"I was supposed to go home today anyway, so it's fine. I'll just be careful though. Now I'm leaving, Dad."

Oscar bowed his head, looking apologetic that Kagu was worried about him, then turned and left.

"...Since you can't smile normally, you might as well just live your life as you please, you stupid son."

With a fatherly attitude, the man's small voice was blocked by the closed door and did not reach his son's ears.

After finishing the conversation with Kagu, Oscar delivered the goods for the day and came to the orphanage.

The orphanage is located on the edge of the royal capital, some distance away from the workshop in the central area.

Oscar has become independent and his home is closer to the central area, so it takes some distance for him to get to the orphanage.

However, such a small matter did not make Oscar alienate the place that was equivalent to his hometown, and as Kagu said, there have been a lot of disappearances recently, so he has been visiting more frequently recently.

Although it is the royal capital, the remote place inevitably has a desolate feeling.

No, to put it bluntly, it is old and dilapidated, and you can tell at first glance that it is a slum.

The orphanage housed many children, so the building was larger than the surrounding houses. However, it still looked like an old wooden house. If it were located in the central area of ​​the royal capital, it would probably be demolished as an eyesore.

But, it really just looks old...

It was evening, and thick shadows were appearing in the fiery red sky.

Oscar stopped in front of the orphanage. He did not enter immediately, but looked at the entire house and turned around to patrol the perimeter.

"...There are no abnormalities with the alarms or traps."

Oscar whispered, his hands pressed to the ground. He quickly stood up and repeated the same process around the orphanage, finally placing his hands on the building itself and closing his eyes.

"Strength, deterioration... no problem. Barrier, linkage, magic power accumulation... normal."

Oscar breathed a sigh of relief.

The results of the seemingly meaningless action seemed to reassure him.

Knowing that there was nothing unusual today, Oscar smiled slightly and this time formally knocked on the door of the orphanage.

Although Maureen told him that this was his home and he could just walk in without any formalities, Oscar was still independent after all, so he always knocked on the door and waited for a response.

"...?"

Normally, one of the children would have answered the door energetically, but for some reason no one answered.

Didn't he hear the knock on the door? Oscar thought so and knocked on the door again.

——No response.

Not only that, there were no lively voices of children.

「!?」

Oscar broke out in a cold sweat.

Something happened to my most beloved family in this world!

"Everyone! Mom!"

Somewhere in the corner of my mind, a voice told me that I should carefully check the situation inside the house.

His body moved on its own, and he couldn't suppress his restlessness.

Oscar opened the entrance door roughly and was shocked to see the complete silence in the room.

"Dilran! Colleen! Ruth! Katie! Is anyone there? Mom!"

Oscar called the children's names and rushed to the dining room. They should be having dinner at this time.

Since no one answered, Oscar felt as if his heart was being grabbed and opened the door of the dining room forcefully.

"Welcome home, dear. Do you want to eat? Take a shower? Or... where's the lovely Meredith?"

He saw a woman he had never met before, wearing a frilly apron, uttering these lines in a cute way.

She was about fourteen or fifteen years old.

Her blonde ponytail swung gracefully, seemingly defying gravity. Her long legs, clad in stockings, were perched adorably on one leg. Her delicate, white hands emerged from her short-sleeved shirt, one holding a spoon, the other, a peace sign, placed in front of her eyes, and she winked.

The posture is so perfect that it even gives people the illusion of seeing twinkling stars.

And because it's too perfect, it makes people angry.

Oscar saw the impossible in many ways, and so he said something.

"Sorry, I went to the wrong house."

Then he quietly closed the dining room door.

At the same time, I was thinking to myself: I must have walked into the wrong house. I must be tired, haha, I must have been a little overworked lately.

However, the strange girl dressed in fancy clothes was not going to let Oscar go.

"Wait, wait, wait! Why did you close the door? I, the most beautiful girl ever, am welcoming you back like a newlywed wife! You should be moved to tears! You really want to stare at the absolute space between Komi's socks and apron, right? You must be, right? Oh, you're so lecherous!"

It's so annoying. Why is he pretending to be so familiar? This guy has something wrong with his brain.

In an instant, Oscar gave his evaluation to the laughing girl in front of him.

Then, thinking it would be best not to irritate her as much as possible, he pushed his glasses up.

"Your name is Meredith, right? It seems you're the one who's in the wrong house. It's almost sunset, so you should hurry home, right? Also, if you're not in the wrong house, then you're trespassing. According to Beruka Kingdom law, that's illegal. If you don't leave within three seconds, I'll notify you immediately."

Oscar smiled and politely told her to "get out".

"You're not being subtle at all! You're emitting silent pressure from your entire body, telling me to leave! That's too much! I was born to meet Aou—"

"Three seconds have passed. I need to report."

Oscar pulled a small gadget from his pocket. It was actually a communicator. While its range was limited to the capital, it was still an extremely expensive item, only available to the nobility. Of course, it was made by Oscar himself.

Perhaps realizing it was a communicator, the girl started to panic.

At the same time, Oscar heard the panicked voices of the children.

“Waaaaaa! Onii-sama, wait a minute!”

