Entering the house, we were told to wait in the guest room as the butler fetched Victoria's father. He also ordered a maid (I guess that made him the head butler?) to serve us tea and snacks as we waited.

The interior was just as lavish as the outside, with the floor covered in spotless blue carpet at every inch, and magic lamps lighting every corner of the room. There were seemingly more rooms than a family of four could ever possibly use. But then again, to this type of rich folks, having a house this large was just a way for them to communicate their status to the rest of society. Not to mention all the servants they had. After all, they would want to maintain the house’s condition as well. And so far, I think they are doing a good job.

The guest room was a longue with a pair of sofas facing each other with a low table in the middle. We all sat on one side, with Felicia to my right and Victoria to my left. After the butler left, the maid came with a tray of tea and cookies. She didn’t say anything as she served them to us. In fact, I’d say she was actively avoiding eye contact with any of us.

As she bent down to pour, however, my eyes couldn’t help but latch on to the protrusions sticking out from her apron. Just have to give us a busty one, don’t you old man?

Suddenly, I felt my right hand being lifted up before being placed on a smooth surface I was quite familiar with.

It was Felicia. She just put my hand on top of her exposed thighs.

Sheesh, nothing escapes her notice, does it? It was just a slight stare and she's already going into jealous mode.

"Thank you. You may now leave. We'd prefer to be on our own."

With a half-threatening smile, Felicia dismissed the maid, who quickly responded by stealing a fearful glance on her before scurrying to the room's exit.

"You know, Felicia, I think you should learn to relax for a bit."

"Hmph. I just want to stop you from lowering your guard just because of a pretty girl. Those cookies and tea may just be laced with something."

Heh, sure you say.

Pouty Felicia isn't bad at all though. Jealousy in the right amount can be really cute after all.

And so, she ate and drank first, as her tastebud was well-trained in detecting poison, thanks to her ingesting small amounts of them over the years, ever since her days in the Academy. She also had some immunity to them as well.

"It's safe, Milord."

"Then, don't mind if I do!"

Grabbing a cookie, I glanced at Victoria who had been uncharacteristically silent all this time.

Oh dear...

She was as pale as a sheet, with her hands gripping her skirt and her lips pursed together tightly.

Guess I had to calm her down before she fainted or something.

“Hey, why so nervous? Relax! You’re meeting with your own father here, remember?" I gave her the best smile I could muster as I took her right hand.

"T-thank you, Sir Hugo." She smiled back. Aah, what a cute smile. "It's just that… I don't know how he would react. All these seventeen years, ever since I was born, he had never forgave Mother for having me. Even now, they live separately, in the west and east side of this house. They rarely speak to each other and when they do, it always turns into an argument.  Because of me, their family, is in tatters…"

Their family? She doesn't even count herself as part of their household?

"If only… if only I had realized sooner, I could've… I could've…"

Uh oh. Her eyes began to water. Hey, you can't be crying when we meet your father! What will he think?

"Come now. It's not your fault. It's his choice to be that way to his wife. Cheating is bad but holding a grudge that long isn't good either."

Oh, who am I kidding? If my wife cheats on me, I don't think I'll ever forgive her. I'm not that much of a saint. Or a sucker, as some may say.

"T-thank you for your kind words, Sir Hugo." Her smile returned before transforming into a giggle. "I wish… I wish I am more like you… you're so strong and kind… just like those heroes in my books…"

Grabbing my hands with her other hand, our eyes met.

BA-DUMP!

C-crap! She's cute! Too cute! So adorably cute! With her chuuniness gone, her appeal rises up considerably beyond my expectations! If I don't already have Felicia and Sherry, I might actually make her my wife! We're going to meet her father, right? I'll just say to him "Sir Relfatia! I'm taking your daughter's hand in marriage!"

And then, all of a sudden, I felt a sharp pain on my right leg

Felicia had just pinched my upper thigh.

