Father, I Won’t Do Anything

“Do I even have the right to approach that child? She said she doesn’t consider me her father.”

“But the Tower Lord saved her life, didn’t you? You should have pressed the matter from then on.”

“She spat those words at me – that she doesn’t see me as her father, that she doesn’t want to catch my eye – and you expect me to…?”

“A child needs a father.”

“Dragons have no father concept.”

Mikael couldn’t hide his frustration.

Considering he had sacrificed his own magic power and strength to save Jaina when she collapsed from an allergic reaction, it meant he had cared for her from at least that point onward – which was years ago, wasn’t it?

As Diamid’s disciple closely observing him, Mikael realized Diamid deeply cared about Jaina.

“And when the culprit is caught, will you secretly handle it again like last time, without Jaina’s knowledge?”

There had been instances where Diamid dealt with threats against Jaina behind her back, without her ever finding out.

Mikael found it pointless, since the person concerned remained unaware.

Yet Diamid had continued watching over Jaina from the shadows.

“That child doesn’t need a father, but I want to be a source of strength for her. So it’s enough for me to quietly remain in the background like this.”

He didn’t even have the audacity to reach out to her first.

“Ughh…”

Mikael knew that recently, Diamid had given Elia some of the Magic Tower’s treasures and negotiated a contract that favored the Empire over the Magic Tower.

It was all for Jaina’s sake.

Elia had initially declined, but upon realizing it was Diamid’s way of expressing gratitude, she accepted.

‘This is madness.’

Mikael never expected the mighty Diamid to bend over backwards like this. If he had told his past self, he would have scoffed and dismissed it as preposterous.

Mikael let out a deep sigh.

* * *

Eventually, the day Jaina had arranged with Raikis arrived.

Jaina went to the Magic Tower’s gate to welcome him. After receiving permission for teleportation magic, Raikis looked around the Magic Tower and smiled faintly.

“I’ve heard much about the Magic Tower, but this is my first time actually visiting.”

And there was someone observing their encounter from afar.

Diamid.

Whenever a new tutor appeared for Jaina, he would secretly watch from the shadows – an influence from Charlotte’s case.

The gist was that he could only put his mind at ease after seeing how the tutor interacted with Jaina firsthand.

“Go.”

Diamid signaled to Izren and Yurika. Both moved sluggishly, with a ‘here we go again’ attitude.

Since he couldn’t leave Jaina and her tutor completely alone, he had instructed them to report any suspicious occurrences immediately.

‘How many times have I heard that, and here we go again…’

Izren and Yurika sighed as they headed towards Jaina’s room.

* * *

“Lady Jaina, you seem quite skilled at the harpsichord. When did you start learning?”

“I began at the age of ten, so it’s been eight years now.”

“Indeed, your efforts have borne fruit.”

“Thank you, but I still feel quite lacking.”

It wasn’t a mere display of humility. Seeing Jaina’s dejected expression, Raikis looked perplexed.

“I’m not just praising you as your tutor; objectively speaking, your skills are exceptional, Lady Jaina. Is there a reason for your modesty?”

“It’s because the Tower Lord is never satisfied. He repeatedly asks me to play again.”

It had been years since this began.

“I won’t be able to stop performing for the Tower Lord until he’s finally pleased.”

Raikis gave a peculiar smile.

“Might the Tower Lord simply wish to meet with you periodically, Lady Jaina?”

“The Tower Lord? Surely not… You’re aware of the rumors about him, aren’t you?”

Raikis smiled strangely.

“Fixating too much on a single piece can obscure one’s understanding of it. Why don’t we stray a little?”

“Ah, there was actually a piece you performed that I wanted to learn, Teacher.”

Jaina referred to the piece Raikis had played at the recent soiree.

“Among the warm, romantic compositions you played, this one stood out as an exception.”

Among the various pieces he had performed at the soiree, this was the only one with a melancholic tone.

As Jaina mentioned recalling it, Raikis began filling in the blank score, having memorized the entire piece.

“But I’m something of a perfectionist, you see.”

“A perfectionist, indeed.”

“What are your thoughts on this piece titled , Lady Jaina?”

“I’ve heard it was composed after the writer lost their parents. It seems only natural to feel resentment towards the God who took away parents who had lived righteously.”

Jaina offered a conventional interpretation. And she expected Raikis’s response to be similar. However.

“But don’t you think the more virtuous the deceased, the more meaning their death holds? If someone deserving of death had died instead, people wouldn’t have felt such prolonged anguish over their passing.”

Caught by his unconventional perspective, Jaina focused her attention on Raikis as he seemed to savor the words, curving his lips in delight.

