Chapter 89

I Became a Dad.

I became a dad.

I got a daughter.

"Dad!"

This wasn't some cheap joke.

I literally got a daughter.

"Dad! Hug me!"

Dad (Abba).

A word meaning someone's father.

Something I didn't have.

I didn't even have my own dad, and somehow I'd become someone else's.

I stood there blankly, then looked down at the tiny body clinging to me.

"......"

"Mhee."

She looked about ten.

Long black hair tied into twin tails, and eyes tinged slightly blue.

Her skin was milky and smooth, without a single blemish.

She hung off my shoulder, met my eyes, and gave me a soft smile.

"Hm."

My feelings were complicated.

It was impossible to describe, too tangled to put into words.

It had already been two days since I met my daughter (not actually my daughter).

I did bring her back to the dorm, but none of this felt real.

"A dad at this age...?"

Sure, if I counted my past life, I was an adult.

But in this body, I was still just in my late teens.

This wasn't some speedrun to teen parenthood, so how did I already have a daughter around ten years old...?

"Warm..."

Squirm, squirm.

She ignored all that and snuggled into my arms.

I felt awkward, but I held her anyway.

Maybe it was a habit from my past life.

I adjusted my posture automatically so she wouldn't be uncomfortable.

Feeling like I'd been conquered far too easily, I slumped onto the dorm sofa.

"Viktor."

"Ah... Princess-nim."

"What is that child?"

I'd brought back an unfamiliar little girl and called her my daughter.

The reactions from everyone who saw it were a spectacle.

"It sounds like she's been calling you Dad this whole time..."

"Princess-nim."

"Surely... y-you didn't have a hidden daughter behind this lady's back...?!"

"As if."

"Answer me. Did you set up a household with another woman?"

"This is the ninth time you've asked. Don't you ever get tired?"

"Ahem, receiving your lord's jokes with devotion is also a retainer's duty!"

Princess-nim had been teasing me like this since yesterday.

She seemed to enjoy my discomfort.

I'd already told her several times that the child in front of us was Wiggles.

She was usually the one I teased, and now that she had a perfect chance to get me back, she was savoring it.

"If you think about it, isn't this karma?"

"That's true, but..."

"Accept it gladly."

Poke, poke.

A white finger jabbed my cheek.

Carmilla carefully examined the girl in my arms.

"That aside... an Ego Weapon. This is my first time seeing one in person."

"It's a rare concept. I'd be surprised if there are even a hundred on the continent."

"A weapon with an ego that grows with its user..."

"Pretty unusual."

"What did you name her?"

"I named her Lua."

Lua.

That was the new name I'd given Wiggles.

Even if this daughter thing wasn't intentional, I couldn't keep calling such a lively child Wiggles forever.

"That's a pretty name."

"I thought about it quite a bit."

Then one thought came to me.

It was related to this whole "dad" title.

Lua had definitely originated from the master of Purgatory Floor 70.

I cleared the master, obtained its scale, raised it, and became Lua's father.

"If that's the case..."

I wasn't the only one involved in clearing Purgatory Floor 70.

Carmilla helped me, and she was there for most of the time I spent with Wiggles.

"Does that make Carmilla the mom?"

A serious thought.

Was this that thing... virgin conception, or whatever?

I deliberately shared that thought with Carmilla.

"W-what...?"

Maybe she still had no resistance to this kind of thing.

Her reaction was extremely satisfying.

She was instantly sunk, her face turning red.

The momentum she'd had while teasing me vanished, and she stiffened up.

It served her right enough that I calmly added a few more words.

"Doesn't it sound plausible?"

"What are you saying?! This lady, a-a mother...!"

"Of course I'm joking."

"Y-you, y-you..."

"Princess-nim?"

"V-Viktor and th-this lady's child..."

The girl looked oddly dazed.

Carmilla moved her lips as if chewing over my words.

Just as I wondered if I'd gone too far with the joke, Lua suddenly popped her head out from my shoulder.

"She's not my mom!"

"What."

Had she been listening to our conversation?

She cut in out of nowhere and corrected us.

"Princess-nim is Princess-nim."

"Y-yes...?"

It sounded like she was firmly rejecting Carmilla's promotion to mom.

While Carmilla was flustered by that certainty, Lua's next words rang through the room.

"And she's someone precious to Dad."

"...Huh?"

Carmilla froze on the spot.

Someone precious to Dad? Where had that come from all of a sudden?

I was just as startled when the status window added a short footnote.

Ding-!

[An Ego Weapon shares a deep bond with its user.]

[It can receive some of the user's emotions or thoughts.]

No.

What?

"S-someone precious...?"

"Yeah! Dad thinks so! Princess-nim is someone precious to Dad."

"What do you mean, thinks...?"

"Lua can read Dad's heart!"

The two of them kept talking before I could stop them.

Carmilla went blank for a moment, then pulled herself together and cleared her throat.

"Ahem! I-I see. Ego Weapons are bound to their masters by soul, after all..."

The corner of her mouth twitched strangely.

The awkward mood around her visibly softened.

Carmilla strode over and stroked Lua's black hair like silk.

"By any chance... is there anything else?"

"He says you're noble!"

"Hm! Mmhm...!"

"He also says it's rewarding to serve you!"

"R-rewarding? So he thought that..."

What exactly was she asking a kid?

Princess-nim pinched Lua's cheek like she found her adorable.

Maybe the commotion drew them in, because the two girls hovering nearby joined the conversation too.

"Miss Lua! I'm curious too!"

"U-um, if it's okay, me too..."

Ranne and Alice.

They had happened to be visiting the dorm.

