I’Ll Protect My Tyrant Dad! [EN]: Chapter 9

Tyrant Dad, I’ll Protect You! 9. I Taught Dad How to Be a Mastermind (9/140)

9. I Taught Dad How to Be a Mastermind

2022.12.30.

Matthias’s acting was very skillful.

For the past five years, he had pretended to be an ordinary farmer for Cien’s education.

It was a double life he started, hoping that Cien wouldn’t be tainted by the evil Mirmord family and would grow up purely and happily like a child.

In other words, he was a pro in this field.

‘Pretending to be good isn’t difficult.’

Unfortunately, Matthias didn’t know exactly what a good person was. Even if he devoured textbooks reciting morality and questioned good people, he couldn’t completely fix his ingrained behavior.

‘When I try to be as good as possible, my daughter says supportive and cute things to me.’

Thinking of Cien, who was shining her eyes, saying she would protect her kind dad, he was deeply moved. His educational policy would be effective this time as well.

Matthias, who even heard Cien slightly opening the door, instantly put on an innocent face.

The black magician was horrified and lowered his voice.

“Why suddenly such a scary expression…? Is a spy coming in?”

As expected, Cien was the only one who thought of his expression as ‘innocent and naive.’

With a half-hearted laugh, Matthias said nonchalantly.

“I’m thinking of growing potatoes under the spire.”

“Yes? Suddenly, growing potatoes?”

“Yes. How much is the market price?”

“Well, if you rework the appraisal, it would be about 10,000 gold? Hmm.”

Matthias asked leisurely.

“10,000 gold? That’s really cheap.”

He only said the same words, 10,000 gold, cheap. Cien, who was cautiously watching from outside, seemed to gain momentum strangely.

The door burst open, and Cien quickly ran in.

“Daddy!”

Seeing the momentum of his daughter, as fierce as a rhinoceros, Matthias regretted it for a moment.

He wasn’t plotting to seize power, he was just trying to show the image of an ordinary farmer dad… Why is Cien angry?

I clenched my fists as hard as chickpeas and thumped my chest.

“Mister, you’re a scammer!”

Oh, I’m so frustrated.

Ten thousand gold!

The man dressed all in black opened his mouth with an aggrieved expression.

“A, a scammer?”

Th, that…

Look at that crazy acting!

Do you have to be that good to be a scammer these days? Is the world so dangerous?!

“Potato prices are rock bottom these days! So ten gold is enough!”

Thanks to Dad, I was well-versed in the market prices of crops.

“No, I-”

Seeing him making a strangely tearful expression, he was quite a clumsy villain. Judging that I could defeat him quickly, I tried to shout even louder on purpose.

But that was when.

“Cien…”

Dad’s voice, half embarrassment and half sigh, came from behind me.

“…Scammer, what are you talking about? You shouldn’t suspect people, Cien.”

It was a weak and feeble voice.

Dad was seeing the world kindly again, even after being scammed for trusting people!

Oh, my head!

“No, Dad! He’s trying to get 10,000 gold for potatoes! He’s a scammer! This scammer!”

I grabbed the back of my neck with hands as round as Doraemon’s. I could feel the risk of high blood pressure and acute myocardial infarction as my neck tightened.

I’m not even five years old yet, but I already have high blood pressure. It was definitely all because of my gullible dad.

“How many bad people are there in the world!”

Dad shook his head and said to me.

“Cien, there might be one bad person out of a million… but this person won’t be!”

“No! He’s really a scammer!”

Oh, I’m so frustrated! I clenched my fists again and thumped my chest.

A naive dad who still hasn’t given up on trusting people even with a scammer right in front of him…

“Y-yes?”

The magician, who was looking back and forth between me and Dad, seemed to have finally grasped the situation.

He widened his eyes and shouted vehemently.

“Matthias, you’re being cowardly… Hah, you are!”

Calling my dad cowardly!

“Why is my dad being cowardly! Scammers are the most cowardly!”

But…

Looking closely, that scammer looked really wronged for some reason.

He looked like he would be scammed instead.

As I paused for a moment, Dad quickly cleared his throat.

“Ahem, ahem… First, leave.”

“Ah, yes… I’ll contact you again.”

The scammer quickly got up and ran away.

“Mister, if you appear in front of my dad again, you’re dead!”

So, is it a happy ending after all?

I covered my mouth with my hand and giggled as I watched the scammer run away.

