Multiverse , Leveling Up in the World I Created

Chapter 420: 420 Return to the Volcano 6

He went back to the kitchen and, following my advice, ground the grains and made a porridge to feed the baby.

The baby, seemingly very hungry, stopped crying and ate very well.

Seeing that, I spoke to him with a worried expression.

"Oh my, you’ve built a house in the forest, and looking at the calluses on your hands, it seems you’re a person who secludes himself and practices swordsmanship. But wouldn’t it be better to gather firewood until your daughter grows up a bit? If you keep on like this, you might lose her too."

At that, he let out a deep sigh and spoke.

"I have something I must complete."

"Is that so?"

Yui-seol’s father was a disciple of Mount Hua, but he had left the declining sect.

However, longing for Mount Hua, he devoted his entire life to restoring the half-burned secret manual of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique, which had been damaged during the Demonic Cult incident, but ultimately failed and died.

The reason no one stopped Yui-seol’s father from taking the secret manual out of Mount Hua was that there was no way to restore a half-burned manual.

Even Cheongmyeong acknowledged this, saying that restoring a manual that wasn’t even half intact was no different from creating an entirely new sword technique.

In the end, he was devoting his life to a futile endeavor.

"Hmm... I’m not sure what it is you need to complete, but it seems quite important. So how about entrusting your daughter to our manor? The Jin Manor will raise her along with the other children. That way, she won’t go hungry, and she can learn both academics and martial arts, and make many friends."

When I made that suggestion, he thought for a moment and then asked me.

"Why would you go that far..."

"She’s barely been born, has no mother, and her father is consumed by other matters... I feel sorry for her, because at this rate, she might not grow up properly."

When I said that so bluntly, he scratched his head without raising it and answered.

He seemed to know himself that he was a failure of a father.

"Th, that’s true... I’ll do that."

"If you want to see your daughter, you can come to the manor anytime. The location in Sichuan is known to everyone, so it’ll be easy to find."

"Understood."

Knowing his own situation well, he eventually accepted my offer.

He looked at his daughter in his arms for a long time, sighed, and carefully handed her to me.

Parting with his daughter seemed displeasing to him, but ultimately, he seemed to think it was an unavoidable choice for the sake of restoring the secret manual.

"Then, I’ll leave my daughter in your care. Her name is Yui-seol."

"Understood."

After exchanging greetings, I held the infant Yui-seol in my arms and set off.

I had only intended to build a connection, but I ended up gaining Yui-seol right away.

’This... should I consider it a lucky turn of events?’

After going a suitable distance away, I teleported to the manor, took out baby supplies from my inventory, and began caring for Yui-seol.

"Huh? A baby? Did you have an accident? ...I was going to ask, but it looks nothing like you."

The general manager said that upon seeing the baby I was caring for.

"She’s the child of an acquaintance I’ve decided to care for from today."

"Understood. I’ll inform the servants as well."

I had already raised several children before.

So there was no particular problem in raising Yui-seol either.

Time passed like that, and five years had passed since Yui-seol came here.

She thought I was her father and always followed me around.

’Heh... This wasn’t what I intended...’

The funny thing was, even though I raised her, her personality remained as taciturn as in the original.

It seemed some things just didn’t change.

And her father had never visited once in five years, nor sent any word.

Thanks to that, the manor people also thought Yui-seol was my daughter.

’Her surname is different, so why... Could they think it’s ’Jin Yui-seol’?’

That seemed possible.

In China, four-character names including the surname were common.

But as the manor lord, I couldn’t very well ask.

Still, what was fortunate was that raising Yui-seol kept me from getting bored.

"What’s 3 plus 2?"

"5."

"Ooh, good job."

When I patted Yui-seol and said that, the general manager, watching, looked at me as if he’d seen something strange and spoke.

"Goodness... You’re dripping honey from your eyes."

"Why don’t you try raising a daughter too, General Manager? Then you’ll understand how I feel."

"I think I already do. The young lady is that adorable. She’s likely to grow into a great beauty."

"I suppose so... Anyway, my son will be coming here soon. His personality is similar to mine, so prepare accordingly."

"Ah, I see. Time has certainly flown by."

This general manager also knew that when the son came of age, he would inherit the manor.

It had always been that way.

This time, as the original story approached, I planned to play the role of the son myself, while my clone acted as the current manor lord.

A few days later, I replaced the manor lord with my clone, transformed into a young body, and arrived at the manor with pre-hired people, loading various supplies onto a carriage.

Upon arrival, I cupped my fists and greeted the clone acting as the manor lord.

My physical age was ten.

"Father, have you been well?"

"Yes, good to see you. I’m glad you look healthy."

The clone said that and introduced Yui-seol, who was clinging to his side, and the general manager.

"This is Yui-seol, and this is the manor’s general manager."

"I see. Nice to meet you."

The general manager also cupped his fists and greeted me.

"Nice to meet you, Young Master. I’ll serve you well from now on."

"I look forward to working with you. I’ve heard a lot about you."

Yui-seol didn’t greet me and just hid behind the clone, staring, so I approached and spoke to her first.

"Nice to meet you. I’m Jin."

Then Yui-seol, watching her chance, greeted me.

She seemed to be quite shy still.

"Ah, hello. I’m Yui-seol."

Then the clone spoke.

"Get along well from now on. You’ll be living together. Anyway, let’s go inside."

The manor workers began storing the supplies I had brought into the warehouse, and the clone and I continued a pre-arranged conversation.

