After messing around with Onii-chan a bit more, Stella headed outside of the house to check on the rescued children.

At least that was the plan. But the moment she opened the door to walk outside, she got attacked by a white fluff ball.

"Wan!"

"Gah! Wata! I thought I told you to not do that anymore!"

Stella wrestled with the white fluff ball for a bit before managing to push it to the side.

And when she did, she saw Wata floating next to her, clearly not the white fluff ball she was just wrestling with.

Stella blinked. "...Eh?"

Wata shrugged. "I'm as confused as you are, Stella." He rubbed his hand behind his head and then turned to look at the white fluff ball... or rather, at the white puppy that had jumped on Stella.

Stella turned to look as well.

The puppy had backed off, obediently sitting on the ground in front of Stella.

Because of that, Stella could make out all its features.

It was cute. A little cuter than Wata if Stella was being honest. White fur that had a bit of silver tint to it as well as a cute red mark on its forehead, beady black eyes...

Basically a normal adorable white shiba puppy. Except it clearly wasn't.

Especially from how the beast race children were staring at Stella with wide and awed expressions.

Stella reached out to pat the puppy's head, smiling as it happily leaned into her. After that, she took a look around and said, "Is everyone okay?"

She saw all of the children from the cages sitting around the courtyard. It also looked like they all managed to get a proper bath and new clothes to change into since they looked a lot less scruffy than before.

Miko and Fai were missing though, which made Stella a bit concerned.

Wata floated over to Stella's right shoulder and nodded. "Fai went out with Eos and Ena to do a bit of last minute shopping and Miko went with your aunt to have a talk with your dad. I think because Miko saw some important things in the bad guys before they died?"

Stella winced. "...Right."

She suddenly felt a bit guilty about that. Miko couldn't really control her powers yet and she had that passive mindreading thing going on. With how Onii-chan showed up, Miko must have seen some scary things... Or maybe she saw stuff when talking with the rescued children?

Either way, Stella was starting to see what Onii-chan meant.

Stupid kid body making her do dumb things. It's not like being praised was that important... Hmph.

Stella puffed her cheeks, doing her best to ignore her embarrassment. But after that, she shifted her attention to the children they rescued.

There were a dozen children. Three of them were human (two boys and one girl), one was an elf girl, and the rest were beast race children, with four boys and four girls.

They were all older than Stella, probably closer to ten years old than Stella's...

...How old was she now anyway? Two? Three? She cheated a bit to grow up, so she probably looked around five years old, but on paper...

...Well, Onii-chan looked like an adult despite being technically less than ten years old, so-

Wait. He mentioned something about meditating for like ten years in a time distortion, so maybe he was actually an adult now? It would explain why he seemed a bit more sensible.

A bit.

But...

No, she was getting distracted.

Anyway, the children were all older than Stella, but everyone there was looking at her with respect.

Especially those beast race children. And in particular, a cat-eared girl with silver hair along with a dog-eared girl with gray hair.

At that time, the white shiba puppy moved over to Stella's right side, happily leaning against her.

And as a result, those two beast race children gasped, rapidly talking to each other in a language that Stella definitely didn't understand.

"Hoh?" Wata's eyes widened and then he puffed out his chest with pride. "I knew Stella was special!"

Stella blinked and said, "You can understand them, Wata?"

"Of course! We spirits can understand every language! ...Except for the one that you and Rudy use. But anyway, it seems like you're the legendary hero, Stella!"

"...EH?!"

-RNG-

Sylphy gave me a bright smile as she watched me cook and said, "I know I mentioned wanting children, but you didn't have to go pick up a group of them for me."

"Very funny, Sylphy." I flipped a pancake out from my frying pan and onto a stack of pancakes off to the side.

After managing to convince Stella to not brag to Norn about hot cocoa... for Stella's own safety as well as my own sanity since Norn seemed to be a brocon and about half a step away from turning full yandere.

Anyway, after breaking that immediate flag, I started prepping some food for the children that my baby sister managed to rescue.

