Chapter 256: CH 255

Feb 12 2021

※From Dor François’ perspective.

“Then Dor, I leave the rest to you.”

“As you wish.”

Seeing King Sein off, I gave a deep bow.

“Mm…”

“Something wrong? Daddy Dor?”

I was currently in my office within the Bauer royal palace. As I formed arrangements to send provisions to the front lines of the final confrontation, Lana addressed me.

The room was filled to the brim with paperwork.

Things were so busy that at this point, I’d accept help from anyone.

It was at that time that I had received the news.

Despite Lana’s frivolous attitude, she was rather competent and thus a huge help.

However, I could not dismiss the way she chose to address me.

“Enough with your jests, I am not able to become your foster father.

“Ehh? You’re too stubborn! But that’s what I love. You’re just like Rei-sensee!”

“Good grief…”

I could only sigh in response. No matter how many times I had warned Lana, it was in one ear and out the other.

After returning to Bauer, I worked with Lene to draft a plan to send provisions to the front lines and prepare for the final confrontation.

With Lene closer to the front lines and myself back in Bauer, we divided the workload.

After returning to the country, King Sein, who had left the room just moments ago, had also been hard at work to support our forces.

In truth, Bauer had yet to fully stabilize from the revolution. Having foreseen that we would struggle to provide the necessary provisions, he had opened talks with Sousa and Appalachia.

Though he was still inexperienced as a king, Sein was quite competent.

With time, perhaps he would be lined up next to King Rousseau, who had been exalted as a wise king.

“So? What in the world happened, you’re making such a scary face.”

“It appears that the spell I had set on Mei and Alea has activated.”

“Eh? Dor-sama, you could use magic?”

Lana opened her eyes wide in shock.

“Yes, though it is not very well suited for combat. My magic allows me to set a trap that affects the mind of the one who triggers it. It is called Dream Magic.”

“That’s so cool!”

Lana’s eyes sparkled.

This intermediate earth magic, Dream Magic, was essentially a trap that would send the one who triggered it into an eternal dream..

The trap must be set within someone’s heart.

Normally it would be set within the caster’s own heart, but it was possible to place it within others’ hearts as well.

I had set it within Rei and the others.

Among those, the ones that I had set within Mei and Alea had triggered.

Dream Magic’s effect was quite potent, but the conditions to trigger it were exceedingly difficult to fulfill.

It could only be set to activate in response to the specified person casting a specified spell.

In other words, when setting the trap one would need to specify the target individual, as well as the spell they would need to cast to set off the trap in great detail.

There was also a limit on how many people I could set the trap on at once.

To be able to set it to trigger upon Salas’ Suggestion Magic, I needed to understand what his Suggestion Magic was in great detail.

However, Salas had kept those details concealed.

With the assistance of Former Cardinal Lily, my analysis had progressed. However, it wasn’t until Lana had provided us her headband that the analysis completed.

Even though her memories of Salas were by no means pleasant, she cheerfully cooperated with us.

While we were both still in the imperial capital, I had her help me finish my analysis. Then, before I left Zurück, I cast my magic on all of my family.

And just now, that trap had activated.

“It appears that Salas is now under the effects of my spell.”

“… That means…?”

“Salas’ wickedness, it comes to an end here.”

Hearing those words, Lana’s face momentarily stiffened but she forced a smile.

“That so… Papa, is done for, isn’t he.”

“… Correct.”

While Salas had been nothing but my enemy, to Lana, he had been something of a substitute father.

I’m sure she felt conflicted.

“Parent and child, what does something like that mean?”

Though it was a straightforward question, it was not something I could answer lightly.

While I struggled to conjure a reply, Lana continued her words.

“While papa and I were complete strangers, Lily and papa were actually connected by blood. Even then, papa only saw both Lily and I as his tools.”

She spoke as though she was trying to organize her thoughts, as though in soliloquy.

“But… Rei-sensee and them, with Mei and the others, even though they have no blood relation, their bond feels even stronger than a normal family’s.”

As images of my daughters and granddaughters floated within my mind, I could only nod in agreement with Lana’s words.

“In the end, what does it mean to be blood-related? What does it mean to be parent and child?

