SMFLS 08

Chapter: 08

8. Nice to Meet You! My New Family (1)

The sound of footsteps stomping away gradually faded into the distance.

Leaning against the door, Hicaros let out a sigh.

“Honestly… She has exactly the same personality as that old man.”

A few years ago, when he had visited the Ritea family, he had seen a tiny baby otter from afar, no bigger than a chestnut.

“She’s grown quite a bit.”

Suddenly, he remembered the words the old otter had left him.

‘I’m simply not the one who can find your son.’

Could he have meant… that little girl?

Hicaros furrowed his brows.

…Should I have let her stay after all?

And now, in the present.

That audacious little baby otter had truly set off an enormous bomb on the day of her succession ceremony.

The impact of that “bomb” was nothing short of tremendous.

“This clan head shall become engaged to Grand Duke Hicaros’s son and appoint the Grand Duke as her guardian!”

The final syllables of her declaration had been delivered so awkwardly that it sounded like a child giving a presentation at a school event. However, the repercussions were on an entirely different level from those of a mere children’s presentation.

Naturally, the family elders and retainers rose up in protest, while even the aristocratic beastmen who had come to witness the succession ceremony were thrown into an uproar.

A marriage between a human and a beastman was not particularly unusual.

That is, unless one of them belonged to the Ritea family, one of the Five Guardian Families.

Among the beastman families, the Five Guardian Families were particularly conservative and rarely permitted marriages with humans.

The reason was simple.

The beastmen who carried the blood of the mythical Guardians believed themselves superior to humans, while humans were wary of beastmen who could transform into animals.

However, such marriages were not prohibited by law.

Hicaros’s adopted son, who was two years older than Sertisha, was not old enough for the age difference to pose any real problem. If both children agreed, they could enter into an engagement.

Since beastman law permitted it, the family elders had no legal grounds to prevent Sertisha from becoming engaged to a human.

As a result, the family elders and collateral relatives who had hoped to appoint themselves as Sertisha’s guardians and seize control of the family were thrown into complete disarray. Even other families that had secretly allied themselves with them were caught up in the turmoil.

The only person who had maintained a neutral position was Hal리스, an elder of the family and a sea turtle beastman. Unable to bear the sight of the beastmen below the platform losing their tempers, he roared at them from beneath the dais.

“Everyone, that’s enough! Who dares to challenge the clan head?!”

Despite the fierce rebuke from one of the most influential elders of the Ritea family, the commotion below the platform showed little sign of subsiding.

It was somewhat quieter than before, but the uproar continued.

“Elder! Regardless of whether this is the clan head’s decision, this is unacceptable!”

“Exactly! This is a matter of great importance to our family! It’s bad enough that the guardian would be from another beastman family, but a human?! Isn’t this an outright insult to the retainers and collateral branches of the Ritea family?!”

As two retainers wielding considerable influence within the Ritea family hurried to voice their objections, Sertisha’s eldest maternal uncle, who had been standing among the collateral relatives, seized the opportunity and stepped forward.

“We simply cannot accept this.”

With his arms crossed, he looked up at the platform, a cold sneer playing on his lips.

“For someone carrying the blood of the mythical Guardians to designate a lowly human as her guardian? This is a disgrace that will stain the name of the Ritea family for generations to come.”

Murmurs spread through the crowd once again.

“He’s right. It’s disgraceful.”

“Don’t the Five Guardian Families have a reputation to uphold?”

“How are we supposed to show our faces in front of the other families after this…?”

Encouraged by the reaction, Sertisha’s eldest maternal uncle raised his voice even higher.

“Does the clan head truly understand the consequences this decision will have for the entire family?”

Sertisha cautiously looked up at her uncle.

His massive build, tightly pressed lips, and eyes hardened with anger all seemed especially unfamiliar to her.

As if things weren’t bad enough already, memories of the abuse she had suffered at his hands in the futures she dreamed about every night came vividly rushing back.

Sertisha curled up her little body even tighter.

With trembling lips, she somehow managed to speak.

“T-this is… the clan head’s… order!”

“This is not a personal marriage matter! It concerns the standing of the entire Ritea family!”

“Hic… B-but!”

“Clan head!!”

Her eldest maternal uncle’s furious objections struck her ears with a harshness that was far too much for a child as young as Sertisha to endure.

Her once-confident shoulders had hunched timidly, and her steady pink eyes now wavered like a storm-tossed sea.

She was too overwhelmed to even notice Crendia, which was humming noisily against her chest.

She hadn’t always been this afraid of him.

But whenever she remembered the grown-up Sertisha from her visions, dying at his hands, fear washed over her all over again.

Watching this unfold, Hal리스, the sea turtle beastman, decided that the burden was simply too great for such a young clan head to bear.

Just as he was about to step forward—

Whoooosh—!!

CRASH—! RUUUMBLE—!

A massive storm of mana suddenly swept viciously through the temple.

“W-what is this energy…?!”

“Ghk… I can’t… breathe…!”

