Chapter 402
Epilogue: The Plan
“So, you have a decent plan, right?”
“That’s right.”
Frigia nodded dully, with a hint of suspicion in her eyes directed this way. There were only two of them. Both of them had pitch-black eyes.
And there was one more pair of pitch-black eyes that were drowsily drooping.
There weren’t many people gathered here. Even counting Frigia, there were only four in total. It was quite an undersized group for something that was being called a ‘plan.’
But for a first recruitment, it wasn’t a bad number. After all, if this plan succeeds spectacularly, next time, they will flock to Frigia without needing to be told.
“It may start small, but it will end grand,” as the saying goes. It was a proverb her dad occasionally muttered while playing the Brightest Darkness series.
The initial numbers didn’t matter too much. Frigia steeled herself.
“What kind of plan is it?”
“We just ambush them.”
At Frigia’s smirk and words, Angela and Priscilla simultaneously wrinkled their brows.
“You want to just ambush them?”
“Are you seriously suggesting that as a plan?”
“Dad always comes when we call him. It’s a great opportunity.”
Sure, the competition was ‘a little’ steep, but Dad always tried to spend time with his daughters even more. So, bringing him to the bedroom shouldn’t be that difficult.
“Yeah. He’ll come, just because he’s Dad.”
“But isn’t that not the point? What comes next when Dad arrives?”
The problem was after that. No matter how indulgent Dad was with his daughters, if those lovely daughters tried to ambush him, he wouldn’t simply let that slide physically.
And Delta was someone who could easily subdue all four gathered here, let alone all the mothers excluding Eclipse. This situation was far from something that could just be solved with brute force.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got backup plans prepared.”
Frigia’s finger pointed to the side. The two pairs of eyes turned to look in the direction indicated by her finger.
Come to think of it, there was one more person in the meeting room. A woman who was even shorter than Angela, who was already quite small, with a mix of green and purple hair.
It was Harna Flor. As if she had just woken up, Harna yawned dramatically.
“You can leave it to her.”
“…How?”
“I’m going to cling to Dad.”
Harna opened her mouth in place of Frigia. Her first sentence inspired a strange expression on people’s faces. Angela and Rebecca exchanged glances and responded with skepticism.
“And?”
“I’m going to cry. Really loudly.”
“……What?”
Though it was an absurd statement to claim as a plan, Harna was brimming with confidence.
“I’m going to hug him and cry. That way, Dad won’t be able to focus on anything while comforting me. And that’s when we strike.”
“……”
“……”
“You seem to doubt me.”
Well, they definitely should. Angela and Rebecca exchanged looks again. Their expressions were saying, “Should we bail?”
“Sniff…… Waaaah……”
But before they could properly exchange opinions, they froze in shock as Harna began crying sorrowfully. Thick teardrops streamed down her cheeks.
“I’m serious…… It’s true…… I thought hard about it…… Why…… Why don’t you believe me…… Waaah……”
The two were at a loss.
If it had been Eileen or Segretus, they could have scolded her to stop crying right to her face, but Angela and Rebecca couldn’t bring themselves to say such things to their sister.
“How about it?”
So, when Harna boldly puffed her chest as if to say she never cried at all, they genuinely looked baffled. It felt like all her previous sobs were a lie.
“Surely, this will trick Dad, right?”
“Um… for sure…”
“He’ll probably be really shocked…”
After hearing the ridiculous explanation of ‘crying to catch Dad’s attention,’ even the two girls were surprised enough; so it should definitely work on Dad. In that moment, Priscilla quickly chimed in.
“When Dad is distracted by Harna, we can use magic to change his perception. Then, all that’s left is to connect with Dad.”
“……You even pulled out magic, huh? That’s pretty serious.”
“Right? If this gets found out, it’s not going to end well for us.”
Angela and Rebecca, who hesitated for a moment, broke into grins. After seeing that smile, Frigia laughed along. It was a smile that clearly conveyed the answer.
“Sounds fun.”
“Let’s do it right now.”
That was a refreshingly straightforward response. Frigia had chosen these three as the initial members of the operation precisely because of their zest.
Frigia herself knew that her plan was quite shabby.
It was just a matter of calling Dad into the room, distracting him with Harna, and then using a perception-altering spell to ambush him. There was no thorough groundwork or anything to it; only these three were willing to agree.
Harna, despite her innocent appearance, was cunning to the core, and Angela and Priscilla could easily be called carbon copies of their mother, so it made sense.
Well, considering they were all just five years old, it was the best plan they could come up with.
Thanks to their mothers’ dedicated efforts, the sisters all had knowledge that was significantly richer than typical humans, but their common sense was a bit lacking.
Even if they appeared as mature women, their inner thoughts were still akin to those of five-year-old children.
“Okay, then right now—”
“What are we doing right now? Hehe.”
Jolted, all four of them froze at the faint, sinister laugh that echoed from somewhere.
It wasn’t just the sinister tone; it was the absolute wrong voice to be hearing at this moment.
“Can I be let in on this too?”
Squirming, Harna’s shadow rose and took the shape of a humanoid figure. A figure similar in height, body shape, and appearance to Harna, but with one difference: the color of the eyes.
The mother of Harna Flor, Nix Flor. Seeing her, Harna’s pitch-black eyes trembled violently.