"That person isn't suspicious—no, she's certainly suspicious, or rather, weird, but she's basically just a customer!"

"Brother, please forgive her. Colleen apologizes to you too! I'm sorry this sister is so annoying!"

"Brother! I'm innocent! The culprit is that noisy sister!"

The children came out of the dining room one after another.

In fact, when the girl was welcoming him home, Oscar had already seen the children hiding in the dining room, peeking out with mischievous expressions, so he was able to regain his composure and perform a farce with the girl.

The children frantically tried to persuade Oscar not to call the police. The girl, who was both weird and annoying and the culprit, lay on the ground, deeply shocked by the children's careless words. Oscar looked at the girl and couldn't help but sigh.

"You even got in on the prank with Mom... What on earth are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, but Miss Meredith's proposal is very interesting, and it's a rare opportunity to see Oscar's surprised look. It's a rare opportunity, so I agreed."

"What rare opportunity?... I'm really worried."

Oscar sighed in frustration.

The woman smiling at Oscar was Maureen—the orphanage's director and the children's mother. Although she was nearly seventy years old, her smile made her look even younger.

After that, Oscar cleaned up the mess and stayed in the orphanage to have dinner with everyone.

Of course, the girl who called herself Mireidi also dined with them. She seemed to be visiting Oscar for something. Although I asked her about her purpose, she said she wanted to talk slowly. And since Maureen invited them so graciously, they decided to have dinner first.

Her table manners showed she was well-educated, and she was whispering to her seven-year-old children, Colleen and Katie.

Their faces flushed, they stole a glance at Oscar and let out shy yet happy screams.

It seemed that they were talking about themselves. Oscar frowned and glared at Meredith... but Meredith responded with a smile.

How annoying.

I really want to scold her, "You're so annoying."

But for the sake of his lovely sisters, Oscar didn't do that.

Red-haired Colleen imitated Oscar and tied her hair behind her head. She was the most shy child in the orphanage. Whenever she saw someone other than her family, tears would instantly well up in her eyes.

Katie, the brown-haired girl with twin ponytails, often had suspicion in her stubborn eyes. She would not trust anyone who was not Oscar or a family member of the orphanage.

This girl named Mireidi was able to let the two of them down and chat happily. Although the girl scared Oscar when they first met, even though she was strange and annoying, she didn't seem to be a bad person.

So of course Oscar couldn't say anything bad to her in front of his sisters.

"I see. Aou is a kind and reliable brother."

"Yeah, yeah! Brother can do anything!"

Colleen smiled sweetly and boasted to Meredith.

Oscar smiled back at her.

Meredith smiled sweetly.

Oscar was furious.

The children left their dinner alone and began to show off their brother.

"That's right, Meredith-san. Almost all the toys and props in this house were made by my brother himself, and he made them when he was our age!"

Dilan, the oldest and de facto leader of the orphanage, said this with pride. Like Colleen, his copper-red hair was braided like Oscar's, and it kept shaking.

"Brother is a craftsman from that Orcus workshop! The boss recruited him! He's quite impressive!"

Katie said with her cat-like eyes twinkling with a hint of competitiveness.

"We all have proof that we're older brothers and sisters."

Colleen said, holding up the small coin hanging from her neck and showing it to Meredith. The other children smiled smugly and took out the coins Oscar had given them. The coins looked cheap, and even if an orphan was carrying them, no one would want to steal them.

However, instead of making fun of it, Meredith praised with admiration, "Oh, great! That's great, this is your bond."

The children smiled proudly and happily showed off their brother's advantages.

"Everyone, that's about right—"

Oscar, embarrassed, stopped them from going any further, but before that, Meredith spoke first:

"Let me hear more, brother! You're amazing, brother! You have a great eye for such an amazing brother! You think so too, brother? Brother—"

"If you call me brother again, I'll kill you, okay?"

Oscar smiled, a vein etched on his forehead, and warned her. In front of his family, he warned himself to speak politely, but he still couldn't hide his anger.

"Oh, Ao unexpectedly has a rough side..." For some reason, Meredith's cheeks turned red and she looked shy.

"Can you please stop calling me Ao?"

Because he was in front of his younger siblings, Oscar suppressed his rough side and tried to communicate in a calm tone, but his eyes said, "Don't act like a familiar person when we first meet."

Meredith stared at Oscar for a moment, then—

"I refuse!!"

Refuse with a smile.

With a snap, the metal fork in Oscar's hand broke.

Dilan and others looked at Oscar's hand.

Oscar instantly activated the alchemy.

The fork returned to its original position as if nothing had happened, and the children tilted their heads, not knowing what had happened.

"Oh, that's amazing! What a clever trick!"

The magic light was deliberately suppressed and the instant refining was invisible to others, but Miledy easily revealed it, making Oscar's irritation reach a climax.

However, at this moment, like a bucket of cold water, a voice with a tone even more irritable than Oscar's rang out.

"He's just a 'loser' now, right?"

Di Lan and others were startled and looked at the owner of the voice.

The voice's owner stared at the plate in front of him with displeasure. It was Ruth, a teenager with bristling black hair, who would be eleven this year.

"Hey, Ruth!"

Dilan stopped Ruth.

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