Chapter 491: Changing Weapons (1)

‘By any chance, may I ask what kind of relationship you have with our Sihee~?’

‘……’Our’ Sihee?’

Lulusia’s voice, calling out to me so clearly that it made Sihee’s efforts to block access seem pointless.

To that question, which sounded like a direct provocation, Do Yehee paused for a moment and had no choice but to turn back towards the Saintess.

After all, she had already decided to make contact with this person eventually. An opportunity for the other party to approach first was not something she could refuse.

It was a moment when she felt a strange sense of rivalry towards the woman so brazenly calling her own sister ‘our’ Sihee.

‘Sihee-ya, the Saintess and I want to talk, won’t you step aside?’

‘Kuhuk….’

If it were just about making an enemy of Do Yehee, it wouldn’t have mattered, but even the more courageous Do Sihee couldn’t refuse Lulusia’s request.

She quietly moved aside, allowing Lulusia and Do Yehee to face each other.

Do Yehee met Lulusia’s gaze, and as if competing in some subtle way, continued her introduction.

‘It’s nice to meet you, Saintess of the Vatican. I’m Do Yehee, an A+ ranked Earth Mage. With ‘our’ Sihee, we have a bit of a rough sisterly relationship.’

‘Aha, so you’re sisters with Sihee~!’

‘No! I’ve never thought of that woman as my sister!’

‘Huh? Y-yes?’

‘What you think doesn’t matter right now, Sihee-ya. What’s needed now is to explain, as the Saintess asked, the objective relationship between you and me so there’s no misunderstanding.’

‘Kuhuk….’

‘…….’

Seeing her like that, Do Yehee, having concluded her own assessment that Sihee still had much to learn, resumed her introduction to the Saintess of the Vatican.

‘As you can see, we don’t get along very well, but we are definitely blood-related sisters. And unlike how ‘our’ Sihee feels about me, I don’t particularly hold any ill feelings towards ‘our’ Sihee.’

‘Don’t make me laugh…! If you didn’t have ill feelings towards me, how would you explain everything you’ve done to me so far!’

‘Haaaah, Sihee-ya, please. We’re in front of the Saintess.’

The sisters from the Dokyung Group, talking while mixing introductions and sisterly squabbles halfway.

Lulusia, watching them silently, quietly began to mutter something to herself.

‘Family… Sisters… Fights…’

‘With nothing but thoughts of weakening my influence in your head! Do you like the position of successor that much? You power-crazed bitch!’

‘That’s why the influence you’re building your own way only serves to lower the value of you and Dokyung, I’ve said it so many times…’

‘No fighting… Fighting is bad…’

‘…Saintess?’

‘…Lulusia?’

As if possessed by something, the Saintess muttered a few words.

Sensing something strange about Lulusia’s reaction, Do Sihee and Do Yehee approached her and cautiously observed her reaction.

While the two were distracted, observing the Saintess, Lulusia’s hands suddenly and firmly grasped one hand from each of them.

‘W-we, let’s all go on an expedition together~!’

‘…….’

‘Huh….’

Her words and actions, appearing completely out of context, caused not only Do Sihee but also Do Yehee to react with slight bewilderment.

Saintess Lulusia, unfazed by their reactions, pulled the Dokyung Group sisters by their arms and began walking forward at the lead.

‘Since Eunbyul isn’t here either~!’

‘Instead, today the three of us will all go on the expedition together~!’

‘W-wait a moment, Lulusia. I have no intention of working with this woman…!’

‘No~!’

‘Today, we’re absolutely going together~!’

‘Because I decided so~!’

‘…….’

‘Sisters shouldn’t fight~!’

‘Sihee and Yehee, let’s get along well from now on~!’

Since when did we know each other that she’s calling my name so casually and acting so familiar?

She thought she had met many kinds of people, but this Saintess of the Vatican was a type of person Do Yehee had never encountered before.

Based on her life as a Hunter, this was the second person to have flustered her.

The first was, of course, Kim Sungchul.

‘Next time, when you swing your sword, handle it carefully.’

‘Yes, thank you…’

After finishing my temporary work as a temporary healer in the company’s recovery room.

Having finished the final treatment for the waiting Hunter, I started tidying up my things and got up from the recovery room.

‘Good work.’

‘Good work, Hunter Sung Taekyung.’

I offered my goodbyes for the day to the other guild staff members working in the treatment room.

Consciously, I finished tidying up a bit quickly and headed out of the recovery room straight towards the company’s first-floor lobby.

