Chapter 4: Grandparents and Grandchildren

“Now then, a toast to our troupe’s success…”

“Cheers!” On Theatro’s command, the circus members all raised their glasses and cheered.

After they’d spent a week performing in Brunhild, we invited the troupe to the special entertainment room in our castle. Naturally, we prepared food and drink for them as well.

Power, Theatro, Prima, and all the other members of the circus were now making merry with one another. I didn’t think serving them alcohol in the afternoon would be a good idea, but I ended up allowing it, since it was a rare opportunity for them to unwind and all.

“G-Grand Duke, I really must thank you from the bottom of my heart… We all owe you a great debt…”

“Don’t worry about it. If anything, this is just how we’re thanking you for entertaining our citizens. We’d love to have you back here any time.”

The ringleader bowed to me, but I quickly cleared any concerns he might’ve had.

Power then raised his voice and said, “Hear that? It’s all good. So come and eat your fill, boss! Don’t be shy! It’d be a waste not to stuff yourself silly when the food’s all free!”

“C-Come now, Power… Don’t act so casually in royal company!”

Just as the ringleader started to panic about Power’s perceived rudeness, Theatro came sauntering over with a big smile on his face and said, “Don’t you worry about thaaat, bossman… In fact, our darling Touya here is actually family. We’re among friends.”

“Is…? Is that right?”

Technically, I guess… Guess it’s fine so long as they don’t claim we’re siblings.

But yeah, we’re more or less relatives, so this is fine.

The ringleader was a little concerned with how casually Theatro was acting around me, but he eventually came to terms with it and went on to enjoy the drinks with his fellow performers.

Yumina and the rest of my wives were all present, along with Karen and the more godly members of my family, but my children weren’t. I didn’t think it was appropriate to have them come to a place where there’d be alcohol flowing freely.

The goddess of alcohol, however, was here…despite her childish looks.

“Nyaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha! Delicious! What’ll I have necsht?!” Suika, the hellish creature she was, exclaimed as she chugged her booze like it was water… Apparently, she didn’t realize this wasn’t a celebration for her. By her side sat Prima, who casually swirled a glass of wine around in her hand.

Theatro walked over toward them, that smile still wide on his face, and said, “Seems you’re all having fun, then. I never thought you’d be so happy down in the mortal realm.”

“And how are you enjoying your stay?”

“Oh, it’s just fabulous, darling! I haven’t taken a break in tens of thousands of years, so I’m making the most of it now! When I go back to the divine realm, I’m sure I’ll be speaking of this trip for centuries.”

…You’ve been working for that long? That’s pretty intense… Hell, maybe a little too intense. Then again, I guess gods don’t really treat it like a job or anything. It’s not like they get paid. It’s more like the role they’re here to fill, like a purpose.

“You should’ve brought your children, Touya darling. I’d have loved to have met them!”

“It’s a bit of a private function, so I didn’t want my kids running around bugging the staff. You’ll be able to see them when you guys leave.”

The troupe was going to spend the next day dismantling their tent, then they’d be leaving the day after. Their next stop was Belfast, apparently. I hoped that Yumina’s little brother would get to see the show… Though given he was only one, he’d hardly be able to appreciate it.

“How are you adjusting, by the by? It’s a big responsibility to care for a whole world, and you’re only a newcomer at that…”

“To be honest, it’s been pretty rough… Luckily, I’ve got Karen and the others backing me up, so I’m getting there.”

I didn’t really know what I was meant to be doing with this world. It was a lot easier to think about when there was a defined threat like the Phrase or the wicked god.

“If this world ends up lost, we’ll lose our prime vacation destination, darling.

Make sure you do your best to keep it safe!” “Yeah, I’ll try…”

Ugh… Don’t pressure me so hard!

“I can’t lie, darling. I’ve seen some strange things in my travels. You may well want to keep vigilant.”

“Strange things?”

“Vestiges of the wicked god, darling. I’m sure they’re up to something quite insidious… But that’s not my territory, now is it? I’m afraid my hands are quite tied.”

The wicked devout… Guess it makes sense that Theatro and the others wouldn’t act against them even if they saw something weird. It’s my mess to clean up, just like God Almighty told me.

“I’ll be sure to let you know if I see anything particularly concerning in my travels, don’t you worry about that!” Theatro exclaimed as he spun on his heel and sauntered off toward his colleagues, offering me a flowery little wave as he went on his way.

The stolen Ark… The Fishmen on that island… The wicked devout are definitely up to something bad here…but what’s their endgame? Are they trying to resurrect the wicked god? Are they trying to birth a new one? Whatever their plan is, I’m not gonna let them disturb the peace of this world, not when it’s finally coming together. I’ll have to destroy them.

There wasn’t exactly much I could do until I had a better idea of their movements, however.

“Touya…”

“Touya?”

I was snapped out of my postulating by the sudden arrival of Elze and Linze, who’d shown up with smiles on their faces.

“Oh, hey, you two. Is the party going okay?”

“Oh, it’s going great. Way easier than dealing with nobles. Wish they were all like this.”

Elze wasn’t very fond of the parties I usually hosted. She liked parties, she just didn’t like the formalities associated with our royal guests. Whenever I hosted my international meetings, she had to be there, the fact that she was a grand duchess of Brunhild weighing down on her all the while. It was a lot of stress for her to handle.

Linze had gotten used to it, thankfully. She was a much more shy girl in normal circumstances, but she treated the meetings like playing a role. She wasn’t just Linze during such formal occasions, she was the grand duchess. Though, that was still part of who she was now.

“I wish our children were here…”

“No way… It’s basically lunchtime and everyone’s already drunk… It’d set a bad example,” I said as I shook my head at Linze’s lamentation. I could already spy a few acrobats drunkenly trying to do flips.

In this world, drinking wasn’t so frowned upon. People often started as early as fifteen. I was concerned that by bringing my kids here, they’d get interested too early. I didn’t exactly want to influence them into becoming alcoholics.

Fortunately, my wives mostly shared my attitude toward alcohol. Only Leen and Lu drank. In Leen’s case, she enjoyed the occasional glass of wine…while in Lu’s case, she would sometimes taste alcohol for taste-testing purposes when coming up with new dishes.

“They’re not gonna cause trouble, are they?”

“Nah, don’t worry about that. I’ve got Kohaku and the others looking after them.”

Kohaku and the heavenly beasts were with them, along with Albus for good measure. They were on strict orders to contact me telepathically if anything went wrong.

“Where are the kids, anyway?”

“Oh, they’re fine too. They went to Parent. I sent them off with some pocket money.”

Parent was a popular hangout spot, and it was owned by my old friend Aer. I felt it was fine for my kids to go hang out there. It wasn’t like they could get in a huge amount of trouble. Though, I did hope they weren’t too noisy, since it’d be bad if they bugged the other customers.

…You know what, maybe I am worried. Maybe I should leave early and go pick them up…

◇　◇　◇

“I’d have figured Kuon and Yakumo would’ve shown up by now, but Steph’s pretty late too…” Linne said, shrugging her shoulders as she sipped her fruit juice through a straw.

“Where was Steph when it all went off, again?”

“Mmm… I think she was next to Kuon? Don’t really remember, though,” Yoshino replied to Quun as she picked up a handful of french fries. Steph was their youngest sibling, who was only five years old.

“I’m sure they must’ve arrived here by now, though. Why haven’t they called?”

“They could’ve lost their phones. We dropped ours in a river…” Elna replied to Arcia’s grumbling.

When Linne and Elna had arrived, they’d dropped their phones in the Great Gau River, which cut off their ability to contact Brunhild. Yakumo and Yoshino were able to use magic to get around pretty easily, so losing their phones wouldn’t have been an issue for them, but Steph and Kuon were another story.

“I’m not worried about Yakumo so much as I’m concerned about Kuon and

Steph…”

“Kuon will be fine, won’t he? He’s a cunning little brat, so I’m sure he’ll figure out a way to reach us,” Arcia spat out some surprisingly harsh words about her brother. Nobody refuted her, however, proving that they were probably true.

“Yeah, that sounds about right. Kuon’s just like our father, danger always follows him. Even father calls him a troublemaker back in the future… They’re one and the same in that regard. Even if they don’t intend it, trouble just follows them naturally.”

“Mhm… That’s true,” Quun nodded along with Arcia as she picked at some treats.