It was mostly about what had happened in the Western Regions, so there was nothing for others to understand.

"Hmm... I see. You must be tired from the long journey, so rest today. Tomorrow, I’ll show you around the manor."

"Understood."

That day passed like that, and the next day, the clone showed me around the manor.

Yui-seol followed along, but she was still young and having trouble keeping up, so the clone carried her.

At one point, Yui-seol stared at my hair for a long time, then touched her own hair and looked sad.

She seemed to vaguely sense that she wasn’t the manor lord’s biological daughter.

But she tried not to show it, likely not wanting the current relationship to fall apart.

It was a pitiful sight, but it wasn’t the right time to tell her, so I decided to pretend not to notice for now.

Another five years passed.

During that time, I treated Yui-seol well, and her shyness disappeared and we became close, but her brusque personality remained.

But that was the same with the manor lord, so I let it be.

Now, it had been ten years since Yui-seol had left, and not a single word had come from her biological father, so I thought, "Isn’t this going too far?" and decided to take Yui-seol to visit him.

"Is anything bothering you?"

"I’m fine."

We were traveling not in the uncomfortable carriages of this era, but in a state-of-the-art carriage I had prepared in advance.

Of course, the driver was also an android-like robot made for such occasions.

While we were traveling to Hubei, where Yui-seol’s father lived, enjoying roasted chestnuts and eggs along the way, uninvited guests appeared.

"We are the forest bandits who guard this mountain! Do not worry, we mean you no harm. However, as we live in these mountains, we ask for a small token of your goodwill. We would be grateful if you could spare a little something for our circumstances!"

"Oh~ These are a different kind of bandit?"

The bandits cupped their fists and spoke with unexpected politeness.

After thinking about it for a moment, I realized that this was a major route connecting Sichuan and Hubei, and many disciples from various sects traveled here, so they avoided unnecessary provocation.

The clone got off the carriage and asked.

"So, how much do you want?"

"Oh! Silver hair and golden eyes... Could you be the lord of the Jin Manor in Sichuan?"

"Yes, that’s correct?"

The bandit sighed and spoke.

"Hah... We’re out of luck. Just go. We don’t want trouble with a major power."

"Is that so?"

They stepped aside with disappointed looks.

They had no idea I was thinking the opposite.

It was disappointing that they weren’t as amusing as the bandits from the Nanomachine world, but I figured I’d meet other bandits along the way.

The clone tossed them a silver coin and spoke.

"That was mildly entertaining, so here’s a reward."

"Thank you."

We set off again and arrived at our destination in Hubei.

The carriage had to be left with the driver as we walked along the mountain path, but the clone, acting as the manor lord, carried Yui-seol with one arm, so there was no major issue.

After climbing for a while, we arrived at the house we had visited before.

There was a sign of life inside, but no one came out when we called.

So we entered and went to the room where the presence was coming from.

"Cough, cough!"

Inside the room, Yui-seol’s father was lying down, coughing severely.

He was quite emaciated, as if he hadn’t eaten properly in a while, and his complexion was poor.

He tried to get up when he saw us, but the clone stopped him.

"Please stay as you are. You don’t look well."

"I’m sorry. I’ve been pushing myself lately and it seems I’ve developed a cough. That girl is... Ah, I see. She’s grown that much already."

Then the clone looked at me.

As if asking whether to tell the truth.

I nodded.

"Yiseol, he is your father. Greet him."

At that, Yui-seol was greatly shocked and stared at her father for a long time without speaking.

"Seeing you so surprised, it seems you didn’t know. I’m sorry. I had my own work to do, so I had no choice but to entrust you to the manor lord."

At those words, Yui-seol began to cry bitterly.

It seemed her worst suspicions had become reality.

So I hugged Yui-seol and patted her back to soothe her.

Once Yui-seol had calmed down a bit, we talked about various things—that he had been a disciple of Mount Hua, and about her mother.

The clone and I already knew this, so we stepped aside to give them some privacy, and I took out chicken and rice from my inventory to make chicken porridge with ginseng for him to help him regain his strength.

But it didn’t seem like this would cure him.

When I checked with [Naked Eye], he had severe pneumonia with an abscess in his lungs, and even with modern antibiotics, it was uncertain whether he could be saved.

"Thank you. I’ll eat well. Cough..."

"Take your time."

"Thanks to you, I’m having a warm meal for the first time in a long time. And you’ve raised my daughter so well... I don’t know how to repay you..."

"Not at all. I enjoyed it too, as if Yiseol were my own daughter."

"I’m relieved. Cough, cough..."

After finishing the meal, he leaned against the wall and began to speak.

"I tried to save Mount Hua’s declining martial arts, but I failed. I don’t have much time left. I’m glad I got to see my daughter at least once before I die. It’s shameless of me to ask, but could you grant me one request?"

"I will. Please tell me."

Then he pointed to a stack of books in the corner of the room.

"Those are the martial arts manuals I’ve been trying to restore all this time, and underneath are my notes from the restoration process. I don’t know how helpful my notes will be, but please deliver them to Mount Hua. If you say Unyeol sent them, the Sect Leader will know."

"Understood. I’ll do that."

"Thank you."

When the clone said he would grant the request, his face brightened with relief.

I actually thought this was good news.

I needed to go to Mount Hua before the original story began anyway.

We stayed near his house for a few days.

I judged that he wouldn’t last much longer.

Since Yui-seol was with us, I thought at least we should see him through to the end.