Chapter 18 Part 2 – My mother’s worries. But we take it step by step together. In order to survive.

My mother seems worried, thinking she’s the bad one here, and her negative emotions don’t stop.

「Qualified? What even does that mean? I think you’re idealizing what a mother is a bit too much, Ms. Cornelia.」

Bradd says with a sigh as he sees my mother’s distress.

Totally ignoring me too.

And now he’s calling her Ms. Cornelia and not ma’am anymore!

And he’s always calling me a monkey or an idiot! I immediately demand a change in how I’m treated!

「Ahhooo ahhhooohhh」

Ignoring my raised baby fist of anger, Bradd just keeps talking.

「My mother always says that kids are noisy, can’t say anything worthwhile, can express what they want. A baby’s even worse, like a little monster that can’t talk. I thought this baby would punch me if she had the chance. You’re worrying too much that you don’t fit the role of a mother for this little monkey? Hahah hah, that’s too much.」

「Ahhhohhh!?!」

Hey, BRADD!

Why are you disrespecting my mother?

You can’t say things like that!

「But see, even a guy like me grew up to be great…like this!」

HAH! Wearing a skirt with ribbons! Maybe you should wear an apron too!

I think his parents would weep to see what their son had become.

「So how did your mother deal with it all…?」

Heeeeeey, mom? Why are you listening to him?

「Somehow. She just stopped worrying about her kids. You know yourself Ms. Cornelia…it’s like hunting, know your prey, the landscape, be prepared, and one more thing…」

H…hunting?!

「…just understand what you can and are not able to do…and so you don’t overdo it?」

「Yes. My mother hunted as well. I guess it is similar. You weren’t good at hunting at the beginning, right Ms. Cornelia?」

Bradd said, smiling.

Wait…did this guy try to compare his own mother with mine?

…not because I’m worried, or really cared enough to mention it.

Hmm, well, never mind.

「Hunters aren’t born hunters, hunting teaches hunters to hunt. Children are the same. Relationships with children make mothers. There’s no “qualifications” for mothers at the beginning. And since you love your child, Ms. Cornelia, I think you’ll do just fine.」

Whooooooa! Look at the big head on mister master of logic, Bradd!

It sounds like you’ve got some great rhetoric, but haven’t you just compared me to game in the hunt?

「I’d like to meet your mother…to teach me.」

「Aoooohooooo?!」

Mother!

What kind of bomb are you dropping on me with a statement like that?!

Bradd is the son of the chief of the Lawless Crew!

In other words, his mother is PART of THEM!

You have to do a lot of work to actually communicate with a group like them.

You’re going to get into something, all the way up to your neck!

These are the people that hunted me down again and again over 108 lives!

I trembled a bit thinking all the trouble these people would cause me 20 years in the future.

「…I’ll never forget all the horrible things others did to me over these last few years, but I’ve forgotten all the things that happened when my mother raised me. Women really are something…especially my mother.」

And so Bradd kept on blabbing away.

Hey, BRADD, I’ll never forget the horrible things YOU did to me and your Lawless Crew!

「Even when my mom got tired of caring for kids, when she was angry at everything, she still loved on her children. It was like light shining through the clouds. Now that I remember them, it seems kind of strange.」

Bradd’s ears turned a bit red.

Whoa, that rings a bell!

He just called himself a kid a while ago, and now he’s acting all adult.

Don’t mess with a woman that’s lived 108 times.

「Awaaoooo」

「Tch! That munchkin knows everything I’m saying!」

He noticed I was grinning at him, and clicked his tongue at me.

「Yeah! I’m not talking about when my mom was yelling at me or hitting me, but when she held me as a child! When she was holding me and everyone else could hear it. Squirting milk in my mouth and rolling me over to pee on the floor! All of it!」

He shouted, sighed, and then scratched his head.

「My mom…no matter how old I get, I could never beat her.」

Bradd…

I wonder if the invincible Bradd has a true enemy that could defeat him.

That’s some good information. I’m glad I heard it.

You treated me like a monkey, so wait a while and see what happens – you’re not getting away this time.

I know who your natural enemy is…huh?

「She sounds like a lovely woman. I would like to be like her someday. I wonder if I will.」

「Sure. It’s hard alone, but you’re not alone Ms. Cornelia, right?」

Mary sees Bradd’s gaze and nods with a smile.

「I can do a lot myself, as can this munchkin here.」

「Ooohoooh」

I was lost in my own thoughts, but turned my neck and lifted my baby fist in the same spirit.

