Astarte’s Knight

Just how much time pa.s.sed after I woke up.
I’ve done nothing but float inside the green capsule with a “yurayura” (*shake quietly*).

Uo~i, when can I get out~
Since then, a reasonable amount of time pa.s.sed, but n.o.body came into this room.
Not even Astarte, the white robed woman, nor the old man.

By any chance, did everyone forget about me after leaving me here?
That day, the world was suddenly engulfed in an armageddon, and everything except this castle was annihilated…
Or maybe the humans couldn’t bear the tyrannic rule of the Demon Race and rised in rebellion, and Astarte and everyone are…

I already got tired of killing time with these decadent delusions.
Also, the place about the tyrannic rule of the Demon Race was my delusion.
I don’t know about this world’s societal structure.

At that moment, a change finally occured.

Pushuu. *pshhhhhh*

The automatic door opened.

“Rinne! Faster, faster!”

It was Astarte. The white robed woman, who Astarte beckoned and called Rinne, also entered.
The white robed woman started to play around with the machines close to me with a “gachagacha” (*clatter clatter*).
Astarte did nothing but urge her on with “Faster!”
But that was impatience, so nothing came.
She had a cheerful appearance just like a child lining up for a toy shop on it’s sale day.

Docha (*charge*).

Soon, I was ejected from the capsule, and I stepped on the floor I haven’t been on for a while.

Ooh…
Different from the time when it was light in the capsule, the feeling of several times of gravity weighed on me.
I feel how much I missed this.

“Right, we need to introduce you to otou-sama first!”

Saying this, Astarte lead me out of the room.
She took me to the upper floors inside the castle.

By the way, what moved was the elevator.

Though I should say it isn’t the common elevator that I know, as the room is exposed, and the jagged sawblade-like metal railings made sounds.

The top floors were completely different from the places I’ve been up until now.
I see, this certainly isn’t a good place for something like a ghoul to enter.

The places we arrived at in the top floors were polished with a “pikapika” (*sparkling*), and the rough lumber and cave-like bottom levels completely changed into delicate high cla.s.s things.

While I was dumbfounded by this spectacle, I was brought into one of the rooms.

The old man, who said I was “ugly” and cast me away, was there.
Because this place has the most gorgeous appearance so far, I’m guessing that here is the old man’s study room.

“Otou-sama!”

Astarte introduced me to the old man, who looked as if he didn’t remember me, and the old man started evaluating me.

“Fumu, this individual is, hmm… I can’t see him as anything other than an ordinary ghoul…”
“Nee, otou-sama! I want this child to be my knight! Please!”

Knight?
I feel as if a word which couldn’t possibly match with my decayed character design came up.

“…Astarte, do you understand what your saying right now?”

“I understand! A “h.e.l.l Knight” is a person who serves near the castle lord! For this reason they undergo a “Rank Up”, and is handed an above average power! I learned this from Sebastian!”

“Exactly. You studied well. Going by the textbook, a 100 point answer.”

The old man’s tone changed slightly after praising Astarte’s studying.

“If there is one thing wrong, it’s that you didn’t take into account h.e.l.l’s unwritten rule, Astarte.”

“Un-writ-ten rule?”

And then the old man began to speak with tone slightly colder than before.

“Choosing a knight is to give a part of the h.e.l.l castle’s power to worthy and promising elite demons, like liches, spectres, and vampires, using the castle lord’s magical power amplification machine. This is a rank up. I have never seen nor heard of a castle lord choosing a ghoul as a knight, much less making it rank up.”

Thereupon the old man closed the book he was reading with one hand and stood up from his chair while looking at me.
Then making a grim face, he said.

“Certainly I allowed that ghoul to be your birthday present. Honestly I don’t believe it, but if your story is true, that ghoul is a benefactor who saved my daughter’s life. Let’s thank it. But a knight is still a different case.”

The old man put his hand on Astarte’s head in order to warn her.

“I won’t say anything bad, but you can have that ghoul as a pet. Something like making a ghoul into a knight can’t be said, even as a joke. If that happened, you will forever become the laughing stock of the other “castle lords” by dawn. Regarding the knight, I will think over it carefully and think over it carefully again before selecting in the future, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

After her father said this, Astarte had an expression like a 5 year-old child whose important toy broke.

“…Certainly, if his child is to be made a knight right now, the magic power will be taken from otou-sama. If otou-sama says this, then I can’t do anything. But…then! If my magic power is given to this child–”

“Don’t say such unreasonable things, Astarte. You’re still young, and you probably can’t control your own magic power. If you do something unreasonable, the both of you will just suffer.”

“I take all the responsibility for this child! So please use my magic power and make this child into a knight!”
“”Responsibility” isn’t a word that a child can use. That’s something for us adults to do.

In his own way, having to deny Astarte’s wish seemed painful for the old man.
A trail of cold sweat ran down his cheek.
The old man breathed a sigh with a “fuu” (*sigh*) and reclined on his chair again.

“Isn’t it fine…you’ll be with that ghoul from now on, so just this much for now.”

