We were spending the break time as usual. Eating together while talking with one another. Today was the same as well. But now, it was just us, the ones who were in Intermediate Level: me, Iris, Carbuncle, Luca, Kiri, Briar, Dmitria, Valerie, and Ein.
Being the first day of the school, the topic revolved around how our brains still in a holiday mode, and how we wanted to have more holidaysâ¦
And another topic wasâ¦obviously our memorable trip that happened very recently.
âBriar, how was it with your family?â
Obviously, this was my first question when we were all together. Honestly, I couldâve asked Carbuncle and Iris since they were there, but I just forgot about it earlierâ¦Seeing Briarâs face made me remember about how curious I was.
âAneki! Iâm fine, thank you for worrying about me! Thanks to Ristea-san and the others, they didnât punish me or anythingâ¦Ehehe! Iâm happy!â Briar smiled from ear to ear.
I raised my eyebrow in curiosity. I wonder what the
story to it, seeing Briar seemingly in a very good mood over this topic. I turned to look at the one who should know the full storyâ¦from Valerie and Dmitriaâ¦Carbuncleâ¦toâ¦Iris.
Iris was the only one who flinched when I eyed her like this.
âI will be glad to explain it to you, Aneki,â Valerie giggled, âFufufu.â
Thus, all ears were on Valerie.
âYou seeâ¦Being on a lower social position than the Remus family, Briarâs parents kind of looked down on Motherâ¦â
âIâm sorry for itâ¦,â Briar muttered lowly.
âDonât be. We understand. Sadly, weâve come across other nobles like this too,â Valerie said.
âHeh, they all look down on us, but I know our familyâs the best! I mean, who owns a ranch with so many awesome beasts inside it, right?â Dmitria balled her fist.
âThatâs right! Your family is awesome!â I nodded wholeheartedly.
âYour family can easily rise up in rank, you know?â Luca chimed in.
âYeah, right?!â Dmitria was more pumped after hearing my and Lucaâs encouragement. Nah, perhaps the credit goes to Luca. His words as the future king hold much power!
âAhem, thank you for your compliments. Back to the topic at hand. As expected, Briarâs mother didnât hold back and disagreed with Motherâs words, attempting to vouch for Briar. Briarâs mother seemed like she was ready to scold Briar after that,â Valerie narrated.
âI actually donât mind that, as long as I wonât cause Ristea-san, Dmitria, and Valerie any trouble,â Briar said bitterly.
âBut then, a certain someone popped her head insideâ¦,â Valerie said as her eyes drifted off to Carbuncle, who happened to be yawning at the moment. Our eyes were all focused on such Carbuncle.
âAnd Briarâs mother seemed to have an eye contact with her! Oh, how funny! It seemed as if blood was drained off her face instantly!!â Valerie chuckled.
âEven her stern fatherâs expression changed! I sensed fear! Hah!â Dmitria added.
âUh, no offense to your parents, Briar,â Valerie quickly said.
âNo, I donât care even if you badmouth them,â Briar shook her head.
âOh?â Carbuncle finally paid an attention to us. She then said, âAh, about that? Yeah, I just said, â
Carbuncle was practically bragging. Her face seemed to say, âAinât I mighty?â
W-well, Briarâs parents were probably scared witless upon witnessing Carbuncleâs transformation into a dragon. We all knew that a single member of the dragon race could easily trample a mere human family in mere seconds. But I knew Carbuncle was bluffing. The most sheâd do was bully them.
After all, despite the dragonkinâs stance of not wanting to get involved with the other races as they found the others troublesome and unworthy, the dragons all agreed they wonât cause any unnecessary trouble with other races unless they were threatened first. Beside, Carbuncle had already signed a peace agreement with King Titus when she was permitted to stay here.
âBriarâs mother quickly changed her opinion and nodded to Motherâs words! Briarâs father was all silent. In the end, they left just like that. And Briar was free to go back to her room as if nothing happenedâ¦At least thatâs what we think, what happened in reality, Briar?â Valerie asked. But we could already guess what had happened in reality from Briarâs happy expression.
âMother and Father tried to act as if nothing happened. Sadly, Prim wasnât there, so she didnât know what happened. She wanted to make a big deal of me âsneaking out to play with my friendsâ, but my parents just told her to drop it. She was confused!â Briar explained.
âDid your parents treat you better?â I asked.
ââ¦Not really, but they didnât punish or scold me after that. They also didnât nag me about this and that, which made me happy enough! Iâm finally back to dorm, ah freedom~,â Briar stretched.
âThatâs good to know!â I sighed in relief.
I guess some parents were hardy in nature. Briarâs parents were typical of this. They might think that they were right, and if anyone were to tell them otherwise, they would just scold them off. Unless they were of higher social position, they might sweet-talk themâ¦
âReally, I shouldâve come and helped too. Mom could have helped a lotâ¦,â I muttered.
âEhh? No need to trouble yourself or your parents, Aneki! Iâd feel bad if you need to use your higher social position just to pressure my parentsâ¦,â Briar quickly shook her head.
âYes, you and your family donât seem like the typical nobles whoâd flaunt your authority and use it for things like this,â Valerie said.
âTrueâ¦I never thought of doing that, honestlyâ¦,â I nodded.
âThatâs a good thing! As expected of Big Sis Lyra!â Ein enthusiastically nodded as well.
âYes, and it wonât look good for nobles to meddle in the othersâ home matters. It is a different thing if it is about an official or business matterâ¦,â Luca added.
âHmmmâ¦I wish I can help more,â I said.
âYouâre already helping me enough, Aneki!â Briar said as she grabbed my hands.
