Chapter 112
Baragan returned to the Schugenhartz Estate after a long time.
The Schugenhartz Family had discovered a new dungeon, and it was time to suppress the monsters inside.
The newly discovered dungeon was mostly filled with Intermediate Familiars, quite high-ranked, requiring numerous veteran hunters.
It was a situation where it would be ideal for the family head to personally lead on-site, but Baragan’s father, the family head, had been summoned by the Troa Empire’s royal family and was heading to the capital.
Thus, Baragan set out to the dungeon to assist the family business in place of his father.
At that moment, the expected suppression period was two weeks.
Considering the personnel being deployed and the dungeon’s difficulty, experts judged that it would take at least two weeks.
But.
“Rina, what do you think about that?”
“…I can feel what Sister Riel wants to say. I’m curious too.”
In a perilous dungeon, two girls, dressed up in flashy and cumbersome outfits, were staring blankly at the scene unfolding before them.
With black hair and eyes that looked like they were stamped out of the same mold, the two girls were entranced by the chaos before them.
“What on earth happened to that guy? I heard he was running around causing trouble everywhere and that he became Helion’s mentee, but this…”
“Sister, ‘that guy’? If Big Bro hears you, he’ll have something to say about it. Isn’t it better to at least call him ‘Brother’?”
“Hmph. What’s the point of calling him Brother? At least it’s good I’m not calling him ‘that jerk’.”
Height and voice.
The striking gaze and sharp features unique to the Schugenhartz family.
Though they looked remarkably alike, they were different.
Their speech, personalities, and the ambiance they exuded clearly marked them as independent individuals.
“Rina, how long did we expect the suppression to take?”
“It was two weeks… Hmm. But.”
Boom⎯⎯⎯!
With a thunderous sound that threatened to bring the dungeon crashing down, debris swirled around. The screams of monsters echoed, and their bodies froze in place.
At the center of it all.
One person was sweeping the scene away with a storm of overwhelming mana and spells.
The monsters, driven mad, charged at him like zombies, but then they froze.
It was truly chaos.
Yet, incredibly.
This was not a silence met with death.
“Does that even make sense?”
“Sister, I don’t think we need to step in.”
“It’s not just us; everyone assigned to this area feels the same. It seems he knows that and is purposefully showing off.”
While absorbing all the surrounding elements like magnets to iron filings, astonishingly, not a single monster was seriously injured.
No serious injuries will be sustained.
Just enough damage to make someone pause for a moment.
And on top of that, a paralysis curse is cast to stop the monster’s movements.
Watching this, Riel, the fourth daughter and twin sister of Schugenharz, frowned discontentedly.
Her younger sister, Rina, forced a smile awkwardly.
“Clearly, he’s eaten something that makes him strong all at once. Otherwise, that doesn’t make any sense!”
Riel, not wanting to accept this reality, blurted out like a spoiled child.
“Exactly. It looks like Brother Vargan had a good meal at the Central Church.”
What was expected to take two weeks was settled in less than three days thanks to Vargan’s involvement.
*
The abode set up in front of the dungeon.
Despite the new building prepared for conquest being completed in a remarkably short time, it boasts quite a solid structure.
Inside one of the guest rooms, Vargan was with his two younger sisters.
“Oh, oh! What a cute little thing. How did such an adorable child survive all this time?”
“Hey.”
“What should I name it… Let’s see. With a stylish horn and a horse-like body, it resembles a unicorn… Yes. ‘Uni’ sounds good.”
“Are you not hearing me? Hey!”
“It seems you like the name. Welcome to my new familiar, Uni.”
“Hey—! Don’t ignore someone right in front of you!”
With a huff, Riel had to yell for Vargan to finally look her way. He then clicked his tongue, as if finding her pathetic.
“Riel, my unfortunate sister. Keep your dignity.”
“What?”
“No matter how reckless and unable to discern right from wrong you are, you are a daughter of Schugenharz. Consider the influence and impact of every word you utter and maintain your decorum.”
Suddenly scolded by Vargan, Riel became dumbfounded, soon grabbing her hair in frustration.
“Who are you telling to keep their dignity, you brat!”
Vargan stopped paying attention to the rampaging Riel. Ignoring her, he used a brush to groom Uni’s fur, speaking with a tone of disapproval.
“Tsk tsk. We need to change the etiquette teacher this time. They are no different from a thief, just collecting a paycheck without any results.”
“You little…!”
“Brother….”
“Rina, take your sister as a cautionary tale. You must never turn out like that.”
Vargan treated the highly expressive twin sister Riel and the calm, emotionally controlled younger sister Rina differently.
It was natural since their behaviors were distinct.
As if to demonstrate this, a tussle unfolded between Riel trying to draw her wand and Rina trying to physically stop her.
Riel was planning to use magic on Vargan.
“Acting all high and mighty when you’re only three years older! Just because your name is getting around these days, do you think you’re something special?!”
“Even with only three years apart, this gap is vast… If there was even just one more year, I wouldn’t dare to say we share the same bloodline out of shame.”
“Ah! So freaking annoying—!!”
With that shout, Riel lost her temper, abruptly stood up, and—
Bam!
Kicked the door open and stormed out.
Neither Vargan nor Rina tried to stop her.
Riel’s actions followed a few established patterns; they knew she would come back once she cooled off.
“I knew you’d be back soon once you calmed down.”
“…….”
Even with just the two of them left, Vargan doesn’t stop grooming the familiar, meticulously checking for any missed spots as he straightens its fur.
“Brother.”
Lina called out to Vargan, who, unlike with Riel, turned his gaze towards her immediately.
