CH 41

Fortunately, there was a cave within walking distance to escape from the salt sand storm.

It was probably the tunnel this muscular middle-aged grandfather dug and holed up in for his survival.

I laid the grandfather on the sleeping bag and pulled out a stamina recovery potion and a nutrient pill from my satchel.

“Grandfather. Wake up.”

“Ung……uh…….”

He seemed unconscious.

I poured the potion into his mouth, where only moans flowed and put the pill. I was worried if he could swallow it or not.

“Hmm……!”

Gulp, gulp! Chomp, chomp. Gup!

“……You eat very well.”

It was around the time when five bottles of potions and ten pills had disappeared into the Grandpa’s stomach.

The long eyelashes of the middle-aged man began to tremble.

“Hum….”

“Are you awake, Grandpa?”

“What are you……El, Elthea?!”

As expected, the effect was amazing because it was a potion made by my dad and me.

The grandfather, who was dying until a while ago, straightened his upper body in a second. 

But the way.

“Elthea! As expected, you were alive!” 

“Uh, uh……Excuse me?”

Grandpa burst into tears and hugged me. At this point, I was confused, but also very curious.

Who the hell is Elthea?

✠

Aaron Jake Hispenril shivered and the muscles of his body trembled.

It has been two months since he entered the dungeon in search of traces of his daughter, who ran away from home 13 years ago. He lost consciousness in a salt sand storm, and when he opened his eyes, he saw his daughter in front of him.

To be exact the daughter in her childhood.

“Elthea! How hard have you suffered to become this young!”

“Uh, um, hey, I’m not Elthea.”

“What?”

Prince Hispenril looked at the girl again.

When he saw her embarrassed face, he came to his senses at once.

What he saw in front of him was a 10-year-old child. Not his daughter, who was already an adult by the time she ran away.

“My name is Ellet. I think you misunderstood me for someone, Grandpa.”

“……”

Prince Hispenril’s shoulders drooped like a deflated balloon.

Yes, there’s no way its Elthea.

Knowing it would be hard from the beginning, he tried to soothe his upset stomach. Even though he knew the little girl wasn’t his daughter, the Prince couldn’t take his eyes off Ellet.

‘How can you be so similar to Elthea?’

He even had some doubts.

Could it be that it is a mirage created by the desert of the Demon Realm? The demons are trying to deceive me……!

“Grandpa, would you like a sandwich? I made it.”

“……!”

-D-Dad, eat some cookies before you work. It-it’s so delicious, it’s hard to eat alone….

The image of the young Elthea who came over to the office and offered a gingerbread man cookies, overlapped in his mind.

“I-I really want to eat.”

“Yes, here it is!”

“Huk, chew chew, sniff, sniff, hahaha! It’s delicious. Really tasty…….”

“Really? Eat more! Eat a lot!”

It was actually very tasty. It had a feeling that it tasted similar to pills made by Alchemist Rodel, who, not long ago, opened up a new world to him.

At this rate, it felt like he would betray his muscles and open his eyes only to gourmet food. 

“Grandpa, you must have been starving for a very long time.”

“I starved for ten days.”

Since it was not a situation to argue about low-carb food, he cleanly finished even the bread. 

“Ten days? What happened?”

“It must have been two months since I was here. The food I brought ran out immediately, and I survived by eating the beasts. Fortunately, there’s salt everywhere, so it was edible.”

“Uh, um, you have great survivability.”

“But it has been a problem since we entered the storm zone. I didn’t see any beasts that could eat it and lost my sense of direction.”

“You worked hard, Grandpa. You can rest assured now. I will guide you safely to the exit gate.”

The prince laughed for a moment. Isn’t this small child speaking boldly as if she was going to escort him?

Prince Aaron Jake Hispenril, is currently the strongest on the continent.

‘Hey, this child is going to be big later.’

The grandfather laughed for a moment, then said with a smile.

“Sweetie, the favor is appreciated, but I have no intention of leaving the dungeon.”

“What?”

“If I can break through this storm, it will be a boss zone. There may be someone I am looking for over there.”

The little girl’s Peridot-like pale-green eyes flickered. Even that reminded him of Elthea, and the prince felt a stinging pain in his chest.

‘Elthea…….Are you really here? Maybe this kid I’m looking at right now……Isn’t this your soul that is bound in this dungeon?’

Ellet, unaware of the fact that she had been suddenly treated as a ghost, asked.

“What kind of person is it?”

“My daughter who disappeared 13 years ago.”

“Ah……daughter…….”

