Ch.203Side Story: Age

Serena, Charlotte, and Olivia had gathered at Abel’s house in broad daylight.

It wasn’t because the three were particularly close or had any special purpose. Just as the sun rising in the east each morning was natural, the three of them gathering at Abel’s house was equally ordinary.

However, upon arriving at Abel’s mansion, the three women could only stare blankly at the empty house.

Since Christine was the only one who could have stayed at the mansion last night, it meant Abel had taken Christine out somewhere since morning.

Serena and Charlotte waited for Abel in the mansion’s reception room, making no effort to hide their discomfort. Olivia had initially intended to leave, but sat back down thinking it wouldn’t be good to leave the other two alone together.

With nothing particular to do or say, a chilly silence hung between the three. Olivia and Charlotte were each managing their mana, while Serena was sharpening the blade of her Wind Shear.

That’s when it happened.

“…Why are you looking at me like that? Do you have something to say?”

Olivia made a sour face when Charlotte stared at her with an enigmatic gaze. After spending several months bickering with the three women, she had come to understand each of their personalities to some extent.

And among the three, Charlotte was the most dangerous.

Serena was someone with whom Olivia had relatively little friction. Not because she had a gentle personality, but because they simply had no reason to clash.

As long as you didn’t provoke her first, she wouldn’t pay you any attention. Since the current Olivia was far from the type to pick fights with others, they maintained a relationship of mutual indifference.

Christine was slightly ambiguous. Like Serena, she wouldn’t pay attention to you if you didn’t bother her first, but she occasionally had inexplicable breaking points.

These outbursts were so unpredictable that it was nearly impossible for Olivia to prepare for them in advance. Like yesterday, when she had attacked simply because it was a place where her god had breathed.

Conversely, Charlotte was the most dangerous and difficult person.

Charlotte picked fights with the other three women at every opportunity. She didn’t hesitate to provoke Serena and Christine, and Olivia was no exception.

Yet she was adept at evading responsibility, and she skillfully irritated others without ever crossing the line herself.

Rather than crossing the line first, she walked a tightrope near it, waiting for the other person to cross it first.

It was a well-calculated strategy, knowing that Abel didn’t expect the four to get along peacefully and would overlook mere verbal arguments as long as they didn’t escalate to physical fights.

So naturally, Olivia couldn’t help but be wary when Charlotte suddenly stared at her with a contemplative look, wondering what kind of mischief she was planning this time.

“How old are you?”

“What?”

As expected, it was a puzzling question. Olivia frowned.

“I asked how old you are. Don’t tell me you’re so old that you can’t even remember your own age.”

“Why are you suddenly curious about that? If I’m older than you, are you going to call me ‘unnie’?”

Although Olivia had lived at least five times longer than Charlotte, that fact wasn’t particularly important. What mattered now was what kind of provocation Charlotte was planning.

Olivia didn’t particularly like the other three either.

She had committed sins in the past, and before she went mad with love, Olivia had been quite a fragile character, so she was just putting up with things for now.

As could be inferred from Abel’s words about maintaining continuity of memory, Olivia’s love—so immense that it drove her to commit such terrible acts with such composure—hadn’t changed at all.

Abel had firmly established that he would embrace all four of them simultaneously and promised to love them all equally, so she was enduring.

However, that didn’t mean she had to tolerate provocations in Abel’s absence.

“Unnie… You have absolutely no conscience. Despite being old enough to be the ancestor of my ancestors, you want to be called ‘unnie’?”

“If you already know, why are you asking? And if you’re going to bring up age, you’re only shooting yourself in the foot in front of Abel. He’s probably older than all of us combined, isn’t he?”

Olivia recalled Abel’s image when she was first sold to the magic tower, where he was already treated as an elder within the tower.

That was at least several hundred years ago, and considering the time he spent as an adventurer before becoming an elder at the magic tower, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say Abel’s age reached four digits.

