“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...
◇ ◇ ◇
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login