I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 23

23. I Thought I Was a Stupid Kid, Didn’t You?

As Cien had guessed, those commissioned by Delphia’s aides had secretly infiltrated the Rochehern Forest.

They were a trio of human traffickers whose main activities included infant abduction, murder, and intimidation.

They weren’t incredibly powerful in magic, but they were quite skilled at concealing their presence and pinpointing coordinates for abduction.

“Selling them off would be quite lucrative.”

“No way.”

“They said they’d pay more than the bounty if we brought them right away, right?”

“What are they planning to do with such a young child anyway?”

Just as the one-eyed man and the archer were exchanging pointless jokes, the mage on the far left, who was closing his eyes and drawing a magic circle, muttered.

“This isn’t working; I can’t abduct the target.”

“Why not?”

The archer among the one-eyed twins, with a bow strapped to his back, asked roughly. He was annoyed because he could usually abduct a child in ten minutes, but things were strangely not working out today.

“Something is constantly blocking my magic.”

The archer frowned and muttered roughly.

“‘The Exile’ Matthias must have put up a barrier around the platform. It’s common for nobles.”

“This is annoying. Is there no way to lure her over here?”

“That’s easy.”

In a family like the Mirmoods, child abduction is rampant. So, a barrier around the platform wasn’t unexpected.

He clicked his tongue and muttered.

“We either take the risk and approach directly, or we use a lure to get that kid to come down. Which one are you thinking of doing?”

As he pondered and experimentally strung an arrow on his bow, he suddenly felt a sense of unease. The face of the one-eyed man holding the magic telescope beside him was distorted.

“…She’s gone from the platform, that kid?”

“Where is she?”

The one-eyed man, moving the telescope several times, muttered.

“It looks like she’s coming near the forest. I’m not sure.”

“I’ll draw the magic circle right away.”

Not long after, just as the mage had almost finished drawing the magic circle again.

They heard a rustling sound in the bushes beside them.

The sharp gazes of the two, excluding the mage, turned towards the inside of the bushes.

“Ah.”

The one-eyed man chuckled dryly.

What they found was the small child they had been looking for to abduct, Cien Mirmood.

Rosy cheeks, neatly braided pigtails, dumpling-like fists, blinking as if she knew nothing…

It was definitely the child they had been watching to abduct all along.

“Little girl, what are you doing here?”

Including the archer who asked with a sly grin, the three revealed their yellow fangs and smiled at once.

Great. Little Red Riding Hood had entered the wolf’s den.

“Umm…”

Cien looked up at them with innocent eyes and said.

“I got lost.”

What unexpected good fortune.

They exchanged glances and laughed roughly, their lips tearing.

“I came down because I was bored. Can you take me home, mister?”

To think she was Matthias’s daughter, she couldn’t be more of a stupid kid.

She came down from the platform that was supposed to protect her on her own.

Everything was a done deal, a sure catch.

He subtly checked the child’s body, and she wasn’t wearing any armor.

The archer stepped forward towards Cien and opened his mouth coaxingly.

“Don’t you have any friends?”

He was trying to gauge the situation for the abduction.

Just a moment ago, there were scary knights in dresses beside the child. They seemed to be muscle-bound mercenaries.

He thought it would be quite difficult to deal with them, but they had left on their own.

“Nope. I lost them!”

“Oh.”

“…This is fun, you stupid kid.”

“Huh? A stupid kid?”

Seeing Cien tilting her head, he took out a candy for abduction from his pocket.

A child who eats this candy falls into a sleep like fainting or death. Of course, their head becomes empty and bad.

But had he ever worried about that?

No, he hadn’t.

“Yeah, why did you have to get lost?”

“Why, didn’t she make our job easier? You should be thankful.”

They looked at each other and laughed cheerfully.

Except for Cien, who seemed bewildered, the boisterous laughter spread through the forest and disappeared.

“Let’s deal with her quickly and leave. Just in case.”

“Ah, should we?”

The archer shrugged leisurely.

“Ah… But why are you guys here?”

At my question, they smirked and slicked back their hair, trying to look cool.

“A great person hired us.”

“Wow, is he a really cool mister?”

“…She’s a beautiful person. Do you want to meet her?”

Cien tilted her head. And in a fleeting moment, when no one could see, she smiled like a mastermind.

A normal person might have noticed that this situation was a trap.

But Cien Mirmood was just a very young child with nothing special, wasn’t she? Even the child’s father, who once had an immensely high reputation, was different now.

With the expectation that Matthias would lose power and be ousted spreading, there was no need to raise the alert.

Of course, Matthias was still a fearsome being. But that child, Matthias’s daughter, was definitely weak and sickly, they heard.

Instead of suspecting the unnatural situation, the spies were optimistic. The one-eyed man, who approached Cien most closely, smiled contentedly with anesthesia in his hand.

“Little girl, do you want some candy?”

Cien smiled.

Like a child, her soft front cheeks puffed up as if they would burst.

“No, mister.”

Even in this situation, she was confident. Thinking that she was a child who could be praised for that point, the spy grinned.

Anyway, there were three spies. Even if that child was confident, it couldn’t be helped. They had to abduct her to make money, right?

“Even if you don’t want to, you have no cho-.”

“I’ll give you some.”

But Cien cut him off.

Cien threw the small gourd she was holding towards them.

“Here, candy.”

Bang!

Before they could even check what was flying, the artifact exploded with a loud noise.

The birds sitting on the branches scattered with a flutter.

***

In fact, my next plan was simple.

It was to tie up the injured and take them to the villa.

However, despite being beaten to near death by the maids who appeared from ambush nearby, they quickly disappeared.

