Mushoku Tensei Redundancy (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 4.2

Chapter 2:

Arus’s Vacation in Millis

IT WAS BOREDOM that made Arus decide to go off on his own. When they arrived in the city, the first thing he saw was the collection of large towers. 

According to White Mama, they were giant magical implements, and it was thanks to them that Millishion was comfortable to live in all year round. There was also the big shining silver building. Red Mama said that was the headquarters of the Adventurers’ Guild, and most adventurers went there at least once. Arus really wanted to see them up close. 

His dad would have taken him if he’d asked. Just that day, Arus had asked to go see the shiny gold building, and his father had smiled and taken him there. However, once they got there, he hadn’t let Arus go wherever he liked. When they went inside, Arus was curious and wanted to run around looking at everything, but his dad held him back, saying “Don’t do that” or “You can’t go in there.” Arus found the restrictions frustrating.

Unbeknownst to Arus, Rudeus was being respectful of the headquarters of the Millis Church. This was the church’s cathedral, and you couldn’t go inside—especially not into the inner sanctum—without permission. It wasn’t a place you could enter with a child itching to get up to mischief.

Arus was still a kid and didn’t know how important such rules were. If he’d asked to go to the towers or the silver building, his dad would take him. But Arus’s thinking was simple—if he went with his dad, there’d be limits on what he could do, and he’d end up feeling stifled like he had before. 

So, when his father and the others went into the center of the gold building along with a heavily guarded woman with big breasts, and the kids were told to play in the inner garden until they got back, Arus saw his chance.

I’m gonna go see the shiny silver building and the towers up close. When he thought about it, his parents had stopped him from doing things his whole life. Don’t go here, don’t go there, don’t wander around town by yourself. 

Whenever he went out to play, Aisha or Leo always came with him. When he was little, he’d gone along with it obediently. He wasn’t about to turn into a total rebel just like that. While he didn’t totally understand his mama’s instructions, he knew it was important to follow them. He wasn’t supposed to go off on his own because there were lots of dangers out in the world. He mostly didn’t mind going out with Aisha, but sometimes he wanted to try doing things without someone watching him.

“Hey, Lara? How about we go see that shiny silver building and those towers?”

Needing a companion, he asked Lara to go along with him. Unusually, Lara was by herself that day. Leo had gone off somewhere—something about talking with the white owl guardian beast that protected the woman called the Blessed Child. 

Lara also saw this as a good chance. Ever since she was little, she and Leo had gotten on super well. That hadn’t changed, really, but she was getting sick of how he followed her everywhere, telling her off for little things. 

So, when Arus asked her, the corners of her mouth quirked up. She nodded. “I was thinking about it too.”

They waited until Aisha wasn’t looking, then the two of them slipped away and set their plan into action. When Chris cried, “Dada’s gone!” and burst into tears, they used the distraction to head for the bushes. Next, concealed in the leaves, they made for the exit—only to be spotted by Sieg. 

“Where are you guys going?” he asked.

“We’re just going out for a bit, Sieg,” Arus said.

Sieg frowned. “You’ll get in trouble if you go out without a grown-up.”

“You’re the one who’s been sneaking out back by yourself lately,” Arus pointed out. “Don’t think we don’t know.”

“N-no I’m not…”

Arus knew all about it. Sieg went out by himself all the time, and for some reason, he was the only one who didn’t get in trouble for it! He assumed that this was because Sieg didn’t have Aisha or Leo watching him. It frustrated him that his little brother was the only one allowed to come and go as he pleased.

In reality, Sieg wasn’t alone. Unbeknownst to Arus—and to Sieg for that matter—when Sieg snuck out the back door by himself, the Ruquag mercenaries were there watching over him from the shadows. They were following orders from the ever-anxious Rudeus.

“I keep your secret,” Arus told Sieg, “so you keep your mouth shut about us.”

“Okay, fine…”

“It’s no big deal. We’re just going to go see the shiny silver building and the humongous tower.”

“Huh? You’re gonna go to the Adventurers’ Guild?” Sieg’s eyes lit up. Alec had told him lots of stories about heroes, in which the Adventurers’ Guild headquarters often appeared. Since then, he’d taken a special interest in it.

“Yeah,” said Arus.

“I’m coming too!” Sieg replied.

So Arus and his siblings walked out of the Millis Cathedral, bursting with curiosity and just a little desire to cause mischief.

***

Arus made his way through the city with Sieg and Lara in tow. The houses, so unlike those in Sharia, and the buildings, constructed in shapes he’d never seen before, made his heart race. He’d observed the city from inside the carriage, but it was much different as he walked the streets on his own two feet, though he couldn’t say why. Maybe it was the patterns in the cobblestones. 

In any case, it was exciting to walk around a town he didn’t know, but as a group of children alone, they received many curious looks—especially Sieg and his green hair. Arus didn’t care. He’d gotten used to people staring back in Sharia.

