(Madelyn"s POV)The rest of us were in the solar. A supposed place for guests to come and relax but it"s just one big, empty sh.e.l.l. A place to unwind is making me feel depressed and homeless.
There were some old stone benches we were sitting on but not those were making the environment feel any better. In fact, we wouldn"t be here if there weren"t any skylights.
It"s the only room we currently know of that allows the sun to beam in.
Steven, Rayna, and the catgirl, Kanna, eventually came in through the double doors. Rayna seemed rather defeated and Kanna was wrapped around Steven. It looked like something happened. Maybe something spicy!
Madelyn: "What happened?"
Steven: "Rayna scared her."
Rayna: "I sort of worked it out…"
Huh…
I wonder what she walked in on!
Steven: "Go ahead, Kanna… introduce yourself."
Kanna: "M-my name is Kanna Hisakawa."
I still can"t get myself over the cat ears…
She quickly became popular and I"m sure that if it weren"t for Steven, she"d be swarmed with everyone trying to pet her.
Dai-tai: "Ooh~ it"s nice to finally meet you!"
Niroja: "You"re very pretty, Kanna."
Madelyn: "You"re my master"s master, huh?"
Young Mi: "I"m honored to meet you, Kanna."
Rayna: "And I"m still Rayna."
Lilith: "h.e.l.lo."
Smiling, Steven finally turns back to Kanna and gleefully introduces us, one by one.
Steven: "These are the people that kept me company since I was taken. This one"s Madelyn… the one I said was like a sister to me. She became my servant as I said."
He pointed to me.
Madelyn: "Yo."
Kanna: "Thank you for being kind to Steven."
Madelyn: "Yeah, he did kinda help me escape near-certain death."
Steven: "Then Dai-tai and Niroja, my close friends."
They casually wave and smile.
Niroja: "He saved my life."
Dai-tai: "Yep, we owe him for that."
Then Young Mi walks to Niroja"s side and waves at Kanna. Her motherly aura opened up and it drew Kanna in.
Young Mi: "I"m Young Mi."
Kanna: "h.e.l.lo."
Steven: "Young Mi, their mother, and my shepherd."
Young Mi: "Shepherd? Oh, I never knew you thought of me that way; I"m flattered."
Lilith was the last in our group to be introduced and she was hiding behind everyone. It was like she was shy or scared but we all pushed her in front of us despite her trying to remain unseen.
Steven: "This… well… Kanna, this is Lilith."
Kanna tensed up and hid behind Steven. He walks up to Lilith and puts his arm around her like they"ve been best buds. I"m sure it was to calm Kanna down but the result seemed to be in vain.
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Kanna: "She"s the one that tried killing you and made you depressed."
Steven: "Yeah… it"s all in the past."
Kanna: "She did all those horrible things to you and now you"re forgiving her?"
Steven: "I know… but we talked things out."
Kanna: "But she"s a Demon!"
Steven: "Everyone in here that"s isn"t Niroja or Madelyn is a Demon in one way or another."
Madelyn: "That"s right!"
Steven: "Dai-tai, come here."
He holds her hand and interlocks their fingers together in front of everyone. Seeing how Kanna reacted was like watching a little kid get scared after getting red screened on a PlayStation 2. She backed up, looked at Dai-tai from a distance, and slowly came back.
Steven: "Look, she"s harmless and she"s a full-blooded demon. Try it."
Eventually, the 3 of them were all holding hands with each other. The wall has been shattered and maybe we have another person in our group? A Nekomata would be an excellent way to shake things up.
Kanna: "She"s really soft."
Dai-tai: "I take good care of myself. Do you know why?"
Kanna: "W-why?"
Dai-tai: "Because not so long ago, Steven told me that "you attract what you are, not what you want."
She quickly turns to Steven, eyes widened and ears shooting straight up.
Kanna: "That"s what mom says!"
Young Mi: "Then your mother left an impression on him. I"d like to meet her myself."
Kanna: "Okay… I get it now."
She lets them both go and looks down shyly.
Steven: "Kanna"s shy, so be considerate, everyone."
Dai-tai: "We know!"
A loud creaking noise came from the double doors and we all look back as they began to open up. Joan followed by Hugo fully opening the doors.
Hugo: "Look who I brought back!"
Steven: "Joan!"
She ran into his arms and gets lifted off the ground. Everyone had an idea of who she was and and we gathered around, welcoming her back. I haven"t seen her smiling so much before and it made me feel warm that everyone in the group was friendly with her.
Hugo: "Didn"t mean to keep her from you. I just had to prepare extra paperwork because she"s a minor."
He fishes into his satchel and picks out a bundle of papers and a nib pen.
Hugo: "I"ve done most of the work for ya. All you need"s a signature and Joan will be your adopted daughter."
It wasn"t easy peeking over Steven"s shoulders to see what was written but for the most part, I was able to make out: "Republic of Twilight; Certificate of Adoption" and "Sponsored by Hugo Dunkel Augustin."
The guy sure likes to put his name on everything.
Seriously, I"m starting to wonder if he did most of the work just to have the opportunity to write his name on it.
I can already imagine him having his own ship named "The Augustin"!
Steven: "You want me to be your father?"
Madelyn: "Of course she does. Why else would she cling to you?"
