Chapter 17: The Crawford Family

[] Speaking English

{} Speaking German

Everything else is Japanese unless otherwise specified. (I won't be doing honorifics)

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["Mr. and Mrs. Crawford we'll be descending to London-Heathrow in the next five minutes." ]

The pilots voice came over the PA waking me up from my sleep. I had apparently fallen asleep at some point during my studying. Luckily someone, I imagine either Nana or grandpa, had taken my laptop and set it aside.

Looking around I notice that Nana was at one of the tables typing away intently at her laptop. Grandpa on the other hand was still asleep.

Sitting up in my seat I looked out the window to see… nothing. It was raining and overcast and I couldn't see anything. I guess that when I sat up I made some noise because Nana glanced over in my direction for a second before going back to typing.

"Ayah dear, would you wake your grandfather for me."

"Sure thing."

Leaning over I gently began to shake grandpa. The moment I shook him he woke up, I guess he's only a heavy sleeper when it comes to noise?

"W-what is it Ayah darling?"

Blinking awake he took one look out the window before an expression of recognition washed across his face.

"Ah, we've arrived."

"Yes, and as per usual you slept right through the pilots announcement dear."

At that Nana shot him a glare before returning to her work. Meanwhile, grandpa scratched the back of his head in embarrassment while averting his eyes.

The plane began to descend beneath the clouds and immediately I could hear the rain tapping away on the windows. After an admittedly smooth landing we walked through the gate that had been designated specifically for us and out into the terminal.

There I saw a team of men in black suits holding back a sizable crowd of reporters. The moment we walked out of the gate, the uneasy tension between the two sides collapsed as the reporters surged forward and a blinding amount of camera flashes surged towards my eyes.

["Mrs. Crawford why did you head to Japan!?"]

["Mr. Crawford did you go to visit the kendo masters in Japan?!"]

["Whose the young lady behind you!? A grandchild or a new heir?!"]

Being escorted out of the crowd by the men in black, that I now realized were bodyguards, I couldn't help but reaffirm myself that no matter what world the media will always be scary and aggressive. I'd dealt with my fair share of media in my past life, and all of it was unpleasant. The incessant questioning, aggressive, usually entitled, attitude, and the constant push to reveal your secrets or be judged.

Arriving at the edge of the crowd, where even more body guards stood, Nana turned around and zipped her hand in front of her mouth. Once everyone was quite, she turned to me with the serious eyes of someone quite fed up .

"Ayah dear, would you mind making Nana a megaphone?"

Nodding slightly I reached out and,under the shocked eyes of the crowd, formed a megaphone before handing it to Nana.

["To answer your questions further I will be holding a small press meet at my home tomorrow, feel free to drop by."]

Clearing her throat and switching from excited to dead serious. She reached over grabbed my shoulders and pulled me in front of her.

Knowing what was coming I smiled slightly for the camera and stood there patiently.

["This is my granddaughter Ayah, she will be staying with us for a short while. That'll be all, thank you."]

Immediately following her closing statement they flooded forward with more questions but were blocked by the wall of body guards.

We exited the airport to find a waiting limousine. Getting in I turned to ask about our luggage only to see a motorcade surrounding us as an escort. Given how planned this was, I assumed our luggage was in one of the other cars and just let it go.

The drive took about an hour and a half, though most of that time was spent navigating city traffic, before we finally pulled up to a large metal gate in front of a forested road. The gate was emblazoned with a large silver C and opened automatically as we pulled up. A short drive through the forest revealed that what I though to be a road was actually a driveway leading up to the house. The driveway ended in a large ring around a classical fountain, behind which stood a huge Victorian manor. Off to the side stood a separate building, which I assumed was a garage thanks to it having garage doors, and another separate building behind that.

Pulling up to the doorway, which had what looked to be a collapsible awning covering the section of driveway in front of it, a man in a butler uniform walked over and opened the door before helping Nana out of the car.

["Welcome home Mistress, and you as well master."]

"And of course the young miss as well".

Getting out of the car and walking inside I was very excited, oh I'd seen larger mansions in the game and they were very impressive but it wasn't like they were real. The room past the doorway was a large cube, the back half of which was taken up by to large curved staircases and a hallway leading deeper into the mansion. To my left and right sat two more hallways, and I was already thanking my good memory and sense of direction as I could see someone getting very lost in this house.

Being led through the house I was given the grand tour before finally arriving at the master bedroom wing of the house. Across from it was a smaller room that apparently belonged to my mother when she was little. My suitcases were sitting in front of the door, apparently the servants didn't want to feel pushy by unpacking my things without permission, god saying servants will always feel weird. I'd been in kingdoms before that had slave labor servants but I always felt fine because it was just pixels, but having people tend to me, even paid, felt wrong.

"Well Ayah, it was a long flight so we are going to retire for the evening. I recommend you get some sleep as well, we have a big day planned tomorrow after all."

"Okay, goodnight Nana, goodnight grandpa."

"Goodnight dear."

Heading into the room, suitcase in tow, the first thing I noticed was just how weird it was. The walls were covered in maps and trap schematics, several tools like grappling hooks and chisels sat on shelves and a set of duel M9 Bayonets lay resting on a small pedestal.

I'd never believed dad when he said mom used to be a famous treasure hunter… but looking at the countless gold things lying around the room as well as a few unidentifiable artifacts, maybe I should have?

I walked over to a gold and jewel encrusted long sword that was buried in some kind of black stone, in front of the stone stood a small standing desk with childish notes all over it including one large circled piece of child's writing.

EXSCALIEBUR

Reaching over to touch the sword, I realized that this was some kind of recreation. A quick scan from a scanner I made confirmed that by dating it to the 21st century. Okay so maybe mom wasn't a great treasure hunter but instead a young rich girl who was duped a lot? Going around the room scanning things confirmed that most of it was fake, although a few that had more legible, adult like, notes were real, all but confirming my guess.

Mom was a wannabe treasure hunter in her youth, which was really quite a shame. Going over to the recreation of Excalibur I held the handle and pulled slightly. Unlike the reaction I was expecting, which was no reaction, a small click sounded before a piece of wall slid away reveling a small elevator.

And at this point I was confused… was mom a real treasure hunter hiding as a wannabe treasure hunter? Or was this something she had installed to fuel her wannabe treasure hunter phase? Or maybe it was unrelated?

Putting down my suitcase I went over to the duel knives and picked them up, before immediately putting them back down. They were weak aluminum recreations, making my own set of real knives I got in the elevator and looked at the button panel. The panel had three buttons from top to bottom, R, B, and S.

Pressing R did nothing but cause the door to close then open, so I pushed B. The door closed, and after a brief shake the elevator began to descend.

It was time to see what mom was, a real treasure hunter or just a rich girl who went through a phase.