Chapter 158: Black and Gold – 29
Dad, then see you tomorrow.
Yeah. Reyna. You sleep well too.
That first night, we parted ways after just exchanging such simple greetings.
After she went to sleep, I found myself bursting into laughter several times towards the empty space.
For someone like me, who hadnt even experienced mediocre dating, giving paternal advice to someone was bewildering.
Moreover, Reynas appearance now was like someone in her mid to late twenties, just like me in reality.
There wasnt much of an age gap to speak of between us, to the point where our relationship couldnt be considered father-daughter.
Considering her appearance seemed more mature than her age, the age difference narrowed even further.
To pretend to be in a father-daughter relationship with her.
It was an embarrassingly awkward situation, but still, I had to accommodate her request.
I alternated between looking at the status screen showing Main Quest I Dont Want to Ride on the Cart! and Sub Quest Substitute Dad Job.
The former quest had a stingy reward and a considerable penalty for failure.
Until now, most main quests hadnt imposed significant penalties for failure.
Main quests were a kind of wish-fulfillment mechanism, where the desire of the director turned into quest requirements.
Conversely, the contents of main quests inherently reflected how much the members paid attention to me.
Um, Director, could you please grant my request? Ah, if not, its okay, I guess
If I had to put it into words, it was something like this.
Thanks to this, there were no or small penalties for failure.
However, as the members favorability increased, the demands or penalties for failure became more significant.
While you could raise favorability by simple acts like buying them a meal with strangers, with close acquaintances, you had to fulfill more demanding requests to raise favorability.
Conversely, while you wouldnt expect anything from a stranger, disappointment was inevitable if a close acquaintance didnt fulfill your expectations.
Favorability and main quests reflected the natural forms of human relationships.
So, the high efficiency of main quests so far stemmed from the premise that the members fear Wonderstein.
Gascon didnt fear me and even treated me like a subordinate, so main quests were more demanding, with higher penalties for failure.
Thinking about the future, it would be easier to just expel him.
However, he triggered a main quest to prevent that, thanks to overhearing my soliloquy.
It was entirely my fault.
Besides, Reynas sub quest wasnt something to take lightly if it failed.
This had to be a success no matter what.
Its just two days, right?
I resolved myself.
I decided not to act in front of others, so there wouldnt be anything to be ashamed of.
However, what she expected from me was more than I had anticipated.
The next morning, I was surprised to wake up to a strange sensation next to me.
Surprisingly, Reyna, dressed in pajamas, was clinging to my waist and sleeping.
Reyna?
She yawned loudly and rubbed her eyes.
She blinked groggily, then started giggling at me.
Hehe, Dad did you sleep well?
My mind was in disarray.
Why was she lying in my bed?
Since when were you here?
Since dawn. Ah, I just quietly lay down here so as not to wake you up
It wasnt surprising that she had snuck in beside me without my noticing.
She had an absolute sense of balance.
Even on a rocking chair, she wouldnt spill a drop of coffee from the cup in her hand.
She could easily control even the slightest movement of the mattress.
I wasnt surprised by her talent.
It was the fact that she was here that shocked me.
Why is Reyna Maquire here?
I was scared to sleep alone, so I slept next to you. And
As she hesitated, she suddenly snapped awake.
A chilling aura emanated from her eyes.
Who calls their daughter Reyna Maguire? I clearly asked you to pretend to be my dad, didnt I? Please, get it right.
Taken aback by her sharp tone, I instinctively nodded.
Yeah. Reyna. You must have been scared.
At that moment, we heard a knock on the door.
I startled and pulled her closer to me, covering us both with the blanket.
Who is it?
Its Maya.
Checking the time, I realized that it was already past the early morning training time.
I had stayed up all night listening to Reyna venting, lamenting, and misbehaving, so I ended up oversleeping.
Before I could ask her to wait, the door opened.
Creak.
A girl with a tilted beret and a thin cardigan stood at the door.
Her hair shimmered silver in the morning sunlight pouring in from the window across the corridor.
Maya had been going out for the past two weeks for some reason.
Yesterday, she said she was going to the factory, but it seemed she was back to her routine today.
She always said goodbye to me before leaving and reported back when she returned.
She walked towards me as if she didnt care about the room owners permission.
I was used to her indifferent attitude, but given the current situation, I felt tense inside.
However, I maintained a natural smile without revealing my tension.
Are you leaving early today?
I felt something subtly wrong with her face.
