I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 44

44. I’ll Raise You!

The boy known as ‘Boss’ was born into a Romani [Gypsy] family.

From a young age, he wandered with his mother, begging for food. Even sharing simple meals like oatmeal felt like happy times because he had family.

However, misfortune soon struck, perhaps due to the Boss’s unique ability.

From childhood, he experienced precognitive dreams, though the futures they revealed weren’t grand. He’d foresee things like, ‘Tomorrow, they’ll paint the village,’ or ‘People who hate Romani will appear and attack.’

Excited, the Boss would share these predictions with his mother, but she always scolded him, warning him never to reveal his spiritual abilities to anyone.

Shortly after, his mother distanced herself, leaving for Merci, a border region, to serve someone important, abandoning the Boss in an orphanage.

She promised to return, to save money and find him, but the Boss suspected she watched him with contempt because of his visions. Otherwise, why abandon him?

So, the Boss behaved well at the orphanage, pretending not to see anything, acting like an ordinary kid. It wasn’t difficult; he simply suppressed the precognitive dreams that assailed him.

Until the ‘brown-haired boy’ arrived.

Meeting that boy changed everything. The Boss stared intently at Sien.

“He was killing animals.”

“…What?”

“He piled up animal carcasses as a joke. Cats, dogs, birds—everything was dying.”

“….”

It was an unbelievable act for a little boy to target defenseless animals.

“Kid, what would you do in my place?”

“….”

Sien looked at him without answering.

“Are you just going to ignore a kid who’ll become a future murderer, or at least, an animal killer?”

“…Call the police…”

The Boss laughed hollowly at Sien’s suggestion.

“In our Romani alley, no knights or police care about a few dead animals. People die too, you know.”

As Sien remained silent, he continued, “You’re worried too, right? If it’s too hard, just ignore it. I’ll handle the reformation my way.”

A rough voice, a trembling Adam’s apple.

“Are you going to fix violence with violence?”

He hesitated before answering, “…Yeah. If he realizes what he’s doing is trash, maybe he’ll wake up.”

Sien quietly observed him. As she turned away with a hollow laugh, she realized the premise of the Boss’s words was strange.

***

“Boss!”

Fortunately, he turned back at her call.

“Killing animals is bad.”

“…Yeah.”

“But how do you know he’ll be a murderer in the future?”

Their eyes met, and in that moment, Sien became convinced. The blue hair, catching the sunlight, momentarily appeared brown.

She didn’t know how a subtle brown color could be seen in blue hair, but he met the conditions Melody had described: a frank, rough way of speaking, brown hair visible only in certain light, and a faint mole under his lip noticeable only upon close inspection.

If so, the Boss…

“I can see the future, and I can also do magic.”

…was the sorcerer she was looking for, the one Melody desperately sought but ultimately rejected.

“You don’t have to believe me. Who would believe something like this?”

Sien stared intently.

“No, I believe you.”

The Boss’s eyes widened, as if he’d never encountered someone who believed him so readily.

She should test him by asking about the future she knew from the original work. Only she possessed that knowledge; a fake sorcerer couldn’t possibly know it.

Sien fixed her gaze on him and said forcefully, “Boss, I believe in your potential.”

Her words came out a bit clumsy, but perhaps he couldn’t be harsh to someone who believed in him.

The Boss, who had been quietly looking at her, said, “Hey, Sien Mirmod. If you believe in me…”

“…Yeah.”

“Just leave me alone. I’ll reform him properly.”

There was no easy solution, but she couldn’t leave him like this.

She held his hand tightly and said, “…Boss, I’m Sien Mirmod.”

“What?”

“Don’t you know what the Mirmod family is?”

He made an ‘ah’ sound.

“Villain… family.”

He glanced at her subtly, like a young child.

Sien nodded, revealing her small front teeth like a baby rabbit.

“I’ll bring him and make him a good person.”

“…It’s a villain family.”

“They’re good at making good people too. There are many prisons!”

That was true. As there were many villains, they were also skilled at turning them into useful people—for example, transforming a murderer of ordinary citizens into a dark hero who killed lowly criminals.

She believed in fate, but also in the power of change through effort. Left alone, that child might become a murderer of ordinary people, but with proper education, he could become a dark hero who killed ‘bad guys.’