He wasn’t particularly fond of the youngest, but he at least showed minimal pretense to someone he could have a conversation with.
Lina continued speaking.
“Riel sister mentioned that Vargan oppa gave up his rights to succeed as the family head, which really concerned me. That’s why we came to the dungeon together this time.”
At that, Vargan smirked slightly, curling one corner of his mouth.
In the original story and in the fading memories of Vargan, it was clear that these two younger sisters hardly ever interacted with him.
Since four years ago, when Vargan began to change, they had maintained a distance that kept stretching without closing up.
Now, these two suddenly show interest and follow him to the dungeon, acting like it was their own decision.
It’s quite amusing.
He knew they were clinging tightly to the eldest son, so it wasn’t ridiculous at all.
“You always choose your words so carefully, don’t you? Always dancing around the point. …Well, enough of that. Ask what you want to ask.”
Riel may not be able to lie well.
But Lina was good at beating around the bush.
Vargan pinpointed this aspect. Lina offered a faint smile, with an air of sorrow in her eyes, and opened her mouth.
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable for Vargan oppa to be cautious. We haven’t had much interaction, after all. But….”
“—No. It seems there’s a misunderstanding; I’m not being cautious at all. I’ve genuinely lost interest in the family head.”
“…Pardon?”
Having finished grooming the familiar, Vargan dismissed it in an instant.
Now, his attention was solely on Lina.
“So, it means you can ask me directly instead of skirting around. We are not enemies, after all.”
He was aware there were questions lingering. For example, what kind of rare item he received from the Central Church.
With that, Vargan spread out a white handkerchief and pulled out a perfume bottle from it.
It was a perfume filled halfway.
At first glance, it looked like any ordinary perfume. Shaking the contents, Vargan spoke.
“This is the rare item I got from the Central Church. It’s called ‘Essence of Life.’”
In the canonical story, it was an item to be used by the Hero ranked 6th.
“If you spray it once, it doubles the mana output for 6 hours. It grants terrifying destructive power forcibly doubling it.”
And it had no side effects at all.
As far as Vargan knew, none of the artifacts in the story could increase mana output by 2x without side effects.
The future owner who was supposed to hold the 6th rank in his original story soared up to 3rd place after using this perfume.
It was indeed due to his innate abilities, but such rapid success wouldn’t have been possible without the perfume’s help.
Moreover, another good point was that it wasn’t a one-time-use artifact.
“Since it’s perfume, the amount decreases with each use, but it refills every time you kill a creature with mana.”
The rechargeable Essence of Life requires 1/3 of the bottle’s content for each spray.
If it doesn’t meet that standard, it can’t even be sprayed, making diverse use impossible; however, considering its basic performance is so excellent, that’s a sacrifice that’s totally worth it.
“Well, with such good base performance, that’s something you just have to put up with.”
Finishing his explanation about the perfume, Vargan glanced at Rina with a look that seemed to ask if she had any further questions.
Rina, who had been silent, slowly parted her lips.
“Vargan oppa… you’ve really changed.”
A flicker of vigilance passed through Rina’s eyes, which had been calmly smiling.
She had been analyzing and reading his expression while he spoke.
From her perspective, there didn’t seem to be any lies.
“Are you not curious why I’m spilling this information first?”
“…Isn’t it to prove that your alliance with Rheincarven oppa is solid?”
“Exactly. To be honest, I also wanted to gain a bit of trust from my two little siblings during this opportunity.”
When Vargan spoke somewhat playfully, Rina’s previously stiff expression softened, returning to her original kind demeanor.
Actually, saying it returned wouldn’t be entirely correct.
Just a moment ago, her basic smile towards Vargan became even more natural.
As if they felt relieved after confirming each other’s true selves.
“Riel and I will go to the Academia festival. Originally, I planned to enjoy it following Rheincarven oppa, but now it seems I’ll also get to spend some cozy time with you, Vargan oppa.”
“Don’t be a bother; just take Riel along and play with the eldest son.”
“Oh my. I also want to enjoy the festival with you, Vargan oppa. I cherish you too, you know?”
Rina giggled mischievously.
It was a reaction filled with some sort of hope.
“I’ll be busy, so I won’t have time to fool around with family.”
“Are you preparing something?”
“You’ll have to find out on the day itself.”
“Yes, I’ll be looking forward to it.”
Riel, who had stormed out, was felt to be returning from a distance.
Rina sensed this too. Before it was too late, she asked one last question.
“I’d love to chat with you at length, but time is running out. Just one last thing, if that’s alright?”
She knew Vargan would permit it, but she asked just in case.
Having witnessed Vargan’s familiar conversational style at an official gathering, he smiled broadly and nodded.
“What do you plan to do from now on?”
In short, it was a question about his future plans.
This time, she asked directly without beating around the bush.
In response to her question, Vargan didn’t hesitate to answer.
“I’m planning to visit the Portlet Family a few days from now.”
“Oppa, you know I didn’t ask about such a simple schedule, right? That’s too much.”
“I didn’t mention it as a simple schedule either.”
“Huh?”
With Rina’s head tilted in confusion, Vargan pondered.
“From a certain angle, their situations are somewhat similar.”
Summer vacation isn’t over yet, and Alicia hasn’t returned. By now, the mentoring would have wrapped up, and she would be at home with her adoptive parents.
The same goes for Erica.
She would surely be spending time with her mother at the Portlet Family.
…However, the issue is that it’s unlikely both are having a happy time.
Bang⎯!
Riel burst through the door, seeming to be in a great mood as she laughed gleefully.
In her hand was a letter with the Portlet Family crest, ripped open.
“Hey! You got roasted by your fiancée!”
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