Chapter 41

Chapter 41

✠

Fortunately, we were able to take shelter from the raging salt sandstorm inside a nearby cave. It was clear from the fresh pile of dirt that the cavern was man-made and had been created very recently. I guessed that the handsome, muscular old-timer must have dug it out to help him weather the storm.

I laid him down on the cot, then pulled out some stamina potions and a few highly concentrated supplements. “Excuse me. Can you hear me?”

“Uh... ugh...” Looks like he’s unconscious.

I carefully trickled some of the potion into his groaning mouth and slipped in a nutrition tablet as well. I was worried that he wouldn’t be able to swallow.

“Mmm!”

“I guess he was pretty hungry.”

Five bottles of potions and ten nutritional tablets later, the old man’s eyelids began to twitch. “Hm...”

“How are you feeling, Grandpa?”

“You’re... E-Elthea?!”

Not to toot my own horn, but this was another reminder that the potions Dad and I made were super effective. This old guy, who was on the verge of death just a minute ago, suddenly snapped upright. But what he said next caught me off guard.

“Elthea! I knew it! I knew you were alive!”

“Uh... um... Excuse me?”

The old man burst into tears and embraced me in a great bear hug. At this point, I was more curious than I was surprised.

Who in the world is Elthea?

✠

Every muscle in Aaron-Jake Heathfenrir’s body trembled as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Over two months had passed since he ventured into this dungeon in search of his runaway daughter. He remembered getting caught in a salt sandstorm and losing consciousness, but nothing after that.

Now, all of a sudden, his daughter had reappeared before his very eyes. His daughter was there, in the flesh. Or his daughter as she had looked when she was a child, to be exact.

“Elthea! You’ve been through so much suffering that you’ve aged backward!”

“Oh, um, excuse me, but my name’s not Elthea.”

“What?” Grand Duke Heathfenrir took another closer look at the little girl.

He snapped to his senses when he saw her awkward, uncomfortable smile. The child in front of him was a little girl not more than ten years old. There was no way this young girl could be his daughter, who had already been a grown woman when she left home.

“My name’s Ailette. I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else.”

Grand Duke Heathfenrir’s shoulders drooped like a deflated balloon. Of course. What was he thinking? There was no way that this could be Elthea. Though he was devastated, Heathfenrir tried his best to maintain his composure. Even after realizing that this little girl was not his daughter, he couldn’t help but stare.

It’s uncanny how much she looks like Elthea. How can this be? He even found himself questioning her humanity. What if this was all just a wicked illusion conjured up by the demonic desert? In other words, what if it was a demon’s plot to distract him and take him by surprise?

“Grandpa, do you want a sandwich? I made it myself.”

F-father, please have some cookies while you work. T-they are so good that I wanted to share them with you.

As Heathfenrir gazed at the child, he couldn’t help but see a reflection of his dear Elthea. “I-I’d really like that.”

“Of course. Here you go!”

The man took a cautious bite. Then another. “It’s good... It’s really good.”

“Really? Have another! I have plenty!”

He had meant what he said. The sandwiches were indeed very delicious. Strangely enough, they reminded him of the incredible nutritional tablets created by the alchemist Rodel. At this rate, he may well end up abandoning his fitness obsession and turning instead to the world of delicious foods.

“Grandpa, you must’ve been starving. When’s the last time you ate?”

“It’s been about ten days since my last meal.” He was in no position to be picky. He ignored his muscles’ silent cries for a low-carb, high-protein meal as he finished the last bit of bread.

“Ten whole days? What happened?”

“It’s been about two months since I entered this place. Before I knew it, I’d eaten up all of my provisions and had to sustain myself on demonic creature meat. Thankfully, I was surrounded by salt, so it didn’t taste too bad.”

“Oh, um, you’re very resourceful.”

“Everything was fine until I entered the stormy region of the desert. I couldn’t find any demonic creatures to hunt down and eat. I completely lost my sense of direction in there.”

“You’ve been through a lot, Grandpa. You can take it easy now. I’ll guide you to the exit gate.”

The grand duke chuckled quietly. This little girl was reassuring him with such confidence as if she was going to escort him across the dungeon herself. Escort him, Aaron-Jake Heathfenrir, the continent’s strongest man alive.

This little young’un, she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with when she grows up. His smile crinkled his eyes before he spoke with a serious face.

“My child, thank you for the offer, but I don’t plan on leaving the dungeon any time soon.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I just need to get through this sandstorm and I’ll be able to get into the boss’s zone. The person I’m looking for may be there.”

Her eyes sparkled like emeralds as she looked up quizzically. Even her eyes reminded the grand duke of his dear Elthea. His heart ached at the thought of his lost daughter.

Elthea... Are you truly here? I-is this child that I see before me... your soul that’s been bound to this dungeon?

Unaware of her role as the subject of a wild delusion, Ailette asked, “Who are you looking for?”

“My daughter, who disappeared thirteen years ago.”

“Oh... your daughter...”