‘Phew, I succeeded in defeating the villain today.’

Gazing at the villain’s back, which felt somewhat lonely, I said to Dad.

“Never contact him!”

“Okay. Thank you, Cien.”

I stared intently at Dad.

He looked somewhat embarrassed. Well, how upset would he be, almost getting tricked right in front of his eyes!

‘Trying to scam my kind dad?’

“You did that before, Dad.”

“Huh?”

“You donated to the bread seller! Because you felt sorry for him!”

“Ah… Yes, Cien, there was a time like that.”

“You bought a hundred breads and gave him so much money… Oh, my head hurts.”

There was no way Dad didn’t know the price of bread.

He was just giving endlessly to people because he was kind. Looking at my innocent dad, I gritted my teeth.

Trying to protect my kind dad is making me lose all my cotton candy-like pink hair and baby teeth!

‘I have something to do before I tell him I’m going to the library.’

I said seriously to Dad.

“Ako [Hey/Um]. Dad, I need to sit up here.”

“On the desk?”

Dad, who had a slightly puzzled expression, soon organized the books on the desk to the side. Then, he lifted me up and sat me on the desk.

‘Our dad is really strong!’

As expected of Dad, who has the blood of a farmer flowing through him. Dad and I still weren’t perfectly eye-to-eye, but… I smiled brightly and stroked Dad’s hair.

“Dad.”

“Yeah?”

“Open your eyes like this. Triangularly.”

“Eyes… Triangularly?”

Those black eyes, like Go stones [black stones used in the game of Go], of my dad, who seems endlessly kind and pure, are the problem.

No, is it the problem with his black hair, neatly and cleanly combed without an inch of error?

Or is it the eyes and mouth that are always smiling kindly?!

Overall, Dad looks very, very kind and innocent. It means he has the kind of face that naturally attracts scammers!

‘He looks so innocent that bad guys underestimate him…’

If someone like Axel comes, there was a high probability that they would underestimate our kind dad and even slam him down to gain control.

So, before the family’s masterminds start competing for succession in earnest!

Before scammers flock to Dad!

I, Cien Mirmord, must firmly educate Dad!

“Ung! Follow me!”

I lowered my chin and raised my pupils as much as I could.

Dad’s eyes widened as he watched my demonstration, a skilled assistant.

“Are you showing me something cute to make Dad feel better, Cien?”

“…”

Our dad’s filter is too thick, that’s the problem.

Okay, failure…

Then there’s another straightforward method!

‘There were some thugs in our village, but they disappeared at some point… I learned something fun again!’

I gathered my lips. And made a sound out of my mouth.

‘Ptoo’ I did.

“What is this, Cien…”

“Pretend to spit.”

The first step to becoming a terrifying villain.

Threatening public order!

Dad tilted his head as if embarrassed.

But it doesn’t end here.

I got up from the desk. Dad looked at me with anxious eyes and moved his lips.

“C, Cien?”

I put my hands on my hips in a rebellious manner and started shaking my small feet on the desk.

“Do this too!”

“Are you… Dancing?”

The eyes of Dad, who has a tender heart, trembled.

Like grains of sand in the desert before a storm.

“No. Shaking your legs. It’s totally threatening, right? Do it like this, Dad too!”

But Dad just avoided my gaze with a bewildered expression and rubbed his face.

‘Oh dear… Did I teach him something too scary from the beginning?’

I smiled as wickedly as possible.

“Wh, who… Taught Cien that?”

“Ung?”

“How can our pure daughter do such a thing.”

I already knew it.

But before I could open my mouth, Dad got up, lifted me up, and hugged me tightly.

And Dad said eerily in my ear.

“…This family is the problem. They made our kindest daughter in the world like this. Right?”

I shuddered because I felt a chill.

I felt a little strange. Our dad is very kind, but sometimes he has a very, very scary voice.

And just then, Dad whispered slowly.

“I’ll have to purge them all…”

Did I hear wrong?

There’s no way the word purge would come out of our frail dad’s mouth. Then…

“Soup?”

What soup…?

As I tilted my head in confusion, Dad made a short sound.

“Ah.”

Dad, who smiled softly at me, continued.

“I need to make citron tea, my daughter. But why did you come?”

I had no idea why he was suddenly talking about citron tea. Perhaps shocked by the fact that he was almost scammed, Dad became a little strange.

‘Our dad is good at making all sorts of delicious food.’