"Ouch! Hey, what was that for?!"

"Look sharp, Milord. He's coming."

Sure enough, a pair of footsteps could be heard approaching from beyond the door. I straightened myself just in time before the figure entered.

He was a tall man with a broad shoulder, with a beard and sideburns that only enhanced the sharp look on his face. He looked like your typical James Bond villain, come to think of it. No wonder Victoria was so afraid of him.

"What is this? You brought these hooligans here? You are just as worthless as ever, my second daughter."

He didn't bother sitting down. Instead, he just stood there, glaring at us and his daughter.

"F-Father, these people are—"

"Friends? Servants? Hired bodyguards? I don't care. Make them leave. Or, even better, you leave with them as well. Clearly, you are well-suited to be a vagabond like them."

...This guy… he actually reminds me of someone… someone I thought I had forgotten a long time.

Sherry's old caretaker, Old Woman Farla. The same snobbery. The same cruelty.

I stood up before he could say another word.

"Greetings, Lord Relfatia." I gave him a noble's bow. "My name is Hugo Greenwood, an S-rank adventurer. It's a pleasure to meet a man as illustrious as you."

"As do I." Glancing to my side, I saw Felicia standing up as well. "Well met, Lord Relfatia." She too gave her own bow and a smile.

Huh, doesn't even glance at her chest. Usually people would, since with that high angle, he'll probably be able to peek at her nipples. This man is serious business indeed.

Hmm? You wonder why I'm not upset with her teasing her body like that? Hard to knowing I've played with those boobs so many times now. Not to mention I enjoy her dressing skimpily like that as well.

Other guys may look but they will never touch.

"Brown-nosing won't get you anywhere. What do you want? Speak. I'll pay you to go on your way but if you believe you can blackmail our family with whatever information you have, think again."

"Oh, you misunderstood, good sir." I kept up my smile. "We come here to offer our fealty to your family and the city, in exchange for the information we are about to tell you. For starters, your wife… she never cheated on you."

Color left his grim face.

"...If you think such a bold-faced lie will work—"

"It's not a lie, Milord." Felicia interrupted. "You see, for your daughter… she's not really an elf at all! I assume you are familiar with the folk tale creature called changelings? That is her. A half-fairy child will be conceived not in the womb of her mother, but the womb of another woman, somewhere else in the world."

The middle-aged man fell silent. He looked away, before turning his gaze to Victoria.

"Is this true?" He croaked, his voice losing its stability ever so slightly. "You're a changeling?”

“I… well… Sir Hugo told me I am… And I trust him… So please! Make up with Mother! She has done nothing wrong in the slightest!"

She was now standing up as well, tears pooling inside her eyes. Honestly, if you ask me, those tears are wasted on a man like him.

"...Very well. If you say what you are, then prove it. Show me your wings."

"I… I can't… I don't know how…"

"...As I thought. Guards! Escort these two off the premises! And you, my foolish daughter, you're never going to leave this estate again or I will disown you as a daughter of the Relfatia Family. Not only you ran away but you let yourself be duped by these charlatans."

Six guards barged inside the room, surrounding both me and Felicia. By the speed they arrived at, they must have waited right outside.

Yep. I already expected this to be honest. Of course he won't trust us right away.

"No, Father! I… I still want to go on adventures with them! Please! Allow me to—"

"Enough! Not a single word from your mouth! To think you're wasting your time galavanting around while your sister is out there leading a campaign against those demons… you're an embarrassment to this family!"

With such harsh words, it wasn't a surprise that her pooling tears now streamed down Victoria's cheeks.

Guess I should—

Felicia grabbed my arm and shook her head.

No? We shouldn't interfere?

"W-why, Father, I just… I just want you to… Uwaahhhh!"

The knightess ran out of her room, leaving a trail of tears behind her.

God, this is terrible. She might be a crybaby but she doesn't deserve all those harsh words.

