Ch. 3

Whoa, that was really close.My dad, watching me standing in front of the front door in a suspicious pose, asked as he pushed up his glasses.

“Eve? Who came?”

“Huh? You see… it’s not a warrior or anything….just a merchant. Yeah, merchant.”

“Merchant? Why would a merchant come all the way here? Seriously….”

“That’s what I’m saying. Many people in this village have more rice paddies than we do, riiiiight…?”

Sweating profusely, I guarded the door so my dad wouldn’t open the front door.

Fortunately, my dad had no interest in my suspicious demeanor of guarding the door, the woman’s shoes, or the merchant who had just left.

‘Phew, I’m glad that my dad is a weapon maniac.’

Surprisingly enough, my dad's lack of interest in everything but weapons and me worked to my advantage in this situation!

While my dad was busy wondering about what to eat for dinner, I put the woman's shoes back on the shoe rack.

Alright, shall we go screw up some business today?

My dad saw me off warmly, not knowing that his lovely daughter would go stuffing herself with delicious meals and went on to screw up his business.

“Return safely, my daughter~ be careful of bad people.”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t hit people no matter how annoyed you are, okay?”

“Okay, I got it.” Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NøᴠᴇlFire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Damn, Dad. Do you think I’m a thug?

I’m just a cute little obnoxious customer who wants to screw up your business.

“Then I’ll go now!”

At that moment, my dad, who saw a suspicious sack, grabbed me by the back of my neck.

“Uaahh~!”

“But sweetie, why do you bring this when you go out to play?”

My dad pulled out Excalibur and asked in confusion.

No! My Excalibur!

I struggled to jump with my extremely short limbs, trying to snatch the sword from my dad’s hand.

“Hiing, why are you taking it? It’s mine!”

“Why do you need this when you are playing outside?”

“Umm… I-I have to scold bad people when I meet them!”

I quickly rolled my brain and came up with one of the most plausible excuses.

Did it work?

Dad looked alternately between me and Excalibur skeptically at first, then he returned the sword with a meaningful look.

“Okay, sweetie, have a safe trip. Can you give Dad a kiss?”

Chu!

I gave my dad a quick kiss on the cheek. My dad smiled like a fool and patted me on the back.

“Don’t go too far!”

“Okay, I got it!”

After bidding farewell to my dad, I left home with a thick cheese and my Excalibur that I used to screw up my dad’s business.

Where should I spread rumors about Dad today?

_I’m sorry to my dad, but you can live long thanks to my strenuous undercover work. _

Well, what matters is the result. So I tried to bury my prickling conscience.

With that in mind, I walked for about ten minutes.

That was when I passed by a forest near the pub. Someone grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me away.

“Ackkk!”

“Hey, kid.”

What the- who is this?

I spontaneously grabbed the Excalibur that my dad gave me and looked up.

I tried to identify the face of the man who pulled me away.

They were someone I don’t know.

Who is this uncle to grab me by the neck like that? Only my dad can do this.

I glared at the man who grabbed me by the neck with much hostility.

Since he called me ‘kid’, I thought they were the warriors who came to my house earlier, but I was dead wrong.

You're just a drunkard, aren’t you?

‘Ugh, the smell of alcohol!’

The smell of alcohol oozed out as soon as this uncle pushed his dirty face closer to me.

I grimaced at the disgusting smell and blocked my nose.

Damn, what’s going on here?’

I should’ve taken a different road. My dad told me not to go this way because there were many bars around here.

As expected, I should’ve listened to adults.

I struggled and squirmed to get out of his grasp while regretting not listening to my dad.

“Oh, let me go! Let me go! If you don’t let me go right away, I’m going to screeeaam!”

“Listen, kid. Uncle doesn't have money to pay for drinks, you see? So let me borrow this for a day. Uuuurgh-”

Instead of letting me go, the drunk man tried to get his hand on my Excalibur.

NO!!!

Even though I was doing all sorts of stunts on the market floor trying to spread rumors that Excalibur was a useless and trashy sword, it was the sword that my dad made and gave me as a gift!

I gripped Excalibur with all my power so that it wouldn't be taken away by some random drunk man.

“Come on…won’t you let it go? Let go!”

“You let go first, uncle! This is mine!”

I latched onto the sword and swore at him. But it was not enough to overcome the strength of an adult man, so I felt my arms gradually losing strength.

‘I can’t let it be taken away!’

I broke out in a cold sweat, thinking my precious Excalibur might be taken away.

This is what my dad made for me….

“It's my precious swoooord!!”

I rammed my head toward the man’s groin because I didn’t want to lose the sword my dad gave me as a gift.

“Aaagh-!!!”

The man’s scream echoed throughout both sides of the lush forest. The man grabbed his crotch and collapsed in an unsightly manner.

‘Hmph, you should have let me go earlier.’

I quickly grabbed my Excalibur and tried to leave.

“Kyaagh-!”

Only if I didn’t get caught again by another random man.

“I shouldn’t have gone easy on this brat…”

“Ah, let me goooo!”

_I’m really unlucky today. _

I squirmed erratically and hugged Excalibur even tighter. The man, who barely survived my groin attack, staggered towards me while clutching his groin.

“If an adult tells you to give that, you should give that!”

With a grunt, the man came closer and gave me a hard blow to the head.

At that moment, I’ve only seen white.

I only blinked for a while without even understanding the situation.

‘Did I ….just get hit?’

How did I get hit by a random uncle when my own dad never hit me once?

I was so frustrated and angry that it felt so unfair.

Why did I have to get beaten by that guy?

When my tears were about to come out because I couldn’t hold back my anger.

Flash!

Iridescent light burst forth from the Excalibur that the men took away.

“Uuugh! What’s this!!!”

“Hey, it even produces light. This must be a pretty expensive sword.”

Yeah, it was an expensive sword….but it wasn’t a sword that could produce light.

How the hell is that shining?

And at that moment.

Ptaash-!!

A blast from Excalibur could be heard, bouncing off the drunk uncles standing beside it.

“Uaaagh!!!”

“Arghh!””

Only I was safe through that commotion. I was just looking blankly at the sword that was flickering like fireworks in the middle of billowing dust.

“…It doesn't seem safe to touch it, right?”

No, does the sword have such features in the first place?

The men who bounced off so far pointed to the sword again at the sword as if they didn’t learn.

“Hey! Hurry, grab it! It must be crazy expensive!”

Hey…isn’t your life more precious than a sword?

I was watching from a distance because I was afraid that it would explode if I got close to it, but I clicked my tongue annoyedly at the men running toward the flickering sword.

But at that moment.

Swish!

The sword flew and snuggled in my hand.

‘....?’

I looked at Excalibur with a bewildered gaze.