Chapter 168: 167 – When you Wish Upon a Star – I

A tense silence hung in the air. One only broken when a glob of cheese from Stella's pizza slice fell to the ground.

*plop*

Stella flinched and then shoved the pizze slice into her mouth, finishing it as fast as she could. After that, she pointed at the mini Roxy and said, "W-Who are you?! And why are you in my house?!"

The mini Roxy tilted her head and looked at Stella with a blank stare.

And then a wave of light blue mana swept out from the mini Roxy.

Stella panicked and jumped back, swinging her arm around. "W-Wata! Help!"

A veil of water emerged in front of Stella before erupting, breaking the wave of light blue mana apart. The water froze before hitting the ground and then turned into a flurry of snowflakes. Right after that, Wata emerged, floating in front of Stella.

"I'm here, Stella!"

Stella ducked behind Wata, her face red with embarrassment.

Okay, so she had panicked a little bit. But this time she managed to not over panic and yell for Onii-chan again. That was progress!

Pillars of fire erupted around Stella before a short figure walked out.

Fai crossed her arms and quickly moved to stand in front of Stella. "I'm here too!"

Immediately after that, a gust of wind spread, scattering the sparks leftover from Fai's appearance. With it, Wyn appeared on top of Stella's head. But unlike her usual tired and nonchalant self, she was standing upright with sharp eyes scanning the surroundings.

But that wasn't the last person to appear at Stella's side.

"Woof!" A splash of white light appeared at Stella's side before a white puppy jumped out. "I'll protect Stella as well!"

Leo.

Seeing everyone around, Stella calmed down a bit.

She still didn't know what was going on, but she wasn't super worried now. Her elemental friends might be a bit goofy and playful, but they were strong too.

So Stella began to regain a bit of her composure.

...And then she realized that she had pizza sauce smeared all over her mouth.

Stella blushed and quickly wiped it off with her sleeve before standing tall and looking at the mini Roxy.

The mini Roxy didn't say anything, but her eyes were wide in surprise.

Stella let out a smug smile and stuck out her chest a bit.

'That's right! You think you can just try and sneak attack me like that? Get re-'

A giant white blur surged forward from the side.

Stella instinctively stepped back out of fear and started to fall. Before she could though, a gentle breeze pushed her back forwards.

At that time, Wyn flew down from Stella's head and got bigger, turning into a young woman around the same height as Rudy.

She immediately pulled Stella close while narrowing her eyes at the blur of white light.

Said blur of white light stopped in front of the mini Roxy, taking a protective stance just like the other spirits. After it did, the white light faded a bit to reveal a large white dog... No, it looked more like a large white wolf. That bigger Leo that Stella saw earlier.

Stella was surprised. Both by Wyn getting bigger and by seeing that bigger version of Leo. But before she could say anything, a low growl echoed.

The bigger Leo barked and then said, "Who are you, and why are you trying to usurp my master's destiny?"

Stella blinked.

Destiny? Usurp?

...Master?

Wyn pulled Stella behind her and said, "I should ask you the same question. The winds of fate have already changed. Ships sailing in its course should not attempt to turn against it."

Wata nodded. "Yeah! Stella's the hero already!"

Fai nodded too and said, "That's right! And you'll be in big trouble if you don't send her back right now!"

Leo barked and said, "Woof! Yeah! Master Rudy will beat you all up if you don't!"

Okay. Stella had a lot of questions to ask Wyn. But before that, they had to solve this mess and figure out what was going on.

Looking around, Stella could see that while the place looked similar, it wasn't exactly the same as where the party had been taking place.

First of all, all the decorations were gone, as well as the people. Not to mention the fact that there was that weird armadillo and tree thing that she DEFINITELY didn't recognize.

Second of all, it was structured a bit differently too. There was a small flowerbed in the corner that she didn't recognize. The mansion looked a bit different too. A bit more worn down and less shiny than Onii-chan would have kept it.

But most importantly there was that mini Roxy who kept staring at Stella.

