Chapter 2-23 : Marquis Kushaq’s Mumbling
My name is Elvent Kushaq. I’m a marquis and the head of the Kushaq Family that governs the eastern part of the Kingdom of Kainas.
Due to certain circumstances, I adopted a lovely and mysterious commoner girl named Kako.
This girl seemed to be the benefactor of my biological daughter, Maitena.
Maitena sent me a letter asking me if I want to adopt that child.
There were two reasons. First of all, this girl was once kidnapped by a group of criminals because of her ‘talent’, so Maitena wanted me to protect her. Second of all, well, because Maitena wanted a little sister, it seemed.
I didn’t know what kind of ‘talent’ she had that caused her to end up being kidnapped, but I thought I would find out eventually.
I discussed this matter with my wife, Folia, and she agreed. We decided to meet the girl, so I sent a reply to Maitena, asking her to bring the girl to our home.
Several days later, Maitena returned home with the awaited child.
「Aww~ She’s so lovely~!」(Folia)
That was the first thing Folia said as we gazed out the second-floor window at the girl when she passed through the gate.
As my wife said, she was truly adorable.
She had long, beautiful hair with a rare color of black, which was not often seen around here, and a pretty face as charming as a goddess.
「Ahh~ I wonder what kind of dress would look good on her~ I also need to think about accessories that can increase her cuteness~!」(Folia)
My wife was completely smitten with the girl as if she had fallen in love at first sight.
I understand her feelings. Even from a distance, her adorable aura made me want to protect her.
My first impression of the girl when I saw her was pretty much the same as my wife’s. She was a cute and adorable girl. However, after talking with her, I could tell that she was not just an ordinary young girl.
The girl, who introduced herself as Kako Mayama, was much more mature and more intelligent than she looked. She was still young, but I felt like I was talking with an adult.
In the letter, Maitena said that she was a merchant who had been registered with the Merchant Guild. That means that she had learned how to read, write, and do math.
She didn’t tell me much about her late parents, but they must have taught her very well. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have grown up to be so clever and smart at such a young age.
However, the fact that she was once kidnapped by bad people shows that she was a bit careless despite being so clever. At this rate, she might become a prey of heartless criminals again in the future.
She was hesitant to become our daughter at first, but I felt a strong sense of obligation to protect her, and after some persuasion, I was able to convince her.
My wife was overjoyed that we were able to adopt her. Me too, of course.
Maitena loved fighting and dreamed of becoming a knight since she was little, so it was new for us to have a cute, feminine girl who behaved like an elegant lady as a daughter.
At that point, I promised myself that I would protect her and provide her with everything she needed.
First, I assigned Thea, one of my best maids, as her personal maid, and then I hired the best fashion designer in the city to make dresses for her. After that, since she was a merchant, I had her upgrade her merchant rank to the highest one, which was the Golden Merchant at the Merchant Guild.
Ahh~ I’m such a great father, if I do say so myself. I’m sure she’s happy with all that!
Kako’s presence in my family made me so happy that I almost forgot the main reason why Maitena came back to my city.
That’s right. She and her party members were on a mission to track down the bandit group that had been causing trouble in this entire region, the Keemariq Bandits. As her father, and the lord of the eastern capital, it was only natural that I cooperated in capturing these criminals.
I used my power, my resources, and my people to gather information related to those bandits, and after a few days of investigations, I found out that a certain nobleman was involved with them. He was Count Oglan, also known as the biggest weapon collector in this region.
In order to lure him out, we needed an extraordinary weapon that could pique his interest.
And… Something unexpected happened…
Kako, the child I just adopted, brought incredible magic swords out of nowhere. Not just one, but two powerful magic swords that could wipe out an army in a second!
She asked me to use those swords to lure Oglan out and capture the bandits working for him. However, I didn’t want to waste these amazing swords just to lure that snake out. I wanted to keep them as family heirlooms. Therefore, I came up with a brilliant idea that would bring those swords back to me and capture those criminals at the same time.
However, to execute my plan smoothly, I needed help from ‘that man’…
Izack…
Oh, how I hate this guy! He’s the reason why Maitena rarely comes home!
My soldiers are strong and talented fighters. However, we were against the Keemariq Bandits. They were no ordinary bandit group, meaning that their leader was no ordinary thug either.
I’m proud of my soldiers, but I doubt they could handle the bandit leader. After all, those bandits had stolen so many weapons, and I was sure that their leader had a powerful weapon and some dirty tricks hidden up his sleeve. I should let the best adventurer party in this region, The Wings of Steel, handle the bandit leader for me.
My plan was simple. I would lead those rats into my trap without them noticing.
Before we started our mission, we found out that Oglan would hold a party for weapon collectors soon, and we needed to get to that party.
First, we put up one of Kako’s swords, which was the Quicksand Magic Sword, at auction to show the people how powerful it was. After that, we spread a rumor that we had its sibling sword that was as powerful as that one.
Oglan, who went to the auction, heard the rumor. He then started to get interested in the other sword that we had and sent us a party invitation.
The first step went smoothly. We successfully made Oglan invite us to his party.
Next, we showed him the other sword, which was the Blizzard Magic Sword, at his party. Naturally, he wanted to buy it. He offered Kako a huge sum of money to buy the sword, but she refused.
Kako really did a great job on that. I could see Oglan’s face turn red as he got mad that he couldn’t persuade Kako to sell the sword to him.
He was so frustrated and told the bandits working for him to ambush us and steal the Blizzard Sword.
Little did he know, it was one of my plans. He didn’t realize he was dancing on my palm.