“Uh, Mom… how did you get here…?”
“That’s not the important thing, Harna.”
Nix’s tone shifted from casual to formal, causing Harna to shrink back even more.
“What’s more important is what our dear daughter was planning to do.”
“……Sniff. Waaah…… I’m sorry, Mom……”
Although Harna burst into tears, Nix showed no sign of emotion and shifted to her stern persona.
“Stop crying and come with me.”
Of course, she knew that this was a fake cry. Usually, she was too busy doting on her five-year-old daughter to realize it, but not this time.
When the crying tactic failed, the thick tears that had been streaming down abruptly ceased. Instead, her pitch-black eyes darkened with despair.
“We need to have some mother-daughter talks today.”
Nix hugged Harna from behind. Despite her relatively large bust compared to her frame, it was sufficient to pull her daughter into the shadow.
“Hiiiih……!”
Harna screamed high-pitched as she was pulled into the shadows. Silence descended among the remaining three. Just as Frigia was cautiously about to suggest breaking up the meeting…
“Angela! Are you here?”
“Rebeccaaaah!”
Someone barged in as if waiting for this moment.
One bore long blue hair in a ponytail, reaching the floor, with blue eyes, while the other had shoulder-length cherry blossom-colored hair and matching eyes.
In simpler terms, they were the mothers of Angela and Rebecca, Lize and Claudia.
“Uh, Mom?!”
“How did you get here?!”
Of course, Angela and Rebecca were surprised enough to jump up. The two mothers advanced towards their quaking daughters.
“What do you mean how? I heard that my precious daughter is planning something terrible with her father, so I came to stop it!”
“It’s good to seek fun, but we need to teach you not to do that with your dad, right, dear?”
Lize and Claudia, with the swiftness of former knights of the Silver Dawn Knights, quickly hoisted their daughters on their shoulders. Frigia barely caught the movement.
Realizing what was about to unfold, Angela and Rebecca wildly flailed their limbs, but the arms that firmly wrapped around their waists showed no sign of releasing them.
The two mothers, carrying their audacious daughters, vanished beyond the hallway.
“……”
In less than a minute, Frigia, who had gone from four to one, blankly stared before letting out a deep sigh. It looked like there was no choice but to scrap this plan now that it was all exposed.
Before long, their mothers would come looking for them as well. It was better to mentally prepare for that.
‘It was supposed to be a perfect plan. What went wrong?’
Even though her body and mind had grown, her common sense had not, putting Frigia in the ambiguous stage between a child and an adult. With the slight time she had left, she desperately racked her brain to find the flaws in her plan.
‘……I don’t know.’
Of course, figuring it out was impossible.
“Oh my. Were you all here, Frigia sisters?”
“What are you doing here?”
Frigia snapped out of her thoughts at a completely unexpected voice, instinctively expressing her displeasure.
Luce Isar. The eldest among the thirteen sisters, along with Viola Isar, born at the same day and time, and Frigia’s sister.
Despite the sharp tone in her question, Luce merely smiled quietly. Frigia felt, Could it be? as the smile took on a meaningful glimmer.
“Is that you?”
“I don’t quite understand what you mean, dear sister.”
“You must be the one.”
Frigia growled low.
It felt like she was caught too easily. No matter how attentive their parents were, they didn’t monitor their every move, so there shouldn’t have been a chance to get caught in the meeting room.
Yet Luce calmly absorbed Frigia’s fury. Their nearly identical black eyes narrowed.
“My mother once told me this. There can’t exist a world where the sun and moon do not shine. Even the deadly poison swamp and jungle were ultimately saved by Father, weren’t they?”
“So, what are you trying to say?”
“It’s that you cannot hide from sunlight or moonlight, dear sister Frigia.”
Truly, it was an astonishing amount of confidence.
Frigia knew where Luce’s mention of the poison swamp and jungle came from. Their mothers told them frightening stories about the southern incidents of the continent.
Now, it was just a hot, sticky, bug-filled swamp, but back then it was a realm filled with gigantic insect monsters.
“You mean that thing between your legs, don’t you?”
Of course, Frigia didn’t care.
“……”
At her utterly crude remark, the smile vanished from Luce’s face. Upon confirming that, Frigia continued to taunt.
“You should have just told me. I could’ve included one more person in the plan. How did you connect the old stories to your desire to be with Dad, saying your legs resemble a poison swamp and jungle?”
“Y-You… you… crass…”
Luce trembled and tried to continue speaking, but ultimately failed.
“Maybe it’s because you’ve spent too long as an older sister, your body has aged too? I’m still young and don’t know, so that’s unfortunate for you, Luce ‘sister.’”
That statement was the final blow. The two, like young ten-year-olds, began to fight not with words but with mana and faith, and in less than a second, they blew apart the spacious meeting room.
In reality, they were born only half a day apart, but that no longer mattered. Luce insisted that she was innocent until Floretta and Eclipse arrived to stop her.
Frigia knew it too. They all used to bathe together with their mothers back in the day.
She just wanted to repay the favor she received.
“……There used to be a time like that.”
“It was.”
Frigia leisurely sipped tea while facing Luce. She didn’t know why that remark had surfaced, but that was more than a century ago. The grudge had long since been laid to rest.
Only the self-loathing and humiliation for calling something so shabby a ‘perfect plan’ remained.
