I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 25

Ted’s Family (1)

I made my eyes sparkle like stars and tightly grasped Bench and Deadly’s hands.

“Okay, I should go to bed now!”

I had already planned everything.

I would rescue Holy Knight Ted’s younger sibling in a cool way, put them in his arms, and gain his trust. This was the only way to capture his heart before the original story’s heroine appeared and took Ted away.

‘Ted has outstanding divine power. He’s practically the only one who can stop Axel’s evil power, so I have to catch him.’

The novel featured a scene where Axel and Ted fought. Everyone else had their necks easily snapped by Axel, but Ted was different. Their match ended vaguely due to someone’s sudden intervention.

But all the readers were sure:

If Axel and Ted’s fight had gone to the end, Ted would have won.

So, I absolutely had to catch Ted.

To do that, I had to rescue Ted’s sibling and hand them over to him.

‘Ted’s sibling was said to be a kidnapped child… What did they look like?’

The original female lead, with her divine power, would encounter Ted’s sibling on Pelroad Street and notice the child’s specialness.

However, I didn’t think I would be able to recognize Ted’s sibling right away.

I sighed deeply and tried to recall the child’s appearance.

Dirty clothes, droopy and pathetic eyes, scars all over the body. The only thing that shone on that child was their jewel-like blue eyes.

‘Since they’re a child, wouldn’t they be at the orphanage in the slum district?’

The child reminded me of myself when I was young, so I remembered them.

Yes, the child described in the novel looked like they had suffered, no matter who saw them.

So, I was going to call Ted and go to that street together, but I suddenly paused.

‘Maybe, if Ted sees his family suffering, he might go berserk.’

A burst of divine power isn’t good.

I blinked my eyes and fell into thought.

If I lost my dad and found out he was living in a bad environment, and I saw that with my own eyes…

I didn’t even want to imagine it.

I hugged the bizarre rabbit doll the uncles had given me tightly and sighed.

***

The next morning, before meeting the Holy Knight of the Senoa Temple, I went to Grandma and confidently requested a vacation.

‘The maid sisters caught the spy!’

When I briefly told her about the hunting competition, Grandma smiled contentedly and said:

‘No. You must have caught them. Honey Bread, you’re really like a little rascal!’

I knew it. That was the best compliment from Grandma!

So, I smiled brightly and tried to bow to Grandma.

Grandma stroked my head and muttered as if I was impressive.

“I can guess who sent the spy… but it will be taken care of.”

Grandma spoke in an enigmatic and ambiguous way.

And Leonhardt, who was standing next to her, nodded silently.

‘To catch a spy, as expected, you’re a genius.’

Receiving their expectant gazes, I smiled awkwardly, bowed to Grandma, and went outside to meet the maid sisters.

‘I’m going to Pelroad Street to rescue Holy Knight Ted’s younger sibling first!’

I reviewed the plan I had made yesterday and changed into plain clothes with the two maids.

To disguise myself as a typical commoner child, I put a bright blue beret on my head and wore overalls. I smeared light soot on my face to hide my fair skin.

The maid sisters needed a slightly longer disguise process.

Their burly bodies and faces were noticeable wherever they went, so I hesitated about whether to take them or not.

However, completely transforming their faces and bodies was a very dangerous magic.

So, the method I chose was this:

Hiding their faces with large veiled hats and covering their entire bodies with large, rough cloaks that commoners wore, so that not a single bit of skin was revealed.

After doing that, their faces and bodies couldn’t be seen.

After adjusting their height and size a bit with magical tools, a satisfactory disguise was completed.

‘We look just like ordinary commoners now.’

Having finished the disguise, we completed all the preparations to depart for Pelroad Street.

We took a plain two-horse carriage that looked like a black public carriage without the family crest, passed through winding crossroads, and finally got off one block away from Pelroad Street.

The sisters and I held hands and walked quietly, then looked down at the dead bird in front of Pelroad Street and said:

“Finally arrived!”

“Yes, where are you planning to go from here?”

A gloomy voice flowed out from inside the large veiled hat. I tried to recall the contents of the original story. However, I didn’t know exactly where on Pelroad Street the child would be at this point in time.

Was it the orphanage inside Pelroad Street, or were they already working?

‘I have to start looking from now on.’

“Shall we wander around a bit?”

I thought I knew roughly where the orphanage was, so I suggested that we should go there first.

“Yes! I’m excited.”

“It feels like an adventure.”

Perhaps it was because I hadn’t properly told the maid sisters the purpose of visiting Pelroad Street today. They seemed to be stepping into this place with a somewhat excited heart.

We entered Pelroad Street and looked around.

‘It’s dirtier than I thought.’

The front of Pelroad Street wasn’t cleaned. Cats with all four paws blackened were wandering around, licking up the trash.

Still, we ignored the smell of garbage and the dirty surroundings and entered the street, chatting cheerfully.

However, it didn’t take long for the expressions of me and the two maids to harden.

‘These are scary people.’

I looked ahead and widened my eyes.

Hooligans and homeless people with dangerous-looking faces were roaming the streets. Their bodies reeked of a stench, as if they hadn’t washed their hair in a long time.

The atmosphere seemed definitely different from the clean street one block away. I glanced at the old sign on the street.

‘I have to go through this road to get to the orphanage. There’s no way to avoid it.’