Some beastmen collapsed flat on the floor, while others instinctively dropped to their knees.

Dishes fell and shattered across the floor, while chairs and tables were hurled against the walls and smashed to pieces.

Unlike the chaotic scene below the platform, the area above it remained perfectly calm, without even the slightest breeze.

Then came the sharp sound of footsteps.

Click, click, click.

Sertisha tried to lift her bowed head, but the edge of a cloak draped over her head blocked her view.

At the same time, a large, warm hand wrapped around her shoulder. Her tiny body was gently drawn into a familiar yet unfamiliar embrace.

The same warm, solid embrace she had felt at a funeral one day.

Sertisha knew the owner of those arms better than anyone.

Looking down at the chaos beneath the platform, he spoke.

“What a bunch of insects.”

His tone was scathingly contemptuous.

His amber eyes were cold as ice.

His massive frame was enough to overwhelm even beastmen who transformed into ferocious predators.

A human who had risen to the realm of transcendents—a great archmage.

The king who reigned supreme over all magic on the continent, the ruler of the Western Continent, Grand Duke Hicaros Roden, stood there, naturally positioning himself so that Sertisha was half-hidden behind him.

That small movement alone caused the air beneath the platform to freeze once again.

Under the suffocating pressure of his mana, the beastmen below the platform groaned in agony as they struggled to remain upright.

A few attempted to resist with their supernatural abilities, but to Hicaros, their efforts were no different from insects wriggling helplessly.

Sertisha’s eldest maternal uncle, in particular, had turned deathly pale and was sweating profusely.

The arrogance he had displayed moments earlier had vanished without a trace.

Hicaros looked down at the crowd with half-lidded, languid eyes and spoke.

“I can’t very well let my future daughter-in-law watch a bunch of hideous insects writhing around, can I? Creatures without even a speck of fluffy fur. Absolutely revolting.”

Click—

Click—

Sunlight streamed in long shafts along the corridor lined with the temple’s pillars.

Beyond the corridor stretched a beautiful view of a snow-white sandy beach and a blue sea sparkling with five-colored light.

A cloak fluttered elegantly behind the towering figure walking down the corridor.

Beneath his broad shoulders and firm chest, a small, round head of pale beige fur peeked out.

The contrast was so extreme that the scene looked as though a gigantic predator were cradling a little chick in its arms.

Sertisha rolled her eyes around, her lips moving soundlessly.

After what had happened on the platform, her mind had gone completely blank. She had absolutely no idea what to say.

The continuing silence was making her feel awkward.

Considering that Grand Duke Hicaros had just turned the entire temple upside down, he seemed remarkably relaxed.

For a moment, Sertisha wondered whether she should punish the Grand Duke in her capacity as clan head for wrecking the Ritea family’s temple.

But in the end, she surrendered when his warm arms gently tightened around her.

Is this what it would feel like to have a dad?

He was solid and warm.

Sertisha looked up at the Grand Duke and cautiously opened her mouth.

“Mister, why did you help me?”

Mister, you rejected my proposal.

You’re a bad adult who took all my information and then abandoned me.

Her pink eyes, filled with distrust and suspicion, turned toward Hicaros.

“You said you wanted to become my daughter-in-law.”

Hicaros rested his hand on top of Sertisha’s head and absentmindedly gave it a gentle stroke.

Despite the soft touch, Sertisha remained wary and shouted indignantly.

“You rejected me and practically threw me out! And you did it so scarily, too!”

“When did I ever throw you out in such a scary way?”

Hicaros lightly pinched the tip of Sertisha’s nose and gave it a little shake, telling her not to distort the truth.

Sertisha rapidly smacked his hand away with her little fists, which were shaped like giant clams, then spoke.

“A-anyway! Why… why did you take my side…?”

“Well… let’s just call it repaying a debt.”

“Huh? Repaying a debt…?”

Hicaros looked down at Sertisha as she tilted her head in confusion.

“The debt I owe your grandfather. I was paying it back.”

“T-then… will you really become my father-in-law?!”

The corners of her mouth shot upward, and her pupils grew enormously.

At Sertisha’s reaction, Hicaros chuckled.

“But tell me something. You haven’t even found my biological son yet, so who exactly are you planning to get engaged to?”

“Oh, come on! Do you think I haven’t thought of that?! You have an adopted son, right? I can just become a couple with that big brother!”

That was right. Hicaros had an adopted son.

The fact that Grand Duke Hicaros’s biological son was missing was an extremely closely guarded secret, known only to Hicaros and a handful of his trusted subordinates.

Hicaros was the ruler of the West.

The king of magic, standing above all other mages.

The fact that he had no biological child was a fatal weakness.

He would inevitably be pressured into a political marriage, not to mention all the complications that would arise surrounding the question of succession.

That was why Hicaros had taken in an adopted son and presented him to the world as his own biological child.

Even though the boy was adopted, he was a distant relative who had been orphaned, so they were not complete strangers.

Sertisha had already discovered this fact through the Ripples of Light.

“Tisha will find your son for you! So take me with you!!”