Help Me Save the World

Chapter 21 : Head Of The Family.

There's a saying passed down to every head of the Dawson duchy.

'Protect the family and follow the path of Light.'

Like my Father and his Father before him, I strived to pursue the teaching my whole life.

I met the love of my life when I was still, but a fledgling and god gifted us an adorable and brilliant daughter not too long after.

But my faith in the Holy Light was shaken to its very core the moment our son was born. He was sick...Very sick...Not even the Archbishop could help my poor son other than giving us his heartfelt prayer.

I felt like dying. So weak without power. It was as if I was living and dragging my feet just to endure yet another day while breathing in the agony of watching my own son convulsing as though he would soon draw his last breath.

But I was the family's head. My wife, Maya, and our children needed me. It was my role to protect them...

Therefore, I gritted my teeth, dragged my feet, swallowed the food, and lived to survive. I wanted to protect my family...

Life went on and still felt like torture, but I survived...And so did Alexander.

Unlike the facade I put out on the front, I was a shallow man.

The day Alexander could see, I wept and confessed all the ugly truth and despair I had buried deep within my soul like the shamed sinner that I was to the Light. Bare without lies...

And from that day onward, songs of veneration towards the Light had found my once barren heart yet again. I came to believe in the grace of God.

I was thankful for Alexander's life, Maya's unyielding spirit that supported me when I was weak, Alyson's health, and also for myself, who was able to just keep on living.

Renewed with endless vigor, I worked my brain and bones to the limit every day so I could protect my family.

Three years of plague that terrorized the whole world had brought yet another hideous monster out in the open. Greed for both power and authority sprouted like spores all over the kingdom.

Deep-rooted schemes were brewing, and deadly traps ensued here and there, spurring the kingdom into a civil war. Chaos was hiding its ugly front everywhere, just waiting patiently for the frail balance to break once and for all.

I couldn't afford the kingdom to sink into war. Not while my daughter was just a baby girl and my son lay still on the bed every day.

No. I won't have that.

Starting from rallying the nearest fainthearted nobles in the north that I could find, down to even the most cunning opportunist in the royal capital, I did everything. To that end, the Dawson was able to spearhead the largest faction of nobles in the Boreas kingdom rightfully, in both might and politics. But I didn't stop there.

Using the ongoing mayhem itself to my favor, I managed to sabotage the coffers of nobles who wanted out their greedy hands into the royal palace, trying to rake in the big pie.

The plan was to support the merchant guild, giving them enough influence to grow further while also culling them now and then without their knowledge. They would serve as the best distraction to the nobles whose eyes were blinded by the shine of the gold coins.

With Byron's assistance and the house's firm social standing, the plan was well executed. On the surface, it would seem like Dawson only wanted nothing but the well-being of the common, while the naked truth was as dark and horrible as it could be. Some nobles lost their money, forced to sell their house, and maybe even their families. Merchants were drowned in an endless sea of conflicts against the nobles and their own, some would lose their whole assets, and some would die either by their own doing or due to the marrauders out there in the wild.