It definitely *wasn't* Miss Roxy. After all, Miss Roxy was bigger. Both in height and in her chest. Not only that, but Miss Roxy didn't do witch cosplay.

That was more Ero nee-chan's thing.

Miss Roxy was always dressed like a professional when Stella saw her, even when she was relaxing.

So it wasn't like Stella did any time-traveling back to the past or anything.

After all, while she was the hero, she didn't go to the deepest parts of the forest and pull out a sacred sword of light that repels evils or anything that would send her back in time.

And she definitely didn't put a sword like that back in the forest that would send her forwards in time either, so...

The mini Roxy stepped forward and then placed her hand on the bigger Leo. A flicker of light blue mana spread from her hand and to the bigger Leo's body.

Stella frowned and slowly placed her hand on her necklace in case something happened.

...It was embarrassing to rely on Onii-chan so much, but a situation like this was a real emergency, right? So-

The bigger Leo tilted his head and then sighed.

Well, sighed as much as a dog could sigh.

After that, he stepped aside. And when he did, the mini Roxy started stepping forward.

Stella flinched and held out her free hand. "Don't get closer! Even if you look like Miss Roxy, I won't hold back if you try to hurt me! And I don't know how you kidnapped me, but-"

"Are you Aunt Stella?"

Stella blinked.

Aunt Stella?

...Wait.

Wata froze and then spun around to look at Stella.

Fai gasped and did the same thing.

Leo growled.

Wyn frowned and kept a firm hold of Stella, looking into the distance at something as she did.

And as for Stella herself...

Stella lowered her hand and then squinted her eyes, carefully studying the mini Roxy's face.

The light blue hair, the blue eyes, the face... the mini Roxy definitely looked like Miss Roxy. But now that Stella was taking a closer look...

The color of the hair was a bit off. More green than blue. The eyes were greener too. And then the bangs weren't the 'M' shaped ones that Miss Roxy liked wearing. Instead, they were parted in the middle like how Onii-chan when he was trying to be super pompous and formal.

Not only that, but the shape of her eyes and her mouth...

The mini Roxy smiled and then said, "Zenith and Lilia will be happy to see you." She paused and said, "But Lily will be mad that her hard work is useless now..."

Zenith?

Lilia?

...Wait.

Wait, wait, wait.

If it's like that. And if everything was what Stella was thinking was happening...

Stella reached up to pull her hair and said, "DID I ACCIDENTALLY BECOME THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME?!?!?!"

-RNG-

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"Hm?" I paused in the middle of talking to Orsted and Pierre.

Something felt off.

I frowned and then took a quick look around.

The party was in full-swing. Eri, Sylphy, and Roxy were hanging out together and having a good time over some wine.

...Potential issues there later, but that was a later issue.

Dad was hanging out with Philip, Laws, and Roland, chatting over some beer.

Another potential issue, but again, later problem.

Aunt Therese was hanging out with Miko, Norn, and Aisha and looked to be telling stories about Mom... Definitely wasn't her-

Wait.

Where was Stella?

"Is something the matter, Rudy?" Orsted frowned and swept his gaze across the surroundings. "Do you sense something?"

I didn't immediately respond and instead used my clairvoyance to check.

Not in the house, not in the city... And expanding it a bit, I didn't see Stella in the country as well.

She also wasn't back at Arcadia.

But I could still clearly sense her necklace. And there weren't any alarms triggering that said she was in danger. But...

"...I'm not sure." I looked back at Orsted and said, "I don't see Being W's presence anywhere and nothing's weird. But Stella's gone."

Orsted blinked. "Are you certain she simply isn't in the house?"

"I'm sure." I glanced over at Pierre and said, "Do you see her anywhere? Or see anything odd?"

Pierre frowned and took a look around and shook his head. "No. But..." He hesitated.

"But what?"

Pierre looked at me and then said, "...It's possible that Magic God Laplace intervened? If he noticed that Stella was still alive- W-Wait! Rudy!"

I paused in the middle of brute-forcing a teleport spell to Stella's location. "What?"

