《Story So Far》
Ascal Erindale had retired from the empire and compromised by heading to the barren west, only to choke to death on a sausage. When he was revived, he was told his daughter had come from the future.
And now, there’s one more addition.
“Father!”
Ascal felt the weight on his shoulders grow heavier when he saw the blonde girl smiling broadly.
Not figuratively, but literally.
The weight came from his newly certified daughter, Isolet, who was shifting her weight as she kicked her legs while perched on his shoulders.
“Knock it off. Dad’s struggling here.”
“This is the first time I’ve seen my young father. You’re really handsome, even though you’re my dad!”
‘That’s Expression #3.’
Ascal was famous.
Even if he didn’t want to be, he had grown accustomed to the reactions people had when faced with someone of his renown.
Expression #3 was: “Wow, seeing this famous person I only heard about in rumors, they’re even better than expected. Stamp of approval!”
And Ascal was most wary of people who gave Expression #3.
They were always the ones who caused trouble.
“Father, it’s me, it’s me!”
Who are you?
This whole “it’s me!” scam transcends eras—it never stops.
Especially when this scam often targets nobles of a certain age, the kind who’ve amassed estates or other tangible assets.
It seemed many nobles who lacked proper contraceptives fell for this scam quite often.
“My lord…”
The guards looked at Ascal with awkward expressions.
They had surrounded the girl but clearly didn’t know what to do.
Given the ethics of this era, it wasn’t uncommon for successful nobles to have illegitimate children or mistresses.
Especially since Ascal was even referred to as a hero.
The guards’ wavering stances seemed to reflect their suspicion that this girl might indeed be Ascal’s hidden child.
Of course, the more seasoned guards knew Ascal wasn’t that kind of man.
But these were rookies.
They didn’t yet know Ascal’s true character.
Ascal handed Isolet over to his lieutenant for a moment.
“Gentlemen.”
Though his voice wasn’t loud, everyone heard him.
“Are you mocking Her Highness, Princess Yulia Barba?”
Gulp.
They all knew the name Yulia Barba.
The third princess of the empire, who abandoned all luxury to follow Ascal Erindale to the barren lands of the west. A woman of noble beauty and grace.
“How dare you think that, with her by my side, I would ever so much as glance away?”
“We wouldn’t dare.”
“Do you think I would betray her?”
“Absolutely not!”
He was genuinely asking, though.
Dodging Princess Yulia to have an affair? Difficulty: Very Hard. Experts only. Swordmaster level. Failure means game over—no retries.
The more Ascal thought about it, the more wronged he felt.
He was overthinking it.
“Heavens! If I have ever betrayed Yulia, let me be struck down by the gods!”
And then lightning struck.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Ascal frantically rolled out of the way.
It was an embarrassing sight.
<What the hell! Lightning!>
<Wait, did the high-purity mana crystal extractor—one that could revolutionize magical engineering worldwide but never worked due to unknown issues—start operating because of this lightning? A miracle!>
<Good thing you’re alive! Long live Erindale!>
Amidst this chaos, Ascal’s heightened senses, honed as a Swordmaster, picked up strange sounds.
‘My head is spinning… I want to lie down forever.’
But when had he ever done that?
“Dad, get up!”
Isolet shook Ascal’s head with her tiny hands. Her big eyes brimmed with tears.
“Father, are you okay!?”
The blonde girl who had brushed past the guards sat beside Ascal, reaching out her hand to cast a healing spell.
Her serious demeanor reminded him of someone.
<If I have a son, I want to name him Boris. If it’s a daughter, I’d name her Charlotte.>
Yulia.
“Charlotte.”
“Yes, Father. It’s me, Charlotte.”
“In the future… what do people call me?”
Isolet called herself the Duke of the West.
Ascal wondered, what would Charlotte, who appeared to have come from a further future, call him.
“Protector of Erindale, steadfast father of the people, friend to scholars, and the great founding emperor, Ascal Erindale.”
‘I see.’
Ascal nodded and understood everything.
These daughters were sent by himself.
“I will not be doomed alone. If I am doomed, my future and past selves shall be doomed with me. That is my will.”
In the end, future Ascal created a new concept of parenting: co-parenting across time.
When his old, weary self grew too tired, his younger, energetic self could take over parenting duties.
‘What a lunatic.’
Ascal stood up and banged his head against a tree.
****
Future Ascal’s Letters:
Warning: Do not clear the forest to the west. A life-giving spring capable of reviving the dying flows there. Development hazard level: city-scale.
Warning: Do not send workers to the northern mines. A minority tribe of dwarves with advanced lost technologies resides there and is friendly toward humans. Development hazard level: nation-scale.
Help me.
“What does the letter say?”
“Just a casual greeting,” Ascal replied evasively to Lia’s question.
Future Ascal (Grand Duke of the West) was, at the very least, a man of some conscience.
The letter clutched tightly in Isolet’s hand was filled with prime information about their future:
A spring so potent it could explode with a mere touch, a minority tribe possessing nation-upgrading technologies, and docile, farm-friendly, and delicious new animal species.
‘Avoiding just these would slow down the rapid development of the territory for a while.’
What frightened Ascal most now was the unstoppable flow of development that would inevitably turn his domain into a full-fledged nation.
It couldn’t be stopped forever.