A hushed silence settled over the room. The grand duke, not wanting to make Ailette feel sorry, quickly explained, “She’s my daughter, but she’s much older than you. It wouldn’t be strange at all if she had a daughter your age by now.”

“I see.”

“Wait, never mind. I take that back, now that I think about it.”

“Pardon?”

“The way I’ve imagined it, she probably has a son a whole two years older than you by now!”

“Ah... I see...”

The grand duke was getting carried away as he fantasized about his lost daughter being married, and the mother of two kids, to boot.

Ailette stopped the duke from getting into any more wild delusions. “At any rate, you’re saying she’s old enough to be my mother.”

“Yes, yes, that’s right.”

Perhaps it was because of their conversation, but the grand duke suddenly became very curious about the mother of this strange little girl who looked uncannily similar to Elthea.

“Ahem and what brought a little lady like yourself into this dungeon? Your mother is probably worried sick.”

“My mother...” Just as the man was silently praising himself for successfully changing the topic, Ailette answered with blunt indifference, “She’s not worried. I don’t even know where she is because she ran away six years ago.”

The duke balked. “R-ran away?”

“Yup.”

How could he have broached such a delicate subject?!

As the grand duke struggled to come up with a better way to navigate the conversation, Ailette continued on undaunted, “My mom abandoned her husband and her two kids. That’s why my dad had to go through so much while trying to raise us as a single parent.”

The older man wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Well, according to my brother,” the girl explained further, “she supposedly went missing after she left to wrangle up some animals with some yard tools, but I’m not buying it. Seems to me she just ran away.”

“I-I’m so sorry. I brought up a touchy subject.”

Ailette beamed at the duke, “No, it’s okay. Don’t be sorry. I was so young when she left, I don’t have any memories of her. I’ve been fine living without her in my life. Well anyway... I’ll hear your story since you sat through my moping.”

“Hm? Me?”

“How did you lose your daughter?”

The grand duke’s cheeks flared up like peaches. He pushed his embarrassment aside and forced himself to open up.

“My daughter... also ran away.”

“Ah!”

“B-but it’s all my fault! She ran away because I was a terrible father!”

“How so?”

“You see...” Grand Duke Heathfenrir’s story gave most family feud dramas a run for their money. When the grand duke was a young man, there was a woman that he loved dearly. Unfortunately, she was a commoner and was subject to the scrutiny of the noble family. Their relationship came to a devastating end, leaving both sides deeply scarred.

Many years later, the grand duke found out that his beloved had passed away, and that she had been carrying a baby when they separated. The duke searched far and wide, employing all the resources and manpower at his disposal to find the child. He eventually found the child, who was named Elthea, his young daughter left behind by his one true love. Naturally, he had brought her along, intending to care for her dearly.

But the young grand duke was cold, stern, and tactless. He had no idea how to show affection to his young daughter, as he had never received any love from his own parents. And every time he saw the child’s face, he was reminded of the woman he had loved but failed to protect.

He just couldn’t bear to look at his daughter, lest he imagine just how painful his beloved’s death had been, frail and alone. The duke somehow concluded that if he compensated by giving Elthea all that he was unable to provide for her mother, then perhaps this unbearable sense of guilt would lessen. And so the young grand duke made up his mind. He decided he would give his daughter only the best. For him, that was his title and position and all that came with it.

Ailette suddenly interjected and asked, “Wait! Grandpa, are you a nobleman? Baron? Viscount?”

“Ahem.”

“No way! Are you a count? Amazing!”

“Well, that’s not important.”

“Yes, milord.”

“Enough with that. Just call me Grandpa.”

“Yes, Grandpa.”

Heathfenrir managed to improvise and not give away his identity, as he continued with his story. The grand duke meant well, but his methods were rather crude and insensitive. His noble family’s education system was extremely strict. It was far too demanding of Elthea, who had already lived eight years of her life as a commoner.

As a result, Elthea’s successor training was difficult beyond belief. Many different teachers and instructors hounded the young child, day in and day out, trying to cram swordsmanship and academics into her to make up for the years she’d missed. And as the head of the family, the grand duke was ruthless.

You are now the royal princess of Heathfenrir. Conduct yourself in a manner befitting of your position.

His admonishment of Elthea when she had baked him gingerbread cookies pretty much summed up his parenting style at the time. Or perhaps that was him on a good day. He was impatient to shape Elthea into a daughter that was “the very image of a princess.”

This led him to even go as far as to say…

“The servants watch and hear everything. Refrain from calling me father and address me by my title.

Ailette groaned, “My word... She couldn’t even address her own father comfortably.” Her eyes glared at Heathfenrir in disgust as if she were appalled by both his elitist attitude and his parenting methods.

The grand duke felt his heart pang from her silent criticism but continued on. “But one fateful day...”

“You’re not done yet? Gimme one sec. Let me get some lemonade.”

“Right... Anyway, so on that fateful day...”

A girl who looked just like his dead lover had appeared out of nowhere, claiming that she was the duke’s real daughter.