“Lara, look where you’re going,” he said. “It’s dangerous.”

“Mm,” Lara replied, her eyes sparkling as she gazed around them. She was even more fascinated by the neat and orderly town than Arus. 

“Hey, why didn’t we ask Lucie to come?” Sieg piped up. “She’ll be mad to be left out.”

“No way would Lucie have come.”

Sieg was being a fraidy-cat, as usual. He’d gotten way better at sword fighting lately thanks to his secret training, so Arus didn’t understand why he was still so timid. 

“Hey, Lara! What’s that?” Arus pointed at a mysterious object. It was a true-to-life statue of an owl, similar to the big white owl they’d seen earlier at the shiny gold building, but obviously not the real thing. It was a little bit uncanny.

Lara glanced and said confidently, “It’s a fountain.”

“No one would make a fountain that weird.”

“Well, that’s what it is.”

“Come on, no way that’s it.” Just as he said it, water began to spout from the owl. “Whoa, it totally is! No way! How’d you know?!”

“I saw one that looked like it at Julie’s.”

The fountain was one of Rudeus’s “by-products,” inspired by the Singapore Merlion. He’d modeled it on the Blessed Child’s guardian beast, then gifted it to her when it was finished. They’d ended up struggling to find a place for it within the church itself—more accurately, the Blessed Child didn’t like that it looked like a taxidermy owl and didn’t want it near her. Eventually, it found a home entertaining passersby on a street near the church.

“Wow…” 

Lara accepted Arus and Sieg’s impressed stares with a smug chuckle as the three of them crossed the bridge. Once they were on the other side, their surroundings changed dramatically. The buildings grew smaller and there were more people in the streets. Many of them carried swords and wore armor, and Arus thought more of them were muscular and super fierce. That meant they had left the Divine District and entered the Adventurers’ District!

“It’s more normal around here, huh?”

“Yeah.”

For Arus and the others, who lived in the Magic City of Sharia, this sort of place felt more like home. Even the mean-faced muscular types looked like delicate flowers compared to the Ruquag mercenaries—and nobody compared to Red Mama.

“Hey Lara, which way’s the silver building again?”

“Hmm. That way.”

“Cool, then let’s go!” Arus strode off enthusiastically. Behind him followed Sieg, who looked excited, and Lara, who seemed bored despite her smile.

“Whoa, amazing!” Arus said, while Sieg echoed him.

In front of them was a gigantic building that gleamed silver. They had reached the main street and come upon the Adventurers’ Guild. The street led straight to it, so it wasn’t exactly hard to spot. 

“Come on, Arus, come on!” Sieg called, so excited that he started running. It was hard to believe he’d been against the whole thing a few minutes ago. Whatever he might have claimed, he couldn’t resist the allure of the Adventurers’ Guild Headquarters, the scene of the beginning of so many heroic epics.

“Hey, wait up!” Arus said as he and Lara hurried after Sieg, their faces alight with anticipation. They couldn’t wait to see the place up close. 

The people around them who saw three children break into a run thought for a second that this was a bit dangerous. Children who suddenly started running might bump into someone or get caught under the wheels of a carriage. Their worries were quickly put to rest as the three slipped through the crowd at a steady, controlled pace, quite unlike other children. They even kept to the side of the street where carriages didn’t pass. Their daily training had paid off.

Sieg exclaimed in awe again as he arrived at the steps leading to the entrance. He’d never seen such a huge and majestic building. Well, actually, that wasn’t true. The magic university in the Magic City of Sharia was also big, but it just wasn’t the same! The Adventurers’ Guild Headquarters was silver and shiny, while the magic university was red and brown like a potato.

“This is the Adventurers’ Guild, huh, Arus!”

“Yeah!”

“It’s not like the one near our house!”

“Yeah, ours looks like it’s about to fall down!”

“They both stink, though.”

“Yeah, it does smell, huh?”

With these rude observations, the three of them pushed through the doors of the guild, though they did their best to be quiet about it. Blue Mama had told them that dim-witted adventurers would try to pick a fight with kids they saw going in and out of the guild. Arus would have welcomed a fight, but he knew that if he had one after sneaking away without permission, Red Mama would be mad at him. Red Mama was scary when she got mad! She’d spank him until his bottom was bright red. If Sieg and Lara got hurt, it wouldn’t just be Red Mama. If Blue Mama and White Mama got mad at him too… 

The thought sent a shiver down Arus’s spine.

On the other hand, the thought that his dad might be mad at him tempted him to do it anyway. His dad often rewarded and indulged him, but he hardly ever scolded Arus. He’d never seen his dad properly angry.

“Wow!” Arus said as he looked around. The interior of the Adventurers’ Guild was just as spectacular as he’d imagined from the outside. The decor was old-fashioned but stately, and there were lots of reception desks. There were many times more adventurers than back home, and they were dressed totally differently, too. Sharia’s Adventurers’ Guild was full of newbie magicians and veteran warriors and healers. In Millis, it was the opposite.