She seemed more tired than yesterday, with slight shadows under her eyes.
I have something urgent to take care of. Are you okay, Director? You slept longer than usual today.
She approached the bed.
I pulled Reyna, who kept trying to sit up, closer to my chest.
Yes. No problem. Just a bit tired from yesterdays work. So, are you heading to the plaza again today?
Yes.
Alright. Take care then.
She glanced briefly under the blanket before nodding.
I will.
She closed the door and left.
Finally, I breathed a sigh of relief and tucked Reyna in.
She lay on my stomach, sprawling out.
Reyna Maguire, I mean Reyna. Are you okay?
I-I couldnt breathe
Her face was flushed as if she was about to explode.
I realized I had been holding her entire body with my arms and legs.
I quickly released her, and she slumped away from me, gasping heavily without meeting my gaze.
Ha Ha
It must have been quite suffocating. But if we were caught, it would have been a big misunderstanding.
She turned her head sharply at my words.
I-I know Ill go back to my room.
Sure
She left the room wearing damp pajamas.
I stayed close to her all Sunday.
The routine was no different from usual.
Education, meals, training, hygiene, meals, counseling.
When others were around, we conversed as usual, but as soon as they disappeared, she acted like a child, and I accepted it as a father would.
We spent yesterday like that, and today most of the day went by like that too.
After finishing the interview, we headed to the villa by carriage.
She, who had been fooling around all this time, fell asleep by the time the carriage arrived at the villa.
Weve arrived.
Could you give us a moment? I dont want to disturb the childs sleep.
The coachman went to a nearby shelter to smoke a cigarette, saying he would be back in 30 minutes.
I could finally rest a bit now.
I sighed tiredly as I looked at Reyna sleeping with her head on my lap.
It felt like escaping from the midst of a comedy.
Thanks to her, I had spent two hectic days.
I was exhausted, but I couldnt blame her.
She had suffered psychological abuse for 15 years under a villain like Simon Maguire.
Even with personality damage, it wasnt strange.
I remembered the orphanage days.
If I had to choose one criterion that had the greatest impact on the emotional development of abandoned children, it was whether they remembered the moment they were abandoned or not.
Naturally, those who remembered had deeper scars.
Children who were abandoned without memories grew up considering the orphanage as their home, considering friends as family, and showed no significant difference in emotional development from children raised in normal households.
The problem was with those who remembered being abandoned.
They grew up acknowledging their state of being rejected by their family for a lifetime.
Reyna carried bigger scars than those friends.
The person she believed to be her real family was not her real family from the beginning, and she was a fake brought in as a substitute.
Dad Umm
She murmured from her sleep.
She was chewing on a few strands of her hair.
I took them out of her mouth, wiped off the saliva, and tidied them up.
She was not guilty of ending up like this.
I was particularly troubled by her requests because I knew that fact.
Dad
Of all things, she called me that.
It was a cruel joke.
TT3s main enemies were the three organizations led by Wondersteins friends or sisters, known as Witches.
In the third chapter, the heroes who defeated the Rabbit Witch and destroyed the Voodoo and the Dock Cult searched for Wondersteins whereabouts.
He had fought with Saint Valentina and was injured without being completely resurrected.
It was clear that he was hiding somewhere recovering his strength.
However, he didnt reveal his tail easily.
A few weeks later, they heard news from their former comrade Reyna, who had been with them before, that she had found traces of Wonderstein.
In TT2, she learned that she was not the real daughter of her father but was adopted as a substitute, which caused her to go through a mental crisis.
Fortunately, she overcame it by teaching students, but she did not give up tracing her roots.
In that process, she discovered the existence of a certain organization.
It was none other than the Comprachicos, the human trafficking organization that had bought her.
It wasnt just a place that sold young children.
They modified children according to customers desires.
Reyna was a made child there.
They even had catalogs.
They kidnapped children and molded them as they pleased, altering their appearance, height, muscle development, physical characteristics, and so on.
Simons request was for a child who looked exactly like his deceased daughter.
He believed it could cure his wifes grief.
And he also wanted talent for the circus.
Reynas rapid physical development and absolute sense of balance was added during the manufacturing process.
Reyna was shipped as a product to Simon.
Upon hearing this much, the warriors could sufficiently surmise who was behind the organization.
It was the Witchs Association with the Crow witch as the vice-president.
She referred to them as Comprachicos, the child merchants, who kidnapped children and modified them to suit the tastes of their customers.
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Chapter 157: Black and Gold 28
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