Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 315
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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She was the protagonist of a story that, once heard, could never be forgotten—yet Mitchell Neftis had somehow managed to forget it. I inwardly chided Mitchell before turning my hopes toward Luan’s future, anticipating a happy ending for her.
“So, did you gain any skills at least?”
“I came down with the flu and was bedridden for ten days.”
“….”
So she’d acquired an illness instead of a skill. Though to be fair, preparatory skills leading to magic weren’t given to just anyone. Still, I’d heard that lately everyone was becoming a mana user, and the manifestation rate of magical skills had risen accordingly.
“And after recovering from my sickbed,”
“The story isn’t finished yet?”
“Thinking I’d failed because I’d aimed for a difficult skill like Freezing, this time I trained to acquire a Throwing skill like my sister. That’s when I joined the Neftis Children’s Baseball Team as a pitcher for more effective practice.”
That’s right—I did have a Throwing skill. That’s how I could toss grown men around effortlessly even in a child’s body. The first adult male I ever threw was probably that rude communist bastard who showed up uninvited at my house.
“For more effective training, I joined the Neftis Children’s Baseball Team as a pitcher.”
“….”
“Remarkably, I led the Neftis Children’s Baseball Team to the national championship.”
Isn’t Luan truly amazing? How could Mitchell not remember such a younger sister?
“Of course, the Throwing skill never manifested.”
I felt my heart breaking at the tragedy of it all.
After that, surely Luan must have gained some skill? I hoped she’d acquired an impressive magical skill. After working so hard, shouldn’t she be rewarded?
“Neftis is the magical Neftis. If a magical skill manifested, that’s why she was elevated to Duke, right?”
“Yes! It’s very recent, but Luan has become able to use magic too! It’s a truly magnificent skill!”
Right. If that scatterbrained father had passed the ducal title to plain-looking Luan, then she absolutely must have a magical skill attached to it. And an incredibly impressive one at that—I felt completely reassured.
“What magic did you become able to use? Based on the Duchess and my own disposition, is it an offensive-type magic?”
“The Magic of Effort!”
“Ooh…?”
“If I work hard enough, I can achieve up to half the power of any magic I desire!”
“Ooh!”
What? That’s incredible. The power might be somewhat reduced, but doesn’t that mean she can use every magic that exists in the world?
“The conditions are a bit strict though. It’s limited to magical skills, I have to see the magic directly or be hit by it, and I need over a month of training.”
“So you can definitely use Throwing and Freezing.”
“Yes! Luan can create ice shards in midair! When all my siblings gathered together, Luan created ice shards and put them in peach juice, and we all shed tears of joy!”
How touching. See, if you work hard enough, everything works out. I resolved to shower Luan with praise when I met her. It seemed Father had already transferred most of his authority, as a well-dressed woman stood before the Townhouse leading attendants to greet us.
“Your Majesty the Demon King, Duke Rael of the Foreign Ministry—welcome to Neftis!”
Wow, how fascinating. She really does look so ordinary? Blonde hair and blue eyes are certainly striking, her eyes are beautiful, her nose is elegant, yet somehow when combined, she creates a remarkably unremarkable impression. Of course, by common standards she’s quite beautiful—the most eye-catching beauty in the countryside, one might say. But not on the level where I’d want to offer up an entire nation like I would for Rael or myself.
“Luan. I heard about you on the way here.”
“Gasp! Y-y-y-you remember my name?!”
“You put in blood, sweat, and tears to reach this position. I’m proud of you.”
“Sob!”
Luan clutched her chest and collapsed right there. My siblings are perfectly fine normally, but the moment I speak to them, something breaks. They all grip their fronts and sob.
“It’s an honor, an honor! That Your Majesty the Demon King would remember my name!”
“There’s quite a distance between siblings and the Duke. Call me sister.”
“Oh my! That would be far too presumptuous of me!”
No, we’re blood relatives—just call me sister already. And I’ve been wondering since earlier: why do you talk like that? Are you adopting a concept too? Going for the character of a noblewoman who learned improper speech? When I casually asked Rael about her habit of using endings like “hawa-yo” and “geot-i-wa-yo,” my younger sibling immediately recited Luan’s history.