“Arus,” called Lara from behind him as he drank in the sight. “It says it goes up to the fourth floor.” She pointed at an information board in front of the staircase. She was right! On the first floor was the reception and waiting area, on the second was a guild store selling materials along with weapons and equipment, on the third was a restaurant offering light refreshments, and on the fourth were clan rooms for the larger clans.

“Let’s go upstairs!” Arus said, turning eagerly toward the staircase. Just then, a shadow fell over them. He looked up. A woman with thick makeup and large breasts stood behind them.

“This is not a playground,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

“W-we’re sightseeing!” Arus said quickly, repeating what his dad had told him to say. “We’re from Ranoa.”

“Where are your parents?”

“It, um, it’s just us.”

“Is it, now?” said the woman. “Why don’t I show you around, then? Don’t let appearances deceive you—I work here, and I’m off work at midday. What do you say?” She showed them the patch on her shoulder. It was the same one that the receptionists had.

“Th-that’d be great,” Arus said, feeling breathless. Arus loved big breasts. That wasn’t to say that he didn’t like small ones, but he liked large ones best. The woman in front of them had breasts as big as Aisha’s—big enough to set his heart racing.

“Great, then I’ll take care of you. Ready? The first floor is the reception area.” The woman flashed them a friendly smile and then began her tour. The three trailed after her as she guided them around the guild headquarters. They went from the first floor to the second, then the third, then the fourth. All the while, the woman was polite and thorough, as though they were grown-ups.

Arus had wanted to go where he liked, but they ended up getting a guided tour. While it wasn’t what he’d planned on, everything they saw was new and exciting. The clan room in particular was something the Adventurers’ Guild in Sharia didn’t have, and it was decorated so lavishly that it was hard to believe it was for adventurers. That was enough to thrill Arus and the others.

“And that’s the end,” said the woman after they’d gone around the entire building. She leaned over Arus. “Did you have fun?”

“Yes! Thank you very much!”

“No need to thank me,” she replied. “But what are you going to do now? Will your mom or dad come and get you?”

“Um, no…”

“Oh? In that case, how about I walk you home?”

“No, thank you. We can get home by ourselves!” Arus still wanted to go and see the towers. He could have lied and said they were getting picked up, but if they’d started heading for the outskirts of the city, the woman would have noticed. Arus was not ready to go home before he visited one more destination. 

With that, Arus and his siblings left the guild. Their plan had gone a bit awry, but it’d turned out fun anyway.

“Right, on to the next one!” Arus declared, pointing not just at the tower, but also the sun, which, now that noon had come and gone, had begun to dip toward the horizon.

***

They saw all sorts of things on the way to the tower. First, there was a complicated network of canals with little boats moving through them. Then, they saw carts piled high with materials made from monsters and groups of adventurers guarding them as they trundled along. 

The three siblings let out gasps of amazement whenever they stumbled across something new, relishing the experience of seeing it all. However, maybe because they spent so much time seeing the sights, or because the tower that had looked so close turned out to be unexpectedly far away, dusk had fallen heavily by the time they reached the tower.

“Whoa, this is humongous, too!” Arus said.

Up close, in the light of the setting sun, the tower left the three of them bowled over. It was a great pillar so wide that it would have taken a child several minutes to walk all around it, and so tall that they had to crane their necks to look up at it. What was more, once they were closer, they could just see the crests engraved into its surface. 

The tower itself was not actually a magical implement. Instead, it had powerful warding magic cast on it to protect the magical implement within. Arus didn’t know that, of course, but he did think that Lily would be pleased to see it. She liked this sort of thing.

“It doesn’t look like we can go inside after all,” Sieg said.

“Oh, right. That’s too bad.”

Sieg had found what looked like the entrance, but it was flanked by two soldiers who weren’t letting people in. Arus wasn’t surprised. He would have liked to climb up and see the view from the top, but he had enough sense to give up when it was impossible.

“Oh, well.” He sighed, then said, “Let’s go home!”

“Yeah!”

Nodding cheerfully, Arus set off back the way they’d come, with Lara and Sieg walking behind him.

“That was fun, huh, Lara?” asked Sieg.

“Yeah, it was. I want a dragon head like the one they had on the wall in the clan room.”

“All right, when I’m big, I’ll get one for you!”

“I’ll help you get it.”

After seeing things they never usually would have, the three of them were delighted. Sieg was particularly excited and babbling incessantly at Lara. But as Arus walked along, he suddenly felt uneasy. What if…? 

No, it couldn’t be.

“Hey, Arus, you know that big sword they had at the Adventurers’ Guild? You know what that is?” Sieg asked.

“No…?”

“It’s one of the forty-eight magic swords.”

“Huh. You sure know a lot, Sieg.”