He smiles back and gets on his knees in front of a bench. As best as he could manage, he quickly signs the bottom of the paper and hands back without any sign of hesitation.
Hugo: "You"re not going to think it over?"
Steven: "I had 10 days to make my mind up."
Hugo: "Well…"
He chuckled.
Hugo: "Congratulations to the both of you. Joan wanted to keep the "Lira" in her name so her full name is "Joan Lira Omeo." Your skills as a parent were brought up but I"m sure you and your group will do their best to make sure she grows up well."
Young Mi: "I"ll be happy to help."
Rayna: "You here that, Joan? Steven"s your papa now."
Joan smiles widely and tightly hugs Steven.
It was especially heartwarming to see a nice change of pace from the usual running around and fighting. If this is how things are going to be from now on, then I"d be happy and all for it!
Steven: "This is Kanna. Did you meet her yet, Joan?"
Kanna: "h.e.l.lo. Joan? I"m Kanna."
Kanna also got on her knees with Steven and Joan extended her arms out for her too. She looked surprised for a moment but then happily embraced the little girl.
Hugo: "I also bring more good news. We brought furniture donated by the other residents of Twilight."
Rayna: "That"s so kind of them!"
Hugo: "Heh. We look after our own. Though, they do hope you can put good use to the castle and bring it back to its former glory."
Madelyn: "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
Steven: "You mean Castle Edition?"
Jokes aside, this castle would need renovating. The solar would definitely benefit from a chandelier. A bookcase and sofas would make it even better and worth staying here.
Young Mi: "If we"re furnishing the castle, how many man-hours are we talking about?"
Hugo: "Thousands with a group as small as you. To be honest, you"ll be better off buying everything."
Rayna: "You gave us furniture, did you not?"
Hugo: "Donated. Furniture. The basics for the 9 of you like beds, drawers, kitchen, bath, and dining. I"m a.s.suming you"d want to personalize your rooms?"
If I"m seriously getting my own room then it"s obvious that I"d furnish it to my own tastes.
Hugo: "I certainly don"t mind helping you figure out how much money you"d need."
Rayna: "Then we"re renovating the entire castle."
Hugo: "Well then!"
Steven: "Rayna… we"re not exactly made of money."
Hugo: "If you"re serious, I"m going to throw a high estimate out there. 20 million."
Dai-tai: "HOW MUCH—?!"
Steven: "HOW MUCH—?!"
Madelyn: "HOW MUCH—?!"
The 3 of us exclaimed and echoed throughout the empty solar.
Hugo: "It"s definitely high. In fact, you might need less."
The most amount of money I ever made was 300,000 and I don"t even know where it went!
Kanna: "How much is that in Ostroven Coin?"
Hugo: "About 3,000,000."
Steven: "No way in h.e.l.l we"re making that."
Kanna: "Mom worked for 20 years and she ever made 10 mil…"
They both looked like they wanted to faint from disbelief. I wouldn"t be surprised if they did!
Rayna: "Some n.o.ble houses are worth hundreds of millions and maybe even billions. It"s not much, you know."
Young Mi: "We"re worth at least 2,000,000 Yingbi as a group. The estimate doesn"t sound like a lot but not all of us are patient to wait a couple of years to get that kind of money."
Hugo puts a hand up, stopping us before we could have the chance to start arguing.
Hugo: "Look, it"s very high-end of the spectrum. There"s a lot of rooms you might not be needing like the Servant"s Quarters."
Yeah…
This castle really is huge so 20 mil doesn"t sound like much. But it would depend on the rooms we"d be dealing with. Maybe if we had floorplans that this wouldn"t be so complicated.
Madelyn: "What kind of rooms do we have?"
Hugo: "Oh~ there"s too many for me to remember. You should only renovate what you"d need at the moment. Which should be the bedrooms, kitchen, and this solar."
Young Mi: "How much would that be?"
Hugo: "If you want to keep Rayna"s high-end views, then... 2,000,000 in Yingbi would do it."
He says it like we"re made of money!
Rayna sits down on one of the benches and looks out the skylight.
Rayna: "I have a few ideas already hatching for money. I"ll need Madelyn"s help and probably Steven"s."
Steven: "I don"t want to work after what happened."
Madelyn: "Same…"
Rayna: "Loremaster, I"m from the future. Would it be acceptable to take advantage of said events?"
Hugo: "I… actually don"t know. That"s a gray area if I ever saw one. How much money you think you can earn?"
Rayna: "Enough to renovate."
Hugo: "Well, just know that we have a moral code we like to adhere to. Stick to it and I won"t bat an eye."
As we were idling about, another walks in. An Elf, clad in light, leather armor, strolled in here carrying a large box. He seemed to be lost but when he spotted Hugo, he smiles.
SDF Soldier: "Loremaster, the furniture is ready to be brought in."
Hugo: "Oh, excellent! Tell the men to come on in. Place the furniture down inside the entrance. These people will figure out what goes where."
SDF Soldier: "Yes, sir!"
Hugo: "Oh, I forgot to mention, Steven."
He turns around and faces him.
Hugo: "About your issue to travel to Everhand…"
Steven: "Was it approved?"
Hugo: "Indeed it was. Isaac used the witch incident you stumbled across and swayed the entire Senate to allow your entire group to travel as you see fit."
Rayna: "He said we"re better off out there."
Hugo: "Exactly…"