far. Still, tensions will undoubtedly rise.
“I don’t really care about being royalty though…”
Iris sighed and explained to the bewildered Lucy.
“It doesn’t matter what you care about. To others, you’re now a thorn in the side of the current Barfulus royal family just by existing.”
Ignoring her royal status isn’t an option. Acknowledging it brings up the issue of being the daughter of a rebel.
Especially since Lucy possesses talents surpassing even Volfrout, carrying the deepest royal bloodline in Barfulus history.
“They’re probably tearing their hair out trying to figure out what to do right now.”
“So, what should we do?”
“Well, there are technically many options, but boiled down, there are three main choices.”
We endure the tension and continue living as we are.
2. Kill them all.
3. Leave.
“The third one seems safest, right?”
“Agreed. There’s no need to make enemies unnecessarily, even if we’d win in a fight.”
True, I wouldn’t hesitate if they attacked first, but I don’t feel like slaughtering everyone now.
“If we leave, where should we go? As long as I’m with Adam, anywhere is fine…”
“Hmm. How about the Empire? Seems safest.”
We have acquaintances there, and the Erlig family could help block any trouble if needed.
Plus, we spent quite some time there during the last summoning, so it’d be familiar.
“I guess the Empire sounds good for me, but are you okay with it, Lucy? This is the first house you lived in with Adam. No attachment?”
Thinking about it, we haven’t been here long, but this place holds plenty of memories.
“Attachment… yes, there are happy memories. But Adam is the most important thing. As long as I’m with him, I don’t care where we go.”
“Alright, it’s settled then. Let’s head to the Empire.”
When we informed them the next day that we intended to leave for the Empire, the king and duke panicked and desperately pleaded with us to reconsider.
They even offered to officially recognize Lucy as royalty if we stayed.
But we declined all their offers, not wanting to create unnecessary complications.
“Please reconsider, Lord Aidingger! Your departure will cause immense loss to the kingdom!”
They tried every trick in the book to persuade us, but our resolve was firm.
Instead, we decided to visit Princess Josephine before leaving, as we hadn’t kept our promise to visit her again after being busy with other matters.
When she heard we were leaving, the princess expressed regret but smiled and blessed our future unlike the others.
A few days later, after selling our house and everything else we couldn’t take with us, Lucy, Iris, and I took one last look at Barfulus.
“Until Adam appeared, this place held no good memories, but now it feels strange to leave.”
“Same here. We haven’t been here long, but I’ve grown attached.”
I definitely felt a bit sentimental, but staying any longer would mean missing today’s departure, so I forced myself to turn around.
“Did you pack everything? Let’s go, to the Empire.”
We loaded our luggage onto the carriage we rented yesterday and set off toward the Empire.
Our final roll of the gacha machine in Barfulus?
An R-rank.
—
“Princess, Lord Adam and his group have just left the city.”
“……I see.”
Hearing Zandra’s report, Josephine clutched her blanket tightly.
She envied them. She envied them so much it hurt.
All she could do was admire from afar. That was all she knew how to do.
‘I want to see too. I want to step out into the world myself.’
Once suppressed emotions, desires, and hopes surged uncontrollably within her chest.
She needed eyes.
She wanted eyes.
No matter what sacrifices it would take.
She had to have them.