I had my soldiers ready to protect us when the bandits stopped our stagecoach. My soldiers then came out of their hiding place and ambushed the bandits instead.
In the battle, their leader managed to escape, but I didn’t worry because it was also my plan.
I commanded my soldiers, who were hiding all over the city, to lure the bandit leader and some of his subordinates who managed to escape to run into the forest where Izack, Martz, and Palfi were standing by.
I hate Izack, but I have to say that he’s the strongest adventurer I’ve ever known. Martz and Palfi are also exceptional fighters. Those three successfully captured the bandit leader without a problem.
At the same time when those bandits were dealing with my soldiers in the city, one of my most trusted subordinates infiltrated their base, which was the outbuilding in the backyard of Oglan’s villa. Of course, he wasn’t alone. He went together with Nyat and Kako’s friend, a blacksmith apprentice called Sheila. Their mission was to find and collect the stolen weapons, and as expected, it also went smoothly.
The second step was completed. We successfully captured the bandits and their leader and collected the stolen weapons.
Next, we had to capture the main villain behind all this, Oglan.
My plan was to lure him into a trap, but to do that, I needed the bandit leader to cooperate with us.
I asked Martz to interrogate and persuade the bandit leader to help us. I heard that he was good at ‘asking’ criminals in a ‘not-very-gentle way’. However, Maitena came in. She replaced Martz and did the job in his place, saying that she did it because she felt like she hadn’t been very useful in this mission.
Surprisingly, she did a very good job. The bandit leader was so afraid of her. He looked at Maitena with a pale face and fearful eyes as if he were looking at a demon or something.
I don’t know what she did to him at the guard headquarters’ basement that night, but honestly… I don’t want to know…
After gaining the bandit leader’s cooperation, we lured Oglan to the bandits’ old hideout and captured him there.
He’s not the smartest person I’ve known, but he did a good job of hiding his crimes under my nose all these past few years. I give him that. However, it’s over for him now.
I threw him and the bandits into the dungeon and then handed them to the knights dispatched from the royal capital a few days later. They will be punished severely in the royal capital. I hope they will end up on the gallows.
After that, I had to give rewards to the heroes who captured the bad guys.
Izack’s reward was my permission to officially date my daughter, Maitena, and for Martz and Palfi, I had prepared a huge amount of gold coins, but… they refused it.
Those two said, instead of money, they wanted me to marry Maitena to Izack, which was crazy to me.
They started telling me why I should marry my daughter to him. They talked like merchants who were persistently trying to sell their products to a customer.
I hate Izack, but Maitena is at the age where she should get married soon. She loves Izack very much. She would hate me for the rest of her life if I married her to another man instead, so after thinking about it carefully, I agreed with Martz and Palfi’s idea.
However, there was one problem. Izack is a commoner, and I can’t just marry my daughter to a commoner.
Therefore, we need to turn him into a noble, and for that, I held a meeting with the neighbouring lords. I asked them to acknowledge Izack, the hero who captured the troublesome bandits in the region, as a noble with the title of a knight.
Hahh… I can’t believe I will marry my daughter to that man… But I’m glad that everything is over without a problem.
We successfully captured the criminals and got Kako’s swords back.
Talking about those magic swords, I wonder where Kako got them…
She said she bought them from a traveling merchant right after she left Tranto Town. However, after doing some digging, my subordinates found out that she never bought any magic swords from anyone after she left that town.
The only items she bought were tons of scrap iron, some poor-quality weapons made by blacksmith apprentices in the blacksmith village, and some boxes of junk gemstones in this city’s market.
I came up with the conclusion that she got those two extraordinary magic swords through unusual means, and it has to do with the ‘talent’ that caused her to end up being kidnapped by an evil merchant in Tranto Town.
I’m guessing that either she was actually an alchemist who was extremely good at performing advanced alchemy techniques, or… she was an Ability Holder who had the skill that could produce powerful weapons, or something like that.
The fact that she is hiding it from me means that she still doesn’t trust me completely as her father, and honestly, it hurts my feelings a bit. Well, I understand why she’s hiding it, though.
I will just wait until she fully trusts me and decides to tell me at her own will.
But… whatever the ability she had, she did a poor job in hiding it. If I were a bad, greedy noble, I would have used this child to gain power.
Oh, Kako… She’s lucky I’m a good person, but she’s too careless… I hope she can hide it better next time.
But, don’t worry! I promise I will protect you with all my might! You will be safe as long as you remain my daughter!
Just when I thought so, Kako told me that she wanted to leave my family.
I was shocked.
I did everything within my power to provide for her needs in this house and tried as best as I could to be a good father for her. I thought she started to hate me for some reason, and it made me really sad.
However, her reason was simple.
She got bored.
She wanted to go somewhere and continue her adventure. Seems like living as a noble lady in a huge mansion doesn’t fit her.
Well, I understand. Maitena left the house with that exact reason after all.
Of course, I have no intention of keeping her in my mansion. She is a merchant, and she’s free to go wherever she wants.
As long as she’s my daughter, I won’t let anyone harm her, even when she’s away from home.
I wonder where she will go next. But, wherever she goes, this house will always be her home that she can return to any time.
She’s still planning her next trip, so she will stay here for a while. I’ve been very busy with Oglan and other matters, and as her father, I haven’t even had time to play with her yet. I have to use this opportunity to strengthen our bond.
My wife is lucky. She’s able to spend her time with Kako, having tea parties, trying on new dresses, and cooking dishes with her.
That’s not fair! I want to play with Kako too!
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a great and apropriately timed chapter
I hope the next chapter is about another adventure. Thank you for your hard work!