“I think it’s probably a fake because they had it on display, but Alec drew me a picture once.”

“Huh…”

“Hey, Arus, wait up!”

Arus quickened his pace, barely listening to what Sieg was saying. Sieg, confused by Arus’s sudden silence, chatted to Lara instead. Arus’s shift in attitude also bothered Lara, but she listened to Sieg without bringing it up. The three of them continued to walk. 

Sieg’s regular training had toughened him up, so he didn’t complain that he was tired or stop walking just because his feet hurt, but as he watched Arus walking mutely in front of him, he also began to go quiet. Eventually, he stopped talking altogether. 

The three walked on in silence, trudging along in through the twilight. Soon enough, the sun went down. 

Twenty or thirty minutes later, the three of them stopped in a dark alley. There was no sign of anyone else around. All was quiet.

“Hey, Arus?” said Sieg. “How long till we get back?”

“I don’t know,” Arus muttered. 

This wasn’t what he’d meant to happen. He hadn’t forgotten to think about how they’d get home. On the way, they’d walked toward the big tower. Thus, when they returned, all they’d had to do was walk toward the gold building. It was huge and golden, after all. It stood out for miles, and they only had to go back the way they’d come. It’d be easy, he’d thought.

Then dusk fell, bathing the whole city in yellow light. Not only that, but the long shadows cast by the setting sun made the streets look different. All the things that had caught their eyes on the way to the tower made it really hard to remember the way they’d gone.

“What do you mean you don’t—?”

“Shut up! I said I don’t know because I don’t know!” Arus shouted so loudly that Sieg flinched back. If his dependable big brother was shouting, they were in trouble. Tears began to well up in his eyes. He’d begun training with Alec, but he was still only a little kid. As an obedient kid, he wasn’t used to being yelled at.

“Arus,” Lara said quietly. Arus turned around with a start. He saw Sieg on the verge of tears standing next to Lara. She was as blank-faced as ever, but he picked up from her posture that she was angry.

“I’m sorry, Lara. I got lost.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you know the way back?”

Lara shook her head listlessly. “No.” 

Seeing how helpless she looked when she was usually so confident and fearless, Arus felt the beginnings of despair. Nevertheless, he didn’t whimper or break down crying. He clenched his fists instead.

“I-it’s gonna be okay! Leave it to me!” Arus had gotten them into this, so he would fix it. He took Lara and Sieg’s hands and squeezed them. Then, he thought hard on what little he knew. 

Once, Blue Mama had told him, “If you find yourself in a pinch, don’t panic. Think about what options you do have.”

“Um… Okay,” Arus said. “If we get back to the main street, there’ll be people there we can ask for directions. Someone has to know—it’s not like there’s lots of shiny gold buildings.” Night had only just fallen. The main street should still be full of people. It’d be easy to find someone to ask. 

It went back to something else Blue Mama had told him: “If there’s ever something you don’t know, don’t be embarrassed to ask.”

“What if they’re mean?” Sieg said tearfully, “What if they won’t tell us?” His pessimism left Arus at a loss for words. Someone would definitely know, but he couldn’t be sure they would answer him.

Blue Mama’s advice hadn’t ended there. “Be careful, though,” she’d said, “because people won’t necessarily answer any question you ask, or they might lie to you.”

“If that happens,” Arus told Sieg, “we’ll, um… Oh, I know! Dada said that if I get separated from Mama in town, I should find a church and mention Uncle Cliff’s name, and then they’ll help me. A priest wouldn’t lie, right?”

“Oh, good idea!”

Priests were very much capable of lying, but Sieg was imagining Clive’s dad, Cliff. He hadn’t met Cliff many times, but Sieg knew he was very honest.

“We can get home, then,” said Lara.

“Yeah, it’s gonna be fine. So stop crying, Sieg. Cheddar Man wouldn’t cry.”

“I-I’m not crying,” Sieg said, strength returning to his face. As it did, Arus felt a little more at ease. He smiled confidently at Lara, who had helped him calm down.

“All right,” he said. They had two options: the main street or the church. There was no sign of anyone nearby, but if they ran into anyone on the way, he could just ask them. That’d be easy enough, Arus thought. As he did so, another worry reared its head. He, Arus, had run off without permission, gotten lost, and dragged Lara and Sieg along with him. His mamas were going to be furious. Red Mama would be super angry. Even Blue Mama and White Mama would be mad at him. Usually Aisha stepped in to mediate when he got in trouble, but this time, it was Aisha who he’d snuck away from. She definitely wouldn’t take his side.

He sniffed. At once, Lara turned to look closely at him. “Arus, are you crying?” she asked. Arus wiped away the tears welling up with his sleeve and made a face at her.

“N-no way, I’ve just got dirt in my eye! Stick close, Lara! If we get separated, we’re toast!”

“Mm. Got it,” Lara said. “I believe in you, Arus.”

“Don’t be like that. This is all my fault.”