“In fact, perhaps to God, humans are no more than ants. I certainly don’t hesitate to kill ants myself.”

“…”

“From the perspective of making a single human’s death as grand and beautiful as possible, I believe God possesses an artistic sensibility.”

Jaina regarded the performer with a peculiar gaze as he spoke those words. Such an interpretation offered a quite novel viewpoint. Yurika, standing behind Jaina, shared a similar reaction.

However, Izren was different.

Ever since first encountering Raikis, he had been suppressing a chill running down his arm.

He was undoubtedly a formidable warrior, having reached the finals of the martial arts tournament.

Yet the moment he entered the room and met Raikis’s gaze, he felt like an ant before a human.

* * *

The temple faction, having played a minimal role in the Demon King’s subjugation, had instead pinned their hopes on the High Priest’s awakening to turn the tide in their favor.

If only the High Priest were here.

If only the High Priest had awakened.

Having received disproportionately little recognition compared to their efforts, they awaited the High Priest’s return more than ever before.

“After all, didn’t the High Priest expend all their strength during the crisis before the Demon King’s war, leading to their slumber?”

“It’s vexing how people blamed us in the High Priest’s absence.”

“Exactly. Are they saying the High Priest should have let the world perish instead of participating back then?”

They hoped the awakened High Priest would restore the temple’s prominence as in the past.

They wished to curtail the undue influence of those hailed as heroes for defeating the Demon King, despite receiving no divine blessings.

And when the High Priest Annert finally awoke, he spoke as they had hoped.

“The future I foresaw is unfolding differently from the present.”

The priests were struck by his revelation.

Unlike ordinary humans, the High Priest had lived through countless eras. Yet in all that time, not once had his prophecies ever been wrong.

“Princess Elia, who should have died, did not. Tower Lord Diamid didn’t commit any misdeeds.”

Of course, the future diverging didn’t necessarily mean it was better or worse.

However, the high-ranking temple officials had been preparing based on Annert’s prophecy that ‘Tower Lord Diamid would fall into depravity and kill Princess Elia.’

But now that hadn’t occurred?

‘For the temple to become a rallying point, Princess Elia had to die, and Tower Lord Diamid had to become a common enemy for the continent.’

The Princess Elia hailed as a hero possessed formidable power, yet she didn’t abuse it for frivolous purposes. Moreover, her character was renowned for its fairness and integrity.

As for Tower Lord Diamid, he was the leader of the Magic Tower, creating groundbreaking inventions that transformed people’s lives, but he had also previously been a man of great power. A single individual whose influence extended across the entire continent.

Yet the high-ranking priests lamented that Princess Elia hadn’t died and Tower Lord Diamid hadn’t fallen into depravity.

“How could the prophecy have gone so astray?”

“If this is God’s will, we must accept it… But we need to examine what caused this deviation.”

The priests recounted at length the events that had transpired while the High Priest was asleep.

However, they couldn’t pinpoint the cause.

“Come to think of it, there’s talk in high society about a lady named Jaina living at the Magic Tower, with Princess Elia as her chaperon.”

And it was only after such trivial gossip – at least in the priests’ view – from high society surfaced that they could finally discern what had triggered this situation.

Annert spoke.

“It’s because of this lady named Jaina.”

“Pardon?”

“She didn’t exist in the future I foresaw.”

Of course, even as the High Priest, Annert couldn’t see every possible future. He could only glimpse fragments of the future.

However, Jaina seemed to be the only one capable of influencing both Diamid and Elia.

As the high-ranking priests left after meeting the High Priest, they muttered in disbelief.

“Are you saying this lady prevented Diamid’s fall into depravity?”

“Diamid is an exceedingly level-headed man. How could that be possible?”

The Chief Priest Meren stepped forward.

“Rather than questioning its possibility, what’s important is how we can utilize this.”

“That may be so, but she’s merely a single lady, after all.”

Meren gave a peculiar smile.

“That remains to be seen.”

After parting with the high-ranking priests, Meren boarded a carriage.

Puzzled by the late hour, the coachman asked:

“Lord Meren. What business do you have at this hour?”

“Excessive curiosity is unwise.”

“My apologies.”

And Meren had the carriage driven to a secluded residence in the capital.

A rowdy tavern.

In that unseemly place unbecoming of a priest, there was a woman with an alluring smile.

Meren approached her and whispered quietly.

“Countess Milpres. Do you know of the lady named ‘Jaina’?”

Countess Milpres widened her eyes at Meren’s words before smiling in apparent delight.

“Why, of course I do.”