…I just have to go.

I held the sisters’ hands tightly and walked down the narrow street.

It was a kind of signal to walk quietly. As if knowing my heart, the sisters also started walking quietly in step with me.

However, as I had guessed, the homeless people sitting on the street started adding a word or two when they saw us. They staggered to their feet and approached us threateningly right in front of us.

“What, three little kids are wandering around here?”

The person who put his face right in front of us reeked of terrible alcohol.

“Walking around with their heads held high.”

“What’s with that ridiculous hat?”

“Let’s see your face.”

One of the homeless men spat out yellow phlegm and mocked us.

I frowned slightly, but the maid sisters stepped forward first and blocked my view.

“We’ll take care of it.”

They seemed to be thinking of using force.

“No. Ignore them.”

I didn’t want to cause a commotion. Disposing of these people is a problem for later.

I grabbed the sisters’ hands tightly and tried to lead them to the other side.

“…I understand. Achieving the goal comes first!”

However, as the sisters adjusted their hats and moved their steel-like bodies, a homeless man with white hair approached us aggressively, shaking a broken glass bottle. A murky liquid dripped from the broken glass bottle to the floor.

“Looks like you want to get hit.”

“Pay the toll if you don’t want your faces torn.”

The man shouted fiercely.

“Ha.”

Bench, seeing their threatening gestures, snorted once and took off her gloves.

Crack!

The sound of bones grinding came from her wrist.

The homeless men were cackling and laughing at us, unaware of the future that was coming.

And while everyone was distracted by their confrontation, I, who was looking around, could see a head the size of a chestnut peeking out behind a sign.

With two severely shrunken hands, as if burned, the child was struggling to hold a very small basket.

“We do our best no matter who the opponent is.”

Bench said, and Deadly coldly replied.

“Even if it’s a homeless person.”

The sisters glared and grabbed the collar of the homeless man who dared to approach me.

“What are you- Ugh!”

The sisters were strong as expected.

Silently and quickly, the bottle broke, and the homeless men’s noses were broken. The sisters easily subdued half a dozen people with one hand.

“S, sorry-.”

“Is everything okay if you kill someone and apologize?”

The sounds of bickering continued to be heard, but I couldn’t watch the sisters’ fight any longer.

‘More than the fight, I keep worrying about the kid over there.’

Thanks to the maid sisters who thoroughly protected me, I could comfortably look elsewhere even though a violent fight was taking place right in front of me.

‘Is that child living in the orphanage?’

I glanced at the child who was looking at me from about twenty steps away from us.

A small child with only their eyes peeking out from under the sign.

The basket in their hand had the name ‘Lukri Orphanage’ written on it.

I didn’t know the exact name of the orphanage where the Holy Knight’s younger sibling was staying, but this much was clear.

There couldn’t be multiple orphanages on this poor street.

Therefore, it was certain that the child was somehow connected to the Holy Knight’s younger sibling.

I strained my eyes to not miss the little one.

Small, downcast bluish eyes looking around, dangling a small basket.

Before I knew it, the child’s gaze was fixed on me. Were they about seven or eight years old? The child had a dark face and particularly white hair.

“Cien-nim [Miss Cien]. It’s all taken care of!”

While I and that child were making eye contact for a long time, it seemed that the fight was all over.

I hurriedly turned my gaze to the street. People sprawled on the street came into view. When I sniffed, the smell of blood was severe.

‘Are those uncles still alive?’

The thugs in the dark street would naturally not be able to stand up to the sisters.

I turned my attention away from the thugs and turned my gaze back to the child.

“Sister, thank you. I want to talk to them.”

Although they had quite puzzled faces, the maid sisters nodded as if they understood.

I carefully hid behind the sign and approached the child, who was covering their eyes with one hand as if the scene in front of them was scary.

***

When we first approached, the child curled up as if surprised. The child would be more wary because it was right after the maid sisters beat up the homeless men.

Instead of explaining the whole story of how I came to this place, I compressed the situation to just ‘I have something to find on this street.’

“I want to go to the orphanage!”

“Umm, I live in the orphanage. I came out to get some food…”

The child mumbled with their head bowed, as if making a small dog whine. I could see fluffy hair.

I stretched out my hand with all my might as I watched the short boy with black soot all over his body but only sparkling eyes.

“Baby, can you help me?”

“Yes…? Me?”

It was an intonation as if asking if I could help someone.

I nodded and smiled brightly.

“Yes! Take me to the orphanage. I’ll definitely pay you back!”

“I’m glad I can be of help. Follow me.”

The gentle-looking little one answered with a hesitant voice and moved his feet.

I took a powerful step forward.

Although they had physically subdued the homeless men, the security situation here was still not good. So, the maid sisters guarded our front and back as if protecting us, exuding a fierce aura.

The child, who was guiding the way next to me, looked at me with pure eyes like an abandoned puppy and asked in a small voice.

“Um, by any chance…”

“Yeah?”

“…Ah, it’s nothing. The orphanage is a bit dirty… but it’s close from here.”

I nodded and went with the child.

“Do you originally live here?”

“Yes. I didn’t have a family from the beginning.”

“Um…”

“Yes, I’m an orphan.”

A strong spirit was mixed in the gentle voice.

It was clearly a voice resenting his family, so I nodded.

“Cheer up…”