The lord turned his attention back on us once again.

"You two. Leave. I would arrest you, but knowing you two are S-ranks, I would rather have you contribute to our city instead of rotting in my cell."

His eyes narrowed. "But remember this. Do not take our family lightly. Our other daughter… She's a powerful mage beyond the level of mere S-ranks like you. She might be away right now but once she returns with the news of her victory, she'll take care of you in a flash."

Seriously? This guy is hiding behind his daughter? That's kinda sad, isn't it?

"And of course, I am no slouch either. And neither are my servants and guards. Try something like this again and I won't grant mercy twice."

"Understood." Felicia smiled and bowed. "We will be on our way."

Still grabbing my arm, she dragged me away. Didn't even get the chance to say my goodbye to the man.

Not that I want to, of course. What an awful man.

"Hey, don't you think we should fetch Victoria?" I whispered to Felicia as we walked back to the entrance.

"No need, Milord. If she wants to come with us, she'll come. But if she doesn't, she should stay here instead."

"Aren't you angry? How he treated her like that?"

"Oh yes, I'm angry. But there's nothing we can do. This is on Victoria. This is her choice. We should not babysit her."

Her choice, huh? She has a point. If she really wants to be an adventurer, she'll leave this awful household and go with us. That's the kind of guts she needs if she's going to travel through the Demon Continent.

We were now back in the courtyard. The guards were still following us. Right to the front gate, huh?

Only to be stopped by the head butler from before. He'd been waiting for us, it seemed.

"Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for keeping Milady safe all this time." He bowed. "And apologies for my master's unkind reception. I could tell that Milady is fond of you two. I could tell that you two aren't lying as well. Thank you, for telling us the truth."

Wait, was this guy listening to us? Then how did he get all the way here to the front gate?

Suddenly, I got an idea.

"Hey, old man."

He looked up.

"Keep Victoria safe, alright?"

"Of course. You don't have to ask."

A small smile formed under his moustache. He might look scary but I could tell he actually cared about her.

"If anything happens to her, you can go to us for help. We'll be in the city for a while."

"Thank you for your kindness, Sir Hugo, Miss Felicia." He bowed once again.

-------

With the gates now closed behind us, we made our way back to our inn.

"Good idea, Milord, having that old man be our contact to check on her. You're too kind to just leave her on her own."

"Heh, I'd feel bad otherwise. As long as we're in this city, I want to make sure she doesn't do something reckless. Like chasing after us to the dungeon on her own."

"...You know, Milord, after what I saw back there, if she were to come to you, I might actually consider allowing her to be your third wife."

Hearing that, I nearly choked on the air I was breathing.

"H-huh? Where did that come from? I thought you—"

"Yes, I disliked her. I thought she was just a brat born with a silver spoon in her mouth. But now, seeing the cruelty of his father in action, I now sympathized with her. I'm sure I don't have to remind you of my own adoptive father, though, of course, they were two opposite creatures. Beasts in their own right."

Oh yeah, I'm not forgetting him alright. The bastard who molested Felicia when she was just a child.

"If she were to come, and begged you to take her in, then, as your second soon-to-be wife, you have my blessing to take her as your third. It's a test, you see. Does she have the grit necessary to be the great Hugo Greenwood's wife? Your path is a path of thorns, Milord. So only the sturdiest of women should walk it with you. That's why I stopped you from helping her there. If you give too much of a helping hand, the test won't work anymore."

Sighing, I smiled at the ex-necromancer. "You can be really cruel at times, you know that?"

"Oh, I'm not cruel." She smirked. "I'm simply assuring that only the best of the best shares a bed with you."

"Like you?"

"Of course. I'm a master alchemist and I'm your most faithful lover. I'll do anything you say and I'll follow you to the ends of the earth."

I chuckled. There you go. I think I've succeeded in erasing that depressed, self-hating Felicia from her mind.

