Ch.140Family Request – 1

“Welcome back, young master.”

As I stepped out of the carriage pulled by stone golems, the head butler and nearly all the maids working at the mansion greeted us. Following the head butler’s respectful bow, the maids all bent at the waist in unison.

“Yeah. It’s good to be home. Everything been alright?”

“The master and mistress asked me to convey their apologies for not being able to meet you today.”

“Tell them I completely understand, given the circumstances. I’ll be staying for a week anyway, so I’m sure they’ll be back before then.”

After desperately explaining and somehow managing to convince the four possessed individuals, Leona, with an exhausted face, had changed her request to simply asking us to come visit her village, even if there wasn’t much to see.

After discussion, we decided to first return home to rest and meet my parents, then visit Leona and Aria’s hometown. Priscilla would be next in line.

The fact that they hadn’t even decided on the order for the rest suggested they were fully planning to gather in one place somehow.

“Yes. They promised to finish their schedule as quickly as possible, so you should be able to meet them within three days at most.”

The elderly head butler welcomed me back once more, mentioning that they were already preparing a banquet and that I should feel free to command anything I desired at any time. Then he departed.

The maids, who had tried to take my luggage only to be flatly refused, followed behind him like clockwork.

“It is only proper that I carry the young master’s luggage. Where do you think you’re putting your hands?”

“That’s right. The master’s luggage is always our responsibility.”

Beatrice, who had proudly declared this while watching the departing figures, turned her head.

“Shall I escort you to your room, young master?”

“Of course. It’s the first day of vacation, and I plan to rest at least for today.”

“Yes, young master. This way. We’ve been coming to clean every day while you were attending lectures, so you’ll be able to rest right away.”

The last time I was here, I went straight to Beatrice’s room because of Nika’s situation, so it had been a really long time since I’d been to my own room. I was just reaching the mansion’s entrance following the two maids when—

—CRASH!

“Yooouuung maaasterrr!!!”

As the sound of shattering glass rang out, something fell from the sky, casting a shadow. I hurriedly wrapped Beatrice and Nika in a protective barrier, but not a single shard fell on us.

That was because someone else had used magic on the fragments instead of me. The broken glass pieces were enveloped in blue light, floating in the air before neatly stacking in a corner of the garden.

A woman who had appeared by breaking a third-floor window landed in a superhero pose, while another woman with an extremely unimpressed expression descended behind her.

“I told you we should greet him like normal people, Trisha. What if Mira or Beatrice had been hit by the glass? The repair costs will come out of your salary, just so you know.”

“Do whatever you want! I wasn’t using that money anyway, so consider it a donation! And if I really thought they’d get hurt, I would have protected them! You think I’d just let them get injured?”

One was a thin woman with cold features and long, straight black hair reaching her ankles, while the other was a woman with short hair barely past her shoulders, visibly toned muscles, and an energetic smile.

They were my older sisters—Diana Crate and Trisha Crate. Despite being only two years apart, the sisters looked completely opposite as they approached.

“It’s been a while. How’s the merchant guild business?”

I greeted them first. Both were quite a bit older than me and had long since graduated from the academy, each inheriting a merchant guild to run, so I was surprised they were already back.

Of course, only Diana was properly running hers. Trisha had tried to turn her inherited guild into a mercenary company, got thoroughly beaten by our enraged mother, and was relegated to being her older sister’s personal bodyguard.

“Our scale isn’t that large. The work is mostly trivial, so we finished early and came back.”

“As for me, I just need to protect our guild master here!”

“Get your hands off me. It’s disgusting.”

“My, how rough.”

Diana coldly pushed away Trisha’s hand that had been draped over her shoulder. The arm, which appeared to be at least twice as thick as Diana’s, was easily pushed aside. Given how easily it moved, Trisha must have allowed it.

The fact that she was still smiling despite being called disgusting was proof of that.

“Anyway, we thought you might be disappointed if we weren’t here when even our parents couldn’t make it due to work.”

“That’s right! Our youngest got into a place that even Diana failed to enter—I had to see your face in person! Come here! Let me give our cute little brother a hug after so long!”

