Chapter 4: Family moments

It was a tense atmosphere and I felt my breath being taken away from me, things were blurring out and I could feel the weight of whatever happened next on me already, but no matter the outcome, it would greatly affect me from this point on.

"Honestly, I don't think it's too bad of an idea, but you're going to have to talk to your mother about it first... Oh, and no worries, I still remember what I said last time and it still stands, but she really wanted to talk to you before anything was done." Dad couldn't help but smile awkwardly as she gave me an apologetic look.

"Fine, it's not like there's a way around it. Can you at least tell me, where I can find her? " I asked despite already having an idea of what the answer was, better safe than sorry after all.

"Well, around this time of day it's most likely the bakery, if not try checking her office. Anyway, you can come back to me once you're done talking with her and we'll take care of this." She smiled in a way that said, you can do it, and I was already sure of what awaited me.

"Thanks and don't worry, dad. I'll be back in a few minutes." I reaffirm that I'm not backing down on this one.

Having no more to do here, for now, I leave dad in her office to get work. Immediately my attention is put on finding mom, so I first go to her office which is the closest location, and as expected she wasn't there. Like dad said, mom, is usually at the bakery at this time of day.

Confirming I'm not going to have to come back, I head to the bakery, aptly named Sweet Desire's Pastries. Unlike on earth cakes didn't seem to be a thing here yet, but pies, tarts, chocolate, bread, and a bunch of things that I saw for the first time in this world like sluns, which is a slime-based dessert that feels like the equivalent of stuffed gelatin or Nymph water, which is just basically soda, very expensive soda.

Plus, if my Endless Fantasy knowledge applies here, Nymph water, is literally 60% Nymph bath water, so yeah, good stuff.

Eventually, I saw the relatively big one-story building with yellow walls and the name of e the bakery written in pink on a wooden sign, and a bit under hanging on the door the wooden opened sign with the same color.

""Welcome! To Sweet Desire's Pastries, how can we make your day sweeter, today?"" Two young cute girls recited at the same time as soon as I entered the bakery and met me with business smiles.

Those were my two older sisters currently living with me. Lilian and Crystal, respectively 2 and 3 years older than me.

"As much as that sounds tempting, I'm not here for that today. So, where's mom? I need to talk to her." I asked.

"Tch! It's just you... Yeah, that's not happening right now, so you can crawl back to your cave room or whatever." Crystal snorted and lost the smile immediately upon realizing it was me.

"Hi! It's nice to see you again. You really should leave your room more often, otherwise, you'll never get a wife with that kind of antisocial attitude." Lilian on the other hand now had a more sincere smile and even waved at me quite frenetically.

"It's nice to see both of you too, and I can assure you that I'll be leaving my room more often. As for seeing mom, what's going on? Why can't I?" I cross my arms and look at both of them back and forth expecting an answer.

Crystal rolled her eyes and gave me no response.

"Well, while mom, grandpa, and grandma were in the kitchen working on baking, grandpa was clumsy and she ripped a whole flour bag and spread flour everywhere. Grandma wouldn't stop nagging her, she was so mad that mom had to stop them. They told us nobody is allowed in the kitchen until they come out. So yeah, it might be better if you come some other time." Lilian leaned in as she used the bakery's counter to support her torso, retelling the story with various gestures and expression reenactions.

"That's... Interesting and all, but can't any of you two just go in and call her for me?" I insisted.

"No can do. I have to stay here, those were the orders." Lilian said while pointing at Crystal in a very obvious way.

That said, I turned to Crystal.

"I could, but why would I?" She asked as she supported her face with her hand on her cheek and a bored expression.

"Because I'm your dear brother?" I made a pointless attempt at empathy just in case.

"Hahaha! That's a nice one, but if you don't have any real reasons, I can't really help... Actually, I could, I just won't." As expected, Crystal had no response to my plea.

As things have reached this point, I decided to pull out plan b, and immediately reach into my inventory to get some of the money I got from our parents here and there over the last few years. I saved most of it, so it was a decent amount for someone who's only 10 years old. A total of 120 bronze coins. Considering 5 bronze is enough to feed an adult man, I think I'm doing decently.

Knowing Crystal, 15 bronze should be enough.

"Fine, here's a real reason." I say calmly bribing my sister. Honestly, she's usually a bit troublesome to deal with, but today she seems more confrontational than usual.

"My adorable favorite brother... Of course, I'll help you. As an older sister, I'm here for you." She shamelessly said as she grabbed the money right off my hand.

"Nice to do business with you. I'll be right back." She continued before going to the kitchen.

"Don't mind her too much, she's not in her best mood right now. Though I do doubt she would pay you back, she'll definitely apologize later. Anyway, what have you been up to? Usually, you spend most of your time in your room or running around or in one of your lessons." Lilian calmly came closer and pat me on the head as she said so.

"Hum... Not much, mostly training and studying. Oh, and please don't try to make it sound like you have a lot going on." I narrowed my eyes as I retorted.

"I have though, at least more than you. Between working here, helping at home, maintaining my social life, and having to deal with Crystal's mood swings, I do believe I have a bit more going on." Lilian crossed her arms and put on a slight pout as she spoke.

"I guess. Is Crystal still trying to get a noble to propose to her? Cause, as I said before, I don't think that's a very good idea." I moved on to a different matter.