Lana’s question felt like a deep stab into my chest.

I took my time to search for words.

“… You know that I was a former noble, correct?”

“Yup, minister of finance, right? That’s amazing.”

“Well, that aside, being a noble meant that lineage was extremely significant.

“…”

Without saying anything herself, Lana urged me to continue with her eyes.

“It’s only because things turned out this way that I can say this, but initially, I was against Claire and Rei’s relationship.”

“Eh!?”

I’m sure it came unexpected.

Lana’s eyes were filled with surprise.

“B-but, Dor-sama. I asked Rei-sensee, you know? Dor-sama, you never once complained about their relationship, that’s what she told me.”

“Yes, exactly right.”

“… What’s going on?”

Having been asked, I decided to put to words what I had kept secret until now.

“Until I witnessed their relationship first hand, I had always thought. Family is connected by blood, and parent and child must pass that blood down.”

That was what I had been taught, and I had never held it in doubt.

Until I met her―Rei Taylor.

“Having met Rei, Claire changed. She laughed more often, got angry more often.”

“But, I had heard that Claire-sensee had always acted true to herself?”

“That is true. However, at that time, Claire’s feelings were all the result of her dissatisfaction with her current situation.”

Having lost her mother, being forced into the closed box that was noble society, and simply progressing along the rails that her parents had set―that was all that she had in life.

“However, Claire is different now. She can laugh from the bottom of her heart, and get angry from the bottom of her heart. The current Claire truly expresses herself honestly.”

That girl, who had once resolved to sacrifice herself for the good of the country, was able to become this free.

That Claire could laugh like that, it was thanks to no other than Rei, as well as Mei and Alea.

“I want Claire to be happy. Right now, Claire seems to be very happy. That’s why I definitely won’t say it, that I want her to find a groom and bear children.”

“Dor-sama, do you still want Claire-sensee to give birth to an heir, even now?”

I gave Lana’s question some thought before shaking my head.

“I thought about it, Lana. About what exactly I wanted Claire to inherit. Was it my blood? If my family line were to simply continue, would I be happy with that? My answer was no.”

“…”

Lana listened intently.

I continued.

“What I wanted her to inherit was, my values, my ideals, my soul. Claire has certainly inherited all of those things. Even if they’re not connected by blood, I’m sure they will be passed down to Mei and Alea. They will change over time, adapting along with the ages.

That would be enough for me.

No, there was nothing that I wanted more.

“That is how I think of a parent. Whether or not it became an answer to your question, I do not know.”

“No, Dor-sama, I truly understood. But―”

“But?”

“But, I really don’t think that I can inherit those things from my papa… no, I don’t want to.”

Lana gave a weak smile.

“I think that’s obvious. After all, you are not the parent, but the child.”

“Eh?”

“I apologize if my phrasing misled you. What I just said applied not to parent and child, but exclusively the parent. The child is different.”

“What do you mean?”

A question mark appeared over Lana’s head.

“Parents will want their children to inherit various things. However, the child is able to reject those things.”

“Reject…”

“That’s right. Children will have their own values, their own ideals and their own soul. A parent is only able to wish that their children inherit from them, but cannot force them to.”

“I have… my own…?”

“Lana, it’s fine for you to live as yourself. Parents will at times become negative examples. They’ll make you think that you don’t want to be like them.”

“…”

Lana seemed to be pondering over my words.

As I did not want to interrupt her thoughts, I momentarily continued my own work.

“Dor-sama, in the end, I just don’t get difficult things.”

“… Is that so.”

“But… but…!”

Lana’s voice was shaking.

As though trying to somehow consolidate her overflowing emotions, she spoke.

“But do you think it’s okay? For someone like me… to become happy…!?”

I see, so this child as well…

At times, those who survive through conflicts where many perish, feel guilty for surviving.

It seemed that Lana too, felt something like that.

“Yes, of course. Lana, you avenged many of your brethren. I’m sure you’ve done more than enough.”

The people sacrificed for the sake of Salas’ experiments would, unfortunately, never return.

But even so, it was only because of Lana, who survived, that we were able to take him down. Hopefully that was enough tribute for them.

Those were my thoughts as I pulled Lana, who was unable to even shed tears, into my arms.