Their younger brother had a habit of running into danger, even more than any of their siblings. He’d been nearly kidnapped more than once or twice, and he often had a habit of going overboard when it came to solving problems.

“I’m still not so sure if Kuon can handle things on his own.”

“It’s fine, he has the seven eyes. He’ll probably show up before long. It’s Steph

I’m more worried about. That girl’s always so restless and hard to predict.”

Everyone stared over at Linne. They all had the same thing on their minds… Namely, the fact that Linne was equally as restless and equally as hard to predict. She was painfully unaware of herself.

“By the way…don’t you want to chime in, Frei? And you too, Allis.”

“Mfh?”

“Bgh?”

Quun wearily looked over at Allis and Frei, who were tucking into their own portions of the Special Parent Jumbo Parfait. Their cheeks were covered in whipped cream from how greedily they’d been chowing down.

“It’ll be fiiiiiine… Kuon and Steph won’t get hurt out there. You’d need the power of a god to trouble any of us.”

“I’m worried precisely BECAUSE there are enemies out there with the power of a god.”

The wicked devout were still a problem. Their father had defeated the wicked god some time ago, but there were now individuals that had inherited its power.

According to Granny Tokie, the flow of time originally had various possible branches, each with a different outcome leading to a different future. But apparently, the time spirits had allowed the flow of time in this world to stay in a fixed position. No matter what the kids did while they were back in this time period, they shouldn’t have any meaningful impact on the future. If things continued uninterrupted, then they’d be able to return home eventually and all would be well.

However, the wicked devout posed an unexpected threat to this stability. After all, time spirits were no match for the divine, even the corrupted divine. If the flow of time were altered by the wicked devout, then the future could end up irreversibly changed. In the worst case, the children could even end up never being born to begin with.

“Okay, stooop! I know what you’re thinking, Quun…but don’t worry about it, okay?”

“But…”

“We have father here, as well as our mothers. It’ll be fine. Come on, eat this parfait and relax a little. Here, here. Say ‘aah.’”

Quun felt a little uncomfortable being offered a spoonful of dessert, but she did as her sister asked and took a bite. The sweet cream spread across her tongue.

“Jeez… You always make me feel silly for thinking so much, Frei…”

“That’s because you think too hard, Quun. We’ll take care of the wicked devout. We’ll just crush them. It’s that simple.”

“Well, if you say so,” Quun replied. She couldn’t help but be amused at her sister treating the situation so casually. “Still, it would’ve been nice if they hadn’t made off with Chrom Ranchesse’s Ark, don’t you think?”

Quun let out a small sigh as she looked over at the white crown, Illuminati

Albus. The little machine sat next to them. Kohaku, Luli, Sango, Kokuyou, and Kougyoku were all eating various treats, but Albus was just sitting motionless in a chair. Machines had no reason to eat, after all.

Quun suddenly spoke to him and said, “Albus… Let me just ask again, do you think the enemy has those incomplete crowns?”

“Affirmative. They likely have gold and silver.”

“And do the gold and silver crowns have the same special crown ability as you?”

“Unknown. Gold and silver remain incomplete. It is unlikely they have the same ability, but the possibility is not zero.”

Incomplete Gollems… Without functional skills, they simply served as keys to the Ark. That wouldn’t be so bad…but what if they did have their Gollem skills? What if they’d been properly finished, and were able to bestow immense power without demanding a price? Even if they were incomplete, there had to be someone with the wicked devout capable of manipulating Gollems. After all, there were those four-armed Gollems that had been there when the Ark was taken. What if they could complete what Chrom couldn’t?

“If only I had more information… But we’re a bit strapped on that front. In the future, we could just use social media, but what if we— Ow?!” Frei suddenly karate-chopped Quun on the head.

“Hey! What’d I just say? Stop thinking so hard! Just wait for all our siblings to gather up. It’ll be fine.”

“I know, it’s just…”

“Mh?!”

“O-Okay, calm down…”

Though Frei still had a spoon in her mouth, she positioned her hand as if she were about to strike again. Quun backed off. She knew full well how scary Frei could be when provoked. The other sisters knew better as well, so they busied themselves with their desserts instead of getting involved.

Elna decided to change the subject as she asked, “S-So, what should we do after this?”

“Oh, I wanna go to the guild!”

“Oh, same!”

Linne and Allis raised their voices. Arcia and Yoshino seemed less than enthused about the prospect. The two of them weren’t really fighters, and their Null spells weren’t suited for combat. Arcia had [Apport] and [Search], which were fairly useless in battle…while Yoshino had [Teleport], [Absorb], and [Reflection], which were mostly defensively oriented. They weren’t really fond of fighting either.

That being said, Arcia wasn’t unfamiliar with hunting down monsters or wild animals she wanted to cook, and Yoshino was proficient enough with Fire and Wind spells. They both heavily outclassed the average adventurer.

“Why the guild, exactly? We’re not registered in this era. Hell, we’re not even born yet. Surely you don’t mean to sign us up again,” Quun asked as she turned to Linne, curious to hear her reasoning. There was technically no age limit for registering as an adventurer, but they all looked so young that it was unlikely they’d be accepted as new recruits in this era. After all, no self-respecting guildmaster would send a small child off to die. Though, they’d probably be allowed to register if they showcased some of their real power.

“It’s not to register, Quun. It’s to sell. Remember? Frei has lots of stuff in her

[Storage].”

“Oh, that’s right! I forgot that you don’t have to be an adventurer to sell materials for money,” Frei said, clapping her hands together as realization sank in.

The children didn’t have much money on them. They were young, but they were still princesses. They lived well and they generally wanted for nothing, though that didn’t mean they got a lot of pocket money. The Mochizuki family policy was that if you wanted something, you had to work for it. Sometimes the kids would earn cash by doing things for the guild, other times they’d get some pocket change by helping out their family members.

As far as spending went, Frei tended to buy rare and peculiar arms and armor, Quun spent money on developing her own technologies, and Arcia liked to buy wild and unusual foodstuffs. But whatever the case, their father had insisted they keep the bulk of their earned money in the guild bank, which meant their finances were locked away in the future. They didn’t have much on hand at all.

“We’ll head to the guild when we’re done, then.”

“Then I guess this is your treat, Frei.”

“Ugh… F-Fine… It’s on me. I’m the most capable sister, after all.”

Yoshino’s words initially made Frei flinch, but she quickly bounced back with renewed vigor. The three who’d gone hunting were Frei, Linne, and Allis, which meant the money from the guild would be split between them. But Frei couldn’t let Allis pay for everyone, since she wasn’t family. And she definitely couldn’t let Linne pay, since she was the youngest.

After they got up, paid, and left Parent behind, the pocket change Frei had received before going out was completely depleted. Thankfully, her [Storage] still had a bunch of supplies left within, and the materials she’d sell at the guild would yield way more money than she’d spent. She smiled to herself as she sauntered along to the adventurer’s guild, pleased that she’d found a source of decent income.

“It’s been some time since I had a lot of money… I’m gonna buy some cool weapons!”

“Come on now, Frei… Don’t you think that’s a waste?”

“How could it be a waste?! It’s a necessary expense!”

Arcia sighed and shook her head. She couldn’t understand what was necessary about a few fancy swords. Quun simply shrugged her shoulders.

When the kids arrived at the guild, they walked on over to the counter as if it were an ordinary occurrence for them. The adventurers in the guild all went silent, however, as they watched a crowd of children walk through the area. The receptionist seemed equally puzzled when they all appeared before her.

“Er… How might I help you?” Misha, the feline beastman and receptionist at the guild, smiled politely as she asked them that question. Though, judging by the way her ears were twitching, she seemed more than a little confused. It wasn’t unheard of for children to appear in the guild, but it was still rather rare. Some adventurers brought their kids along, while others had squires or servants attending to them. Thus, Misha thought they were here with their family.

“I’d like to sell some raw materials.”

“Hm? You’re selling?” Misha asked as she raised her eyebrow. She’d dealt in the buying and selling of materials before, but never with children. She wondered what they could’ve brought. Probably wild rabbits or birds. In that case, it would’ve made more sense to take them to the butcher. It was a waste of time bringing such small game to the guild of all places.

“Er, I just want to clarify…we only buy parts from monsters and magical beasts… If it’s wild animals, then—”

“Don’t worry about that. We have choice parts from a King Boar, a Bloody

Goat, and the tail of a Nidhogg.”

