Be My Daughter

I was willing to grant any request.

Really, any request at all.

If I could just get the person at the very top of the Northern Continent to join The Tower conquest, I could do absolutely anything.

“I-if it’s something I can do, anything. No, even if it’s something I can’t do, I’ll somehow try!”

What I showed to the two people, Rier and Cinia, was a determination and resolve unlike a child.

Sure enough, I felt a slightly bewildered look from the people in front of me, but it didn’t particularly matter.

And so, I was waiting for them to tell me to bring the Source Stone from an S-rank dungeon, as had happened in my first playthrough.

For some reason, what I heard from the person who had been lost in thought for a moment was a somewhat unexpected story.

“Lua, be my daughter.”

I unconsciously doubted whether what I had just heard was an illusion.

However, after hearing the additional explanation that followed, I was even more confused.

“Just for a day. No, a few hours will do. It’s not even that difficult if you just go along with me.”

“C-could you explain a bit more in detail…?”

I carefully asked what exactly he meant by saying he wanted me to become his daughter.

Why there was a set period for me to be Rier’s daughter.

No, why I had to become Rier’s daughter in the first place.

The story I eventually heard was the kind that until now I had only seen in TV or books.

“A rich young lady keeps bothering me, saying she wants to marry me.”

He said that since becoming the strongest person in the Northern Continent, the marriage proposals had literally never stopped.

True to being someone who had little interest in anything other than fighting, he had rejected everyone regardless of who they were, but for some reason [Tine], the heir to the global corporation <Pelia>, wouldn’t back down.

“If she finds out I had a hidden daughter, even she would back off.”

He wanted me to pretend to be his daughter so that he wouldn’t have to hear anything about marriage in the future.

And to do so at a dinner in an extremely fancy restaurant.

“For the price of getting this battle maniac to move, it doesn’t seem like that difficult a task to me.”

“Yet you once told me not to call you by your nickname…”

“So, do you refuse?”

“Of course not. I’ll be in your care from now on, Father.”

“Hmm, ‘Father’ is too stiff. Just call me Dad.”

“Yes, Dad.”

And so, I shook hands once with the person who would be my dad for a short while.

However, it was already too late to discuss anything more here.

“Give my daughter any room, Cinia.”

“I’ll understand that as you telling me to give her the best room.”

I ended up staying overnight on the opposite side of the continent.

…Will this be okay?

Somehow, I felt like I was choosing to do things that would get me severely scolded if discovered later.

I knew it was unavoidable to avoid a bad ending, but I couldn’t help feeling a bit scared.

As a bonus, I had been unconsciously slipping into slightly negative fantasies for some time.

‘She might imprison you in a room surrounded by CCTV. She might handcuff her wrist to yours. She might even demand reports on your breathing rate…’

Tana’s sincere warning from long ago continued to replay at regular intervals.

Perhaps that’s why.

–Clank.

‘I-I’m sorry, Unnie. So please, remove this—’

‘…No. You’re the one who kept breaking promises, Lua.’

I had a nightmare for the first time.

A dream where I was imprisoned in a small room with my feet bound by thick iron chains.

‘It’s okay, Lua. You’ll be safe as long as you stay in this room.’

What I faced was the same familiar smile as always.

What I heard was also the same familiar voice as always.

However, the soft touch that had been in contact since some point.

From the caress made only of affection, I felt an inexplicable ache.

‘…But I don’t, don’t want to be alone…’

‘Why do you say you’re alone? You’ll always be with Unnie.’

‘…Really…?’

‘Of course. Why would Unnie leave Lua alone?’

‘Th-thank goodness…’

Because I belatedly realized that I was fearing someone who acted as if there was nothing wrong with imprisoning me in a small room, yet at the same time, I was craving that familiar touch.

“…What is this…?”

I was puzzled for a while even after waking up from the dream, given this contradictory image that even I found perplexing.

As a bonus, the sensation of heavy shackles didn’t leave me even though I was no longer bound to anything.

Perhaps because I finally recalled that I had been feeling relief at some point even in what was nothing more or less than a nightmare, my heart felt uneasy.

People usually say that dreams and reality are separate, but maybe it’s because those moments remained so vivid even after waking up.

It felt like I had a prophetic dream.

In other words, it meant that in the distant future, I would become a strange person who felt relief despite being imprisoned…

“…Surely that’s not right.”

In the end, I thought it was correct to dismiss dreams as just dreams.

And so, after leaving the bed that was a bit too large for me to use alone, I headed toward what seemed to be the largest room among the various rooms in the mansion, and sure enough.

“Oh, it’s my daughter.”

“…Could you not call me like you’ve discovered a monster?”

I saw a bizarre sight of someone doing push-ups while standing on their hands from the morning.

