***

Pitch black hair and eyes, white shirt, black skirt, black shoe and a tie, that was what Araceli was staring intensely at in the mirror right now.

Of course, it was her own reflection.

"It's good enough, I guess..." Araceli muttered as she did a few spin to see if anything was out of place.

Currently, she was inside a private room inside the restaurant, trying on her waiter clothes. She glanced to her side, only to see that Eileen was struggling to put on the clothes.

"God dammit! Why does it have to be so complicated? This is why I prefer mage robes!" Eileen cursed at the inanimate pieces of clothes.

Sighing, Araceli helped her to put on her clothes.

As soon as Eileen was dressed, Araceli suddenly heard a knock on the door.

"Waitresses! The customers are here. Hurry up!"

Hearing those words, Araceli pushed to door open and walked into the kitchen.

As soon as she did so, the chef approached her and handed her a fancy leather notebook. He then handed her a bottle of champagne and ordered.

"Go tend to the customer. Remember, be polite."

Nodding, Araceli exited the kitchen.

As she entered the main dinning area, she was greeted by the sight of the newly-decorated restaurant.

All the lights were turned off, and it would have been pitch black if it wasn't for the dim light made by the candles that were placed on almost every tables. What was more unique, however, was the fact that the candles gave out a pinkish hue instead of the usual warm orange one.

In the middle of such an atmospheric room was a lone table with a vase of red roses lying on top of it, and a fancy chandelier giving off a similarly dim light hanging above it.

One glance and anyone could tell that this restaurant was solely designed for couples in love.

'Eileen really did a good job on this one... but why did Aryl tell us to 'create a romantic atmosphere' though?'

However, Araceli soon remembered the one and only rule that Aryl made: Do not question what she does.

Thus, she had to leave that question in the back of her mind and turned her attention toward the only customer occupying the table— A silver-haired, blue-eyed dragon.

'Is that lady Sylvia Ecertold...?'

The sight of a beautiful dragon resting her cheek on her hand while having a bored look on her face, along with her blue and white scaly tail which was similarly displaying her boredom by drooping down low made Araceli's heart skipped a beat despite her being straight.

'Now I get why Aryl said that she was a heroine. With a face like that, she'd have no problem being the heroine of a novel.'

Stopping her thoughts there, Araceli tightened her grip on the champagne in nervousness and slowly approached the table.

"E- Esteem customer!" Her voice cracked in nervousness.

'No no no! I ruined everything! Now she's going to lash out at me and the plan's going to fail—'

"Yes? Are you here to take my order?" Sylvia spoke in a soft voice, interrupting Araceli's thoughts.

"Y- You're not mad at me...?" Araceli inadvertently muttered her thoughts out loud.

Before Araceli could panic even further, Sylvia spoke up.

"No...? Why would I be? It's not like you nearly killed someone dear to me or anything..." Her voice trailed off as she grimaced about a certain memory.

Araceli noticed this. However, she didn't care about it and inside was just relieved that Sylvia wasn't at all like what her cold exterior suggested.

Thus, she spoke up again. This time, she did it much more professionally but also relaxingly at the same time.

"Please tell me your order."

Nodding, Sylvia skimmed through the menu and ordered.

"I'll take [Barqast's specials]."

Araceli's brows twitched upon hearing this.

'I swear I crossed that meal out of the menu already. Who put it back there?'

However, that wasn't important right now as she had to warn the customer of the deadly meal.

"Esteemed customer, I don't recommend you choosing this meal."

"Why?"

"To be blunt, it's... bad. The meal is just a skinned wolf on a plate and nothing more."

"I see..." Sylvia nodded in understanding. "...I'll take it anyways."

"Huh? Esteemed customer, didn't you hear what I had just said?"

"I can still eat the meal, you know? I'm a dragon after all." Sylvia said as she raised her tail up for Araceli to see.

She then muttered. "...And I can bring some leftovers for Glacia too."

"What did you say, esteemed customer?"

"N- Nothing. Anyways, just take down my orders."