“It’s my fault too.” Lara patted Arus on the head. He blushed a little, turning to look ahead.

It was time to get moving. If they stayed in this dark and empty place too long, he was going to cry for real. He was in so much trouble, but he would be big about it. Aisha might even turn on him, but he’d offer her a real apology.

Right as he thought this, Arus turned the corner.

“Whoops!” He nearly walked straight into a woman. A woman with ample breasts. The size jogged his memory, and without meaning to, he said, “Oh!”

“Why, if it isn’t you three from earlier.”

The woman was the one who had guided Arus and the others around the Adventurers’ Guild Headquarters that day.

“M-Miss? What’re you doing here?”

“Me? I’m on my way home from work. What about you? It’s already dark. Won’t you get in trouble if you don’t get home?”

Arus felt a rush of relief that the person they’d run into right at this moment was someone they knew. Like a Buddha coming to them in hell—well, Arus didn’t know what a Buddha was. In any case, she was a ray of light.

“We, um, that is, we got lost. Do you know where the main road…or actually, a church, or the shiny gold building is?”

“The shiny gold building? Do you mean the cathedral?”

“Yeah, that one! The cuh-thee-drill!”

“Of course I do. Everyone who lives in Millishion knows the cathedral.”

Arus and Sieg looked at each other. But then Arus pulled himself together and cleared his throat. He’d learned from White Mama how to behave when asking someone a favor.

“So, um, if it’s not too much trouble, would you please show us the way? I’m sure my father will give you a reward.”

“Silly thing. You’re lost children—there’s no need to be so formal. Come along, follow me.”

Arus thought to himself that White Mama had said connections between people were important. Someone you barely knew might come to your aid when you were in a tight spot. Surely, that was what was happening now. 

That day, Arus grew up a little.

***

“And here we are!” 

Arus and the others followed the woman from the guild, and so they easily arrived at their destination.

“Huh?”

Or, so they had expected. Unhappily, Arus instead found himself looking into the depths of a dark alley. There wasn’t a soul in sight. The walls were scrawled with obscene graffiti, the ground was strewn with trash, and a bad smell hung over the whole place. Dark or not, one thing was for sure: this was not the shiny gold building.

“Um? Where are…? Huh?”

“You should know better,” the woman scolded. “Didn’t your daddy teach you not to follow strangers?”

Arus heard footsteps and spun around. Several men stood there, leering at them. Kidnappers! Even after realizing this, his mind was still all confused. This woman worked at the Adventurers’ Guild, and had even kindly given them a tour of the place. How could she be bad? Then, he remembered. She said she was on her way home from work, but this morning, she’d said she finished at midday. 

“You lied about working at the guild!”

“I did no such thing. This is my side job. A way of making a little extra pocket money. This city is full of kids like you: orphans who dream of becoming adventurers. They come to the guild, then leave again without getting to live their dreams. So, I follow them. If night comes and they still haven’t gone home, they end up like this.”

“Dammit!” Arus grabbed a stick off the ground, then fell into a fighting stance, ready to protect his brother and sister.

“Arus?” Sieg clutched, trembling, at the hem of his clothes. Lara was expressionless as ever, but she looked a little pale. He had to protect them. This was his fault. He’d made the wrong decision. But what could he do at a time like this? What had his mama said? What was it…?

“Help us! Is anyone there?! We’re being kidnapped! Help us!” Arus shouted. 

If something happens, call for help before you fight. Either Blue Mama or White Mama had told him that—or was it Aisha? It might even have been his dad.

“Cry and shout all you like. No one’s coming,” said the woman. Of course not, thought Arus, as he moved on to the next lesson. This one was from Red Mama.

First, carefully observe your enemy. 

As Arus braced for a fight, he cast a level gaze around them. They were in a dead-end alley with one person in front of them and two behind. All three had swords. Still, they were way weaker than Red Mama. There was no fire or bloodlust in their faces. Sharia had loads of guys at their level—small fry who’d pee themselves and run if it was Red Mama they were up against. All Arus had was a stick that looked like it would snap if he hit anyone with it, but he’d learned how to fight with his bare hands, and he could do a little magic. As long as he fought just like he’d practiced, he could beat them. He was sure of it. Pretty sure.

Maybe.

“Arus, are y-you gonna fight?” Sieg asked. “I’ll f-f-fight too.”

“You stay back!” Arus ordered him. He’d made up his mind, but his legs were trembling, and his hand shook as he gripped the stick. His breathing was shallow, and tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. He was going to fight three grown-ups under a veil of darkness, and he had to protect his brother and sister at the same time. He’d never felt so much pressure before.

“Ooo, what a brave big brother you are,” said the woman. “But fighting back won’t do you any good. These guys might be a little worn out for adventuring—real has-beens—but they still know their stuff.”

“Shut up! Don’t you dare touch Lara or Sieg!”

