Chapter 78 : 

Episode 18 : A Father's Approval (2)

With how the morning started out as unprecedented, it was only right to get back to the tavern.

So as soon as we regrouped with my comrades, everyone proceeded to walk toward the tavern.

But as for Asher, she must have other business to attend to, thus she left without saying a single goodbye nor even notifying us.

But seeing how Mya and HwanGi didn't notice Asher's disappearance, I thought it was better to not tell them and let them figure out by themselves.

Plus they must already be exhausted by the previous fight we had.

"Captain! What do you think of this necklace?" Mirai spoke to me after moving herself beside me, showing me her necklace.

I glanced at it for a bit before I complimented her. "It fits you perfectly, Mimi."

Once Mirai got my response, she smiled in joy, shining her adorableness at my direction.

‘You have gotten more adorable while I wasn't here, Mimi..’ I unknowingly grinned when I had that thought.

Frostina walked up to me, being as graceful as ever and asking me. "My Liege, what happened while we weren't with you?" 

"I encountered morons while searching for Alaine." 

"Ah, I see. Then—"

What Frostina was about to say to me, was cut off by Mya who unexpectedly went. "She's disappeared!? Where did that mean lady go?!"

Even though it took longer than expected, It seemed like Mya discovered that Asher was no longer walking alongside our group.

I turned to look behind me, seeing Mya surveying her surroundings like crazy as if she didn't believe Asher just suddenly disappeared.

HwanGi, holding onto Mya's hand and carrying Alaine, gazed toward me with an unease expression. 

It almost felt like he was blaming himself for not detecting Asher's appearance. As if he thought I would feel let down by him.

"Don't worry about that. I had already noticed Asher was gone." I said, thinking it may make him feel better.

Despite HwanGi being surprised that I had known Asher had vanished, his expression soon changed from astonishment to disappointment pretty quickly.

‘..What? Did I say something wrong?’ I thought, raising my eyebrow.

I scratched my head, ignoring HwanGi as I continued on walking toward the tavern.

———

Upon arrival, everyone went inside the tavern, going to their separate places while HwanGi needed to go into Alaine's room to lay Alaine on her bed.

Mya let go of HwanGi's hand the moment HwanGi arrived inside the tavern, immediately going toward her father's side.

HwanGi watched as Mya walked up to her father who was cooking meals for the people in his tavern, then it appeared like she was talking to her father.

Not sure as to what Mya was telling her father about, but HwanGi could see Payne flinching once he heard Mya's story.

"Hmm..mmf.." 

The sound that Alaine made when she was sleeping on HwanGi's back, caused HwanGi to stop being curious what the father and daughter were talking about.

As HwanGi started to climb up the stairs to go toward Alaine's room, he realized the door was locked and so he tried to find the key by checking Alaine's pockets.

However, no matter how much HwanGi searched, he couldn't locate where Alaine's room key was.

Since HwanGi couldn't find Alaine's room key in her pockets, he figured that the key may be in Alaine's inventory.

‘I need to ask Payne for the spare key.’ HwanGi exhaled sigh after knowing he would need to go downstairs to ask Payne. 

Out of the blue, HwanGi stood up as he caught sight of JoonChul going up the stairs.

Then JoonChul was going toward his room as he glanced at the situation in which HwanGi was in.

HwanGi smiled awkwardly before looking back at Alaine, taking her arm and putting it behind his neck.

As HwanGi was lifting Alaine up, the sound of keys hitting each other was heard.

And that was when JoonChul searched through the spare keys to unlock Alaine's room, opening the door for HwanGi once it was unlocked.

HwanGi was baffled on how and why JoonChul conveniently had the spare keys with him.

Thus to satisfy his curiosity, HwanGi asked JoonChul. "JoonChul-ssi, how did you have—?"

JoonChul seemed as though he already predicted what HwanGi wanted to ask, so he instantly told HwanGi. 

"You think I wouldn't know? I always need to be prepared for anything, even if it's a lost key or a key inside a sleeping person's inventory."

"..Right. Thank you, JoonChul-ssi."

After thanking him, JoonChul left the second floor and went downstairs immediately.

