Inside the villa where Ethan, Eris, and Yunyun lived together.
The dinner atmosphere was filled with silence, one might even say it was eerily quiet!
The reason was simple. At the dining table, besides the villa's residents—Ethan, Eris, and Yunyun—there was one more person whose presence couldn't be ignored.
It was a cute little blonde-haired girl, with an innocent expression that seemed oblivious to the cruelty of the world. She was clumsily using chopsticks to eat the food prepared by Eris and Yunyun, and while eating, she even asked what exactly the clearly visible dish was!
"I say, Ethan, can you explain this situation? If you've kidnapped an underage girl, even if we're good friends, we can't interfere and help you hide her! Your actions could incur punishment from the goddess!" Eris sighed, clearly feeling helpless about the situation.
"Ethan, even though we're friends, I know I shouldn't say this, but kidnapping an underage girl could get you arrested by the security forces! Yunyun doesn't want Ethan to be caught and locked up in prison!" Yunyun, who was saying this, didn't realize that her age wasn't much different from the little blonde-haired girl.
"Sigh..."
This was already the umpteenth time Ethan had sighed. Ever since he brought the little blonde-haired girl home, Eris and Yunyun had been anxiously asking questions, worried that he might be punished by the goddess or arrested by the security forces somewhere.
"I've already said, she's a friend I found outside. Think of her as a gift, can you understand that?"
This wasn't the first time Ethan had explained, though the content of his explanation was getting stranger.
*SLAP!*
A small white hand slapped its own forehead, and Eris's gentle smile could no longer be maintained.
"Let's not even talk about why your friend was 'found,' that's something beyond criticism. Looking at her luxurious and classy dress, this girl is at least from a wealthy noble family, right?"
"Plus, based on what you said earlier, knights with strength equivalent to first-level adventurers—her family is likely among the top even among nobles. If you're hiding her secretly, be careful they arrest you on charges of kidnapping a noble's daughter or even behead you!"
"That's right, that's right! Ethan, please think carefully! Yunyun doesn't want Ethan to receive a heavy punishment! Because... Ethan... is one of Yunyun's few friends..." Although Yunyun didn't fully understand what Ethan meant, she still expressed her concern, though her face turned as red as a monkey's bottom by the end...
"Your concern for me is truly touching, but I have to protect this girl now..." Ethan rubbed his aching temples and explained again why he had kidnapped... err, protected this little girl...
From the moment he left the house in the morning, ate his fill, had nothing to do, opened the door to breathe fresh air, then showed off his strength and defeated all the knights, until finally he kidnapped the little girl...
"Arranged marriage!? This is too much..." Yunyun shouted in disbelief. Since she was around the same age as the little blonde-haired girl, she could even imagine herself in her position. In the Crimson Demon clan, free marriage was the norm. How could she have known that among nobles, there were still such unreasonable things as parents arranging marriages!?
"Indeed, this is completely unacceptable..." Eris also fell silent. Clearly, she disliked this practice, but it had become common knowledge among nobles and even many commoners in this world. Even as a goddess, she couldn't change it.
"Oh! Right! What's your name?" Ethan seemed to remember something, his left hand forming a fist and hitting his open right palm, with an enlightened expression...
Eris and Yunyun, hearing Ethan's nonsensical remark, lost their usual ladylike composure and fell to the ground along with their chairs!
"Huh!?" The little blonde-haired girl, who had been innocently eating, looked up!
Turns out, she hadn't even told them her name!
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
Deep in the dense forest...
"Swordmaster? I didn't expect her to have this level of strength..." Ethan looked at the little blonde-haired girl's adventurer card and muttered, his eye twitching slightly.
Yes, the little blonde-haired girl had become an adventurer. Oh, her name should be Iris, though she refused to reveal her family name. Of course, Ethan wasn't interested in her family name anyway.
Nonsense, he was a Reincarnator who even dared to pull a goddess down from heaven. Not just nobles of this world, even if Iris were from a royal family, Ethan wouldn't care...
And the reason Iris became an adventurer happened shortly after Ethan took her to the Adventurer's Guild to register. If it were the Adventurer's Guild of the past, they might have been thrilled by this cute little girl, but the guild these days seemed to have been possessed by a demon!
Not only were all the adventurers in a hurry, they didn't even glance at the adorable Iris. And almost every time they completed a quest, they couldn't wait to take on the next one. Even when they saw Ethan, who had caused them to become like this, they just gave him a sharp look and left!
In the end, Ethan could only register Iris as an adventurer under Luna's mocking gaze...
Though, Luna was almost speechless from shock at the time. She hadn't expected to meet another potential hero on par with Aqua and Eris! And this existence turned out to be the little blonde-haired girl holding hands with Ethan!?
Luna could only cover her forehead and sigh that something must be wrong with this world!
And Ethan also learned of Iris's strength. Although he had already sensed her power, which was on par with Verdia, through his Enemy Detection skill when they first met, he still couldn't help but be stunned when he saw her ability parameters, which were comparable to Eris's.
The little girl was this strong!?
But why, with such strength, was she still being chased by a group of strange uncles?
"ROARRRR!"
In the distance, Ethan heard the thunderous roar of a wild beast, which made his black eyes turn cold and merciless.
Enough, no matter what, let's finish the target of this quest!