The woman sighed, then looked at the men. “Don’t rough them up too much. By the looks of it, they come from a good family. You might make some coin.”

The two men muttered their assent, then they moved. Feeling a sickening clenching sensation in his gut, Arus concentrated as much mana as he could into his fist. He spun around, ready to deliver a hit that would blind them—

Clap, clap, clap.

Suddenly, the sound of someone putting their hands together broke the silence. It came from behind the two men. Everyone froze. In the same moment, a white shape leaped over the two men to bound over to Arus. It did a loop around the three of them, giving Lara a particularly long sniff to make sure she wasn’t hurt, then turned back to face the men, fangs bared.

“Grrrrr…”

“Leo!” cried Arus, grateful to see the dog. The clapping had to have been someone else, though. Leo didn’t have hands.

“Okay, boys, fun’s over!” came a voice—one Arus knew very well. There wasn’t a day in his life that he hadn’t heard it at least once, sometime between when he woke in the morning and went to sleep at night.

A woman with dark brown hair and one cute, pointed canine stepped out of the shadows. Her large bust protruded out from beneath her maid uniform, and she held a roughly constructed lantern.

“Big Sister Aisha!” Arus called out. She wasn’t actually his big sister, but she got mad if he called her his aunt.

“Hey there, Arus. I’m the rescue party.” She flashed him a grin that made Arus want to cry. But Arus and his siblings weren’t the only ones who looked relieved; the men, seeing that it was only a maid and a big dog who’d stepped out of the darkness, looked as cocky as ever.

“Whose maid are you, huh?” one snarled.

“I work for the Greyrat family,” Aisha replied. “Oh, given where we are, perhaps I should say the Latria family. Like Captain Carlisle Latria of the Temple Knights. Those Latrias. You know them, right?”

When Aisha mentioned the Temple Knights, the men flinched. Names of nobles didn’t mean much to them, but they knew the Temple Knights: the Millis Church’s private army, renowned for their religious fanaticism.

“I’d recommend you give up on kidnapping and ransoming these particular kids. It will not end well for you.”

“W-we wouldn’t be kidnappers if the Temple Knights scared us.”

Oh, but they were scared. There were rumors about the tortures the Temple Knights subjected heretics to. They bound them hand and foot, then, starting at their toes, used a hammer to slowly pulverize them. It would have been more understandable if they were mere sadists, but the knights believed wholeheartedly that their actions were righteous. 

In response to the screams of their captives as their legs were smashed to a pulp, the knights smiled and said, “Your sincere cries for intercession will surely be heard by God. That means He will welcome you to His side. Be glad!”

It was all bunk, of course, but these men believed it.

“You’re not scared of the Temple Knights?” Aisha asked. “In that case, what about the Ruquag Mercenary Band? Their super-hot accounting adviser will make sure they never stop chasing you. When they get you, you’ll wish you were dead.”

“W-what’s the Ruquag Mercenary Band got to do with anything?” one of them managed.

“Their biggest boss is the father of these children!”

The two men looked at Arus and the others, gaping.

“That’s right, my big bro—ahem, that is to say, Rudeus Greyrat, chairman of the Ruquag Mercenary Band, right hand to Dragon God Orsted, and a magician of prodigious skill who has friends all over the world. Usually, he’s a mild-mannered sort of guy. You could pour your drink out over his head at a party and he’d laugh. But his family is very important to him, and kidnappers of his own helpless children? I can’t imagine what he’d do to you.”

“Y-you’re making that up.”

“Are you sure? You know, I’m getting a little bored of talking sense into you.”

“Hah,” one man scoffed. “None of that will matter if you’re dead.”

“Oh, really? Okay, Leo, fetch.”

Just like that, the great white beast descended upon them like a tornado. First, he bit down on the leg of the man facing him and shook him hard. The bones snapped with a loud crack, and then Leo released him, sending him flying into the wall. The other man turned around to see what the noise was, but by then it was too late. He didn’t even have time to get his sword out before the dog’s teeth sank into his hand with a crunch. Next thing he knew, Leo had dragged him to the ground. With his jaws, he picked the man up by the head, shook him until he was unconscious, then tossed him against the wall for good measure.

“Eep!” The woman from the guild was left with nowhere to run. She tried to climb the wall at the end of the alley, but Leo took her rear end in his jaws and, same as the other two, gave her a shake before throwing her into the wall and knocking her out.

Arus watched the whole thing in a daze. He’d known Leo was pretty strong and had understood, more or less, why his dada and mamas told him to stick with the dog. This was the first time he’d actually seen it. Moreover, he could tell Leo was holding back. With that much power, the dog could have bitten their heads off. But he hadn’t. Instead, he’d picked them up like he was play-fighting—people Arus had been terrified of—broken their bones, swung them around, and thrown them against a hard surface to knock them out.