"Yup. It's not actually failing anymore... Quite the opposite, now there are two knight family noble boys basically fighting for her." She replied.

"How come?" I pressed.

"She accidentally bragged about how one of our aunts is a Nymph and that was more than enough. I even heard some people say that the son of a Baronet heard about it and is coming here to court her." Lilian told me.

"So Impetuous... Oh well, what's done is done. Are our parents aware of this?" I questioned.

"Imptu- what?! Where do you get these weird words?" She focused on something else.

"It just means impulsive and I learnt it in a book, now, can you answer my question?" I throw the conversation back on track.

"You and your books, how do even read so much? My head would be killing me if I tried to do that, but to answer your question, yeah everyone at the house already knows about it." Lillian finally answered.

"Reading is much more interesting than most give credit to be, and I don't spend all my time reading." I might not actually read that much in this world because of the <Eidetic Memory> skill, but I did read a lot in my past life... Mostly manga and novels though.

"Hum... I don't believe that. I'm plenty happy without that in my life." Lillian responded.

Before I could say anything else, Crystal came in.

"Mom will be here in a second. So where's the rest of my payment?" Crystal blatantly inquired.

"I never said that." I calmly replied.

"So, you're saying you could?" She insisted.

"What of it?" I entertain her out of curiosity.

"I need 70 bronze, I'll definitely pay it all back." She requested.

"You do understand that you rejected my request just now, besides you could always just ask Lilian." I rolled my eyes.

"I already did, all that's missing for what I want are 70 bronze." She persisted.

"If tell me what you want, I might think about it." I declare.

"Fine, I want to buy a dress." She explained.

"Why don't you just ask our parents about it?" I posed a question in return.

"They already helped me out with a few other things, so it's not an option. Just tell me what you want, and we'll work it out." She rubbed her forehead for a bit before sighing and saying.

"I don't really need anything from you, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to help you out now. Just be sure to keep your word, or you might have a surprise waiting for you." I handed her the money as I said.

"Thank you! Thank you, so much! I knew you weren't that horrible! And don't worry, I'll pay you back as soon as I can." Outside my expectations she basically lunged herself at me and hugged me as soon as I give her the money, it was quite the change from the usual.

"Aww, look at this. I haven't seen you get along this well since Zandrius was an adorable little baby. To what special occasion do I owe the honor?" Mom finally came out completely covered in flour head to toe.

"Not much, I was just happy to see this goober again!" Crystal answered before I says anything while hiding the money as best as she could.

"I'm just here to talk to you, mom." I changed the subject.

"Oh, yeah. Crystal told me you did. So what is it, honey? Did you need anything?" Mother crouched down to be closer to my height and began speaking.

"Actually, I came here because dad told me you told her, I should come here and talk to you before I can get a physical training instructor." I explained.

"So it's already time for that... Yes, I did ask your father to send you here before proceeding with anything because I want to know something. Why do you want a physical training instructor, so much? You're still very young and you don't really need that." She pulled me in closer and laid my face on her chest, as she began caressing my hair while talking.

"I know, but I want to be like big brother and big sister at the best Magic Academy! And if I want that, I got to train!" While it wasn't a primary goal or anything of the sort, I did want to be better than my absent siblings, after all my gamer pride, was on the line here.

"Awww! You just want to be like your older siblings! That's very cute my dear, but your siblings are not the norm, you can't expect yourself to compete with them. Mom knows your are very smart for your age, even still it's not a good thing to use them to measure yourself. I'm sure you'll do great things in whatever field you choose, so just to be sure you don't have to be like them, okay sweetheart?" She hugged me tightly before loosening her grip and kissing me on the forehead, then proceeding to hug me again even tighter than before. It was nice.

"Thanks, mom, you're the best." Even though it wasn't something I was particularly attached to, hearing her believe in me, and say I don't have to prove I'm better than the others felt in a way cathartic... It was like a part of me was waiting to hear something similar for a long time since my past life, and honestly, I appreciate it a lot.

"No, you are the best, you'll see. Anyhow, do you still want to do it after that?" Mom asked me.

"Yes!" I look her straight in the eyes as I say confidently.

"Ok... But, if you slack off a single day we'll stop now and you can get back to it when you're older if you still want to. Deal?" Mom extended her hand to me.

"Deal!" I took it and we shook hands.

"Good, if that's the case, I'll talk to your father and we'll call my bother to train you. I don't know if I've told you before, but he's a popular weapons master and a Gold-rank adventurer at that! I'm sure he'll have a lot to teach you if you stick to it." Mother flexed her surprisingly muscular arms as she said so.

Gold rank, so it seems ranks for adventurers are the same as in EF(Endless Fantasy), which just makes things convenient for me. Gold rank is pretty impressive as most adventurers are stuck in Silver rank for the rest of their lives. If I'm not misremembering, which I doubt would happen with my <Eidetic Memory> skill, the best Silver-rank adventurers are strong enough to level a town on their own while the worst could at least destroy a few city blocks.

"I mean, that's great and all, but I also wanted someone to teach me hand-to-hand combat." I point out.

"Hum... You don't have to worry about it, your uncle is part of a party of four and from the letters he sent me, one of them is a monk, so you'll be in great hands. Actually, let's go talk to your father right now. Crystal, warn your grandparents I'll be gone for a while." She responded.

With that me and mom both went to talk to dad.