My surname is Lü, and my given name is Erlu.
My full name is Lü Erlu.
This is a name I hastily adopted after traveling from Blue Star to this other world.
As for my name before I transmigrated, I have already forgotten it.
After all, it is no longer important.
In this other world, I found my own direction and goal.
That goal is to become a qualified daddy!
Before transmigrating, a truck suddenly burst into my home and hit me head-on.
Thinking back on it, it was absolutely ridiculous.
Back then, I used to complain about how boring it was that every protagonist got killed by a truck, yet there I was, living on a high floor, only to be killed by a truck that had been teleported in.
Damn it, was there some invisible hand playing with me?
I opened my eyes and found myself in this mysterious other world for some unknown reason, born into an ordinary blacksmith family.
I grew up with my memories intact from infancy.
Back then, I was incredibly proud. I became a child prodigy.
While my peers took a month to understand a language or an object, I could familiarize myself with and use them within a few days thanks to my knowledge and memory techniques.
Because of my extraordinary talent, the royal family discovered me.
My future career was decided by the King, who spent resources to train me into a great Scientist for the Human Empire.
From then on, I spent my days with books.
I was curious about everything in this world, since it was the kind of world many people dreamed of, so I took every book very seriously.
By the time I was a young man, I lived up to expectations and became a Scientist and a Magic Caster.
I even researched Mana Storage Technology, allowing ordinary people to use staves to cast magic.
But the good times didn’t last.
Not long after, the Demon Dragon King appeared, causing destruction across the world.
I wasn’t surprised at all because this was a classic trope of this other world.
So, I became the Hero…
‘s support.
I really wanted to curse.
After the Demon Dragon King appeared, I truly thought that as a transmigrator, I would be chosen as the Hero, obtain the Hero’s Power, defeat the Demon King, and marry the princess.
I waited anxiously every day for my “golden finger” to arrive.
Then, one day, I received a letter from the King.
After reading it, I sat weakly in my chair and sighed.
The contents of the letter were simple.
The empire had finally found someone who possessed the Hero’s Power.
As the youngest and most outstanding Magic Caster in the empire, I was appointed to follow the Hero and subjugate the Demon King.
I had been drafted into the Hero Party.
That was my first thought at the time.
After all, if the story followed the usual tropes, I would either be the cannon fodder who blocked a blade for the Hero to trigger their sudden power-up, or just a background character who followed them until the successful subjugation.
After all, the protagonist’s halo was on the Hero.
Although I had some complaints, maybe this was just my fate.
The writer of fate could teleport a truck to the thirty-first floor to kill me, so I didn’t even bother to complain anymore.
Damn it.
The journey was much like I expected.
The Hero was an ambitious young man, accompanied by a Saintess Priest who admired him, a warrior who acted as a tank, a mage for backline damage, and me, the slightly redundant support Magic Caster.
Setting me aside, this party composition was truly a classic.
Isn’t this how every Dragon Quest or Dungeons & Dragons party looks?
After facing one trial after another, the Hero Party established a deep friendship…
…Or did they?
I always had a strange feeling.
Although we got along well enough, it was quite superficial.
I didn’t feel that brotherhood forged through life and death found in stories.
Then, after various events, only three major hurdles remained.
These were the Demon King’s two right-hand subordinates — the Vampires and the Succubus Queen.
During the quest to defeat them, I felt a stir of compassion.
It was a decision I would never forget.
It’s safe to say it changed my life, allowing me to find happiness and a sense of purpose.
“Hero, don’t think for a second that this world will change just because you’ve defeated me…”
These were the Succubus Queen’s last words after the Hero pierced her heart with an arrow.
Naturally, the Hero Party dismissed them with disdain.
I felt the same way at the time.
I wasn’t sure if defeating her would change the world, but at least there would be one less race creating nightmares, right?
Having lived in a civilized society, I would cover every queen or racial leader with a white cloth after they died.
If I had the time, I would even dig a grave for them so they could rest in peace.
‘Maybe you can be human in your next life.’
While the Hero Party went to rest, I went back to finish the cleanup.
That was when I heard a cute yet pitiful cry.
I followed the sound and discovered a baby hidden under a cloth behind the grand throne in the Succubus Castle!
I pulled back the purple cloth and found a pair of tiny succubus horns.
Below them, two adorable eyes stared up at me while she cried, making little “aba aba” sounds.
‘What a poor little baby! Sigh, what a shame she’s a demon…’
I couldn’t help but feel regret.
One must pull up weeds by the root.
A baby found in the Succubus Castle likely didn’t have a simple identity.
“Oh, there, there,” I said, coaxing the baby with my finger as I carried her to the grandest room in the castle.
I planned to at least let her lie on a soft bed so she could leave with a smile before I ended her tiny life.
“Aba… heehee!”
The baby was amused by me, and I smiled back.
But… it was time.
I placed her on the bed and took out my prepared dagger.
I aimed for her neck, intending to strike with the fastest, swiftest force so she would die without pain.
I raised my hand, gritted my teeth, and swung.
“Ababa… baba, heehee!”
!!!
The sharp tip of the blade stopped in mid-air, only a few centimeters from the baby’s soft neck.
‘Did… did she just call me Papa?’
My heart was touched — more accurately, it was a wake-up call.
Why should a baby be executed just because of her race the moment she was born?
Xunzi once said that the nature of man is inherently evil.
This is the Theory of Inherent Evil.
Human nature is born toward evil, and goodness is something taught through education.
In this world, wasn’t my status as a Scientist and my chance to accompany the Hero all a result of education?
Without the memories of my previous life, without the books written by the people before me in this world, and without my hardworking blacksmith parents, I would be nothing!
Aren’t all people who possess benevolence, righteousness, and etiquette the products of education?
I looked deeply at the baby, who was now staring curiously at the dagger, even reaching out a hand to touch the sharp blade.
Those innocent eyes didn’t even know the danger of the dagger.
What had she done wrong?
Was her sin simply being born into a succubus family?
I didn’t know.
But for me, this was clearly unfair to a baby who couldn’t even speak yet.
Thus, I put down the dagger.
With a mix of concern and nervousness, I pinched her little cheek and picked her up.
“Be good. From now on, I’m your father.”
The baby in my arms seemed to understand, and she laughed.
“Baba~”
Hearing that soft voice and seeing her crescent-moon smile, my last bit of hesitation vanished.
In this story of a Hero fighting a dragon, let that invisible hand at least give me a chance to try and educate her.
Thank you.