Daddy is too Strong-Chapter 277

Today was Arbor Day. Despite it being a Sunday, Byeol was still going to the daycare for the special holiday.

Normally, daycare was closed on public holidays, but today, the children were attending because of the tree-planting event. One might have expected Byeol to be annoyed about going to daycare on a holiday, but she seemed quite excited. Dressed in her yellow daycare uniform, she was already looking forward to the day ahead.

“Are you all ready?” Yoon-Hee asked her.

“Mm!”

Yoon-Hee smiled as she adjusted Byeol’s outfit and carefully packed a three-tiered lunchbox into her daycare bag. The lunchbox’s contents were simple: the first tier was plain white rice, the second held sausages, and the third contained a mix of vegetable side dishes. The bag was stuffed once the lunchbox was inside.

Half-sticking out of the front pocket of the bag, Apophis had been silent for a while now. Having been reduced from a magnificent and powerful sword to a measly garden shovel, its mood was completely ruined. However, it didn’t dare voice its frustration in front of Do-Jun. Even the Overlord, once the supreme ruler of the Deep Realm, was treading carefully around Do-Jun, and Apophis had no choice but to do the same.

Once the greatest sword of all time, it was now nothing more than a shovel.

Apophis sighed quietly.

***

Byeol seemed to have taken a liking for the shovel, as she pulled it out of her bag’s front pocket and gripped it tightly in her tiny hands. Apophis briefly considered taking over the child’s body, but after a moment’s thought, it realized that doing so would likely lead to its complete and utter annihilation.

Suddenly, the little girl took off running. After sprinting about fifty meters, she stopped in front of a bakery, where a woman was inspecting the bread on display.

“Oh my, hello Byeol! Are you on your way to daycare?” she asked.

“Yeah! Today’s twee-pwanting day!”

L-Laghaim? Apophis was taken aback.

The Spirit Queen, Laghaim, though not listed in the Deep Realm’s rankings, had once fought head-to-head against Baal and Imfelheim during the Great War. Apophis couldn’t understand why someone of her stature was casually wandering around Earth.

Just then, Laghaim narrowed her eyes, focusing on the shovel in Byeol’s hands.

“Where did you get that?” she asked.

“Daddy bought it for me!”

“Your dad?”

“Mm! Fwom the stationewy stowe!” Byeol said.

She wasn’t entirely sure if it had come from a stationery store, but since she had seen shovels there before, she naturally assumed Do-Jun had bought it from one.

“Huh? He bought you a demon sword?”

Though it looked like a simple shovel, Laghaim knew better. This was none other than the Demon Sword Apophis, also a Hidden Piece. She had no idea why it had taken this form, but it was undoubtedly an incredibly dangerous artifact.

“It’s a shovel...” Byeol muttered in slight confusion while Laghaim examined Apophis carefully.

Sensing danger, Apophis quickly spoke up.

—I...I’m just a shovel now! A gardening shovel! I’ve left my past behind and am living a new life as a humble gardening tool. T-today is Arbor Day, so I will help this child plant trees and make Earth a better place to live!

“Hmm.”

—G-go ask the King of Earth if you don’t believe me! I swear, I don’t do bad things anymore!

Given that Do-Jun and Izaas were present on Earth, there was no way Apophis could act out. Judging by its reaction, it seemed like it had already received some... lesson.

Laghaim straightened up and rummaged through her subspace pocket. Then, she pulled out a small sapling, about fifty centimeters tall, and handed it to Byeol, saying, “Plant this, Byeol. It’s an Ingrid sapling.”

Byeol accepted the tiny tree, which was about half her height, and studied it curiously. She had never heard the word “sapling” before, but she could tell right away that it was a tree. She gave a polite bow and made sure not to forget her manners.

“Thank you!”

“Ah, would you like me to buy you some bread too?”

***

“Did everyone bring their supplies?” Ji-Hye asked the class.

The children, including Byeol, responded with a loud “Yes!” as they pulled out their shovels. Each child’s shovel was different, but Byeol’s stood out the most. It was entirely black, with a handle that closely resembled the hilt of a sword.

“Alright then, let’s all head outside!”

“Yay!”

The planting site had already been decided. Initially, they had considered using the athletic park in the area, but in the end, they opted for the daycare’s garden instead. This way, they could mark each tree with a small plaque with the child’s name and keep a record of its growth, which would be beneficial for their emotional development.

The daycare had prepared conifer saplings, as conifers were commonly used for Arbor Day plantings. Each child was given a sapling about thirty centimeters tall.

“Alright, everyone, let’s start by digging the ground!” Ji-Hye instructed.

Byeol picked a spot, sat down, and prepared to dig. So-Mi, who sat beside her, eyed Byeol’s shovel curiously. Compared to her own, it looked quite unusual. She then started digging, but the soil was harder than she expected, and there were too many rocks, making it quite difficult.

A quick glance around showed that the other children were struggling as well. Except for one.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

Byeol was digging effortlessly, driving her shovel into the ground with ease.

“Wow! Byeol, you’re amazing!” So-Mi exclaimed. To her, it almost looked like magic.