Nothing complicated, just some pancakes, syrup, and fruit juice.

I could have made something else, but I wasn't too sure how they would react to heavy food. Pancakes should be easy enough on their stomachs though since it was just all carbs.

While I was in the middle of prepping the food though, my lovely wives got up, lured by the smell.

Sylphy was wearing a loose nightgown, not bothering to change since getting up.

On the other hand, Eri was fully dressed, wearing a loose beige sweater and dark pants.

Eri grabbed a plate and picked off a pancake, pouring herself some juice along the way. After that, she glanced outside to look at the kids and said, "What's up with all the brats anyway? You planning to start an orphanage here too, Rudy?"

I poured out the batter for another pancake and said, "Maybe later when I get some more people over. But no. These kids were all rescued by my cute baby sister after she went out on an adventure this morning."

Eri paused in the middle of eating and let out a sigh. "Does troublemaking run on your side of the family, Rudy? I thought Stella might be better, but at this rate she's going to be as much of a hassle as Norn was..."

I flipped the pancake and tilted my head. "Norn was a hassle?"

Eri rubbed her face and said, "Don't get me started. She's smart, but the number of times she drew her sword first and asked questions later..."

Ah. That explained why Eri became more grounded. Having to deal with Dad and Norn...

...Though the fact that Norn was like that...

I materialized the rule book I was writing for the future male Greyrats and started adding a new rule.

Eri blinked and then pointed at the book with her fork. "What the hell is that?"

"A how to not be an idiot guide for future generations."

4. Being an edgelord is terrible. In the event you start becoming one, people start telling you that you're becoming one, or you realize that you think it's easier to kill people than to talk things out, remember that your cute baby siblings will follow in your footsteps. And that your ancestor Rudeus Notos Greyrat will definitely find a way to come back from beyond the grave to smack the sense back into you.

There.

I tossed the rule book back into a little pocket space I made and went back to cooking. "Anyway. Speaking of my baby sisters... You two still okay with heading out to meet Roxy and Aisha in the Ranoa Kingdom?"

Sylphy's smile dimmed a bit when I mentioned Roxy, but she sighed and said, "I suppose..."

Eri raised an eyebrow and said, "What? Jealous?"

"N-No!" Sylphy shook her head and said, "I'm not jealous! It's just... Hmph." She looked away and muttered, "It's okay. I'm a mature woman now too."

I decided to pretend not to hear that last part. Instead, I nodded and said, "Alright. Then since things are probably going to get troublesome here, I'll let Dad and Pierre handle things with Cliff while we make our way back to the Central Continent. We'll take the scenic route through the Great Forest though and help those kids get back home."

Sylphy started to nod. But then she paused and gave me a pointed look.

I blinked and said, "What?"

"...Rudy won't pick up a pet from the Great Forest, will you?"

I rolled my eyes and went back to cooking. "I'm not like Dad. Even if cat girls and dog girls are cute, it's not like I'm going to go out of my way to chase after tail. Especially when I have an ero elf and horn dog already following me around everywhere."

Sylphy blushed and placed her hands on her face. "E-Ero elf?"

Eri jumped out of her chair and pointed her fork at me, face a deep red. "I-I-I am not a horn dog!"

"...So your favorite position *isn't*-"

Eri growled and chucked her fork at me.

I plucked it out of the air and laughed. "Fine, fine. I'll stop teasing. On a more serious note though... You two really should pack and get things ready." I glanced out the window at the cloudy sky and said, "The rainy season's going to start soon, and I'd rather not have everyone stare at us when the rain magically gets brushed to the side."

Sylphy pouted. "...But that would be cool."

Eri rolled her eyes. "And you're acting awfully childish for a supposedly mature woman, Sylphy."

"...Hmph." Sylphy crossed her arms and said, "Meanie."

"Do you have any right to say that with how much you bullied me?"

"Well, I guess I'll bully you some more later tonight then~"

...Dear Master Roxy. I cannot wait to see you again and have your help instilling common sense and decency into my troublesome wives...