“…What?” Misha mumbled incredulously.

King Boars and Bloody Goats were red-rank targets… And a Nidhogg? Wasn’t that a type of Fiendrake? There was no way these kids had those things.

“Er, girls… This isn’t really the place to play pretend. We have to—”

“Just show her, Frei. It’ll be faster.”

“Oh, sure. Here you go.”

A thud rang out across the room as the body of an enormous goat with shaggy red hair landed on the counter. It was a dead Bloody Goat. The sudden appearance of the dead monster made everyone freeze up. It wasn’t often that a red-rank target got hauled into the Brunhild branch of all places, so everyone was shocked. But Misha being Misha, her surprise was at something else. She recognized that storage magic had just been used… It was a spell that reminded her of a certain person.

Misha glanced from the Bloody Goat to the group of children, then she noticed the little white tiger cub at their feet.

“C-Could it be… Are you with the grand duke? P-Please wait a moment!” Misha said as she turned and bolted up the stairs. She looked shaken. All the adventurers were still stunned. They looked at where Misha had run off to, then back to the kids, then back to the Bloody Goat.

“Oh, Frei. Blood. It’s dripping.”

“Hm? Oh, shoot. My bad.”

Elna notified Frei that the Bloody Goat was bleeding onto the floor, so she promptly stuffed it back into [Storage]. She’d put the Bloody Goat straight into [Storage] after killing it, so it was still in the same state it was in at the moment it’d died, meaning it hadn’t been drained of blood or anything like that. Thus, it had dirtied the counter a little.

The sudden disappearance of the Bloody Goat had the other reception staff staring with their mouths hanging open. All the adventurers in the room were rendered speechless.

“…The vibe in here feels pretty weird.”

“Yeah… Everyone’s so quiet. Is something wrong?”

Arcia and Yoshino seemed confused. In the future, the children of the grand duke would be known staples of the guild, and while their escapades would stun people, they’d at least be expected. But in this era, a group of random children had just shown up and started doing the absurd, so it was no wonder people were shocked.

The children didn’t realize how overpowered they were sometimes, so they couldn’t understand why they’d shocked so many people with something as mundane as activating [Storage].

“Hey, the hell’s going on in here?” a man walked in through the guild entrance, yelling to break the silence. He was a giant of a man, standing at two meters tall. His hair pointed up in a mohawk like a cock’s comb and he wore a sleeveless leather jacket and a single shoulder pauldron, with a worn-looking axe hanging at his waist. He sauntered into the guild with a group of similarlooking men behind him. If he’d been here, the grand duke would’ve surely said they resembled punks from the turn of the century.

The mohawked man glared over at the children by the reception desk. It was the kind of look that would’ve terrified any normal child. But none of the kids were frightened by the man’s gaze. If anything, they stared right back defiantly.

“His hair’s weird.”

The tension was suddenly broken by a casual comment from Linne.

“Pfft…”

The tension was further dissolved by a sudden burst of laughter from behind the mohawked man.

“Hear that?! She said his hair’s weird!”

“Bwa ha ha ha! Oh man!”

“Kids sure are brutal, huh?”

“Why you…”

The mohawked man’s entourage started laughing their asses off, and before long, the other adventurers and guild staffers were struggling to hold back their own chuckles.

The mohawked man stomped over to Linne, pointed at his own head, and said, “Hey, kid! This is a badass haircut, y’hear me?! It’s not weird at all!” “Chicken head…”

“Ch—”

Linne’s savage comment prompted the mohawked man’s friends to laugh even harder. Some even fell to the floor. It was at this point that the guild staff and the other adventurers could hold back their own laughter no longer, erupting into a wave of concentrated mockery.

“Hey, Linne. Don’t be too rude. He didn’t do anything.”

“…Okaaay. Sorry…”

Frei told Linne off, prompting her to immediately apologize. Despite her attitude, Linne was generally a good girl. When told she was wrong, she was quick to correct her behavior.

Arcia stepped in front of Linne, faced the mohawked man, and said, “I’m sorry my sister was rude to you, sir. It was unwarranted.”

“Oh, uh… Naw, it’s fine. I’m sorry I yelled,” the mohawked man, upon seeing Arcia bow her head, apologized as well. He felt compelled to mimic her actions.

Out of all the sisters, Arcia and Quun were the most graceful and versed in the ways of etiquette. They were talented dancers and dignitaries, effectively acting as the perfect representative princesses. Arcia’s goal in going to formal events was more so she could spend more time with her father, however.

After the laughter died down, one of the receptionists opened her mouth and commented, “Jeez, Tyles, don’t get mixed up with kids. You’ll scare them with that mean face of yours.”

“It’s not mean! I’ve got a totally normal face!” the mohawked man, who was apparently named Tyles, growled back at the receptionist. His friends behind him, on the other hand, all shook their heads and grinned.

“You’re scary, man!”

“Yeah, all the chicks run when you look their way.”

“Your face is way deadlier than that axe.”

“Ugh! Gimme a break, guys! Your faces ain’t any prettier!”

The men started to bicker among themselves at that point.

“Hey, girls! You ain’t scared of my face, right?!”

“No, we’re not scared.”

“See? They ain’t scared! Truth comes from the mouths of babies and all that!

Kids got pure hearts an’ pure eyes!”

Linne’s words seemed to cheer Tyles up. He’d apparently forgotten she’d been the one to call him a chicken head not too long ago.

“What’s all the commotion about?”

While the mohawk gang was bickering, another individual appeared. She’d come downstairs with Misha. She had long golden hair and pointy ears. An elven woman who looked to be in her twenties graced them with her presence.

“Ah, the guildmaster.”

“Oh? Are we acquainted?”

Frei opened her mouth in surprise when the guildmaster, Relisha, appeared before them. In the future, Relisha was still guildmaster of Brunhild, and she looked pretty much the same. She was a person that all the children knew, and they owed a lot to her assistance.

“Are these the children with the Bloody Goat?”

“Y-Yes ma’am! Oh, wait. Where did it go?!” Misha asked. She panicked a little when she saw the countertop was bare.

“Oh, it was bleeding, so I put it away for the time being.”

“…Can you use storage magic?”

“I can, yes.”

Relisha quietly looked at the beasts accompanying the children and connected a few dots internally. She said no more.

“I’ll take you to the harvesting room, then. Come,” Relisha said as she led the children to a special room in the back of the guild, one that was especially suited to taking apart monsters and beasts brought in by adventurers.

The walls of the room were lined with knives, saws, pliers, and other such scary instruments of every shape and size. There was no furniture, save for a bloodstained wooden workbench right in the middle. This room had surely been used to take apart hundreds of thousands of dead animals, but it smelled remarkably clean. It was probably the work of some kind of magic.

“Can you take it out, then?”

At Relisha’s request, Frei opened [Storage], pulled out the Bloody Goat, and set it down on the workbench. The guild’s dismantling team all went wide-eyed when they saw the massive creature, but they didn’t seem too shocked. They were used to storage spells producing monsters in this particular branch. After all, the grand duke, his wives, the grand duke’s siblings and cousins, and the scarf-wearing young man who’d recently gotten gold rank all had some form of storage magic at their disposal. It was supposed to be a rare skill, but it wasn’t too uncommon in Brunhild. That said, they were still surprised that such young children had access to both that magic and the carcass of such a large beast.

Relisha looked at the Bloody Goat, then turned her gaze toward Kohaku, who was following the children closely.

“Kohaku, dear. Are these children relatives of your master?”

“Mmm… In a sense, I suppose they are. Rest assured they’re acting in his name, at least.”

“Very well.”

All the inhabitants of Brunhild knew that Kohaku and the other heavenly beasts were tied to the grand duke, and it wasn’t uncommon for them to have conversations. Kohaku vouching for the children was all Relisha needed to trust them.

The other guild staff members seemed somewhat reassured and even understanding when they realized these strange kids had something to do with the enigmatic grand duke.

“So…can you buy this?” Frei asked. She could sense a little bit of tension in the air, so she nervously tried to cut to the chase.

“I don’t have an issue with buying this…but does the grand duke know you’re selling it?”

“Er…” Frei faltered slightly at the question. She wasn’t doing anything wrong, technically, yet she still felt guilty.

The children hadn’t been born yet in this era. They weren’t supposed to stand out either. Granny Tokie had been somewhat firm when mentioning that.

