Alyria is pointing her index finger at the sky and putting her hands on her hips as she warns the angry Dragon King, whose body is dyed bright red.
"U....... Wow, I get it. ......"
Like a little brother who has been scolded by his big sister, Ryuoh has become afraid. Alyria invites him to come to the house and play with her.
Alyria says, "Alyria, it's late at night, we'll play another time.
"Yeah~. I want to take a bath with Ryu-o-kun."
"No. Absolutely not.
...... can't. I was about to get really pissed off at my daughter. Allyria is a little horrified at my unusual behavior.
"No, the Dragon King is busy too. You mustn't interfere with his work."
"......Yeah, okay. Okay, Ryu-o-kun, I'll see you next time."
"Yeah, you can call me anytime."
I urge Ferris to return to the house. She nodded and walked toward the house hand in hand with Alyria. Alyria, who probably wanted to play with the Dragon King as much as I did, turned around and walked back to the house.
"If you touch my daughter, I'll kill you for real!
"What are you talking about, you ......?"
The Dragon King has a look of dismay on his face. No, this is the kind of man you can never be too careful with. When I came home, the Dragon King was sitting there and suddenly called me "father" or something like that. ....... I try to turn him away and tell him to go home, but he says, "Allyria is going to marry this man....... No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And you can't just say something like that out of the blue. ....... Dad, I'm actually carrying her baby. What? I won't allow it! I won't allow it! What have you done to my daughter? Linos, if Allyria is happy, that's all that matters. Rico, what are you talking ...... about? Did Mei, Sadie, Soleil, and Mato know about ......? What? Since when? Since the beginning of our relationship? You've been dating for three years now? No way. Seriously? What? Yeah, I'm pretty sure Alyria knitted me a scarf two years ago. Was that a prototype? Did you re-knit it after that and give it to the Dragon King? Seriously, ...... I was the only one who didn't know. .......
Listen to ....... I'm ....... ......Hey, listen to me!
Suddenly I hear the Dragon King exclaim. Oh, I just had a bad thought. I'll never forgive you, Dragon King!
"What, you? You can't kill me! If you dare to challenge me, come!"
He tries to get the Holy Sword from the infinite storage, but it doesn't come out. Oh, I left it with May. I can't slice the Dragon King's scales without it. ...... I can't help it. Not today.
What? Are you coming? ...... What a handful you are! Do something about it, quick!"
"Do something about what?"
"I've been telling you for a while now! That dragon is not with you! I can help you, but you are in charge, are you not? Isn't it your place to help?"
"What the hell are you talking about ......, huh?"
When I looked where the Dragon King was pointing, I saw some figures moving. It was coming toward us slowly, as if it was creeping.
As we get closer, we see it is a boy. His face is swollen. He has been hit very badly.
"Hey, what's wrong, buddy, are you okay?"
We'll take good care of him. You can't ......."
With that, he leaped into the sky. I click my tongue at the Dragon King and call out to the boy in front of me.
"U...... u...... mi...... c...... c......"
"Get a grip!"
I took the boy by the shoulders and ran toward the mansion.
I took the boy by the arm and ran toward the house.
"......"
No one could speak at the sight. Only one person, Ferris, kept staring at the scene in front of him with a furrowed brow.
Piles and piles of fried chicken, salad, and bread....... They are disappearing in no time at all. Moreover, the soup prepared in a small bowl is disappearing at the same speed as if they were drinking water.
When I took the boy back to the house and cast a recovery spell on him, he immediately regained consciousness, stood up, found the dishes in front of him, and popped them into his mouth as if possessed by something.
The boy eats everything with his hands. He easily lifts a large crock pot to his mouth. And in no time at all, all the food on the table is gone.
"Phew. ....... I'm settled."
You are about to ...... speak to him when the boy looks around at us with an apologetic expression on his face and opens his mouth.
"Excuse me,...... another drink?"
"That's enough!"
Ferris is furious with her. The children are scared to death by her anger.
"Ferris, calm down!
But...
In the meantime, who is this?
""What?""
Ferris and the boy are humming to each other, and they have the same expression on their faces. What is going on?
"Don't you have that ...... remember ......?"
The boy has tears in his eyes. I scratch my cheeks and try to remember.
"Oh, no, I mean ....... No, you look more like a boy than when I saw you before, so I didn't recognize you for a moment. Hahahaha ......"
Lars is staring at me with a glazed look in his eyes. I cough and talk to him again.
"So, what are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here? ...... I've finished molting, so I thought I'd take care of you. ......"
"Ah."
I look up to the sky. I seem to remember making such a promise.
"You said not now."
Ferris approaches Lars, folding his arms.
I'm busy right now. You heard that the Black Dragon made a mistake on his promise, didn't you? It's that time of year. ......"
"The Dragon King said earlier that he would take care of that, right?"
"Even so, Master Linos is very busy right now. He doesn't have time to take care of you! So go back to the mountain! You could still be in the mountains! Either that or go somewhere else!"
"Oh no ...... sister ......."
"d*mn ...... how can you get this far after all the beatings you've been through? ...... You're just as strong as you are!"
As I watched their exchange, I turned my attention to my wives, starting with Riko. Mei and Soleil look like they don't have a choice. Matocal looks at me like I can do whatever I want. Sadie puts her index finger under her chin. Is he guessing something? And Rico watches Lars closely.
"May I have a word with you?"
Suddenly Rico opens his mouth. Everyone looks at her.
"Mr. Lars, we would be happy to have you in our home. But you will always be expected to do some kind of work in our home. Is there something you are good at?"
"What ...... are you good at?"
"For example, your sister, Ferris, has shown great ability in checking documents. Luara does mental arithmetic ....... She can do anything. Whether it's math or cooking,...... what are you good at?"
"Uh, ......."
A heavy silence falls. As if that were meaningless, Rico opens his mouth.
"I have a problem for you. A certain pasture has a certain amount of grass growing every day. Now, if we release 20 cows into this pasture, they will eat up all the grass in 10 days, and if we release 15 cows, they will eat up all the grass in 15 days. Then, if we release 35 cows, how many days will it take them to eat all the grass?
"......"
Lars is looking up to the heavens and thinking, but he can't seem to come up with an answer.
"Rico-sama!"
Sadly, Sadie, perhaps unable to see this, calls out to him.
"I'm sure you'll be fine. I don't have any proof, but I think he will have a better future if he stays in this house.
"...... I see. If Sadie says so."
Rico and Sidie nodded as they looked at each other. Rico then looks at Mei and the whole family. They all nod. When she sees that, she turns to me.
"I think that's a good idea."
"That means ......, Lars. But as Rico said earlier, we don't eat what we don't work for. You'll have to do some work, won't you?"
"...... Hi! Thank you!"
He replied cheerfully and bowed politely.
That night Lars decided to sleep in Ferris' room and we went to our bedrooms.
I take a bath with Rico and the kids.
"Whew! Anyway, Rico, why did you give Lars such a problem?"
I took the kids out of the bathtub, and while we were soaking in the bathtub, I talked to Riko.
"You were eating with your hands, weren't you? I thought I needed to educate you in various ways. First of all, I wanted to know how good your basic academic skills are. If you have a certain level of academic ability, you can help Ferris and Luara, right?"
"I see."
"It's just that ...... seems a little difficult to help you both. I think it would be good for him to experience things and find out what he can do."
"I see. ....... I was sure Rico was going to say no."
"Hmph. Actually, I wasn't sure what to do at first.