“You’re all okay, right? No one’s hurt?” Aisha said, crouching down beside the three children without so much as a glance at the unconscious figures. She held up her lantern and began to give them a thorough looking over.

“N-no,” stammered Arus. “We’re fine.”

“Yeah? Let’s go home.”

Still muddled, Arus nodded. Aisha gave him a smile that flashed her pointed tooth.

The roads were dark. Arus, Lara, and Sieg climbed on Leo’s back, then, guided by the light of Aisha’s lantern, they set off. The three kidnappers had been taken by the Ruquag mercenaries, who had appeared out of nowhere in response to Aisha’s dog whistle. They would be handed over to the authorities. As they walked, Arus thought about how much trouble he was in. 

Why did you run off on your own? Why did you drag Lara and Sieg into it?

This could have ended so badly. 

Aisha almost never got angry, no matter how naughty he was, even when he made trouble for other people. She just said, “Oh, well,” then sorted out whatever mess he’d made. Later, she’d scold him gently, saying, “You can’t do that anymore” or “Learn from your mistake, okay?”

Even though she always looked after him like that, he’d disregarded her. While Aisha had been the one to come looking for them, he was sure his parents were angry with her too. She’d let him out of her sight when it was her job to keep an eye on him until his dad and the others came back. After getting in trouble because her charges slipped away from her, even laid-back Aisha must have been really mad.

Since he was a scared child, Arus’s actual thoughts weren’t that coherent, but he managed to guess that Aisha must be angry.

So, he apologized. “Big Sister Aisha, I’m sorry.”

“Hm? What for?”

“I snuck out without telling you, then I put everyone in danger…”

“Hmm? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” To his surprise, Aisha grinned and ruffled his hair. Her body language gave no sign of anger. Arus wondered if she’d forgiven him. But…why?

“Look, we’re back.”

Arus realized with a start that they’d arrived at the gates of the Latria estate. Looking up at the mansion house, Arus gulped. Aisha might have forgiven him, but his mamas would definitely be mad. They’d taught him to protect his brothers and sisters, and he’d let them down. He was bracing for a spanking from Red Mama. His dad might be angry too, though he couldn’t really imagine what that would look like.

“Evening,” Aisha said to the gatekeeper. They followed her through the servant’s door into the house, then down a wide corridor. Aisha opened the door to the room where the family was staying. There they were. His three mamas and two grandmothers, his blonde aunt, and his great-grandmother, whose expression was stony. His dad was there, too.

“I’m back,” Aisha said, bowing. At this, the adults all looked over at Arus and the others. 

Any second, Red Mama’s eyebrows would point down, showing she was angry. She’d definitely be the first. Red Mama was always the first to get angry.

Somehow, when she spoke, her voice was breezy. “Oh, you’re back. You’re a bit late, huh?”

“Did you have a good time at the Adventurers’ Guild?” Blue Mama asked mildly.

“You really mustn’t go wandering around at this hour. Even with Aisha and Leo, it’s dangerous at night.”

“Quite so. Aisha, just because you’re there doesn’t make it all right to linger out so late. Couldn’t you have brought them home earlier?”

White Mama and Lilia were a little sharper, but even they weren’t angry. Norn and Claire didn’t say anything, though their eyes showed that they agreed.

“Oh, well, it is a bit late, but we can let it slide, can’t we? We haven’t even had dinner yet. Did you see anything interesting?” As usual, Dada was soft. 

Grandma Zenith was silent like she always was, but Arus didn’t get the sense she was reproaching him. He could tell when she was mad even though she didn’t talk.

“Um…” Arus, unable to work out what was going on, struggled to think of how to reply. There was a brief silence.

“There was a dragon head on the wall of the clan room at the Adventurers’ Guild,” Lara said suddenly. The look on her face made Arus think that she’d caught onto something he hadn’t. Leo had probably told her without him noticing.

“Oh, Dada, um, so at the Adventurers’ Guild!” Sieg piped up, his face brightening. “Um, they had a magic sword!” He began chattering away about the guild. Their earlier trouble must have already gone clean out of his mind.

“All right, hold on, you can tell us all about it later. For now, let’s call Lucie and the others and have something to eat.”

The atmosphere in the room lightened. It was time for dinner.

***

When dinner was over, Arus left the spacious dining hall, then headed back to the room he’d been given. He looked back at Aisha, who had followed him like everything was fine.

When they were alone, the first word that came out of his mouth was “Why?”

Why wasn’t anyone angry? Why did they all know he’d been to the Adventurers’ Guild? The one word carried many different questions.

Aisha’s mouth curved into a small smile. “You want to know?” she said.

“Yeah.”

Aisha looked like she’d successfully pulled off a prank, but Arus was deadly serious.

“I saw you and the others sneak out of the cathedral garden,” she explained. “I figured you’d succumbed to boredom and were determined to get into mischief, so I told the others I was going to take a quick look at the Adventurers’ Guild and followed you.”