“Could I check with him?”

“Go ahead…”

Frei gave a resigned nod toward Relisha. Relisha whipped out her smartphone to call Touya, so the kids huddled in a circle and began whispering.

“Father’ll find out…”

“Do you think he’ll make us keep our money in the guild?”

“N-No, that won’t happen. We don’t have guild cards in this era, so we can’t deposit money here.”

The girls weren’t adventurers in this time period, so they wouldn’t be able to use the guild bank. If anything, it was more likely their parents would hold their money for them. Their dad was pretty forgiving, though, so it’d be more likely that their mothers would force that on them.

Relisha hung up her call, turned back to the kids, and said, “The grand duke has given me permission to buy from you, so I’m happy to proceed.”

Just as Frei was about to let out a sigh of relief, Kohaku let out a quiet whisper from behind her.

“…My liege has just sent me a telepathic message. He’s told me to keep a close eye on what you might purchase and report back accordingly if you waste it.”

“Aww…” “Agh…”

Frei and Quun, who were the most eager to spend frivolously, let out groans. The other children weren’t too disappointed, since they were just happy to have money.

Arcia could easily justify buying luxurious ingredients and other foodstuffs, especially since they wouldn’t spoil when stored with magic. But Frei’s weapon collecting was a fairly intense hobby, and Quun’s development costs could get unreasonably high… Not to mention the fact that if Quun’s experiments failed, the money she’d invested would go to waste. It was highly likely that their parents would deem that kind of spending wasteful.

Frei let out a loud sigh and said, “Even if father says yes, I’m sure our mothers will get in the way of my plans… How annoying…”

“It’s fine, isn’t it? You’re still getting money.”

“I guess…”

Allis was right. The materials would bring in much more for Frei than she’d spent at Parent, but she didn’t just want money with nothing to spend it on.

“Do you have anything else to sell, by the way?”

“Oh, yeah. We have a few more things.”

Despite how dispirited she sounded, Frei took out various other carcasses from her [Storage] and presented them to Relisha. She took out a few of the more battered corpses with torn pelts and snapped tusks as well. She knew they’d sell for less, but it was a good chance to offload some dead animals.

“Is…? Is this a Nidhogg tail? Where’s the body?”

“Well…we kinda froze it and smashed it into tiny bits…” Frei explained as she gestured toward the pile of frozen meat near the workbench. The body was still technically there, but it wasn’t in its original form anymore. The guild’s staff looked on in disbelief as they picked up the frozen chunks.

“Hm, this is no good…”

“The skin’s ruined, as are the bones. At best, we can process this into something edible.”

“What a horrible waste… We could’ve made so much leather armor from this…”

Linne awkwardly listened to the workers lament the loss of the materials she’d utterly obliterated. Good materials meant good weapons and good arms, and those weapons and arms would protect the lives of adventurers. It was at this moment that Linne realized the true extent of what she’d done.

“I’ll be more careful next time…”

“Don’t worry so much,” Allis said as she gave Linne a gentle pat on the shoulder, quietly vowing to be more careful as well at the same time.

◇　◇　◇

“Oh, father!”

The kids saw me as they came out of the guild. Elna spotted me first, alerting the rest of them.

“What are you doing here? Isn’t the party still going strong?”

“Oh, I was worried, so I left early. Looks like you guys got some extra money, huh?”

“Yes, though sadly, most of the materials went to waste.” “Ugh…” Linne grumbled at Quun’s comment.

Hah, yeah… If you mess a monster up too bad, that’s bound to happen… No guild staffer worth their salt would let you trade in mangled stuff for the full price.

“So, anything you wanna buy with the money?”

“Yes! The Seablade Cutlass once wielded by the Dread Pirate Jolly should be in the Regulus Empire right about now!”

“No can do. Hilde said no weapons or armor.”

“Aww, dang it! I knew it!” Frei kicked the ground and cried to the heavens.

You know, I can’t help but feel you’re trying to use your jaunt to the past as a way to get weapons you missed out on in the future…

“Er, I’d like to put it toward development costs…” Quun stated as she raised her hand.

Her request seemed reasonable enough, so I told her exactly what Leen had told me: “So long as you tell us exactly what you’re planning to develop. If it’s not too strange, you can fund it.”

Quun patted her chest in relief. It seemed Leen was a little more lenient than Hilde when it came to encouraging her daughter’s eccentricities.

“Daddy, I wanna buy candy.”

“Huh?”

Yoshino’s suggestion took me by surprise. That sounded more like something Frei or Allis would’ve said. But really, candy of all things? Hadn’t she just eaten a ton of desserts at Parent? And it wasn’t like they didn’t serve sweet treats in the castle either.

“I wanna buy lots of sweet stuff and take it to grandma’s school. Then I can share it with everyone! I wanna see grandma.”

“Oh, I see…”

The grandma she was referring to clearly wasn’t Tokie. It was more likely to be Sakura’s mother, Fiana. Yoshino was the only girl who had a biological grandparent in Brunhild. Frei’s grandma lived in Lestia and Arcia’s was in Regulus, while Quun, Linne, and Elna’s biological grandparents weren’t around anymore.

“Grandmother Fiana is a fine and thriving headmistress in the future. We’ve all studied under her tutelage. She’s a lovely woman… I think we’d all be happy to see her.”

“Huh, interesting. Hmm…”

What Quun said made me think. The kids all wore magical devices that made them look different to outsiders. This was so nobody in the castle would notice how similar they looked to my wives, since it might end up causing a fuss. Though it wasn’t like I’d been actively hiding them or anything. Even Doc Babylon and Elluka knew they were from the future.

If I took the god part of the story out and only focused on the Space-time magic part, then maybe it’d be fine to tell Fiana… Though the matter of whether or not she’d believe the story remained to be seen.

“Hold on, I’ll ask Sakura about this.”

I figured the best person to ask would be the woman’s daughter, so I called up Sakura and explained the situation, which she responded to by teleporting directly to my position.

…I get that you can just use your spell like that, but was it okay to abandon the party?

“It’s fine… Most of the guests are drunk, so they won’t notice…”

“Oh, okay…”

Apparently, Suika had started a drinking contest, and she’d taken down every circus performer one after the other. Now I was definitely glad I hadn’t invited my kids.

“So, about Fiana…”

I wanted to introduce her to her grandkids, but I didn’t know if she’d believe me or not. Though, if she was like Babylon and familiar with magic, she might find it easier to swallow.

“My mother was raised in Felsen. She understands Space-time magic to some degree, so I think it’ll be fine… The only problem is the other person…”

“The other—? Oh. I see.”

She was talking about the overlord of Xenoahs. Yoshino was his grandkid too, so he’d probably kick up a huge fuss if Fiana got to meet her and he didn’t…which meant I’d probably have to introduce the two.

“Yoshino, what do you think of the overlord?”

“Grandpa? He’s lovely. He brings me sweets and treats all the time. But he definitely gets a little overexcited with us sometimes.”

It was something of a relief to know his granddaughter didn’t spurn him, but apparently, he was still as much of a doting dumbass in the future too.

“Save the overlord for later… Yoshino can meet my mother first.”

Sakura promptly cut off my idea before I could even bring it up. Seemed fair to me, though. I didn’t exactly feel like making a trip to Xenoahs anyway.

“Let’s go see Fiana, then.”

“What about the candy?”

“There’s no school today, so there won’t be any kids. We can treat them later.”

“Mmm… Okay.”

We gathered all the kids together and used [Teleport] to warp to Fiana’s house, which was not far from the school. It had a lovely garden in front of it, and it was generally a pleasant little cottage. We teleported right in front of Mr. Mittens, who was sweeping the pathway with a broom.

“Meow my goodness. What an entourage. Do you have business with your mother?”

Mr. Mittens was Sakura’s summon, but he basically served Fiana at this point. He commanded Brunhild’s cats and generally ran a pretty tight information network. In a sense, he was one of our nation’s intel specialists. Though you wouldn’t be able to guess that from the sight of him standing here in an apron, tending the garden.

“Where’s my mother?”

“She’s on a shopping trip with Athos and the others, but she should be back soon… Oh. There she is! Purrfect timing.”

