Chapter 26

Father, I…

Commander Hayden had been standing behind us, though I had no idea when he arrived.

Meursault followed behind him with his usual expressionless face and stared directly at me.

That look is practically asking what kind of trouble I caused this time.

While the frozen officers stood there at a loss for words, the commander tilted one corner of his mouth and asked again.

“What if I find out?”

“Y-Your Excellency……!”

Only then did the pro-Hayden officers snap back to their senses. They raised their hands and saluted in unison, but the commander gestured that it was enough.

“Just answer me. I already know my son climbed over the wall to meet Daphne… but hearing that there is something even more troublesome for me to discover is quite intriguing.”

The commander’s single remaining eye, carrying an amused smile, rested on me briefly before turning toward Josef.

“What could possibly be more troublesome than climbing over the wall of his stepmother’s residence?”

“W-Well……”

Josef looked unable to decide whether to tell the truth or lie his way out of the situation.

He was probably thinking that even if he managed to cover it up with a lie now, it would only provoke even greater anger if Daphne revealed the truth later.

There was nothing to gain from tormenting the pro-Hayden officers here, so I decided to step in.

“Your Excellency.”

When I addressed him that way, the commander’s eye widened slightly as he looked at me.

It was probably because I had called him “Your Excellency” instead of “Father.”

I hesitated for a moment before speaking again.

“…Father. Please don’t misunderstand. My methods may have been somewhat forceful, but……”

From beside him, I heard Meursault mutter, “Somewhat?” in disbelief.

I shot him a sideways glare before continuing.

“All I did was have a brief conversation with Lady Daphne.”

“If all you did was talk, why do these men look so uneasy?”

“They’re probably worried because I spoke with her about my mother.”

At those words, Meursault’s expression changed, but the commander showed no reaction.

“Hmm……”

The commander appeared to think for a moment. Then he glanced toward Daphne’s mansion and spoke flatly.

“I can hear the details from Daphne herself.”

“Yes, that won’t be a problem.”

The commander stared at me in silence for a moment.

“…Even if all you did was speak with her, it is not entirely without issue. You did climb over the wall.”

“It was entirely my fault for entering without Lady Daphne’s permission.”

“And yet you say there is no problem?”

“That’s because Lady Daphne forgave me, so there isn’t one.”

Meursault frowned at my answer.

The commander, still expressionless, added as though he were explaining something very simple.

“You are wrong, Haydam. Everything that happens within this zone requires my permission. Even if it concerns climbing over the wall of my wife’s mansion, it would not be a problem if you had first obtained my approval. If you understand what I mean, nod.”

In other words, I could do whatever I wanted, but I had to ask permission before causing trouble.

It also meant that even though I was his son, I was still expected to obey him.

The commander had said nothing when I went hunting with Meursault or visited the research facility.

Judging by how sensitive he was about this particular matter, Daphne’s affairs must have been important even to him.

Still, his words were closer to a warning that I had crossed the line.

I had never expected to climb over someone else’s wall without receiving at least one scolding, so I obediently nodded.

Then I said,

“Then… since my business is finished, may I have permission to return to my room?”

Instead of apologizing or showing remorse, I simply asked that.

The officers behind me sighed, and Meursault pressed a hand to his forehead.

Only the commander let out a faint chuckle.

I used to wonder why he was so lenient with me.

But now that I knew Luna Moon had been a player, I understood.

Since I was also a player, my every action was bound to resemble Luna Moon’s.

“Very well. You may go.”

Once the commander granted permission, I gave him a cheerful farewell and turned to leave.

Then I heard Meursault mutter in a low voice without moving his lips, like a ventriloquist.

“You will have to explain this matter properly later.”

I mouthed, Anytime, and walked away.

Apparently, Meursault was deeply upset that I had interfered with his precious Daphne.

After finishing up the incident, he came to find me immediately.

But I had actually been waiting for him, and I delivered the words I had prepared.

“Lady Daphne and Father are going to get divorced.”

Meursault asked in a trembling voice,

“W-What do you mean by that?”

“Lady Daphne and Father are getting divorced. More precisely, I agreed to help make their divorce possible.”

“Lord Haydam agreed to help Lady Daphne……?”

Meursault merely repeated my words like a broken machine.

It couldn’t be helped.