The atmosphere suddenly became somber. Thinking that Ellet would apologize for asking something unnecessary, the Prince coughed loudly and added.

“My daughter is much older than you. If she were still alive, it wouldn’t be strange if she had a daughter of your size.”

“I see.”

“No, wait. Thinking about it, it’s not only that.”

“What?”

“How come she would only have one daughter? She must have had a son about two years older than you!”

“Ah yes…….”

The prince who suddenly became too engrossed in his delusions, turned his daughter into a married woman with two children.

Ellet tried to get the talk back on track before the Prince’s imagination stretched further.

“Anyway, you’re saying she’s about my mother’s age.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Is it because of the flow of the conversation? Suddenly, the Prince became curious about the mother of a girl who looked very much like Elthea.

“Hey, how did you come into a dungeon like this? Your mother would be concerned.”

“My mother…….”

He was happy that he succeeded in inducing the topic naturally. 

“She won’t be worried. She ran away six years ago and I don’t know where she is.”

Startle.

“R-R-Run away?”

“Yes.”

I shouldn’t have picked that topic! 

While the Prince struggled to find a way to recover, a ragged voice continued.

“My mother abandoned her two children and her husband and left the house. So Dad had to put all of his efforts into raising us on his own.”

“…….”

“Well, my brother said that she went out with a hoe and a plow to catch livestock that escaped and went missing……but as far as I can see, it’s just a running away from home.”

“I-I’m sorry. I brought up a bad story.”

Ellet smiled broadly.

“No. I was young, so I don’t have any particular memories of my mother. It’s okay because I’ve been living as someone who doesn’t have one. Well……you listened to my complaint, so Grandpa can do the same.”

“Huh? me?”

“How did you lose your daughter?”

“…….”

The Prince’s hard cheeks were dyed a peach color. He spoke out despite the overwhelming embarrassment.

“My daughter……It’s a runaway.”

“Oh.”

“Well, but it’s all my fault! My daughter ran away because I was wrong!”

“How did she run away?”

“That is…….”

The story of Prince Hispenril that followed was comparable to the narrative of a Ropan family drenched in the regretful tag.

When the Prince was young, he had a commoner woman he loved. However, not being able to overcome the opposition of his family, and after only hurting each other, they broke up.

Years later, the Prince learns that she died and that there was a child in her womb at the time of their breakup. In the end, he inquired all over the continent orphanages and managed to find his daughter, and that was Elthea.

A young daughter was left behind by a woman he loved. Of course, he wanted to be nice to her and that’s why he brought her home.

However, the young Prince was blunt, cold-headed, and tactless at the time. He never knew how to give his daughter the love he had never received from his parents. Besides, just looking at his daughter’s face reminded him of his lover, whom he couldn’t protect.

He couldn’t even look straight into the child’s face whenever he thought that the weak woman had closed her eyes after giving birth to a child alone. He thought that if he compensated his daughter for her mother’s share, his guilt would go away.

So the young Prince made a decision. He decided to give her the best he had, namely his family.

Ellet paused for a moment and asked.

“Wow! Grandpa, were you noble? Baron? viscount?”

“Hmm.”

“Are you a Count? Wow!”

“Well, it’s not important, so don’t worry about it.”

“Yes, Count.”

“What do you mean Count. Just call me Grandpa.”

“Yes, Grandpa.”

The story continued while hiding the exact identity with a suitable adaptation.

The Prince’s intentions were good, but the method was a problem.

His family had a very strict education system, and Elthea, who had lived as a commoner for eight years, had many shortcomings.

Thus, the successor education Elthea’s became unprecedentedly strict.

She struggled every day from dawn until late at night with thousands of teachers to instill swordsmanship and learning into the child.

And as the head of the household, the Prince….

-You are now the princess of Hispenril. Behave worthy of a princess.

The words he said to his daughter who brought the gingerbread man cookies explain everything.

No, he’d rather say he was lucky to have made it this far.

In his desire to make his daughter ‘like a princess’ as soon as possible, he even said these words.

– Servants are watching. Refrain from calling me father in an informal way.

At this point, Ellet said something.

“Oh my god….she can’t even call her father, father….”

The criticism in her eyes was clearly read as to what a great family he came from to even do that. The Prince felt a great blow to his heart, but he continued the story that had already begun.

“Then one day.”

“It’s not over yet. Wait a minute. Let me get some lemon carbonated water.”

(Note: she’s telling about drinking cider (satisfaction) because this story is too frustrating.)

“Well. Anyway, one day….”

A girl who looked exactly like his dead lover appeared and claimed that she was the real daughter of the Prince.