I saw Fiana walking toward the garden with Athos, Aramis, and Porthos in tow. All three of them were cait siths like Mr. Mittens. Athos and the other three were carrying her shopping bags. I wondered if they lived on the school grounds as well. Fiana had ended up becoming something of a cat lady… But hey, at least her cats were useful.

“Hello there, Grand Duke. And you too, Farne. Who are these children? New students?”

“Grandma!”

“Huh?!”

Yoshino ran over and hug-tackled Fiana, who looked more bewildered than anything else.

“G-Grandma?! A-Am I that old?! D-Do I look that old?!”

She seemed more shocked about what she’d been called. Fiana had white hair, but she was only in her mid-thirties. This world tended to have young marriages, so she was probably a bit shocked and upset at suddenly being called a grandma. In my opinion, Fiana honestly looked a lot younger than her real age.

“Um…what’s going on here?”

“Oh, well…you see…”

Fiana looked at me with confused eyes, and I couldn’t really find the right words to respond with.

“This is Yoshino. She’s my child with the grand duke… Your grandchild…”

“Huh? What?!”

Uh, what?! Y-You’re just gonna up and tell her that, Sakura?!

“Er… Oh… Then…y-you adopted?”

Oh, yeah…that’s the logical conclusion. Sure makes more sense than time travel, anyway. And I don’t think anyone would buy Sakura having given birth to a baby this big either.

“No…she’s my birth daughter. Yoshino, can you show her your horns?”

“Oh, yes. Here.”

A pair of tiny silver horns jutted out above Yoshino’s ears. They were her manifestation of the overlord’s horns. It was proof she was related to the overlord, but it wasn’t actually evidence she was related to Fiana.

“Oh, Yoshino…take off your badge…”

“Oh. Right.”

Quun’s words made me realize part of the confusion. My kids were all wearing badges that had the [Mirage] spell baked into them. The badge didn’t affect her immediate family, so we all saw her as the spitting image of

Sakura…but to anyone else, she’d look like a complete and utter stranger.

Yoshino removed her badge, which made Fiana jump back in shock due to her sudden change of appearance. There was no denying her similarity to Sakura now.

“What? Huh? Uh…? Wh-What?!”

I really had no idea where to begin.

◇　◇　◇

“Farne’s daughter from the future, you say?” Fiana still looked shocked as she mumbled and sat back on the couch. Yoshino hugged her side regardless.

I’d asked everyone else to leave for the time being, since I thought she’d probably need time to process matters. Only me, Sakura, Yoshino, and Fiana remained in the room.

“I know you might find it a little hard to believe…”

“Oh, no… Space-time manipulation magic of this level is definitely theoretically possible…and you are an abnormal man, Grand Duke, so I don’t find it that hard to believe…”

…That almost felt like an insult.

“Then are you having trouble accepting it? Is there some issue with Yoshino…?”

“No, of course not. There’s nothing wrong with Yoshino… I just never expected to be a grandmother so soon… I can’t help but feel old, you know?” Fiana smiled as she looked over at Sakura and answered her question. Her feelings were understandable, really. I’d hardly expected to become a dad so quickly either. Why, when I first heard my kids would be coming back, I had no idea how to react at all.

“You’re still younger than you are in the future!”

“Goodness me, dear… I’m not entirely sure if that’s very reassuring,” Fiana’s smile turned a little wry as she responded to Yoshino’s blunt comment.

“Do you love your grandma, Yoshino?”

“Mhm! She plays with me a ton, and she always teaches me stuff! She even taught me magic!”

Magic, huh…? If I remember right, Sakura’s aptitudes are for Water and Darkness, while Yoshino’s are for Fire and Wind.

It was hard to teach magic to someone who had a different set of aptitudes to you, so it made sense that Fiana would be Yoshino’s teacher, as she had the same aptitudes as Yoshino. It was quite rare for a person to have dual aptitudes for magic, but Fiana was from the magically inclined nation of Felsen, so she probably had a natural advantage in that regard.

“I never thought I’d see my granddaughter this early in my life…”

“Neither did we.”

Life really is unpredictable sometimes. One day you’re walking around, and then, bam, you get zapped by lightning and warp to another world.

“Er… Have you told the overlord about her?”

“Umm…not yet, no. We told you first, but we’re still not sure how to go about telling him,” I mumbled as I glanced to my side and saw Sakura sporting a look of disgust on her face. She clearly wasn’t a fan of the idea.

“I don’t mind him meeting Yoshino… It’s what comes next that’s the problem. I know what he’ll do if he meets her. He’ll go all crazy and lose his composure, and then he’ll act out like an idiot… It’s annoying.”

She wasn’t really wrong. I could easily imagine that happening. At the very least, he’d be extremely high-energy when seeing her. Or maybe he’d cry… Yeah, he’d totally cry. Either way, it’d be a pain in the ass to deal with.

“Apparently, when Yoshino was born, the whole of Xenoahs had a parade…”

“Mhm. That’s what I was told, and apparently, Uncle Faron and grandfather had a big fight on the day I was born.”

…Faron? The hothead prince from Xenoahs? Why was he fighting with his dad after Yoshino was born?

“Grandfather said he’d stop ruling Xenoahs and move to Brunhild so he could be with me all the time, but Uncle Faron fought with him because he said he couldn’t just suddenly abandon the country.”

“Jeez…”

So they had a fight over that, huh? I can already imagine the scene in my head.

It made sense that Faron was mad about it. The Overlord throwing his whole country into disarray over the birth of his granddaughter was a bit much, even for him.

“Grandmother calmed him down and told him off, but even now, he’s still trying to retire so he can move to Brunhild.”

“He’s tenacious, that’s for sure…”

I wasn’t exactly relieved to know he was the same old idiot in the future.

Hrm… Should I tell him about her in this era, then? It might cause trouble.

“What do you think, Sakura?”

“I think it will cause some issues, but if we don’t introduce them, then the other children can’t really meet their grandparents either.”

Mmm… Good point. Yumina and Sue’s kids haven’t shown up yet, but Frei and Arcia will probably want to meet their grandparents… And they’ll definitely get together at the next meeting I host. If they happen to talk about their grandkids and the overlord overhears, he’ll know we skipped over him, which won’t be good for anyone.

In the end, I decided it’d be best to let Yoshino meet her grandfather, and it was clear she’d be happy to see him as well.

“Guess we’ll head straight to Xenoahs, then…”

“Might I trouble you to take me with you?”

“You wanna come too, Fiana?”

“If the overlord happens to get too rambunctious, I can most likely calm him.”

That was a good point. If we could keep the overlord from freaking out without me having to use force, that’d be ideal. It could turn into an international incident otherwise, given my position.

“In the worst case, I can stop him… I’m his daughter… I should be able to hurt him without causing any international incidents…”

That’s not true at all, Sakura! You might be his daughter, but you’re still a grand duchess of Brunhild! Don’t beat him up!

I silently gulped before opening up a portal to Xenoahs. I wasn’t so sure if this was the best idea after all.

◇　◇　◇

“So, er, in short…this is Yoshino…and she’s your granddaughter, Overlord. Uh…are you listening?”

The overlord sat silently on the couch in front of me. I couldn’t tell if he’d heard a thing, as his expression was blank and stony.

I’d brought Yoshino to Castle Pandemonium in Xenoahs in order to meet him.

“…”

“Hey, pops. What’s the issue?”

“…Father?”

The two princes, Faron and Farese, tried calling out to their father. I was fine with them being present, since they were Yoshino’s uncles and all. The only other people in the room were me, Sakura, Yoshino, Fiana, and the overlord. Everyone here was family, so I figured it was fine to let them know.

The overlord, who’d been frozen still like a statue, finally moved his head to slowly look at Yoshino. I could practically hear his neck creaking.

“…Granddaughter?”

“Yes.”

“Mine?”

“I’m Sakura’s daughter, yes.”

The overlord wouldn’t stop staring at Yoshino. The girl simply tilted her head slightly in confusion.

“She certainly resembles a younger Farnese…but…”

He can’t believe it, huh? Guess that’s not too surprising. We’ll just have to show him proof.

“Yoshino, can you show him your horns?”

“Okay,” she replied. A second later, tiny silver horns protruded from above Yoshino’s ear. The sudden sight caused the overlord and both of his sons to cry out in shock.

The Overlord’s Horns were an unmistakable sign that she was his kin. His sons had the very same horns, after all.

“To have it at such a young age…”

“Her magical abilities must be extremely refined. How very impressive.”