“Lady Daphne wants to divorce the commander, and I want that too. So the two of them will separate soon.”

“Lady Daphne… wants a divorce……”

Was this guy really the smartest person in the entire zone?

“And I’m only telling you this……”

When I deliberately trailed off, Meursault swallowed dryly and stared at me.

“Lady Daphne is also looking for someone to remarry. She asked me to find her a good man.”

“Th-That is……!”

Without so much as moistening my lips, I smiled brightly and calmly watched Meursault’s trembling pupils.

“That’s right, Meursault. Lady Daphne trusts me completely. So… you’ll become a ‘good man’ for me now, won’t you?”

“O-Of course……!”

Watching Meursault nod his head violently up and down, I smiled in satisfaction.

Daphne was already so infatuated with Meursault that she had chosen Meursault’s Wife as her nickname.

Bringing those two together would not be difficult.

Well, I could have simply told him that Daphne liked him… but it would have been rude for me to confess her feelings on her behalf when she had not done so herself.

So I had no choice but to indirectly exploit—no, inform him like this.

I really was such a kind player.

I left the development of the research facility’s combat rations to the capable NPC Meursault, who had become a “good man” thanks to Daphne.

Meanwhile, Taejeong and I decided to go hunting together.

Stay-at-home wifey received combat training every day, so he would probably be fine.

But no matter how thoroughly I had cleared every zone in the game, I would never be able to display my full abilities in the subjugation battle without real combat experience.

Taejeong would not participate in this particular subjugation, but consistently fighting monsters would help him serve as a tank later on.

For Taejeong to join a subjugation battle, he needed to grow bigger.

His marksmanship and healing abilities were both mediocre, so his physique was the only thing he had going for him.

Still, considering that he was already a full head taller than Stay-at-home wifey and me, he would probably be bigger than most adults by the time he turned fifteen.

The problem was……

“You’re saying we can’t?”

The commander refused to allow Taejeong and me to go hunting.

“Why not?”

At my question, the commander answered briefly without even looking up from his documents.

“Because it’s dangerous.”

As though I would go hunting without knowing it was dangerous.

“Would it be acceptable if Meursault accompanied us?”

“Haydam.”

The commander looked at me steadily with his one remaining eye.

“You went hunting before without asking my permission. Since the result was not bad, I let it pass. But you are a minor, not a soldier, and you are asking to leave the zone. As a soldier, as an adult, and above all as your father, do you truly think I would permit—”.

“…allow you to do that.”

“Even if I’m skilled enough with a gun to hunt a hippo-boar by myself?”

“No.”

“What if Taejeong stays behind and only Director Meursault and I go?”

“You are not so foolish that I should have to repeat myself several times.”

A disturbing thought suddenly occurred to me. After a brief silence, I asked,

“Then… what about the next subjugation battle?”

“The subjugation battle?”

The commander raised one eyebrow and looked at me as though I had said something genuinely unexpected.

“Why are you asking? It has nothing to do with you.”

Nothing to do with me……?

This bastard has no intention of letting me participate.

He had to know that allowing me to join the subjugation battle was necessary to gain the residents’ support. If he still claimed it had nothing to do with me, then he clearly did not want to send the son he had found after ten years into danger.

Who would have thought the commander being an overprotective father would become a problem?

For now, I openly stated my desire to participate.

“I want to join the next subjugation battle.”

The commander chuckled.

It seemed he was not taking me seriously.

“Yes, I heard about that. You personally went to the research facility and asked them to ensure the child soldiers participating in the subjugation battle wouldn’t go hungry, didn’t you? I understand that you’re worried about them, but… this is excessive. You are no longer an orphan from the slums.”

“But as a resident of this zone, I also—”

“Haydam. You will soon attend the military academy. It won’t be too late to participate in subjugation battles after you graduate. There is no need to rush.”

Military academy? The place no one used for clearing routes because it takes six years to graduate?

The fact that the commander knew nothing about the Second Apocalypse was always getting in the way.

I—no, all of us—did not have much time left.

What if I tell him right now that I’m a player just like Luna Moon and that the Second Apocalypse is coming……?

The chances of the commander believing me were practically zero.

His current leniency toward me existed only because he believed I was Luna Moon’s son.

If I confessed that I was a player, I would first have to explain why I had been pretending to be a dead woman’s child.

