♣Help! My Daughter’s In Her Rebellious Phase!
♣Help! My Daughter’s In Her Rebellious Phase!
I was depressed.
Pops and Ma worked with their friends to clear this land and build the Rofola Lodge. And in the space of one day, my parents’ legacy was half-ruined.
“Fixing this is gonna bottom out my retirement money, isn’t it…?” I grumbled to myself.
“Imma help you, so you won’t need much money,” the dwarf, Ledo, told me.
“Aren’t we going to at least buy metal fittings?” I asked him.
“Ah, yeah, I suppose we don’t have tools or the metal to make fixtures… Ah, do you have tools?!”
“I should have some tools, yes. Follow me…”
Having a dwarf present just as this happened was the silver lining in this rotten situation. The boy—though he was an adult in human years—followed me as I checked the shed for tools.
First, though, we’d need to remove the rubble. Thankfully, the young knights could help me do that. We could just start by moving the cottage debris all to one spot.
Then we could see what wood could be repurposed and use what couldn’t be as firewood. The rest of the lumber we needed for rebuilding could be obtained from the forest. In fact, if we chop down the trees near the orchard, we might be able to expand our sugar cane field.
“Marcus.”
“Mm?”
There was only one person in this inn who would call me by my name like that. I got to my feet with an ax and saw in my hands when I saw Lico, dressed in light clothing, following Ledo.
Perhaps owing to the dusk light, her shadow stretched into the shed, and the light shining from behind her made her face incredibly clear to the eye. Her long bangs covered her face, but beneath it, I could see her features were clear and unblemished on both sides. The burned, charred scars that’d mangled her face from the cheek down for so long were now gone without a trace.
It was the face of a beautiful woman.
“…O-Oh, hey.”
I experienced an odd sense of elation when I saw the soft look in her eyes as she watched me. She was always a pretty woman, after all. The left side of her face was always beautiful. So, why did seeing both sides look perfect make me react like this? What was wrong with me?
By the time I met Lico, her face was already scarred. So, this was what Lico looked like before we met…that must be why I feel like something’s changed.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“About tomorrow…”
“What about tomorrow?”
“We’ll help you clear the rubble,” she offered. “Cleaning up the aftermath of a monster subjugation is part of a knight’s job. And Prince Shida said we should cover up the hole the earthworm left behind… Considering how big it was, patching it up won’t be easy. So, the prince suggested he’d use magic to do it. Will you take him up on that?”
“The earthworm’s hole… Tch, right, that’s another problem…”
The damn worm monster burrowed through the ground and left a large hole in the plaza in front of the inn. We would need to cover it up, wouldn’t we?
“You should accept Prince Shida’s offer. Having someone who can use magic helps out a lot,” Lico said.
“It sure is helpful,” Ledo chimed in. “Well…except there’s a lot of Camilla on the human continent, so the Air’s purity is pretty low…”
“…Which reminds me, Sir Ledo. What do you mean by, ‘There’s a lot of Camilla here?’”
As Lico turned to look at Ledo, I felt a mixture of relief and disappointment at having her eyes leave me. I already knew the left side of her face, and her right side now looked just the same… Why was I so shaken by seeing her like this? I was the one who pushed for her to do this, after all.
“Huh? Well, the concentration of Camilla on this continent is a lot higher than it is back home. That’s why the monsters are bigger, and it’s harder to gather in the Air when you want to use magic.”
“What? So that’s why the monsters are breeding faster and getting bigger? Wh-Why?”
“Hmm, well, I don’t know. I’d think you humans would know better. It’s your continent, after all,” Ledo said with a lilt.
“…Is it because Edesa Kura’s starting a war? But this didn’t happen ten years ago, right?” Lico turned to look at me.
“Y-Yeah, it didn’t…” I nodded.
From what I could remember, the monsters didn’t increase in number or size during the last war with Edesa Kura.
“The Camilla has a chance of turning to Kathra…” I muttered. “I heard you guys saying something about human and demi-human malice having an effect on magic? I’m not too bright when it comes to magic or alchemy, but I do know those things exist. Does that have something to do with all this?”
“Shida says that when you humans made your countries, you invented your own ‘gods’ to make it easier to rule the people. These ‘gods’ work as human malice and fill the human continent with Camilla. Our countries and the Elven King warned you about it many times, but you didn’t believe us… No, you wouldn’t admit we’re right!”
“…You’re saying our Gods are the Camilla? W-Wait, no, that makes no sense. Why would our Gods be the Camilla?”
“Because Wisty Air has only one god. The creator god, Air. You made false gods to subvert Air, and they became the Camilla,” Ledo explained.
“So you’re saying the Gods of De Marl…are just complete lies?!” Lico retorted, bearing down on Ledo.
I was just as shaken as she was by this. And yet, oddly enough…it felt like what he said made sense. True, faith was a comfortable means to unify people. Each country worshipped its own gods. If I remembered correctly, Edesa Kura worshipped a deity called the God of Kura.
Each country had its own god…which did make it seem like they were made after the fact. And the creator god of this world was said to be a deity called Air—the one god that was always passed down as some kind of legend in every country.