Yoshino’s uncles muttered words of praise among themselves. I glanced at Sakura, who had a very smug look on her face. I had to admit, I felt much the same.

The overlord stood up and walked over to Yoshino before crouching down and meeting her at eye level.

“…You’re really my grandchild?”

“I am, grandfather!” Yoshino replied before giggling slightly at the Overlord’s tense gaze. She sure was cute…

“My grandchild!”

“Mhm!”

“Yes! My granddaughter!”

“That’s right!”

The overlord reached down and grabbed Yoshino beneath her arms, lifting her high into the air.

“H-Hey!” Sakura shouted, almost rising from her seat. However, she stopped when Fiana laughed at her.

“Oh, Yoshino! How old are you?!”

“Nine!”

“You’re nine?! Amazing! You’re so smart for your age!”

“Hee hee hee hee… Not really…” Yoshino giggled and bashfully smiled in her grandfather’s arms.

The overlord cheered, apparently overcome with emotion, before asking me, “Duke Brunhild! Isn’t she cute?!”

“Of course she’s cute! She’s my daughter!”

Isn’t that obvious? Any child of mine’s gonna be the cutest kid in the world… Anyone who says otherwise just can’t see straight.

“What do you like to eat, Yoshino?”

“Candy and treats!”

“Oooh, treats? Hey…Faron, invest our national treasury into the confectionery industry. As of today, we’re turning Xenoahs into an international dessert powerhouse.”

“What?!”

The overlord’s smile stood in complete contrast to Prince Faron’s confused expression. Xenoahs was a land of demonkin, a species that didn’t really care what they ate so long as it was nutritious. Taste was secondary when it came to their food. They had some desserts, but they were pretty basic stuff like dried fruits or simplistic pastries. It wouldn’t be bad to start introducing more desserts to Xenoahs, but the overlord’s suggestion seemed a bit much. I couldn’t blame Faron for being shocked… The old man was already going berserk in his own way.

“I’ll have an entire storehouse full of treats for you soon, my dear. What else would you like?”

“Umm…can I take a photo with you and grandma?”

“Ah?! But of course! Absolutely! We’ll do it at once!”

The overlord set Yoshino down before rifling through his pockets for his phone. He pulled it out and handed it to Farese. The stupefied prince stared blankly as if to ask “Huh? You want me to take it?” as he awaited his father’s next words.

“Well? Take it already… And there better not be any motion blur, so help me…”

“R-Right…?” Farese mumbled as he took the phone from his father and cautiously held it up.

Yoshino stood in the middle, while the Overlord and Fiana stood on either side of her. The little girl smiled wide as she happily held fast to the arms of her grandparents. Everyone in the picture looked so young, though… It was more like a picture of a girl and her parents…which felt a little weird to look at.

“Okay, I’m taking it now…”

The shutter clicked, and that was that. Farese let out a sigh of relief, apparently having gotten a good picture on his first try.

“F-Farnese, would you like to take one with us? A family photo!”

“No. That’s annoying.”

“Mommy…I wanna take one with you.”

“Okay.”

Even though she’d instantly shot down her father, she immediately accepted when her daughter asked. That was definitely a very Sakura thing to do.

“You as well…”

“You want me in it too, Sakura?”

“Yeah. We’re family.”

Hah… I’ll accept, but this still feels a little awkward.

There was no reason to refuse, however, so I stood by Sakura’s side as the other three sat on the couch in front of us.

“Okay, here we go…”

Just like before, Farese snapped another photo of us. The shutter went off a few more times. These kinds of commemorative family pictures always made me feel uneasy…

The overlord walked over and took his phone back from Farese, immediately checking over the pictures.

“Ho ho ho! What a wonderful picture! I’ll be setting this as my lock screen for sure!”

I peeked over to look at the source of the overlord’s excitement.

Hm. Yeah, it’s a good pic. The best part is Yoshino’s smile, though. Sakura looks a little pouty…and my expression’s kinda stiff.

“Grandfather, send me the picture.”

“Oh, of course! Just give me your number.”

The two princes looked on, incredulous, as their father giddily exchanged phone numbers with Yoshino and began to send her a barrage of text messages.

“I’ve never seen father act this way… It’s somewhat distressing.”

“The old man’s out of his mind… Who would’ve thought he’d fawn over her this much?”

The overlord didn’t seem to care at all; he was lost in his own little world. The only thing he was paying attention to now was Yoshino.

“Oh, Yoshino! Let me show you around the castle! I had a rather interesting taxidermied beast installed yesterday. Would you like to see it?” the overlord asked as he rose from the couch once more. However, Faron grabbed him by the arm to halt him.

“Just a moment, father! You have a meeting with the trade association soon!

You can’t just skip it, can you?! Granddaughter or not, you have a duty, remember?”

“Yes! A duty to my granddaughter!” the overlord growled out in response, prompting Faron to sputter in shock.

…We should leave before this gets worse.

“How annoying. All right, Faron. You’re the overlord now. I’m abdicating as of this moment, so you can take over. Xenoahs is yours.”

“Whaaat?! You’re out of your mind, father!”

Wait, didn’t I hear about this already? Isn’t this supposed to happen right after Yoshino’s birth? Did I make it happen early?

“You’ll be succeeding me anyway, so what’s the difference whether you do it now or later?!”

“Weren’t you the one who said I’m unfit to rule until I have a wife?!”

“You’ll still be looking for a wife in a hundred years. I can’t possibly wait that long!”

“What was that?!”

It was true that the masked ball had resulted in a handful of interested ladies looking to court Farese, but absolutely nobody had taken an interest in Faron.

I was about to stand between the prince and the overlord to prevent something terrible from happening, but Yoshino placed herself there before I could move.

“No fighting!”

The two men immediately backed off in response to Yoshino’s sudden outburst, almost as if she’d compelled them by force.

Wow, that’s kinda scary… She’s small, but she sure packs a punch.

“Grandfather, you still need to do your work! You’ll cause problems if you ditch meetings!”

“Oh, I know… Sorry…”

“And Uncle Faron, you’re like a monkey when you start yelling! A no-good ape! Is that how you wanna be?!”

“A-Ah, no… I’m not… I… I’m sorry…”

Yoshino’s tirade had reduced the two strongest men in all of Xenoahs into cowering, apologizing shells of themselves. I’d brought Fiana along to keep the overlord under control, but apparently, she wasn’t necessary.

“She’s almost like a mother telling them off… There’s no way they can defy her… It runs in the family…”

“R-Really? I’m not like that, am I?”

Sakura simply smirked in response to Fiana’s question, leaving her at a loss for words. I definitely knew what Sakura meant, though. Fiana could be really scary when she told naughty kids off at the school. You couldn’t educate kids with kindness alone, after all. Sometimes you needed to make sure they learned from their mistakes. I wasn’t so sure if I could scold my own kids like that, though… Honestly, the thought alone made me feel uneasy.

A sudden knock at the door tore me away from the sight of Yoshino scolding her uncle and grandfather. A dark elf entered the room. It was Sirius Frennel, commander of the Xenoahs military and personal bodyguard to the overlord.

“Apologies for the interruption, my liege, but we must be off to our meeting…”

“No way! I’m going to play with Yoshino!”

“…Grandfather?”

“I-I mean…we can…play later…”

One glare from Yoshino had the overlord shaking in his boots. It was hard to tell he was an adult at all.

The overlord looked terribly dejected, so I reluctantly raised my voice and said, “Yoshino can use [Teleport], so she can stop by later.”

“Really…? Farne can use it too, but she never shows up…”

“…I’m a grand duchess. I can’t come home on a whim… It’s not personal…” Sakura spoke casually, but I wasn’t really buying it. If anything, Sakura considered her home to be with Sirius and the Frennel family, since that was where she was raised.

“Ugh… It’s unfortunate, but there’s no way around it, I suppose… I’ll call you later, okay Yoshino?”

“You can call her…but only once a day… No long calls either. I’ll check her logs… Oh, and no calling after seven at night. That’s mother-daughter time…

And if you start being a bad influence on her, no more calls for you…”

“Th-That’s so cruel!”

Sakura’s terms seemed to upset the overlord. I thought they were reasonable enough, though. Without them, he’d be calling her all hours of the day and probably the night as well. It’d be a pain in the ass. Hell, I also had no plans of allowing Yoshino to visit Xenoahs on her own, even if she could teleport in. If she wanted to see them, she needed to ask me for permission and I’d assign her Kohaku or one of the others as an escort.