But a third wife. I dunno. I'd love to bury my head in those boobs every night but I'd have to convince Sherry to take in another competitor. Just one is hard enough but two?

Sighing, I could only pray that my smooth tongue and smile could win over her when the time came.

--------

"So, what's on the schedule today?" I asked as I threw my butt on the bed. We were now back inside our inn room. "I'm thinking of visiting Theo myself."

"Ah, speaking of him, I have a request to make, Milord. Remember how I promised to analyze his medicine? To do that, I would need more space to set up my laboratory. And so, why don't we rent a house instead?"

"A house? Hmm, I suppose that could work. Alright then! Let's go house-hunting!" We still have a lot of money to burn after all!

I just hope they'll be willing to rent to adventurers like us.

---------

In the end, we settled on a small two-story workshop on the artisan's districts.

Apparently, the city had quite the strict zoning laws so we couldn't rent an ordinary house if we were going to use it as an alchemy lab as well. We had to settle on a more expensive workshop instead.

Didn't really matter though, since we were swimming in money. And it was certainly nice, having all this space to ourselves.

As Felicia stayed behind to do her stuff, I headed to the destination Theo had given me yesterday. Figured I should check up on the kid. Though at this time of the day, he was probably outside training. Still, it wouldn't hurt to know where he lived.

He lives here? That's not good.

My feet had taken me to what's basically the slums of the city. Narrow, tiny houses crammed together, a labyrinth-like roads with many dead ends, and the stench of pee and worse as no one bothered to clean the streets.

Well, he is poor, so it makes sense he'll be here.

As I walked through its unpleasant, darkened paths, I kept my mind sharp from any ambushes. Not to be prejudiced to the poor, but I imagine it's really easy to be mugged here.

Nothing really came up though and I soon arrived at my destination.

It was a small, dingy apartment, dirty and old-looking and very much the perfect image of a shared housing for the poor.

Let's see… the third floor, the furthest door to the right…

Climbing up the stone staircase, unpaved and cracked in many places, I made my way to his room. Knocking at the door, I yelled, "Hey! It's me, Hugo! Anybody home?!"

At first, no response. But after a few seconds to a whole minute of uncomfortable waiting—I wasn't sure which—the door opened.

It was Tama.

"What do you want? Both Theo and Tira are out. In case you haven't noticed, this is in the middle of the day. Theo's training and Tira's working."

"Wait, you live here?"

"N-no! I was just helping them! I lived next door."

Seeing her blush, a grin immediately formed on my face.

"Oh? I don't see why you two shouldn't be sharing a room. You're a couple, right? That's what couples do. Living together, eating together, and sleeping together."

"W-we're not a couple, you idiot! He saved my life once and now I have a blood oath to help him anyway I can!"

"A blood oath?"

"Y-yes! I'm part of the Kata clan, proud catfolk warriors who always repay our debts."

Hmm, can't say I've heard that name before…

“You’re from the Holy Continent then? The Beast Confederacy?”

“That’s right! So you do know your maps after all!” She smiled haughtily. What she was so proud about, I would never know.

“Tell me then. How did he save you? I thought he was supposed to be the ‘weakest adventurer’. How could he save you when you’re a lot stronger than him?”

“Hmph! That’s an unfair title! He might be the weakest but he’s easily amongst the bravest!”

Well, they aren’t wrong then. They only mock him being weak, not him being a coward.

“It was back in that forest, a few months ago, when I first met him. A treant caught me with its arms. I yelled and screamed for anyone to help me but no one came. I thought it was done for, at least, until he came. He hit the treant over and over with his sword, going back up each time it knocked him down with its attacks. Even when I told him to run and get help, he refused.”

Ah, the classic “saving the princess” trope.

“So, he then defeated the treant?”

“W-well, not quite. He bought just enough time until another adventurer came to the rescue. She cut through the tree in one fell swoop.”

Oof, so much for playing the hero.