But the context was strange. I smiled awkwardly at Dad.

Did I teach him something too strong from the beginning?

Today’s ‘Villain Lesson’ should end here.

I grabbed Dad’s arms tightly with my small hands.

“Daddy.”

“Yeah, Cien.”

“I came because I wanted to go to the library.”

I left out the words that I would go to the library to gain strength, and I smiled brightly at Dad with my clever eyes.

***

Dad took me to the library, but I had no choice but to return to the spire that day without any gain.

Of course, using the healing power in the necklace and researching the famous artifacts inside the family were not problems that could be solved in just a day or two.

‘There’s still time, so it’s okay.’

But there were also things I couldn’t stand.

In the class I took with Leonhardt, the training supervisor kept bothering me.

‘He doesn’t subtly call me stupid, he trips me. Why is the teacher so childish?’

A week passed, pointlessly eating away at my energy and getting into fights without any gain.

My knees were scraped and bruised, but fortunately, Leonhardt treated me with a potion, so I wasn’t caught.

It was a relief because my foolish dad might cry so loudly that the spire would collapse.

After all the classes were over, I came back to the library and sighed while looking at a book called 『How to Handle Advanced Artifacts』.

‘No matter how much I look at it, there’s no way to maximize the power in the fairy necklace.’

I sighed deeply and made a serious expression.

‘It says that only the fairy’s bloodline can draw out the maximum power.’

The fairy’s bloodline was very special.

The fairy’s bloodline is the descendant of a fairy blessed by God. At first, they are ordinary, but after going through a period of awakening, they gain perfect beauty and infinite power. Especially the daughter of the fairy clan leader even more so.

‘So, I, an ordinary human, can’t use this necklace.’

Fortunately, what Leonhardt gave me was the easiest to obtain among the fairy necklaces.

Even ordinary people can activate it.

“Hoo.”

But I feel somewhat disappointed!

“Why are you sighing? Is it because of that teacher? He keeps bothering you.”

Leonhardt, who was sitting next to me and kept watching me, asked. These days, he followed me around and said a curse that wasn’t a curse, ‘You’re not dead yet.’

Still, he gave me a fairy necklace as a gift, and I brought him to the library…

It seemed like he wasn’t helping.

I looked at him sulkily and said.

“No. But that teacher really hates Cien…”

“Um…”

Leonhardt looked around and made sure no one was there before carefully opening his mouth.

“They seem to be plotting something these days.”

I blinked at Leonhardt.

‘They’re plotting to get rid of me, right?’

Bad guys. What’s so good about getting rid of a tiny kid like me!

I bit my lip tightly with my rabbit-like front teeth.

Then Leonhardt said a little bluntly.

“Be careful.”

I take back what I said about Leonhardt not being helpful. He was becoming my excellent eyes and ears.

‘I need to have the power to stand up to those evil people too.’

Leonhardt said softly to me.

“I quietly dug into the dean of education’s background.”

“…Ung?”

“No child has ever survived after being in his hands.”

“Did he kill them?”

“Yes. He’s also hostile to Matthias… He’ll try to break your spirit. He might even kill you to warn Matthias.”

“Heeik…”

Trying to touch me to warn my kind dad. It was definitely like the Mirmord family. I opened my eyes sharply and nodded.

“Then what should I do?”

“Do you know how the young children of those who rebelled against the dean of education died?”

“No. I don’t know.”

He asked briefly in a hesitant voice.

“Have you heard of the Illusion Labyrinth?”

…Illusion Labyrinth?

Illusion Labyrinth. I had a rough idea of what the labyrinth was because I had read the original, but I had to say that I had never heard of it. It was natural for an ordinary child not to know such a thing.

I widened my eyes and tilted my head, asking.

“What’s that?”

“A method the dean of education uses to kill children he doesn’t like.”

For some reason, he seemed a little desperate. I nodded, looking at his eyes slightly hidden behind his mask.

“He’ll probably use the same method on you this time too.”

“…Okay.”

Leonhardt emphasized his words as if to stress them.

“Ordinary children go crazy and die when they see illusions.”

Leonhardt was a little strange.

He’s not in his second life like me… I wondered how he could say how people die so casually and nonchalantly.

Shaking off the strange discomfort that arose in my heart, I thought to myself.

‘This is no time to be sentimental! If I don’t want to die, I have to prepare in advance. The dean of education’s Illusion Labyrinth!’