Trisha spread her muscular arms wide and lunged at me. I grabbed her approaching arms and pushed them back. When she was completely overpowered in terms of strength, a look of surprise appeared on Trisha’s face.

“Wow, what’s this? You’ve gotten so much stronger! Does the Empire’s top academy have only the finest exercise equipment?”

“I was always stronger than you, wasn’t I?”

“No, I mean you seem much stronger than before. You weren’t this strong back then.”

“Of course. That’s what it takes to declare an ambition to hold the top rank at Bellium Academy for all three years, Trisha.”

I had expected to hear this eventually, but it came much sooner than anticipated. I flinched and looked to the side. Diana stood there with a nonchalant expression, as if wondering why I was surprised by something so trivial.

“I’ve been checking up on your news every single day without fail. But for the past two weeks, I didn’t even need to look—the news just came to me. What exactly have you been doing that made the Sword Saint personally vouch for your skills? What have you been doing to receive permission to skip the final exams at Bellium Academy?”

“…Has there been a lot of gossip?”

“I told you. The news came to me without me having to look. With most of the students there being nobles, how could there not be rumors? Our parents heard about it too. They were worried that you might be pushing yourself too hard, given your frail health.”

They seemed the same as ever. Though there was no need for such unfavorable aspects to remain unchanged.

“The nobles are in an uproar right now, you know? It says everything that people are already trying to establish connections with me, not even our parents, just to meet you somehow.”

“Come on, surely that’s because of you, sis.”

“So they’re telling me they have daughters of marriageable age because of me? I wasn’t aware my preferences leaned that way. Interesting.”

“…”

When she put it that way, I had nothing to say. The purpose was too obvious, wasn’t it?

“And that’s not all. There are also plenty of rumors about the women around you. What does it take to form a club that includes the second daughter of Duke Agnes, a Saint, and even a Hero? And recently, I heard the Sword Saint’s first disciple, Bellium Academy’s first transfer student, and even the Crown Prince joined? How is it possible that in a group of eight people, the most ordinary one is the Hero’s childhood friend?”

Actually, that “Hero’s childhood friend” is the protagonist of the original story, so they’re not exactly ordinary either. But I kept that thought to myself and remained silent.

“Oh, and there’s more. I hear the Chairman is giving you special care, and the Tower Masters are practically kowtowing to you? Those notoriously difficult people? What happened?”

The Chairman does give me special care, but it’s probably quite different from what these people imagine. As for the Tower Masters behaving that way, well, that’s just everyday life for me now.

I wanted to refute something, but since everything was essentially true, I remained silent. Diana sighed.

“How did our once frail but pure and cute youngest brother return as such a big shot…?”

How strange that none of the three descriptors attached to “youngest brother” were accurate.

You should never believe these people when they say “Mira was sick in the past.” They once brought a doctor from the imperial palace for a health examination because I coughed once after choking on water.

There was a reason I enrolled at Bellium Academy in the first place.

“…I’m sorry. That might have sounded a bit harsh.”

After looking dumbfounded for a while, Diana apologized.

“If you felt that way, I apologize. I’m sorry. I got carried away explaining because there’s suddenly been an increase in people trying to connect with you. I’m truly sorry.”

“No need to apologize. The rumors are certainly surprising enough to warrant disbelief when first hearing them. So, is that all you wanted to say? It seemed earlier like you had something more.”

“…You noticed, huh? You’re right. I have a favor to ask. No, to be precise, it’s a request I’m making to you. It might be dangerous, so we should be clear about the payment.”

“A request? What kind of request?”

“It’s not something we should discuss outside. Let’s go in. And Trisha, that’s enough. Act your age. What have you been doing to Mira all this time?”

Diana’s eyes looked at Trisha, who had been desperately trying to hug me, with contempt.

“No way! I haven’t gotten to hug Mira yet!”

“When will you ever grow up?”

Seeing Trisha’s defiance, Diana sighed deeply. Gathering and gripping both of Trisha’s arms with one hand and lifting them, she asked:

“Does your little sister absolutely have to be included in this request?”