Meanwhile, the demi-human continent seemed to have a faith based around Saint Akari-Berz. But that wasn’t a god, but rather a religious figure… In other words, only the human continent used gods as a means of ruling over people.
“A pious heart is important, but forcing it onto others only brings conflict. Just look at Edesa Kura,” Ledo said. “They use the name of their God of Kura as a reason to claim humans should reign supreme… It’s terrible.”
“…B-But that’s because the God of Kura is evil…” Lico stammered.
“Lico, demi-humans have their own culture. We’ve lived in peace for so long thanks to the Gods of De Marl. It’s like Ledo said. Piety and faith aren’t bad in and of themselves.”
“M-Marcus…” She looked at me, confused.
“That’s not the problem,” I said firmly. “The human continent’s gods have been worshipped for thousands of years. But only recently have the monsters been growing in size and number. That’s the real issue.”
Lico bit her lips bitterly.
“You’re right. That is strange,” Ledo agreed.
The sudden increase in monsters might not be unrelated to the Air decreasing in purity, but if that’s the case, why now? These gods have been worshipped for centuries, and maybe that contributed to the growing impurity. But why did the change become so extreme in the last decade?
“Something might have happened ten years ago…” I muttered. “Something that changed the way the world works.”
“…And we should be looking into whatever that something might be… Is that what you’re saying, Marcus?” Lico asked.
“That’s my take on it. If you think it’s worth investigating, could you have Dir look into it?”
“…Mm. It’s a possibility worth investigating. The magic users have been saying magic has been weakening every year.”
“Maybe you could ask Shida, too?” Ledo proposed.
“Yeah, he’s been chosen as the Elf of the Sun, so his point of view would be valuable here. Maybe he can come up with a different explanation.”
Good grief… What’s a simple innkeeper like me doing, discussing the way the world works?
Lico pensively crossed her arms and placed a finger on her lips.
Yeah, she’s stunning. My mind went back to her looks. Once she goes back to De Marl, she’s bound to get a marriage proposal or two.
She was still single when I joined the knights, but her face was already charred. We were assigned to our separate knight orders, then I married Kelt, and Lico married that scumbag Rondered…
She’d frequent the other knight orders’ barracks to drown her sorrows in liquor—most often to the Azure Knights’ barracks, which was how I got to know her better. As it turned out, she wasn’t a strong drinker, which put poor Dirbleu in a bind all the time.
She had lived her life devoted to her research, eventually becoming a lass who never knew love. Her parents prodded her into accepting a loveless, political marriage. Still, Lico tried to get her husband to love her…to no avail. And so, she spent those days sobbing into one hand and holding a bottle in the other.
I hope you’ll get to meet a man who loves you and looks only at you this time…
But she shouldn’t have any problems. She’s pretty and she’s a lady at heart, too. Ronde’s a bloody fool! He let a beauty like Lico slip away…
Not that Kelt wasn’t plenty pretty and cute…
“Mm? What’s wrong, Marcus? You need something else?”
“H-Huh?! Wh-What do you mean?”
“I mean, if you’ve got something to say, say it. Ah. And, umm, about what I said before… All those times I told you not to boss me around. You still commanded everyone well. You’re as skilled as you were in your heyday. Honestly…you saved us back there. So, I suppose what I’m trying to say is…I’m sorry. For what I said about my scars and everything I said before that. I apologize. And I’m grateful, too… Thank you.”
“Y-Yeah…”
Ah, dammit!
She’s so cute!
♣♣♣
“SO, that’s my problem. What do you think, Nakona?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Nakona looked at me with a cocked eyebrow, as if I was somehow missing the obvious. “Propose to her already! If she goes back to De Marl, she could get caught in another political marriage!”
“B-But, you don’t understand…she’s a daughter of House Avide, and I’m not even a citizen of De Marl! Besides, Lico thinks of me as a comrade, a drinking buddy, a friend she can’t get rid of. Nothing more…”
“Wow, Dad,” Tina said. “I didn’t know you were so annoying when it came to romance…”
“Th-That’s a little harsh!”
As we sat around the table having some tea after dinner, I consulted the girls on what to do about Lico. I figured I shouldn’t hold it in and that the girls might understand something like this better than I could.
But I didn’t expect this kind of abuse out of you, Tina!
“I-I mean, can you blame me? I spent my whole youth fighting in the war. A-And, how do I put it… I did love Kelt, but…she was, well…my first love…”
“Oh gosh! Daddy! That’s adorable!” Nakona said impishly.
“D-Don’t call me ‘adorable’…” I groaned.
Tina rested her elbows on the table, holding her cheeks in both hands as she watched us wordlessly.
Wh-What? Nakona’s being smug about this, but why is Tina reacting like this?! Is she opposed to the idea…?
I guess it makes sense? I start saying I’m interested in Lico after all this time, and Tina’s approaching that problematic age!
“…Still, Lico’s pretty bad with romance, too…” Tina said pensively. “Or rather, I think she’s still got the Crimson Knights’ captain on her mind?”