Though still curious about what Sylvia had just muttered under her breath, Araceli had to swallow her curiosity and took down her orders.

She then poured the champagne in a glass for Sylvia and went back into the kitchen to hand the chef the notes.

As Araceli was coming back to the table, she suddenly noticed Sylvia staring at her face intensely.

'Wh- What should I do?' Araceli panicked, but she didn't dare to let it show on her face and instead continued to make her way to the table. 'Sh- Should I call her out on it? N- No, I shouldn't. She's a duke's daughter. But... she has been friendly toward me up until now. Maybe she wouldn't mind it?'

As Araceli was drowning in confusion, Sylvia finally spoke up.

"Waitress... why are you wearing a mask?"

'Ah, just that?' Araceli sighed in relief.

She then answered. "I have a burn on that side of my face."

'Strange...' Araceli thought as soon as she gave out her answer. '...I don't feel that bad about lying anymore. Was Aryl influencing m— no, that can't be the case.'

Directing her attention toward Sylvia again, Araceli flinched in surprise upon seeing Sylvia's Eyes glowing a faint pink hue.

"You..." Sylvia spoke in a eerily cold tone as the pink light in her eyes subsided. "...Why did you lie?"

'H- How did she find out?'

But the pressure seeping out from Sylvia didn't allow Araceli to continue with her thoughts.

Thus, she hurriedly answered. "I- I'm sorry! I just don't want anyone to find out about my weird eye!"

Sylvia's Eyes glowed pink again as she stared at Araceli with scrutiny. Eventually, she let out a sigh.

"You're not lying this time... but is your eye truly so weird that you'd rather have people think you have an ugly burn?"

Araceli nodded. 

"Can I see it then? I promise not to make fun of you." 

Still scared from the earlier pressure that Sylvia released, Araceli meekly nodded again and removed her mask, revealing her blackened sclera. 

Just like what Sylvia had promised, she didn't burst out laughing. However, her face was instead unusually serious. 

"You... do you know what's happening to your body right now?" Sylvia said as her Eyes glowed pink once more.

"N- No, I don't...? What's happening to my body?"

Seeing that Araceli wasn't lying, Sylvia sighed again.

"Look, waitress, you're becoming a V—"

"HOW DARE YOU BE HERE!?"

Sylvia's words were interrupted by a furious shout.

Both Sylvia and Araceli turned their head toward the source of the loud shout, only to see a silver-haired, golden-eyed boy glaring at them with bloodshot eyes.

'Wait, I think he's only looking at... me...?'

Before Araceli could fully comprehend the situation, the boy had already pulled out a greatsword from his Space pouch and dashed toward her with great speed.

"DIE! BLASTED CREATURE OF V—"

Right as the boy was about to make contact with Araceli's barrier, Sylvia suddenly raised her hand up and slapped him, interrupting his attack.

"Gurrghh!" The boy groaned as he rolled on the ground. 

After a while, he recovered from the slap and shouted. "Sylvia! Why did you stop me? That thing there is a Vo—"

"I know." Sylvia spoke icily, interrupting him. "She's not hostile and she doesn't even know what's happening to her. So just leave her alone, Arthur."

"But she's a Voi—"

"Don't let me repeat. Leave. Her. Alone. I don't want a repeat of what you did to Theodore."

Hearing this, the boy - Arthur turned timid as he slowly stood up and took the seat opposite of Sylvia. However, he was still sending hostile glares at Araceli from time to time.

Before the situation could get any weirder and more awkward, Eileen walked out from the kitchen with 2 plates on her hands.

"Esteemed customer, enjoy your meals!" 

Sylvia nodded and gave Eileen her thanks.

Arthur, however, was confused.

"But I didn't order..."

"Ah that?" Eileen chuckled mysteriously. "A certain someone ordered for you."

Though confused, Arthur still removed the lid on the plate. As soon as he did so, he was met with the sight of a steak that had the word 'LOVE' written in ketchup on top of it. 