After I went open about Carmilla, they'd started dropping by the room like this now and then.

Today, once they heard I'd gotten a daughter, they rushed over to see.

Purple and gray-blue eyes blinked, with Lua's tiny face reflected in them like a portrait.

"Big sisters are..."

Did my daughter have no caution at all?

Even surrounded by all three of them, she didn't get scared. She just burst into giggles.

"Big Sister Ranne is a cool person!"

"Ooh!"

"Big Sister Alice is a cute person!"

"C-cute person? Me...?"

No hesitation at all.

Ranne's eyes sparkled at the positive evaluation.

Alice looked awkward and shy, probably because the compliment caught her off guard.

"Miss Lua."

"Dad...?"

Lua showed no sign of stopping.

Starting to feel embarrassed, I lifted her small body up.

I met her eyes at the same level.

"Even if people ask, you shouldn't tell them everything so easily."

"Why?"

"Because it puts me in a difficult spot."

"A difficult spot? Dad?"

"I get embarrassed too, you know."

"......"

A brief exchange.

Lua's expression stiffened immediately.

She hesitated, then grabbed my sleeve.

"I'm sorry..."

"Miss Lua?"

"I didn't know Dad would hate it."

"It wasn't that I hated it."

"Dad, are you going to throw Lua away...?"

She looked up at me with pitiful eyes.

Her dark pupils trembled.

She tried to hide it, but I always crumbled when I saw eyes like that.

Maybe it was a habit from my past life, but children disarmed me far too easily.

"Of course not."

I answered gently.

I lowered the girl I'd been holding back into my arms.

Lua hesitated for a second, then threw her arms around me.

"I'm not throwing you away."

"Really...?"

Yeah.

Things had changed form quite a bit, but she was still my weapon.

If I abandoned you, I'd lose my main armament immediately.

I slowly held out my pinky finger.

"Let's make one promise instead. Don't casually talk about Dad's feelings in front of other people."

"Okay...! Dad is the best!"

Her tiny finger hooked mine tightly.

Her teary face was already gone, and she was grinning again.

Even behind that bright smile, there were still a few things I needed to check.

"Miss Lua."

"Mhm?"

"There's something I want to confirm. Can you help me?"

"If it's Dad's request!"

The item had evolved.

I needed to check what had changed.

She'd suddenly become my daughter, but first and foremost, she was still my main weapon.

"Activate. Scythe."

Shrrrk-!

When I spoke the activation word as usual, a faint light swirled around the girl.

Before long, her whole body darkened and transformed into a scythe.

It looked almost the same as the one I always wielded.

"No, did it change a little...?"

The surface seemed slightly bluer.

It used to be pure black, but now it had a pretty night-sky tone.

"Activate. Gauntlet."

Shrrrk-.

Not just the scythe, the other forms worked fine too.

Compared to the old Wiggles, the difference was that the weapon now had a growth option.

"And I can use unique skill number 3 now too."

Ding-!

[A growth option has been added to exclusive weapon 'Black Mist'!]

[You can now use exclusive weapon 'Black Mist' Unique Skill 3!]

I dismissed the messages floating before me.

Then I gave the scythe in my hand a light swing.

As expected, it felt weightless, and the blade cut sharply through empty air.

"Miss Lua, do you get dizzy or anything when I swing you?"

<[Yes! I don't feel anything at all in this form!]>

"So that means it doesn't hurt either?"

<[That's right!]>

"That's a relief."

It seemed that swinging or clashing the weapon didn't cause Lua pain.

I'd finally obtained an S-grade weapon. It would be a problem if I felt too uneasy to use it.

Lua especially was now a high-ceiling weapon, with a growth option attached.

"The more I raise her, the higher her grade should go."

It was a huge gain.

I got more than my money's worth from that single reward selection ticket.

Its base performance was already absurd, so I was looking forward to how it would be after full growth.

"Activate. Lua."

Shrrrk-.

At the short command, Lua returned to her tiny girl form.

I lightly caught her as she slipped from my fingertips.

When our eyes met, she giggled.

"For now, I guess this worked out..."

I straightened my disheveled mask.

The days flowed by quietly.

Anyway,

it felt like I'd need some time to adjust to this suddenly acquired daughter.

***

Meanwhile, the noisy midterms came to an end.

Right after exams, the academy was unusually quiet.

The professors bustled around, still busy finalizing grades.

The students, on the other hand, enjoyed a week with no classes.

Even then, most cadets still showed up at the library.

Watching them prepare for finals that were still far off reminded me again that this was an elite academy.

"Not that it matters to me..."

For that week, I lazed around in the dorm.

With one more family member around, it wasn't boring.

Then grades were finalized, and the first day came when we had to report back to class.

"......"

"Dad!"

I arrived at the classroom with Lua.

In front of all the students, a black-haired little girl looked up at me and called me Dad.

Lua waved brightly.

"Dad! Lua found her!"

With her other hand, she was tightly gripping someone's sleeve.

A neat uniform, rose-colored hair swaying softly.

A woman known as the academy's true number two.

Chief Investigator Javert.

Lua held her hand tightly and looked my way.

Javert looked briefly shaken, and Lua beamed in front of her.

"Mom!"

Mom (Umma).

A word meaning someone's mother.

Lua bounced up and down and declared it in front of the class.

"This person is Lua's mom!"

Her fresh voice rang clearly through the classroom.

Around us, Class E students stood there with their jaws dropped.

Every one of them had lost their words, staring back and forth between the three of us.

"......"

They looked like people witnessing a morning soap opera in real life.

The situation had hit out of nowhere.

I blankly rubbed my mask.

Ah.

Where did this start going wrong?