“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 similar-looking 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.
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