“During childhood, influenced by a long novel I enjoyed reading, I became firmly convinced that such speech was the language of upper-class ladies.”
“And no one ever pointed it out?”
“Our parents showed no interest in any of us children besides my older sister, and no one would dare challenge the authority of House Neftis.”
I’d been thinking it was unfair that only I got beaten by the Duchess, but from my siblings’ perspective, it must have felt like complete neglect. How does that woman manage to inflict only negative influence on her children?
“Still, as the third child of House Neftis, you should have received invitations to Imperial Palace events.”
“The Imperial family doesn’t concern themselves with such trivial matters.”
That’s true. Cecilia would leave me alone as long as I wasn’t disrespectful, Sera wouldn’t care about speech patterns at all, and Seian would have been itching to correct her but had no voice in such matters at the time.
“Hmm…”
Since she’s grown up this way, maintaining that character is one approach. It’s unique and entertaining—I think it suits her well. It works quite nicely with Luan too.
“All the siblings gathering together for the first time since my wedding. It’s such a rare opportunity—shall we think of something fun to do together?”
“Truly? The younger ones will be so delighted!”
What have I even done for you all that you adore me so blindly? My conscience is pricking me. I should have carved out some time from chasing after Seian to play with my siblings. I cleared my throat awkwardly to convey my apologies, then raised my thumb beneath the foyer chandelier.
“Anyone who wants to play with Evan Mitchell Neftis Laef, gather here!”
As I shouted loud enough to shake the entire mansion, my younger siblings who had been hiding and watching us came rushing out. Silver hair, golden hair, silver hair, golden hair, silver hair, silver hair, golden hair, golden hair. To think that twenty beautiful younger sisters had gathered in one place—I was moved to tears.
“It’s quite crowded. To be honest, it’s a bit unsettling.”
“Mother did give birth rather excessively, didn’t she?”
“She didn’t give birth to you directly, did she? You were all laid as eggs, weren’t you?”
I heard from Professor Ilyong that the Duchess found giving birth to me in human form so exhausting that from the second child onward, she reverted to her true dragon form and laid eggs continuously.
Upon hearing that, I was astounded by the Duchess’s stupidity. She bore so many children after receiving revelation from the Mother Goddess to obtain the Ten Thousand Demon King, but if she laid eggs in dragon form, wouldn’t that defeat the entire purpose? Wasn’t it said that the Ten Thousand Demon King is born among humans? In reality, only Mitchell Neftis qualified as fully human. Everyone below me is half-human, half-dragon.
“Ah.”
Now that I thought about it, I recalled a memory of Mitchell doing something unusually good when the concealed truth was exposed to the world. To prevent my siblings from worrying about their identity, she had carefully hidden their half-dragon nature in their status window using a concealment skill.
Mitchell, in her own way, must have cared for her younger siblings. Now that the distinction between humans and the Demon Race is determined by whether one uses mana or is a mana-based lifeform, my siblings would probably show as human in their status. But if any of them happen to have a high enough dragon content to display as half-and-half, I’ll need to sit them down and explain things properly. Times have changed, and the Demon Race isn’t unconditionally rejected anymore.
“What game should we play? Soccer? Baseball?”
“With such young children around, wouldn’t physical activities be dangerous?”
“No way! Sister! I! Am! Very! Good! At! Physical! Stuff!”
The tiny child, who looked to be around three years old, let out an ominous battle cry with a “Hah!” We had Obero too, and teeth grew in on her, so I wondered if this sibling would develop something strange as well.
“Behold!”
The child cried out with a flourish, and blue wings sprouted from her back. Of course—among all these siblings, why wouldn’t there be one with a hefty dose of dragon? So it was you all along.
“Hide them! I told you to hide those!”
“Sister Mitchell! This isn’t what you’re thinking!”
As expected, the Duchess hadn’t said a word about this either. Did that woman really spawn all these offspring without a single thought? I looked up at the ceiling, took a deep breath, and shouted.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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