“I don’t like just this much.”
“Astarte…”

Why did Astarte defy her father this much…
Certainly, she often complained about her father to me, but I didn’t think it was in a way where she actually hated him.

Astarte bowed to her father again.

“Otou-sama, I can’t have this child become a knight no matter what?”
“Ahh, I won’t yield on that”
“No matter what…?”
“No matter what.”

“It’s no good even though I’m begging this much?”
“No matter how much you beg, it’s still no good.”

“Fu-…gusun…gusun…uuu…” (*sniffle sniffle*)
“Uuu!? I-, it’s no good even if you pretend to cry!!”

He’s shaking hard…

“Nee, otou-sama. It’s a wish from Astarte! Is it no good…no matter what?”
“Even if you do a cunning action like upturned eyes, no is still no.

Blood is coming out of your nose, old man.

“Is it no good…no matter what?”
“It’s no good no matter what.”

“…”
“…”

I believed that Astarte lost.
After all, parent and child relationships are those kind of things.

If the parent felt like it, the child would always lose.
This is an absolute law of the supporting person and the supported person
If you hate it, there’s no choice but to be independent, and to protect yourself by yourself.
It’s not like I think this old man said anything wrong up until now, so isn’t it fine?
It looks like my treatment will get better, but it’s not like I want it to get that much better.
It’s fine being a pet.
I’ll try my best to wave my tail.

However…
Why is it my inner heart is somehow becoming sad.

With all means used up, the conversation paused.
The room’s atmosphere became quiet.
Only Astarte’s worrying and inner frustration building up transmitted.
With this, the conversation is over–such an atmosphere ran in the study.

Then, Astarte suddenly dropped a bomb.

“I’ll tell mom you cheated on her.”

“!!”

It was just a small mutter with a “boso” (*whisper*), but that utterance certainly etched itself into me and the old man’s ears.

“A-, A-a-a, Astarty…since when did you learn such a cunning method? I-,i-i-i-i-i-n first place, I never cheated on her.”

Aren’t you shaking hard!

“If you never cheated on her…what is this?”

Astarte threw several sheets of paper-like things towards the old man with a “pi” (*flap*).
It seems like those are this world’s photos.

“Th-,those are…!”
“These are the photos taken when otou-sama went to the capital recently. Who are these women?”

It looks like the middle of a buffet party.
Holding wine in one hand, the old man, who had a flushed face, was surrounded by young human-form demon women.
If there is one word that this scene says, it would be harem.

“The people here, and the people there. Besides, for otou-sama to make such a face even though okaa-sama is here…”

Looking closely, a women was pushing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s on the old man.
And he did not dislike it, but rather was grinning and delighted.

Looking at her father with cold eyes, as if she was seeing garbage, Astarte declared.

“While I was being kidnapped by humans, otou-sama was playing around with women.”

“Th-, that’s because the people in the castle were disappointing…and who would have expected humans to intrude at that timing!?”

“Are you making excuses? The lord of a castle. Are those the words of a person standing above other people?
“Gunununu…”

Huh?
Like this, is it possible that the old man is at a disadvantage?

“I won’t let you feed me birthday cake with an “ah-n” anymore.”
“Not that…for the love of G.o.d, not that!”

What is this old man doing, he should be old enough to know better…

“Then is it okay for this child to rank up? It is okay to make him into a knight?”

“No, that is…”

The old man still hasn’t given up yet, and muttered ambiguously.
But Astarte heartlessly completely cut off the old man’s path of retreat.

“It’s okay, right?”

A full-faced smile. But something was different from normal in that smiling face.
The definite existence of overwhelming pressure.

Soon, the old man’s spirit broke.

“Yes…”

Completely defeated by his daughter, the old man slumped, and hung his head over the desk.
That figure made me think of a gig boy lying on a desk,frantically pretending to be asleep during lunch break.
(TL: No idea what reference ギーグボーイ refers to, and google suggests to me it might be related to Earthbound, but I have absolutely no idea)
A speechless sorrow floated.

But the daughter mercilessly kicked this fallen father.

“Then otou-sama, please rank up this child right now.”
“Eh!? Isn’t that what your responsible for…!?”

Astarte coldly forsakes her bewildered father.

“Well I can’t control my magic power right? In that case, this time, above approving to make it a knight, isn’t logical for otou-sama to be responsible for doing it?
“Ce,-certainly!”

Your completely won-over…
Just how weak are you to your daughter.

“No, but…”
“Is there a problem?”
“None…”

The old man was easily defeated before the smiling and approaching Astarte..
And then Astarte turned towards me with “her usual” smile.

“Isn’t that great! Then, let’s go together!”

Females are scary…

But apart from that, there was a feeling filling inside of me.
It was a feeling of exaltation.
Leaving aside Astarte’s means, right now, she made her own father surrender using her own power.
That is one of the things I have never accomplished up until now.
Well, I gave up from the start, because this way is more easy for me.
Before I realized, I stopped expecting the things I want or the things given to me.
Because I was scared of being betrayed if I expected something.

It was a composition of a child who won triumphed over her parent.
This was such an trivial exchange, but at that time, I felt a small, but definite sense of elation.