What I returned to the person who then asked what was going on was a brief notification that I would be visiting the Lunatic Guild headquarters for a while.

When I added that they would surely worry if I wasn’t seen for two days in a row, they understood my situation more easily than I had expected.

“But how will you get to such a distant place? Are you saying you can teleport?”

“I can do something similar.”

“Something similar?”

And simultaneously, click.

I activated the portable teleportation stone carefully hidden in my bosom and once again distorted the space around me.

Not long after, thud!

“Ouch!”

Just like when I first came to the Northern Continent, I fell from about 2 meters in the air, making the area near my tailbone tingle.

“Ugh, uugh…”

At least I had fallen in a deserted alley, so there was no one watching, but pain is still pain.

–Ding.

[A total of 7 damage has been accumulated.]

[Cumulative Damage: 464401 ▶ 464408]

[Available Damage: 464408]

In addition, the monochrome message window that precisely informed me of the extent of my pain was mocking me.

I also didn’t want to keep falling from the air every time I moved with the portable teleportation stone.

Therefore, instead of heading straight to the guild headquarters, I was planning to go to Aine’s laboratory to ask her to improve the portable teleportation stone a little, but.

[I am away for a while due to urgent business.]

[I will definitely pay the rent when I return, please believe me, please.]

[Bad children who don’t listen to people until the end should get a note from the mailbox!!]

“…?”

Instead of my accomplice in non-deviation, I was greeted by a firmly locked black door and letters that were noisy just to read, so I finally turned away.

Still, I did take a note from the small iron mailbox as instructed by the message in the last line.

Only, the contents of the note were difficult to understand in many ways.

“Whenusedconsecutivelythespacejoiningfunctionmayoverloadcausingthecoordinatefixingsystemtonotoperatenormallysopleasetakeparticular…”

Reading the manual that didn’t consider the reader at all made me realize what it means when people say their eyes spin.

Although I could definitely read the letters, I couldn’t understand what they meant at all.

I don’t think Odd explained things this way.

In the end, without understanding at all what Aine had wanted to convey to me, I put the note back in my pocket.

After that, I went to the guild headquarters, which had become noticeably quieter than usual, exchanged greetings while walking around the building as I had always done.

Then, I headed home, changed into the thickest clothes among various clothes, and immediately activated the portable teleportation stone, whoosh.

And, again, as expected, as anticipated, thud.

“…Oof.”

–Ding.

[A total of 3 damage has been accumulated.]

[Cumulative Damage: 464408 ▶ 464411]

[Available Damage: 464411]

This time, though, I tried something like a falling technique to reduce the damage.

Thanks to that, I didn’t receive much damage.

Either way, this time too, I had fallen quite far from Rier’s mansion.

So I started walking toward the magnificent building visible in the distance once more.

But this time I wore very thick clothes, so I wasn’t that cold.

And so, after walking and walking, finally arriving at the front gate of the huge mansion again.

“Hello─o─!!”

I raised my voice once more toward the mansion’s security guard whom I had encountered beyond the firmly closed door last night.

When the person recognized me, asking if I wasn’t the kid from yesterday, I asked them to open the door.

It was natural, in a way, that the answer came back that they couldn’t open the door to just anyone.

“Only people with an appointment with Mr. Rier can enter the mansion.”

“Then could you please ask if the owner’s daughter also needs to make an appointment to enter?”

“…Daughter?”

Sure enough, the security guard’s eyes began to waver.

Then, after exchanging communications with someone, they flung open the locked door at once, literally startled.

“I-I’m sorry for not recognizing you, Miss!!”

I told the person who was bending their waist 90 degrees and didn’t know what to do that it was okay.

It was natural not to recognize a (fake) daughter who had been a complete stranger until just a day ago.

However, rather than taking time to correct the misunderstanding, I needed to quickly enter the mansion.

The reason being that there were several things to prepare before the meeting between Rier and Tine.

“I’m here!”

What followed was Rier’s personal stories to prepare for Tine’s various questioning offensives.

Stories about things that Rier’s daughter should definitely know were also shared.

However, because I was suddenly being dragged somewhere by people who appeared in the middle of the conversation.

In addition, what was somewhat unexpected were the words from Cinia, who had already arrived at the place resembling a clothing room, where I soon found myself.

“After all, you’re attending as the young master’s daughter. Shouldn’t you be adorned in a more beautiful appearance?”

My mind went blank for a moment.

Almost simultaneously, various kinds of clothes were dramatically laid out in front of me.

And so, while still not fully understanding what was going on, I was treated like a living mannequin.

The problem was that it didn’t end with trying on all sorts of clothes.

“If you move, we’ll have to start from the beginning. Please remain still.”

In the end, even makeup, which I had thought until now was only available to actors or entertainers, began.

…D-do we really need to go this far?