"Huh? Who could have ordered this for me?" Arthur scanned the steak with even more confusion than before.

At this sight, Araceli sighed. 

'He's as dense as Aryl told me he is...'

Although it was the truth that no one ordered the steak and it was merely part of Aryl's plan, any normal person would have guessed that Sylvia Ecertold - the only other person on the table was the one who ordered it.

'It's good knowing that Hero Arthur is dense beforehand but I wish Aryl had told me about his tendencies to... swing his greatsword at random girls. Oh god that sounds wrong!'

Before Araceli's cheeks could flush red in embarrassment, she suddenly noticed Eileen doing something weird.

"Esteemed customer!" Eileen exclaimed as she stopped Arthur from eating the steak that was stabbed in his fork. "You're eating it all wrong!"

"Huh? I am?"

"Yes." Eileen then took the fork from Arthur and put it in Sylvia's hand. 

She then directed Sylvia's hand near Arthur's mouth. "Say 'Ah'!"

"Umm... do I have to do this?" Arthur asked with concern in his eyes.

"Of course you do!" Eileen exclaimed.

Sylvia, although still very much opposed to the idea of doing this, couldn't do anything with how pushy Eileen was being.

Eventually, Eileen succeeded in making Sylvia feed Arthur.

She then stabbed the steak again and this time put it in Arthur's hand.

"You do it too!"

Araceli watched this whole scene unfold with a startled gaze. 

'Both Hero Arthur and lady Sylvia seem really uncomfortable about this... is the plan even working?'

However, she soon recalled the only rule that Aryl made again.

'Right, I cannot question Aryl's will.'

Thus, seeing that she had nothing left to do here, Araceli went to the kitchen to get some rest.

...

As soon as Araceli entered the kitchen, however, she was met with the sight of a green-haired Elf being half-way through the backdoor while being held back by a black-haired boy with dull-gray eyes.

"Let me go! Theodore you bastard!"

***

"Let me go! Theodore you bastard!"

Marie screamed as she struggled to escape from my restraints. Thanks to her being an Archer and thus fairly physically weak, I could hold her back with relative ease.

'She chased down all of the Arthur clones faster than I thought.' I grimaced as I continued holding Marie in place.

If it wasn't for the fact that I was keeping my vigilance high while patrolling around the restaurant, she would have ruined all the plans I have came up with.

Pausing my thoughts there, I glanced toward my front where a one-way mirror was installed, giving me full view of the main dinning area. I could see Eileen forcing Arthur and Syl do sickly sweet things to each other.

Although I felt a sharp pang on my heart at this sight, I soon ignored it and focused on the situation at hand.

"Marie, leave. Don't bother them."

"How can I do that!?" She screamed, desperation apparent in her voice. "I have to stop that vixen from seducing Arthur!"

It was lucky that I installed sound-proof walls and doors here beforehand. Otherwise, everything would have been ruined at that very moment.

But that wasn't important right now, as I had to retort to Marie's words.

"She's not a vixen. And besides, that's the whole point of this!"

Marie pretended to not have heard my words and continued to struggle.

'Shit! I have to distract her somehow before she recovers one of her few braincells and actually think of using magic!'

Luckily for me, Marie would be distracted soon enough. Unluckily for me, however, I didn't expect, nor did I want to confront the source of the distraction one bit.

A purple flash of Lightning suddenly passed through the doorway and slammed into the one-way mirror. By some miracles, the mirror didn't break upon impact and neither Arthur nor Syl seemed to have noticed it.

As the dust that came with the Lightning subsided, both I and Marie were met with the sight of a silver-haired child with gray eyes massaging her head with teary eyes.

"Ouch! Elektra, too fast!"

She then looked around her surroundings in absolute confusion before locking her gaze onto me. After staring blankly at me for a few seconds, she suddenly broke into a wide smile and rushed toward me.

"DADDY!" She exclaimed happily as she clung onto my leg and rubbed her face on it. 

Now finally comprehending what was going on, I stuttered.

"Th- The Wyvern?"