“No. She’s just my bodyguard, so it doesn’t matter whether she’s there or not. Why?”

“Is that so?”

I used physical enhancement and acceleration simultaneously as I released her hands. Trisha’s face, looking confused, passed by very slowly as she staggered. I bent my middle finger, secured it with my thumb, and brought it to her forehead.

—THWACK!

I delivered a forehead flick. A crisp sound rang out, and Trisha rolled her eyes back and fell backward. Her body sprawled out on the lawn.

“That takes care of that, right?”

“…What the hell? Did you just knock out Trisha with one flick? Trisha?”

Diana stared at me with a dumbfounded expression.

Diana’s explanation went like this:

For several weeks now, a masked woman had been persistently interfering with her guild’s transportation. And she was specifically targeting only Diana’s guild, leaving all others alone.

Her skills were so exceptional that it took nearly ten top-tier mercenaries just to barely drive her away.

“The problem is that even if we manage to do that, we still operate at a loss when moving goods. Top-tier mercenaries are incredibly expensive to hire. I could use my personal funds to cover it, but that defeats the purpose of running a merchant guild.”

Yet despite all this, they couldn’t capture the attacker. Even with mercenaries and mages deployed, the attacker skillfully evaded them and struck from elsewhere.

In fact, every mercenary they hired ended up severely injured by the masked woman, and as rumors spread, the number of mercenaries willing to accept the job was noticeably decreasing.

“The goods must have been badly damaged too. That’s quite a loss, isn’t it?”

“No. The financial loss is minimal. At most, just some damaged carriages. The biggest problem is that we’re losing credibility.”

“You’ve been attacked so many times but have almost no financial loss? How is that possible?”

“No one has died, and nothing except the carriages has been stolen.”

Even more peculiar was that while she attacked the carriages, she never killed anyone or damaged anything other than the vehicles. She was especially meticulous about protecting the guild’s people.

When mercenaries or mages attacked her, she would inflict terrible injuries, slashing their entire bodies, but with the guild’s people, even if they confronted her with weapons, she would at most strike their wrists to disarm them and then subdue them.

And despite thoroughly destroying the carriages, all she ever took were a few coins, making it impossible to understand her motives.

“That’s a really unusual character.”

“That’s why it’s driving me crazy. Recently, there have even been rumors that this might be our own staged act. For now, it’s just rumors, but if this continues, I can forget about running a guild under my name in the future.”

Diana frowned deeply.

“I could ask our parents for help, but since this is the guild I inherited, I want to resolve it on my own as much as possible. They’re already busy enough, and I don’t want to make them worry about this. Well, this kind of deliberation is only possible because no one has died…”

A long sigh escaped between her lips. After looking up at the ceiling and exhaling a lengthy sigh, Diana looked at me with a determined expression.

“My request is for you to capture that person. With your skills, you should be able to handle it, right? But I’d prefer if you could capture them alive rather than killing them. I’m dying to know why they’re doing this. Of course, if you find yourself in danger, that’s different. Don’t get hurt unnecessarily—if it seems dangerous, just kill them. Understood?”

“I understand.”

I was planning to capture them alive anyway. I was genuinely curious about why someone would attack all of Diana’s guild’s carriages yet kill no one and only take a few coins.

“When do you want to leave?”

“Choose whatever day works for you. I’ve been postponing this until you came, so any time is fine.”

“Good. Let’s go right away.”

Though I felt a bit sorry for Beatrice and Nika, it seemed rest would have to wait.

“By the way, what will you pay for this request? You said you wanted to be clear about the payment, which is why you’re calling it a request rather than a favor?”

“That’s right. Money… you probably don’t need it. I’ll grant you any one thing you want later. If that seems insufficient, you can ask for more. Just don’t ask for too much.”

“Anything, huh…”

It seems like whatever I receive would be of little use anyway. As I was seriously considering whether to ask for something else, Diana suddenly twisted her upper body and hugged her modest chest.

“Why are you hesitating? Let me be clear: nothing lewd. We’re siblings.”

“Can you please distinguish between erotic novels and reality?”

She must have finally gone mad from secretly reading all those adult novels since childhood.