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Chapter 610.1: Promise (1)

Roel Ascart had plenty of dreams.

Most people only occasionally dreamt in their sleep, but Roel spent so much time unconscious that he was probably taking far too many remedial lessons on this subject. On the bright side, the fact that he was dreaming told him that he was still alive.

Sometimes, he would try to recall the dreams he had while he was in coma, but he couldn’t remember anything at all. Those were the dreams he had when he was in his worst condition, after all. That was why he was surprised by the current situation he was in.

Even though it was just a dream, it was far too vivid for him to shrug off.

“What’s wrong, daddy?”

“Ah? No, it’s nothing.”

Roel hesitantly stared at the little girl happily holding his hand before shaking his head. Confusion arose in his mind.

He was standing in the middle of a crowded street, under the bright afternoon sun. Busy stores were operating around him. He held the hand of a black-haired girl next to him, looking like a young father and daughter making an early market run.

What’s going on? Who is this child?

Utterly clueless about this situation, Roel took a closer look at the girl’s face and was surprised.

The beaming girl was around four to five years of age, but her delicate features and smooth black hair hinted at the beauty she would become in the future. She had a small, distinct nose, cherry-colored lips, huge eyes adorned with long eyebrows, and a pair of slightly pinkish ears.

Adorable! Or should I say ‘pretty’? Roel had to concede that he was awed by the girl’s delicate appearance.

Faced with Roel’s gaze, the girl looked back at him with her hands behind her back, the smile on her face slowly turning sweeter.

“Is daddy in love with me?”

“Ah? W-well…”

“Pft! I’m joking. Your expression looks funny, daddy. Hahaha!” The girl suddenly clutched her stomach and burst into laughter.

W-what’s wrong with this child?!

Roel placed his hand on his head, feeling a headache creeping in. He raised his head and saw a familiar holy white wall, which made him freeze in place.

Hm? This wall…

“The Holy Capital has beautiful walls! Daddy, have you seen them before?”

“Yes, I… No, that’s not right. I have never been in this region before,” Roel replied in confusion as he looked at the vendors in the vicinity.

Holy Capital Loren, as the capital of the Saint Mesit Theocracy, was the city Roel had most often been to aside from Ascart City, but he had never seen this street before.

In recent years, he had only come to the Holy Capital to meet Carter when he was taking a brief break from the eastern border. He spent most of his time in the Labyrinth Villa, which was located at a remote spot in the Holy Capital. Even if he headed out, his destination was either the church or the royal palace.

He had never toured Loren’s commercial district before.

Even if he needed something, all he had to do was to contact the Sorofya Merchant Association, and Branch Manager Arwen would settle everything for him. There was never a reason for him to visit Loren’s commercial district.

It shouldn’t be possible for me to be somewhere I have never been to in a dream, right? And this child… Roel narrowed his eyes.

He would have remembered it if he had met a girl with such a distinct appearance, especially when she had black hair and golden eyes. Those were the identifying traits of a member of the Kingmaker Clan. In particular, her eyes were of exactly the same hue as Roel’s, and the way she addressed him…

Did I confabulate a daughter out of nowhere? Roel was put at a loss.

“…Daddy, daddy! What are you thinking?”

“Ah? It’s nothing.”

“Really! We rarely get to go out together. Let’s go!”

Forget it; it’s a dream anyway. There’s no point thinking too much into it. Roel heaved a sigh as he allowed the girl to lead him around.

Vendors could be heard shouting from all around as they walked down the commercial district. Most of these vendors were marketed toward the average civilian, and the items on sale were mainly necessities or food items. It was a different environment from the merchant associations he visited whenever he needed anything.

Roel had been to Ascart City’s commercial district too, but it was much less lively than the Holy Capital’s.

“Miss, why not have an apple? It’s a specialty shipped from the eastern border. It’s very sweet!”

“Really? Daddy, I want that!”

“Eastern border? What a braggart…” Roel raised his eyebrows upon hearing those words.

With war ravaging the eastern border, humankind had cleared away all food sources between the eastern border to the human world lest the deviants slip through the defenses and wreak havoc in the human world.

It would have been nigh impossible to find food in the wilderness, let alone apples.

Roel was unwilling to buy the goods from the merchant due to the outright lie, but there was a pair of glowing, golden eyes staring intently at him.

“…”

“…Daddy!”

“All right, all right. Give me one.”

It took only two seconds for Roel to fall in defeat. The delighted girl leaped into his arms.

“Thank you, daddy!”

“You can buy whatever you want, but there aren’t any apples on the eastern border, so…”

“…Mm, I know. It’s all daddy’s credit that we have apples over there!”

“Hm?”

Roel lectured the girl, thinking that it wouldn’t be good for her to get cheated, but the latter suddenly murmured some baffling words halfway through. This prompted him to look at her with doubtful eyes, but she didn’t respond.

The girl had lowered her head, seeming deep in thought, but there was something off about the atmosphere around her. He felt an inexplicable air of sadness around her.

Before he could ask about it, she raised her head and exclaimed, “Waaa! Such a huge apple. Daddy, can I eat it?”

“O-of course.”

“Thank you! Ooooh, it tastes great!”

“That’s good to hear.”

Roel took his change from the vendor as he watched the girl stuff her cheeks full with the apple. Unknowingly, a smile emerged on his lips. Despite the doubts lingering in his mind, he decided to put them aside for now and focus on the present.

Following that, the two of them proceeded to visit stores of all kinds, ranging from the tailor and the accessories store to all of the roadside vendors. The more places they visited, the heavier the load in Roel’s hands became.

This was not a situation Roel was accustomed to.

Despite being born into blue blood, Roel had always made sure to live a thrifty life due to the System and the Ascarts’ ailing finances. He was rarely extravagant when it came to clothes and food, and he strictly followed the principle of only buying things that were necessary.

Yet, he found himself helplessly succumbing to the girl’s coy pleading. He felt a weird urge to buy even more for her each time she beamed a smile at him.

Is this how it feels to raise a daughter?

“Daddy, this way!”

“I’m coming.”

Roel had hardly any time to ponder his new epiphany before the girl dragged him to another vendor stand. The items sold by this vendor were rather odd—they were secondhand weapons and defensive tools with clear battle marks on them.

“These are…”

“These are picked from the eastern border! Don’t look down on them just because they look shabby now; these were once used by nobles! Who knows? One of them might be a precious relic some noble house is searching for right now,” the vendor bragged.

Roel, who had been on the battlefield, was rendered speechless.

If these are really loot from the past Holy War, they would have been buried in dust for at least eighty years now. There’s no way they would look so new as if they have only been used for a couple of years. Even fools wouldn’t fall for such an obvious bluff.

As he made this mental retort, he took a closer look at the items available for sale and suddenly froze in place.

Hold on; isn’t this one of the newer armor model? These aren’t antiques from eighty years ago! They are…

“Hey! Where did you get this from?”

“I already told you that they are from the eastern border. Do you know the owner of that armor? You should quickly buy it before the corpse arrives, then.”

“Corpse?”

“Yes, those who have valiantly sacrificed themselves in the Holy War. What’s wrong with you? You don’t even know that?” the vendor exclaimed with a frown.

“…” Roel fell silent.

It went without saying that the bodies of those who had died in the war against the deviants would be eventually shipped back from the eastern border so that they could be properly buried, but that would only be done upon the war’s conclusion. Judging from the current situation…

“Daddy?”

Just as Roel thought of something, he suddenly felt a tug on his sleeves.

“Mm?”

“I’m bored. Let’s go.”

He turned around and saw a bored girl staring at him. He nodded and walked away from the store together with her.

…