It seemed they had squeezed out their remaining strength and used magic with the determination to die.

I stamped my feet on the ground and said.

“I guess I need to learn teleportation.”

One of the maids slammed her fist into her palm and muttered grimly.

“…Hmph, don’t worry, if they reappear, I’ll make sure they become skeletons.”

“Hoo…”

“Ah, at that point, they’ll probably die soon anyway.”

“Those guys, looking at their faces, they were notorious infant abduction murderers, weren’t they? I saw them on a flyer. They better die well. Ugh.”

…I guessed it, but they were even more trash-like than I thought.

If I hadn’t been heavily armed with artifacts, I might have been kidnapped and who knows what would have happened.

Thinking about that made my anger surge.

I clenched my cat-like fist tightly and said solemnly.

“Those bad guys…”

I was going to deal with the spies in a cool way and then ask them what their intention was in trying to harass my weak dad, but I decided to be satisfied with having punished the bad guys for now.

If the mastermind behind them was targeting me, they would appear again next time.

I would be stronger then, so I would never just be taken advantage of like this.

I huffed and put the artifact back into my pocket.

‘Still, it’s good that I experimented. It’s effective.’

There are pros and cons to everything.

I tapped the hairpin on my head seriously.

As a sign of appreciation for my hard work.

‘I have to tell Dad that there were spies. Dad, who thinks the world is a flower garden, needs to be careful too!’

“Ah, the hunting competition will be over soon, Cien.”

“What a shame you couldn’t enjoy it more. Should I go and catch those guys right now-.”

I widened my eyes.

I didn’t realize that everyone, including Dad, was already riding back while I was dealing with the spies.

‘Dad’s coming back!’

I seemed to have overlooked that the hunting competition didn’t last long.

“Let’s go quickly!”

It was important that Dad didn’t notice I was gone.

I quickly went back up to the platform, excited and wondering what kind of prey Dad and his aides had caught.

They might have brought back some pretty good animals!

But…

On the platform where I arrived, I couldn’t help but be surprised.

‘What is this…?’

Dad, holding something big in his hands, was looking at me with an excited face.

Next to him, the menacing-looking men were surrounding me and glaring!

Before I could be flustered by their dignified appearance, a celebratory firework went off, signaling the end of the hunting competition.

Soon after, a grand banquet commemorating the hunting competition began with Dad, me, and all the closest aides.

Inside the large banquet hall, on the huge table.

At the very top sat Dad, who didn’t look like he had been hunting at all, with a warm face, and to the right sat me, followed by the bad-looking men.

‘What have those men been doing all this time?’

I, being thorough, still didn’t let go of my suspicions and looked at them.

The aides were all placing the prey they had caught during the hunting competition on the floor. Of course, there were also men who came empty-handed.

I tapped the ferocious man right next to me and looked at something in front of him with a horrified face.

“What is that?”

He grinned, his mouth tearing.

“It’s a cute pet. A goblin, no less!”

Goblins are scary.

“Goblins are nutritious complete foods.”

That was the first time I had ever heard that.

In the small rural village where I lived, there was even a saying, .

‘Goblins are more scary than the wild boars in the back mountain!’

Well, these men seemed like they could catch goblins with their bare hands.

‘This man seems quite strong. He must be stronger than my dad.’

Target of interest number one!

I raised my eyebrows slightly and said.

“Goblins are ugly. Scary. So-”

So, the man who hunted the scary-looking goblin is really cool, I was about to flatter him.

As soon as I finished speaking, his expression crumbled as if he had lost the world.

At that moment, Dad next to me said in a gentle voice.

“…Scary, a goblin.”

I looked at Dad for a moment.

I could see that Dad’s hand holding the knife was trembling slightly.

‘Dad must be scared of goblins.’

I lifted my short arm with all my might and slightly covered Dad’s eyes.

Seeing my actions, the man quietly lowered the box containing the goblin. He seemed very discouraged.

“Dad, don’t worry! It might just be scary-looking.”

“I see, Cien.”

I glanced at the man and took my hand away from Dad’s eyes.

As soon as my actions were over, the men began to flatter me.

“Goblins are hideous.”

“That’s right. Sigh, goblins.”

“To catch such a scary thing, it seems like the sky will collapse soon.”

The man sitting next to me had an aggrieved expression. He definitely seemed aggrieved, but he looked even more ferocious.

“That’s right, Cien.”

Dad, glancing at him, smiled contentedly at me and showed me the birdcage he was holding.

“Dad brought something cuter.”

Dad said gently.

I was curious about what Dad had brought, so I opened my eyes wide.

The guard behind Dad placed a small birdcage on the large table.

“A bird, a bird!”

“Yes, it’s a reed parrot. It’s as cute and pretty as a snowball, right?”

I looked around.

A reed parrot that Dad caught.

And the big men were struggling with a rabbit.

There was also a parrot, and cute cats were wandering around on the floor.

The man who caught the goblin seemed to be the strongest…

Everyone had only caught weak animals.

‘This won’t do. Originally, everyone catches something amazing at the hunting competition to show off their power.’

I recognized it in the video device, but these men are really… they seem weak, unlike what they look like.

“Everyone only caught cute things…”

Hearing my trembling voice, Dad boasted.

“That’s right, there are many cute things in the world.”

As Dad spoke, the men began to applaud wildly.

“After all, scary and dangerous things like goblins shouldn’t exist in the world!”

“No matter what, cute things are the best.”

“Cuteness rules the world!”

I looked around with puzzled eyes.

‘Why is everyone in a festive mood?’