“We need to go, father! You’re in charge in the interim, Farese.”

“Of course, brother.”

“Ugh… Can’t I have a little more time with her?! Just a little bit more!”

“That’s enough, old man!” Faron yelled as he dragged the overlord out of the room by his cape.

Coming here was probably a bad idea, huh? Man, that guy’s loud when he whines.

“Sorry about my father…”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault.”

“He’s so annoying…”

Farese bowed his head, an awkward look on his face. Even though he’d been stripped of his right to succeed the throne due to that whole incident with Sakura, he was still keenly involved in state affairs. Whenever Faron ascended the throne, he’d surely be there to serve as his brother’s right hand. He was a bit of a brainiac, so he’d probably end up working hard for his brother… After all, he was clearly working hard even now. Part of me wanted to do something to reward him.

“Hey, I promised I’d show you around my library a while back, didn’t I? How about you come with us now?” I remembered that Farese had shown an interest in books a while back, so I extended that offer. I wasn’t referring to the Babylon library, but the regular one in my castle. It was less esoteric, but it had plenty of rare books.

“Huh?! I-Is that okay?! I wouldn’t be imposing?”

“Not at all. If you find a book you like, you can even borrow it. I’ll have Yoshino show you around. That okay, Yoshino?”

“Mhm! I wanna show Uncle Farese around!”

“Ha ha ha… Uncle, huh? That makes me feel quite old,” Farese said as he smiled, rather awkwardly, at the way Yoshino referred to him. I could definitely relate.

With that, Yoshino’s business was done for the day. Now I just had to take Frei to meet her family in Lestia and Arcia to meet her family in Regulus. Surely those countries wouldn’t be as annoying as this one. Surely…

◇　◇　◇

“Oh! How scrumptious! It’s almost as good as Lucia’s!”

“Well, that’s only natural, grandfather!”

“…Has your sense of taste dulled, father?”

The emperor of Regulus merrily tucked into the meal Arcia had cooked for him, caring little for the harsh words his daughter had thrown his way. As a mother and as a cook, she clearly found his praise a little too generous.

“Wow! That’s Holy Sword Lestia! Can I touch it, grandfather?!”

“Oh, of course! Just be careful.”

“M-Me next! Frei, let me touch it next!”

The former king of Lestia handed his blade over to Frei as the king of Felsen looked on with envious eyes.

The reason why the king of Felsen was here was because his bride, Ellicia, was the emperor of Regulus’s second daughter. In other words, he and his wife were uncle and aunt to Arcia…which also made them my siblings-in-law.

He was definitely on a more similar wavelength to Frei than Arcia, though. The two of them were weapon maniacs. I didn’t really know how to feel about the former king strutting around with Lestia’s Holy Sword either… That was technically the current king, Reinhard’s, property, after all.

Hilde and Ellicia looked at the two weapon enthusiasts with exhausted eyes. “…I guess I’m just used to it at this point.”

“Same here.”

I wondered if they were talking about the weapon collecting hobby in general, or just how the two of them were behaving.

We were all gathered in Brunhild Castle. From the Regulus party, there was the emperor of Regulus, Crown Prince Lux, Second Princess Ellicia, and her husband King Felsen. Then from Lestia, there was the former king and queen of Lestia, King Reinhard, and old Galen. It was basically all of Frei and Arcia’s close family.

Lu did have another sister named Felicia. Apparently, she was married to some noble or other in Regulus. I didn’t invite her because she wasn’t really close to our family and didn’t really come to our conferences. In fact, I’d only met her once in my life… That was why I thought it might be a bit too shocking for her to meet her niece from the future completely unprompted. According to Arcia, they barely interacted even in the future.

“Ho ho ho! I never thought I’d meet my great-grandchild so soon. I feel invigorated enough to live another twenty years!” Galen exclaimed as he snapped a photo of Frei on his phone.

From what I’d heard, he was doing well in the future. Maybe he was in such a good mood because he knew he wasn’t gonna die soon… Perhaps being a massive pervert was somehow the secret to longevity. We were all happily eating food prepared by Lu and Arcia and playing with the kids from the future. I was just glad they’d all taken the news so easily.

“I’m quite surprised to have a niece from the future, though… I guess when it comes to your lot, common sense goes out the window.”

“Ha ha ha… I guess it does, sorry…”

I didn’t quite know what to say to Reinhard, who was probably a bit troubled by all this.

“Well, no matter. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about an incident in Lestia… Something similar to your tale happened in one of our southern fishing hamlets. Namely, a town named Evra.”

The tale Reinhard was referring to was my incident with the Fishmen. I wanted to figure out how far this might have spread, so I mentioned it to the other world leaders, only to discover that there were similar stories from all over the world. Even Lestia, apparently.

“The settlement of Evra was beset by a handful of these fish creatures you spoke of. There were no casualties, but several of the people attacked were infected, and after a short time, they transformed into similar fishlike creatures and waded away into the water.”

Those who are bitten or scratched by the Fishmen turn into Fishmen themselves… It sounds like a plot from some zombie horror flick, but it’s unfortunately real. Those poor villagers…

I wondered what the wicked devout hoped to achieve. Was the Ark they’d stolen somewhere under the sea? Maybe they were using it as a base to deploy the Fishmen…? But then, why transform people? I could only assume it was related to their need for negative emotions. Fear and despair were common negative feelings, and they’d be ripe in the people who knew their bodies were about to become something horrific and inhuman. Perhaps they planned to weave mass confusion and fear into the world…

I made a mental note to put out warnings to all the coastal villages, but I couldn’t help but be frustrated. When it was the wicked god, it was just golden Skeletons I had to worry about, but now there were these irritating Fishmen.

Brunhild was a landlocked nation, so I didn’t have to worry about my nation at least. Sure, we had dungeon islands that were surrounded by open water, but I wasn’t worried about them being attacked because I had a Kraken that regularly patrolled the waters.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of laughing children.

“Grandfather, this meal’s good for your health!”

“Ohhh, how lovely! Let me try it… Ah, delicious!”

“Grandpa, tell me about the legend of our ancestor!”

“Mmm… When our mighty forebear hefted the sacred sword, he scaled the mountain and found the dragon’s roost, and then…”

I couldn’t help but chuckle as I saw the emperor of Regulus and the former king of Lestia doting on their grandkids. They clearly couldn’t resist the cuteness, and I couldn’t blame them. I remembered my own grandfather doting on me in much the same way.

I’d probably be the same with Arcia and Frei’s kids… Though, that was surely way in the future. The idea frightened me.

“I’m not gonna let them get married anytime soon, that’s for sure…”

“Good grief, Grand Duke… You’re thinking about that already?” Reinhard asked as he raised a brow in response to my muttering.

Sh-Shut up! You’ve gotta think about these things when you have kids!

“What about you, Reinhard? Any children on the horizon?”

“Oh, well… Not yet…”

I’d met his wife, Sophia, at the wedding…but she wasn’t here today.

Apparently, she wasn’t feeling very well. She was a bit of a frail woman.

“Kids are the best…especially daughters!”

“You might be a bit biased on that front, Grand Duke…”

“I think he is. But I know what he means. Seeing my own daughter inspires me.”

“I suppose so! Ah, hm? W-Wait, Crown Prince?! When did you get here?!” Reinhard’s surprised outburst made me turn to the side. There, holding a glass of champagne, was Crown Prince Lux of Regulus. He had a small frown on his otherwise plain face.

“I’ve been here the whole time…” Lux mumbled. It sounded like he was about to cry.

I hadn’t noticed him at all. Reinhard hadn’t noticed him either, apparently. The man just had no presence, so it wasn’t our fault. Frankly, I wondered if he’d do well as the next emperor.

I felt a little awkward, so I quickly tried to shuffle the topic along.

“So, Crown Prince…you have a daughter?”

“I do, with one of my concubines. It was thanks to that peculiar medicine you supplied.”

Oh, the pills I gave to the king of Belfast and Duke Ortlinde… Now I remember, Emperor Regulus wanted some for his son. But damn, three babies came from those pills… It’s pretty effective stuff. I should look into selling it.

“When I see my daughter smile, I’m inspired to work hard. I’d like to keep her safe, after all.”