HwanGi couldn't think much of it since he already got a sleeping beauty in his arms, although he was kinda astounded that JoonChul was too well prepared.

Afterwards, HwanGi went inside Alaine's room, leaving Alaine on her bed before going up to the door.

Once he reached for the doorknob, he suddenly had a thought. ‘I can't just leave a sleeping girl all by herself..’

‘Plus she might be dumbfounded once she wakes up.’

Upon thinking that, HwanGi pulled a chair toward the window, sitting down when placed as he began to wait patiently for Alaine to wake up.

———

After having done what I did on the second floor, I climbed down the stairs to be expecting something.

I was walking up to the counter where the tavern's owner was just standing there with his hands on the counter.

Not only that, Mya was sitting beside the counter, lowering her head as she fidgeted with her fingers. 

Once Payne laid his glance on me, he called me over to the counter. "Mr. JoonChul! May you come over here for a second?"

I was already going there anyway since I had a guess on what Payne would be discussing.

As I got to the counter, I pulled a chair and seated myself beside Mya before glimpsing over to Payne, asking him. "What's the matter?

"It's about my daughter." Payne said in a serious tone.

"Yes, what about her?"

Payne inhaled before informing me. "I appreciate you and your group saving my daughter, but I can't bear that my daughter was put into danger because of your group."

"And so? You know that she's a player, right? One day or another, she will need to face much tougher obstacles than the one she just encountered today."

"She will not be going anywhere other than this tavern!" Payne raised his voice as he slammed the counter with his hands.

I wasn't at all fazed by this and laid my hand on Mya's head, ruffling her hair to calm the frightened child.

When Mya looked at me and grabbed hold of my hand, I gave her a warm smile before shifting my eyes toward Payne's.

I gave him an important question while appearing all solemn. "Do you wish to see your daughter die a horrible death?"

It may not be wise and appropriate to talk about death in front of a child, but I didn't care either way.

Payne looked at me with an enraged expression, having his teeth grind together. "What did you say?"

"You know very well that no matter how much you tried to keep your daughter here, she will inescapably be transported to the next stage. And it won't be a ‘warm’ ride there."

As If I had hit a nail on Payne, he seemed to be overthinking stuff while having a perplexed mix of anger in his expression. 

"For a father to watch his daughter go on a tough journey without him being able to stop her from going must be hard, but you need to accept it." I spoke after seeing Payne's expression switching from rage to sorrowful.

"I won't allow her to go. No, I will never."

‘Tch, why is he being stubborn about this?’ Getting a bit exasperated, I thought before informing Payne the cold hard fact.

"By doing so, you will put her in a dangerous situation."

Payne didn't respond, acting as though he wouldn't listen to me.

However, I didn't wish to give up persuading Payne because I needed Mya on in my team.

"Let's Imagine her one day disappearing from this world to end up in a new and unknown world where she has no one to help her. Would you really want that?"

"...No." 

"But if she joined my team, as the leader of my team, I'll promise to protect her and take care of her as if she's like my daughter." 

"..." 

I exhaled a sigh, rubbing my forehead as I watched my words not going through to this stubborn tavern's owner.

‘This is much harder than expected.’ I mused, seeing Payne cooking up a meal.

He then placed the meal on the counter in front of me as well as Mya's. Of course, I paid him by giving him 5 coins, including a 10 coins tip. 

I had a look at my meal as I smelled an appetizing scent coming from the steak as well as the soup's aroma filling my nose.

It was an irresistible meal that I didn't wait to have a taste of. Thus, as I was an inch away from grabbing the flatware, I heard Mya declared to her father.

"I will join uncle JoonChul's team!" This gave Payne a shock as he witnessed his daughter saying things in a confidence manner.

"What did you say? Do you know how dangerous it is to be out there?!" Payne raised his voice but not to the point of shouting to Mya. 

I was already holding onto my fork and spoon when I suggested an idea. "How about my team prove to you that I can protect her? While doing so, Mya could also prove herself to you on how competent she can be."

Payne and Mya stared at me while I was taking a sip of my soup from the spoon.

"How about that?" I asked, placing my spoon inside the soup.