She was doing this for the future citizens, but…

“Let’s go together, Boss!”

…it was also to acquire the sorcerer Boss she had dreamed of.

“Go together?”

The Boss looked at her, dumbfounded.

Sien exclaimed, “Yeah! I’ll adopt you!”

Realizing her mistake, she widened her eyes like a rabbit.

‘Oops, adoption is impossible. A five-year-old can’t adopt a ten-year-old!’

Looking at the dumbfounded Boss, she tapped her lips and said, “No, I’ll just raise you!”

Let’s go together, Boss!

She waited for his answer, her eyes sparkling.

The Boss hesitated at her offer and said, “Sorry, but my mom abandoned me.”

“Yeah?”

Sien nodded, looking at him.

He emphasized, as if bewildered, “I’m saying I’m not someone worth raising. My mom abandoned me, you know?”

“Ah. I’ll still raise you!”

The Boss’s complexion paled at her unwavering words.

“…This, no. I’ve never even dreamed that you would take me.”

“Yeah, right.”

Of course. Her meeting the Boss wasn’t a predetermined future.

“…I’m much bigger than a kid like you. You can’t raise me.”

Sien crossed her arms and retorted sternly, “I’ll cherish you.”

The Boss’s cheeks flushed red.

“I, I don’t need it.”

His lips were already raised, so it wasn’t convincing. She felt like he would fall for it if she pushed a little more, so she put her hands on her hips and shook her head.

“No. You need it. I’m taking you!”

“…Re, really taking me? No one needs a kid as big as me? Are you perhaps strange?”

He looked at her suspiciously.

It was a repeated question, but she answered diligently.

Yes, it’s reasonable to be suspicious when someone offers to raise you!

“Yeah! I’m not strange!”

“Then….”

He quietly looked at her. This atmosphere… it felt like he was going to say he would follow her!

As expected, he looked at her with determined eyes and said, “Mom….”

Slightly frustrated by the missed cue, Sien tilted her head.

“Yeah? Mom?”

He didn’t say anything more, just moved his lips silently.

She was a quick-witted kid. What reason would a child in an orphanage have to talk about their mother and set conditions?

Instead of questioning his silence, she smiled brightly and answered, “If you go with me, I’ll find your mom too!”

“…Really?”

He pretended not to care, but he was still a child, and his face lit up at the prospect of finding his mother.

“Yeah!”

She hadn’t had a proper mother in her previous life, and she didn’t have one in this life either. So she didn’t know exactly what that emotion in the Boss’s eyes was, but it was okay.

“Promise!”

She made a ‘promise’ gesture, spreading her thumb and little finger, and held out her hand. She expected everything to be resolved now, but the Boss only stared at her suspiciously.

“…Do you need my prophetic abilities?”

Since the other party was the honest Boss, it would be better to be honest as well.

“Yeah.”

He carefully said, “Then other ordinary kids who don’t have prophetic abilities… are they not needed?”

The Boss seemed to have a lot of affection for the other ordinary children, and he revealed his nervousness by busily rolling his eyes.

She fully understood his heart. Even she had started to like the children while kneading bread that day.

It was fun to see the children throwing flour and giggling, so she quickly decided.

“I can’t take them to the family, but I’ll sponsor this orphanage in my dad’s name.”

She was slightly worried for a moment, because she, a five-year-old child, didn’t have any money yet.

She suddenly felt keenly that she needed money to survive. Having many people but no money also meant that you could easily lose talent.

‘When I go back home, let’s check the popular merchant groups in the original work in detail.’

There were definitely many items that caused a sensation in the original work.

There would be quite a few that she could apply. For example, Grandma’s poison business, Delphia Unnie’s [older sister] magic tool business, or the maid Unnies’ [older sisters] exercise business, etc.

She repeatedly reminded herself of that fact while looking at the Boss.

And while she was firmly determined, the Boss was….

“…Since you’re going that far, I’ll trust you for now.”

He nodded, saying he trusted her.

Boss, he looked a bit like a delinquent on the outside, but he had a slightly pure side.

He didn’t even write a contract and immediately grabbed her hand and stamped a promise.

“…First, find my mom first. She said she went to the Merci region.”

Sien was momentarily flustered by the words Merci region and bit her lip.

…Wait a minute.

The Merci region was the border region where Axel Mirmod was. The place where they were waging war.