「Thank you. I haven’t been a suitable mother yet…I don’t know what to do, but…」

Mother picked me up with one hand, while Bradd nodded and handed her bow into her other hand.

「I will protect my child with this bow. Until your father returns, even with my own life. That is all I can do now. Please think of me as your mother. Allow me a chance to start over.」

Then she hugged me tightly.

「May you always remember, somehow, that I held you in these warm arms!」

「Oaaohhh」

This is my first experience as your daughter, but thank you.

Oh, and I forget something.

My mother had completely ignored that I actually could understand what she was saying.

「You have the same eyes as him. It’s no wonder.」

And it was said, in just one statement.

I was a bit disappointed.

There was that story of how you fell in love with my father.

I wonder how he is doing, leaving a mother alone in this world.

If he comes back to this mansion, I’ll give him a newborn PUNCH!

「…okay then…」

Bradd then slammed his fist into his other palm in front of his chest.

「We need a strategy to survive. We have to stand and fight here.」

We looked up at the mansion. We were near the stables.

From here you could see all of the Wilhelm manor.

A bunch of extra chimneys and some pointless pinnacles.

Built in the specifications of the former owner, the Marquis of Vygod.
Trying to bluff some strength through rotten architecture.

We all sighed at the building.

Everyone, though, felt the same.

I wanted to withdraw from this world, but I don’t want to withdraw THERE.

It looks like a huge live-in casket.

And most of the chimneys are fake.

I guess the old man really liked the look of chimneys or fireplaces.

And about the inside.

No ART!

There’s no paintings in the saloon, the gallery, the drawing room…and the peeling!

Signs that things were torn from the ceiling as well…maybe sculptures or embossing.

No one’s ever seen a “mansion” like this – it’s one step from becoming a historical ruin!

Like someone’s already looted it!

And there are several rooms in the mansion that have only one feature. The DOOR.

What a joke.

In the 108 lives before this, my father got a lot of money from the Shylocks.

There were many servants, but not in this ridiculous manor.

So now, let’s continue with the current status.

No decent furnishings! No tableware! No brewing equipment! An empty wine cellar!

Is this where a duke is supposed to live?

Even a baronet lives better than this!

A garage, but no horse carriage!

No horse! No butlers! No coachmen! No groomers!

No need! No clothing for them! No footman uniform!

At first, there were no blankets, sheets, curtains!

All were scooped up by Marquis Vygod.

It’s a joke! He even stole the flowers out of the garden!

He probably wanted to take the windows, lawn, and trees with him as well.

Some guy to push a crap dwelling like this on his son.

And then all the people around hate the Duke because of his father.

In fact, Vygod had a whole village moved because it interfered with the view he had over his garden.

And the high taxes!

With all the people hating the Duke’s father, it’s no wonder no one would work for him.

What a total joke…the people were righteously pissed.

A mansion in a territory where they hate the mansion.

Like a shopkeeper hated by all his workers.

Plus the territory itself was sold and shrunk, so there’s hardly any tax revenue.

The cause and effect…all hit my dad.

Fortunately, because my great-grandfather was quite respected, several people who remember him serve as gardeners, footmen, and so on, but without uniforms.

And the gatekeeper is there in the gate tower at the entrance past a vast garden…but still a sloppy story that hurts the ears.

Are you okay…mister gatekeeper?

And there’s also a female cook that commutes with two others that work in the kitchen.

One cook ran. We suspect he was poisoning my mother.

And so the cook was cooked!

So breakfast comes late and supper is early.

There are also five old maids that commute here as well.

They remember my great-grandfather, and serve, hoping the regal nature of the territory returns.

But they all have plain clothes…all so sloppy.

What a horrible story for the women caring for my mother.

Also, the maid outfit that Bradd’s wearing was just one that was sold off when my grandfather left.

Mary bought it for him from a tradesman on the street.

All because the Hydrangea royals could only bestow a rank on my father, and not any money…all left unpaid.

When I heard the amount they owed him I frankly almost passed out.

It was enough to buy off the throne itself.

And they tried to have him marry their princess in order to “pay it all off.”

If I used this knowledge cheat of mine, I could get rich in no time…even hire my own soldiers!

But we are now locked in a terrible situation in which only Bradd and my mother have any fighting strength.

「I guess this is it then. Mary, is there any mortar in the storehouse? I guess we can use it for…something.」

So with Bradd in the middle, we put our heads together to form a strategy…

…to survive.