“I-I didn’t mind though! He saved me and that’s all that matters!”

“Alright, alright, sheesh, no need to get all worked up. I get your admiration for him.”

Normally, I would’ve patted her in the head, but seeing how she already had the kid, that would be an improper thing to do, now, would it?

“Well, mind telling me where he usually trains? I think I’ll check up on him there. Also, I’m surprised you don’t help him with that. You’re stronger than him after all.”

“Hmph.” She crossed her arms. “He doesn’t want to. He says that my style isn’t suited for him.”

“Ah. He doesn’t want to use twin daggers like you.” As usual, swords are all the rage in a fantasy world.

“Yes. You see, he once met this amazing girl adventurer when he was younger. She used a sword and so he wanted to use one as well. What a naive idiot. He has to learn by himself thanks to that.”

Heh, getting jealous, huh? Understandable.

So the kid has a role model already. Interesting. A girl adventurer wielding a sword. That’s a dime and dozen.

After she told me where he was, I made my way there without delay.

---------------

Let’s see… southwest of the southern gate, right under a barren tree on a small hill…

There he is!

In the distance, I could already make out the silhouette of a boy swinging his sword. It was just a basic downslash motion, and yet, once I got closer, I could already tell it wasn't perfect in its execution.

“You might want to fix your stance there, Theo. You are putting too much weight on your right foot. It weakens your swing quite a bit, you know.”

“Aah!” He jumped, dropping his sword to the ground. “S-Sir Hugo, I-I didn’t see you there!”

“Heya!”

Awareness in his surroundings is lacking as well. That’s not good.

“W-why are you here?”

“Relax! I’m here to watch you train! I’m taking a break for today so I thought I’d spend it with you. Felicia’s busy with her alchemy stuff. Remember your medicine? She’s working on that.”

“R-really?”

“Of course. She wasn’t lying when she made that promise, you know.”

A bright smile appeared on the boy’s face. Goddamn, how can a boy be this cute? He’s like a little puppy!

“Alright! Back to your training! I’ll give you some pointers and you try to do them as best as you can!”

"Yes, Master Hugo! I can call you that, right? You're my teacher after all!"

If he was a beastkin, his tail would be wiggling back and forth now.

"Uh… yeah… sure. You can call me whatever you want."

-----------

We spent the rest of the day there, with me basically being his sword instructor. I wouldn’t say I was better than Fiora at it, but I liked to think I did a pretty good job. Sometimes I would stand up and fix his posture and stance, other times I would give him some examples with my own sword swings, but most of the time, I just rested my back on the tree, examining his movements without a word.

“So, I’ve been wondering, why do you choose to be a swordsman? I talked to Tama before I got here and she said you were inspired by an adventurer you met?”

“Yes! Her name was Sherry and she was this really amazing swordswoman! She was around my age at the time and she was already so much stronger than me!”

...

My heart skipped a beat.

“S-Sherry? You said her name was Sherry?”

He nodded. "W-what's the matter?"

"Tell me everything about her! Now!"

--------

When he finished, I was in a complete state of shock.

It-it's Sherry! That has to be her!

Black hair, abnormal strength, a demon lady with antennas named Myrilla as her companion… who else can it be?!

"H-hey, uh, that girl you met, I know her as well."

"What? Really?"

At this point, he had abandoned his training completely. He was now sitting in front of me with his legs folded, looking at me with his big brown eyes.

"Yes. She's… uh… a childhood friend of mine. In fact, I'm here because I'm looking for her."

"A childhood friend? That's amazing! Please, Master Hugo! Tell me more about her!"

And so, I proceeded to regale him with all the tales of our sweet childhood together.

------------

A/N:

Felicia’s philosophy there actually matches my own philosophy on the types of girls that could join into the harem. I think I’ve actually talked about it before with Amelie and Anne and how they can’t join since they won’t follow him into danger.

We’ll see if Victoria passes the test or not.