The shovel sank smoothly into the soil, and whenever Byeol lifted it, the dirt came up in neat piles. Even more astonishingly, the rocks seemed to separate on their own and somehow disappear.

Of course, this was all thanks to Apophis.

Byeol quickly dug out enough space to plant the sapling Laghaim had given her.

“I did good, wight?” she asked her friend.

“Yeah! You did amazing!” So-Mi remarked.

“I’m weally good at digging. I’ve even made twaps before!”

Byeol carefully planted the Ingrid sapling. She placed it into the hole she had dug and covered it with soil. Then, she gently patted the soil down with her shovel.

Although it was called a sapling, its shape was quite unusual. Unlike the other saplings, which had branches, Ingrid looked more like a long stick.

“Aw...” Nearby, some children were on the verge of tears. It seemed like So-Mi and the others were struggling to dig.

Byeol blinked, watching the scene for a moment. Then, she held out her shovel to So-Mi. “So-Mi, do you wanna twy with this?”

“Can I?”

“Yeah! I’m all done!”

“Thanks! I’ll share some of my lunch with you later!”

“Weally?”

Byeol hadn’t expected anything in return, but she happily accepted the offer. Still, she didn’t plan on just taking—she had brought plenty of sausages and vegetables today, so she intended to share with her friends too.

***

Apophis thought to itself that these fragile humans could be obliterated, body and soul, with nothing more than a faint breath from him. Of course, the other adventurers in the Core and the inhabitants of the Deep Realm were just as weak. But the children standing before him were especially frail, their bodies like sheets of paper, devoid of even a trace of magic.

“Alright, everyone! Now, let’s place name tags on the trees we planted,” Ji-Hye called out to the class.

The children stuck small nameplates in front of their respective saplings, each bearing their own names. They beamed with pride, gazing at their trees as if they were the most precious things in the world. Some even patted down extra soil around the roots, worried that the trees might come loose.

Apophis observed all this silently.

Now that their work was done, it was time for a well-deserved lunch.

Byeol pulled out the large three-tiered lunchbox that Yoon-Hee had packed for her. The children gathered around her, their own lunchboxes in hand.

“Wow! Byeol, you have so much food!”

As Byeol opened the lid, a pile of mini sausages, sliced to resemble tiny octopuses, was revealed. She stabbed two with her fork and popped them into her mouth.

“Mm! So good!”

Even as the sausages disappeared, the lunchbox still overflowed with other side dishes—rolled omelets, stir-fried anchovies, pork bulgogi, fried shrimp, and more. The children eagerly shared their food, ensuring everyone got a taste. Some had forgotten to bring lunch, but at this age, such things didn’t matter. Whether they had packed a meal or not, they all shared without hesitation.

“It’s so tasty!” For some reason, Byeol thought today’s lunch tasted twice as good as usual.

***

The intense meal had finally come to an end. Back in the classroom, it was time for a well-earned nap. The children pushed their desks aside, spread out their bedding, and curled up for a peaceful rest.

Ji-Hye, sitting in a chair with her arms crossed, had been nodding off along with the children. Slowly, she opened her eyes. Having to work on a Sunday had left her a little exhausted. She glanced at the clock on the wall—it was already past 2 PM.

“I should wake them up soon,” she whispered.

Stretching lightly in her seat, she carefully stepped out of the room, making sure not to disturb the sleeping children. Then, she froze.

“Oh my... What in the world...?” 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

At the center of the garden stood a massive tree with its branches covered in breathtaking cherry blossoms. No... Looking closer, it wasn’t cherry blossoms.

Ji-Hye slowly approached the tree.

“This is...”

The name on the plaque in front of the tree read “Byeol.” She knew that Byeol had brought her own sapling today, but what kind of tree could grow this fast?

Just then, a soft blue light shimmered around the tree. Her exhaustion instantly disappeared, leaving her feeling strangely refreshed. She blinked, and in that brief moment, the large tree disappeared, reverting to the tiny sapling it had been before.

“Huh...?” Ji-Hye examined the sapling from different angles, then shrugged. “Must’ve been my imagination.”

Still feeling unusually light on her feet, she returned to the classroom.

Apophis sat idly among the other shovels, stuck into the soil of the flowerbed. Through the transparent window, it watched Byeol and the other children sleeping soundly, sunlight gently streaming in to envelop them in warmth.

The scene made it wonder.

—Have I lost my mind?

For the first time, it found itself thinking that maybe... being reborn as a shovel wasn’t such a terrible fate. No, this was absurd. Its physical form had never been of much importance to it, but losing its shape as a sword was an insult to its pride. Worse still, these fragile human children had played with it.

Apophis scanned the entire flowerbed. Tiny saplings stood neatly in rows, each one carefully planted. At the center was Ingrid, the seedling that Byeol had planted, which Laghaim had given to her.

—They’ll grow just fine.

Ingrid possessed healing properties. It purified negative energy, leaving behind only pure vitality, so the soil itself would only become more fertile.

—I’ve truly gone mad.

It caught itself actually enjoying the peace.

No, Apophis couldn’t have been the issue. This ridiculous change of heart, Apophis convinced itself, was definitely because of Ingrid.