“Yeah, I feel you. I completely understand. It’s the same for me.”

“Tch… You two…” Reinhard grumbled a little at Lux and I talking about our children.

…Whoops, maybe I took it a bit far.

At that moment, Reinhard’s phone began to vibrate. It seemed he’d gotten a text.

“Oh, it’s from my wife… Let’s see h— Aaah!”

All eyes fell upon Reinhard at the sound of his peculiar scream. I had no idea what was wrong.

“Something wrong, Reinhard?”

“F-Father… Sophia… She’s pregnant…”

“What?! Really?!”

“Goodness! Goodness me!”

“That’s amazing, Reinhard!”

“Congratulations, brother!”

Wow, the Lestians sure are excited. Sophia’s gonna have a baby. That’s awesome! Reinhard’s gonna be a dad.

The former king of Lestia held a glass of champagne high up.

“Cheers to my second grandchild!”

“Grandfather, I’m your second grandchild! Bea was born before me, rememb

—? Ah… Eek!”

“Bea?!”

Frei accidentally let her mouth run a little too far, causing the Lestian party to erupt into chaos.

“U-Uhm… Father! Help!” Frei yelped as she glanced over at me. But really, what was I supposed to do?

“Well…Tokie definitely isn’t here, so it’s probably fine… Anyway, who’s this

Bea?”

“Uncle Reinhard and Sophia’s daughter… Her name’s Beatrice… She’s my cousin…”

In other words, that was the child Reinhard was now expecting… He’d just had the name and gender spoiled.

“Beatrice… Beatrice… Yes, what a name… My daughter… Oh, my daughter!”

Reinhard was happy, which was all that really mattered. Besides, he’d presumably named her that himself in the future…so it was probably gonna be a name he’d like anyway.

“Grand Duke, I must apologize…but can I go home now?!”

“Oh, sure. Go right ahead.”

“Thank you!” Reinhard exclaimed as he charged through the [Gate] connecting to Lestia at full pelt. I could understand his feelings.

“What a restless boy… He should be calmer. His child’s coming!”

“Are you sure, dear? I seem to recall you jumping for joy when we had

Reinhard… You’re the same as him, if you ask me.”

“Hrmph…”

Everyone laughed at the exchange between the former king and queen.

◇　◇　◇

“Hmph!”

“Gyah!”

A Fishman with metallic blue scales fell to the ground, defeated. Another Fishman appeared from the side, but Yakumo brought him down with a swift horizontal slash.

This was the port city of Zagant, west of the Gardio empire. On a map, it would be opposite the coastline of the once-great nation of Isengard. This usually quiet port town was suddenly overrun by mysterious fishlike attackers…

Yakumo had jumped in to save an old man who was about to be torn apart by the beasts. She’d hoped to take a carriage to what remained of

Isengard…though the land couldn’t really be called a state any longer. It was more a haphazard collection of suffering cities than anything else.

In order to gain clues about the wicked devout, Yakumo had thought it logical to travel to the place where the wicked god had first made landfall. She’d stopped over in Lassei, but it was easier to get to her destination via boat from Gardio’s shores. It was during this search for a boat that she found herself amid the Fishman attack.

“Hm?” Yakumo muttered as she glanced down at the baseball-sized octahedron that had sprung from the body of the Fishman she’d killed. It glowed a dull blue. She wasn’t sure why, but she knew at a glance that it was something profoundly wrong. Something that shouldn’t be here.

She acted on that impulse and promptly shattered it with her sword. There was no hesitation on her part. Yakumo had been born a demigod; she instinctively sensed the foul emanation of the muddied divinity within the octahedron.

She cut down two more of the Fishmen, prompting the rest to turn tail and flee into the sea. Yakumo didn’t give chase. Instead, she simply sheathed her weapon. Thanks to her efforts, nobody in town had been afflicted by the curse the Fishmen had carried.

“Something strange is going on here, it is…” Yakumo sighed quietly as she looked at one of the dead Fishmen.

It was likely that the golden medicine she’d been looking into was connected to these Fishmen, and that they were both tied to the wicked devout. She began to ponder this deeply, only to suddenly remember that she’d been aiding an old man. She snapped out of her trance and reached down to help the fallen man.

“Are you okay?”

“O-Oh, yes… Sorry. Thank you so much…”

Yakumo helped the man to his feet, only to turn at the sound of approaching soldiers. They all brandished their blades.

Yakumo instinctively reached for her own sword, but the old man intervened, saying, “D-Don’t worry, my lady. These men are my guards. I sent them all on an errand, though I see now I should’ve kept one by my side.”

Yakumo felt that it would’ve taken more than one guard to fend off the Fishmen, but she held her tongue.

The old man reached a hand out to shake Yakumo’s, saying, “My name is

Roger Wilkes. Though the world knows me as the Professor.”

“Huh?!” Yakumo shouted in surprise, which was only natural. After all, the

Professor was the alias held by one of the five great gollemancers of the western continent.

Yakumo wasn’t exactly familiar with Gollems or their technology, but she’d heard that name from her sister far too many times. Had Quun been here, she’d have likely exploded with joy.

“Then these knights of yours…”

“Yes, they’re all soldat Gollems. They’re not human.”

That explained why none of them had said anything, though it wasn’t like no Gollems could speak. Yakumo had spoken to the wolf Gollem and the white Gollem in her family’s castle quite a few times.

“Why are you here, of all places?”

“Hm? A matter of curiosity, I suppose. I heard the witch-king of Isengard had unearthed a massive Gollem. I wanted to see it, even if it had been destroyed.

Just looking at its parts would’ve been enough.”

The Hecatoncheir was an ancient Gollem that had been unearthed and reactivated by the witch-king of Isengard. It had been defeated by Yakumo’s father, though pieces of it still remained beneath the ruins of Isenberg. Though honestly, the catastrophic damage the wicked god had done to the area had likely caused even more damage to whatever remnants were still hanging around.

“I see… What a terrible waste. That’s most unfortunate.”

“Elluka may have recovered some of the more interesting parts, she may.”

“Oh? You’re acquainted with her, of all people?”

“Well, somewhat…” Yakumo mumbled, trailing off. She hadn’t actually met

Elluka in this era yet, but she did know the one from the future. She’d created a Gollem for Yakumo to spar with when she was a toddler, though it had only lasted three days against the little samurai-to-be.

“Good grief… And she didn’t think to tell me… I’ll have to give her a good scolding next time I see her. But no matter! I’m still curious as to what has become of Isengard.”

“Er, sir… Isengard is quite dangerous lately, it is. There’s a greater number of bandits, monsters, and wild animals. It might not be wise for you to travel alone, it might not.”

Yakumo had been attacked several times on the road, though her attackers rarely lasted long against her. After she’d beaten them down, she always tossed them through a [Gate] that led directly to the nearest knight order.

“Now, now, girl. I have my tools. I’ll be just fine,” the professor grinned and patted his armor, but Yakumo couldn’t help but be concerned. The man had nearly just been Fishman food, after all.

Yakumo knew how much this man meant to her sister Quun, so she offered to escort him across Isengard. They were going the same way anyway, and the Mochizuki family always had the habit of being kind to those in need.

“Oh, really? You’d go with me? Well then, thank you…”

“Yakumo Mochi— Er…just Yakumo.”

Yakumo almost gave away her family name before thinking better of it. This man was one of the greatest Gollem engineers in the world. Even if he didn’t have a smartphone, he could’ve had access to some kind of comms device. If she revealed her identity, she could risk him contacting someone back in Brunhild.

It’d be fine if he got in touch with her dad. He’d maybe give her a few stern words and a slap on the wrist for traveling around without permission. But the real issue was her mother. Her mother was never one for lectures… She was the kind of person to punish without words. To be specific, Yakumo feared she’d get a hell of a spanking. It had happened to her a lot as a child, and she didn’t exactly feel like being spanked at her current age.

Yakumo had initially traveled around in the past to get in some general training, but now she felt obligated to return home with some kind of lead on the wicked devout. The longer she spent away, the more she felt her mother Yae would be angry at her, so she wanted to come back with valuable information to lessen her rage.

The professor unfurled a map and ran his finger over it before saying, “If we wish to travel to Isengard, we’ll have to take a boat from the next town over.

See?”

“Oh, that seems right.”

Thus began a peculiar journey. One led by a girl, an old man, and five Gollems.