“Ugh!”
“Ah, right, there’s still him,” Nakona said.
“How about you show off your manly side?” Tina suggested. “I’m sorry, but all the love potions I can brew are just aphrodisiacs. And personally, I’d like for you to win her over with a masculine confession, but…”
“Tina?!”
Wh-What is my little girl saying?! What was that?! Who put those words into my baby girl’s mouth?!
“You should find some time where it’s just the two of you, so you can let her see your manly side! Show her you’re interested and see how it goes! Listen, Nakona, tomorrow we need to set up a chance for them to be together without anyone else in the way! I had plans to show Lico how I Condense during alchemy, but I’ll move it to another time! So, the two of them can go gathering lumber and have a picnic while they’re at it! I’ll handle the food!”
“W-Wait, wait, wait, wait!”
This is becoming a big deal! Tina, are you more into this than Nakona is?! Th-The two of us, alone?! No, I can’t! My heart isn’t ready for that!
“Tina, you’re asking for too much! The two of us, a-a-alone?! I’d feel too embarrassed!”
“What are you, a girl?!” noth of them lashed out at me.
“Y-You’re the girls here!” I retorted.
What are you two saying?! I’m your old man, same as ever!
“A-Anyway, being alone with her is too much for me! Or, well, I mean…what am I even supposed to do?!”
“H-Huuh? Daddy, didn’t you come to us for advice because you wanted to…I dunno, maybe not remarry, but at least become involved with her?”
“I-Involved with her…?! N-No, I mean…don’t you two hate the idea of me becoming close with a woman?”
“Not really?” Nakona shrugged. “Lico’s fine in my book.”
“I don’t mind, either!” Tina exclaimed. “Lico is my alchemy teacher, so you’ve got my full support!”
“O-Oh. R-Really?”
This feels strangely anticlimactic.
“But really…being alone with her makes you feel awkward? Get your act together, Daddy. You’re a forty-something.”
“F-Forty-something?”
“Yeah! Why don’t you see how Lico feels? Tina, how about you ask her if she’s still hung up on her ex-husband tomorrow while you’re doing your Condensing thing? We can plan after we know that!”
“Okay! Adjusting the process is imperative to getting the right result! All right, I’ll ask Lico how she feels tomorrow so we can plan accordingly. We’ll find a way to make Lico see Dad as a member of the opposite sex. Understood, Dad?”
“Y-Yes, ma’am…”
Th-The girls are awfully dependable when it comes to this… But I don’t need anything this full-blown! Are they even listening to me…?
♣♣♣
AND so, one week later…
“Well, since Dad is surprisingly useless when it comes to this, we’ve gotten nowhere!”
“Seriously, Daddy! Are you even trying?!”
“S-Sorry…?”
Someone, help… My daughters are keener on me getting remarried than I am…
“B-But we’ve always been partners—colleagues. She probably thinks the same, you know? S-So, this is just too sudden… You understand, right?”
“Wow, Dad, you’re a loser,” Tina said coldly.
“Bwah?!?”
Is Tina in her rebellious phase or something?! She’s always been such a sweet, polite little girl… Why is she so vicious when it comes to this?!
“At least see her off properly, all right?” Tina stressed. “Promise to keep in touch with her, okay?!”
“Huh? B-But you’re the only one who’s kept in touch with her so far…?”
“What are you saying? You’re the one who needs to keep in touch with her. I’ll write her letters too, of course, but you need to keep writing to her, too.”
“Uhh…”
“What’s that half-hearted reply for? You need to make yourself look good now that she’s going away!”
“Y-Yes, ma’am…”
The girls sure are tough on me…
I’d gotten relatively used to writing with my left hand, but it wasn’t exactly easy. As I scratched my head helplessly with my prosthetic hand’s wooden fingers, the girls went out to see the knights off as they were going back to De Marl today. The demi-humans would stay a while longer, since they were going to help rebuild the inn and create the barrier to keep the monsters away.
“H-Hey,” I said as I approached Lico. “You watch yourself on your way back.”
“I will. Thanks for everything this past week. Things look good for the time being, so we’ll be heading back home for now. But let me know if there are any more signs of monster attacks.”
“Sure. I’ll be counting on you for help if that time comes.”
“You keep in touch with me whenever you can too, young miss,” Lysteinn said.
“Huh? Ah…sure?” Nakona blinked, seemingly confused.
“Lysteinn!” Two voices spoke as one as Gawain and Vector each grabbed him by a shoulder.
Come to think of it, those three were in the knights since they were kids, so they’ve been friends for a long time. And Nakona used to play around with the knight apprentices when she was little. Had she stayed in De Marl with her mom, she likely would have become a knight by now.
Thinking about that made me feel awfully emotional.
“…”
“What’s wrong, Tina?” I turned to look at her as she stood there brooding. “You look like a Rofola fox when you make that face.”
“No, I can just…sense the bad blood ahead,” she said in a sagely manner. “As they say, the apple does not fall far from the tree…”
“Huh?”
…H-Her rebellious phase is ahead…?