Child Rearing Journal of the Strongest Wiseman～About My Daughter Being the Cutest in the World( Saikyou Kenja no Kosodate Nikki ～Uchi no Musume ga Sekaiichi Kawaii Ken ni Tsuite～) - Chapter 6

My Daughter is Cuter
The residence of the imperial noble house of Otto was a splendid one.
Looking at the splendour and grandeur, Fiona was left speechless.

Don’t break my heart,

「…………Daddy, is this the castle?」

「This isn’t the castle. The castle is even bigger」

「B-but, It’s somehow sugoi. We’re surrounded by huge walls and there’s a big gate too」

「We don’t have a fence and gate back at home, do we?」

Certainly, our home is also a big residence by itself, but it’s nothing like the grandeur of the Otto house.
In the first place, because that residence itself is only a villa I received from a merchant who was an acquaintance of mine, it has an architectural style from hundreds of years ago.

In addition to that, the Wiseman who is the owner, had no interest in avant-garde architecture or a grant interior design, and in the past few decades, hadn’t done satisfactory repairs, let alone remodelling.

Chloe says, that the villagers at the foot of the mountain think,

「 It’s a witch’s house or a stronghold of heretics」

So was the case.

In short, it was a facility dedicated to research that had none of the glamour or beauty that girls yearned for.

In fact, till Fiona was born, it was good enough if I could both stay and do research, thus, I have no memories of using places other than the bedroom and dining hall.

Moreover, because when I was immersed in research, I would seclude myself in the laboratory building, I would end up forgetting the location of the bedroom and the dining hall.

I guess the term research-crazy refered to people like me.

「Though I want Master to have a little more interest in amassing wealth and maintaining our lifestyle」

Saying so, Chloe let out a long sigh.

「Well, Fiona is also getting bigger, I’ll keep it in mind from here on」

After I gave that excuse, the butler of the Otto house invited us in, and we entered inside the residence.

The nobleman’s wife, who invited us, left the guest room after saying 「I will go and change my clothes」.

She said that welcoming guests in clothes covered with dirt would lead to the embarrassment of the Otto house.
If that’s so, then what about I, who am wearing a robe covered with mud?
It feels as if it utterly doesn’t match the grandeur of this room.
I cower at the thought of defiling this seemingly expensive sofa.

「So, Master too has something called modesty」

「I had forgotten it for a few hundred years, but I’ve remembered it now」

「That sofa seema like its something expensive, doesn’t it?」

「Ah, probably, it’s a custom-made article by Dwarven furniture craftsmen. It wouldn’t be anything below 10 gold coins. 」

「Master is making mud stick to it, right?」

「It can’t be helped. It was dirtied due to the battle」

「Should I bring the robe that is in the carriage as change of clothes?」

I decided to say「Do that for me」, but before I could do so, the Countess of the Otto house returned to the room.

She makes for a pretty figure.
She is wearing a dress fit for a nobleman’s wife to wear.
No, she its because she actually is a nobleman’s wife.
As she came into the room smiling like a belle, she stated 「It is unnecessary to change clothes」

「Of course, there shall be change of clothes after dinner, but it shall be provided here. Please relax like this till then」

「But I cannot bring myself to dirty it with mud」

「It will be a disgrace to my honour. Because it is the mud that splashed on you at the time when you saved me. Henceforth, whenever I invite a guest, I shall proudly talk about it, when they ask about that stain. That that stain is one left by a great hero1 who saved me」

Saying so, she prompted me to feel at home.
I take care to sit in such a posture so as to not dirty the sofa as far as possible.
On the other hand, Chloe, the maid, sat down quietly like a doll.
No, but she actually is a doll though.

I don’t remember having InputProgrammed etiquette and the like in her, but she unexpectedly might have understood such sort of etiquette. I wonder if she procured this knowledge from the books kept on my study.

I’d like asking her if I get the chance, but now is not the time for that.
Rather than that, my daughter who was standing on the sofa, jumping up and down was a greater problem.

Looking at her, Fiona was bustling about, making merry, saying 「It’s the first time I’ve seen such a fluffy sofa」.

The words – wait wait wait, isn’t it almost as if my disciplining is a complete failure came to my lips, but Chloe said in a whisper.

「……After all, Master would absolutely not impart education in such a manner, right?」

「…… Yeah, certainly」

I’m ashamed of myself.
Once I somehow manage to pin down Fiona, I speaking in a tone as if to warn her.

「Fiona, you must not jump on sofas in other people’s houses」

She asks me with a strange face.

「Why?」――。

At such times, adults normally unreasonably scold them, saying 「You shouldn’t do what you’re not supposed to do」, but I didn’t want to become such an irresponsible adult.

I intelligently admonish her with a stern look.

「It’s because this is not our home. It’s Countess Otto’s home. When Fiona jumps up and down like that, won’t the sofa feel pain? You mustn’t break thing in other people’s homes」

The countess followed up, saying 「It’s better for children to be a bit energetic」, but I shall continue even still.

「I want Fiona to become a fine lady. A fine lady doesn’t jump while baring her skirt like that」

「If I don’t become a fine lady, I won’t become a bride?」

Fiona asks with upturned eyes 2 saying 「Uuu…… 」

「You won’t become one」

When I say that, Fiona, saying 「I understand」, altered her appearance.
Straightening herself into an erect posture like Chloe, she fixed her disorderly skirt.
Her way of quietly sitting down, almost made her seem like a porcelain doll. She seemed like a nobleman’s daughter.
Regardless of my own clothes, I am never stingy with Fiona’clothes.
I instructed Chloe to only prepare the best of things.

Furthermore, In addition to that, Fiona being my daughter, even if I say so, looks beautiful. Having a petite figure and a beautiful appearance like this, if she sat like an Ojou-sama, she could easily pass off as a nobleman’s daughter.

In fact, when the lady of the Otto house entered the room, her children accompanied her.

There were a boy and two girls, but Fiona was no less in comparison to them.

No, even if it were me, who was looking through the favourable eyes of a parent, my daughter seemed overwhelmingly cuter nevertheless.
While I was thinking like that, the lady of the Otto house made the maid pour tea and prepare baked sweets.
The children of the Otto house ate it in a refined manner.
On the other hand, the moment Fiona saw the baked sweets she loved so dearly, she returned to the child she originally was.
She grabbed and stuffed the confectionery in her mouth, and was savoring it while going 「Munch munch」

「As expected, the difference in her growth comes out in such places…… 」

I let out a sigh, but it is not a negative sigh.

Certainly I desired and hoped that Fiona became a fine lady, but I did not specifically want her to become a young lady of nobility.

Rather than the children in front of me who eat in a refined manner, I like a daughter like Fiona, who eats with a smile while savouring her food.

――These are my true feelings, even when not looking through the eyes of a parent.