With that, everything fell into place for Arus. Aisha had seen through his plan. Instead of joining them, she’d let him and his siblings do what they liked. She’d been behind them, thinking that if anything happened, she’d show herself and sort it out.

“I didn’t expect you to go all the way to the magic tower, though,” she added.

Aisha had watched over them the whole time. Even when he was lost and about to cry, instead of stepping in, she’d stayed hidden.

“Then why didn’t you help us when you knew we were lost?”

“Hmmm? I think you know the answer to that, don’t you, Arus?” Aisha replied teasingly, making him grit his teeth. 

He did know the answer. She hadn’t helped because he’d been responsible for their predicament. Just like his mamas had taught him, when you got yourself into trouble, it was up to you to find a way out again. In fact, Arus hadn’t given up when he realized he was lost. He hadn’t given up even though it was scary.

Realizing it still wasn’t time for her to interfere, Aisha had watched. She’d only shown herself to come to their rescue when it looked like they might get hurt. If the woman from the guild hadn’t been part of a kidnapping plot and had actually shown them the way out of the goodness of her heart, Aisha might not have shown herself at all. He couldn’t resent her methods, because it was his fault. 

Aisha had sorted out his mess, just like she always did.

“Big Sister Aisha, I’m…I’m sorry…” he said.

“Just ‘sorry’ isn’t enough. What are you sorry for?”

“For sneaking out without telling you—”

“Nope, that’s not it.”

Arus turned around, taken aback. It wasn’t like Aisha to teach him things. When he made a mistake, she shrugged and helped, but she never talked it out like this.

When he turned around, Aisha was looking down at him with her usual easy smile. “Arus, you were annoyed with me and wanted to go off with just your siblings, right?”

“I…I don’t think you’re annoying…well, maybe a little, but…but I like you, Big Sister.”

“Oh?” Aisha chuckled. “Well, thanks. Arus likes me? I think I’m blushing.” She put her hands to her cheeks and made a show of squirming in embarrassment. “Anyway. You thought you’d sneak out while I wasn’t looking to go see the Adventurers’ Guild and the magic tower, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you had to do it.”

“Huh? But I made everyone worry…”

“Making everyone worry is no good, is it?”

“Yeah.”

“But, Arus, that’s the thing—you weren’t trying to make them worry, were you? You’re not a kid who’d do something mean like that.”

Arus nodded. He hadn’t thought it through, but he hadn’t meant to worry anyone.

“You were going to see the Adventurers’ Guild and the tower, then come back. Then, if I asked where you’d been, you, Lara, and Sieg would all look at each other innocently and say, ‘it’s a secret,’ then laugh. That was the plan, right?”

That was exactly what they’d have done. Arus hadn’t thought it out in so much detail, but hearing it from Aisha, he realized that was his ideal ending. Slip out for a bit, have some fun, then come back before anyone had time to worry. Maybe Aisha would have worried a bit when she couldn’t find them, but when they got back quickly, she’d breathe a sigh of relief and go, “Good grief, you were right there the whole time!”

“The thing you did wrong,” Aisha said plainly, “was not getting away with it.”

Arus had set a goal: he wanted to go to the Adventurers’ Guild without any hangers-on like Aisha or Leo. Leaving aside the question of why he’d then brought Lara and Sieg along, that goal had been born the moment he’d felt that desire. Aisha was saying that if he had a goal, he better follow through.

“That’s all very well,” he said, “but how would you have done it?”

“Hmmm,” Aisha mused. “I’ve gotta say, getting to the Adventurers’ Guild and the tower in such a short timeframe would’ve been tricky, even for me. They’re just too far apart. I’d have done the guild today, then the tower another time. Actually, you didn’t realize you had so little time, did you? So I’d have asked what the schedule was yesterday, then come up with a proper strategy based on that.”

“Oh, good point.”

“I’d probably also take a weapon and something I could contact people with. Some things you just can’t deal with on your own, so you want to be able to quickly call for help.”

Hearing her ideas laid out, Arus understood what he’d done wrong. Thinking back with a clear head, he really was too careless and impulsive, and he hadn’t thought things through enough. No wonder he got into a mess.

Aisha was kind of amazing.

“I understand,” he said. “Next time I’ll be more careful and try not to mess up.”

“Good, good. That’s the spirit! Don’t get so careful that you’re afraid of messing up, or you’ll end up not able to do anything. Keep making mistakes!”

“Huh? But…but what if it ends up like today again…?”

“No problem!” Aisha said, putting her hand to her heart. “When you mess up, I’ll be right there!”

Arus felt bashful for a reason he couldn’t quite work out, but he smiled at Aisha. “Okay, got it, Big Sister! Thank you!”

“You’re very welcome! Aren’t you just so cute?” 

Aisha, having heard what she wanted from him, scooped him up in her arms. He nestled into her soft breasts as she ruffled his hair and seriously reflected on the events of that day.