"C-Calm down." Pierre held up his hands and said, "If it's really Magic God Laplace, Stella will be perfectly safe. But if you show up in front of him, there might be an anomaly that-"

*ONII-CHAN!*

A faint voice in my head. Stella calling out my name, but fainter than it had ever been before. Like she was somewhere I almost couldn't reach.

I held out my hand and drew my god-slaying sword that I used whenever Stella called out for me.

Seeing that, Orsted's eyes narrowed and he moved to my side. Like me, he reached out and drew a sword as well. A gleaming white katana that radiated divinity. He quickly moved to my side and said, "I will help."

Did Dad's father instincts finally kick in? Before I could even start to move to tear apart space and time to reach Stella, he appeared at my side with his own sword drawn and said, "I'm coming too, Kid!"

Pierre sighed and said, "This is a terrible-"

"Fight first, talk later!"

I swung my sword.

The surroundings shattered like glass.

Immediately after, I jumped through the fracture that opened up.

At the same time, Orsted, Dad, and Pierre jumped through as well.

At least, they tried.

In the corner of my eyes, I saw Orsted and Pierre hit an invisible wall and bounce back.

But before I could think about why that happened, we arrived.

I immediately spread out my mana to lock the surrounding space and raised my sword. As always, I added on a little extra flair and opened my mouth to start the usual Demon Lord speech to buy time to analyze the situation.

And then I noticed the surroundings.

And the people in front of me.

Stella, awkwardly looking to the side with a face turned red from embarrassment.

A young woman who looked similar to Roxy when she used to teach me, except that her hair was more green than blue and she had her bangs parted like how I liked parting them.

A young woman who looked really similar to Roxy when she used to teach me, complete with the "M" bangs and braided twin-tails. Except, like the first young woman, she had greener hair.

A young woman who looked EXACTLY like Roxy when she used to teach me.

A woman who looked like Sylphy... except that she had less muscle mass, a smaller chest, and red eyes instead of green.

And then two women who I had planned to start searching for the moment the party was over.

Mom and Mama Lily.

I blinked, processing the situation.

And then a loud crash echoed from beside me, followed immediately after by Dad's loud cursing.

"Fuck, shit, bitch. Gah!" Dad scrambled on the ground and said, "Let me know beforehand that the landing's going to be rough, Kid!" He brushed himself off and stood up, taking a look around. "I get being in a rush, but-"

He suddenly cut off his words.

I didn't blame him.

Mom let out a wide smile and said, "Why Hubbie! It's nice to see you again too."

Mama Lily nodded and said, "Yes. What a pleasant surprise. However..."

The two stepped forward, placing a hand on each of Stella's shoulder.

Stella flinched and looked at me before mouthing 'sorry Onii-chan.'

...Wait. What was she apologizing for?

Dad got up and said, "Ahaha... Y-Yeah! It's great to see you two again! You don't know how much I've-"

Mom cut him off and said, "You know, Stella has been telling us some interesting stories while we were catching up. About both you and Rudy."

Ah. That was why.

Dad froze and then quickly moved to my side. He leaned over to whisper and said, "Hey Kid. Any chance you can get us out of this mess?"

I glanced at Sylphy(?) and Roxy(?) who were giving me melancholic looks. Then I looked at Mom and Mama Lily who were giving me warning looks. And then I looked at Stella who was avoiding my gaze...

Seeing that, I shrugged and said, "It looks like there's a lot of catching up to do, so why don't we-"

The sound of shattering glass.

No, time and space breaking apart.

Immediately after, four women appeared behind me.

"Are you sure you have the right coordinates this time, Miss Roxy?" My Sylphy.

"Of course. This time, I cross-referenced with Miss Rika before teleporting us." My Roxy.

"Ugh. I still think we should have just let Pierre help us cut through space and time." Eri.

"Rika keeps telling you. Only Rudy can do that properly without collapsing spacetime." Rika.

Mom and Mama Lily paused, slowly turning to look at the women who appeared behind me.

Stella facepalmed.

In the corner of my eyes, I saw Dad let out a shit-eating grin.

...Hah.

It seems like I underestimated my cute baby sister's passive too much...

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