That would probably lead to the beheading ending Stay-at-home wifey had feared.

A way to join the subjugation battle without losing the commander’s trust… and a way to avoid entering the military academy……

I still had one wish left from the three-reward route, but I needed to use that to make him divorce Daphne.

I should be able to solve a problem of this level on my own.

While I was lost in thought, the commander spoke.

“More importantly, I spoke with Daphne.”

“Ah, yes.”

“She said you promised to make her divorce me.”

“Yes, I did. Is there a problem?”

The commander stared at me, momentarily speechless, before finally shaking his head.

“Even this shamelessness resembles Luna Moon. I suppose her method of raising you must have been rather unconventional.”

Hmm.

Unless I was imagining it, he seemed to say I resembled Luna Moon every time I acted insolently.

Apparently, the player named Luna Moon had not possessed an easygoing personality either.

The commander watched me silently for a while before asking in a low voice,

“Daphne… told you that Luna Moon was a ‘player’?”

“Yes.”

When I answered without hesitation, the commander frowned.

“How can you accept it so easily?”

“Pardon?”

“At first… I didn’t believe Luna Moon either. She was always saying absurd things, so naturally, I assumed it was another joke. It took me a long time to believe her. But you……”

Was he suspicious because I had immediately accepted that Luna Moon was a player?

I had already prepared an answer for that.

“I had a vague feeling that she was someone from another world. Whenever I looked at Mother.”

“I suppose… having been raised by her, it wouldn’t be strange for you to think that.”

She must have been quite an eccentric person.

“But why did you promise to make Daphne divorce me?”

“Is it strange for me, as Mother’s son, to want that?”

“That isn’t what I mean. I simply didn’t think you would care about such a thing.”

The commander was mistaken.

Even from the perspective of Luna Moon’s son, it would be better for him to divorce Daphne.

But for now, I should answer like this.

“Because Lady Daphne, my mother’s friend, wants it.”

“……”

A trace of bitterness briefly crossed the commander’s face.

Was he sensitive about matters involving Daphne because she had been Luna Moon’s friend after all?

Even so, there was still one thing that did not make sense.

“There’s something I’m curious about. Why haven’t you divorced her already?”

If he knew Luna Moon was a player, then he must also know that Daphne was one.

It would not have been strange for them to divorce long ago.

But the commander’s answer was almost too matter-of-fact.

“Because I needed an heir.”

“You don’t appear to have put much effort into producing one.”

“I believed you would appear. Daphne and I are still young. Perhaps we might have had a child together several years from now, but now that you have appeared, that letter no longer matters.”

“A letter?”

“Luna Moon’s letter.”

A letter from Luna Moon?

Was Luna Moon somehow involved in the marriage between Daphne and the commander as well?

“I told you before that I would explain why I married Daphne instead of Luna Moon. Daphne does not know this, but……”

The commander quietly murmured that it should be all right to tell me now, then continued.

“The person who wanted me to marry Daphne was none other than Luna Moon.”

“What?”

“Even now, Daphne seems to believe Luna Moon left because I chose to marry her in order to become commander, but that isn’t entirely true. Luna Moon left as soon as she realized she was pregnant. I don’t know why, but she left behind only a letter telling me to marry Daphne and become commander.”

She had left her lover a letter telling him to marry Daphne?

Why?

She would die if she failed to clear her route……

Could it have been because she did not want Daphne to die?

No. That can’t be it.

From what I had heard about Luna Moon from both the commander and Daphne, she did not seem like such a kindhearted person.

Nor did she appear to have been particularly altruistic.

Then why……?

There was no way to know the reason unless I heard it directly from Luna Moon herself.

My thoughts suddenly turned to the entity dwelling within Luna Moon’s ring.

Perhaps the consciousness inside the ring was a message Luna Moon had left for me.

It did not seem willing to tell me anything yet, though.

Still, after hearing all this—

I thought of a way.

A way to participate in the subjugation battle and avoid attending the military academy.

“…You asked me something before.”

“Asked you?”

“You asked whether I would tell you everything once you told me everything you knew.”

Remembering that request, the commander nodded.

“Yes. I did.”

“Now I’m ready to tell you everything as well. Father, I……”

I slowly opened my mouth and finished the sentence.

“I am a regressor.”