“Welcome back, Ayane.”
“Thank you, mother.”
After returning home, Ayane quickly changed into a full dress, and went to her mother’s office.
In it there were not just her mother, but her older brother, two older sisters, and their combat maids.
“Big brother, big sisters, it’s been a while.”
“Yes.”
“It has been, Ayane. Have you been behaving?”
“Ayane, I heard you caught yourself a nice man. Introduce him to your big sister, will you?”
“Hau!”
Yukine, the second daughter of the Houjouin family, mercilessly hugged Ayane, who was unable to escape.
Aira was not here to subtly protect her from it.
“Oh! It’s been a while, Ayane! Rub rub rub.”
“Hau, s-stop, Yuki.”
Ayane was not too good with this family. And suffice to say, that included Yukine.
She was not just hugging her right after seeing her. It all just looked like a big sister cherishing her little sister, but Yukine always had mysterious emotions behind her eyes.
Her eyes had always been scary to Ayane like that.
The eldest daughter of the Houjouin family, Takane, also appeared to care about Ayane, but reality was different. She devoted herself to her mother, who always came first to her.
And so, she worried about Ayane causing trouble for their mother.
Ayane’s older brother was Yuzuru. Since Sakuya did not really expect anything from Ayane yet, he was not too interested. And so, they never really talked.
Lastly, the mother, and head of the Houjouin family, Sakuya. She was all about power, which extended not just to her subordinates, but to her children as well. Her education was famously stern, and this was spurred on further after she lost her husband in the first dungeon break.
But Ayane was different from the others. She was seen as not as good as the others, because she could not keep up with her close-quarters combat training.
This was why she learned healing and fire magic, had Aira as a guard, and received instructions to go around the dungeons to gain experience. All so she could be useful to Sakuya, even if not a lot.
Ayane had trouble with everyone in this family.
Flap!
With the sound of Sakuya’s fan closing, the whole room fell silent.
“I called you here today to praise Ayane. After all, she secured herself a very promising talent.”
The two older sisters were extremely surprised, as their mother had not praised Ayane in years.
“Faster than mother? Nice, Ayane.”
“Incredible.”
“Yes. I was still in the process of gathering information, because what I had was not precise, and it seems she got to him before me. At the time he was but an F rank that was drawing some attention, so Ayane reached him before I did.”
“Hou, she overtook mother.”
“So what kind of talent are we talking about?”
The three siblings praised Ayane in a way that flattered their mother, but after living with them for over ten years, Ayane could feel they lacked any real interest.
Until Sakuya continued, that was.
“A natural specialized seventh.”
Their eyes focused on Ayane.
“…”
She almost let out a shriek because of the pressure. It was clear the look in their eyes changed.
“…Mother, what do you think his estimated values are?”
“The last time I checked they did not hit a hundred, but they are at least five hundred now. Takane’s unit confirmed that powered up one, and then he made a type two spawn, like the one Yuzuru’s unit saw.”
“…Hou…”
By type two, she meant the General Goblin Shouta defeated the previous day.
Ayane shivered at how her mother already had that information.
“That is incredible, mother. And we managed to secure him before he was connected to outside the country… Very well done, Ayane.”
“She not only found him, but won him over. Hey Ayane, is this person into little girls?”
At first, Ayane had no idea what this meant. She thought about it for a second, and reacted a little late, by arguing back with her face deep red.
“…H-he is not like that!”
“Eh? But Ayane, between your chest, butt, and height, you’re all kid sized. What other reason could there be to take such a tiny little… Ah, I see. You did have a very alluring combat maid. Did you let him have her?”
“No! And make fun of me all you want, but leave Aira and darling out of it!!”
“…Eh… Is a failure like you really trying to talk back to me? Are you getting carried away because you got a seven…”
Flap!
The place fell silent again, and Sakuya laughed.
“It seems he likes Ayane, but only as a puppy that took to him, as of yet. He does not see her as a woman. Rest easy, Yukine.”
“Yes mother, I will.”
As a puppy.
Ayane was somewhat aware of the way Shouta liked her, but there was nothing that could be done.
After all, she got between him and the Saotome sisters, and they already liked each other. It was great that he liked her at all.
“So, I called you to praise Ayane, and to decide whether to grant him passage to the forbidden area of the intermediate dungeon. I want to hear your thoughts.”
“I agree. Even if it was in the tepid first floors of a beginner dungeon, summoning and defeating a type two is a great achievement. It seems you are interested in him mother, but if you want to welcome him into our family, we should meet as soon as possible.”
Said Yuzuru.
“I want to meet him too. If he dumps Ayane, I can take his leash.”
“I’m curious too. I want to try to get him with Taka.”
“That settles it, let us invite him soon. Thank you for coming, Ayane. Since it’s late, go rest in your room.”
“Y-yes.”
Ayane thought some sort of demand was coming, so she felt relieved when it simply ended. She bowed, and slowly made her way out.
Her siblings soon followed, and they all went to their rooms with their maids, leaving Sakuya.
“Well then, just how gifted is he…”
Her subordinates had delivered to her not long ago the information that he was headed to the high rank dungeon, and her smile deepened as she looked at it.
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Already hate this family, alright.