The Little Demon King is Too Bothered by Her Brave Dads - Chapter 97

“I felt relieved when Third Dad scolded the Deputy High Priest.”

“…Was that so?”

“Of course!”

I answered emphatically.

Only then did Cesar’s expression brighten a little.

Since it’s come to this, should I boost Third Dad’s spirits a bit more?

“I’m really glad that I’m half-demon and half-human.”

“…Tati.”

“If I were a pure-blooded demon, I wouldn’t have been able to meet such a good father like you, right?”

When I said that, mixing sincerity with a bit of exaggeration.

Cesar’s expression brightened considerably.

‘Hmm, as expected.’

I nodded inwardly.

As expected, Third Dad looks best with that annoyingly confident expression.

With his signature smile that I love so much, Cesar declared triumphantly.

“Then it’s time to shake down Lakius thoroughly.”

What?

***

As soon as Cesar returned to the lord’s mansion, he barged straight into the lord’s office.

“Lakius.”

“Master?”

Lakius, who was sitting in the office, quietly looked up at Cesar.

Cesar asked sarcastically.

“Don’t you have something to tell me?”

“…”

Despite Cesar’s sudden intrusion, Lakius didn’t look surprised at all.

Rather, his expression was closer to ‘the inevitable has come’.

It seems he had some inkling…

“Why didn’t you punish the Deputy High Priest?”

Cesar stared at Lakius with a stern gaze.

“Don’t make excuses that you didn’t know. I didn’t educate you to be such a fool.”

“…”

Towards Lakius, who was maintaining a stubborn silence, Cesar asked again with a cold smile.

“Why do you think I delegated the authority to punish priests?”

“…That’s.”

“You already knew it was to prevent things like this, didn’t you, Lakius?”

Lakius tensed up.

I also swallowed hard.

Both Lakius and I already knew.

Cesar is the scariest when he smiles like that.

“But instead of punishing them directly, you sent a letter to me.”

Towards Lakius, who couldn’t bring himself to speak, Cesar gently asked.

“Shall I tell you why you made such a choice?”

Gray eyes stared directly at Lakius.

Unlike the elegant smile on his lips, there wasn’t a trace of a smile in those eyes.

“You were worried about saving face for the temple, or rather, my pride.”

“…”

As if hit right on the mark, Lakius bit his lip.

Cesar continued sharply.

“So you called me out. You thought it would be better for preserving our dignity if the High Priest directly punished a high-ranking priest.”

“…”

Lakius was still maintaining his silence.

Cesar, letting out a deep sigh, suddenly threw a question at Lakius.

“Lakius. How many years did you study under me?”

“…It seems to be about 7 years.”

“Yes, a whole 7 years.”

Cesar asked gently.

“In all that time, didn’t you learn that I wouldn’t be pleased with this kind of consideration?”

“Of course, that was part of my intention. But.”

Lakius, looking a bit wronged, protested.

“I’m a prince, and the other party is a high-ranking priest of the temple, isn’t it?”

“So?”

“If I made a mistake… I thought it could escalate into an issue between the imperial family and the temple.”

“Ah, so it was a decision made for political reasons?”

Cesar smiled as if finding it cute.

“If you really acted based on such judgment, Lakius, you’re still too soft.”

“…Master.”

“If you were going to go the political route, you should have used my name to completely crush the Deputy High Priest.”

“What?”

Lakius looked at Cesar with surprised eyes.

I was also shocked.

‘Let’s have chicken for dinner tonight.’ The casual tone was even more shocking.

No, doesn’t someone of Cesar’s caliber know how heavy those words are?

Meanwhile, despite dropping such a bombshell that shocked everyone, Cesar’s face was annoyingly calm.

“After all, the High Priest of the Grand Temple is your master, isn’t he?”

“N-No, Master. What are you…”

“To think you’ve left such a useful weapon unused until now. You’re still a pseudo-intellectual, despite all my teachings.”

Lakius’s pupils were now shaking violently as if an earthquake had struck.

I probably didn’t look much different.

Towards us, Cesar showed a victor’s smile.

“Now then, let me tell you what you should say in this situation.”

Ahem, Cesar cleared his throat and spoke as if for everyone to hear.

“I apologize, my thinking was shallow. This inadequate disciple couldn’t keep up with Master’s genius intellect.”

“…”

“…”

Lakius and I stared at Cesar with sour expressions.

“Repeat after me.”

“…”

When Lakius remained silent, Cesar shrugged and urged him again.

“What are you doing? Hurry up and repeat it.”

Lakius, unable to hide his exasperated expression, quickly repeated Cesar’s words.

“I apologize, my thinking was shallow. This inadequate disciple couldn’t keep up with Master’s genius intellect.”

Then Cesar snorted and retorted.

“What can I do, it’s my fault for having such an inadequate disciple.”

“…”

Lakius glared at Cesar with narrowed eyes, his insides probably boiling…

Well, it’s understandable.

From Lakius’s perspective, he did that out of concern for Cesar, but Cesar drew such a sharp line.

However, I was secretly pleased with the current situation.

‘Both of them secretly care for each other, don’t they?’

Cesar too.

He wasn’t just anyone, but one of the three heroes of humanity and the head of the Light Order, the High Priest.

The fact that he told Lakius to use such a person’s name shows how much he cares for Lakius, doesn’t it?

“Well, I’ll stop nagging here.”

Cesar shrugged demonstratively.

“No, after nagging so much until now…”

And as Lakius couldn’t hold back his grievance and added a word,

“Ouch!”

He got smacked by Cesar…

“Medicines, emergency rations, even clothes. The inventory didn’t match at all.”

Cesar, returning with a cold face, got to the main point.

“Honestly, managing items like this, I wonder if they have the intelligence of a piglet rather than a human.”

At the casually flowing vitriol, Lakius’s face became somewhat sour.

Cesar clicked his tongue briefly and threw a question at Lakius.

“So, besides what I’ve discovered, what other deviations have they committed?”

“First, please take this.”

Lakius handed a file folder to Cesar.

“This is the list of supplies we received from the temple. It might be helpful to compare and examine.”

Huh?

My eyes widened for a moment.

That’s because there was a cute sticky note with Dad’s characters drawn on it attached to the file folder.

It was the new product I had sent to Lakius earlier.

Meanwhile, Lakius inadvertently turned his gaze to where I was looking,

“…”

Perhaps embarrassed, the back of his ears turned red.

‘Oh my, how adorable!’

I swallowed hard, suppressing the laughter that was about to burst out.

Anyway, according to the materials and testimony Lakius provided.

The Deputy High Priest, claiming to be high-level personnel, only tried to treat major injuries of high-ranking officials or senior officers.

He had his hands off most of the work.

As a result, there was naturally a shortage of healing personnel.

The workload kept increasing only for the ordinary priests…

“And this is delicate to mention, but in fact, the Deputy High Priest lives more comfortably than the average life in Carlo.”

At the end of the conversation, Lakius mentioned the Deputy High Priest’s extravagance in the most euphemistic way possible.

Then Cesar summed him up in one line.

“You mean he’s living luxuriously, right?”

“…Yes.”

At his master’s blunt words, Lakius answered with a sigh.

“Well, I shouldn’t be the one to say this, but our order’s salary is a bit stingy.”

“Master, please watch your words…”

Finally, Lakius groaned, but Cesar just shrugged nonchalantly.

“Why? If it’s stingy, it’s stingy. Anyway, it’s absolutely impossible to live like that on salary alone, and money doesn’t just fall from the sky.”

The gray gaze sank coldly.

“He must have either used his private funds or received support from someone… Interesting.”