As memories of the past suddenly made her body tremble, Olivia habitually touched the right side of her body.

The keloid scars, burn marks, and yellow discharge that had once covered half her body were long gone. Yet occasionally, she still felt as if those sensations remained.

“It’s nothing.”

Charlotte flashed a smile. All four women surrounding Abel were beauties who would be offended to be considered second-rate in terms of appearance, so despite her thorny words, she was breathtakingly beautiful.

“Even if you multiplied my age several times, it wouldn’t come close to yours, and being with such an ancient being makes me feel like I’m aging too.”

Olivia’s eye twitched slightly.

None of them needed to worry about lifespan issues. Olivia and Charlotte, as well as Christine and Serena, had long since reached a level where the concept of aging and dying was meaningless.

If they deliberately extended their lifespans, the world might end before any of them died. So why was Charlotte suddenly bringing up how old she was?

Even though Olivia generally tolerated minor provocations, she wasn’t meek enough to ignore a challenge made in Abel’s absence.

The source of Olivia’s patience was always Abel.

“How amusing.”

While Olivia was contemplating how to best respond to Charlotte, Serena, who had been maintaining her Wind Shear nearby, unexpectedly joined the argument.

“Charlotte, bringing up age? Have you finally gone senile? Aren’t you also an old hag who’s easily over a hundred years old?”

Now it was Charlotte’s turn to frown.

Just as Charlotte’s age multiplied several times wouldn’t reach Olivia’s, the same was true for Serena and Charlotte. Even multiplied several times, Serena’s age wouldn’t reach Charlotte’s.

Serena was only 24 years old, while Charlotte was approaching 150.

Due to the dangerous profession of adventuring, which significantly shortened the average lifespan, 24 was an age when ordinary women might start being called spinsters.

But the women by Abel’s side were beings who could already disregard the flow of time.

There was Olivia, who was easily several hundred years old; Charlotte, who had reigned as the kingdom’s unparalleled authority for over a century; and Christine, who would reach three digits in just a few more years.

With such women around, 24 was truly a fresh and youthful age.

“As you say, that is my age. It’s simply a fact that I won’t deny.”

Charlotte said with a sinister smile.

“However, are you, a mere blood clot whose brain hasn’t even fully developed, trying to join the adults’ conversation? Stay in your corner and suck on some candy.”

“Don’t change the subject. I clearly said you were old.”

At those words, both Olivia and Charlotte flinched simultaneously. That was the signal. Without any prompting, all three surrounded themselves with mana.

As always, verbal fights weren’t their style.

If they were going to fight, it was better to fight to kill rather than waste time with words. And if one competitor died in the process, all the better.

The atmosphere became explosive. Black mana and blue mana, blue mana and blue mana collided, distorting the air. None of them seemed willing to back down.

The leather sofa began to melt, unable to withstand the pressure of the wildly colliding mana. Just as the three were about to begin their fight, the reception room door burst open.

“If you came home, you could have at least said something. Why are you all just sitting here… What’s with this atmosphere?”

“Nothing happened, Abel.”

“What do you mean by the atmosphere, my lord?”

“Welcome back, my lord.”

As soon as I opened the door and entered the reception room, some blurry afterimages flashed by, and then I saw the three of them sitting in their places, each doing their own thing.

Olivia and Charlotte were drinking tea, while Serena was polishing the exterior of her Wind Shear. Their actions seemed very natural, but it was clear that something had happened.

Otherwise, how could these three be sitting so quietly? Especially Charlotte.

The fact that my first thought wasn’t relief at seeing them sitting quietly, but suspicion that they must have been up to something and stopped because I arrived, was truly sad.

Still, with only circumstantial evidence and no proof, I didn’t press the issue. The fact that they at least pretended not to fight in front of me was already significant progress.

For some reason, they weren’t approaching me immediately but were quietly staying in their places—it would be polite to let that slide too.

Yes, that must be it.