âR-really? Iâm glad if you think soâ¦,â I said.
After that, we still talked about our experiences in the Flugelâs residence. Thankfully, Dmitria asked, âHow do you feel, going to our residence and ranch for the first time?â
Just as I hoped.
âIâve been to other ranches and farms before when Father brought me along to inspect the areas. But Iâve never really got immersed in the ranches and did things like taking care of the monsters and playing with them,â Luca said.
âI thought that the monsters would be scary, but theyâre all quite friendly!â Kiri said.
âHah, you just didnât get to meet with the problematic bunches. Ah, Autzag is a mild example,â Dmitria said.
âThat, mild?!â I was surprised.
âYes, at least Autzag is still friendly. We have some that weâre in the middle of taming,â Valerie answered.
Understandable. They wouldnât want us to be injured by any chance. There were small children, too. It made sense why they didnât show us everything.
âIâve been to animal ranches, but itâs my first time in a monster ranch. Itâs a bit scary since I was used to the notion of having monsters as enemies and something I should fear,â Iris said before she smiled, âbut theyâre all cute and it was fun!â
âItâs pretty okay. Theyâre all afraid of me, as expected,â Carbuncle chuckled.
âItâs really fun! I lived and grew up in the North Riviera that has little to no ranches or farms. Itâs pretty much an advanced area, so everything was new to me! I thought it might be a bit of a hassle going to a rural area, but it was fun!â Ein said.
âIf you thought it might be a bit of a hassle, then why did you join?â Kiri blinked.
âBecause Big Sis Lyraâs there, of course!â Ein proudly said.
âHuh??â I didnât expect my name to come up there.
âSo, city boy, which do you prefer: rural area or urban?â Dmitria asked, but her expression seemed to bet that Ein would choose the rural area.
âUrban, obviously! Nothing beats the advancement of culture and technology!â Ein said.
âNo, modernization in everything can be detrimental. Youâre so young, but I can tell youâre already addicted to the practicality of the modernization. Nature offers much more fun and internal growth, you know?â Dmitria argued back.
âWhat? Whatâs the point of modernization if it doesnât make our lives more convenient and practical? Why choose something thatâs less convenient? You guys are definitely using modern technologies too!â Ein argued again.
âYes, but we donât use them as much as you city people! Youâre too dependent on modern technologies, youâre all going to be doomed when they suddenly malfunction!â
âNah, it wonât happen!â
Iâ¦was hoping it would turn to Ein telling stories about his hometown, but I certainly didnât expect things to get this heated!
I clapped my hands very loudly.
âAlright, alright! Instead of arguing without any concrete experience, how about visiting Einâs hometown next?â I asked.
âHuh?â Everyone turned their confused heads at me.
âI mean, Iâm pretty curious about how lifeâs like in Einâs area. Einâs house is so big and itâs located in one of the biggest and the most modern cities in Rivieraâ¦,â I said.
Before I could add, â
Ein already asked, âWanna sleep over in my home, Big Sis Lyra?â
His eyes turned all sparkly. He was evidently excited by this idea.
âEh, we can? I mean, some visits might be good enoughâ¦,â I asked, pretending to be reserved.
âItâs not enough! Visiting and staying are different! And of course you can! Anything for you, Big Sis Lyra!â
âWhoa whoa, hang in there. The point is to prove to us,
that life in a big city is much better, right? Why did you specifically mention Anekiâ¦just Aneki alone?â Valerieâs eagle eyes glared at Ein.
âYeah, yeah! I wonât let you do anything to Aneki!â Briar protectively hugged me.
Ein remained unmoved as he sighed, âFine. Iâm inviting you all! Itâs my turn to become the host!â
âWill your parents agree with it? Donât just decide on your own,â Luca reminded.
âIâm sure theyâll agree! Letâs just plan everything out!â Ein said with confidence.
âUhm, better ask firstâ¦,â Kiri said.
âI know my parents. Well, what about this weekend?â Ein asked.
âSure, your parents might agree. But we havenât told our parents too,â Luca reminded.
âThen we all have a homework of asking our parents tonight. Letâs plan everything tomorrow then,â Ein said confidently. He was very confident that weâd get our parentsâ permissions.
âWe need to inform the dorm manager too,â Briar reminded.
Since it was settled, the argument between Ein and Dmitria also stopped. Or more precisely, postponed until the stayover is done�
But whatever, mission accomplished anyway!
During my way home from school that day, I told Alt-nii, Freyr, Freyja, and Clavis of what happened and they were all eager to come to Einâs place.
Thankfully and as I predicted, my parents allowed us to go. Since we were all good after having a staycation in the Flugelâs, a shorter staycation in the Loeraâs main residence would be fine as well.
The next day when we all gathered, everyone gave their positive responses, so obviouslyâ¦it was settled. Weâd be going to stay at Einâs place for this weekend!
[It will be your first time doing it. Itâs natural.]
â
[Worry not. I have a confidence that it is.]
â
[Itâs still a few days away.]
â
[Judging from your character,
will you be ready? Do you want to be stuck with this until youâre older?]
â
And the nights where I talked with Fenrir about the strategy beganâ¦Mostly it was me expressing my unreadiness to Fenrir while messing his majestic fur all around. I swear, Fenrirâs really patient! I acted pretty childish, but he didnât even scold me.
â¦Ironically, he knew my mental age, but I still acted childish in front of him, aaaahâ¦
When I agonized myself over this, Fenrir just said, âNah, I just know youâd be like this.â
â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦.FENRIRRRR [T___T]
The more important something is, the more nervous you are. Thatâs just how the world works.
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