Thinking about my two younger sisters, who were probably waiting for me at this time.

‘Ah, Oppa!’

Not long after leaving the recovery room, Han Jin-ah recognized me in the company lobby and waved.

Han Seon-ah too made eye contact with me, her gaze clearly waiting for me to approach.

‘Are you finished now, Oraboni?’

If she had a fox tail right now, it would have been wagging vigorously side to side; Seon-ah looked up at me with that expression, also waiting for me.

As I ruffled the hair of Jin-ah and Seon-ah, who had waited for me, I nodded.

‘Yeah, did you wait long?’

‘Oh, n-no! We just came out of the dungeon…?’

‘If it’s waiting for Oraboni, spending the whole day wouldn’t be a waste at all.’

Jin-ah, who was clearly lying and trying to gauge my reaction, and Seon-ah, who bluntly expressed her affection for me without holding back.

Either way, they were cute and charming younger sisters to me.

To the point where I wouldn’t feel it was a waste even if I gave them weapons costing millions of won each.

Literally. The reason they waited for me today was for no other reason.

It had been a week since we commissioned custom weapons at Areum’s workshop.

This time, it was time to give my two younger sisters proper custom weapons.

‘Let’s go, kids. A week has passed now, so let’s go to the workshop and finish the weapon readjustment.’

‘Okay!’

‘Yes, Oraboni.’

…Of course, readjustment was just an excuse, and it would practically be a replacement.

How to get the two of them to accept Areum’s custom weapons without noticing.

Even as I walked from the company to the workshop, my mind was solely focused on that.

Areum’s Dwarf Workshop, The Flame of Creation.

After meeting up with Min-ah’s two younger sisters in the guild lobby, I immediately and without hesitation walked towards Areum’s workshop.

Finally, it was time to give these sisters what I considered ‘proper weapons’.

The spear and claws that Jin-ah and Seon-ah were currently using temporarily would be collected, and they would be given custom-made spear and claws. That was today’s main objective.

…I wonder if these girls will accept the new weapons willingly without suspicion. I wasn’t sure.

‘If possible, it would be best to just say it’s a simple replacement and hand them over. That seems like the best approach.’

If I were to blurt out things like ‘custom weapons made by a dwarf artisan’, they probably would be crushed under the pressure.

They already inherited Han Min-ah’s frugality in common with their older sister.

It was hard to imagine them reacting nonchalantly to receiving weapons worth millions of won each.

So, the plan I came up with was a ‘pretend maintenance’ swap operation.

Pretending to inspect their current weapons, I would swap them for new ones. That was the plan I devised.

Since the younger sisters had already accepted the previous weapons without much resistance, using maintenance as an excuse to switch weapons should work just fine.

If they asked if they were obviously different weapons, I could just claim they were other weapons of similar price.

‘If Areum just plays along with suitable excuses and goes along with it, we should be able to pull this off somehow.’

Since I had already discussed it with Areum beforehand, I had no major concerns.

Besides, my intention to give the two of them proper weapons wasn’t about being worshipped by them or showing off.

I simply didn’t want these girls getting hurt or into trouble when I wasn’t around.

Since I’d known them since Min-ah’s middle school days, Jin-ah and Seon-ah were like younger sisters, or even more precious, to me.

…Of course, normal brothers and sisters don’t sleep together, and don’t take their sister’s virginity as a graduation gift, but those actions too were driven by my love and affection for them, so perhaps they could barely be considered within the realm of familial love.

Of course, they weren’t my actual blood relatives, naturally.

While I was contemplating how to switch their weapons to better ones without the girls noticing, the three of us had arrived at Areum’s workshop.

Perhaps thanks to the text message I sent earlier about our estimated arrival time, Areum was sitting at the counter, which was unusual, and greeted me and the two girls.

‘Oh, Unnie, y-you’re here? C-come in quickly!’

‘Oh, yeah.’

‘Ah, hello.’

‘Hello, Areum-ssi.’

As I entered the shop, it seemed like the first time I’d seen Areum at the counter.

With that thought, as I entered the shop with my sisters, Areum began to speak to us in a slightly hurried voice, addressing me and my younger sisters.

Her words and demeanor… were so obviously awkward acting.

‘Y-your sisters’ weapons need changing… Ah, no, it was time to fix their weapons, right? I-I’ll take a look right away, so come here!’

‘…….’

‘…?’

‘…?’

Not only me, but Jin-ah and Seon-ah too seemed to sense something was off.

The intuition that the plan to swap the twins’ weapons wouldn’t go smoothly struck me at that moment.