"Hehe~! Daddy, I missed you!" 

Before I could do anything else, Marie suddenly spoke up, disgust apparent in her eyes. 

"You're even worse than I thought. Even I haven't dared to lay my hands on Arthur."

"Hey! It's not what it looks like!"

"Whose child is this?" Marie spoke, completely ignoring my words. 

"It's no one's child. And besides, did you think I really did the deed when I was merely 13?"

Marie ignored me once more and studied the humanoid Wyvern's appearance. After connecting the dots in her mind, she suddenly widened her eyes in shock.

"D- Don't tell me... she's Eleanor's!?"

"What? How did you come to that conc—"

"That must be the case!" Marie nodded fervently as she interrupted me. "That child has silver hair like hers and gray eyes like yours. And I saw you coming in and out of her dorm room very often before the vacation!"

She then finally acknowledged my existence, though just to give me a provocative grin as if she had just figured out my biggest secret.

I had to resolve this misunderstanding immediately!

"Do you really think I'd be suicidal enough to impregnate the Imperial princess?"

Marie's face stiffened as she heard my words. After a few more seconds of mulling over what I had just said, however, she was only half-convinced; But that was good enough... for now.

However, all my effort convincing her went down the drain as the thing clinging to my leg said its next words.

"Mmm... daddy's not fluffy like mommy's wings..."

""WINGS!?"" Both Marie and I widened our eyes in surprise.

However, the reason for our shock was vastly different.

I was surprised because of the fact that Syl revealed herself to be a Halfling to this monster.

Marie, meanwhile, was baffled that her original hypothesis was correct, and that I did try to fool her into thinking that Eleanor was not the Wyvern's mother!

"So you did impregnate Eleanor after all!"

It didn't seem like Marie would listen to anything I said after this so I just gave up on convincing her and instead directed my attention to the little shit that was clinging to my leg.

'Should I just fling it into the air and drop kick it? No... that's beneath me. It's merely a <G> rank.'

Thus, I opted for the more sophisticated method: Using my Eyes.

<[A - Authority of fear]>

However, even after I stared at it with so much Mana in my Eyes that even Marie had to shake in fear, the monster didn't flinch at all.

Instead, it even dared to meet my Eyes with a childish smile on its face. "Wah!! Daddy's Mana!"

'How the fuck is it not affected!?'

I could tell that even Marie, whose rank was at peak <E+>, was close to pissing herself. So why the fuck did this <G> ranked Wyvern resist my Eyes with its inferior draconic blood?

Unless...

'The only creatures that can resist a true dragon's Authority is a Wyrm, but... it can't be one, r- right?'

As soon as I finished that thought, however, the scenery around me changed to that of a dark and damp basement.

Although I was fairly surprised, I managed to keep my calm as this had happened to me before.

'This is the other me's memories... why is it manifesting now?'

My thoughts were interrupted by a cry coming from right in front of me.

Startled, I quickly turned my gaze up, only to see a silver-haired, gray-eyed girl being tied against a wall.

Although she looked a little bit older, I could tell that she— no, it was the same monster that was clinging to my leg earlier.

However, unlike my timeline's monster, this one's state was... less than ideal.

It looked like it was battered, beaten, amputated and had its limbs reattached judging by the cut lines on its limbs. Not just that, there were several tubes impaling its body in several spots, draining blood from it.

Despite all of that, it was completely conscious, and very much sane.

As I was studying this grotesque scene, I suddenly heard footsteps coming from behind me.

The footsteps belonged to the other me, who looked about 2 years older than I was now.

The monster tied to the wall then suddenly cried in desperation.

"Daddy, it hurts! Let me go please... I miss mommy..."

Hearing this and seeing hot tears flowing down the monster's bloodied cheeks, the other me stiffened in fear and... guilt for a split second. However, he soon calmed down, his eyes unfathomably cold as he had just presumably activated [F - Emotionless].

"No can do." 

He then continued as he picked up a rusty saw.

"You have to help me get stronger, Wyvern— no, Archwyrm."