But better to face the blows head-on than be blindsided later.
****
“I have a letter too, Father!”
Charlotte beamed as she pulled a letter from her pocket, elegantly sealed with gold and bearing the imperial crest.
“What’s this for?”
Future Ascal (Emperor) had left Isolet in his care along with some valuable intel. Surely, Future Ascal (Emperor) would be even more extravagant in his gestures—he was the emperor, after all.
The letter read: “Raise her.”
“What a cheeky bastard.”
Ascal ripped the letter to shreds.
Does becoming emperor automatically make one insufferable?
The torn pieces fluttered into the air.
“Wow! Pretty!”
Isolet’s eyes sparkled.
‘Well, at her age, even a rolling pinecone is fascinating… Wait, what?’
The shredded letter turned into flower petals as it fell.
Lia, catching the petals in her hand, remarked, “Golden leaves imbued with magic… could this be from the legendary flower Harbete, thought to be extinct?”
As you may know, Lia’s extensive career includes being a botanist.
“It’s said this flower, which blooms only once every hundred years, has leaves worth as much as a castle.”
“How wise and considerate my future self must be,” Ascal mused.
Future Ascal had clearly intended for the petals to be gathered and reassembled into a letter.
But why go through such a cumbersome method?
“This way, it doesn’t violate the anti-bribery laws.”
“Ah!”
Ascal, now holding five petals, felt an inexplicable sense of unease.
Such bribes are dangerous to keep to oneself.
“Here, everyone, take one.”
He handed the petals to:
Yulia.
Serena.
Sushia.
“I’ll keep one as the emergency fund for the domain.”
“Darling, you’re the best!”
“Are you really giving me one?”
Everyone acted like they’d share the petals freely, but deep down, they probably expected others to squirrel them away like winter chipmunks.
With that, the situation was roughly resolved.
Following Isolet, Charlotte was now officially certified as his daughter as well.
“Mother…”
“It’s hard to believe this child is truly my daughter, but I have no choice but to accept it.”
Lia approached Charlotte.
From the side, the two looked less like mother and daughter and more like sisters.
Both shared the same blonde hair, with slightly different eyes but an almost identical aura.
At that moment, Ascal fell deep into thought.
‘Come to think of it, my entire future has just been spoiled.’
Even if he tried to avoid it by closing his eyes, it was like having it written in big letters on a gate.
Three wives.
Emperor in the future.
‘Is this okay, though? What if the tiniest changes alter my children, as those stories often suggest…’
<It’s fine.>
The cloud dragon, which was playing with Isolet by coiling around her neck like a scarf, answered as if it were obvious.
The white dragon, now resembling a giant fluffy Pomeranian, licked Charlotte’s hand.
<Since you consumed the World Tree, you’ve become the center of this world… The center doesn’t shake. It’s the surroundings that shift around it.>
The sea turtle swimming in the water tank added its two cents.
<If you die… it’s over… No, forget I said that.>
Lastly, the newly added ancient dragon, now in the form of a small lizard, yawned.
‘Ah… Now I understand. The reason my future self sent these daughters here.’
.
.
.
A spacious office.
More leisure compared to the future.
Plenty of pets.
Healthy and energetic parents.
This timeline, this moment, was the perfect time for opening… a kids’ café.
‘I suppose I should do my part to repay what I’ve received.’
‘Come, my daughters.’
Slurp.
Ascal retreated to the bathroom, sipping a hot noodle soup.
“It’s been so long since I’ve had a moment to myself… I feel alive again.”
To sum it up, Ascal declared surrender within a week.
Five-year-old Isolet caused more destruction than ten cats combined, while teenage Charlotte still had energy left after sparring over ten times in a single day.
If he played with them enough to tire them out, they’d nap for an hour and return fully recharged.
Couldn’t he just leave them to someone else?
Not so simple.
Lia only ever sat the girls down to teach them sternly, offering no help with playing.
Serena just doted on them endlessly.
Sushia was of no help at all.
The mystical beasts? They fled the moment they saw the girls, refusing to even enter the office.
“When are these kids going back to their time… Oh, right, this is their home…”
Sizzle.
He lit a cigarette, something he hadn’t done in a long time.
After all, he couldn’t smoke in front of the kids. Raising children sure had its challenges.
Still, while he now understood why his future self had sent them, what reason did the girls have for coming here?
Even if the office was spacious, it was nothing compared to the mansion of Ascal the Grand Duke of the West or Emperor Ascal. This was practically the countryside.
And as everyone knows, no child ever wants to visit the countryside (the family home).
Anyway.
“I can finally…”
“Found you.”
“Hurk.”
Through the crack in the bathroom door, Isolet’s eyes met his.
Ascal froze.
“Dad, we were supposed to play Phoenix today. What are you doing in here?”
“I was… taking a dump.”
“Oh, okay. Hurry up and come out.”
Ascal shed invisible tears. He couldn’t even smoke freely in his own house.
This was no way to live.
“Isolet… when are you going back to the future? Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I find you annoying or anything…”
“Hmm?”
Isolet tilted her head, looking curious.
“When are you and Mom having your wedding?”
“Wedding?”
“Yeah. I came here to see that.”
Author’s Note:
Sorry for the long wait. The second part may also be updated irregularly… This is the last registered chapter.
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